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Fashion design is the
art
dedicated to the creation of wearing
apparel and lifestyle. Please see also
Fashion for a more complete definition.The first
person who could really be considered as a Fashion designer
was
Charles Frederick Worth (1826-1895.). Before he set up
his maison couture (fashion house) in Paris, clothing design
and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses. When he
started his business, his customers could attach a name and
a face to his designs once they learned that they were from
the House of Worth, thus starting the tradition of having
the designer of a large company is not only the creative
head but the symbol of the brand as well. After Worth,
Paul Poiret started with a concept which is nowadays
considered as general fashion design/ marketing and Haute
Couture, and is also credited with starting the trend of
removing the corset from female fashion. Although fashion
itself has a long history which leads back to the early
civilisations, the people who designed and produced garments
before the late 19th/early 20th century were seen as
anonymous artisans, not well-known public figures. Following in Worth's and Poiret's footsteps were:
Patou,
Vionnet,
Fortuny, Lanvin,
Chanel,
Schiaparelli,
Balenciaga, and
Dior.
By the 1960's, Haute couture was not the only trend dictator
anymore. Under influence of
Fashion Icons (like for example
Marlyn Monroe,
Audrey Hepburn and
Jackie Kennedy or the models like
Twiggy,
Youth culture and the independent women's movements, it
became acceptable for fashion to ascend from the people
rather than be handed down by large couture houses.
Fashion brands not only just produced garments anymore
but also started to create their own image or started
designing for certain target groups and/or sub cultures.
Vivienne Westwood for example "created” the image which
is now generally considered as
Punk. The Trend dictation of the Old Couture Houses was
over.
Modern
fashion design and
designers
Modern fashion design is roughly divided into two
categories, Haute-Couture, and Ready-to-Wear.A designers
Haute-Couture collection is meant exclusively for private
customers and is custom sized, cut and sewn. To qualify as
an official "haute couture" house, a designer or company
must belong to the Syndical Chamber for Haute Couture, a
Paris-based body of designers governed by the French
Department of Industry that includes American, Italian,
Japanese, and other designers as well. A Haute Couture house
must show collections twice yearly with at least 35 separate
outfits in each show. It is often shown on the catwalk and
in private salons. Ready-to-wear collections are not custom
made. They are standard sized which makes them more suitable
for larger productions. Ready to wear collections can also
be divided into Designers/createur collections and
Confection collections. Designer /
creator collections have a high quality, a superb
finish and a unique cut and design. These collections are
the most trendsetting compared to
Haut Couture and
Confection. Designer /
createurs ready to wear collections contain often
Concept items which represent a certain philosophy or
theory. These items are not so much created for sales but
just to make a statement. The designers ready to wear
collection is also presented on the international catwalks.
Confection collections are the once we see most commonly in
our shops. These collections are designed by Stylists. The
brands that produce these collections aim only for a mass
public and are in general not searching for new grammar for
the language or a new point of view on/of fashion.
Although a lot of the modern fashion designers are still
working in a somewhat "traditional" way- making clothes that
are very fancy and expensive but still look like "normal"
clothing, there have been designers who break these "rules"
over the years, some from the mid-nineties onward, some,
like Japanese designers Yojhi Yamomoto, Comme des Garcons,
and Junya Watanabe from the early eighties to the present,
and some now-deceased designers such as Elsa Schiaparelli,
who worked in the thirties, forties, and fifties. Fine
examples of modern-day "rule breakers" are
Martin Margiela and
Warmenhoven & Venderbos. These designers approach
clothing, Fashion and lifestyle from new angles and explore
also the boundaries of Fashion itself in order to create
"new" concepts and views for Fashion design. Their
collections are not only restricted to garments (ready to
wear as well as couture) and other Fashion related products,
but also contain work in other media. The works of this
breed of designers can also be placed in a certain
Art movement.
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Fashion Industry B2B
Fashion Designers by Country
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Designer Search design service
directory for fashion industry artists to post portfolios so that
clothing companies can learn of their talents and hire them for freelance
design services. The designer search b2b portal is for clothing and
textile design only. |
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