History of Fashion Final Paper Proposal

The photo is published on Dec 1939 by Harper’s Bazaar, London. The model, Lewis Aronson, was in a red velvet dress on a tawny yellow background, captured in the hand of photographer, Carlton. In 1939, due to the appearance of feminine suit, shoulder pad and more fitted garment became prevailing. For the dinner dress in the photo, square shoulder is featured, which depicts a powerful figure yet the draped gathers and black velvet ribbon remains the femininity. The image is meaningful because I would like to see garments that stands out or differs from other common pieces from the period. For this dress, its creative way of patternmaking reminds me of my muse of patternmaking, Tomoko Nakamichi, who writes the cult patternmaking book Pattern Magic. She invents ways of fitting human body, one of which is to design gathered holes to replace darts or design lines.

In the family photo taken in 1850s, the teenage girl and little sister wear two bell-shaped and domed dresses that were popular in the 1850s. The designer is unknown. Both of the two dress are dropped shoulder, in different ways of construction, at the same position, like motifs in one collection. The prints of both dresses are checkerboard, but with the different neckline and sleeve length, the garments talk variously for their wearer. The prints and structure also indicate a medium class social class of the girls. There are more details in the photo that reflect possible status or personality of the girls. For my own design, I was interested in repetitive prints and constructions of garment. The image caught my attention because the torso of the teenage girl’s dress looks extremely like a jacket I made. The modest design of the dresses communicates well with my personal taste and style.