Cristobal Balenciaga was a designer that tailored great shape, sturctured volume and silhouette. In his 1959 evening coat, he featured the standout shoulder lines, hand-span waists, and belt, all were perfectly tailored and constructed.The current designer Nicholas Ghesquière for Balenciaga, captured his spirit and developed a similar look with a modern touch.

Charles James is a British born but considered American designer.
The secret of his great tailor made gown comes from his
"engineering"skills in construct the garments.
Throughout his career, he reworked his design models and
developed different compositional elements like lope shape,
geometric forms,special linings and patternless fabric.

When people talk about "Chanel" they think about "Chanel suit".

Back in 1938, Coco Chanel created this red ruby silk velvet suit with flare skirt.

The original inspiration came from a masquerade party that she attended.

Chanel successfully combined both contemporary and historical styles to this garment. The tailored suit was later bought by Diana Vreeland.

sources-www.metmuseum.org

Famous Indian Sari designer Satya Paul leads the Indian traditional fashion with creative prints and fabrics. The excellent draping skill brings out the original airy and feminine feeling of Indian Sari.

Madeleine Vionnet is the creator of "bias cut",

a new draping technique back in 1950's.

The "bias cut" allows fabric to cling to the body

and express every motion.

French designer Paul Poiret showed his creativity in print and draping.

This "robe like"velvet coat is block printed in navy.

The garment finished with fur trim and gold mesh-covered silk closures.

The fabric is designed by textile designer Raoul Dufy.

sources-www.metmuseum.org

6. Sexual Enhancement

During the period where shoulder pads were common in the design, Vivienne Westwood brilliantly switched the focus to the hips and busts.

This suit dress featured large bum-cushions and padded-busts, it was one of the pieces that stood up in the sexually confrontational Vive la Cocotte collection 1996.

5. Ceremonialism

Between 1930- 1940, Hollywood stars set the trend and their costume enhanced the movie characters. It often has a tremendous influence that became a personal style of the star. Examples are *"Jean Harlow as a fallen angel in white satin that flowed over her body like oil; Joan Crawford as a self reliant woman in a broad shouldered, tailored suit".

*sources-Icons of Fashion, the 20th century, published by Prestel

4. Group Membership
Inspired by the rock n roll bands in Seattle, the Pearl Jam and Nirvana, Marc Jacobs created the "Grunge look" for Perry Ellis in 1993. Grunge represented liberation from traditional clothing.
The old flannel skirt, "worn like"blouses and over sized clothing is an interpretation of casual street attitude. Grunge look had a short life span. It helped to reshape the definition of fashion and influenced the mainstream fashion group style.

3. Gender Differentiation

In early 19th century, women's body was styled like a decorative flower. women fashion was a form of femininity. The picture shows a typical reformed women style- The S Bend features boosted busts, tightly corseted waist, extremely flat abdomen. The S bend style exaggerated women natural curvy body and reflected the inequality between men and women.

2. Decoration

When dress serves as a function for decoration, it often comes with unique tattoo, makeup, hairstyle that differentiate one from the other.

Punk style created outrageous and almost absurd look with its exaggerating hair, color and accessories. Designer Vivienne Westwood and McLaren were the supporters of Punk. Westwood ran a shop named SEX (Seditionaries) that developed sexually crude and evocative garments that fit in the London Punk street style of the second half of the 20th century. McLaren formed a Punk band, the Sex Pistols in support of his ambition to introduce sexual adventure and fetish to the street style of London.

Functions of Dress

In this topic, we will look at the six main functions of dress. It is interesting to learn about the history and the relationship between the dress and its function.

1. Environmental Protection

People from Masai of Kenyan live in a culture where they spear elephants to show masculinity. They wear traditional red clothing to protect themselves from aggressive response from elephants. Based on researches, elephants are associated to red colors and acted mildly when being approached by people in red.

1991-2000

Hussein Chalayan

Near the 20th century where high tech meets fashion, the look of styles and clothes were driven by the advances in technology.

Picture is Hussein Chalayan "Motorised Airplane dress" made of 100% fiber glass

1991-2000

Austrian designer Helmut Lang

"What I do is about now. It's about the lives we lead"

Helmut Lang reinvented fashion and set the tone for 1990. His designs received public critism and provoked irritation. Helmut's deisgn reflected elements contain sexual provocation, self-protection, restraint and aggression.

1947-1949
French Designer Christian Dior
Christian Dior presented her first collection "Corolle line" in 1947, it was regarded as the "New look" in fashion. She created a brand new image for women highlighted neat and round shoulders, high bust, full hips and slim waist.

1930-1938

British designer Charles James
Charles James is known for his exquisite ball gowns. Many of his creationsare not just well designed and constrcuted but engineered.His "engineering"skill came from his previous experience as a milliner.In 1954 Charles James made the famous “Butterfly” dress, this gown is made of 25 yards of peau de soie and nylon netting and weighs 17 pounds.

1922-1929

French designer Madeleine Vionnet

Madeleine Vionnet is one of the anti corset designer. She invented bias cut, making dresses fit tightly at the waist and flare out into a bell shape. The bias cut drapery technique later became prominent in the dress designing world.

1915-1921
French Designer Coco Chanel
"Fashion is at once both caterpillar and butterfly, be a caterpillar by day and a butterfly at night...there must be dresses that crawl and dresses that fly"
Gabrielle Coco Chanel is knowned for her simple and elegant characteristic line-sweaters, sailors pea jackets, pleated skirts and straight chemise frocks. In 1926, she created the "little blck dress" that became the classic in fashion world. Throughout the 19th century, Chanel has been an influential international celebrity.

1900-1914

French designer Paul Poiret

"When I put my signature on a dress, I regard myself as the creator of a work of art"

Paul Poiret is a couturier for avant garde. In 1905, he introduced the Nouvelle Vague line that requires no corsets. Later, he presented deisgns inspired by Oriental culture, Turkish harem pants, turbans, kimono sleeves, flat slip-on shoes.

Yin Liow Fashion Source Book

Fashion Source Book is an invitation to discover and get inspired by the highlights of the fashion history. I am a fashion student who live, breathe and play in the dynamic fashion world. Through this source book, I hope you can feel the spirit of fashion.