When, how and why do clothes become fashion? Fashion is more than mere clothing. It is a moment of invention, a distillation of desire, a reflection of a zeitgeist. It is also a business relying on an intricate network of manufacture, marketing and retail. Fashion is both medium and message but it does not explain itself. It requires language and images for its global mediation. It develops from the prescience of the designer and is dependent on acceptance by observers and wearers alike. When Clothes Become Fashion explores the structures and strategies which underlie fashion innovation, how fashion is perceived and the point at which clothing is accepted or rejected as fashion. The book provides a clear theoretical framework for understanding the world of fashion - its aesthetic premises, plurality of styles, performative impulses, social qualities and economic conditions.

This captivating book reproduces arguably the most extraordinary primary source documents in fashion history. Providing a revealing window onto the Renaissance, they chronicle how style-conscious accountant Matthäus Schwarz and his son Veit Konrad experienced life through clothes, and climbed the social ladder through fastidious management of self-image. These bourgeois dandies' agenda resonates as powerfully today as it did in the sixteenth century: one has to dress to impress, and dress to impress they did. The Schwarzes recorded their sartorial triumphs as well as failures in life in a series of portraits by illuminists over 60 years, which have been comprehensively reproduced in full color for the first time. These exquisite illustrations are accompanied by the Schwarzes' fashion-focussed yet at times deeply personal captions, which render the pair the world's first fashion bloggers and pioneers of everyday portraiture. The First Book of Fashion demonstrates how dress – seemingly both ephemeral and trivial – is a potent tool in the right hands. Beyond this, it colorfully recaptures the experience of Renaissance life and reveals the importance of clothing to the aesthetics and every day culture of the period. Historians Ulinka Rublack's and Maria Hayward's insightful commentaries create an unparalleled portrait of sixteenth-century dress that is both strikingly modern and thorough in its description of a true Renaissance fashionista's wardrobe. This first English translation also includes a bespoke pattern by TONY award-winning costume designer and dress historian Jenny Tiramani, from which readers can recreate one of Schwarz's most elaborate and politically significant outfits.

Draw and color creations, choose materials, and learn to design through drawing your own fashion. Whether your child wants to design the next big outfit for New York fashion week, or they just want to learn about textiles and fabrics, How to Be a Fashion Designer helps kids enjoy experimenting with new ideas. Bright illustrations mixed with fun photography show kids how to choose gorgeous colors, design dress shapes, customize t-shirts, and add sparkle to their accessories using simple, easy-to-follow design tasks and practical projects. Using inspiration from the natural world, everyday life, and their own imagination, children can design outfits from scratch and learn how to put together the clothes and accessories they already own in fun, stylish ways. This nonfiction fashion book for children is perfect for 7–9-year-olds and brings a unique approach to STEAM learning by combining art and design with practical, hands-on making.

An investigation into the damage wrought by the colossal clothing industry--and the grassroots, high-tech, international movement fighting to reform it from a bestselling journalist who has traveled the globe to discover the visionary designers and companies who are propelling the industry toward that more positive future.ture.

This comprehensive guide explores the fundamental sewing methods fashion designers need and teaches professional garment construction. Chapter One introduces sewing tools and machinery (including industrial machines). It discusses how to work with patterns and explains cutting-out methods. Chapter Two is devoted to different fabrics and how they work, focusing on the construction of a garment, including fastenings and trimmings, and the use of materials to support structured pieces, such as corsets. Hand-sewing techniques and basic seams are explored in Chapter Three. Techniques are demonstrated with step-by-step photographic guides combined with technical drawings. A guide to making garment details and decorations, such as pockets, waistlines, and necklines, is found in Chapter Four. Chapter Five addresses fabric-specific techniques, for everything from lace to neoprene. The best technical approaches to use for patternmaking and construction are discussed for each fabric. Catwalk images demonstrate how these kinds of techniques are employed by designers.

Zero Waste Fashion Design combines research and practice to introduce a crucial sustainable fashion design approach. Written by two industry leading pioneers, Timo Rissanen and Holly McQuillan, the book offers flexible strategies and easy-to-master zero waste techniques to help you develop your own cutting edge fashion designs. Sample flat patterns and more than 20 exercises will reinforce your understanding of the zero waste fashion design process. Beautifully illustrated interviews with high-profile, innovative designers, including Winifred Aldrich, Rickard Lindqvist and Yeohlee Teng, show the stunning garments produced by zero waste fashion design. Featured topics include: The criteria for zero waste fashion design Manufacturing zero waste garments Adapting existing designs for zero waste Zero waste designing with digital technologies

A law professor and cultural critic offers an eye-opening exploration of the laws of fashion throughout history, from the middle ages to the present day, examining the canons, mores and customs of clothing rules that we often take for granted

40,000 years of fashion history from Adam and his fig leaf to 1990 told through the use of illustrations, photographs, and short essays.

A solid, hard-hitting, and uncompromising journalistic look at the fashion industry. The time when "fashion" was defined by French designers whose clothes could be afforded only by elite has ended. Now designers take their cues from mainstream consumers and creativity is channeled more into mass-marketing clothes than into designing them. Indeed, one need look no further than the Gap to see proof of this. In The End of Fashion, Wall Street Journal, reporter Teri Agins astutely explores this seminal change, laying bare all aspects of the fashion industry from manufacturing, retailing, anmd licensing to image making and financing. Here as well are fascinating insider vignettes that show Donna Karan fighting with financiers,the rivalry between Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, and the commitment to haute conture that sent Isaac Mizrahi's business spiraling.