Is fashion design a right career for Indians? Crux of fashion design

As per the 2010 National Institute of Fashion Technology, the bachelor in Fashion Technology curriculum has the following subjects.

Credit: NIFT

If you observe this you will notice that pattern making and garment construction subjects are repetitive. Pattern making and garment construction are repeated in 3 semesters between year 2 to year 4. It means that pattern making and garment construction are the most important subjects for a fashion designer. And, cutting and sewing skills are essential for a fashion designer.

Let's have a look around other fashion design courses.

The curriculum provided by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for the certificate in fashion designing (CFDE) program revolves around pattern making and garment construction.

Let's look at the other less important topics in the fashion design syllabus. 

Other than pattern making and garment construction, the fashion design syllabus can be broadly classified into the following subjects.

1. History of fashion design 
2. Element and principles of fashion design 
3. Dyeing, printing and finishing 
4. Merchandising 
5. MIS 
6. CAD 
7. Quality control etc.

I guess these topics are less important because they were not repeated in any of the semesters but pattern making and garment construction are repeated many times.

What is the crux of fashion design?

From the above discussion, one can conclude that fashion design cannot exist without the two subjects, that are, 

1. Pattern making 
2. Garment construction 

Let's look at the 2 technical aspects of fashion design in detail.

• Pattern making: 

This includes 2 aspects.

1. Measuring correctly
2. Knowledge of techniques with which the measurements are applied

A pattern can be traced by 2 methods

1. Flat pattern making: includes drafting, cutting and sewing
2. Draping: It is a method of custom fitting. Draping focuses on the fact that everybody shape is unique and one shape does not fit all. 

The draping technique uses the actual client size or 3D figure (mannequin). These sizes may or may not be traced on a pattern paper. That is, they can directly be cut and sew or, firstly traced on pattern paper, then cut and sew. 

There are several fitting stages involved in draping. Examples are, fitting the toile, first fitting, second fitting, final fitting, etc  

This covers our discussion on pattern making. 

Let us now move on to the second subject. 

• Garment construction: 

Tracing measurements on the pattern paper is taught in pattern making. At first, we get slopers/blocks. Then we put some details on it. The information includes seam allowance, darts, grainline, balance and balance marks etc. 

Garment construction includes sewing of hemlines and seamlines (joining of two pieces via stitching).

In the design schools, they teach us pattern drafting of the following. 

1. Front bodice block 
2. Back bodice block
3. Sleeve 
4. Skirt 

Regardless of the specific culture, they follow western clothing. 

Example of blocks

The following block-figure can show various elements to be kept in mind while drafting the various front and back bodice block. 

Now that you have understood the fundamentals of the fashion design/ Technology course, Let's see its necessity in designing Bhartiya costumes. 

Relevance of fashion design according to the Indian conditions

The oldest statue known to the world, that tells about Bhartiya clothing, is that of 'Priest King'. He is wearing a dupatta or a shawl as an upper-body garment. 

Credit: Wikipedia

This tells that Bhartiya did not wear a shirt, but a dupatta. Bhartiya has had a culture of wearing unstitched clothes since the beginning.

Subsequent invasions of Kushans and Mughals in the second and 16th centuries respectively, have brought stitched clothing with them.

Before the birth of Christ, the kings of Bharat flaunted in 5 yards Dhoti, Shawl and Pagdi. The women would style in nine yards of unstitched sari, which is also known as Navari.

The blouse and petticoat were unknown to Bharatiya women. Only the nine yards of cotton saree would glorify their feminine looks while providing extreme comfort.

The Mughal garments

In the Mughal era, men wore Kurta, Pajama and Jama. Jama is also known as Achkan or Sherwani at some places.

Credit: Wikipedia

The women wore Choli, Churidar and Jama.

Credit: Wikipedia

Introduction of jeans

Denim jeans were originally worn by the gold miners of America in the 1850s. 

Saree versus sheath dress, which looks beautiful? Which looks better, draped garment or stitched garment?

A saree displays an hourglass silhouette. It covers your body, from head to toe. This contributes to the modesty theory of fashion design.

While a sheath dress or a one-piece reveals too much skin. Especially the body parts that should not be shown.

Both the saree and skirt-top show the curves beautifully. 

But the difference between a saree and a formal dress is that a dress doesn't cover the whole body. It only covers the top to hip portion. 

A saree portrays the top, waist, hips and finally gives the nice finish to balance it all by the pleats at the end. A saree gives a mermaid look.

Every girl should practice wearing a saree.

Remember that draping is the simplest response to wearing clothes since it has the inherent flexibility of swathing the wearer in an individual manner. Both in western and Asian civilizations, draped clothes have preceded cut and sewn fitted garments.

Are Present Dresses Promoting Nudity?

You might have seen young boys and girls with skin-tight clothes. Their exact figure is shown from their clothes. It lacks modesty, adornment and protection theories. While the ancient draped clothes had each of these.

The cultures who have preserved their heritage, still adorn their bodies with their traditional dresses. They appear as the ornaments of the monotonous world.

Scotland men still wear the men's skirt, which is known as Kilt.

Saudi Arabians still wear Thwab. They look handsome in their national dress.

Thai women's dress resembles a saree.

Similarly, why can not other nations like Bharat/India preserve their saree?

Bharat/India has a history of adorning various famous people with its costumes. It had adorned the empress of France in the past. It is widely known that Josephine, the Empress of France was particularly a fan of the Kashmir shawl.

I think it is time…

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