On 3/11/2011 5:04 PM, R Lloyd Mitchell wrote:
Expecting a Class that will allow you to be able to do this is not a real prospect
I'm not entirely sure what your point is. It is true that many historic techniques differ from modern ones, in fact they differ from one historic period to another. But, taking classes in modern sewing and pattern design did help me in creating historic garments.
I actually embarked on my clothing design courses because I wanted to learn to create better historic clothing. I had some basic, largely self-taught sewing and pattern-making skills, but they were proving insufficient for what I wanted to do. Most of my instructors were fairly unsympathetic about my projects. (I did have an instructor for couture design and hand-sewing courses who was sympathetic.) But, I was allowed to design and construct whatever I wanted, provided I met the class guidelines about what techniques a given project was supposed to display. Generally, as a course progressed we were taught various techniques, then we had to make a project that displayed them. Then there would be another set of techniques and another project.
I certainly have never wanted to create a ready-to wear collection of clothes for any historic era. I was taking courses so I could make exactly what I wanted. So were most other students. My ideas of what I wanted were more outre than most of theirs, though a couple of wearable art enthusiasts in my classes were pretty outre too. I actually have zero desire to make anything whatever for anyone else except, occasionally, my husband. Making clothes for other people generally means not making exactly what you want to make, and making them for manufacture (or theater) _really_ means not making what you want to make.
I did consider taking theatrical costume design (one college gave one course in it, in the theater department), but looked into it and discovered how different stage costumes are from wearable clothes, even historic ones
I agree with Carol that considering how heavily mainstream fashion mines the styles of previous periods, and how long that's been going on (since 1800 at least), a history of costume course is a must for modern designers. I actually never took one. By the time I started taking clothing design classes I'd already done a fair amount of reading and the course syllabus didn't look like anything new.
Fran Lavolta Press www.lavoltapress.com _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
