Leather Pants Gone Wrong
leather pants gone wrong
Creativity and Innovation in the fashion industry
For some people the term ‘fashion' conjures up the idea of slavishly following the trends. But great fashion design has always gone at least a little against the grain – sometimes a lot. Comme des Garcons, became famous for putting the seams on the outside of garments. Turkish-British designer, Hussein Chalayan, was catapulted to fame with his final year fashion show at Saint Martins College, London. Chalayan had buried his entire collection, along with iron fillings, digging it up a little later on, after the iron had rusted all over the garments, transforming them completely. The next year Chalayan made garments from a washable, wearable type of paper. One of the more controversial creations of Alexander McQueen was his ultra low-cut pants or "bumsters," as he liked to call them
But new technology can also be important in taking fashion into new areas, especially when it comes to fabric. It's hard to believe now, but the invention of synthetic fabrics, such as nylon and polyester, revolutionized clothing. Today you can find synthetic suede (sometimes with patterns cut into it by the use of lasers), and fabric that is billed as ‘self ironing.' And, let's not forget all of the treatments and embellishments that we see on jeans these days. If you want to keep up to date with fabric technology, as well as fashion design, go to startingaclothingline.com, because innovation in the fashion industry is a constant theme.
At the moment you can find a lot of extravagantly embellished garments, such as tops covered in sequins, as well as dresses that are entirely pleated. One interesting new theme for Vera Wang is her mixing of different fabrics. Large fabric panels give her garments an edgy, almost futuristic uniform-look. And she is also cutting garments in an unexpected way, such as one organza dress, that appears almost ‘puffball' because of its countless large folds, running the length of the dress, and held in by a plain corset.
This season London design company, Meadham Kirchhoff, has taken lots of these elements to a whole new dimension, combining modern fabrics with intentionally frayed seams and darts, visible on the outside, and accented white on an otherwise black dress. The company is also using appliqué – which, if done wrong, can look contrived and twee. But with white and gold, irregular-cut patches of overlapping fabric, climbing up a pair of pants, for example, Meadham Kirchhoff's creations hint at camouflage. Fabric appears organic. One shirt, for example, cut in a white, see-through fabric, has seams running across it at diagonals, with the fabric appearing almost to drip onto the body. A tight fitting, knitted sweater, is created so that it appears to have two layers. The top is entirely black, and knitted irregularly, giving the impression of being ripped. This exposes the bottom layer of the sweater – robust, perfectly knotted black and white stripes.
Perhaps the most striking statement of Meadham Kirchhoff's 2010 collection, though, is their new take on pants. Tight, with a slit across the knees, and a zipper running vertically below, these are meant to resemble knee-length boots. Another pair, cut in leather, comes with diamond cut knee patches (still with a horizontal slit exposing the skin), and with a zipper right above. For more information on the fashion industry visit www.startingaclothingline.com.
About the Author
Jay Arrington is Co-owner of Harper Arrington Media Group, the parent company of www.StartingaClothingLine.com, and www.DigitalFashionPro.com. He along with his business partner Michael J. Harper has authored several books on fashion designing and on how to start a clothing line, with The Official Step by Step Guide to Starting a Clothing Line being one of their titles. They have also introduced the world to Digital Fashion Pro a fantastic fashion designing software, that allows the user to create lifelike fashion design sketches! In addition, the two are also the proud owners of Harper-Arrington Publishing www.HApub.com home of The Little Entrepreneur book series for kids and young adults, www.thelittleE.com. As entrepreneurs and educators it is very important to Jay and Michael that they provide fellow future and present business owners with the very best information possible!