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.