Fashion design

Fashion design is the applied art dedicated to the design of clothing and lifestyle accessories.

History

Origins of Paris fashion

The first person who could really be considered a fashion designer and not merely a dressmaker was Charles Frederick Worth (1826-1895). 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 styles 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. With his unprecedented success, 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 house be not only the creative head but the symbol of the brand as well. (Foreshadowing another contemporary trend, the House of Worth remained in business long after its founder's death in 1895, continuing until Worth's great-grandson closed the house in 1952.)

Related Topics:
Dressmaker - Charles Frederick Worth - Draper - Fashion house - Paris - House of Worth - Brand - 1952

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Worth's former apprentice Paul Poiret opened his own fashion house in 1904, melding the styles of Art Nouveau and aestheic dress with Paris fashion. His early Art Deco creations signalled the demise of the corset from female fashion.

Related Topics:
Paul Poiret - Art Nouveau - Aestheic dress - Art Deco

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Following in Worth's and Poiret's footsteps were: Patou, Vionnet, Fortuny, Lanvin, Chanel, Mainbocher, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, and Dior. Hand in hand with clothing, haute couture accessories evolved internationally with such names as Guccio Gucci, Thierry Hermès, Judith Leiber, and others.

Related Topics:
Patou - Vionnet - Fortuny - Lanvin - Chanel - Mainbocher - Schiaparelli - Balenciaga - Dior - Guccio Gucci - Thierry Hermès - Judith Leiber

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The early twentieth century

Throughout the 1920s and '30s, all high fashion originated in Paris. American and British fashion magazines sent editors to the Paris fashion shows. Department stores sent buyers to the Paris shows, where they purchased garments to copy (and openly stole the style lines and trim details of others). Both made-to-measure salons and ready-to-wear departments featured the latest Paris trends, adapted to the stores' assumptions about the lifestyles and pocket books of American customers.

Related Topics:
Fashion magazines - Fashion show - Department store

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Designer Elizabeth Hawes, in her memoir Fashion is Spinach (1938), describes Paris fashion of this period from the inside, when she worked in Paris for both fashion magazines and department stores.

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Post-War fashion

The fashion houses closed during occupation of Paris during World War II, and several designers including Mainbocher permanently relocated to New York. Paris recovered its primacy in the post-war era with Dior's New Look, but Paris was never the sole arbiter of trends again.

Related Topics:
Mainbocher - New York - Post-war - New Look

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By the early 1960s, celebrities were becoming the new Fashion icons, even though they in turn wore designs from the couturiers of the day: influential "partnerships" of celebrity and high-fashion designer included Audrey Hepburn and Givenchy, and Jackie Kennedy and Oleg Cassini.

Related Topics:
1960s - Celebrities - Fashion icons - Couturier - Audrey Hepburn - Givenchy - Jackie Kennedy - Oleg Cassini

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The rise of British fashion in the mid-sixties and designers such as Mary Quant and Betsey Johnson signalled the end of French dominance. Taking their cue from street fashion, these designers catered to a younger consumer and offered retailers a new source of inspiration. Vivienne Westwood's street-inspired styles "created? the image which is now generally considered as Punk.

Related Topics:
British fashion - Mary Quant - Betsey Johnson - Street fashion - Vivienne Westwood - Punk

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Later, New York designers including Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren raised American sportswear to the level of high fashion.

Related Topics:
Calvin Klein - Ralph Lauren

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The trend dictation of the old couture houses was over.

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