Fashionary 2016
FASHIONPEDIA is not a classic pattern-drafting book with instructions or step-by-step tutorials. As its title suggests, it is a fashion visual dictionary. It covers many common as well as less common fashion styles, trends, items, and design details.
The book starts with a simplistic, yet informative history of fashion design. I love the fact that the covered fashion styles and brands are put into the historical context such as great inventions, well-known contests, and popular film premieres including the world wars.
In the apparel section, you will learn about various types of jackets, coats, shirts, blouses, dresses, vests, sweaters or cardigans, denim, pants, skirts, jumpsuits, suits, sleepwear, and underwear.
This publication is very much in line with one of the quotations included.
“You don’t need to remember everything, you just need to know where to find them.“
For example, there are 45 types of jackets, each with its name, and characteristic design. In each apparel category, there are many diverse looks. You do not have to learn all of them by heart. However, I often see discussions on the internet where people ask “what is this pattern called, what type of neckline is this?”. Well, if you have this book, you can easily look it up. And even if you do not find exactly, what you are looking for, you are definitely going to find at least something very similar. So, if you intend to buy a pattern, you know, what you should search for. If you plan to draft the pattern yourself, you can look up the corresponding instructions of that specific design.
Start with your basic blocks and modify them to achieve the desired look. By the way, If you do not have your basic blocks yet, follow my tutorials to create them: basic skirt , bodice , and sleeve.
What else impressed me in the FASHIONPEDIA? I appreciate brief, yet an exciting insight into the origin and history of certain clothing, or how and when some garments were worn in the past. One can also learn how they became popular (see the image below).
I really value the fact that the sections dealing with accessories contain illustrations and descriptions (see the image below).
Apart from fashion details and accessories, the book also covers other fashion-related areas. For example, the section about fibers also deals with their production and properties, as well as the procedures how various fabrics are being made. This includes not only the process of knitting or weaving but also printing and dyeing of fabrics.
And, of course, the authors have not skipped sewing. In a few short pages, you will find an overview of pattern markings, sewing tools, basic closures, stitches, and hem or edge finishes.
Conclusion: Fashionpedia, The Visual Dictionary Of Fashion Design
This publication gives what its title suggests. I appreciate its clarity, the scope of the content as well as the concise information. The book is broad in terms of the number of covered areas and provides a very good overview of the field of fashion design. An index, the only thing I miss here, would make it fantastic. All in all, it is really both useful and enjoyable to have it on the bookshelf.