Getting Inspiration from Historical Sources of Fashion

To what extent have fashion/textile designers working over the last thirty years used historical sources to inform their practice? Historical modes of dress or history in general offers invaluable inspiration for contemporary designers helping to develop and inform ideas of shape, style, proportions and detail. In this essay I will explore and explain how designers have used the past to inform their work, whether an expression of political, social, or traditional opinions and ideals. I will particularly focus on Alexander McQueen’s political approach, Vivienne Westwood’s social comment’s, and Cath Kidston’s play on ‘vintage’ and nostalgia and the historical sources that have inspired these. â€Å"builds new, more complex narratives about both the past and present†. It is ironic that to keep fashion fresh, it must be informed and inspired by the past. Eclectic and cultured creations To feed out identities that, like fashion, are also developed and grown from the past. How can we go forward if we do not learn from the past? To ignore the lessons of history is to go backwards while the rest of the world moves on. Philosophical thought The past offers just as much mystery and allure as the future, if not more, naturally appealing to the human imagination, offering sentiment and familial value that we find comfort in. Everybody likes to know what has happened. This is inclusive of fashion too. Vivienne westwood. Interpretation and adoption of seventeenth and eighteenth centuryShow MoreRelatedDesign And Design Of Design History1343 Words   |  6 PagesDesign plays a significant role in people lives. Design contains a range of areas such as: architecture, landscape, fashion and graphic etc. Judging from the large number of exhibition, museum and modern building appears in recent year that people seems to put more emphasis on their visual artistic effect and design. 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