Comic Con 2024 begins tomorrow, and with it a cavalcade of pop culture centric fans, collectors, designers, costumers, and more will descend upon San Diego. One of the central hubs where those designers will meet will be at the Her Universe Fashion Show, a geek couture, as in not a costume, fashion show inspired by pop culture. This year's show will take place Thursday, July 25, 2024, but in the meantime you can watch last year's show in its entirety, where the theme was fandom and fashion through 100 years of Disney.
From Christian Dior: "Filmmaker Mélinda Triana traces the making of the Dior Spring-Summer 2023 Haute Couture show. The behind-the-scenes mini documentary opens with Maria Grazia Chiuri who presents the collection’s starting point, archive images of Josephine Baker dressed in Dior, and heads into the Ateliers, revealing the savoir-faire behind the looks. It wraps with artist Mickalene Thomas who shares the story behind the set, composed of giant portraits of iconic personalities symbolizing a new pantheon of women."
From the Victoria and Albert Museum: "Discover changing silhouettes and key fashion developments across 100 years of British and French womenswear: from a Victorian wedding dress inspired by Indian textile motifs, to an Edwardian lace day dress, and a 1930s silk evening gown designed by Charles James. Assistant Curator Claire Allen-Johnstone unpacks the fascinating details of these different garments, revealing how fashions can be cyclical, often referencing the past, but with a modern twist."
From Cultured Elegance with Faith: "In this video, we will discuss an overview of 20th-century fashion and how to tell the difference between the different decades. 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s. We cover the Edwardian fashions, art deco fashions, Hollywood glamour, power dressing, mod looks, hippy looks, glamorous 1990s, and grunge looks."
Charles Frederick Worth was an English fashion designer who founded the House of Worth, one of the foremost fashion houses of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Considered by many fashion historians to be the father of haute couture, he first used models to "sell" his clothes and added labels to his work. If you were a Gilded Age lady of society, you would certainly have one of his designs.
From the Victoria and Albert Museum: "Join dressmaking expert and V&A volunteer, Sue Clark, as she examines one of the most iconic ensembles in post-war fashion, Christian Dior's 'Bar' suit. How was the suit constructed? And why was it hailed as 'the New Look'?"
What goes into making a fabric? Sometimes it can be made in an instant when it is digitally printed, other times it can take many, many hours. This video is an example of the latter where "this plaid textile has been laboriously handwoven by Aurélia Leblanc in her Paris atelier on a vast warp with an 800-yarn weft repeat in over 40 colors of linen, cotton, raffia and dyed silk ribbons." The textile was made as part of the Dior Autumn-Winter 2022-2023 Haute Couture collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri.
You might be as surprised as some of the students from the London College of Fashion as to what goes on inside a Haute Couture gown. These students were invited to investigate iconic garments by Cristóbal Balenciaga, "The Master" of haute couture, and "deconstructed his processes and revealed secrets of the making and construction using digital pattern-cutting technology." Enjoy the video from the Victoria and Albert Museum.
With the release of the brand new Barbie movie, we want to introduce you to the lady who is responsible for making Barbie the fashion icon she is today. Meet Carol Spencer, a "fine arts scholar who answered a newspaper job advertisement in 1963 to become Barbie’s fashion designer — a position she held for 36 years until 1999, making her the figure’s longest serving stylist."
From CNA: "You won’t hear the sound of sewing machines at the Chanel atelier, or workshop, because everything is done by hand. Find out what else goes into creating these special, haute couture pieces."
From Dior: "Follow our cameras behind the scenes for a detailed insight into the conception, realization and unveiling of the Dior Autumn-Winter 2023-2024 collection. Accompany Maria Grazia Chiuri as she reveals the inspirational role played by the founding couturier’s sister Catherine Dior, explore the treasures kept in the archives, learn about the amazing savoir-faire involved, and then watch as artist Joana Vasconceles creates the show’s scenographic installation." There is something in here for everyone. From the creation of a leather flower skirt, to straw tiaras, and fabrics woven with stainless steel.
What is the most delicate thing you have worked with? Silk, lace, antique fabric? Well, how about STRAW!?!? That's right, this dress made in 1865 was embroidered with straw and is part of the collection of the Weinmuseum in Italy. Find out how the straw was used to create this stunning ball gown that has lasted for over 150 years!
With just a bit of ribbon and a few pleats, you too could create one of these Dior outfits. Or could you? Take a look at the making of Dior Haute Couture Dress and decide for yourself.
We are always fascinated by the process of Haute Couture design. Take a look at this quick video showing how Dior embellishes one of their outfits.
The women of Gee's Bend, Alabama have produced some amazing quilts over the years and now even Amazon has taken notice. In their 2022 Amazon Fashion Gift Guide they are featuring six women from Gee's Bend in a fashion photo shoot.
Alex absolutely loved this exhibit, Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy, which has been extended through November 27, 2022 at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. The exhibit celebrates the extraordinary designs of Guo Pei—hailed as China's first couturier—and includes more than 80 works from the past two decades highlighting her most important collections shown on Beijing and Paris runways. In this brief video, you'll learn how she creates some of her stunning textiles.
"In 2017, to coincide with the NGV’s House of Dior: Seventy years of Haute Couture, two new couture works were commissioned for the fashion and textiles collection with funds donated by the David Richards Bequest and the F&T Supporters Group. Essence d’Herbier was commissioned by the NGV after Katie Somerville, Senior Curator Fashion and Textiles attended Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first Dior Couture show in Paris in January 2017." - NGV Melbourne
This is an incredibly beautiful dress, "one of the centerpieces of the Roses installation: the swirling red Rose dress by Sarah Burton from the Autumn/Winter 2019 collection." What is even more incredible is watching it being created by Judy Halil, who is Head of Atelier for Alexander McQueen, someone with "mad" sewing and draping skills. We can't figure out how they know how to draft the pattern and put it together, but it's fun to watch them do it.
Gee's Bend quilters and quilts have become synonymous with quilting excellence. Now they're becoming quite well known in another textile industry, the fashion world, and are garnering acclaim again across the world wide web. "With support from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, the quilters now have sold-out Etsy shops and collaborations with high-profile fashion designers." Find out how these amazing quilters have branched out and introduced their work to a whole new generation. (Photo Credit: Greg Lauren)
When you think of Paris, many things come to mind. Food, art, love, and so many others. But one of the standouts has got to be fashion. Home to some of the biggest design houses in the world, including Chanel and Dior, Paris has so much to offer when it comes to the clothing industry. Go behind the scenes of the workshops of designers Stéphane Rolland and Jean-Paul Gaultier as they take you on a fantastic fashion tour of their Haute Couture Workshops in Paris.