The Cutting Class

Jil Sander, SS12.

There is a discipline that has crept into the most influential womenswear collections over the last couple of seasons that breathes of minimal, understated elegance and is built on a foundation of retro silhouettes.

Raf Simons, in his collections at Jil Sander, has been instrumental in experimenting with what will work for intellectual women today, in mining the old dress codes and finding out what can still be relevant and cool when given just the right sense of proportion, texture and colour.

In terms of construction, dress making staples such as darts have been used to great effect to help narrow the line of waists or create subtle shaping in rigid cottons. In general for this Spring-Summer 2012 collection, the sheerness of white fabric has been embraced and used as a subtle tool for detailing. This can bee seen through the classic collar shapes that are echoed in specially cut facings or in the double layers of white used to add a different dynamic to shirtdresses by blocking out more opaque areas.

The idea of transparency continued later on in the collection through the use of coloured checks on organza, that were used both with and without a white backing fabric often in modest, midi-length skirts and dresses.

The mood of modesty is a key marker that has carried through the recent collections of Jil Sander, Prada and Celine especially in terms of the staying power of the midi-length silhouette. It is the context that these designers have created for these collections that keeps them sensual and relevant - the colour combinations and textures used for these silhouettes are always slightly unexpected and off kilter and the accessories always fuse in unexpected references such as car interiors or woven cane furniture.

It really feels as though there is a definite effort to give a different slant to classic shapes that would otherwise be considered very elegant but perhaps overly conservative. It often seems as though designers such as Miuccia Prada, Raf Simons and Phoebe Philo are setting themselves challenges to work out what will give even the most austere collection or unlikely reference a new subversive, intellectual or playful element to create something new and unexpected. The challenge, it seems, is resulting in some of their strongest and most desirable work.

Images from Vogue.co.uk». Cane images from DecoratorSupplyInc».

Prada, SS12.

Miuccia Prada has a knack for combining disparate elements to create collections that are filled with a playful variety of textures, techniques and colours. While the overall mood of a Prada collection can come across as naive and whimsical, the approach to the design of the collection is obviously anything but flippant.

With references to 1950s car culture, the collection could have easily strayed into a novelty kitsch territory, but sheer attention to detail is what makes the Prada collections so desirable. The flames that are thrown up the borders of skirts, or embedded into pleated dresses, for example, are in sophisticated colour combinations, offset with unexpected highlight colours through piping and embroidery. And the accessories including tiny chrome tail lights on the heels of shoes, or tonal appliques on handbags were always perfectly executed, down to the “Prada” number plates.

There was an interesting transition of some of the details from the Menswear collection as well with piping and retro prints making a reappearance. There was also the reuse of brightly coloured gemstones, this time appearing to take the place of studs on bomber jacket styles.

It’s also interesting to note how the hint of tummy has been done in the most modest way possible, keeping the skirts long and high waisted, with only a strip of toned skin beginning to be exposed. As designers tend to focus attention on different areas of the body in a fairly cyclical way, this is obviously a more chic way of unveiling a bit more flesh rather than going for the full length stomach exposure. 

Images from Vogue.co.uk».

Missoni, AW11.

There are some catwalk shows that are almost blinding in the designers use of colours, textures, patterns and layers of garments. Missoni is definitely one such show which can become almost overwhelming in the sheer magnitude of pieces and individual ideas that are on display.

The best way to truly understand the forethought and consideration that went into the Autumn-Winter 2011 collection by Missoni is by zooming right in and singling out individual weave variations, colour combinations and incredible details. Such as the oversized knits that are plaited out of giant gradients of knitted colour, or the individual feathers which have been carefully stitched to follow the knitwear patterns, turning the 2D designs into 3D texture.

The colour combinations at play in the Missoni collections are always incredibly complex and varied, almost like the effect of Pointillism in a painting. In the same way that the individual knitwear yarns can often be made up of many blends of colours to create one dynamic hue, so to are the collections made up of many tones which all build towards one colour theme. In this case, this colour theme was also beautifully offset by a dark red lip colour.

Images from Vogue.co.uk».

Prada, Menswear, SS12.

Fashion has had it’s fair share of block colours and clean lines of late with designers experimenting with their own versions of minimalist aesthetics, simplified forms and graphic silhouettes. But at the end of the day, aesthetics that disciplined aren’t necessarily particularly fun and in some of the recent Resort and Menswear collections designers are breaking out of the minimal mould.

In the recent Prada Spring-Summer 2012 Menswear collection there was a sway away from clean lines for all, towards loud shirts for the brave few. Colours continued to pour forth in all new combinations and repeat prints were busy and quirky, depicting scenes of golfing, surfing and dancing. Shoes used 3 or 4 colours at a time, with cartoon-like studs protruding from the soles and the hats included beret style shapes that looked like borderline granny shower caps. The yoke lines were also warped into strange new outlines and used to contrast clashing prints with fine lines of piping. And that’s without even mentioning the bedazzled garments and accessories that just pushed the whole look to a new level of eccentricity.

Catwalk images from Vogue.co.uk».

Prada, SS11.

In the long space of time between when we first see garments on the catwalk and when they start to arrive in store, the original memory of a collection can become diluted. By the time the actual garments arrive in a retail environment we will likely have seen the colours appropriated for high street collections and the silhouettes replicated and toned down. By this time we have even been shown the catwalk collection of the next season, so we’re already beginning to slip into the mindset of the wrong climate altogether.

The best way to be inspired anew is simply to look back at the original catwalk images and remember why the collection looked so fresh in the first place. A perfect example is the Spring-Summer 2011 collection from Prada that was heralded as such an optimistic game-changer for the season. The swatches of fabrics, patterns and colours shown above have been abstracted away from the garments and the quirky accessories. Even simplified down to this pure form you can still see why this collection got the editors all excited.

At the end of the day these are just really great colours. Fresh, pure and bright, they have been hidden from trend reports for a season or two and that all helps to make them primed for their reappearance in the context of a very strong collection. Afterall fashion is so much about context, about the right thing at the right time - and Miuccia Prada definitely has a knack for reminding us about the colours and styles that we never knew that we always wanted.

Catwalk images from Vogue.co.uk».

There are so many details that come together to make up the collections each season that sometimes it is interesting to just hone in on one detail. By flicking through the collection images just focusing in on shoulder shapes, hem lines or closures, for example, you start to notice different trends coming through.

This season you may have found your eyes continually picking up on the high necklines of quite a few designers. Technically there are many names for these different types of collars… turtleneck, stove pipe, stand-up, roll… and each name dictates the way that the collar sits, how close the collar is into the neck, how wide the neckline scoops into the garment - and this all translates into how each one needs to be made as a pattern.

Below are some of the different collar examples below from the Jil Sander, Celine and Louis Vuitton collections. Note how the designers use variations on the collars and necklines to great effect so that their collections have a certain feel to them without becoming overly repetitive. If you look through the rest of these shows you will see so many examples of how the necklines and collars are echoed over and over again with subtle changes.

Jil Sander, AW11.

Celine, AW11.

Louis Vuitton, AW11.

When beginning to pattern make or drape a certain silhouette it is sometimes helpful to start by drawing very roughly what you picture the pattern pieces will look like. It will force you to make certain decisions from the beginning about what you want for you result especially in terms of measurements.

If you ask yourself questions such as how far do you want the neckline to skoop, how wide do you want your collar, how high up the back of the neck do you want your collar to sit then you will be much more prepared to make your pattern. You can measure roughly what you are expecting on a dress making dummy or fit model and this will also then help you to get a closer result from the first pattern or drape.

The below images show very basic abstracted versions of what the patterns for these collar shapes and necklines would look like including where basic body patterns would need to be altered to accommodate the new neckline and collar.

Catwalk images from Vogue.co.uk. Pattern images from TheCuttingClass.