Fabrication of Fashion
Published in The Kathmandu Post in 2000
Some say that the world of fashion is as fickle as the wind. Others, that it is one big cycle - you never throw out what is in your cupboard because you can bet that what is fashionable today will once again be in fashion (if you can wait a generation). We've seen hemlines go up and down, the mini-skirt, tube dress and baggy pants all making re-appearances like a ghost that just won't go away. But just how aware are we of what we are wearing?
Ask the question to a chic woman and you may get surprised to know her answer. Or she may shock you with her ignorance about what she is wearing. The in-word in fashion today is not 'hemlines' or 'cut' or 'fit', not who is the hottest new designers or which of the master-designers is still in vogue. Instead, attention is now focused on what beautiful clothes are made of, on the huge and expanding field of new fabrics that are enlivening designers' textural palettes and reshaping their sensibilities. Nowadays a serious stylish woman may be found wearing nylon or viscose or -get ready-it might be Olefin as against the natural fabric which was 'must wear' two decade ago to expose herself as a socialite woman.
Fashion has taken a new shape over the years. Everywhere in the world people are after fashion as if to be fashionable means to be beautiful. From Tokyo to New York, fashion designers, including those in the conservative upper reaches, are picking up on all kinds of test-tube products. Even fashion houses that favour the little use of synthetic fabric are getting into the fashion business through blends that use natural materials like silk and wool in combination with various stretch or glitter threads. Time was when silk was the luxe material of choice- along with fine cotton and pure wool. For that matter, cotton is still the most common fabric; 1994 figures indicate that 43% of all textile material produced was cotton. But synthetic fibres are looming right behind -about 39%. Cotton could lose its thin lead soon because of sundry use of other synthetic fibres which is getting popularity because of its flexibility. For the advantages of artificial fabrics are myriad. They are not only durable and washable, but don't wrinkle and take colour increasingly well. Some also move sensuously with the body which gives sexy look to a woman.
Fashion is all about change; to tap into the world of fashion is to know the heartbeat of culture itself, which is constantly in the process of evolving. Successful designers are always on the lookout for ways to top themselves-and the rest of the industry. And, in the quest of new design, they sometimes design such a cloth that which women feel difficult to wear. Of late a few designers in Nepal have tried new things in fashion which is only good on the catwalk, not in the daily life. The recently held fashion show in Australia have had all see-through cloth, very light and easy to wear. But their practicability is quite doubtful (if not accident-causing!)
Several of the most influential fashion operatives believe the stylistic imagination has become lax. The basic shapes have been interpreted, exploited and mocked many times. Clothing needs some rethinking, and new fabrics are important aids in this endeavour. Solutions to bring in new design are too far-fetched, however, would involve reconstituting the body, and evolution has not yet pointed the way. So no matter how rebellious the designer, the invention lies in reinterpreting old formulas. And, another in one way or other somehow influences one creation.
Fashion designers must be opportunistic about innovation; no house or manufacturing unit is rich enough to support the basic research required to generate a new synthetic. They have to depend on what are available. In Nepal, a few designers had made effort to reinterpret hemp cloth, however, it could get success even in local level though it was quite popular in Europe. Unlike other synthetic cloth, hemp is natural and coarse. So it would be wearable if it blends with other synthetic fabric to bring out quality and fineness. It needs lots of money for research, and Nepalese designers have no money to invest for it as our market is still very small to such costly venture.
Japanese designer Miyake's adventures in synthetics are famous as he employs a seven-member team whose job is to do research for new vocabulary in the world of fabrics. Young French designer, Frederic Molenac, has staked his career on synthetics. World known Miuccia Prada, taking over her family's leather-goods business in the late '70s, reclaimed the nylon used to line streamer trunks to create her bags in the Parda line. Milan's Gianni Versace, who was shot to death in the United States by a gay, used clear plastic vinyl extensively, even in couture, as well as a chain-mail fabric from small alloy plates linked with miniature staples.
Miyake as well as Giorgio Armani, the two great fashion mind of the late '70s and early '80s, was the original creator of the cult of black, beige and white. The next generation fashion gurus like Donna Karan and Jil Sander, who are very influential with working women, still embrace this trend. Unfortunately designers in Nepal never venture out to do experiment with fusion of fabrics. What they do is to copy, not to create. Lack of innovation among Nepali fashion designers is the main reason for not being successful in design market. However the big problem with Nepalese designers is lack of market. Unless there is no opportunity for large market, it's very difficult for designers to invest money on research. Even if they produce, Nepalese people hard can afford to buy designers' cloth.
Designers like what's new for its own sake, but within the industry there is another reason for pushing new fabrics: economics. "Flat" is the polite way to describe sales in the past five or six years, and many people believe a solution to the profit problem lies in reinteresting women in colour. A wide variety of synthetics starting with polyester and nylon now take colour beautifully and far more subtly than, say, early rayon. The problem is that the public in the past 15 years has been conditioned to equate chic with drab. Textile View magazine laments this rather persistent fact of life: "The arguments for black go on strongly, but the fashion world has to go for the new. If it continued to stand for black, then clothing sales would come to a complete standstill. We need colour." However, the question of colour is one that Nepalese can never be in a quandary about - no sari shop is complete without the whole spectrum of colours to tempt the eye. A walk down Oxford Street in London, and it will be obvious what the fad is - expressed in colours and window displays that mimic each other almost to the point of boring repetition. A walk down New Road at the height of peak hour, and you will be spoilt for colours and design. A sari may still be a sari no matter how it is worn, but the colours and fabric are always a sight to behold, and there is nothing that beats a colourful kurta worn by our local beauties. Fashion trends may not be as perceptible here, but the ever-changing displays of the cloth shops are the barometer of local fashion, which is evolving day by day.
Some say that the world of fashion is as fickle as the wind. Others, that it is one big cycle - you never throw out what is in your cupboard because you can bet that what is fashionable today will once again be in fashion (if you can wait a generation). We've seen hemlines go up and down, the mini-skirt, tube dress and baggy pants all making re-appearances like a ghost that just won't go away. But just how aware are we of what we are wearing?
Ask the question to a chic woman and you may get surprised to know her answer. Or she may shock you with her ignorance about what she is wearing. The in-word in fashion today is not 'hemlines' or 'cut' or 'fit', not who is the hottest new designers or which of the master-designers is still in vogue. Instead, attention is now focused on what beautiful clothes are made of, on the huge and expanding field of new fabrics that are enlivening designers' textural palettes and reshaping their sensibilities. Nowadays a serious stylish woman may be found wearing nylon or viscose or -get ready-it might be Olefin as against the natural fabric which was 'must wear' two decade ago to expose herself as a socialite woman.
Fashion has taken a new shape over the years. Everywhere in the world people are after fashion as if to be fashionable means to be beautiful. From Tokyo to New York, fashion designers, including those in the conservative upper reaches, are picking up on all kinds of test-tube products. Even fashion houses that favour the little use of synthetic fabric are getting into the fashion business through blends that use natural materials like silk and wool in combination with various stretch or glitter threads. Time was when silk was the luxe material of choice- along with fine cotton and pure wool. For that matter, cotton is still the most common fabric; 1994 figures indicate that 43% of all textile material produced was cotton. But synthetic fibres are looming right behind -about 39%. Cotton could lose its thin lead soon because of sundry use of other synthetic fibres which is getting popularity because of its flexibility. For the advantages of artificial fabrics are myriad. They are not only durable and washable, but don't wrinkle and take colour increasingly well. Some also move sensuously with the body which gives sexy look to a woman.
Fashion is all about change; to tap into the world of fashion is to know the heartbeat of culture itself, which is constantly in the process of evolving. Successful designers are always on the lookout for ways to top themselves-and the rest of the industry. And, in the quest of new design, they sometimes design such a cloth that which women feel difficult to wear. Of late a few designers in Nepal have tried new things in fashion which is only good on the catwalk, not in the daily life. The recently held fashion show in Australia have had all see-through cloth, very light and easy to wear. But their practicability is quite doubtful (if not accident-causing!)
Several of the most influential fashion operatives believe the stylistic imagination has become lax. The basic shapes have been interpreted, exploited and mocked many times. Clothing needs some rethinking, and new fabrics are important aids in this endeavour. Solutions to bring in new design are too far-fetched, however, would involve reconstituting the body, and evolution has not yet pointed the way. So no matter how rebellious the designer, the invention lies in reinterpreting old formulas. And, another in one way or other somehow influences one creation.
Fashion designers must be opportunistic about innovation; no house or manufacturing unit is rich enough to support the basic research required to generate a new synthetic. They have to depend on what are available. In Nepal, a few designers had made effort to reinterpret hemp cloth, however, it could get success even in local level though it was quite popular in Europe. Unlike other synthetic cloth, hemp is natural and coarse. So it would be wearable if it blends with other synthetic fabric to bring out quality and fineness. It needs lots of money for research, and Nepalese designers have no money to invest for it as our market is still very small to such costly venture.
Japanese designer Miyake's adventures in synthetics are famous as he employs a seven-member team whose job is to do research for new vocabulary in the world of fabrics. Young French designer, Frederic Molenac, has staked his career on synthetics. World known Miuccia Prada, taking over her family's leather-goods business in the late '70s, reclaimed the nylon used to line streamer trunks to create her bags in the Parda line. Milan's Gianni Versace, who was shot to death in the United States by a gay, used clear plastic vinyl extensively, even in couture, as well as a chain-mail fabric from small alloy plates linked with miniature staples.
Miyake as well as Giorgio Armani, the two great fashion mind of the late '70s and early '80s, was the original creator of the cult of black, beige and white. The next generation fashion gurus like Donna Karan and Jil Sander, who are very influential with working women, still embrace this trend. Unfortunately designers in Nepal never venture out to do experiment with fusion of fabrics. What they do is to copy, not to create. Lack of innovation among Nepali fashion designers is the main reason for not being successful in design market. However the big problem with Nepalese designers is lack of market. Unless there is no opportunity for large market, it's very difficult for designers to invest money on research. Even if they produce, Nepalese people hard can afford to buy designers' cloth.
Designers like what's new for its own sake, but within the industry there is another reason for pushing new fabrics: economics. "Flat" is the polite way to describe sales in the past five or six years, and many people believe a solution to the profit problem lies in reinteresting women in colour. A wide variety of synthetics starting with polyester and nylon now take colour beautifully and far more subtly than, say, early rayon. The problem is that the public in the past 15 years has been conditioned to equate chic with drab. Textile View magazine laments this rather persistent fact of life: "The arguments for black go on strongly, but the fashion world has to go for the new. If it continued to stand for black, then clothing sales would come to a complete standstill. We need colour." However, the question of colour is one that Nepalese can never be in a quandary about - no sari shop is complete without the whole spectrum of colours to tempt the eye. A walk down Oxford Street in London, and it will be obvious what the fad is - expressed in colours and window displays that mimic each other almost to the point of boring repetition. A walk down New Road at the height of peak hour, and you will be spoilt for colours and design. A sari may still be a sari no matter how it is worn, but the colours and fabric are always a sight to behold, and there is nothing that beats a colourful kurta worn by our local beauties. Fashion trends may not be as perceptible here, but the ever-changing displays of the cloth shops are the barometer of local fashion, which is evolving day by day.
posted by Sarad @ 6:46 AM
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