Moving away from Wool...

In this collaborative design project it has been decided to produce a more reasonably priced range of clothing based on the eveningwear of designer Ashley Isham. Isham is experimental in his use of colour and his fabric choice; he often uses a lot of embellishment and is best known for his signature draping and strong tailoring (Ashley Isham, n.d.). Ashley Isham was chosen in order to develop my skills by exploring different fabric types - in this case jersey.  I been fortunate enough to spend two seasons on a placement with him.  His work seems to dovetail with my work in that the garments are structured but also explore drapery in evening wear, and look into corsetry and specialist fabric finishes.

For the purposes of this assignment a selection of strapless evening gowns will be produced by studying Isham’s design ‘handwriting’ . His “classic” draped jersey dresses, which have many layers of interlinings including a padded corset for support, will be focused upon. An attempt will be made, by following Ashley Isham’s design ethos of stylishness, flamboyance with a core of elegance, all contained in the beautiful feminine silhouette, to create an ever-elegant evening gown with affordability that would sit in Isham’s Diffusion Line: “AI by Ashley Isham”.

In order to achieve the affordability of the garments the patterns will be created on Gerber, which will then be graded according to his size range. An order and a marker will then be made to get the optimum fabric usage. The dresses will still be made to a high standard, with the same finishes and inter-linings Isham would use, but a cheaper fabric might be used and a substitution for the embellishment such as an embroidered fabric may be made.

It will be appealing to his target ‘AI by Ashley Isham’ market to design two draped evening gowns because they are classic yet contemporary. Ashley Isham’s core clientele and loyal customers are mainly in South East Asia (Petrova, 2011) and in the Middle East (AI by Ashley Isham, n.d.). Many of his clientele attend lavish balls, appreciate design and want to stand out from the crowd. These gowns are targeted at modern women who are “all at once inappropriately enticing and yet unbearably unapproachable and Isham's designs evoke, rather, scream this unhindered sensuality” (London Fashion Week spring/summer 2013 live, 2012). Although it is intended that the garments will sit in Isham’s diffusion line, it will still be sitting in the upper mid market ranging in price from £200-£350, a market which has been less affected by the recession.

Furthermore, to keep faithful to Isham’s design ethos, I chose to create two evening gowns, based on Isham’s “classic” draped dress. The intention is to keep the finish of the garments to a very high standard, by still incorporating a cupped corset on the inner of the dress and by using quality fabrics as well as specialist fabric finishes such as the 4 thread over-locker and a pin hem. The corset is a fundamental design detail on this type of dress since if it didn’t have an inner corset the dress wouldn’t work. The corset is what gives this type of garment its structure as well as showing off the feminine body. I have done a lot of experimentation within the corset, creating my own pattern under the direction of Hagger (2004, p.74-79) looking at the fit, the type of fabric she will use and whether it be fused, canvassed or neither. 

Final Outcomes. 

  

The current designer has taken frequent inspiration from Isham including fabric choice, the silhouette of the garments and the interlinings; as well as looking at the quality and finish of these garments. The chosen fabrics for the main bodies of the dresses are a silk/viscose jersey and a polyester crepe-de-chine: two very different fabrics, however still in keeping with Isham’s original fabric choice: silk, jersey and satin, which would have been too expensive for the projected garments. Nonetheless, they both have beautiful drape to them and will create a very elegant appearance, while still feeling luxurious to the touch. In order for me to come up with my own twist on these evening gowns I have chosen a muted colour scheme made up of mossy greens and muddy creams. The intention is to create a more sophisticated London look, with the flair of Ashley Isham, by incorporating the suggested embellishment/embroidery contrast fabrics that are such a feature of his designs.

Colour Scheme

There has been much consideration regarding the process behind the pattern cutting to get the best fit possible.  This was achieved by creating the fundamental patterns on Gerber, while simultaneously having alongside the actual draping on the stand, so as to create the gathering featurette around the bust; then digitizing these patterns and smoothing off the lines on the program, thus creating an accurate sample pattern. Besides carrying out multiple fit sessions the designer has paid a lot of attention to detail, by re-toiling on multiple occasions to get the perfect fit that a strapless garment ought to have.

Ashley J