Fabric in Fashion at the Museum of FIT_Reflection

     

 

      Displaying a varied range of fabrics on garments, the exhibition’s purpose is to bring back the preciousness of textiles before the Industrial revolution when people can all recognize the type of textiles they wore and to encourage the audience to examine the garments by noticing their materials and the process of producing the textiles out of natural materials or synthetics. 

      According to the information provided by the museum labels, the first garment of my choice is this evening dress made from red and black shot silk taffeta, designed by Isabel Toledo. In details, there are many gathers along the seam lines as a signature of taffeta which is very well chosen to create and “maintain the buoyant bubble shapes” for this dress due to its attributes being thin, pliable. The fabric, taffeta, is in the same weave family with the other two materials, faille and ottoman. Compared with the other two textiles, taffeta has a light weight. Faille is a medium-weight ribbed fabric to create certain draping, and ottoman is a heavier version used to create stiff forms. The garment has a natural drape at the bottom, which makes the whole dress look balanced since the buoyant bubble shapes visually adds a lot of weight. 

       The other garment I focused on is the metallic film and cotton blend ruffled cape with coated silk camisole and pants, designed by Issey Miyake in 1982, Japan. With Miyake’s signature pleats, the ensemble is displayed in the sections of synthetic fibers. Nevertheless, Miyake employed “synthetic fibers and coatings with he blends with natural fibers” on heat-set folds. It is said by the museum label that Miyake has partner with textile designer Makiko Minagawa to experiment with innovative synthetics since the founding of his Design Studio in 1970. The top really catches my eyes at the first sight. The pleats were given depth by being organized in layers like waves and in sizes from big to small, top to bottom. The top-layer pleats function like collar and the sleeves also take in the shape of the pleats.

Research: https://www-jstor-org.libproxy.newschool.edu/stable/1316033

Our Kimono Mind-1vwogde

The article examines that Japan has a big impact of the concept of oversized garments on the West. In Japanese culture, Kimono is a significantly traditional and iconic garment that indicates Japanese fashion. Kimono inspires the fashion to embrace garments with characteristics of oversize. Japanese designers has inserted their cultural fashion into the West fashion, stimulating a transformation on ready-to-wear since the nineteenth century. As I looked back to the cape made by Issey Miyake, I also saw the shadow of Kimono underneath the wide sleeves and undefined collar like Kimono wrapping around human body.

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What’s the Similar and What’s the Different

      I was attracted by the characterized textures of both garments: the buoyant bubble shapes of the red and black dress and the signature pleats of the Miyake piece. The choice of the textiles for the two garments are differentiated by nature and synthetics. The first garment is made from taffeta, a natural material. The second garments is made from the blends of natural (cotton) and synthetic fabrics to create the folds. Despite the different materiality of the garments, in both cases, fabrics serve for the silhouettes of the garments. Due to the pliably attributes of taffeta, the dress has a soft and curvy silhouette. In contrast, the synthetics applied to the cape has a linear and stiffer silhouette. Besides, the color choices of two garments is opposite from each other. The dress was given a bright, vivid an warm red with a small touch of black reflected under the light. The cape was dark palm and brown, playing up the solemn environment.