First off --  A Reminder!  A perfect time & place for Perfect Pants with Sabine David, June 22, 23, 24 in San Francisco.  If you are on the fence about Sabine David's Perfect Pants class, it is filling fast and early -- since we still have a while to go, it looks like a last minute decision can't happen with this one!  Limit 15.  Register now.   

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• For all the pattern designers who can just look and cut, without

  A clue -- there are Balenciagas, lots!

  missing a beat, there is a terrific new resource -- the drawings

  

  and sketches produced by the New York firm, André Fashion Studios from the 1930s and early 1940s -- all beautifully online -- jillions of them!  They are really great, with lots of coats, a treasure of a collection from the NY Public Library -- bless those lions!       
  
  
  
          
   
• Suzanne Perron in New Orleans is making bridal masterpieces and has a book, Ivory and White, to prove it!  A veteran of the several NYC design shops, she's really good. 
  
     

• For those who follow the sustainable fashion world  (and we all need to!) there is now what appears to be a very comprehensive headquarters for all resources in that sphere:  C.L.A.S.S., Creativity, Lifestyle And Sustainable Synergy.  While there are several such aggregator sites for sustainability, this one seems to have the scale problem down pat, a big net but not to big for small business and on a level that could make a difference -- offices in NY, Italy and the UK. 

• Which is where I found Agostina Zwilling making dramatic felt garments -- felt being a low impact medium.  Agostina Zwilling, a felt-fashion-artist committed to spreading the ancient art of felt making in modern couture, is the founder of the Italian Felt Academy. The school is situated in Verona, Italy.  

• The Design Museum's Design Awards in London, 'the Oscars of the design world', is a showcase of the most innovative and progressive designs from around the world. 132 5. ISSEY MIYAKE won the best design in the category of fashion at the Museum's fifth annual Designs of the Year Awards 2012 in April.  Check the 3 videos on his origami concept in which the clothes emerge from a collapsed origami form with unseen snaps to determine fit and silhouette.  It's a great concept - brilliant!     

• Read and weep.  For a pithy insight on the overall fashion industry today, Colin McDowell's column about the Bill Cunningham New York documentary sums it up.  This circumstance is all the motivation we need to keep going -- no place to go but up.  Please support the passionate people who are building a new and better industry -- there are many in workrooms all over the country.

Speaking of which . . .              

• LOCAL ITEM:  Lori O'Neill lets us know that she has a great 2000 sq ft studio in central Santa Rosa, CA, and is looking for one or two designers to share the space. There are personal spaces and a large common area for classes, workshops with cutting tables, shelving, equipment -- includes expertise on piece production, line development, wholesale/retail sales and connections to production assistants and sewers.  Lori ONeill  

• Slowly, slowly, our mission to get the fashion industry to recognize the value of pattern design skills is getting there.   Helping the cause is the University of Hudderfield's latest exhibition, Insufficient Allure: The Art of Creative Pattern Cutting, curated by Kevin Almond and Kathryn Brennand.  The title is a sly dig at the false allure of being a fashion designer compared to the 'insufficient' glamor but more authentic allure of pattern design.  Ahhh . . . kindred souls.   Read more .     

• For a state of the art analysis of the traditional US fashion capital, NYC, check out this downloadable PDF.  NYC has reached truth-time when it comes to making sure their schools and the garment district survive.  Cities are now reaching out to help with  new initiatives.  Help the schools and you help yourself.

• On Seeing Design as Redesign, An Exploration of a Neglected Problem in Design Education,  By Jan Michl.  For a debunking of the myth that fashion designers somehow ooze originality from their pores, read this treatise by a fellow who teaches history and theory of design in Norway at GJØVIK University College.  The premise:  true design abilities are the creative application of what went before -- the connecting of the dots and those dots were someone else's effort to do the same.  The article is long but hang in there, it's a brain-changer, especially for teachers and those wrestling with design derivative issues. 

• And now for a great comparison which prompts the question -- have we progressed?  Check this video courtesy of Luca Costigliolo at the National School of Cinema in Rome to see the sheer volume of clothing put on a woman in 1872.  Is it worse than walking in stilettos for the woman of 2012 or not?  Just think, instead of funding second homes for podiatrists, we could buy low heeled shoes -- de rigueur for bike commuters!  Love those people.

A word about CFPD patterns . . . we try to bring out patterns for more advanced skills that have an educational feature about them.  Hopefully, they will teach that bodies have no seams and everyone can use creative cuts and not the usual front, back, sleeve formula.  Cut, learn and use them to develop your own designs!

• One can only hope that the intrinsic elegance of the 1930's will ride back in on the wave of new interest in Schiaparelli designs, showing at the Costume Institute at the Met in NYC.  A beautifully cut bias design (which never clings, BTW) beats the ubiquitous spandex that we see on the street today, not to mention on news anchors and other professional people.  Deliver us! 

To aid the wave, we have two new bias designs and a fabulous Chanel-inspired folding skirt: 

• Kimono Cowl Blouse
  Continuing the concept of the evening blouse, here's the Kimono Cowl Blouse, an easy gem since there is only ONE pattern piece that is cut 4X on the bias.  The sample was done in an ombre´ dyed silk velvet and it would be incredible in a stripe or directional fabric.  The triple cowl on the sleeve has a ribbon stay to hold the folds. Plus you can cut it long as a dress. Pattern 

• MV Bias Pullover This simple bias top with Vionnet flavors works on anyone, with anything, anywhere, any time -- one pattern piece, two seams, SML, easy fit, fast and simple -- can't get better or more useful -- here in silk twill and chenille.
  
  
   
• CC Fold Skirt
  Once upon a time a former student brought her aunt's unforgettable skirt to class, done by a famous

  Illustrations by Alan LeBlanc

  Parisian designer.  I had to try it -- and here it is.  This skirt is deceptively simple, using a single pattern piece with no visible vertical seams.  It closes with two bias sashes that tie in the back, creating a single front fold with a hidden zipper on the right under the fold.  The skirt is cut on the straight with a contour facing at the back waist.
  
  Next month, more patterns, I'm currently working on all those thrillers that wowed students for years in pattern classes -- and then usually wound up as the midterm exam!   Yum, yum.

New Classes

• Draping Le Smoking,
  July 28 & 29, 2012 at The Ribbonerie in San Francisco. Registration goes up June 1. 

 

Keep Calm and Carry On

And while we are looking back for images that carry us forward, this one is for all of us who must now practice extraordinary nimbleness and foresight, online and off.  As the new economy, society, generation, whatever, gets some traction (the jury is still out), here's a single note from history that goes to the soul, Keep Calm and Carry On.  That's it.  Now go out and do it -- and be creative about it! 
Sandy

The story of the poster . . .