Class Readings: Walter Albini

Walter Albini: Style in Fashion

   In the 1970's, Walter Albini had a key role in the revolution of Italian fashion and international ready-to-wear. Albini was the first to initiate a series of innovative reforms in Italian fashion that responded to the changing market. These innovations included freeing the designer from the anonymity of the world of production and treating him as a creator in the world of high fashion and recognizing the need for the fashion industry to provide styles and images, so that it could reach new market segments. Albini really showed the change in relationship between stylist and the fashion industry during this time. He worked closely with fabric manufacturers and enhanced the presence of the designer in industrial production by being a somewhat freelance designer, creating collections for multiple manufacture brands. He also helped create specialized companies in different sections of industry, so that they could collaborate to produce a collection with a recognizable brand name. Their was also the idea of dividing the workload between a very expensive, limited sales line, as well as a more commercial collection that actually is the moneymaker. He revolutionized the pret-a-porter style so that it has the elite voice of high fashion without the uniqueness that is unwearable. In his 1973 interview with WWD, he said “I hate high fashion. In fashion today there isn't anything new. What's new is in the cut of pret-a-porter. Today it is funny to put fashion along side clothes that are wearable.” Known as the “pret-a-porter man,” Albini created a mix between high fashion haute couture and pret-a-porter fashion that was hard to rival. He broke boundaries in ready-to-wear with his “total look” designs and created “anti high-fashion” high fashion collections that were unlike anything else in the industry. His synergy between style and life were a common theme among his clothes. It was interesting because each collection he created was represented in his house during that time. When he created an urban, working clothes collection for Trell, his house became a high-tech abode with metal furniture, grey tones, and urban technology. Depending on the collection he was working on, his house would transition into that style. Every total look he created was of course a radical change from the one before. Accessories were also key to his looks. They weren't just an extra piece but rather they added and impacted the whole style. In his Venice collection, the clothes were only sold complete with the accessories.

   Walter Albini was an internationally successful stylist that updated looks from all different periods and revolutionized the idea of a “total look” ready-to-wear design. He changed the preconceived idea of a stylist and brought his revolutionary ideas to the forefront of the fashion industry during the 1970's. His entrepreneurial skills have yet to be matched by any other stylist worldwide.

By: Caitlyn Schultz

The Origins of Dress History and Cesare Vecellio’s ‘pourtraits of attire’

Reading 5A entitled, The Origins of Dress History and Cesare Vecellio’s ‘pourtraits of attire’, follows the creation of Cesare Vecellio’s masterpiece novel “ON ANCIENT and Modern Dress from Divers Parts of the World”.  This book is credited with being one of the first explanations of dress in modern history.

Cesare Vecellio spent the early portions of his life as a warrior for the Kingdom of Venice. After returning from war Vecellio noticed that many other cultures had begun to influence and change the traditional Italian dress, in particular France. Vecellio began to investigate the cause of this change. Vecellio was able to draw a parallel between political instability and the inconsistency of dress in Italy.

These discoveries were of particular interest to Vecellio, due to the fact that the average Venetian male dressed almost entirely in black outerwear. Venice, being a rich and powerful trading port was frequented by a large foreign and transient population. By wearing black the local Venetians were able to easily differentiate themselves from the non-locals with foreign garb. Conversely other cities were seeing a proliferation of foreign clothing into their societies.

Around the late 16^th century, Vecellio ran his own printing-press in Venice and began making his own volumes, print, and woodcuts on various styles that caught his interest. Unlike most of the descriptive books at the time, which only gave a small subtitle about what was being describe, Vecellio was known for going into explicit and exact detail about every part of what he was describing.

Eventually these woodcarvings and small volumes were brought together to be the first edition of his masterpiece work. The book successfully examined costume from Ancient Rome to Modern Italy, as well as some sides on costume in other distant civilizations. This book is today a cherished work for its unparreled insight into the costume of the 16^th Century. 


David Ojserkis

Story of a Shirt: a cautionary Tale with an Unexpected Ending

The article, Story of a Shirt: a cautionary Tale with an Unexpected Ending by Santina M. Levy, discusses the process that a group of people went through in order to unveil the history behind a linen shirt.  The process began in 1994 and wasn’t complete until around 2008. The mystery behind the shirt’s origin intrigued a number of people throughout those years, all of whom helped to uncover its history. 

Janet Arnold dedicated her time to discovering the history behind linen shirts from all different places and time periods. She died on November 2^nd, 1988. Her death occurred before she was able to complete her book, Patterns of Fashion 4, which explored all forms of linen clothing worn by men and women.  It wasn’t until 2005 that Millie Jaffe and Santina Levy were allowed to begin work on completing Janet’s book.

In 2006, Jenny Tiramani, Director of Theater Design at the Globe, took Millie’s place.  Jenny and Santina reviewed all of Janet’s notes, slides, drawings, and photographs that had been accumulated over the span of 20 years. The book was finally published in 2008; however a shirt from Platt Hall which was left out of the book particularly caught Santina’s attention and she was determined to uncover its origin.

The Platt Hall shirt had intricate lace trimming on the collar indicating it was for fancy occasions. This caused Santina to think back to her previous studies of lace and embroidery associated with Queen Victoria and Princess Charlotte of Wales. They enjoyed fancy-dress balls. She found that the balls were used to boost British manufacturers by having costumes made from British products. In 1851, the remodeling of old lace was significant for establishing a new-style antiques market. Lace merchants went abroad to collect lace and linens in order to create shirts for the Restoration Ball. The shirts were worn with colored stockings and long coats embellished with ribbon. Santina concluded that the Platt Hall shirt was likely bought by a wealthy owner in 1851. The shirt was converted for the ball with its historical lace on the collar and cuffs. The decorative motifs that are typical of High Renaissance suggested that the shirt was from Italy.

The next step was to try to find matching Italian portraits of the shirt.  Santina looked through Janet’s slides for similar alterations in the neck and shoulder areas of the shirting. She compared the Platt shirt to portraits of a V&A boy’s shirt and an Italian man’s shirt, both of which had shoulder widths that were narrower than the fabric width below the gusset cut in the body of the shirt.  The sleeves on the Platt Hall shirt are joined to the body of the shirt without any gathers, just like the sleeves in the picture of the boy are. Along the shoulders, the front and back are joined by open insertion seams and they fit without any gathers. On the Italian man’s shirt from Janet’s slides, the slit for the neck is gathered and secured in a narrow neckband. Platt Hall shirt fits shows resemblance boy’s shirt and that of the Italian man.

When focusing on the construction and decoration of the Platt shirt, Santina noticed something. At the base of the front neck opening, the braid outlines a more complex heart-shaped motif. Folded and twisted loops were skillfully produced to form the true love’s knot. The motifs were loosely sewn down which indicates that they were most likely lifted and replaced in 1851 when lace was added to the shirt. Further studies of neckbands on shirts in other portraits that were dated from 1515-1525 revealed that the Platt shirt was actually form 1520.

After all the research Santina completed, she became confident that the shirt originated in Italy in 1520. She also concluded that it could be fitted into a series of fast changing styles. The quality of the shirt, as well as the true love’s knot, propose that the shirt was a betrothal or wedding gift. 

Post By: Erica Dixon

Summary: History of Dressmaking and Tailoring:Instruments and Techniques, Written by Sara Piccolo Paci

            It is important, but complex to understand the creation and evolution of tools, patternmaking, and dressmaking, but that is what this writing explains. With the use of the first mediums- first animal skins, then fabrics, it is interesting to note that skins began as a rectangle. The first piece of the puzzle comes from the needle which allowed tailoring as well as the ability to join together. The needle and thread is the reason we can have more than just draped garments. A needle began as a bone, then evolved to steel, but hardly changes in shape or function. Scissors are also an important tool, and it says that some master tailors hold the act so highly that they bless themselves before cutting. Scissors began as knives held together by springs and measurements were taken with hand width and arm width and then kept for future purposes by marking that measurement on a string. Another item was the button. They could serve a functional or decorational purpose from the beginning. More of any material, skin, fur, or fabric the has always come with a higher price. Having “draped” generously fabric on your clothing always presents as more affluent because of this fact. And although this fact might not be true so much anymore, there are additions like layers and the fact of many more than the necessary amount of garments in one persons closet. The gusset, a square insertion of fabric, was in response to the tightness in the arm and shoulder. Two key people that evolved in this industry were tailors and garment producers. Tailors started as people who mended ripped materials, and the garment producers always had their specialties in certain areas, never just general for all types. They did find hardship, when their trade was hardly considered a profession, yet the designers were highly respected for their “art” but would never know how to actually sew a button. There were two different designers for men and women, and patterns were only to be distributed down inside of the family. In the 1800’s, patterns became rounded, which is still in use today. Capucci talks about the evolution of making a garment. He says that drawings are the most important, and then there are fabric swatches, a muslin sample, which turns into the actual fabric sample, and then there is retouching and finishing until the garment is perfect. It is also key to remember that a tailor needs to know the human anatomy, and the client, and know how to enhance the good and down play the bad. They must use a 2D medium in order to cover a 3D body, and know how to use any given fabric, and that is the simple job of the tailor, although not simple at all.  

 Summary by Gabriella Bonatesta

Women’s Work, The First 20,000 Years, “A Tradition With a Reason.”

 

The reading is about the introduction to the history of the relationship between women and textiles. Judith Brown found that whether or not a community relies on a woman for a certain task such as weaving, depends on the care of her child. Usually a woman’s job includes something that doesn’t require a lot of concentration and it dull and repetitive. In addition, it involves tasks where the child wouldn’t be in any kind of danger and it relatively close to home. Common jobs include crafts like spinning, weaving, and sewing. It used to be that a common job for women in societies worldwide involved food and clothing. However, today it doesn’t exist as much because we buy our clothes already made.

In Denmark fifty years ago, women bought their yarns already spun and then would weave their own basic cloth to make household items. They would make dishtowels, bath mats, scarves, blankets and tablecloths. In Greece thirty years ago, people bought factory made clothing, but were still making household woolens from scratch. Women would spend as much spinning as they would in food production. During this time, most of the families time was spent on textile related activities.

Then came the Industrial Revolution, where the power loom, the spinning jenny, and the cotton gin brought women out of their homes and into the dangerous factories. Today, society has evolved so women can work on the computer or telephone and still watch their children. Now that factories have taken over the jobs of weaving, Americans have engaged in weaving only though childhood games.

Then the article gives a description on the process it takes to spin and weave. It says the first thing to do is to take small fibers and twist a number of them together to make a strong thread. Then it describes the different lengths fibers come in; such as hemp is twelve feet long. But for short fibers, such as cotton, the thread will need to be extended. Therefore, the ends of the fibers need to be twisted together to lock it in place. The best way to do this is to use a spindle. The tool can be used in different ways to twist the fibers and to hold the finished thread. In the Neolithic era, people discovered that in order to reduce the wobble as the spindle turns and to prolong the spin, they invented the spindle whorl. This was a little flywheel made of clay, with a hole in the middle that would be added to the spindle. Then in the middle ages came the spinning wheel, which would work four times faster then a spindle. In the eighteenth century came the invention of the mechanical spinning machine, known as the spinning jenny. Once the thread is made, the weaving of the cloth can begin. This consists of interlacing the set of threads, and then pulling it tight. The simplest weave is the plain weave, which is found in most household items.


By: Hilary Maheu

"The Perfect Body" by Martha Barnette

          "The Perfect Body"

          This article by Martha Barnette discusses how the perfect body has a different meaning to every individual. The perfect body can also differ depending on the time and place. The ideal look is relative. Barnette uses the examples of how athletes when competing in their sport seems to have the perfect body yet outside of their profession their physical features become imperfections.

For a dancer it is important that she is thin for fluid movements yet her body can be seen as lanky. The ultimate body desired for a dancer also differs depending on location. In New York the dancer should be slender without looking anorexic, in Europe a much more muscular look is desired. For a speed skater her defined leg muscles are required for smooth strides although they can be viewed dense. For a swimmer her shoulders are necessary for powerful strokes yet can be seen as broad and masculine. The body type for a figure skater or gymnast is very specific, as she needs to have strength yet keep a slim figure. For example figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi was 93 pounds and gymnast Shannon Miller was 4’6”. There are very precise aesthetics required for these sports.  However for tennis this is not the case as there are a wider range of body types due to the variety of ways to win, yet sculpted calves and thighs are a necessity in order to be fast.  Powerful thighs are even more important for sprinters. Yet for a marathon runner it is more ideal to be lean. For body building it is all about the muscles and a lot of it has to do with natural genetics. Within body building the perfect physique is debated. Even models whose job it is to have the most flawless look, have varying expectations. Depending on the time period the desired look has altered dramatically.

Clearly the inspirational look varies depending on the objective. This article concludes with the idea that there is probably no such thing as the absolute perfect body as beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


By: Marisa Silber

Reading 1- "Antiquarian Attitudes- Some Early Studies in the History of Costume"

"Antiquarian Attitudes- Some Early Studies in the History of Costume"
by: Daisy O

This article argues the importance of art history in approach to the study of dress history. A background in art history provides a source of images where we can access and visualize clothing from every time period. It is through art that we are able to differentiate the changes in dress and appearance that define the current fashion. And this is not easily done by just looking at existing garments and written documents. The interest in costume gradually developed in the late 18^th century from the first surviving collections of costumes, including one in the British Museum. The rise of interest in illustrated histories of England are linked to the growth of interest in new genres and historical paintings, where the accurate depiction of historic costume were of importance. As art and dress are both forms of non-verbal languages, they are both social and visual experiences to the public and private. Joseph Strutt and Charles Alfred Stothard started their careers as historical painters then later gained popularity through their accurate costumes in plays with historical themes, which then led to the rage of masquerades throughout the century. Strutt illustrated and sourced the first detailed history of dress in England. The amount of sources Strutt used in his published work proves the extent of his research, not just dealing with fashionable dress but with every aspect of costume, including occupational, clerical, ceremonial, official, theatrical, and so on. Strutt’s artisitic abilities sometimes hinder his academic ethics as he admits to adding “ornamental embellishments” on figures of his original sources stating that it is not the work of his own imagination but “accurate specimens of English art.” And today as well as from the very beginning, both art and dress are used to interpret life at the time being, including culture, manners and visions.