Movie Glamour

Vintage Rage

Style Icon: Iris Apfel

Material Desire

The End of An Era

Seventies Flare

The Swinging Sixties

  The sixties was a decade for change in the fashion world, which is why I created a mood board and design sheet on this decade alone. This was a big step in the emancipation for women, with mini skirts being introduced by Mary Quant and the knee high PVC boots by Andre Courreges. Patterns and colours became bolder and more attention seeking than the pale colours of the 40's. 

Years Of Monroe

  I began exploring the 1940's running through to the 1960's as these were the years that curves made their comeback. Underwear and shape wear were designed to give women extra volume and shaping under their clothes; as it were in the 1800's. Waistlines rose once again to exaggerate the smallest point of the torso and create bigger his and bust. Fur, lace and flowers continues their reign as the most commonly used decor; with new man-made fabrics being introduced including PVC and faux leather. Polka dots, lace and feathers created most of the drama and often, all three were used in one hat/bag. Accessories such as parasols, belts and gloves were made as thin and streamline as possible in order to create the illusion that the wearer was bigger than in reality. Shoes became chunkier, with higher heels in order to strengthen the calves and make the ladies' bottom appear larger. I was inspired by the interesting shapes used in headwear, with down-turned brims, turbans and berets being common. Curved shapes seemed to be layered onto almost all accessories displayed in the sourcebook; creating unique silhouettes not seen on the market before. The designs I created reflects these unusual shapes, I feel. I tried to use layering and geometric shapes to reflect the styles during this era. Ruching and turban styles were an interesting concept to me and so played a part in my ideas.

Gatsby's Decade

 Fashion took a turn away from bustiers and crinolines and adopted the androgynous look during the 1920's and 30's. Waistlines dropped and curves were the least desirable that they had been in centuries. Dresses and garments were mid-length and heavily embellished with beads, jewels and fringing. The mood board I created shows a lot of faux fur used as shawls and wraps. This design came from traditional inspiration from nature. Real fur stoles and wraps were made from fox fur and often attached tails and heads to make the stole look like an animal. A large volume of the fabrics used to create these accessories include ostrich feathers, lace, glass beads, silk and felt. I was inspired by the pleats used to create hats and bags, as well as the exquisite use of beading as headwear etc. My designs reflect these inspirations well, I feel. My ideas came from lines used in 1920's accessories. The androgynous style straightened out curves on women and this reflected in pleating and geometric shapes used to create caps, hats and fans. The over use of glass beads and jewels really inspired me as there is so much you can do with these materials. Beads can be sewn, set and hung into different shapes and styles; which gives me the freedom to create anything. I was also inspired by the origami shaping used to create some of the hats/caps shown in this book; it reminded me of the works of designers Shingo Sato and Issey Miyake. These hats were mostly made of felt or straw, and trimmed with hand made flowers, feathers, pearls and organza/taffeta bows. Colours were not very bold, with brown, cream and green being the main choices for hats, bags and shoes. This style continues through until the early 1940's. The designs I created reflect the nature inspired styles that were present throughout this time. Feathers, fur and exotic fauna influenced many accessories in this period and I did my best to portray this through use of similar imagery and materials. I was very inspired by the kind of origami take on production of accessories and used pleating and unusual lines in my designs as a result of this. I like the use of organza/taffeta on hats and belts and as scarves, so tried to incorporate this material into my designs as you can see below.

20th Century Fashion Accessories

  I went on to look into each era of the 20^th century. Where the 17^th-19^th centuries blurred into one era, with only slight changes in dress and technology, the 20^th century saw an extreme development in technology, materials and more importantly population – increasing demand for luxury goods. Each era throughout this century posed a different and evolving style of dress, which I found particularly interesting. I decided to create different mood boards for each era and see how my designs progressed and generated through this.  I derived most of my research from a book called ‘Fashion Accessories: The Complete 20^th Century Sourcebook’. I found this book very helpful as it included a lot of written detail as well as sectioned pages of visual accessories. The book depicts changes in accessories throughout the decades, using thorough visual representations. Firstly, I explored 1900-1920. I found the most commonly worn accessory was headwear; usually made from horsehair, straw and felt; held on upswept brims. These hats/caps were heavily decorated with feathers, flowers and bows, often made from silk. I liked the use of feathers, which were often coloured ostrich plumes. The use of these feathers creates drama and extravagance without worry of placement or direction. The direction in fall of these feathers gives a natural edge to these humanly shaped accessories.  I was also interested in the popularity of umbrellas and parasols. I liked how different their style and practical use is compared to modern day umbrellas. The materials and decoration are of good quality and use exquisite applique and embroidery created by hand. I like the use of fringing and tassels as décor on handles and as trim. The bags I came across were small and mostly dark in colour. Framed in silver, these bags are pleated, embellished and fringed with beads and pendants such as pearls.  I love the use of excessive decoration and embellishment as it adds drama to fashion and also because it made women look cluttered, as if they were desperate for attention and acknowledgment.

The History Of Fashion Accessories: 19th century

The growing population and development in technology in the early 19^th century meant a wider choice of fashion products were needed and produced. Men’s accessories and fashion continued to simplify, while women’s fashion got more and more extravagant. Exaggerated busts, shoulders, waist lines and sleeves were common, with overly decorative embellishment and accessorizing. Shawls, mittens and fans were increasingly worn during this time, but never exactly coordinated with dress. Inspirations came from further afield; the most common being the paisley motif drawn from Indian shawls. Flowers remained a main source of inspiration especially for décor of bags and fans. The introduction of chemical dyes allowed a wider range of colours to be produced, making accessories and clothing alike, more colourful and bright.

  The details I gathered from these centuries all inspired me greatly. I was inspired most by the over-exaggeration and desperation to wear as much jewellery as possible and have the most detailed garments, in order to express wealth.  Pearls were a very common aspect throughout the three centuries and I can see how they can be applied to almost any accessory to make something exquisite. Lines of garments and the use of oversized shoulders and padded hips were interesting. I liked the lines that they formed with a garment and how the moulded against the body. Common dress during this period seemed to use a lot of ruching to add volume and also a lot of lace/ribbon for décor. I will consider these aspects when I create me designs.

  The designs I created formed contemporary accessories inspired by aspects of fashion history.  Four main aspects of inspiration were pearls, feathers, lace and ruching. When drawing my ideas, I found myself using these four aspects a lot as they were the most memorable things I discovered about fashion during the 17^th-19^th centuries.  My ideas were drawn to the idea of constriction. I found myself drawing a bracelet, and then attaching this to the waist in order to restrict movement to that arm. Choker necklaces formed capes around the face and earrings somehow restricted speech. I was inspired more by the construction of garments rather than the inspirations for these garments and actual accessories. I found the way garments and accessories were attached to the body, enhanced the female figure and molded against it, particularly interesting. Traditional dress between the 17^th and 19^th centuries were restrictive for women as they were forced to cover up a lot and enhance their shape using underwear and shaping accessories worn under garments. I was happy with my progress in knowledge and design from this research and was intrigued to find out more about the history of accessories.

The History Of Fashion Accessories: 18th Century

  During the 18^th century, the simplicity of male fashion as a whole continued; so much so, that most Englishmen were indistinguishable from their servants. The only hint of enthusiasm about fashion was the male wonder with accessories. Although their dress was plain and dark in colour, fascination with precious and semi-precious metals meant that a lot of men adorned themselves with specially made buckles, watches, purses and even swords. Women’s accessories on the other hand became even more exquisite. Commodes/caps became bundles of jewels and flowers set onto turbans and wide brimmed hats.  The traditional wear of pearls continued with the addition of gold sets, jewels and good-quality paste. Lace became more apparent, applied onto hats, cravats and scarves. Inspired by the French, fans became part of everyday etiquette for English women and often depicted scenes from the bible or English history. Finer quality materials such as cotton and silk were being produced and imported, which allowed better quality manufacture of accessories.  During this time, indications of Rococo decoration found its way into fashion and encouraged the use of more natural floral designs and delicate ribbons. Towards the end of this era, influences came from all over Europe and allowed the design of accessories to develop in both design itself and skilled manufacture. Instead of English historical prints on fans and bags, Roman ruins and antiques became the main source of inspiration. This fascination of the antique world came as a result of terror and disruption during the French revolution. People began to realize death, and accessories became brightly coloured as an appreciation of life.

The History Of Fashion Accessories: 17th Century

  Looking at 17^th-19^th century fashion was the first step in the design process of my project. I chose to use the book ‘The Visual History of Costume Accessories’ by Valerie Cumming as it enclosed the history of fashion accessories during this time in detail, and used a lot of visual representations to aid with creating my moodboards. When reading this book, I found that a lot of the fashion accessories included; actually originated from functional wear rather than fashion. I found this interesting as it allowed me to look at design in a different light and think of how I can make different objects into a high fashion accessory. The images I chose to work with from this book were the ones that inspired me most, the ones I found most aesthetically pleasing, and also the ones that posed questions to myself. Some images challenged me.  I thought deeply about the kinds of materials and decoration used, the inspiration and also the function of these accessories in order to gather a deeper understanding of accessory deign during this era.

  Starting with the 17^th century, I found it was hard to distinguish between male and female accessories as both were heavily decorated and did not resemble any form of sexuality. Progressing through to the late 17^th century, men’s accessories seem to stabilize slightly and form an almost uniform look. Men’s accessories became completely about function rather than fashion where as women’s accessories were a statement of political status and wealth. English fashion accessories during the first third of the century, presented a vast amount of embellished caps, scarves, fans etc. These designs were inspired by flora and fauna depictions from publications of that time. Intricate lace and applied ribbons, coloured silks, spangles and metallic threads; were all used to recreate the exotic patterns of nature, roses, carnations and birds. As men’s fashion became more reserved and simple; women’s did the exact opposite. Ruffles became bigger, gloves became longer and jewels were worn from every part of the body. Wealthy women wore a lot of pearls and gold daily, with diamonds and other expensive jewels being worn on special occasions to exaggerate their wealth.