“Making It “ In Fashion Design

  After responses to our first brochure, we are sending a new brief one with photo explanations.

How Do You “Make It “ In Fashion Design?

Be a part of writing an exciting fashion design book. Designers, consumers, students and beginners (who sew), who would like to learn online free by cooperating with Shirley Willett, www.shirleywillett.com, a well- known industry expert in creative design, pattern engineering, manufacturing, and education. Her unique methods are needed to make it, have been tested over 60 years, and are easy, fun and rewarding. We start with brief and introductory Foundation Design Skills that prepare you for our methods: Inner Visualization, Manual Skills, Creativity in every step, Self-Evaluation techniques, etc. Then we go to in depth lessons: Templates that make perfect first patterns ready for production, simple Pattern manipulation techniques, methods for Draping creative styles, Truing for accuracy, and many special lessons on Bodices, Skirts, Dresses, Sleeves, Collars, Blazer, Pants, etc.

Email fashionclass@shirleywillett.com to request becoming a part of our cooperative book effort, telling us about yourself, and what you want to learn.

True Fashion Design is a Moving 3-D Sculpture

  The Boston Globe had a photo today of (above) one of the most beautiful stoneware sculpture by H. Nakashima at the Museum of Fine Arts. It prompted me to think about the beautiful 3-D curves in great fashion design. Nakashima’s sculpture has a feeling of motion in observing it, but fashion is greatest when on a moving human body.


  One of my proudest 3-D fashion sculptures is a 6-ply pure silk crepe I sold to Neiman-Marcus in 1958. (left) The cape sleeves start as a sleeve in the front, form a cape in the back and come around to the front to finish as a sleeve. It moves beautifully when moving your arms.  

  

  Another of my favorites that illustrates fashion as a great moving 3-D sculpture is my “Sunburst” dress, of bright orange silk pesante.(left) The accordion pleating goes all around the body and comes together in one point in the front, finishing with a sunburst pin. The pleating had an amazingly beautiful motion as the woman walked. The photo was in a full page article in the Boston Sunday Herald in 1962. It was also a favorite of my customers, who bought many of them. 

  Both of these styles required great expertise in sculpting fabric in outer space, feeling the motion in “inner visualization” – not fitting tightly to a dress form or model, as so many young designers learn to do when draping today – or when being committed to the rules of drafting. As Frank Gehry, the famous architect and jewelry designer, said, “Beauty without rules.”

 

Draping a Dress from Stylometrics Pattern Template

The blue and white silk crepe dress is on me when I received a "Boston Fashion Week Ladder Award" sponsored by the Fashion Group International in September. It was for all my work to help young fashion entrepreneurs up the "ladder". The photo was tajen when I received a unique bouquet of roses from my fashion protégés at our Boston Design Lab fashion show.

In a post on 12.26.2006, "Drape Dress" I showed the design for this dress, and the AB-1 Empire Template on which the dress was draped. I added the big bow. All the darts and the empire line was transformed into draping, which is something I love to do. By draping from a Template the dress maintains a "standard" of sizing and shaping,the lack of which is a significant problem that consumers face, especially with haute couture from around the world.

I love comments and questions. If you have any about this process I will reply.