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My Interest in Fashion This idea of doing couture is a fairly new idea but my interest in women’s fashion (primarily) goes back as early as college, as I can remember. But back then it was a latent interest, hidden just below the surface, and something I hadn’t any idea what to do with. It was fairly recently when there was an art exhibition that was dominated by the clothing of Halston when my interest surfaced and became obvious. During this show I drew quite a number of the garments on display, especially the ones I was most taken with. |
Early college fashion drawing
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My Halston Fashion Drawings (slide show)
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Why the interest? I’m not altogether sure of all of the reasons why I have such an interest in this but these I know:
Of all the things I’ve thought about doing so far, this is the thing that shows the most promise of success to me. People actually need clothes and if I can add some style to the world, why not? It seems like something where I could make a living without necessarily being under the employ of someone else. |
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My Desire for a New Couture Venture
After finding the drawbacks of the various other things I have tried, I felt I had to really think carefully about where I wanted to go next and exactly where in it I wanted to be. I finally came up with this idea. It’s still in an very embryonic state but I have given it a lot of thought about what I want and don't want: I decided I didn’t want to work in any already established system. I didn't want to work in a regular retail clothing store or department. I didn’t want to work for any ready-to-wear design firms or try to align myself with any of the in groups that exist in the fashion world. I wanted to do my own thing. I had heard that there was designer in Omaha (not New York or Paris) who was making a living by designing clothes for a small number of clients. That sounded like an appealing life to me. A group of regular clients could actually sustain someone.Perhaps I could find out how many. I thought that having a website would be a good way to cast a wider net and draw customers from a wider geographical area, perhaps the world. I had originally bought the domain dsmcouture.com but had second thoughts about the name when I discovered that there was an annual fashion event called DSM Fashion Week. I really didn’t want my little venture to be confused with that so I modified it somewhat, calling it instead DSN Couture (DSN being a contraction of the word “design”). The idea behind the site would be that every customer would have a personal profile with their exact sizes stored in it and that the designs that would appear for them would match up to their particular measurements and body type. Once created, the designs would be forever available, unlike ready-to-wear clothes. They could buy a favorite design even years later, when designs for ready to wear would be long discontinued. Outside of fabrics possibly no longer being available they could get it again. Eventually I’d like for there to be a virtual three-dimension clothes model that matches the body measurements of the client exactly onscreen o that they could see how a particular design might look like on them. But before I do any of that I need to learn all I can about clothing construction and clothing design since, at the beginning, it will be me doing all this work. If successful, perhaps I can bring in others to construct the clothes, do fittings, grade patterns, and generally allow me more time for design. Why this appeals to me is that it can be as small as just me working on individual orders or it could be scaled up to involve many people. It could perhaps form a middle way between haute couture, which very few can afford, and ready-to-wear clothes, that often have fitting problems and have limited sizes and options. |
My First Design Offering - The Tuck Shawl
I’ve started with this simple but elegant garment that I found a picture of online and did variations of - a “Tuck Shawl”. It wraps by tucking one end through an opening of the other end. I found it can have many variation and can work for more than one season, depending on the materials. For the cool days of Autumn it can be made of wool. With lighter materials it can be a nice wrap during the warmer days of Spring or Summer, as well be a elegant wrap for attending to a live performance.
Skirts and Beyond
To begin learning the basic building blocks of garments, I started by making two skirts - a circle (“skater”) skirt and a pleated skirt. I also plan to do other kinds of garments (blouses, dresses, etc.) to learn how to add various essential details (buttons, hems, zippers, darts, etc.).
I want anything I offer to be well made and as beautiful, stunning, and elegant as it can be.
I want anything I offer to be well made and as beautiful, stunning, and elegant as it can be.
For inspiration I’ve been collecting pictures in the thousands on Pinterest of fashions from the past that inspire me and that I find exquisite. I’ve found that the designs of Dior, Jacques Fath, and Lilli Ann from the 1950s are some of my favorites, although I’ve found other clothes from other eras that inspire me as well. Perhaps garment features from different eras can be combined to come up with something new.
An idea whose time has not yet come - Go Chic Boutique
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Because of the resources needed to begin such a venture, a couture business will not be coming anytime soon. I attempted a new online business called Go Chic Boutique which sold Women's fashion accessories (purses, scarves, sunglasses, jewelry, etc.) and used a dropshipping model, Unfortunately the resources required to simply make it visible and get people to visit the site proved to be too much. So anything to do with designing or making clothes may have to remain on the back burner for some time.
I did buy the gochicboutique.com domain for this ecommerce site, I've also bought gochiccouture.com (Go Chic Couture) and don't know what I'm going to do with them now. One was to replace DSN Couture but that doesn't matter now. Perhaps these domains can be sold...
I did buy the gochicboutique.com domain for this ecommerce site, I've also bought gochiccouture.com (Go Chic Couture) and don't know what I'm going to do with them now. One was to replace DSN Couture but that doesn't matter now. Perhaps these domains can be sold...