FashIon DesIgner By Don rauf and Monique Vescia Virtual Apprentice: Fashion Designer Copyright © 2009 by Bright Futures Press All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. Ferguson An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York, NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rauf, Don. Virtual apprentice : fashion designer / Don Rauf and Monique Vescia. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8160-6761-9 ISBN-10: 0-8160-6761-9 1. Fashion—History. 2. Fashion designers—History. I. Vescia, Monique. II. Title. TT507.R29 2007 746.9’2—dc22 2007019426 Ferguson books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. 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ConTenTs 4 InTroDUCTIon Welcome to the World of the Fashion Designer The Evolution of Fashion 6 ChaPTer 1 Fashion Designer at Work 16 ChaPTer 2 Fashion Design Tech and Trends 24 ChaPTer 3 Fashion Industry Sweat and Shears 30 ChaPTer 4 Finding the Right Fit 38 ChaPTer 5 Kids Ask, Fashion Designers Answer 50 ChaPTer 6 Fashion Designer for a Day 56 ChaPTer 7 62 aPPenDIX More Resources for Young Fashion Designers 64 InDeX I n T r o D U C T I o n Some people just seem to naturally have a gift for style and an eye for fashion. Maybe it’s the girl in your homeroom who was the fi rst to wear handmade, jeweled fl ip-fl ops. Maybe it’s that uncle of yours whose colorful shirts are the talk of every family reunion. Or maybe it’s you who jumpstarts the fashion trends at your school. Always the best- dressed one in the room, that person can walk into any closet and throw together an unexpected combination of garments and accessories that look amazing together. A few of these trendsetters even turn out to be famous fashion designers. The world of fashion design is, in reality, a fi ercely compet- itive profession with very little room at the top (picture a big, old pyramid) for anyone but the most mind-blowingly talent- ed designers who combine artistry with hardheaded business sense. Still want to climb this glass pyramid? Suit yourself! Truly talented designers often do not see their career path as a choice; many are unfazed by the diffi culties they face get- ting to the top because they have always believed that fashion, whatever else it may be, is their life Virtual Apprentice: Fashion Designer lets you experience, fi rsthand what it’s like to work in this creative, challenging, 4 and competitive profession. Find out how a design concept moves from the fertile brain of the designer onto the runways at Fashion Week and finally onto the racks at Bloomingdale’s. Travel from the haute couture fitting rooms of Paris to the funky fashions on the street, and along the way you’ll learn about the latest trends and exciting new technologies in this field. Hear about fashion icons and fashion emergencies, and find out if you’ve got the goods (and how to get them) that you’ll need to be on the cutting edge of this fabulous career. Fashion looks to the future but draws upon the past for inspi- ration. So we’ve reserved you a front-row seat under the tents for a whirlwind tour of the history of fashion design. Are your fashion designs destined for the runways of New York and Paris?  C h a P T e r 1 Fashion functions as a means of social communication, a way of telling other people something im- portant about you: what your job is (as the old song goes, “I FUn see by your outfi t that you are a cowboy”), how rich you are, whether you’re married or single, gay or straight, and what FaCToID your interests are. As British designer Katharine Hamnett says, “Clothes create a wordless means of communication that we Scientists all understand.” Whether you’re aware of it or not, you con- were able to figure stantly judge other people by what they’re wearing; you “size out when humans them up”: Cool or uncool? Nerd or jock? Trendy or Goth? first started to wear clothes with the help What you wear is infl uenced by your own tastes but also by of a bug—the human where you live and go to school, your age, your religious be- body louse. This little parasite feeds on its liefs, and many other factors. human host and lays Early humans began making and wearing clothing for a its eggs in clothing, very practical reason: They were cold! But fashion today is so scientists specu- late that clothes date both an elaborate system of communication and an art form back about 40,000 that developed as human cultures evolved and grew more so- years, when these bugs first evolved. phisticated. During the Elizabethan Age (1558–1603), when Queen Elizabeth I was on the British throne, regulations called Sump- tuary Laws provided strict guidelines for what people could 6 wordless “Clothes means create a communication of understand .” that we all —Katharine hamnett, designer and could not wear. Individuals belonging to the lower classes were not allowed to wear certain col- ors such as purple, crimson (a rich red), deep black, and pure white, because the dyes used to create them were very expensive. Working people could wear yellow, green, or pink garments, but never gold or silver. Only members of royalty could wear clothing trimmed with ermine fur. Punishments for violat- ing these laws could be harsh: You might be put to death for wearing the wrong clothing—talk about a fashion victim! Do It Yourself When you need a new pair of pants, you just drag your mom or dad to the mall and flip through the racks until you find a pair you like. But before the 1850s, people either made their own clothing or paid a seamstress or tailor to make them. And remember, people wore How does this mid-twentieth-century fashion more undergarments in those days, magazine cover compare to those you find on which also had to be handmade. newstands today? Before crinoline or hoop skirts  VViirrttuuaall aapppprreennttiiccee:: FFaasshh IIoonn DD eessII ggnneerr were invented in 1856, a woman might wear six different pet- ticoats under her dress to give it the proper fullness. a stitch in Time “Fashion designer” is a relatively recent job description that did not even exist before 1858. Fashion design is closely related to the de- velopment of the garment industry or “rag trade” and the mechani- cal inventions that made that industry possible. In 1846 Elias Howe FUn patented the fi rst sewing machine. Howe’s machine was powered by a hand crank, which meant that the operator had to stop work FaCToID at intervals to crank it up. Isaac Singer improved upon Howe’s de- sign when he devised, in the 1850s, a machine powered with a foot treadle, leaving the worker’s hands free to feed the fabric toward the mechanized needle as it moved up and down. Thanks to this Before 1850, laborsaving device, a shirt that might have taken 14 hours to sew by 70 percent of clothes hand could be made in less than an hour and a half. worn were hand- Around this time a dressmaker named Ellen Demorest in- sewn by the people vented tissue-paper patterns. Customers who bought Madame who wore them. Demorest’s patterns could reproduce at home the same fashion- able designs they admired in illustrated fashion magazines. (If you’ve done any sewing, you know that paper patterns are still used today.) Soon after, clothing sizes became standardized for the fi rst time. All these improvements made it possible to pro- duce factory-made garments in different sizes that people could purchase at a store or through a catalog. Now, rather than hav- ing to construct your own clothes or hire someone to make them for you, you could fl ip through the Sears Roebuck catalog, fi nd a garment you liked, and order one in your size. People who lived boring “The only rule is don’t be dress cute wherever you go. and blend in too short Life is .” to —Paris hilton, hotel heiress 8 the eVolution of fashion out in the country could dress in the same styles and fashions that their city cousins Tight Squeeze were wearing. The most successful fashion designers Corsets were worn were those who responded to or anticipat- by men, women, CheCK IT ed the changing times. During World War and even children oUT I (1914–1918), many women went to work at different times in weapons factories and other industries. throughout history. They needed clothing that was comfort- These uncomfortable able, functional, and suited to their new undergarments were often stiffened with lifestyles and responsibilities. Women, wires and whale baleen and featured hooks who fi nally won the right to vote in 1922, and laces that could be tightened to squeeze wanted clothing that expressed their new the waist down to a fashionably smaller freedoms and rights as citizens. size. But good luck taking a deep breath! The house of Worth The fi rst real fashion designer was Charles Frederick Worth (1826–1895), “the father of haute couture,” who established the House of Worth in 1858. Worth was born in England but moved to Paris when he was 19. He decided to open his own couture house when dresses he had designed for his fi ancée attracted attention among upper-class women. Worth made dresses for royalty, such as the Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, as well as for the Rothschilds and the Vanderbilts—the 19th-century equivalents of today’s Trump or Hilton families. Worth was the fi rst person to sew his own label into the garments that he de- signed. Worth also invented the fashion show, since before that designs were shown on dolls (these might be small or life-sized) rather than on live models. Paris, the Capital of style In the early 20th century, Paris was the fashion capital of the world. Another important French designer from this time was Paul Poiret (1879–1944), an apprentice of Worth. Poiret favored a long, straight silhouette with no corset underneath. He also introduced the “hobble skirt,” which was full at the hips and ex- tremely narrow at the ankles, requiring women to walk with tiny steps. Discussing his designs, Poiret declared, “I freed the bust but I shackled the legs.” 9