Sara has created another crinkled garment – a pair of trousers this time around.

She went through the same process as the skirt-sewing the garment, washing it, twisting & tying it up, and then letting it dry. The effect was the same. There might be a couple of these pieces in the collection to demonstrate the the story-surviving the earthquake, a girl waking up during the aftermath and what her clothes look like as a result of the event-all rumpled and crinkled, completely disheveled.

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As we countdown to New York Fashion Week, the School of Fashion is crazed with preparation – particularly with our students showing in Bryant Park’s big tent on Sept. 12.

The school is all a twitter as Amanda Cleary, Brittney Major, Jie Pan, Kara Sennett, Richelle Valenzuela, Marina Popska, and Sawanya Jomthepmala are putting the final touches on their collections to bring to the tents. In addition, we also have some alums strutting their stuff that week. Jenny Schweitzberger (2007 BFA Fashion Design) is currently working at Carolina Herrera as a design assistant and Alicia Kelley Lapp has created a line of jewelry for Phillip Lim, which will be featured in his womenswear show. And of course, Sara Shepherd will be showing her own collection.

We are constantly getting a stream of updates from our alums in New York, so we will let you know more news as it comes in!

As of late, you’ve probably been keeping up with The Alyssa Diaries; seeing the fantastic work she is doing as a design assistant to fellow alumna Sara Shepherd – who just so happens to have one of her pieces in the September issue of W magazine. (the one with Kate Moss on the cover).

Actress Abbie Cornish (who was seen in cinematic indie fare like Stop-Loss and Candy) dons a bonafide Sara Shepherd tank whilst in a down-home, yet tom-boyish, setting.

Sara handed me a sketch (of the Lloyd Trouser). She had done and asked me to draft the trouser. We went over what she was looking for in fit, shape of the panels/inserts, length, etc.

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We drafted this toile of a draped silk blouse that I am working on. We drafted it from scratch, sewed it together, and fit it. Yesterday I was making the alterations we agreed upon during the fitting where we pinned out excess, marked changes to seam lines, etc.

I checked the toile one more time on the stand, and cut it apart from the seams. I laid down the fabric pieces that are being used to make the shirt and drafted new patterns from them. Even though there were previous patterns, the garment had changed so much during the fitting that I decided to engineer new patterns. Read more…

We give the garments names not only for organization purposes, but to tie the inspiration into the collection. Also, when people see the garments listed in the program during the actual show, it doesn’t say things like “navy blue trouser,” or something boring like that.

A couple of names we currently have are The “1906 dress,” “The Sunburst Trouser,” “The Lloyd Trouser,” and so on. The names on the piece of paper scanned in include “The Dandy,” “Cecily,” “Merrimam,” “Algernon,” “Miss Prism,” and one we ended up using last week, “The Bracknell Dress.” The nicknames come from The Importance of Being Ernest; a literary inspiration for the collection.

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More pieces and outfits filled the boards once we had the fittings. We got an idea of the outfits as a whole. We also saw how lone garments could work with others and worked out the fit/alterations as well as fabric choices. The board is made up of photos of the model wearing the outfits during the fittings so we can visualize the outfit and go back to use it as a reference. It also helps to give us a concrete visual of an outline of the collection. Each fitting helps us add or delete garments and outfits, move positions in the lineup, and add styling elements.

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The term bedlam came about from a psychiatric hospital in London called Bethlem Royal Hospital. It means uproar and confusion.

Bethlem Hospital was notorious for its malicious treatment of patients, hence the derivative of the word, bedlam. The history of the hospital is spilled with horrific tales of violent madness, cruel neglect, and dreadful conditions. Even during the 18th century, outsiders could enter the ward costing a penny (free every first Tuesday) for a taste of the “freak show;” bringing sticks to provoke the patients.

Madhouse is probably the first thing to come to mind.

Bedlam came into play when Sara made a reference to it. And no, bedlam, is nothing close to describe the collection. But it does describe the insanity caused by a few garments in the collection. They are complex in construction and can drive one to the “madhouse” sewing them together.

Each garment consists of a couple dozen pattern pieces of varying sizes and shapes. Figuring out which pieces sew over and under and in a particular direction causes mass chaos. This reputation for confusion has earned these garments the bedlam nicknames.

The following is a painting by William Hogarth. This painting is the last in the series picturing a man who landed himself in Bethlem Royal Hospital as a result of his self-indulgence. It also demonstrates the disturbing scene of the grotesquely amused visitors interacting with patients.

Here is a draft of one of the bedlam pieces next to a scan of a wood carving from the Arts & Crafts Movement.

Here is a scan of a wood carving and a pattern draft for a collar. The result is a 3-D fabric swatch. It demonstrates the design process from the “arts and crafts” inspiration to patterns to a sample in fabric to the final product.

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We only made one half of a toile because we were concentrating on design details and seam lines instead of fit for this first toile. We moved around darts, changed the shape of the waistband, and added pockets.

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Alyssa talks about the ivory crinkle skirt and the process of crinkling it. She also touches on the inspiration of earthquakes and how it relates to its texture and
meaning.

Sara drafted and sewed together a pencil skirt with dart detailing in an ivory silk. Then, she washed the skirt under water, twisted the skirt (more tightly twisted at the bottom than top to give a cascading effect), tied the twisted skirt together…

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