Digital Fashion Week – World’s First Live Streaming Only Fashion Week to be Hosted In Singapore October 2012

DFW Digital Fashion Week Singapore 2012

Live streaming of fashion shows has become de rigueur but we’re taking it up a notch with Digital Fashion Week (DFW). As the world’s first live streaming only fashion week, DFW will unify fashion and technology innovation in this groundbreaking advancement.

 

 

Gone is the era of front row guests at the traditional fashion weeks. This time, we’re going digital. For the first time in fashion history, a fashion week will be live streamed solely online, and consumers can shop their favorite looks off the runway in real time and have them delivered in a matter of weeks – way before they hit the stores.

A high-profile showcase of celebrated designers from every major city, DFW gives designers the ability to reach out to consumers worldwide and global audiences absolute access into the world of fashion.

Labeled by CNN Go as ‘The Next Big Names in Singapore Fashion’, DFW is organized by the creative minds of STORM Creative Events Agency. As the pioneer of fashion show live streaming in Singapore in May 2011, it garnered a record high of 500,000 viewers from 90 countries within a week.

This October will see DFW’s debut edition, Digital Fashion Week Singapore exclusively available for viewing at http://www.digitalfashionweek.com. The twice-yearly event boasts an exciting designer lineup of Singapore’s biggest names presenting their Spring/Summer 2013 collections, with a special appearance by an international guest designer marking the inaugural event in a debut runway show.

Mr. Keyis Ng, co-founder of Digital Fashion Week states, “Until now, no digital platform as powerful as DFW has
existed for designers to reach out to people worldwide.”

Besides live coverage of DFW front row and backstage buzz, interviews with designers and artistes and fringe events, DFW incorporates new features such as live runway commentaries by key fashion figures, pre-show performances by internationally renowned artistes and a one-stop mobile application to provide users with instant fashion show live streaming, videos, runway photos, designers information and e-commerce shopping – giving the global audiences a dynamic fashion week experience like never before.

Digital Fashion Week consists of three main elements:

Front Row Access:
Live backstage action of hair and makeup.
Live interviews with models, designers, hair and makeup artists.
Live pre-show performances by renowned artistes.
Live runway shows with special appearances by top models . Live runway commentary by key fashion figures.
Live post-show party coverage.

Real-Time Shopping:
Consumers can buy their favorite designs off the runway instantly and have them delivered within a matter of weeks.

Power to Influence:
Consumers will have the unique opportunity to provide the designers with instant feedback. The pre-orders made for every collection will provide designers with insights into market trends.

Mr. Keyis Ng, co-founder of DFW states, “Until now, no digital platform as powerful as DFW has
existed for designers to reach out to people worldwide. We aim to harness technology and
creativity to promote home-grown designers in each city to the global audiences by capitalizing on the hype generated from the fashion shows. The buzz created will then be directly converted into sales and sync the fashion communication cycle with its retail cycle.”

In conjunction with Digital Fashion Week Singapore, a virtual B2B platform, DFW Digital Showroom will also be launched. Press, buyers and retailers from all over the world can enjoy
exclusive access to intimate collection presentations by the DFW designers through lookbook
images and pre-recorded videos made available immediately after every fashion show. DFW will be the ultimate digital fashion gateway in connecting designers to the world.

“Singapore has grown to be Asia’s most network-ready country with one of the highest mobile
penetrations in the world. The age of Digital Fashion is here; it is the perfect timing for the fashion
industry to embrace the future of technology, first-hand in Singapore.” co-founder of DFW, Ms.Charina Widjaja said.

Besides its official launch as a twice-yearly event in Singapore, DFW will also proceed to other major cities around the world.

Show schedule, designer and performance lineup, additional updates will be announced in August 2012.

Frontrow DFW Digital Fashion Week Singapore 2012

About Digital Fashion Week Private Limited
Digital Fashion Week Pte Ltd was founded in 2012 by the creative minds behind STORM Creative Events Agency. STORM is widely recognized for pushing boundaries by combining technology with lifestyle and was named by ELLE Singapore as ‘The Name to Watch’ within the first year of its launch. STORM has also been featured several times in leading publications namely Marketing Magazine UK, CIO Asia, Springwise.com, TrendHunter.com, The Straits Times, The New Paper, Lian He Zao Bao and many more. The team at STORM has worked with many established fashion houses ranging from high-end designer labels to mass market brands.

DFW Digital Fashion Week Singapore 2012

Original Source: PRWeb.com

Five Fashion Apps & Sites to Watch in 2012

From online retail sites to mobile apps, last year was all about fashion websites/apps. ShoeMint (all the Mint properties, really), Moda Operandi, OpenSky. The list can go on and on. But 2012 will be even bigger and better. Fashion technology is rapidly growing thanks to new apps and sites that are shaking up the digital space, offering users a chance to dive into their closet and rediscover their style.

From selling your clothes back to booking discount beauty appointments, the new wave of apps and websites make being a gal so much easier.

Here is a list of the 5 Apps and Sites I’m keeping an eye on (and you should too):

Reqoop Mobile Fashion App

1. ReQoop: Do you ever find something amazing at a store, snap a picture, then forget where you were when you found said amazingness? It happens to me all the time! However, enter ReQoop, the newest mobile app that allows you to take pictures of items at your favorite store, upload them to the site, then share them with other users. It’s like having a personalized catalog with items from all of your favorite stores!

Buyosphere Mobile Fashion App

2. Buyosphere: The best part about having a personal stylist is being able to ask them all sorts of questions. Where to purchase things, what kind of items you should stick with, etc. Instead of paying for a pricey stylist, try using Buyosphere, a website that tracks your purchases and gives you the chance to host your own Q/A with your fellow shoppers. Need to find a white maxi dress? Ask Buyosphere. Want to know what is trending in colors? Ask Buyosphere. It basically acts as your personal shopper! What could be greater than that?

Lifebooker Mobile Fashion and Beauty App

3. Lifebooker: When it comes to beauty treatments, you need to book appointments fast. You don’t have time for chit-chat nor do you want to sit on the phone for an hour trying to find an open spot on your stylist’s calendar. You want something quick and relatively cheap that leaves you looking gorgeous. Thanks to LifeBooker, you can search  for salon, spa and beauty deals near you. Getting your eyebrows waxed now is almost painless.

Poshmark Mobile Fashion App

4. Poshmark: Move over, eBay. Poshmark is here to make your clothes reselling experience 10x more enjoyable. With Poshmark, you can browse a fellow fashion girl’s closet, sell your (gently) worn designer clothes, and participate in virtual meetups and shopping parties. With its secure database and easy interface, it has never been easier to make money of off your wardrobe’s neglected pieces.

MADE Fashion Week Mobile Fashion App

5. MADE Fashion Week: Thanks to Milk Made, fashion’s cutting edge resource and studio, runway collections can be delivered straight to your smartphone. Users get live access to collections, share favorite looks with social media followers and learn more about designers. For every blogger who attends fashion week and can’t be at every show, this is your best friend. Or, for the fashion lover who wants front-row access, this app gives you an up-close-and-personal view of Milk Studio’s hottest collections.

 

Source: heartifb.com

Addicted to Style & Fashion?? These is an App for that!!..

Looking for a great fashion app? Happy Downloading!!

 

NY Magazine recently named their favorite fashion-centric apps to see which ones are worth your precious downloading time!  Below are their top ten picks for the iPhone.

shopstyle mobile Fashion App

ShopStyle: Mobile 
This site’s stylish and intuitive spinoff app aggregates clothing and accessories from more than 100 e-commerce sites (Asos, Bluefly, and Neiman Marcus among them). Poke around indiscriminately or filter by category, keyword, brand, store, price, color, size, and sale. If you fall in love, the site forwards you to an online retailer. The free app is best for those who don’t really know what they want (“a white dress … maybe sleeveless … ideally under $200″) and would like to cast a wide net to see what’s out there. Download it here!

Chicfeed Fashion App

Chicfeed
This bare-bones app pulls photos from some of the Internet’s most respected style blogs, including the Sartorialist, Face Hunter, and Lookbook. The sorting functionality — or lack thereof — leaves something to be desired, but if you’re just seeking quick-hit eye candy, there’s no better way to see loads of style snaps all in one spot. The app is available two ways: free with advertising or 99 cents without. Download it here!

DVF - Diane Von Furstenberg mobile fashion app

Diane Von Furstenberg
While many designers with apps remain skeptical about mobile commerce, Von Furstenberg told W, “We already do so many things from our phones, so shopping is a natural progression.” Accordingly, DVF’s app allows users to shop via a “Looks We Love” section or by thumbing through the collections — albeit not 24/7. (Our nighttime request to purchase a one-shoulder floral dress wasn’t addressed until regular business hours.) Still, DVF gets props for rounding out the app with Facebook-sharing capabilities and access to her Twitter feed. Download it here!

GAP StyleMixer Mobile Fashion App

Gap StyleMixer
This innovative brand app allows you to mix and match Gap items with pieces already hanging in your closet. Create outfits using uploaded photos or use the “Mixer” to browse Gap products and create head-to-toe new looks. Shake your phone and the Mixer will generate a random combination of pieces, including shoes and accessories. The “Community” function allows you to share your uploaded looks, as well as check out combos other app users are creating. On the downside, if you’re near a Gap location, you can also supposedly “unlock” a special promotion on your phone; we tried, but were lamely told to “check back soon for a new offer.” Download it here!

Glamour Ask a Stylist Mobile Fashion App

Glamour Ask a Stylist
Wang or Wu? Jeggings or jorts? Dr. Scholl’s with socks or without? These are the types of pressing sartorial questions one might bounce off a trusted friend — or one of Glamour’s on-call app stylists. Here’s how it works: Browse their mini-bios (some are from glamour.com, others from Craigslist), choose the one most up your aesthetic alley, upload your outfit pic and/or inquiry, and wait. Our selected stylist responded to our day-to-night dilemma fifteen minutes after we fired off our request. And, in true women’s-mag fashion, we were given an extra boost of confidence (“You’ll look awesome wherever you go!”). A solid bet for the indecisive. Download it here!

iShoes Mobile Fashion App

iShoes
Scroll through more than 50,000 kicks in the shoe-porn Finder, or search the sea of shoes by style and designer. The app indicates which pairs are on sale and connects you straight to buy-it-now retailers. The app is free, functional, and offers decent-size closeups of each item, though we hope its creators introduce better browsing filters (like color, size, heel height, material, etc.) with the next update. Download it here!

Lucky at your Service Mobile Fashion App

Lucky at Your Service
This free app uses GPS, e-commerce, and flesh-and-blood staffers to hunt down editor-approved clothing, shoes, accessories, and beauty products. Once you’ve settled on that to-die-for Nanette Lepore dress, the app will direct you to an online retailer, and in select cases, a store within 50 miles (typing in a Manhattan Zip Code netted results within the five boroughs, as well as White Plains, New Jersey, and Long Island) that stocks it. If you’re game for an in-person pickup, tell the app your desired size and color, and the Lucky ”concierge team” will call the store to see if it’s available (regular business hours apply). If it is, they’ll even ask the store to set it aside for same-day pickup. The app was super-buggy when it first debuted and is still slow, but it’s the closest us proletarians may ever get to having a personal assistant. Download it here!

Lustr Fashion Finder Mobile App

Lustr Fashion Finder
Get off the G train in a new ‘hood and want to kill time at a men’s business accessories trunk show within walking distance of where you are? This impressive sales and promo finder shows you exactly what’s happening in real time near you, and draws up a list of upcoming events and promotions searchable by distance, neighborhood, and time remaining before sale end. Navigate sales based on your location and specify down to the type of product you’re looking for (accessories, beauty products, shoes, etc.), the occasion for which you’re shopping (working out, getting married, etc.), or the style you’re going for (edgy, preppy, etc.). You can even create an itinerary and score exclusive-to-Lustr deals. Download it here!

Style.Com Mobile Fashion App By Condé Nast Digital

Style.com
Instead of downloading a bunch of individual designer apps, peruse this hub of major ready-to-wear and couture collections (including menswear), dating back several years. The free app features runway videos beamed to your iPhone hours after the collections debut, as well as show reviews and photos of every look. Supplemental features include international party-scene coverage and access to the site’s Style File blog. The app occasionally stalls and crashes, but it’s thoroughly comprehensive and easy to use. Download it here!

StyleBook Mobile Fashion App

Stylebook 
Like most wardrobe-organizing apps, Stylebook ($3.99) lets you upload photos from your closet, tag and categorize everything you own, plan out what you’ll wear in the coming month, and track how many times you’ve worn each piece. But unlike the others, it allows you to move, assemble, and resize pieces from your wardrobe right on the screen, layering outfits to see exactly how they might look. The biggest drawback was the app’s inability to edit out the background from uploaded photos — your best bet is to use the “manual erase” function, or just Photoshop it out yourself before uploading. All in all, Cher Horowitz would be pleased. Download it here!

 

 

Source: blog.scad.edu

Emerging Fashion Trends 2011 – New England’s Biggest Fashion Show, Boston Fashion Week on the Map for Innovative Fashion Shows and Fashion Designs

Boston Fashion Week

The 2011 Emerging Trends, a unique fashion event committed to advancing the fashion industry’s exceptional emerging designers, will be held in Boston, MA on September 24th, 2011. This event is a dedicated effort to aid the Boston fashion community in developing its reputation known for innovation and creativity.

Boston Fashion Week Sponsors 2010

The 2008, 2009, and 2010 Emerging Trends events demonstrated great success for participating designers and sponsors including former Project Runway contestants Jerry Tam, Maya Luz and Keith Lissner (The Fashion Show, Bravo TV). Expecting to generate 500+ attendees, we hope to further our achievements for the 2011 event. This event is an incredible opportunity for emerging designers from all over the world to showcase their designs to a variety of sponsors, buyers, press and media, as well as gain extensive exposure on the east coast.

Boston Fashion Week Show Bride

The SYNERGY Events aims to provide a vehicle for promising designers to reveal their collections to an upscale audience. Attendees consist of community members interested in developing Boston Fashion Week on a larger scale, as seen in other cities such as New York and Los Angeles.

Boston Fashion Week Show Mandarin Oriental

Calling all fashion designers in the northeast: Boston Fashion Week is looking for a headlining designer for this year’s fourth annual Emerging Trends 2011 show. According to organizers, this event is a dedicated effort to help Boston’s fashion community develop a reputation for innovation and creativity.

Boston Fashion Week Innovative Design

Fashion bloggers have remarked that Boston’s show in the past has been particularly helpful for getting emerging designers off the ground, offering a place for them to network and present their work to fashion industry leaders. They expect well over 500 people this year.

Boston Fashion Week Show Lingerie La Perla

Organizers of the event are looking for a headlining designer with a full line of 15 looks, and are also looking for accessory designers to collaborate with. According to their website, the starting runway package will cost you $1250 and booths are priced at $750. The runway package fee includes models, hair, makeup, video footage, and photography.

Boston Fashion Week Show

Interested in purchasing a ticket for the event, which is slated for 8pm on September 24th? Keep checking in on the Boston Fashion Week 2011 website, where ticket will be available for purchase.

You can check out some videos from previous Emerging Trends Shows below in 2010:

The Emerging Trends Fashion Show

Maria Hamilton’s and Crystal Noe (Collaborator/clothing Designer) at the Emerging Trends Fashion Show 2010 at the Park Plaza Castle in Boston, MA – created at http://animoto.com

Boston Fashion Week 2010 –  Shows & Interviews

 The Emerging Trends 2010 – Runway Show at Boston Fashion Week

The Emerging Trends 2010 – Runway Show

Falling Into Fashion: Boston Fashion Week 2010 (Part 1)

WEBN had the inside scoop at this year’s Boston Fashion Week. Executive Producer: Kayla Harrity

Falling Into Fashion: Boston Fashion Week 2010 (Part 2)

WEBN had the inside scoop at this year’s Boston Fashion Week. Executive Producer: Kayla Harrity

Rising Designs at Boston Fashion Week 2010

Boston Fashion Week 2010

Sources: TheEmergingTrends.com and Bostoninnovation.com

Copenhagen Summer 2011 Fashion Week, Fashion Festival and the Fashionable Green Fashion Walk

Copenhagen Fashion Week

COPENHAGEN FASHION WEEK
Copenhagen Fashion Week has during the past few years developed into a large and renowned event with an international scope. Copenhagen is twice a year dressed in fashion, focusing on the industry, the press and buyers, but parts of the fashion week is now available to fashion interested consumers.

Copenhagen Fashion Week Catwalk

COPENHAGEN FASHION FESTIVAL

Copenhagen Fashion Week presents Copenhagen Fashion Festival in cooperation with Wonderful Copenhagen and Copenhagen City Centre parallel to the fashion week. Copenhagen Fashion Festival invites everyone to fashion week, when large parts of Copenhagen is transformed into a fashion Mecca of trendshows, exhibitions, miniconcerts, streetparties, exclusive designer clearance sales and parties.

Copenhagen Fashion Week Festival

The festival begins on Wednesday and this coming August you can join the activities from Wednesday, August 3 – Sunday, August 7, 2011.

Check out the online event  schedule and stay updated on all the different activities during Copenhagen Fashion Festival.

Click on the event in the schedule and you will find information on where and how to participate – so stay tuned!

We wish you a fashionable week!

Green Fashion Eco Initiative

THE GREEN WALK
Kermit the Frog once said it wasn’t easy being green. He obviously hadn’t seen our guide to Copenhagen’s best options for sustainable fashion shopping. Do the right thing and shop the ethically responsible way – from organic materials to the welfare of factory workers, Copenhagen Fashion Festival is putting the spotlight on shops, which carry at least one label with a sustainable profile.

Copenhagen Fashion Week Pink Longest Outside Catwalk

HAPPY RESPONSIBLE SHOPPING!

“It has to be easier for the consumers to show consideration for the environment. We need the clothing stores to use the labels of environment. The Nordic Ecolabel is an excellent example of how stores and distributers implement environmental initiatives in their production and sale. At the same time I urge consumers to buy clothes which are labeled with either the Nordic Ecolabel or the European Ecolabel.

” Karen Ellemann, Minister of the Environment

Copenhagen Fashion Week Pink Longest Outside Catwalk

Source: Copenhagenfashionweek.com

Fashion of Condoms and Candy Wrapper – Eco Fashion 2011

Trashion. If you’re green and fashionable, you’ve no doubt noticed it’s everywhere you look these days. And this “creative reuse” in fashion may have finally gone too far. It’s time to question, for the sake of eco fashion’s future viability, the plethora of “trash to treasure”initiatives touted as sustainable fashion genius.

It is time to do more with less, and this includes reducing our predilection for “trash to treasure” designs and stories that glorify less than marketable fashion.

The thing that concerns me as someone who also observes how trash is now utilized in eco-art and gallery installations is the message suggesting that we can increasingly find a tidy place for the trash in our lives. Creative reuse needs to move beyond the glorification of trashion and recycled art projects in order to address long term solutions for waste reduction and sustainable economic development. Our primary focus should be on managing this toxic bloom via critically important economic, environmental, and health initiatives.

For sure, timeless design has a transcendent and culturally revealing quality, particularly when it comes to the innovative reuse of materials and cast-off bits. Are we currently aiding or hindering the sustainable fashion movement if we do not make a distinction between designs that measure up as genuine fashion innovation and those that are clever, eye-catching creations that make “trashion” seem fashionable?

Junky Styling‘s recycled men’s suit coats: an empowering approach

Creative reuse projects can be large or small. In the case of fashion, several bold designer initiatives have genuinely overhauled the industry’s patterns of waste and excess via the resourceful recycling of textile surplus and unsold stock. Standout labels like From Somewhere, Junky Styling, Goodone, and Reet Aus, to name a few, effectively take yesterday’s unwanted goods and artfully re-shape them into tomorrow’s covetable items. This design strategy is genuinely empowering for the fashion lover who is investing in environmentally sound and fashion-forward design.

From Somewhere‘s upcycling of Speedo’s LZR Racer designs

The recent collaboration of From Somewhere with Speedo to create a capsule collection upcycled from unsold and obsolete Speedo LZR Racer designs might seem like an odd pairing to some. However, an industrial fabric challenge like this clearly demonstrates how unwanted waste can be transformed into eco-luxe couture.

Recycling should and must be an engaging activity, particularly when it comes to labor-intensive DIY projects. Some of the most rewarding fashion moments are definitely those where something useless or outdated takes on new life with imaginative tinkering and whimsy. As Kate Black of Magnifeco recently shared with us:

“When it comes to recycling, we have obviously been doing it for years, in all cultures. Textiles that can no longer be used as garments are incorporated into household items like quilts and pillows and now it’s not just recycled textiles making the news in eco-fashion: candy wrapper handbags, pull-tab accessories are front and center, too.  When recycling or upcycling in fashion falls short, though, I generally find that it is from a taste perspective, not necessarily a design perspective.”

I wholeheartedly support projects that provide fair-trade jobs to artisans who create one-of-a-kind accessories and art-objects out of dumpster and landfill pickings, so I am certainly not attacking these folks for the honest craft and handwork that they do.

Ecoist ‘Botero’ handbag crafted out of candywrappers

I do think, however, that we should exercise caution regarding what is an increasing inclination to sanitize and incorporate trash into art, fashion, and design projects for our own aesthetic amusement. Let’s not forget that this everyday refuse should not exist in the first place, at least not in the volume that we are now grappling with. We need to ensure that we do not become de-sensitized to just how out of control our garbage epidemic is. It is one thing to source from surplus textile stock, recycle trash in the waste stream, and get one’s hands dirty with some gritty DIY projects, but not at the expense of garbage becoming a part of our ongoing design lexicon, much less the focus of our attention.

Via Trendhunter: A condom hat may be great for ginning up clicks, but it’s bad for eco fashion progress.

‘Trash to treasure’ is a dangerous term, and one that might soon need to be upgraded or upcycled within the sustainable fashion glossary. Our long term efforts should continue to be focused on cradle-to-cradle design initiatives, zero-waste garment production, acknowledgment of indigenous technologies and crafts that actually aid specific regions, and sustainable economic development that improves the lives of people everywhere so that they can move beyond having to rely on garbage as a means of livelihood.

Chris Jordan photography

The ready-made object is a surrealist phenomenon. Fashion is about personal expression and the ability to be transported to new layers and states of being. Let’s not allow ourselves to get swept up by “quirky” design projects that demonstrate how clever we can be with Coke tabs, Barbie doll heads, condoms, or heaps of televisions and computer monitors, all in the name of recycling – but in reality only keep our movement one step further from legitimate entree into mainstream fashion or, worse, from being taken seriously by leaders in the fashion world.

‘Household goods’… deceased Estate by Claire Healey and Shaun Cordelro

This is not meant as an attack on the resourceful re-purposing of waste materials for home, fashion, and personal use. Recycling is definitely a significant part of the sustainable fashion story, but recycling without an ability to edit is doing us no good.

There is a time and a place for trashion and art of this nature, but we have a responsibility to shift away from scenes that mimic the dying “portraits of global mass culture” (a la work of photographer Chris Jordan) as we look to a greener future.

Lead image courtesy of Goodone; Household goods images via The Sydney Morning Herald.

Source: Ecosalon.com by Abigail Doan

All About Fashion Design (Part 1) – Fashion Design, Fashion Structure and Fashion History

Fashion design

Fashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social lattitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories. Some work alone or as part of a team. They attempt to satisfy consumer desire for aesthetically designed clothing; and, because of the time required to bring a garment onto the market, must at times anticipate changing consumer tastes.

Fashion designers attempt to design clothes which are functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. They must consider who is likely to wear a garment and the situations in which it will be worn. They have a wide range and combinations of materials to work with and a wide range of colors, patterns and styles to choose from. Though most clothing worn for everyday wear fall within a narrow range of conventional styles, unusual garments are usually sought for special occasions, such as evening wear or party dresses.

Some clothes are made specifically for an individual, as in the case of haute couture. Today, most clothing is designed for the mass market, especially casual and every-day wear.

Fashion designers can work in a number of ways. Fashion designers may work full-time for one fashion company, known as ‘in-house designers’ which owns the designs. They may work alone or as part of a team. Freelance designers work for themselves, selling their designs to fashion houses, directly to shops, or to clothing manufacturers. The garments bear the buyer’s label. Some fashion designers set up their own labels, under which their designs are marketed. Some fashion designers are self-employed and design for individual clients. Other high-fashion designers cater to specialty stores or high-fashion department stores. These designers create original garments, as well as those that follow established fashion trends. Most fashion designers, however, work for apparel manufacturers, creating designs of men’s, women’s, and children’s fashions for the mass market. Large designer brands which have a ‘name’ as their brand such as Calvin Klein, Gucci, or Chanel are likely to be designed by a team of individual designers under the direction of a designer director.

Structure

Designing a garment

Fashion designers work in different ways.Myriam Chalek, Owner of Creative Business House states it in Vogue Magazine: Each fashion designer is unique hence the uniqueness of the sample’s development. Nevertheless the mainstream is pretty similar: From a sketch to a sophisticated illustrated CAD design, fashion designers before using any fabric put their ideas on paper. It’s only once they have the concept of the wanted design that they will use fabric. Myriam Chalek explains that the first steps of the garment production are very important: once the designer is in sync with whats in his head and whats on paper, he will either create a muslin prototype of the sample and once satisfied he will have the pattern done and then the final sample. Or he will create a pattern and then work directly with the fabric to produce the sample. This second method is usually not recommended if the designer is going to modify the sample as it is being created in so far as the fabric can be wasted and the final sample not being the true representation of the original designer’s concept. The pattern production is the most crucial part of the garment’s production because job the fit of the finished garment/sample depends on the pattern’s accuracy. Samples have to be perfect because that’s what the fashion designer present to potential buyers.

History

Fashion design is generally considered to have started in the 19th century with Charles Frederick Worth who was the first designer to have his label sewn into the garments that he created. Before the former draper set up his maison couture (fashion house) in Paris, clothing design and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses, and high fashion descended from that worn at royal courts. Worth’s success was such that he was able to dictate to his customers what they should wear, instead of following their lead as earlier dressmakers had done. The term couturier was in fact first created in order to describe him. While all articles of clothing from any time period are studied by academics as costume design, only clothing created after 1858 could be considered as fashion design.

It was during this period that many design houses began to hire artists to sketch or paint designs for garments. The images were shown to clients, which was much cheaper than producing an actual sample garment in the workroom. If the client liked their design, they ordered it and the resulting garment made money for the house. Thus, the tradition of designers sketching out garment designs instead of presenting completed garments on models to customers began as an economy.

READ ALSO:

ALL ABOUT FASHION (PART 2) – TYPES OF FASHION, INCOME, SCHOOLS

ALL ABOUT FASHION (PART 3) – FASHION STAR SYSTEMS, WORLD FASHION AND THE GLOBAL FASHION INDUSTRY

Source: Wikipedia.com

ETAM Spring / Summer 2011 by Natalia Vodianova


Jasnuary in Paris, supermodel Natalia Vodianova presented her second collection for French lingerie line Etam at the Grand Palais, with a VIP guest list including Kate Moss, Alexa Chung, Eva Herzigova, Micky Green, Mario Testino, and performance by Beth Dito & The Kills. Here is the look book images (& video).

 

Natalia Vodianova signed a three-year deal back in 2009 to design the ‘Natalia pour Etam‘ lingerie, swimwear and clothing collections for the French brand, as well as fronting the campaigns

BONUS:
Behind the scene of Etam Lookbook

BONUS #2

A glimpse of last night Runway video

Source: Trendland.com By Cyril Style

Fantasy Hairstyling, Pushing the Limits! – Hair Battle Spectacular

 

Fantasy hair is all about pushing the limits of traditional hairstyling. It can include the use of clothing, ornaments, and props to achieve the desired look, and it’s almost always pulled to the top of the head. Fantasy hair competition — which has been around for decades — pits contestants against each other to create a total look of hair, makeup, and clothing in a limited amount of time.

Hosted by actress Brooke Burns, this competition series pits 10 of America’s hottest stylists against each other to see who can deliver the biggest and best in fantasy hair design.

Part sculpture and part pop art, each challenge requires contestants to create outrageous coifs that resemble everything from multi-layer wedding cakes to toys with moveable pieces. The stylists then enter the ring to present their hair creations in a fully produced, dramatic and stylized performance. After each challenge, the judges — award-winning fantasy hair designer Derek J, celebrity stylist Lindsay Albanese and a rotating guest judge — critique the designers on creativity, execution and overall presentation.

 

In addition to blow-by-blow drama in the arena, there is also the day-to-day drama between the cohabitating stylists who fight each week to stay in the game and win the ultimate prize of $100,000.

“Hair Battle Spectacular” is produced by 3 Ball Productions with JD Roth, Todd Nelson, Adam Greener, and Mike Nichols serving as executive producers.

 

Source: hair-battle-spectacular.oxygen.com

 

Dressing with Sense and Simplicity: Organic Fabric and Clothing

No one would like to eat a bowl of pesticides drenched food. Then why wear clothing doused in chemicals?

Centuries before people use to live in harmony with nature and believed in giving even better environment for their coming generations. Now, people have crossed all limits dominated by the voracity of luxuries, benefits and money. This is taking a serious toll on the environment, and on the lives of all living beings in the planet.

The ‘Chemical Cocktail’ of Clothing:

When considering a healthy lifestyle, fabric is the first thing that comes to mind. Synthetic fabrics’ teeming with chemicals and dyes pose severe health threats. Synthetic fibers makes the skin uncomfortable due to the presence of toxins in them. From towels to bed linens, and clothes they are all-pervading in our everyday life. Apart from the potential health hazards to humans, these synthetic fibers also leach into the environment causing serious damages to soil, air, ground water, and other living beings around us.

The Environment Shield Organization of US has declared that seven out of the top fifteen pesticides are used for growing conventional cotton, and are regarded as the most environment polluting pesticides. On the contrary, organic cotton is cultivated using untreated GMO seeds, and by adopting biological based growing practices. A beneficial habitat planting method is adopted which prevents pests, thereby eliminating the usage of toxic chemicals.

Natural Dyes Vs Synthetic Dyes:

Synthetic dyes involve many carcinogenic chemicals and effluents that are discharged into the river or atmosphere causing pollution. Chemicals used on fabrics can contain allergens, carcinogens and mutagens. Dyes that are used for special effects on textiles such as flame retardant, stain resistant etc., are likely to create health problems. Natural dyes are obtained from renewable sources, and are good to skin. They are bio-degradable and eco-friendly. Natural dyes are enriched with medicinal and curative properties, and impart healing qualities to the wearer of the fabric dyed with them. They save energy as they are not made from petroleum products. Furthermore, they provide rural employment, and also preserve traditional craftsmanship.

Life with natural fibers’:

Acrylic, polyester, nylon, rayon, triacetate, acetate and other fabrics labeled as stain & wrinkle resistant, and moth repellent will have ample amount of chemicals in their making. These fabrics can be avoided, and replaced with natural fabrics like wool, silk, cotton, linen, cashmere, and hemp. Organic and herbal clothing is more preferable for people who are very sensitive to chemicals. Researches on people with multiple chemical sensitivities reveal that organic clothing is essential in reducing their exposure to toxic chemicals.

 

Source: fibre2fashion.com