University of Fashion

There are many industry hands which go into the production of a large fashion design company as well as into individual garments themselves.  Each relationship you build along the way to production is necessary to achieve design and business goals.  These important connections many are oft overlooked by fashion students, instructors, merchandisers, and entrepreneurs alike, leaving gaps in what would otherwise be a strong clean chain of stitches.  Connections of importance range from choice of  education, to textile supply, to models, to location of sale, and all relationships in-between.  Who you make a point of knowing -even if they don’t know you- will be essential to the business or product you create, and the connections you make are critical to the proper functioning and success of a design business, and of the fashion industry in it’s entirety.

Fashion Ave: New York City Garment District

We at the University of Fashion strive to inform and educate current and aspiring fashion afficianados concerning all aspects of the design world, and thus will be presenting multiple modules in a ‘Fashion Connection’ collection of videos in regard to seeking, creating, maintaining, and fully utilizing the relationships you build within the industry.  The following are a few of the topics and segments to be covered in the library.

Click here to watch our Fashion Connections Trailer

• Fashion Lectures – Fashion industry professionals and fashion college professors will lecture on an assortment of essential topics such as textiles and yarn production, the history of fashion,  how to choose and pad a dress form and other relevant fashion topics. Authors of fashion books and articles will discuss their research and work, and fashion models, designers, and industry pros will discuss their fashion beginnings, journeys, and other relevant business and design topics.

Jill Ralston-Fabulous Fit Dress Forms

• Fashion Locations - We will offer tours of various high profile factories and designer showrooms and ateliers, and will interview the owners to get the real insider info on large and small scale production facilities and facilitators.   We will also connect will small scale artisans and true craftsmen to provide a detailed look inside the worlds of the constructionists themselves. We will cover seasonal runway trends, and will also cover consumer and street fashion trends in various cities and at universities around the world.

Mood Designer Fabrics in New York

• Fashion Leaders- This segment will expose viewers to the best fashion industry designers and suppliers.  Each supplier or product designer will introduce the viewer to their product line, specialty items, and tricks of the trade, as well as updates on what’s new and what’s hot within their industry niche.  Companies supplying fabrics, trimmings, dress forms, tools, supplies, sewing machines as well as fashion schools, color and trend services and other industry news leaders will be providing the best, most up-to-date, insider knowledge in the field.  What more could we ask for!
  

  Jeanette Nostra-President Andrew Marc

Let the University of Fashion take you into the heart of the fashion industry. Go behind the scenes at showrooms, design rooms, fashion shows,fabric and trim suppliers and even into college classrooms to find out what the fashion “insider” sees.

Fashionably Yours,

Liz

Social Media Director, University of Fashion

Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects by making stitches with a needle and thread.  It is the fundamental process underlying a variety of textile arts and crafts, including embroidery, tapestry, quilting, appliqué, patchwork, and couture techniques.  Sewing is also one of the worlds oldest art forms.

How to Sew in a Standard Zipper

At the University of Fashion, in our efforts to secure the presence of the art of sewing for future generations, and to share the craft of sewing with you, we have assembled many extremely skilled and unique teachers and artisans.  We hope to bring the nuances of the sewing craft to you, so that you can better educate yourself and others.

Among the great sewing tutorials to be offered at the University of Fashion will be beginning lessons ranging from from how to choose the right size needle for a particular fabric, to setting various types of zippers, and pocket construction and applications.   Among our intermediate and advanced lessons you will find ‘toile’ construction, couture lace applique techniques and the most amazing flower design lessons. We teach  various seam finishes, and garment construction techniques, as well as the tricks and techniques needed to sew leather garments taught by an expert with 20 years experience working at the largest leather manufacturer in the country. Our instructors hail from fashion design schools such as FIT and Parsons, and many more from the world of couture! We even have a corset expert from the theater department at Stanford University.

Watch our sewing trailer and see a bit of what’s to come from the pros at the University of Fashion….

Fashionably Yours,

Liz

Social Media Director, University of Fashion

The University of Fashion is thrilled to introduce ‘Product Development’ as one of the five disciplines of design to be covered in the launch of the U of F design library.  In addition to lessons on draping, fashion drawing, sewing, and patternmaking, we want to prepare you for production from flat sketching, to garment specing, to creating a tech pack.  Here is a bit of background information and a peek at our ‘Product Development’ videos.

Product Development is generally known as the process of working with the design team  to produce product from concept to creation.  Developers are responsible for working directly with stores or with the design staff on conceptualizing the item or line; in the fashion realm, this process begins approximately one year in advance of the season for which the merchandise will be sold at retail.  The Production Manager oversees the entire process and scheduling of all garment manufacturing operations, and also directs production assistants in the purchasing of trims and piece goods, monitors inventory, prepares cutting tickets, and maintains production records.  The production team, made up of design directors, merchandisers, textile and color specialists will begin researching  predicted colors, textiles, prints, and trends for the upcoming season.  The team will attend trade shows and will follow trend directions from Europe, America, and Asia, compile their findings, and report back to the design house.

Once information is gathered, concept or theme boards are created establishing the design direction for that season. The Product Developer makes a presentation to the product merchandisers or to the sales team.  Samples of the collection or “tech packs” are then created and sent to factories.  Tech packs include the original sketch with a technical ‘flat’ drawing, also providing specifics of fabric, color, trims, size specifications, and any other essential design details. Target prices are agreed to, and the appropriate fabric mill and sewing contractor are chosen. The Product Developer is now responsible for production scheduling and flow, quality control, final costing, wholesale pricing, and meeting delivery due dates.

When samples have been sewn, and fit to a model, more editing takes place before production patterns are executed, labor and material prices are finalized, fabric and manufacturing contracts are signed, and cutting tickets are written.  From here, the Product Development Manager oversees market introduction, explores opportunities for product extensions, works with the sales force and key customers, and monitors inventory.

These jobs are intense, especially when you consider the organization required to produce different collections as the seasons overlap in production schedules.  The University of Fashion will be bringing to you modules covering the areas of flat sketching, specing and creating tech packs. to aid in the development of your work!

Watch the trailer for a hint of what’s to come….

Fashionably Yours,

Liz

Social Media Director, University of Fashion

The Art of Patternmaking

As we get ready to beta launch the University of Fashion website later this month, we thought we’d give you a little educational background on the discipline of pattern making. At the University of Fashion, our mission is to inspire the designer in you with our instructional fashion how-to videos professionally produced and taught by fashion industry pros and fashion college professors!

The third section of instructional films to be offered at The University of Fashion will be Patternmaking!

A pattern is a two-dimensional diagram of a garment drafted by a patternmaker which is subsequently cut and sewn in fabric to make a garment. The ability to take  a two-dimensional design idea on a garment sketch, and to then calculate and execute said details of the pattern to create the garment on a three-dimensional human form, are traits looked for in a skilled pattern maker.  Sewing and construction skills, as well as alterations and tailoring knowledge, is drawn upon readily in patternmaking, thus patternmakers are vital to any fashion or garment industry.  According to the Sterlacci & Arbuckle Historical Dictionary of the Fashion Industry, ‘The history of pattemmaking can be traced as far back as the thirteenth century concurrent with the introduction of form-fitting clothing. Tailors and dressmakers authored guides on how to cut and sew men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing, and guilds were formed…offering apprentices the opportunity to learn techniques of the trade. By the late 1770s, publications such as Garasault’s Descriptions des Arts et Metiers , Diderot’s Encyclopedie Diderot et D’Alembert: Arts de l’Habillement, and American publication The Tailor’s lnstructor by Queen and Lapsiey contained pattern drafts for the professional tailor, as well as the home dressmaker”

During the early 1850s, Godey’s Ladys Book and Petersen’s Magazine began promoting small pattern diagrams of new clothing styles, and later offered Mme. Demorest’s full-scale patterns through mail order. Butterick & Company, incorporated in 1863, offered its patterns in a full range of sizes, followed by McCall’s, Vogue, and Simplicity. Patents were issued that included solutions for properly identifying pattern pieces.  The most comprehensive solution patented by Hannah G. Millard in 1920.  Her “Dressmaker’s Pattern Outfit” instructed pattern users…with an accompanying step-by-step instruction sheet and diagram. Her patent was secured as proprietary by competitor Butterick.

Between the 1930s and 1950s, the home sewing industry, dominated by women, flourished. However, after World War II [and into] the 1960s, the home sewing market began to wane as women…found that buying clothes instead of making them satisfied their needs.  Today, patterns are either drafted manually or by computer Pattern Design Systems or PDS”.We at the University of Fashion have prepared well over 75 patternmaking films and are thrilled to be able to bring these skills to you with the website launch officially this spring!  Here’s a preview of the patternmaking videos to come!

Enjoy!

Fashionably Yours, Liz

Social Media Director, The University of Fashion

   The Art of Fashion Drawing

As the University prepares to launch the first all-inclusive fashion design video library we will continue to give you previews of what to expect!

French Fashion Plate: 1880

Today we will discuss a brief history of fashion illustration…

Fashion Plate printed in 1801

The art of fashion drawing dates back to sixteenth century.  Way before Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and blogs, ‘costume’ books depicted regional and ethnic dress.  From the seventeenth century through the nineteenth century, France and England produced a multitude of fashion magazines containing fashion illustrations.  Among the most proliferate were Lady’s Magazine, Godey’s Lady’s Book, La Belle Assemblée, Ackerman’s Repository of the Arts, Le Cabinet des Modes, & Gallery of Fashion.  Within these early magazines, fashion plates depicted the latest fashion trends of the times.  Popularized during the eighteenth century the production of engravings for the mass-market became more common as original engravings were more easily copied and water-colored using the latest ‘couleurs à la mode’.  The engravers were always craftsmen skilled in the art of printing or coloring.  They were not fashion designers themselves and thus were left little room for personal style or creative vision.

Georges Barbier image from 1921

It was not until the turn of the century that the illustration artists creating the fashion images began to recognize media attention and  fame in their own right.  The fashion figures they created were far less stiff in stature, and the image composition less forced.  At the turn of the century, Charles Dana Gibson became well known for his light and airy ‘Gibson Girl’ pen and ink sketches.  Paul Poiret used new colorful printing technology to add freedom of line and color to fashion illustration.  Inspired by the ‘Art Nouveau’ movement, George Barbier was one of the greatest French illustrators of the early 20th century.  By his 30′s, he held his own art exhibition and was a well known figure in the art and fashion worlds, garnering jobs with  theater and ballet companies as well as Haute Couture fashion illustrations.

Fashion Illustration c.1958

It was around this time that the fashion magazines we know today came to the forefront, and there were some very influential fashion illustrators leading the way.  Romain de Tirtof, known to the wold as Erté is quite well known today for capturing the essence of the Art Deco period, having created over 200 cover images for Harper’s Bazaar, Illustrated London News, Vogue,  & Cosmopolitan.  It was also around this time that designers such as Coco Chanel & Christian Dior began to commission specific artists to create their fashion sketches.  Photography was becoming evermore prevalent as a method for which to disseminate the new ideals in fashion, but fashion art still dominated in the hands of artists and designers such as Cecil Beaton, Kenneth Paul Block, Andy Warhol, Antonio Lopez, Jean Paul Gaultier, Francois Berthoud, Karl Lagerfeld, Jean-Philippe Delhomme, Tanya Ling, Ruben Toledo, Jennifer Lilya, and Kime Buzzelli.

Fashion Illustration by Roberto Calasanz

At the University of Fashion we have commissioned several fabulous figure and fashion illustrators to help you on your way to creating dynamic, stylized, and fashionably proportioned design sketches.  Roberto Calasanz is a meticulous draftsman creating fine-art fashion illustrations that we associate with Alberto Vargas and Antonio Lopez. Roberto’s clients come to him for the disappearing art of the precision line-sketch and his flawless gouache illustrations.  Fan Wu excels at teaching newbie fashion designers the art of fashion drawing.  Fan brings to the table many years of experience teaching both at Parsons and the Art Institute in New York City.  Fan teaches how to draw the female fashion figure in a variety of poses and in addition, demystifies the process of drawing hands, feet and the face.

At the University of Fashion, our Illustrators Roberto and Fan make everything look easy! Once you’ve learned the basic rules, you will feel confident to experiment and later develop your personal illustrative style.

For a sneak peek of what to expect from U of F…

Fashionably Yours,

Liz

Social Media Director, University of Fashion

Principles of Design: Draping

Madame Grès inspects her draping work...which could very well be mistaken for a Bernini statue!

In the next few weeks, as we near the January launch of the official University of Fashion website, we will be discussing the major disciplines of fashion design to be covered in the extensive U of F video library.  First off, lets address the mystifying and glorious art of draping…

Draping put most simply, is three dimensional pattern-making.  You may be asking yourself, “Well, isn’t all pattern-making three dimensional seeing as the human form it will invariably fit is three-dimensional?”  A very valid question.  While 99% of fashion patterns will inevitably fit a three-dimensional human form, the patterns themselves are not all created on a flat surface.  A draped garment is one designed on the human or dress-form, thus allowing for more conceptual design freedom as compared to methodology used in the 2D flat pattern discipline.

A late 1920's draped dress by Paul Poiret

Utilizing draping techniques in fashion design will produce garments with much different end-results than those one would achieve by using the same fabric to construct a garment utilizing a flat pattern method.  Chances are, if you have been following the red-carpet over the past 10 years, you have noticed a sharp increase in draped Grecian-style dresses ie. Alber Elbaz for Lanvin, Roberto Cavalli, Donna Karan, Peter Pilotto, Rodarte, Marchesa, Dries Van Noten, Haider Ackermann, & Valentino.

Historically, the ‘Queen of the Drape’ is unequivocally Madame Grès(1903–1993). Taking her inspiration from Roman and Grecian goddesses,  Madame Grès draped the most amazing silk jersey gowns, some using as much as 70 yards of fabric! Christobal Balenciaga(1895-1972) is also well-known in the draping world specifically, but certainly not solely, for the development of  ’silk gazaar’, a rich and rigid fabric ideal for creating his trademark magnificently voluminous draped garments.  Furthermore, Paul Poiret (1879-1944), according to Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton, the curators of the recent exhibition of Poiret designs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “dethroned the primacy[of tailoring] and destabilized the paradigm of Western fashion [through draping].”  His loose billowing dresses are oft credited with liberating women from the tailored confines of the corset.

Cristobal Balenciaga: Winter 1950

As you can see, the usage of draping techniques has changed and recycled itself much over the course of history, but the underlying principles remain the same.  It is up to the designer to innovate given the proper knowledge, and though we cannot create for you, we think our assemblage of esteemed professional drapers – Barbara Arata-Gavere and Barbara Seggio, both at FIT and our very own Francesca Sterlacci- will provide you with a widespread variety of invaluable instruction in the world of draping garments!

Check out the University of Fashion’s draping trailer as a taste of what to expect when the website goes live in January 2012:

I hope you are as excited as I am!

Fashionably Yours,

Liz

Social Media Director, University of Fashion

Dear Fashionable Friends:

All of us at the University of Fashion wish you a happy and safe holiday season.  We thank you for your continuing support and are looking forward to spending a productive, creative, and incredibly chic new year with you!

Watch out world, 2012 is going to be the year of the U of …

Cheers,

The University of Fashion Team

THE UNIVERSITY OF FASHION WELCOMES CORPORATE AFFILIATE:

FABULOUS FIT!

Those of you who design and construct garments know that the most important aspect to creating a professional, tailor-made, and expensive-looking garment, is the fit.  I myself have spent many a day standing in front of the mirror, wearing a half-finished garment inside-out, attempting to tailor the piece to my own body.  This method, frankly, does not work, especially when it comes to fine tailoring…if i could only reach the center-back seam of this jacket….

Roxanne, you may not fit into this dress tonight.

Once I became a more skilled seamstress, I decided to purchase a used dress-form off of e-bay; admittedly not a Fabulous Fit.  My dress form, Roxanne, has done wonders for my ability to better drape, shape, and properly hem garments, but here’s the rub.  Though I bought the ‘correct adjustable form’ to meet my measurements, measurements do not equal proper body-shape and proportion.  For example, my bust is 34″; Roxanne’s bust is notched down to 34″, but she has the chest of a 1950′s pin-up girl, and I on the other hand am more garçonne-shaped.  To put it bluntly, if I make a dress or top for myself, I have to use the back of the dressform to tailor the front and back of the bodice.  OIY!

But do not stress, mal-fitting dress-forms are not always the case, especially with Fabulous Fit, ‘where it’s all about fit’!  At Fabulous Fit, one can order a form that truly matches their own body, not merely that of a Marilyn Monroe or a Coco Rocha.

Examples of 'Bodies' at Fabulous Fit

Fabulous Fit Dress Forms was founded by Jill Ralston and Massimo Barra, two influential fashion designers, who constantly found themselves trying to fit clothes to dress forms which didn’t represent much of a real human form.  They figured, why bother fitting clothes to a dress-form which won’t end up representing the form of the person who will be wearing the garment?  Thus, they combined forces to create AMAZING personalized and standard dress-forms, which practically duplicate any human figure by including a series of contoured pads, lest we forget they create terrific men’s forms as well!

The University of Fashion at Fabulous Fit: Shooting on Location

Since Fabulous Fit’s inception, Massimo and Jill have authored Fit Made Easy: DressForms & Fitting Secrets Revealed, the end-all-be-all  masters guide to tailoring and dressmaking, and are now the primary purveyor of dress-forms to designers, schools, and manufacturers all over the world.  What would we do without Fabulous Fit dress forms?  Well, some of our favorite designers, production companies, and design houses: Carolina Herrera, Chanel, Cole Hahn , Daryl K., Eddie Bauer, Escada, Gap, Isaac Mizrahi, Kenneth Cole, Lane Bryant, Levi Strauss, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Miguel Adrover, Neiman Marcus, Nicole Miller, Sean John, Tommy Hilfiger, True Religion, ABC Television, Bravo!, CBS Television City, Paramount Studios, The Smithsonian Institute, Tyra Banks TV, & Walt Disney Productions would not be pleased to say the least!

Aside from corporate and large scale design firms, Fabulous Fit has an extended network of affiliated design schools and corporations -see footer- including: The University of Fashion.  Check out what Jill and Massimo have to say about the U of F!

What can we say?  These guys are FABULOUS!!!

To Contact Fabulous Fit:

Buisiness Hours: 9AM to 5PM Monday through Friday

Location: Visual Merchandising International LLC: Fabulous Fit

220 36th Street, 560A Brooklyn, NY 1232

Phone: USA & Canada: 800.853.9644 & Internationally: 718.788.1088

Fax: 267.295.7818

Fashionably Yours,

Liz

Fabulous Fit Affiliate Design Schools: The Academy of Art University, Arizona State University, Arkansas State University Beebe, Art Institutes International , Auburn University, Baylor University, Brenau University, Brigham Young University, Butte College, California State University, Canada College, Catholic University, Centenary College, Chaffey Community College, City College of San Francisco, Colorado State University, Delaware College of Art & Design, Drexel University, East Tennessee State University, Eastern Kentucky University, El Camino College, El Centro Community College, Fanshawe College, Fisher College, FIT, Florida State University, Gavilan College, Grand Canyon University, Greensboro College, Hayward State University, Henderson State University, Hinds Community College, Houston Community College, Illinois Institute of Art, Indiana University, International Academy of Design & Technology, Iowa State University, Jacksonville State University, Kansas State University, Kent State University, Lane College, Laselle College, Longwood University, Marina High School, Marymount University, Massachusetts College of Art, McClintock High School, Mississippi State University, Missouri Southern State University, Missouri State College, Moore College of Art & Design, Mount Ida College, Mount Mary College, Mountain Point High School, North Carolina School of the Arts, North Texas University, Oklahoma State University, Oregon State University, Radford University, Sacramento City College, Sacramento State University, San Diego City School District, San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Rosa Junior College, School of Fashion Design, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Seattle Pacific University, Sienna College, Sierra College, Sonoma State University, South Dakota State University, South Dakota State University, State Universities, New York University, Stelly’s Secondary School, Syracuse University, Texas A & M University, Texas Christian University, Texas Technical University, The Art Institute of Seattle, The Art Institute Philadelphia, The MD Institute College of Art, Universities of Wisconsin, University of Arkansas, University of California at Davis, University of Central Oklahoma, University of Fashion, University of Hartford, University of Incarnate Word, University of Louisiana, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University of North Texas, University of Northern Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, University of Rhode Island, University of Toledo, University of West Virginia, Vanderbilt University, Virginia Tech University, West Valley Community College, West Virginia University