The Chicago History Museum has a flickr account you might want to check out . I especially like this side by side illustration of where we sometimes go wrong when we're copying garments for ready wear. The figure on the right has more detail, more volume in the skirt, the cinched in waist, shallower curve of the neckline, the little v at the center, but most of all the proportions. The curve of the waist, slightly shorter hemline, and sleeves take the look from frumpy to gorgeous.
They also have a blog where they report that Haute Couture creations sell for $20,000 to $150,000, and being these are rarified figures to spend on clothing, the Haute Couture houses only have about 200 repeat customers. Just one of the reasons these houses stretch their reach to ready to wear... one can not live on Art alone.
6 comments:
Great post. It's so interesting to look at the two dresses side by side. What makes the sleeves/shoulder on the right look so much better? It's obviously better but I don't understand what they did.
They are narrower (fitted), and the bottom hem is slightly angled (the underarm seam is lower than the overarm). The sleeve on the dress on the left has a straight hem, the hem falls at the widest (bust) point widening the body, making it look bulkier. Since the sleeves on the right dress angle a bit it draws the eye down.
I see what you mean! The shoulders also look "crisper" or more defined on the right, but they don't look bulky like there are shoulder pads. How did they do that?!
There is a rule for making garments, if you have a tight (fitted) sleeve, you need a high small armhole. Imagine you have a tight sleeve and the armhole is dropped, it cuts your mobility. I wish the image were larger, we might find out a little more about it. Or I could just go to Chicago ;)
I couldn't go anywhere right now- the Icelandic volcano has shut all North European airspace!
Have you started to get ash from it? Or is it just affecting airspace? When we had a fire in the Everglades a few years back, the ash turned the sky grey and gave us an outrageous red sun.
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