Claire Kennedy Design

The Seven Magic parts of design

YSL, Yves St. Laurent, when asked what was the most important facet of his designing, explained about the 7 parts of a woman's body:

1. shoulders/neck/portrait area
2. bust
3. waist
4. hips
5. legs
6. back
7. silhouette

He said that if a designer showed too many of these parts, the client would look like a tart, cheapened.  If on the other hand, too few were showing, the client would look like a bag lady.  After designing for all sorts of sizes, lifestyles and body types, it's one of the simplest and easiest rules to follow, and never fails. 

The only other rule I like to follow is fit and classic ease measurements, but that's another email. 

The older "jaded" eye

Although I've been in and out of fashion for almost 40 years, and my eye is a little jaded (having been from hip-huggers to low rise), I still believe in the classic and well-designed (which is another way to say well-cut) style. From Hubert de Givenchy (who did so many wonderful designs for Audry Hepburn's movies) to......

Yves St. Laurent, who mastered the pants suit for women, classic never goes out of style, and it's always admirable.

Designers like Oscar de la Renta, Reem Acra, Amsale, Carolina Herrera, Geoffrey Beene, Valentino, Pauline Trigere, Christian Dior are all masters of the cut and line of designs.

Dior and Bacall practically institutionalized "The Look" during the '50's.  After WWII, rationing was no longer required, and idea of a luxuriously full skirt cut with a long jacket with a cinched waist, was not only new, but original.  Bacall, in her biography, said that she created the face of "The Look" because she was more frightened than anything else, especially starring next to the handsome and established Humphrey Bogart.  Watching "To Have and To Have Not," is almost like reliving their wonderful romance.

Oscar, Reem Acra, Amsale, Carolina Herrera have all made their name in the  wedding and debutant fields and have since branched out into color and the formal wear, and even into sportswear.  The queen of classic, Vera Wang, has such a classic reputation, that she has been able to parlay it into trade name products.

Pauline Trigere had words with John Fairchild, then publisher of WWD (Women's Wear Daily - a daily rag for the fashion trade and forerunner of W Magazine), and she was hardly ever featured in any of his publications after that.  I would see her periodically in Vogue or Bazaar, the even her fabulously classic designs did not win her any press.  It must not have mattered, cause she designed and had a house named after her to her death.

Hanae Mori is another classic designer as well as Valentino.  Bill Blass is probably America's most well-known designer of classic clothes as is Halston.

I always thought the two real masters of the classic look were Yves St. Laurent and Geoffrey Beene (see "Blog Along With Me - Formal Duds").  Beene really understood cut, and St. Laurent knew is being steeped in the design world of Paris.  When St. Laurent was asked after the fall of the Iron Curtain, what women in the Eastern Block should wear on such a limited budget, he come back easily with black turtleneck and black pants, as a palette that everything can go with.

Been had a different take on classic, but was just as classic as YSL- even though it was innovative cuts and styles that made his work exceptional.  He was ahead of his time as the Japanese designers, headed by Issey Miyake, furthered the architectural and design-obsessed cuts.  Beene never became a slave to these geometric designs, he simply used them to further his own style which was completed innovative and original.

This turned out longer than I had intended, so will continue tomorrow

Finished....albeit a little different

The creative mind has a path of it's own.  While digging through some of my older designs for the top and skirt, here it is....an old Geoffrey Beene design.  So this begs a word or two about the master designer. 

Once while in NYC I treated myself to a visit to the Geoffrey Beene salon in the lobby of the Ritz Hotel.  It was unbelievable.  I had admired from afar for a long time, but to try the clothes on and see how they fit was even a bigger surprise. 
                                        
All those inserts and seemingly design details were not just inserts, they had fitting darts in there....that sly little devil, Beene, had so subtly put in darts to shape that dress while passing off as what seems to be mild-mannered "contrasting" pieces.
                  
All of a sudden Beene's clothes became even more intoxicating and fabulous.  Even though Beene's designs at his boutique were mostly sized for the Pat Buckleys and Nan Kempners of this world, these designs would look equally as fabulous on a more "normal" shaped woman.  These designs are totally timeless, innovative, attractive and flattering on most women.  The Black above has that particularly attractive belt.

                                          

This isn't my first foray into the world of Beene.  This is my family tartan done in one of Beene's more simpler designs.  Basically the fit all comes through that waistband.  It works really well, but I did put in a side dart to add extra definition under the arms - to prevent  the dolman sleeves from overtaking the bodice.  Since this is wool (and it's lined as wool isn't a favorite next to my skin), I wear this with a black cotton turtleneck to help my spiny neck from being so bare - especially for winter-time.  This is one of my favorites for Thanksgiving.

                  

OK - back to the subject - I always bought all the Beene patterns that Vogue issued, and was deeply sad when he died, however I do have a wealth of Beene ideas that I've collected over the years, and they are still not out of style.  So when I ran across this pattern, and realizing the lack of time (one day to make a gorgeous gown for a formal Saturday evening wedding), this was the best.  It calls for two buttons - one at the top and one at the waist, which would be smashing, but the closure here is actually a zipped closing.

                   

Look at what happens with a fold back of the top lapel?....a nice asymmetrical interest.  You can see the beginning of the zipper.  This would probably be best done in a fabulous, light-weight tweed or wool, but I did have a lot of fun making it out of the silk from the upholstery shop.  This turned out to be the best silk of all as it had a little more body than the dressmaking silk I usually deal with.  But the color was the best.

                         

Even though I've worn it, the trim does beautifully with this design, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that I would put this on to make an even stronger evening/cocktail statement.

As it was I have an elegant silk charmeuse scarf with a Chantilly lace trim in ivory that works beautifully with the dress, and protects me from the summertime (and very humid - OK has had record rainfall this spring/summer) air conditioning.

I still have enough fabric to do a wonderful jacket, and of course the gorgeous organza motif to do an elegant jacket. 

But for now I also have a wonderful dress, and even though it's not as versatile as a skirt and top, there is an elegance to a dress that no top or skirt can match!

Uh-oh - another idea!

Been mulling over that Renee Fleming idea and I'm thinking this is going to be my best idea.  I would like to have a fitted bodice, but with a shawl type collar and have parts of the top of the collar beaded.  This solves both my desires of having something formal to wear to the wedding and yet keeping the base of my outfit something I can wear again and again (with a jacket that is more tailored rather than frou-frou) not that I can't wear the top again, but the beading does make it more on the formal side.  So what I think I'm going to do is take a "shoulderless" pattern and attach a shawl for the top- double it over (on the straight of the fabric) so that the lines in the shawl are horizontal-ish rather than vertical-ish.  Then make the fitted part - all unlined to go over a very simple sleeveless bodice and simple skirt - yeah right - famous last words..... s-i-m-p-l-e!  More messes and trouble come from simple.....

(to be continued)

Making up my mind - how to start

I get so many ideas, that's it's really hard to keep track of them, much less to do anything with them like make them up!  So I thought it would be fun to travel along with me while I do a design for myself for this special event the end of the month.  OK, I'm known for not being ahead of time! Nothing like a little added pressure to move the creative process along.

Actually, I've pretty much decided what I'm going to do.  There are a few places that are my favorites to start  firstview.com and neimanmarcus.com are great places to peruse to see if anything strikes me.

A few words about fashion -  it's fleeting at best.  Low rise or hip huggers, boot cut or bell bottoms, what goes around comes around, but there are some styles that are classic, and for me this is where the real art is.  It's easy to be a fad, but to year in and year out, create classic beautiful clothes is the sign of a true artist.  Year after year, Givenchy, Dior, St. Laurent, Lagerfeld, all create beautiful innovative gorgeous clothes that last because they are classic.  So when I'm thinking about creating something for an event, I'm also thinking how I can wear this after the event.  This is the highest part of my art.

Sometimes a design doesn't start with the line or cut, it starts with the fabric.  I was in a local (and very, very fine) upholstery shop in town (they have a plethora of silk), and they had a fabric I literally bonded with.  I had no use for it at the time, or so I thought, but now I have....my friends' daughter's wedding.

So this particular design will start with the fabric.   It has a spectacular geometric design, in black with circular peacock-esque shimmer over a ground of dark green verdigris colored organza that flows like chiffon, but keeps it's shape.  Yeah - me too!  I went nuts.  Naturally the first thing is to put black under in in an Audrey Hepburn sort of look, but not one to do the first thing, I'm leaning toward a muted yellow, or very very light celery green under the dress to allow the black design to show through.

Not so fast....unfortunately simply because there's one design doesn't mean I'm finished....to confuse matters, have sampled a myriad of trims for a client, and just so happens two work really well with the celery silk.  The one on the left even looks gorgeous on this fabulous organza....so back to the drawing board.

These are some preliminary ideas on the organza jacket.  I've done the one on the left and it works, but I'm sorta "been there done that" on that design.  The other two are a little more exciting. The "must haves" for the jacket are that

1. Must flow and have a high "sashay factor"
2. Must come close to the body when I'm standing still (OK, I have this thing about looking more up and down than side to side)
3. Must be original, without orbiting Mars (see the part about classic design above)

This is still sort of fluid, but I'm really leaning toward that middle design...I need a killer closure, but will work on this later.  As so often happens, I usually run into something that works here.  This will probably be the "creative" part of this outfit.

Next is the dress.  I have enough fabric to make a jacket too, which fits into my lifestyle.  I need a dressy suit for weddings and other events in my life, but I do love this beading, so do I have two jackets?.....do I have one, and do the beading on the dress and have two tops.  Am definitely leaning toward the skirt/top route rather than a dress.

When I get confused about a dress design, I always go to Geoffrey Beene.  This guy had a real knack for making something really beautiful out of something so classic.  I went to his boutique at the Ritz in NYC, and tried on the clothes and the amazing thing is that those "inset" seams actually are darts.  The guy was a genius that way.  I love this design.  Maybe this is getting a little too confusing.  I've already drawn up this design in a pattern, it's just making it.  I need to think about the side inserts - OK - forget this....back to the other outfit....or is this the creative process.  I'm getting hit with too much right now.

Maybe I need to rethink the organza top to make it something a la Renee Fleming:

I'm so confused....need to stop and go back to the start!

Good Clients - how lucky can a gal get?!

This is what happens when I get a little over-booked, which happens this time of year, and I can't post as often as I would like.  It's crunch time for brides and here locally, there's been a rash of weddings.  Weddings are interesting in that they are sort of catching....with about a 3-year lull, and then magically they gear up again.  I think serious couples go to weddings and with all the ceremony and celebration around them, they can't help but catch the romance in the air.  This is one of those "wedding" years, and I love doing each and every one of them.  For the next 3 years we'll have another drought, then out of the blue, one in a group with start it all up again!

The difference these days is that these are all my friends' kids' weddings so that makes them even more special.  And here brings up something very interesting.  My clients.  I used to think there was some magical creative angel out there guarding over me with my clients.  In my almost 25 years of design and executing those designs I've had two bad clients.  As most of my girls are brides or debs, I don't have many repeats - hopefully the marriage takes, but if the debut doesn't, too bad!  There are no overs!   So I think this is some sort of phenomenal number in the world of business or even  a cottage business like mine.  And I've often  ruminated over the cause, reason or even logic of this.  After all this is the dream of most businessmen/women.

What I've finally come up without my brain exploding trying to analyze this to death, is that it takes a certain amount of moxie to get to the steps of my front door, so I have a built-in good-natured client to start with.  They usually know what they want, have been frustrated by the offerings of ready-to-wear (which is a whole other subject) and are ready to try me.  Of course it doesn’t hurt to have a great reputation, in that the word is out that if you want something and you want it to fit and you want it to look good, you come to me.  So what’s the catch, you ask?  Well, I’m expensive.  For local prices, I’m comparable to the local stores.  The trick is that I don’t do that sort of work.  The work I do is the couture work.  Work that you usually can’t find locally, and sometimes even regionally.  I do the old school methods of muslin fittings, and that means that the muslin fits.  It doesn’t squeeze the life out of you; it doesn’t skim you; it doesn’t stretch to your shape; it doesn’t look 2 sizes too small; and it doesn’t cover you like a gunny sack.  (See ready-to-wear for my rant on this). Even the construction of the dress itself is hand built including pad stitching for interfacing that has special tasks, with some areas getting more “body” than others.  All of this is all built-in so that the dress does just what we (my client and I) want.  This isn’t easy.  It isn’t quick.  It’s taken me a long time to learn that, coming from the school of " Spending 99% of my time trying to figure an easier way out of things."  And then I usually end up finding the fabric, as fabrics stores are and have been closing at an alarming rate.  (Hancock’s is closing two stores in our city!  Boo!)

So back to the moxie - I digress (this happens a lot - sorry).  Part of the “tude” comes from sheer exhaustion of having nothing available to my clients’ liking; part of it comes from just not wanting to go through the wringer of trying to find something for a special occasion; and part of it comes from the very reason I started sewing to begin with - I knew what I wanted, and wouldn’t settle for anything less. A lot of my clients come to my door with the same attitude and they are honestly burned out either with the shopping or the hassle after the sale.

So they’re “pre-primed” and ready to rock and roll with me.  They usually apologize for being picky, and after we’ve gotten through that, then we’re off and running.