It's hard to tell whether these clothes and dresses, in particular, are trying to make a bold fashion statement or are truly the epitome of poor design. To be able to differentiate between the two, we reached out to freelance fashion designer Harriet Goodings (@harrietgoodingsdesign), who's been in the fashion industry for more than 12 years.
"Poor design can be a dress that doesn’t fit correctly, maybe the collar stands away from the body or the armhole is in the wrong place," she explains.
Whereas a bold fashion statement is something that turns heads and gets people talking, she tells us. "It’s more of an emotive response," Harriet notes.
"It’s also dependent on the wearer. If the person feels good, who is anyone else to say the design is poor?"
When it comes to the construction of dresses, Harriet says that depending on the complexity of the design, they're usually neither more difficult nor easier than any other type of garment to make.
"A ready-to-wear dress will involve many rounds of fittings and smaller quantities of production. Whereas a fast fashion chain will have strict deadlines and may not meet the high standards of fitting, attention to detail, and sustainability like their RTW peers," she explains.
The process of making a dress usually involves coming up with a design (which can sometimes take a lot of research), making a pattern and cutting it to size, making the toile, fitting, choosing the right fabric, and making the final garment with some last touches of draping and styling.
The toile in clothing design refers to an early version of a finished garment, or simply put, it's a draft of the final design. It's usually made of cheaper fabric (cloth or canvas) to test the design and perfect it before making it out of the final fabric. Toile allows designers to visualize their design and make any necessary tweaks to it.
On top of this, clothing brands have tech packs for their designs, which are essentially blueprints for final garments. It includes sketches of the design, information on materials to be used, measurement specifications, size gradings, colorways, etc. Tech packs are used as a tool to communicate with manufacturers so the accuracy of design and quality are ensured.
However, tech packs don't protect from poor design choices of the designer. One of the most common design mistakes that Harriet sees in dresses is having too many details.
"The design is supposed to elevate the look of the wearer by complimenting their proportions and making them feel good wearing it. If the silhouette isn’t considered, it can be quite jarring on the eye," she explains.
