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Theresa Parker

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Beschreibung

This practical book explains how to achieve great designs and creative cuts by seeing ideas come to life three dimensionally. By manipulating and pinning fabric on the dress form or house model, fashion designers can visualise their ideas and become more confident with their own creative visions. This new book includes advice on how to measure the body, as well as prepare the mannequin and fabric; it explains the draping process in detail with step-by-step instructions and practical tips throughout. It gives advice on working at half scale and provides calico preparation diagrams. Finally, there are chapters which introduce new design elements and/or garment type, and covers dresses, skirts, shirts and blouses. Written by a leading designer, Draping for Fashion Design is an essential guide to this skill (also known as 'moulage'), and explains how the fashion designer can understand their designs more fully, as well as the fabric and the garment's fit, in order to achieve impressive and sometimes unexpected results.

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Seitenzahl: 283

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

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First published in 2021 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

[email protected]

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2021

© Theresa Parker 2021

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 954 9

Cover design: Sergey Tsvetkov

Contents

Preface

Introduction

1 Tools of the Trade

2 Measuring the Body

3 Preparing the Stand

4 Preparing the Fabric

5 The Draping Process

6 The Bodice

7 The Skirt

8 The Dress

9 The Sleeves

10 The Collar

11 The Bias

Stockists for Workroom Supplies

Suggested Reading and Information Sources

Glossary

Acknowledgements

Index

Preface

… the prevailing system of draping, which dates from the first half of the twentieth century, is utterly impervious to modernization. It was good right from the start and cannot be bettered …

(Duborg et al., 2014).

Finished drapes for this book. (Photo: Yousef Al Nasser)

Fashion designers conceptualize their ideas in two ways: two-dimensional drawings and pattern making or three-dimensional draping. It does not matter whether a designer begins with an idea, a sketch or a fabric; in each case the design process ultimately ends with a three-dimensional prototype or sample. Draping, or moulage as it is known in France, generates a considerable amount of freedom from a design perspective as the fabric envelops a mannequin or model. It has to be readable as a garment as well as a pattern when the design is transferred to paper. The technique has been used frequently in couture houses where bespoke mannequins are kept, replicating the bodies of their most important clients and garments commissioned to suit the specifics of both their client’s bodies and their lifestyles. Draping is also an important prerequisite for the commercial fashion industry, where it informs the use of computer-based design tools like three-dimensional body mapping, virtual reality apparel design software and augmented reality software. The act of real-life draping reveals not just important information about the design content but also enhances the designer’s understanding of the fabric and the garment’s fit.

A mastery of the basic principles of pattern drafting is not a prerequisite for learning draping skills, as most of my students will testify, but some flat pattern knowledge definitely helps. There is some very specific pattern cutting terminology consistently being used, which is listed in the glossary at the back of the book. Beginners will find this book a useful introduction to the discipline and experienced students and professionals a means to expand their existing knowledge and skills base, particularly if they are more used to drafting than draping. The book is written as a series of chapters with step-by-step instructions and tips. Each new chapter introduces a new design element and/or garment type with a little social history to put it in context. It then builds on the techniques learnt in the previous chapter. It is not necessarily about creating a final garment that I have already designed and made for you to see; it is more about looking at the sum of a garment’s parts and learning the techniques for developing a bodice or a sleeve so that you can do your own design work with a clearer idea of how to set about achieving it. If you were to start from the beginning and work your way through the whole book systematically you would be able to design and cut a rich and varied collection of dresses, skirts, shirts and blouses. Please note I have not included jackets and trousers in the book as they are more technically advanced, but what is included in this sculptural process will allow you plenty of opportunities to develop and identify your own individual style aesthetic and preferences for cut and fit. You will get visual feedback from what is happening with the calico on the mannequin almost immediately and can adjust and amend as you please for the silhouette you want.

Garment visualization is a key skill for a fashion designer and draping is a great way not only to learn it but to become more confident with your own creative visions. The book also includes how to take a drape into a master pattern, then into a paper production pattern for toile and review. It also includes advice and top tips to help avoid some common pitfalls; for example, the importance of using the correct grain lines for balance and stability in your garments. There is also a section on working at half scale: this is a separate skill on its own and probably really useful as more fashion education delivery moves online, and it is not something I have seen much in other draping books. I have also included calico preparation diagrams so you do not have to spend time calculating them.

Draping could be considered a niche skill in today’s fashion school training but it can lead to spectacular results and an excellent fit. With practice, pattern cutting can be put at the heart of the design process with the two key elements – design and creative cutting – developing harmoniously in tandem. Fabrics can be tested simultaneously, thereby informing the designer’s understanding of its properties and suitability for her/his design idea, making this holistic approach more exploratory and sometimes faster than more conventional techniques. What’s not to like about any of that? Enjoy …

Introduction

Historically, the evolution of all clothing relies on two principles: cutting cloth and draping cloth. With the former, cloth is cut according to a pattern tailored to specific measurements and the separate pieces are joined together to create a definitive three-dimensional form. In contrast, a draped garment often has no fixed form and relies on one piece of cloth being wrapped around the body and fastened at strategic points. The two approaches are often combined, or at least operated in harmony, to develop the prototype garments that form the basis of modern haute couture and luxury prêt-à-porter brands (Fig. 0.2).

Fig. 0.1 The author pinning a drape. (Photo: Yousef Al Nasser)

Fig. 0.2 Finished calico toiles draped for the Fashion Atelier ‘A Question of Angles and Curves Exhibition’, The Zandra Rhodes Gallery, UCA Rochester. (Photo: Grace Elliot)

‘Drape’ is the term usually used to describe the way a fabric or garment hangs, and moulage techniques allow a designer to see their ideas come to life three-dimensionally as they manipulate and pin fabric on the dress form or house model. The designer may start out with a sketched design but during the draping process a new or more interesting garment idea can often take shape unexpectedly that could never have been conceived two-dimensionally on paper. This aspect of working with the unknown is why draping is often considered to be a more creative method of pattern making and design realization. Unlike two-dimensional pattern-making processes where a flat block or ‘sloper’ is manipulated, draping allows the designer to get a feel for the handle of the fabrics selected and their suitability for particular garment styles. The designer can also make alterations for fit (for example, by repositioning darts, ease and hemlines) before committing to the final idea and transferring the drape to a master pattern in paper.

Fig. 0.3 Calico toile draped from one continuous piece of cloth by Fashion Atelier student Georgia Stevens. (Photo: Grace Elliot)

Paris was the world leader in fashion aesthetics and tastes for several centuries in the Western world so our understanding of pattern-making systems and terminology are often expressed in French (see the glossary). For example, the term ‘moulage’ comes from the French ‘moule’ – a mould or container – and is the name for creating a product with the aid of a mould. When translated into fashion processes it means moulding around the body or dress stand in a three-dimensional way to achieve both the design and pattern simultaneously. This draping process is undertaken by either a designer or a toiliste in couture houses. The cloth, often the actual cloth of the final garment, which can sometimes be pre-cut into small pieces for resolving specific details or dimensions, is placed or arranged on the body. Alterations and corrections become immediately clear and are usually dictated by what the cloth itself wants to do. The cloth used for draping is called the ‘toile’, the French word for fabric (Fig. 0.3).

The toile is made of different weights of unbleached cotton, such as calico. Depending on the weight or type of the garment different thickness can be used. The cloth is a plain or neutral colour so that the fit and silhouette are not disrupted by pattern or motif at this stage. As soon as the toile is completed it is taken apart, with the separate pieces making the pattern for the final garment. The expected final result is already known before the garment is re-toiled and presented for approval. This is the process being used consistently throughout this book to realize a series of garment types and key design features. For all toiling, I have worked with mediumweight calico unless otherwise stated.

The craft of draping is considered a niche skill in today’s fast fashion industry and in fashion training and education. Draping can be time-consuming and, sometimes, a resource-heavy technique with significant fabric wastage as an idea evolves. Drape-based modules and assignments are included in most fashion education curricula but it is not an approach that underpins the whole ethos of the majority of fashion courses and, as such, it can be difficult to find many good technical manuals on the technique. Draping is also an intuitive process open to personal interpretation (such as what constitutes a beautiful fit or aesthetic); consequently this is often difficult to capture in a series of instructions, especially where the skills have been passed down by word of mouth from master to apprentice or learned ‘on the job’ in a particular way unique to a specific atelier environment. There are only a limited number of people who are still able to teach the art of draping. Many of them are now in their seventies and although most of them still work in the fashion industry in some capacity they do not always have the opportunity to share or pass on their knowledge. I feel privileged to have met some of them in the course of my working life and, in ‘old-school style’, to have seen them demonstrate techniques that they have been using successfully for some fifty years to create beautiful clothes for high-profile clients or the luxury fashion market.

Contents for a book such as this never come from one source alone and in addition to working alongside other practitioners I have also waded through, and in some instances attempted to transcribe, collections of manuscripts from the libraries and archives at UCA, the V& and Worthing Museum and Art Gallery to identify a clear set of instructions for draping. On occasion I have been looking closely at actual garments where the pattern and construction is so unusual or exceptional that collection curators have concluded that it could only have been arrived at through draping directly onto the body of a house model to evolve. This method is called object analysis and involves close examination of a garment’s technicality (in pattern, construction and fabrication) to identify further areas for research. In these examples it has been to establish a designer’s draping methodology. This part is a very fluid, trial-and-error process of working backwards from the finished garment. I often have to rethink the sequence of processes or test some of them out in calico to establish a definitive tried-and-tested methodology, particularly where, in the case of the Madame Grès dresses, the original couturiers are not here to ask. It is obviously not fail-safe but as a practitioner a lot can be learned through the re-creation of historical garments.

Brief History of Creative Cutting and Draping

Greeks, Romans and Antiquity

Moulage is a relatively new Westernized fashion process but its origins could arguably be traced back to Graeco-Roman times when dress was based on a simple system of different-sized rectangles of fabric that varied depending on its use and the size of the wearer, with little to differentiate between men’s and women’s wear. For example, the chiton was a single rectangle of wool or linen strategically pinned or sewn at the shoulders, along the arms or down one side, worn plain or with an over-fold kept in place with one or more belts (more common to women). The length was usually longer than the wearer was tall to allow for the folding when the excess was pulled above the belts to create a blouse-like effect (Fig. 0.4). The chiton was often worn with a heavier himation draped diagonally over it which acted like a cloak. A surprising variety of looks were achieved with a limited number of basic forms and is reflected best in Roman and Greek statues seen in museums today where they are characteristically the same but achieve very varied results. The practicality of this dress system probably accounts for such remarkable longevity (about BCE 600–100 Greece and BCE 275–330 CE Rome). Interestingly, there were ways in which these pieces were expressed differently and that we could loosely term as trends. For example, the early archaic periods were often defined by coarse heavily decorated wools and the later classic period by finer lighter linens. The hang of the drapery and the positions of the folds in the Late Hellenistic period were wider than previously seen and held in place with lead weights at the bottom to enhance the fall of the drapery.

Fig. 0.4 Ancient Graeco-Roman statue of a headless woman in a chiton. (Photo: Mohammed Zarovski, Pexels)

Fig. 0.5. Ancient Roman statues in a variety of himations and togas. (Photo: Engin Akyurt, YUA Unsplash)

Originally the Roman toga, a Roman version of the himation, was a simple and egalitarian form of dress and not draped diagonally across the body as we have come to think of it. Instead, it enclosed the body in a straightforward manner. It evolved into something less democratic over time as it became more gaudy and embellished for nobles during the Roman Empire. As it became synonymous with wealth and status it also became longer and more voluminous, with the cloth being folded double before being wrapped in more elaborate and sophisticated ways (Fig. 0.5). This way of dressing was comfortable and elegant and gave the body a certain degree of movement. Conceptually, the ideals of democracy and personal freedom much cherished in ancient Rome and Greece were epitomized in this simple style of dress; this period with its classic egalitarian ideology was later to become a rich source of inspiration for Parisian couturiers like Fortuny, Madame Vionnet and Madame Grès in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Court Fashions in Europe before 1850

Historically speaking, this will seem like a mammoth jump in time but the truth is that whilst there is a lot of visual information and even excellent examples of textiles, colour texture, components and silhouettes, there is very little identified documentation for pattern making and construction processes for clothing from Roman times until mid-sixteenth-century Spain. The control of volume in European garments from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries suggests that draping directly onto a body must have occurred as it is unlikely that such designs could have been arrived at in other ways, but the lack of consistent information on historical draping suggests that no specific system had been formalized. We must surmise that tailors more or less invented their own systems based on what the client asked for. Tailors were generally of low social status and consequently have not been named or remembered kindly throughout history, which is probably the key reason why there is a shortage of information about technical detail or process. The earliest recorded example of a published book on dressmaking techniques was written by a Basque tailor called Juan de Alcega. What remains of the book can now be viewed online in the World Digital Library. It is unlikely that paper patterns or tape measures existed – a good tailor was expected to work directly from measurements on strips of paper or knots in string indicating their own handspans, transferring these onto fabric. The fabric could be a variety of different widths, so many chapters were devoted to resolving problems caused by not having a universal system either for measuring a client or for a woven cloth width.

The book, entitled Libre Ede Geometria: Practica y Traca, was extremely mathematical, depicting complex pattern lays that demonstrated how clothing for men, women, clergy and commanders of military orders could be arranged and cut out to minimize or eliminate waste on up to fifteen different widths of cloth. The information was then consolidated into tables cross-referencing pattern yardage for combinations of three possible lengths and fourteen possible widths. The book was a considerable undertaking because of the contradictory nature of the ‘fashion industry’ at that time and in the preface the author tells the reader how he nearly quit on numerous occasions.

Marie-Jeanne Rose Bertin, milliner, couturier and fashion adviser to Marie Antoinette throughout her entire reign, is credited as being the first celebrated French fashion designer with a significant and extravagant body of work that is well documented and archived. It is through her far-reaching influence that France emerged as the fashion capital of the world from the 1770s onwards.

Haute Couture and the Influence of Paris

Charles Frederick Worth

The British dressmaker Charles Frederick Worth (1825–95) opened a salon in Paris in 1858. He took what is now viewed historically as a revolutionary approach to fashion business. Rather than letting the customer decide how their clothes should look, he designed a collection himself and presented it on live models. The customer could select what they wanted from the collection and have it re-toiled and made to fit them. This heralded a new era in terms of raising the profile of tailors and dressmakers, with the fashion designer being celebrated for the first time as an artist. The quality of workmanship coming from the Paris houses was undeniable; their far-reaching influence has been well documented, which has allowed us to see the diversity of working practices and philosophies so clearly abundant in one small microcosm of Europe at that time. For centuries women’s dresses had been constructed around the corset and petticoat and this aesthetic did not really shift until dress reforms emerged in the late nineteenth century. The prevailing silhouette for women since Renaissance times had been to divide the body into two masses above and below a waistline that shifted depending on the length of the corset. In 1881 the Rational Dress Society began to spearhead a movement away from the corset on the grounds that it was detrimental to women’s health and by championing looser-fitting clothing. By 1900 the S-curve silhouette, with large forward-projecting bosom and an equally large backward-protruding bottom was all the rage and a look championed by the influential House of Worth. Fig. 0.6 shows a Parisian mannequin from that era with its distinctive bustline. The fashionable lady’s derrière would have been further enhanced with hoops, bustles and paniers. It was not really until 1906 that significant sartorial and political changes began to emerge and then they were not necessarily driven by health concerns for women but by a new theatrical aesthetic.

Fig. 0.6 Antique mannequin used to ‘build’ an S-bend silhouette. (Photo: Yousef Al Nasser)

Paul Poiret

In the early 1900s the couturier Paul Poiret took up the cause, with his fluid, comfortable corset-free designs which were deemed so shocking at the time that people were said to have fainted at the sight of a woman wearing them in the street. Poiret had learnt his craft by working at the House of Worth so it is interesting to see that having trained in such a revered traditional fashion environment he then set out to subvert or break the established conventions of dressmaking with such vigour. He is now most famous for his exoticized aesthetic and love of orientalism which was often expressed through his choice of vivid colour coordinations, pattern and embellishment on harem pants, kimonos and ‘lampshade’ tunics. The silhouette he created was a far cry from the tight-fitting bodices and full skirts of the previous decades and his collaborations with artists and high-profile theatre companies ensured that his work was consistently in the public eye. From a creative cut perspective Poiret’s work was a radical departure from the couture traditions of the nineteenth century which were based on men’s tailoring techniques and relied on flat pattern pieces to utilize suppression to get the correct fit. Poiret looked at alternative garment systems, such as the Greek chiton, the Japanese kimono and the kaftans of North Africa and the Middle East, for inspiration in evolving a system using rectangles and straight lines and allowing the fabric to fall and drape more naturally. He introduced simple shapes that hung from the shoulders, offering the wearer a multiplicity of options for styling rather than the restriction of the bodice.

Madame Vionnet

Madame Madeleine Vionnet (1876–1975), a contemporary of Poiret, also embraced an alternative approach to the conventions of the couturier craft, setting out to disrupt the basic construction of European fashion but in a slightly different way. As a woman her career opportunities were somewhat restricted by comparison to Poiret’s, although she did of course have first-hand experience of the restrictions of wearing corsetry! Vionnet was one of the most influential couturiers in the 1920s and 1930s and, like Poiret, her love for classicism and antiquity is believed to be the source of inspiration for many of her designs which also used basic geometric forms or ‘quadrants’ that adjusted themselves to the body (Fig. 0.7). Her often complex cutting or construction was not fully revealed until the garment was off the body or taken apart. Unlike Poiret she relied less on embellishment and surface pattern for her designs and more on the handle and drape of the cloth. Another source of inspiration is also likely to have been her love of mathematics which, as a girl, she was not encouraged (read ‘allowed’) to study. Instead she apprenticed herself to a dressmaker. Her knowledge and understanding of three-dimensional realization was greatly elevated when she went to work as head of the workroom for the highly respected couture house Callot Soeurs. The sisters relied solely on her to transform their ideas into fully working toiles and ultimately into garments highlighting the ways in which fabric could be manipulated and design content developed and progressed through draping on the stand.

Fig. 0.7 Sketchbook page for a Vionnet quadrant dress. Courtesy of the Stuart Aitken Archive.

Fig. 0.8 Sketchbook page for a geometric Vionnet dress with knot. Courtesy of the Stuart Aitken Archive.

She is most well known for her draping applications and particularly for working on the bias (Fig. 0.8). The fluidity in her designs was achieved by cutting the cloth at a 45-degree angle to the selvedge edge rather than along the warp or weft of the cloth. The bias cut allowed her to create sculptural gowns that would closely hug the figure as the fabric draped around the contours of the female body. She refined a method to stabilize the cloth by using the straight grain in diagonal seams to create body-skimming tubes of cloth that slipped over the head and clung to the curves of the body. She had a preference for silks, satins and crêpe de Chines that helped to create her elegant, modern silhouettes. She ordered these fabrics to be woven 1.8 metres wider than normal (so up to 3 metres) to give her more freedom to manipulate the cloth and create drapery. Her initial designs were often worked out on a half-scale mannequin – rather like a three-dimensional sketch – before being fully resolved at full scale: this minimized the costs of the toiling process. After WW1 Vionnet was one of the most successful couture houses of the era, employing 1,200 people and influencing the working practices of many. Vionnet’s expertise, innovation and craftsmanship ensured that draping was used as a technique in all the great ateliers in Paris up to and including the ‘Golden Age of Couture’ in the 1950s where urban myths abound about different couturiers’ working practices. For example, Nina Ricci only worked directly onto a live model and Jacques Fath often draped on himself whilst a few trusted assistants observed and made quick sketches of his discoveries.

Madame Grès

Perhaps the other best-known proponent of drape is Madame Alix Grès – born Germaine Krebs (1903–93). Originally a sculptor, she cared little for the current fashions of the day but instead shared Vionnet’s passion for classism and was also inspired by Greek drapery (Figs 0.9 and 0.10). She preferred to realize her draped designs in silk jersey, crêpeline or muslin, with a single gown using 21 metres of cloth or more as a direct result of her trademark pleating and folding. Her garments also often included perfectly positioned cut-outs to reveal the skin of the wearer’s back or shoulder – something that could only be determined by working directly onto the stand with the fall and handle of the cloth dictating the silhouette of the design. Her design house was known as Alix from 1934 to 1942 and was dubbed by the New York Times as ‘the most intellectual place in Europe to buy clothes’. She had an extraordinarily long career, working up until the 1980s and refusing to be swayed in her design aesthetic. Her working practices were not dissimilar to those of Vionnet, with the use of three-dimensional sketches on scaled-down mannequins and an intuitive understanding of how her cloth would behave. The marriage of this creativity, coupled with her technical knowledge, seems perfectly aligned when you see her clothes first-hand and the methodology, knowledge and skill become somewhat clearer. In reality, for example, the weight of an evening dress would mean the need for an invisible support which would need to be considered and designed simultaneously with the dress shell. The support, most likely a corset, would then have to be made first and placed on the mannequin before the dress could be draped from a single large piece of jersey. The smaller three-dimensional version would have highlighted in advance any issues with regard to excess cloth and functionality but it would still have been necessary to investigate how to connect the shell to the support.

Fig. 0.9 Madame Grès-inspired bias-draped toile in final cloth by Fashion Atelier student Isobel Tustin.

Fig. 0.10 Madame Grès-inspired bias-draped toile in final cloth by Fashion Atelier student Cliona Gissane.

Madame Grès was not alone in her approach but in fact part of a group of influential Parisian designers that included other masters of creative cut – Jeanne Lanvin, Pauline Trigère, Richard Tyler and, the most well-known, Cristóbal Balenciaga. What these couturiers had in common was their ‘hands-on’ approach and a shared belief that design evolved by working on a living body or mannequin rather than starting with a sketch. Balenciaga was particularly influential at the time and apprenticeships in his house highly sought-after by emergent designers. André Courrèges, Oscar de la Renta, Emanuel Ungaro and Hubert de Givenchy were amongst those who trained under him and then went on to launch their own influential fashion houses or work for other often ailing houses to reinvigorate them. Another famous contemporary was, of course, Christian Dior and his house’s characteristic play on female proportion was epitomized in his 1947 New Look. Although significantly more tailored and corseted than Balenciaga’s, the look was hugely influential and ultimately became the defining look of that decade in spite of its opponents who rejected the notion of putting women back into what was effectively a pseudo-Victorian corset and skirts. This era of Paris couture really demonstrated the diversity of the designers’ visions, with an emergent plurality to fashion that had not really been witnessed before.

John Galliano

It’s a never-ending learning process with the bias, because each fabric reacts differently … a dialogue develops and you have to be attentive because it’s alive, … It teaches you, you can’t read about it from a book … you are not forcing it to do anything, it tells you what to do

(John Galliano, The Guardian, 2018).

Galliano is a British visionary who emerged fresh-faced from the London fashion school of Central Saint Martin’s in the 1980s. His work is highly influenced by the bias cutting of Vionnet and the sculptural techniques of Madame Grès but with his own modern-day spin. His collections could not be produced in any other way than draping; they remain consistently edgy and extravagant, with what looks at first glance to be purely sumptuous embellishment but which is actually combined with creative cutting and is integral to the garment pattern. Unfortunately, Galliano is possibly now most well-known for his public sacking as Creative Director at the House of Dior after a drunken anti-semitic outburst in a café just before Paris Fashion Week 2011. However, his atonement for the incident is also much publicized and has enabled him to sustain his creative and strategic roles in couture where he headed Givenchy and Dior before joining Maison Margiela as Creative Director in 2014. Famous for his trail-blazing approach, his work at Margiela has included the controversial launch of his first couture menswear range for Spring/Summer 2019. Speaking in a Guardian newspaper podcast to the fashion journalist Scarlett Conlon about his work, Galliano described the designs as ‘artisanal’ rather than ‘couture’ because they bring together the separate elements of a traditional womenswear couture collection by combining bias cutting, soft sewing and tailoring but for menswear. He explained: ‘We are trying to define what artisanal means for us … It’s rooted in craftsmanship and is the highest form of dressmaking, but for men. Its backbone is in tailoring, but we are trying to further explore the bias cut.’

Charles James

Before Galliano’s time but clearly an inspiration to him, Charles James is another designer who showed his collections in Paris after WW2, albeit for a short period. I first discovered his work whilst working on a costume exhibition for Brighton Museum and Art Gallery entitled ‘Fashion and Fancy Dress’. It was an exploration of the Messel Family Dress Collection, largely womenswear, most of which was collected and worn by Anne, Countess of Rosse and her mother Maude Messel. Part of the British aristocracy and social elite, the family were all able to commission and wear couture indulgently and in amongst the 500 pieces or so that they owned was the debutante dress designed by Charles James (Figs 0.11.and 0.12). James was, in fact, an Anglo-American milliner turned fashion designer living in the US whose practice was more akin that of an architect or engineer than a dressmaker. He predominantly worked and sold one-off pieces from his atelier in New York and, unlike his peers from this period, was never apprenticed in Paris. He is the least well known outside of the fashion industry but to fashion insiders he is considered to have been a staggering visionary talent with far-reaching influence who had a major impact on the draping methodologies of designers in Europe and America for decades.

Fig. 0.11 Charles James pattern analysis sketches. (Author’s own)

Fig. 0.12 Charles James pattern analysis sketches. (Author’s own)

It would be inappropriate not to mention him here when talking about draping techniques although his designs were often not about the softness and fluidity we associate with draping techniques. James took a very sculptural approach towards investigating the relationship between the female body and the surrounding space and frequently created/engineered enormous stiff-boned gowns with incredible silhouettes. Whilst his work was about the manipulation and drape of the fabric around the female form it was also about the sculptural development of the form itself: one major example would be his ‘Clover Leaf’ ballgown with a skirt hem shaped like a huge four-leaf clover in 1953 which was worn by Austine Hearst at the Eisenhower inaugural ball. The dress, which can be seen as part of the online collection at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, weighed nearly 7kg (over 15lb) and held its unique shape because the designer had first created a four-leaf clover dress stand from plaster-covered papier mâché, wood and metal and then draped fabric over it. This allowed him and his team of ‘petits mains’ to see how his cloth of choice – silk taffeta and velvet – performed and to create a bespoke boning and horsehair support structure unique to that design that allowed the gown to hold its shape without collapsing or being filled up with petticoats. Most ateliers would have a version of padding out a conventional dress form to match a client’s measurements and aid in the fitting of garments but James’s concept took this to an entirely different level by constructing his own customized mannequins in unconventional proportions in much the same way he would have used a moulded head form to block a hat. He pushed the boundaries for how the dress form could be used to create new gravity-defying garments in a process he was referring to by the 1960s as ‘metamorphology’. James’s rich patrons allowed him to embrace often controversial approaches, such as the development of new dress forms in clay in a sculptor’s studio to ensure that what he made for them was an individual walking work of art and a true couture piece.

Contemporary Approaches

Draping and Zero Waste