Laura Davis' Textiles: 2013

Monday, June 3, 2013

1950's CHANEL

During the 1950’s Chanel was known for her timeless suit design, purses, pea jackets, and bell-bottomed pants. These designs largely impacted the fashion world, hence the fact that the Chanel suit is a never dying staple to timeless pieces, bell-bottomed pants became a huge trend in the 1970’s and pea jackets are a staple piece to this day. Chanel was and still is known for working with: cotton jersey, wool/wool blends, tweed, boucle, silk, flannel, linen, cashmere, and lace. Her silhouette during the 1950’s was based upon the boxy suit she has become so famous for. My opinion of Chanel’s 1950’s design is impressive. Many of the designers during this time had more flowy, floral designs (Dior), but Coco seemed more ahead of her era designing comfortable, tailored, but simplistic and elegant pieces. The 50’s is my favorite era for Chanel, being the peak of the brand and really constructing pieces that define the brand image today.

Hubert de Givenchy

1950s Fashions of Hubert de Givenchy

According to Givenchy’s official website, Hubert de Givenchy arrived on the Paris haute couture fashion scene in 1952, after studying with such notable Parisian designers as Jacques Fath, Robert Piquet and Lucien Lelong. That year, Givenchy introduced his line of separates, which showed tops with puffed sleeves paired with simple skirts.
Givenchy, however, was probably best known for the designs which highlighted his love affair with the female form. His creations showed a woman’s curves with distinct femininity—off the shoulder or strapless bodices drawn to a small fitted waist and skirts that flared out beautifully with lengths ranging from just below the knee to others that barely cleared the floor. His designs featured matching stoles made from the same material as the dress to round out the look.
A chance meeting with Audrey Hepburn turned out to be quite lucrative for Givenchy. In 1953, he was expecting to meeting with Katherine Hepburn, when Audrey Hepburn showed up. Thus began a professional relationship that would span over 40 years, with Hepburn inspiring Givenchy to create some of his most beautiful pieces and then modeling them for him both on and off screen. Givenchy became one of the premier designers to the stars and royalty alike, dressing such beautiful women as Lauren Bacall, Elizabeth Taylor, Jacqueline Kennedy, Princess Grace of Monaco, as well as Hepburn.
Toward the end of the decade, Hubert de Givenchy came up with a design that ran contrary to what he was famous for, i.e. beautiful form-fitting gowns. The sack dress, a shapeless chemise, was a straight up and down dress with no form; however, it caught on in women’s fashion for the fact that women who wore it felt freed from the constraints of form-fitting clothing.
Givenchy was one of the first designers to realize that women wanted designer clothing, but didn’t want to necessarily wait for it to be custom made for them. In 1953, he launched his own luxury made-to-wear fashion line and opened a retail store in Paris, catering to women all over the world. And the rest is history.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood is an English fashion designer who was hugely responsible in the creating of the punk trend. Born Vivienne Isabel Swire in Glossop, Derbyshire, England, on April 8, 1941. Considered one of the most unconventional and outspoken fashion designers in the world, Westwood rose to fame in the late 1970s when her early designs helped shape the look of the punk rock movement. The 72 year old now has 6 exclusive shops, four in London, one in Leeds, and one in Milan. Franchise stores are located in Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, three in Manchester (Spring Gardens in the city Centre and two others) and most recently, in FH Mall, Nottingham (20 March 2008),Blake Street, York (11 September 2008) and Cardiff City Centre (September 2012). She also has showrooms in Milan, Paris, Los Angeles and Honolulu.

But as the punk movement faded, Westwood was hardly content to rest on her laurels. She's constantly been ahead of the curve, not just influencing fashion, but often times dictating it. After her run with the Sex Pistols, Westwood went an entirely new direction with her Pirate collection of frilly shirts and other attire. Her styles have also included the mini-crini of the 1980s and the frayed tulle and tweed suit of the 1990s. She's even proved it's perfectly possible to make a subversive statement with underwear. "Vivienne's effect on other designers has been rather like a laxative," English designer Jasper Conran once explained. "Vivienne does, and others follow."

Westwood's unconventional style sense, is an outspokenness and daring that demonstrates a certain level of fearlessness about her and her work. In one famous incident she impersonated the Margaret Thatcher on the cover of an British magazine. To do so, she wore a suit Thatcher had ordered but not yet received, an act that made the Thatcher irate.

Still, Westwood's influence is hard to deny. Twice she has been named British designer of the year and was awarded the O.B.E. (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1992.

Westwood still stands today as one of the most influential designers in the business and I want to use her creativity in my exam piece and also her use of feathers.

Vivienne Westwood; influential designer...

Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen was a London-born fashion designer. He is the youngest of six children and was born on the 17^th of March 1969. He died on the 11^th of February 2010 after committing suicide not long after his mum passed away. McQueen left school with just one O-level in art and began his fashion career by working as an apprentice in Anderson and Shepard, a very established tailor’s in Savile row. His career went from strength to strength; he even received a master’s degree at the central martin’s art college in 1994.

McQueen has worked with everyone; from David bowie to bjork and has a strong celebrity following including; Nicole Kidman, Penélope Cruz, Sarah Jessica Parker and Rihanna, J-pop queens such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, and Koda Kumi have frequently been spotted wearing Alexander McQueen clothing to events. Björk, Ayumi Hamasaki and Lady Gaga have often incorporated Alexander McQueen pieces in their music videos. He was the head designer at Givenchy for 5 years. McQueen had established boutiques in London, New York, Los Angeles, Milan and Las Vegas.

McQueen never failed to amaze with his clothes, he had a real eye for fashion and could find a pattern from almost anything and more importantly a pattern that could then be turned into one that could compliment any body shape; a true genius.

Sarah Burton was announced as the new creative director for Alexander McQueen in 2010 and went on to design as one of the most famous dresses in history; Kate Middleton’s wedding dress.

mcQueen has influenced my AS decorative textiles module because of the way he used feathers, butterfly wings, fish scales and animal skins. What is important about McQueen’s use of these things is how he focused on certain details of the object and zoomed them in.

I think alexander McQueen was a true inspiration to the fashion industry and revolutionized the way we look at fashion. I hope that some of his fantastic craftsman ship is shown in my work.