I chose to focus on the basic baby doll silhouette because I did not want to take the entire lederhosen silhouette and create a silhouette that already exists. Instead of appropriating the entire garment, I chose to take certain elements from it such as the bib and the straps. This combines with the design inspiration from the embroidery because it incorporates the border print with the image choice pattern I created. I am still unsure of where I will use the print, embroidery, or floral images in the garment, however, I do plan on combining these silhouette elements with the inspiration of embroidery and color from the other cultures as well (Peru, Nepal, and India). With this silhouette that could work in the form of a dress or a top depending on the hemline, I think the garment combines cultural and historical design elements with a modern silhouette that can combine to create a new design.
I plan on altering the traditional baby doll dress pattern by creating a yoke that mimics the shape of the the lederhosen bib that attaches the suspenders against the chest. This curved yoke will differ from a straight band and will be the base for the straps that will cross in the back, also altering the dress and adding more influence from the lederhosen.
I will use muslin for this piece because I want to use a fabric that I can use to test out and problem solve. Since muslin is abundant and cheap I think this is the best route to take. The attachment method that I will use will be sewing. I think this is the easiest way to see how a final garment would look based off of a silhouette study garment so I want to sew this piece to see how the final could look or be altered to work better.
These garment ideas relate to my topic research because they incorporate different ideas from the traditional lederhosen. In the dress and the top design, the yokes are inspired by the bib in a lederhosen that connects the suspender straps. This shape is the piece that brings out the alteration that derives the dress or top from a basic baby doll dress or top. The straps also root form the lederhosen criss cross strapping in the back. The message behind my design is to combine the cultures and do so in a way that does not appropriate an entire garment, but rather that combines certain elements to create a new idea and design.
The article, “Spring Fashion Issue; Suddenly, Africa; are the Prints and Beadwork and Bangles of the Spring Collections a Revelation, Or Cultural Appropriation?” by Erin Kaplan has influenced my designs because she purports that cultural appropriation is beneficial in its ability to “instigate change”. Kaplan wrote, “If clothes don’t have the power to instigate change, they can at least herald it–not simply in hem lengths and silhouettes but in political movements and social attitudes.” I want my form of appropriating and combining the lederhosen silhouette with the ethnic embroidery look to create the opportunity to educate and open dialogue about why the design uses the different inspirations it does and where the ideas come from that paint the different cultures in a positive spotlight.
