June 12, 2020

One of my most favorite films is Designing Woman with Lauren Bacall.  This is not the Designing Women of TV fame.  This is the 1957 movie with Bacall and Gregory Peck - a cute romantic comedy. 

Bacall first started her career as a model so she knew how to wear clothes and how to wear clothes that didn't so much flatter her, but made them look fun, easy to wear, and always complimentary. 
Designing Woman is from 1957, and it was a time when fashion was dictatorial. 

This was also a time, when a person didn't even consider leaving home without looking appropriate, even after the rules of hat, gloves and matching shoes were relaxed, women and men were well-groomed and always were at least freshened up.   This was beautifully shown in the film, when Marilla (Lauren Bacall) changes into her "business clothes" when they landing in New York. 

Talk about well-groomed - the whole outfit is a complete change from her "vacation clothes" from her purse, shoes, fur, gloves and hat, she has a total look.

From here Marilla has incredible wardrobe as it turns out she's a fashion designer and a very famous New York fashion designer.  And Bacall, knows how to wear the clothes to their best. 

Most of Bacall's gowns are either raglan or dolman as this was a huge fashion because most fashion was waist-accentuated.  Here notice how her figure is very svelte.  Also Bacall, knew the way to show off these waist-accentuated styles was to have your arms free from the side of the body so the waist could be seen.

Here is a super classic silhouette of this era - in case you don't see it, the waist is abnormally thin.  So much so that even Dior padded the hips in his "New Look" outfit.  The waist looks very thin, but it is in comparison to the hips and the flare of the peplum of the jacket, and in that comparison, the waist looks out-of-proportion thin.  This was the illusion that was popular during the late 40s and 50s.

As Bacall walks away from the camera, she looks anything but thin.  The waist band is cinched in abnormally tight leaving the full look of the hips, including the horrid "muffin top" so unpopular in today's fashion trend. 

It's important to know the history here.  Although the waist was thin and cinched in, this was in revolt of the angular and androgynous look of fashion during the 30s and early 40s.  That's where the waist came from.  After World War II, GIs were sent home to marry, have children, and set up household.  That was the dream that they fought for, and that was what everyone believed they wanted.  To that end, wide hips were considered not only healthy for having children, but sexy. 

And again in the still from above in the movie this is a dolman design with a back cross-over look, another fashion trend where there was "back interest". 

The dolman sleeve works in a very limited circumstances.  The first circumstance is to have a very defined and cinched-in waist.  The second circumstance is that it is a first-class rule that if you carry your weight above your waist or on your waist, it is a style to stay away from, no matter how comfy or attractive it may appear on another's body.  The reason is that it simply adds way more fabric to this part of the body, and makes a very difficult body area, even more difficult.

As a matter of fact, I really don't like the olman look at all.  The nature of the sleeve is that it has little if any fitting mechanisms in the design, and you are pretty much left with what you have with no alternatives or choices for fitting.  Yes, it's easy as pie to sew up - often 2 seams in a top or tunic, but that price is paid multiple times in the lack of fitting the design offers.

Today this fashion silhouette (the "muffin top") would be considered horrible and even poorly groomed to have a "muffin top" in our silhouette.  The point is that today we absolutely do have grooming points that matter.  And although many of them have been relaxed the truth is there are still some fashion trends that are hard and fast.  Here are a few

1.  Yoga Pants or Boot-Leg Pants - what makes this fashion trend really  important is that the leg is nipped-in around the upper knee and lower thigh area.  Usually this is a horrible fitting silhouette, but the secret here is not to make the fitting too tight.  As a matter of fact, all this takes is a very little slimming-in and that's all that's required.

2.  The dreaded muffin top mentioned early, which is caused by the waistband of pants too tight, causing the excess body to over flow out of the top of the pant waist band.  This is particularly evident in hipster type pants that hit below the waist.

3.  The waist is lowered.  This is really important to know and realize, cause this is changing.  The waist has been located at about the bellybutton for the last 30 years, and suddenly we will be moving away from that.  When I ask most of my students where their waist is, they almost always tell me it runs across their belly-button.  No it actually doesn't - it runs from just under your lowest rib to right above the highest part of your hip.  It's important to know this cause this is where patterns label the waist, and if you think it's labeling it at the belly button, then fitting is going to be a nightmare. 

4.  The shape has been Androgynous.  That means that there's been little if any accentuation  on the waist or an hour-glass type figure.  That's changing, but you Apples and Rectangles, don't dismay cause 1.) there are all sorts of things you can do to have a "waist-like" look, and 2.) fashion always changes, so it will come back around to you again!

The last one here is more of an understood than something that you can put your finger on, but as strict and unforgiving as the rest of these fashion dictum.  It's that the general appearance is more casual, so much so that it's more careless and disheveled.  That sounds like a slam, but the "bed head" look of hair-styling and un-pressed or un-smooth look is as much a part of this look as the other 4 above. 

So what?  OK this is where we are now.  Who cares and why is it important?  Fashion always changes, and the usual change of fashion is to do the exact opposite of what we've been doing.  The opposite of androgyny is vive la différence;  the opposite of the hip accentuation is the waist accentuation;  the opposite of nipped-in pants are straight pants; the opposite of horrid muffin top is a full-figured hip.  And one of the most important opposites is the bed-head look for well-groomed look.

These other fashion trends require rethinking our silhouette and especially our alteration on our pattern, but the well-groomed look is something that literally costs nothing but a little time and thought to remember to keep ourselves a little more groomed;  a little more finished.  With the addition of a dress or a better-fitted garment, this becomes a lot easier, and looks a lot more together rather than having a sloppy over-sized shirt with a well-cared for make-up and hair do. 

For some inspiration, there's nothing like these older movies to see what a well-groomed look was like.  Even while they are transporting French-resistance leaders away from the Nazis, the grooming is totally intact:

Notice the great-fitting suit, the combed hair, the bracelet and other accessories.  Notice the diagonally cut skirt with the front seam matched perfect.  And the others in the photo - the woman behind Hoagy Carmicheal, the pianist.  She has pearls well-done-up hair, earrings that match the necklace.

And here we are leading a whole Chinese community escaping from the communists, and our hair is in great shape, clean shirt, tucked in, with mirror, brush, comb and all the essentials for staying well-groomed while running from the communists. 

Some of this "being well-groomed" went over-board, but that's how much it was in fashion.  If that was today, Bacall's hair would look more like this:

This is something to consider as we begin to move into other styles.  As people are returning from lock down, more often than not, people are going to want to get out and dress up more.  Staying around in our sweats is relaxing, but it's also a way to put yourself into too much of a casual mood.  Pretty soon waking up at 10 am is fine;  going to bed at 3 am is OK; not meeting deadlines is acceptable;  not putting in a full day's work is the best that can be expected.  As we begin to get back to work and get out, that's going to go by the wayside, as is a more casual and even bed-head look of causal-ness. 

We humans really do love change and thrive on it.  That's why fashion changes, because we humans really love something "different".  It's also fun to watch, and be a little advance of the change.  So now you know how!!!

 
 

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June's Feature Resource

Each month, I'd like to feature a Resource from the SewingArtistry Resource Center.  Sometimes it will be something new.  And this week I wanted to start out with something that you might not necessarily associate with sewing. And while it's a feature Resource for that month, it will be 15% off.

You all know that I think of all of us sewists as artists.  Yeah, yeah, I've heard it before - I'm not an artist.  I take a pattern that's already made and I cut it out according to the directions and then make it up and that's not an artist. 

Oh boy, let me tell you what.  There are so many artistic activities in that "not an artist" process that it's amazing.  Let's count them real quick:
1.) The Pattern:  What do you think happens when you start with a pattern?  The first thing is to customize it for your shape, size and style.  This is a basic design and artistic technique.   
2.)  The Fabric:  Yes the pattern envelope gives you ideas  on fabric but doesn't say exactly what to purchase.  You choose the fabric.  This is a major - let me say that again a MAJOR design decision.
3.)  The Buttons:  You choose the buttons for the pattern - another MAJOR design decision (read #2 over again).
4.)  The Notions:  You choose the notions for the design.  The interfacing, thread color, zipper color, length, type (invisible, exposed, lapped, etc.) and these are all again major design decisions in the garment.

But here's the thing;  what's the difference between these two dresses?

Why does one of them look right and the other just misses it?  You can tell that one is right and the other isn't, but you may not know why?  If you don't know why, then how are you going to know how to fix it. 

Here's another one:


Yes, we all know that this makes Kate Winslet look very thin and curvy, but why?  Exactly what did the designer use to make Ms. Winslet look busty when she's really not that busty?



This one might be a little harder but you certainly know that one looks better than the other.

They are both neat outfits, and there's nothing wrong with either of them, but one looks a little better.  It snaps out while the other one looks plain and rather blah.  What happen here that made that snap happen?  How can you apply that to your garments?




That's what this resource is all about with specific examples for all the aspects of design.  These are known as the Elements (parts) and Principles (Techniques) of Design.  They aren't that hard to know and you really don't have to memorize these.  But what's empowering here is to know that they exist, so that if something is off with your garment, you can refer to this and take it apart and see what's going on.  The more you use these techniques, the more you will feel comfy using it.  At first, it's going to seem very foreign, but having this resource on your computer always available for reference can be a very valuable tool for your creative designs. 

There are 2 versions: 

The Elements and Principles of Design is located here

This is the basics of the Elements and Principles with a basic Color section.  This will give you the basics of design with a brief color section.  This includes videos and additional downloads within the document. 

The Elements and Principles of Design with Color is located here.

This is the Elements, Principles and Color section on steroids.  It has a complete Color section that goes into detail about not only how to look at color a completely different way, but a great guide for how to purchase color at online fabric stores and feel that you know what color you are getting. 

Both are 15% off for the month of June as the feature Resource for this month. 
 

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