This morning perusing through my daily RSS feeds (don't you just love RSS!?), I picked up on an interesting post via The Sewing Divas, about the state of fashion today.
I ranted more than once about my complaints of fashion and it's growing disconnect with the real world. And that includes everything from size to the actual clothes - I mean would you wear this to the grocery store?
Elaine's blog post is mostly concerned with the effect of the fashion/garment industry on this green earth, which is a wonderful goal, but getting there she deals with some other aspects of fashion and the industry that have become like lumbering dinosaurs - way too big and resource gluttons for most small companies, much less the big giants in the field. Elaine's point is that if the fashion industry doesn't shape up, even the big giants will go the way of the dinosaur.
Specifically she talks about the effect of "fast fashion" where the time from inception (design) to in the product in the store is cut down considerably. The by-product here is that not only can the product get to the consumer faster, but as a more recent version. And therein lies the other point - that fashion has become so up-to-date conscious that, like electronic stuff, the minute you buy the garment, it's out of style.
Next question is: What's wrong with this picture?
No joke!
The part that kept ringing clear to me is that as sewists, we do this instinctively and do not require some fashion editor or mogul to tell us what we can or can not do. What a relief!
We can all be more green than any 7th Avenue designer could be, and if you ask me we are definitely more pertinent than most designers.We have to be.
We can turn on a dime with any new look or some treatment that we would like to try or work into our designs.
It strikes me as something that the "big guys" could learn from.
But of course this is just my take on it - I haven't had any calls from Karl Lagerfeld....
....yet!
Well, Karl NEEDS to call you and get you on his big, fat payroll!
Posted by: Gwensews | July 13, 2009 at 02:45 PM
Well, the first 2, no way. The last item would be totally appropriate for picking out just the right 6 for $2 ears of corn and shucking them on site. And that wrap is sure to keep you cozy in the frozen food section.
(yeah, first time I post a response to you and its a smart-aleck one. Figures) But I do actually kind of like the first one, minus the whatever it is around her neck and a less "look at my huge butt" skirt
Posted by: Beth (BeeBee) | July 13, 2009 at 02:59 PM
Well, my take on this is that mainly because designers in general (I emphasize in general because there seem to be a couple of do not)ignore women, what women have to do on a daily basis, what women actually look like, and so on. Most designers seem to just design clothing and then try to find a walking hat rack to parade them down the cat walk. My number one example of someone who does NOT do this is Isaac Mizrahi - who a) seems to actually enjoy women as women and b) tries to put together designs that are wearable, look good on more than one sort of female and c)appears to understand the physical structure of women who are NOT 18 years old and have body fat compositions of 1%.
Posted by: Toby Wollin | July 13, 2009 at 07:03 PM
Go Toby, every word! The one in the middle looks like a drug addict. My take is that it is EASY to design for pencil thin women who's biggest challenge is deciding which cocktail party to attend tonight, but it takes a great and talented designer to design for real women with real lives.
Posted by: Jill | July 13, 2009 at 07:24 PM
I look at this differently. In each of these fashions I see details I could use myself. Yes, even in my supermarket/church environment. You are right, Claire. We sewists have the opportunity to filter thru these designs and make what we like, what fits, and what we know is most flattering. I love looking at the runways and definitely get lots of inspiration from them. Would I wear the exact dress to squeeze the mellons at Price Chopper? No, but would I employ one of the details in my next project, which my dressmaker skills have taught me to do in a flattering to my body way.
Oh, I just love your philosophical posts !!!
Posted by: Bunny | July 14, 2009 at 05:11 PM