2-4 times a year designers turn out a collection – group of clothes designed or produced for a specific season – 50-70 items

1. Fashion & Interior Design
Hype Fashion

2. The Role of Fashion Designers
 Work at different levels
 Some national & world recognition
 Others assist high level designers or work
with existing designs
 Specialization is common – swimwear,
lingerie, bridal gowns, children’s clothing
 Must be aware of target market

3. High Fashion Designers – “Name
Designers”
 Influential in establishing fashionable looks for a
season
 Some own their own firm or financed by partners
 The companies of high-fashion designers are
called Fashion Houses
 Some have special style or look – RL – Classic,
Hilfiger, Casual, street smart

4. Collections
 2-4 times a year designers turn out a collection
– group of clothes designed or produced for a
specific season – 50-70 items
 Different collections for different customers –
women, men, etc.
 May also have different price range – designer,
better, moderate
 Top designers – responsible for most of the
company’s creative decisions

5.  Search for new ideas, design garments,
choose fabric & colors & establish an
image, set prices, meet with buyers &
clients & promote the fashions
 Approve the licenses of other products
that are sold under their name

6. Apparel Industry Designers
 Most don’t have name recognition
 Work for garment manufacturers that
provide clothing for a brand or store label
 Do create original designs

7. Stylists
 Adapt designs created by others, often High
Fashion Designers
 By adapting – produce less expensive versions
– Knock Offs –
 Choose less expensive fabric & change some
details
 Must understand
- garment construction
- Manufacturing Process
- Firms production capabilities
- Work closely with buyers of major stores

8. Freelance Designers
 Work independently selling original
designs or adaptations
 Self-employed – not involved in
manufacturers business decisions

9. Business of Designing
 Create hundreds of styles – most never
make it to store
 “A Designer is only as good as his last
collection” – customer makes the final
decision
 Success once depended on high prices –
not inexpensive – just as fashionable –
mix & match – exp. With less exp.

10. The Design Process
 Step 1 Idea
 Art exhibits, theater productions, movies,
newspapers, magazines, travel, ethnicity
 New fabrics, textures, patterns, prints –
trims, fasteners

11. Step 2 - Sketching
 Makes a sketch – very rough with little
detail – some drawn on body silhouette –
may add color
 Croquis (Kro-KEY) – preliminary sketch as
it is developed it begins to get details –
yokes, pockets, collars, etc.

12. Step 3 - Draping
 Some do instead of sketching
 Draping – arranging fabric into graceful
folds & attractive lines. Some use live
models
 See silhouette, proportion, details longer
than sketching

13. Step 4 – Selecting Fabric & Trims
 Swatch of fabric & trim is attached to each
design sketch

14. Step 5 – Making Sample
Garments
 Develop Pattern
 Sloper – preliminary pattern is made which
fits a certain body shape
 Pattern is made – sewn together – tried
out - revised

15. Designer Collections
 Were specifically made for clients
 Couture (Koo-TOOR) – french word for
dressmaking – designing, making & selling of
high fashion clothing
 Haute Couture (oht koo-TOOR) – High Fashion
– most fashionable, expensive & exclusive
designer clothing – Cost thousands of dollars
 Atelier – designers workroom - hand sewing
 Fabrics – finest available, sometimes one of a
kind or created exclusively for the designer –
very few people can afford

16. Fashion Babies
 1700’s dolls dressed in detailed copies of Queen
Marie Antoinette’s latest clothes
 Dressmakers in London used dolls to duplicate
the style, fabric & construction details
 Couturier- designers who make custom made
clothing – copied the idea & sent dolls to copy –
was popular until newspapers & fashion
magazines

17. Charles Worth - 1845
 1st Designer to present gowns on live
models
 1st Designer to sell samples to US to be
copied
 1st to market perfume under his own name
 Father of Haute Couture

18. Fashion Capitals
 Paris – significant fashion always started
in Paris until the end of WWII
 US started using more American
Designers and started having an influence
on other countries

19. Fashion Shows
 2 times a year
 July – Fall/Winter
 January – Spring/Summer
 Paris, NY, Milan – High Fashion
Designers
 Collections – London, Tokyo, Montreal

20. Designer Ready to Wear
 US started
 Pret-a-Porter – Deluxe ready to wear – French
couture house present 2 collections a year
 More practical – not as expensive – fabrics not
as unique – no hand sewing
 Sold in Major dept. Stores
 Top designers in NY, Milan, etc. hold showings
as well – retailers come

21. Licensing
 Giving legal permission to use your name
to promote a product
 Receive a royalty - % of profits
 Licensing of moderately priced items has
enabled more customers to buy designer
products