Design Opinions

Clothes should reflect the intensities we carry around within ourselves.

While I was out ogling the fashions (and the women ... and men... wearing them!) this afternoon, this phrase came fully formed into my mind. It expresses something I feel strongly about. I'd say about a third of the people I see dress in a way consistent with this statement. I can't say that all my clothes speak to it either. But it is something I think we should pay more attention to. Clothes, in my mind, should be "strong", they should make an unambiguous statement. Even if that statement is about ambiguity!

Note that the affirmation does not say that we should dress "intensely", that the clothes we wear should necessarily be "intense", although many of them will be if we try to live up to the statement. Instead, it is a statement about attitude, about how clothes speak for us, of us.

Many people dress as if to hide the intensity they carry around inside of themselves. This is regrettable, our inner intensity is part of what makes us, each of us, interesting, both to ourselves and to others.

Some people may think they are not "intense", but that isn't quite what I say either. We all carry with us an inner intensity, even if we don't think of ourselves that way. Sometimes, also, this inner intensity is tied up with painful things and feelings, but that isn't necessarily a counter argument either. We should have clothes that allow us to speak to such things as well.

I think people are drawn to designer fashions partly because designers struggle to do this, to express the intensities that they share with us, with potential clients. It is also about aesthetics, and style and those other things, but designers are also tuned in to this question of intensity.

Footprints in the sand...

As part of my ongoing work on the fabric wiki, I have been researching so-called "eco-friendly" fabrics and the issues that surround them. This makes fascinating reading (see my wiki article on this for more details). It turns out there is no "perfect" eco-fabric - all of them have issues (even recycled fabrics), despite what some people on the net seem to believe. That said, it is possible to make intelligent choices that can put pressure on the system to change for the better.

What I found particularly interesting, though, is the whole notion of a "footprint". First of all, there seem to be several footprint concepts being used now, including the "ecological footprint", the "carbon footprint", even the "water footprint" or the "energy footprint", with a certain amount of confusion as to what each represents. Although we probably hear more about the carbon footprint, the most general concept is actually the ecological footprint. The ecological footprint is the amount of land that would be needed to produce and/or absorb the materials needed and/or generated by our activities. The reason for the "slashes" in this statement is that land is required to make things, but the pollution or garbage generated by our activities (and the nature of the world means that waste products are ALWAYS generated by activities) also requires land support. This notion of footprint is hence, truly a footprint - it is expressed in surface area that activity generates. The footprint per capita is then multiplied by the total population of the Earth to determine the total surface area needed to support all our current activities. Well, it turns out that we would need, roughly 1,5 planet Earth's to support current activity levels. In other terms, we are using up the planet's resources faster than they can be renewed. This is NOT a GOOD state of affairs for future generations.

Interesting, and perhaps surprisingly to many, our use of fabric is a primary component of our overly large ecological footprint. The textile industry is a heavy polluter as well as an energy gourmand, and the result is a direct contribution of something near 15 to 20% of our ecological footprint, due mainly, of course, to the use of fabrics in the developed world (Europe and North America). It should be noted that the ecological footprint of the developed world rings in at five (5!) planet Earths - we are using resources five times faster than the planet can renew itself. Therefore, the 15% to 20% contributed by the world of fabrics actually represents one whole Earth ON ITS OWN. This is a serious problem, and one that those of us interested in sewing and fashion need to be aware of and doing something about!

This means not just what and how we buy, but also how we talk about and promote fashion, how we engage with the community, and so forth.

My Tango Collection, Outfits #1 and #2

Here, finally, are some photos of my first two tango outfits inspired by the Vanity Fair covers dating from 1915 and 1916. This first one is the black dress from the July 1916 cover. I modified several features of the dress - instead of three bands at the side I've replaced these by one wider band at the top of the side section - this is designed to cover the bra strap. I also worked out a system of snaps and eyelet fastenings to allow the dress to be put on and taken off. I am VERY happy with the results - shown here on my young woman friend Myriam who was my model at the tango conference as well. The design is quite unusual because it is strongly asymetrical front and back, even at the lower hem area. It reminds me a little of a French maid's uniform.


You can also see how the side slits function in this second photo. The dress as a whole was made using black rayon with a jacquard type floral motif embedded within it, and accessorized with a black and white striped cotton scarf I found at a local import boutique.


A second outfit, shown below, consists of a variation on the harem pants showcased on the January 1915 Vanity Fair cover, along with a blouse I designed to go with the pants. I made these fall to midcalf, and gave them cuffs out of silk charmeuse that make them very elegant. The pants themselves were made from silk organza, and the top from silk charmeuse. Note the sleeves which are left more or less open, another feature that makes this outfit interesting for tango dancing. I bought another cotton scarf used here around the waist to finsih the overall look of the outfit.

Tango, Tango, Tango

Well, I'm just back from the Tango Conference! I gave a presentation on the history of the relationship between tango and fashion, followed by a small fashion "show", using music from the early part of the 20th century (the tango music of Erik Satie and Igor Stravinsky) as a background. I presented two outfits, a black dress based on the one shown in the July 1916 Vanity Fair cover from my previous post, and a harem outfit loosely based on the one shown in the January 1915 Vanity Fair cover (I shall show photos of the fashions in a couple of weeks, once I have organized a photo shoot). The fashion show was a huge success, despite its brevity! The clothes were stunning in presentation, and my young model was perfect. I added a scarf ("écharpe" - the French word is more interesting here) to each outfit to complete the aesthetics.

It took, however, one "measurement" session and two "fitting" sessions to get the clothes adjusted to fit, and the final fit wasn't verified until the show itself, for lack of time! I prepared muslin shells of all the garments, but in retrospect, this was perhaps not necessary. Either I misunderstand how to take the right lessons from the muslin fitting session, or the clothes fit close enough anyway that they need to be adjusted directly in the final fabric on the person, I'm not sure. I've been using Aldritch's blocks to develop garments now for more than a dozen people, and although there are usually small adjustments to be made to get the fit right for each person, overall her blocks seem to work extremely well at getting the fit more or less right to begin with. I'm beginning to think that I could skip the "muslin shell preparation" and work with the fabric right away for many of the garments - this would knock about 25% off the preparation time and reduce the need for so many fitting sessions.

I am extraordinarily pleased with this production. Up until now, I've been producing one garment, on average, every three weeks, although not completely finalized in terms of adjustments. For this project, I produced four garments, completely fitted and adjusted, including drafting and layout as well as doing the muslin shell and sewing and finishing the final garment, in one month. I still did this working weekends - in the week, I am busy with my "day job". So almost a fourfold increase in production capacity. In addition, I believe these two outfits are the first garments of "high quality" I have produced - the beginnings of what could become a real offering, a portfolio collection.

For my next major fashion project, I plan to continue to develop clothes for dancing tango (and perhaps other styles of dance - I have a request to develop clothes for belly dancing), based on or inspired by historic fashions (1910s, 1920s, 1940s) and do a more sustained fashion show, in collaboration with the tango community, later this year.

Building a personal wardrobe

My thinking about the whole concept of putting together a personal wardrobe has advanced by leaps and bounds since the last time I posted in this subject. I have begun the process by thinking through my own wardrobe, and, more recently, that of a good woman friend. First of all, the whole idea of developing a personal wardrobe actually means changing one's wardrobe, since we all have a wardrobe we may have unconsciously constructed over years of time and choices. To focus consciously on our wardrobe is to recognize that we are in a prrocess of change. Part of this is about recognizing how our existing wardrobe was (unconsciously) designed - why we chose to wear the types of clothes we did, and what kind of new person we are becoming. The personal wardrobe we intend to create must act to enable and facilitate the emergence of the new person we are becoming, rather than be necessarily what we want (sometimes are desires are rooted in older ideas about the self and they may need to be challenged!).

For example, it has become clear to me that for years I have been wearing solid colors in my shirts and pants, often in quite dark shades, and that this represents both a kind of solidity and an invisibility. The kind of person I am becoming is much more forward moving, visible, engaging, and my clothes need to change to reflect that change.

Another consideration for designing a new core wardrobe is that the wardrobe needs to express a primary constellation of values related to the "new me", but that they may also serve to support several secondary constellations. Hence, for example, the primary set of values my new wardrobe is being focussed around is distinguished, assertive and engaged, but a secondary set includes a sense of edginess, and of exotism.

A third consideration which I also believe to be important, although it may sound odd, is that I think the wardrobe should include paying attention to underwear, not so much as a statement aimed at other people, as with regard to a recognition of how I view myself. Although we may share our underwear with one (or more?) significant others, ultimately, our underwear reflects our own relationship with our body and self image. Therefore, if we are moving towards developing a new personal wardrobe, underwear is an important component in such a move. In a sense, how we act in the world and how other people perceive us is based on only on our outer appearance, but also our choices regarding hidden aspects of who we are.

I'm not saying anything at all about what choices one should make - I think these will vary from one individual to another. But I do think we need to be aware of these choices.

Chameleon Gods - beginnings

Strange name for a blog about fashion and clothes design? Chameleon for changeable, transformation, adaptability, color, innovation, uniqueness. Gods because I am interested in foundations and fundamentals, sources, roots and inspiration.

The Chameleon Gods blog is about my journey, in learning, creativity and movement, in the world of clothes and fashion. I will try to spell out the roots of my own inspiration, and share the challenges faced so that others may benefit from my efforts.

My journey is an ambitious, perhaps over-ambitious, effort to develop fashion designs for particular areas of interest. These areas include dancing, disability, sculpture, ecologies, and identity exploration, at the moment, but the categories will shift and change over time. My journey begins with an extensive background in design from both a scientific and an artistic perspective, but no experience in clothes, fashion, sewing, etc. So everything is to be learned. I started my project three months ago, so I will be spending a certain amount of time "catching up" with where I am, and then, later, reporting on progress, as well as on odds and ends that relate to fashion, identity, sewing, ... and life :)