WHAT IS FASHION DESIGNING?

Fashion designing got boost when the fashion houses and designers began to dictate the consumers what they should wear or what they should not. Previously dresses were prepared at the whims, tastes, likeness and priorities of the costumers but the dictation, though given in a polite advice, given by the fashion designers and fashion houses laid the foundation of the fashion industry.

Fashion designing is an art of creativity and practicability as both combines to make a transition from idea to marketability. Fashion designing involves ideation that is a creative process of generating, developing and communicating new thoughts and ideas having all aspects of thought cycle from innovation, to development and to actualization. It is an umbrella term that encompasses art and profession of designing clothes, costumes and other items such as hats, purses, bags, shoes, jewelry and even perfumery. It is also an art involving the application of design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothes and accessories. Fashion designing has an influence and impact of culture and current trends and gets various shapes and contours over time and place.

• FOLLOWING TO DICTATION

The footprints of fashion designing could be found in the 19^th century as it was initiated by Englishman Charles Fredrick Worth who established the House of Worth which was the first fashion outlet having its lapel sewn to garments created from this outlet or by Mr. Worth who achieved as much success as he began to dictate his customers what they should wear. Previously, dressmakers normally followed the priorities, whims, tastes and interests of the customers who were predominantly inspired by the dresses from the royalty and the elite of the society. The paradigm shift in the nineteenth century provided the basics of the whole fashion industry as it began to create trends giving inspirations to the customers instead of toeing the line of the users. The clothing created after 1858 could be named fashion design. It was only then that the design houses began to employ the artists or sketch designers who painted the designs of garments to be presented to the clients. If the client approved the design, the fashion house prepared the clothes for him. In this way, sketching out garment designs enlarged into a huge industry of fashion designing.

BASIC ART ELELMENTS

The basic art elements such as line, shape, color, value and texture hold paramount importance and the designers take these aspects into consideration in the process of fashion designing. Line relates to edges of the garments and the inner sides like lapels, details, pockets and lines on the clothes. The shape is associated with the shape of the garments and is defined as the silhouette or overall outline of a garment or other items. The color in apparels is very significant as it reflects mood and emotions like black reflects neatness, red shows romantic feelings, blue gives an impression of business and formality. Value in fashion designing refers to the lightness and darkness and it is expressed in numbers from 1-10, 1 being the darkest and 10 being the lightest. In fabric and craft stores, value scale on colour wheel can be found. Texture is concerning with the body and surface of the fabric. It may be rough or smooth, coarse or fine, soft or hard, sticky or crunchy, thin or thick, transparent or sheer, shiny or dull, heavy or light or of any other commination.

The types of fashion designing can be defined as;

HAUTE COUTURE

It is a French term as couture means dressmaking and haute is high so it reflects high quality dressmaking. Englishman Chales Frederick Worth is the pioneer of Haute Couture who introduced it in 19^th century and in present age, members are selected by the Chambre Syndicate de la Haute Couture. The members must prepare design of made-to-wear clothes for a private client with more than once visit for fitting having an atelier with at least fifteen full-time staff to qualify as an official Haute Couture House which must have twenty full-time technical workers. These houses must present a collection of at least 50 original designs of day and evening dresses to the public in every season — in January and July.

PRET-A-PORTER

Pret-a-porter or ready-to-wear is a term used in the fashion designing and refers to the clothing articles which were manufactured at a mass level on standardized sizes and presented for selling in the finished condition. These are different from Haute Couture which are bespoke garments designed and sewn for a particular person. The Pret-a-Porter are purchased off the rack whether they are sweatshirts, denim, cardigans or handbags. The ready-to-wear garments were made possible when the US government during the war of 1812 began mass producing of the military uniforms. In this way, the size issue was resolved as a large number of people were put to measurement and the standard sizes for ready-to-wear garments were determined. The concept remained applicable after the war and by the end of the century, most of the men had an easy access to the Pret-a-Porter garments in the stores.

Till that time, women clothing had more complexities as fitted waists, necklines and sleeves had made ready-to-wear garments impossible. It was in 1900s when the ready-to-wear garments evinced the interest of the media and economic woes of the era made ready-to-wear garments attractive and affordable for women.

COSTUME DESIGNING

Costume designing is related to creating the visual presentation of characters in different forms of media like theater, film, television and video games. The costume designers work in collaboration with the directors, actors and other members of the production team for costume designing. Their designs are always in cohort with the motif, theme, and story of the presentation which increases the overall performance as the designers take the historical, cultural, fictional context of the production into account. The costume designs are highly influential as the audience and the actors make deeper association with what a character is wearing on the stage.

• JEWELLERY

In fashion designing, jewelry plays an important role in self-projection and self-expression because it is a symbol of wealth and wellbeing. The fashion designers give much importance to design, material, adornment and matching to the jewelry items. It is a type of haute couture as the designers prepare the jewelry items at the interest, taste, whims, trends, affordability and likeness of the customers. The jewelry on the festive occasions such as marriages, parties, celebrations and as gift items is prepared with special care and attention.

FOOTWEAR

Footwear is an important component of fashion designing and given importance equal to the clothing and apparels. The designers employ creativity and skill to produce footwear in cohort with the clothing. In footwear, material is given more importance as the shoes must be comfortable and lightweight giving an easy walk to the wearer. The design of the footwear is also important and should be trendy, unique and attractive. The shoes worn with matching to the dress look beautiful and give an attractive look to the wearer. The consideration of weather consideration in footwear is also an important factor.

It was in the 19^th century when clothing became more than a necessity as in previous era, clothes, dresses and appearance were the matter of the elite and the royalty. The middle class and the lower class wore the dresses which were commonly used in the society. After the 19^th century, the fashion designing and the ready-to-wear garments got popular with the major segments of the society. With the increase in professions, social setup witnessed drastic changes and the people in general became economically well-off and they began to afford spending on personal appearance and this trend gave boost to fashion designing and fashion industry.

FAQs (Frequent Asked Questions)