Kennedy A., Stoehrer E.B., Calderin J. Fashion Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the History, Language, and Practice of Fashion

Rockport Publishers, Beverly, MA, 2013. — 416 p. — ISBN: 1592536778, 9781592536771.In 2006 Hussein Chalayan, working with tech innovators 2D:3D, encapsulated eleven decades of fashion in a suite of breathtaking animatronic dresses that morphed from one era into another. Our cover splices together two moments in one such evolution (from Dior to Rabanne) and is meant to evoke fashion’s constant referencing and transformation of its history and aesthetic language while looking into the future.Our book approaches fashion design from the perspective of connectivity. It unfolds how fashion is imagined, produced, and disseminated within larger social, economic, and cultural systems. We have avoided traditional chapters in favor of entries that can be read individually or as part of an entire cycle. To borrow a metaphor from another discipline, we offer this volume as a kind of tasting menu, our suggestions for a progression of morsels to help the reader cultivate an informed and discerning palette.We must note a few limitations: Fashion design today continues to be dominated by its Western roots and by a focus on women’s clothing, which our book reflects. Moreover, some designers whose work we value appear here only briefly or not at all, simply because we could not affordably source the images..
Given fashion’s relentless pace and the speed at which information is now transmitted, predicting its future has become exponentially harder. Nonetheless, it is our hope that both students of fashion and connoisseurs of design will find in these pages a path through the complexity of the industry’s operations to the substance behind the style, and along the way, discover the extraordinary practitioners who have fashioned.About This BookDefining Fashion.
Fundamentals
Illustrated Timeline.
The System.
Centers.
Styles.
Principles
Life of a Garment.
Design.
Construction.
Production.
Evolution.
Dissemination
Fashion / Art.
Presentation.
Media.
Market.
Tastemakers.
Practice
Future of Fashion.
Icons.
Fashion / Art.
Artisans & Innovators.
Recommended Reading.