Essay Research - China takes over the world

The Chinese economy is renowned for mimicking the west, whether it’s their knock off Gucci or their need for western equal sports. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility to suggest that they, in time, will produce their own Haute Couture, after all they have the talent don't they?

China's Super Football League is currently employing prestigious premier league and Spanish league players from Africa to commit to improving their league. They want a league that equals the UEFA or the FA, and they are prepared to throw whatever it takes to achieve this, money is no object. David Beckham has just been made the Ambassador for the Chinese Super League

Chinese Super League Hires Beckham as Ambassador

March 6, 2013By John Duerden

http://thediplomat.com/sport-culture/2013/03/06/chinese-super-league-hires-beckham-as-ambassador/

Didier Drogba left newly-crowned European champions Chelsea for Shanghai Shenhua 

Frederic Kanoute, who signed a two-year contract with Beijing Guoan, having left iSpanish side Sevilla.

They have now been joined by Kanoute's compatriot, Seydou Keita, who has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Dalian Aerbin, after winning 14 trophies with Spanish giants Barcelona

The Chinese multi millionaire football club owners are employing football stars that have mastered their craft at the world’s highest acclaimed clubs. This can only raise the Chinese Super Leagues profile, they can evolve their game to match the FA.. They have used this business model on other areas of their economy, so why not fashion and why not Couture?

The Chinese Football league have employed british and european trained stars to encourage their players. This is in the hope that the chinese football league profile will be raised in line with the FA or the UEFA football leagues

Essay Research - collaborations and beyond

Fast fashion has made waves and continues to evolve along side society and civilisation; it’s had break-through’s in fashion that should not go unnoticed, high end fashion designers that are celebrated world over have collaborated with high street chains to make designer fashion affordable fashion.

Everyone could justifiable own a piece of actual designer fashion, not the lipsticks and perfumes that the couture shows suggest is a little piece of couture, but real designer fashions. With H&M leading the way with Versace, Lagerfeld and LAnvin  collaborated and Topshop teaming up with Mary Katrantzou, Jean Paul Gaultier creating swimwear for La Perla, and Olivia Rubin doing her thing at Dorothy Perkins

http://www.beachtomato.com/fashion/designer-collaborations-2012-fashion/#.UT83HKKeOSo

By Katie Yiannakis

2012 DESIGNER COLLABORATIONS

Although this concept isn’t an old one, this is the idea used when the couture houses first produced ready-to-wear collections in the 1960’s, and this is an area of the business that still seams to be thriving. But we do have to consider cost for one moment

How cheap can you make it? If it is about being less expensive – who can make clothes in a responsible manner?

The New York Times

Is Fashion going out of fashion?

By Suzy Menkes

Sunday September 21^st 2006

Unfortunately for most people the answer is probably no, and this is an area that Couture prides itself on, making sure that they are paying their skilled workers a good wage, but then at the prices they charge, they can afford to can’t they? Well if you believe the media, when they declare couture houses going into receivership such as the like of Christian Lacroix then maybe they can not afford to be so generous and maybe it does not matter how much you pay for your wardrobe, either the business can not afford to sustain a business like couture or it can not be responsible with a business like fast fashion.

The Couture houses declare that their business isn’t about making money out of their collections, rather that they are just a lost leader that gains its revenue from sales of make-up and perfume with the couture houses name branded on the side. This however seems to be no reason to pin millions of money on when we have the likes of esigners that have never produced couture and yet sell perfume without worry, such as Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen and Anna Sui

S. Menkes 21^st Sept 2008

Colin’s Column – Is Haute Couture Poised for Reinvention or Irrelevance

Colin McDowell

22^nd January 2013

So Couture has a new market, Middle East and Asia, a market that still speaks their language

Essay Research - China

Reading an article written in the Telegraph on 11^th July by William Langley, called Haute couture: Making a loss is the height of fashion.

He says of Couture that on the one side are those who say that the business will die if it doesn’t change. On the other hand are those who say it will die if it does not.

If everything around the art of couture changes, including the market itself, then it only makes sense that the art itself will need to adapt, change is survival, it pivots on wealthy people but if the wealthy people change then the product needs to grow into something that keeps its roots and identity but reflects the demographic it caters to.

He writes that even the head of Yves Saint Laurent has been made to understand that ‘You can see it dropping dead all around you, and that nobody buys it anymore. And that it is out of date and out of time. It could be understood that Couture has not relevance in an ever changing world, the young rich want something different, something easy to wear and fun, this maybe because the female role is a completely different role that that of the 1950’, women are not the homemakers like they were in the fifties, they do not just stay home and arrange charity balls and social events, they have key roles within the ‘real world’, they are business women in their own right. Its also interesting to learn that the reason the business isn’t laying dead in a gutter somewhere is that ‘Asia’s new wealth has slowed the decline without arresting it’ this could suggest that the new rich whose societies and cultures have, what we would refer to as a more dated view on the female role, one that is similar to the view we had when the couture business was thriving in Europe.

Author: Barbara Watson Andaya

http://asiasociety.org/countries/traditions/women-southeast-asia?page=0,1

12^th March 2013

It has been documented in China that ‘entrenched attitudes that see women’s primary role as that of wife and mother. Gender stereotypes that favour males over females are often reinforced in school textbooks and are sometimes encouraged by religious teachings.’ Which supports these thoughts, but this view is being challenged with their ever growing economy and political progress

http://www.fairobserver.com/360theme/role-women-chin

The Role of Women in China

10 AUGUST 2012

KIRA O'SULLIVAN

The rapid development of China has shifted the issues faced by women, and many are now beginning to scrutinize their role within society, the economy and politics.

You may have to question just how long will couture’s new audience require such elaborate costume fashion, when will they start desiring easier to wear clothes in the same way the European wealth has evolved.

Essay Research - Celebrity Fashion V Haute Couture

As long as there is the demand for cheap, mass-produced, “stylish” products it will continue to be a booming market strategy. In this situation, the consumers can control the outcome. 

Written by: Norae Shakur

MARCH 12, 2013

Fast Fashion: The Hidden Costs of “Affordable” Style

http://fashionbi.com/newspaper/fast-fashion-the-hidden-costs-of-affordable-style

so maybe its not something that is controlled by fashion, maybe fast fashion is a demand that everybody has for mimicking the rich, if you can’t afford to buy the dress that that A list star is wearing on the red carpet then perhaps you can style your own with the help of the high street and with Kate Middleton being named ‘high street fashion queen’ and being reported to wear high street brand, maybe its not the high street that needs to worry about where their next sale is coming from but in fact couture that may well have been where a princess would have bought her clothes in a decade not too far gone by. Now in these struggling financial times, even royalty is thinking about the image they are portraying and that would mean not wearing opulent clothes that could never be afforded by the masses and showing a little empathy with the common man. Wearing clothes from high street stores such as Topshop, increases sales for the high street and makes celebrity fashion, affordable fashion. This is something that can not be achieved by couture, even with the promise of a little piece of couture within a perfume or cosmetic purchase. Maybe this little carrot isn’t enough for the ‘common man’ anymore and celebrities such as Kate Middleton and http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kate-middleton-beats-cheryl-cole-186706 rihanna wearing river island denim, whilst championing our high street are also powerfully allowing everyone to wear high fashion items at a fraction of the high designer prices.

By Alice Watt Posted: Thursday 12 April 2012

http://www.elleuk.com/star-style/celebrity-fashion-trends/high-street#image=1

The Duchess of Cambridge wore McQueen for her wedding, but has also worn outfits from high street names including Joseph, Reiss and Whistles for official engagements and the royal tour of Canada

By Mirror.co.uk

Kate Middleton beats Cheryl Cole to be named high street fashion queen

13 Sep 2011 15:49

Kate Middleton has been voted the queen of high street fashion ahead of singer Cheryl Cole

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kate-middleton-beats-cheryl-cole-186706

Essay Research - The cost of affordable fashion

MARCH 12, 2013

Fast Fashion: The Hidden Costs of “Affordable” Style

http://fashionbi.com/newspaper/fast-fashion-the-hidden-costs-of-affordable-style

Written by: Norae Shakur

Today’s consumers see “fast fashion” simply as an affordable alternative to high-end designer garments. Some large retailers are even able to mass produce copy-cats of runway fashions and distribute them to the public in a matter of weeks. However, many of these products are cheaply made, ill-fitting, and may fall apart within a few washes.

But when you regard fashion as FAST then that is what you expect and maybe the fact that it will not be around in a few months doesn’t bother you overly as it will no longer require space in your wardrobe then. Fashion would have moved on and you would have to use its space with the new trend you will purchase in order to still consider yourself as fashionable.

Fast fashion: Is the party over?

For low end retailers, sales are down and returns are up, while the mid market and eco brands continue to grow.

BY BELINDA WHITE | 08 APRIL 2011

http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG8438891/Fast-fashion-Is-the-party-over.html

Studies suggest that fast fashion is dying out and people are now starting to taker an interest in investment pieces. People are linking eco-brand with quality, if the producer of the clothing cares about where it came from and who made it, well it’s a natural link to suggest that they also care how they are made and that they are made well.

significant uplift in sales of 'mid range' fashion brands such as Urban Outfitters and My-Wardrobe.com , where the average consumer spend has risen by 8.03 per cent year-on-year on pricier items.

But to many these may still be out of their budget and they are far from Couture.

With companies like H&M and Zara starting to feel the crunch of the European financial recession and seeing sales dropping over the past year, it may not be that fast fashion is dying, but only suffering as all fashion is experiencing the tightening of belts during these austere times,

Debt crisis and rising unemployment has dampened consumer morale, suggests that the lapse in fast fashions reign is perhaps a momentary thing and that the dip in sales is just that, a dip and not a new emerging trend that is here to stay.

Burberry feeling it too – Burberry beat forecasts 9% rise in revenue – still not immune to Europe’s woes… less growth in us Asia and emerging markets failed to offset the weaker ones

Daily Digit: H&M sales

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/video/video-hm-sales-drop-again/article7354308/

Reuters

Published Tuesday, Jan. 15 2013, 9:53 AM EST

Essay Research - Galliano Interview

In 2002 galliano decided that he was going to take Dior Couture House in to the 21^st century, kicking and screaming, if need be. The old era of couture needed updating and some of the older, dustier ideas needed putting to sleep. Galliano believed that Couture needed and indeed had the potential to evolve in what was then the modern MTV generation of society.

Interview Transcripts

BY SHOWSTUDIO ON 2 MARCH 2002

Transcript of John Galliano's interview on 'Past, Present Couture' with Colin McDowell

http://showstudio.com/project/past_present_couture/interview_transcripts

This new couture has been happening, which has really started as well with people like Mr Arnault putting younger designers in these houses, or Jean Paul Gaultier who started a couture line. Thierry Mugler was even mixing couture and prêt-a-porter together, so it does have relevance today. 

Galliano believed that the couture house was there to inspire the other houses under the Dior umbrella, so maybe some of the designers rely on their couture collection to inspire their ready-to-wear collection and perhaps without the couture journey the others roads will not be taken and the other collections could not and would not be as inspirational as they are.

 Galliano, J (2002). Transcript of John Galliano's interview on 'Past, Present Couture' with Colin McDowel. Available at:"http://showstudio.com/project/past_present_couture/interview_transcripts" (Accessed:20 March 2013)

Essay Research - The LOOK

BBC The LOOK - Material World on Vimeo

Lacroix said he loved the accidental errors that can happen when producing garments entirely by hand. it makes the piece more magical more organic and more individual. The practice of one off pieces does not help to support the cottage industries that produce the painstakingly hand made fabrics the fact that only one or two will ever be made and that next season that crafted fabrics style will no longer be on trend means that the companies that produce these exquisite fabrics may not be financially supported enough to carry through to the new decade. History is forgotten and fashion has moved on.

Fabric adds to the movement of the body, it needs to compliment the movement and add to. The starting point for design should be the body.

Fashion design should suit everyone but be challenging.  Issey miyake and his fabric designer believe this and it shows within his designs. Clothes that are practical yet revolutionary. He uses his couture background and education to produce clothes that are easy to wear without forgetting the craftsmanship and the art. Practical art.

Essay Research - Couture has a new market

I have been thinking about my essay and how it will map out.

I created a mind map of areas it could cover so that I could gain direction.

I then remembered a quote from Colin McDowell
McDowell, C (2013). Colin’s Column | Is Haute Couture Poised for Reinvention or Irrelevance? Available at: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2013/01/colins-column-is-haute-couture-poised-for-reinvention-or-irrelevance-3.html (Accessed: 25 January 2013)
he writes:


I then remembered a quote from Colin McDowell,  McDowell writes ‘new markets, especially in Asia and the Middle East, began to develop and they craved the traditional excess of Parisian haute couture’ and in addition ‘especially China, has a longing for couture’ (McDowell, 2013).

This got me thinking, and I had a conversation with my husband, discussing the possibilities of a new couture in China. He lead me to research this area more thoroughly  as China is buying skills and knowledge within the sports industry and he explained how they are buying european trained players and coaches, in order to teach their own players the skills needed to get to the top of their field in no time at all. He suggested it was not beyond the realms of possibility that they do the same with Haute Couture. How long would China be buying and showing an interest in Haute Couture before they have taken the items to pieces, worked out how they are constructed and create their own versions?

I also thought about how high street fashion has incorporated designer fashions with collaborations and how this seems to be leading high street fashion with celebrities wearing high street and designers using high street shops, perhaps this is where the money in fashion lies.

Two areas to research further

Essay Research - The Independent - Debate: Is fashion a con?

Reading an article in the Independent regarding the purpose of fashion and Sherwood and Vee suggest that Fashion is an Artform, which is something I agree with, and that it speaks volumes about modern culture.
This made me think of what Couture speaks of modern culture and whether anyone is still speaking the same language as Couture does.
Sherwood and Vee also suggest that Fashion is fed by contemporary culture.
Perhaps they are suggesting that fashion is no longer a direct result of Haute Couture but has a life of its own, and no longer lives in the shadow of Haute Couture, awaiting its next move before it decides what is and what isn't deemed as fashionable anymore.
Sherwood and Vee go on to say that Fashion is, in fact, the most accurate litmus test of the now.
Fashion is now and can not by its own definition be an investment for the future, what is now can not reflect what is yet to come

TAKE A walk down the high street, follow it up with a round trip of designer shops, and flick through a glossy mag en route. And there you have it, the sum total of fashion freedom: grey, long, hoods, pleats, dashes of red and Mary Jane shoes.

This time six months ago, when the autumn/winter catwalk reports filled the column inches, all the above were touted as revolutionary. Now that even Top Shop has copied the Marc Jacobs pleated skirt for less than a night out, it all amounts to a uniform. They might as well dish it out to us, price it according to our means, and save us the trawl.

Sherwood and Vee seem to think that the high street only offers a uniform of similar items to everyone and that choice is not an option when it comes to fast fashion or high street trends. I would argue that this is far from the truth. High street fashion allows you to pick and choose which trends and items you wish to follow, it allows for the mix and match of items, last years sale items with this years key pieces and freedom to decorate how you wish, perhaps it is actually Couture that is a uniform? Couture has to be worn as intended. Its all about the dress and not the wearer, is this not the ultimate uniform? When the person inside becomes invisible and all you see is the branded outfit they are wearing?

The Independent
Debate: Is fashion a culteral force to be reckoned with, or just a sophisticated con?
James Sherwook & Lorna Vee
27th Sept 1998
infoweb.newsbank.com

Essay Research

Reading an article on Haute Couture and its possible decline
Champ highlights that manufacturing and print technologies are rapidly changing. I think this is an example of how it is important for Couture to develop in order to stay ahead of the changing technologies.
Champ also states that Couture feels the need to justify the prices with dense embellishment and complex construction  But I would question what it is that makes handmade better made?

Whither haute couture? Cracks show at Paris Week
Gemma Champ
July 10th 2011
The National
http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/whither-haute-couture-cracks-show-at-paris-fashion-week

Essay research

Today I read an article on Haute Couture written by Colin McDowell, renowned British fashion journalist and academic.
McDowell suggests that Haute couture is out of touch with the lives and attitudes of most women to such an extent that they hardly noticed the couture shows any more than the media did.
I think that he is suggesting that couture has lost its way from the modern woman and as the couture customer became extinct so did couture itself.
He also goes further to explain that new markets, especially in Asia and the Middle East, are now showing an interest in Haute Couture. This could mean that Couture has found a new market and that this new market still likes the old couture suggesting that couture may not have a need to evolve just yet.
McDowell also questions the relevance of Couture
 to the modern woman, who ever she is, but that in itself is a question that needs answering, is there a new woman that buys fashion and who is she?
McDowell also discusses whether there is new couture, something that is everything couture should be. couture in everything but its name. McDowell explains that John Galliano and Oscar De La Renta may be joining forces and with each other and this could spark off a new form of couture  he also debates the reality of Haute Couture  how authentically French is Haute Couture and whether Coutures new Asian interest could sponsor their own couture houses.
If the skills and techniques used are Haute Couture then what is location. Does it have to be made in France to be of the same quality or same standard. If in fact not all the people who work on true Haute Couture are in fact French themselves.
McDowell also questions if this is at all a bad thing, after all competition spurs excellence and quality.
Furthermore, McDowell explains how Couture is evolving without its own knowledge, with the young people working in the ateliers as designers, cutters and all other functions needed to create haute couture. Far from being lost in translation as couture expands to other cities and a new generation of fashion talents, the skills  knowledge and inspiration that real haute couture demands could be gloriously reinvented.

What brilliance to rejoice in the evolution of fashion at all levels including the most untouched, couture. Haute Couture is becoming universal, and transcends nations, without moving, for now at least

Colin's Column
Is Haute Couture Poised for Reinvention of Irrelevance?
Business of Fashion
22nd Jan 2013
http://www.businessoffashion.com/2013/01/colins-column-is-haute-couture-poised-for-reinvention-or-irrelevance-3.html

Major Project - Portfolio and essay

I have had a thought about time management and I know that my strengths lay within the making process, but more importantly my weaknesses are in my journal and essay writing and portfolio presentation.
Portfolio
After I had a one-to-one with Maria, regarding feedback and explanation for the grading of my professional practice unit, I understand what I need to improve my portfolio mark for my major project unit, I know that  find it difficult to add what is needed. Maria said that I need to add some free hand to my portfolio sheet as doing it all on illustrator and photoshop is not enough, it leave the illustrations looking too flat. Now I like them and I enjoy working on the computer using these packages, but in order to improve my mark I will need to adjust my view and do what is needed. For this reason I will require extra time at the end and before hand in to make adjustments to my portfolio and to create my major project final sheets.
Essay
I know that I struggle with grammar, syntax, tense and I tend to have very long sentences. I need to find a way to overcome this hurdle. I have decided to ask friends that have strengths in these areas to read through my essay once written and give me feedback.

Major Project - Trousers and tshirt

I have amended the pattern for the trousers, cut them out and sewn them together, I think they look really nice but I do need to add some stitches at the bottom of the fly opening area to secure the opening and the finish. I have added poppers to the opening to fasten, and added a origami applique to cover the popper stitching on the front.
The t-shirt has also been finished and has gone together very well.
I know that my strengths lay within in pattern drafting and construction. I am fast on the sewing machine and I have a very sound knowledge of construction. I see things in 3D in my head so I have little trouble working out how things will go together and I can easily see how flat patterns will be made from the 3D image in my head. For these reason I also know that I will need to concentrate my time on my journal writing and my portfolio.

Major Project - Long dress

I have made a paper origami to ensure that the sizing of this structure is correct.
I tried two and had to adapt them so that the final one fits as pictured.
I also had to add starch and interfacing on both front and back origami structures to ensure there was enough structure within the garment. I decided to bag out each structure to help with the stiffness of the overall outfit.

Major Project - long dress

I have made my drafted pattern and my toile, this outfit I left to the end as I believed it was the easiest one of the four, I am happy i did so as It was quite easy to draft the pattern, I will need to make sure I have enough fabric to fulfil with pattern as it will require a wide pattern that includes the sleeve as there are no seams just side seams.
I have also had a think about the bottom of the dress. My initial design showed a lot of fabric at the bottom, the was wider than the area the the dress first hits the floor, this would require the fabric being made larger at the point of weaving the fabric, I am not fortunate enough to be able to weave my fabric, so I needed to come up with an alternative design that stayed true to my original.
I have decided to have a slit up each side starting at the thigh, the front panel will then stop at the point it hits the floor. the back will become wider from the point it leave the front and will hit the floor and continue to lay on the floor for about half a metre, this will give the volume I wanted without compromising the wearers steps and keeps true to the original design.
I need to also think about the large origami at the front and back. These can not be attached directly to the dress and the weight of the cotton origami will be too much for the jersey dress fabric.
It would make much more sense to build the origami structure as a separate piece, like and over skirt, perhaps hooking together the front and back pieces with hook and eyes at the sides and using this fastening as the anchor that keeps the structure secure at the hip.

Major Project - short dress

I have now attached all of the budellini, but it is not hanging right at all, and this does not translate on photo. The budellini style piping appears to be too short, I measured and re-measured but it appears too narrow.
I need to think how to improve this so that my collection isn't compromised.
The dress is quite wide at the bottom so after thinking about it I have decided to undo the side seams and make the front of the dress pattern slightly narrower from the hip down so that it is the same as the piping.
After I did this the dress looked much better.
Finally i decided to hand stitch all of the twists and weaves in place so that they do not slip and contort the dress.
The overall appearance is much better. I am happier now as this was something that was stressing me slightly, I am now free to stress over something else, like my portfolio.

Major Project - Short Dress

I have put the dress together in the final fabric and it is looking good, now I need to decide how to add the Budellini styled detail at the bottom of the dress. I have added piping to the side seam and the centre front. this should add to stabilize the dress once the budellini is attached.
I think I will add a few to the front of the dress at the bottom first then let them cascade off the dress as it goes down.

Major Project - waistcoat and skirt

Today I have made the waistcoat.  I have put it on the mannequin with the skirt and I am very happy. The outfit works well but I now need to work out the size required for the origami for the skirt. I have only so much fabric left and I want to be able to make the origami for the long dress too. I need to be careful how much I use without compromising the overall look.

I will take the waistcoat into university and ask for feedback from peers before I commit to positioning of origami applique.

Major Project - waistcoat and skirt

I have cut out and made the skirt and I am very happy with it. I do need to keep in mind that the waistcoat and skirt are an outfit so I must keep putting them on the mannequin to ensure they maintain a balance.

Because of this I have decided to keep the back of the skirt simple.

I could add applique or buttons or design detail, but as the waistcoat drops quite low at the back of the skirt I need to make sure it is not hiding key details or losing the story.

The skirt will have press studs to secure on the body, and this will hep maintain clean lines at the back.

Major Project - waistcoat and skirt

Been working on ideas for the back of the waistcoat and I think I will use three layers, like columns and turn up the corners to reflect the folding edges of the origami. I have also decided that the origami on the front of the skirt will also be a pocket.