I have always had this fascination with clothing design and how it helps the woman (or the man) project himself or herself to their best advantage. How does a mere piece of cloth wrapped around the body, clipped and sewn in various places, manage to make someone project as so much more (or less) than they are when they are unclothed?
Great links I've found so far include the Costume Institute (with a new exhibition on Gianni Versace up right now), and FirstVIEW, a fashion service which provides looks at a lot of designers' (and I do mean a lot of designers) collections, right up to the minute if you subscribe to them, and with a couple of months' delay if you don't. I'll be happy enough playing around in the historical sections of what looks like at least a hundred or so designers so that I won't worry about forking out right now. Wow. I'm happy.
I'm also going to try to get in some links and ideas on how you make this stuff -- arts and sewing stuff oriented toward the couture and other fancy stuff, like for instance sites having to do with the wonderful embroidery houses in France that have been producing couture embroidery for a number of years. Who knows? I might even throw in some Scottish tartan sites. Historical costume dressing having to do with British royalty -- the robes and stuff. If that doesn't help a person project, I don't know what does.
Turnbull & Asser. Clothing by appointment to HRH The Prince of Wales, or however they say it. And we may presume that possibly this is a place that keeps other royal men happy.
If the clothes come anywhere near to making the man or woman, we should see it here. What makes royalty? What makes status? How do they project? And of course, House of Hartnell and other stuff like that for Queen Elizabeth. Coming up. This is a big site and I've got lots of ideas. I've been wanting to do a costume history study for so long....Versace. Right here. And of course I'll be digging out stuff on Valentino, and of course other of Diana's designers will be coming at some point. (Anybody know of a Catherine Walker link? I tore the Net apart a few months ago looking for it....)
Oh. Oh. Oh. A real easy one. Christies, and then hit the Sales Archive button (they also have "Candle in the Wind 1997" lyrics on auction) for the Diana auction. And this site for some of the dresses.
The ultimate magazine I have ever found for telling you how to make this stuff. They routinely throw in designer hints and all kinds of stuff to keep you busy. It's a design-freak's paradise. Threads.
And a great thing on French fashion design, including one of my favorite places of all time, the Lesage design house that does all the embroidery and stuff. Right here. And if your native language is other than English, you can go to the URL space in the browser and back it up to label_frame and hit enter. It'll let you choose your language. And then go to the design section. (It got a little confusing when I tried it, so I just left it at English.)
