Design Report Of 1930S Bias-Cut Evening Dress
For my HPQ project, having done research into dress couture I decided to create my own version of a 1930s bias-cut evening dress.
When I was initially deciding what I wanted to do for my HPQ product, I knew that I wanted to involve Art Textiles as it’s one of my main passions and I wanted to develop a skill that I could then take forward. Before I even began researching I knew I wanted to design an elegant, flowing dress and this led me to the 1930s style evening dresses which centre chiefly upon a ‘sleeveless, low-backed, clinging’ design. After Madeleine Vionnet’s invention of the bias-cut in 1927, the style grew in prominence to become one of the most notable features of 1930’s fashion.
The bias-cut is a specific technique where you cut diagonally along the grain on a piece of fabric causing it to drape softly and accentuate body curves. Vionnet was one of ‘the most influential designers of the 20th century’ impacting present-day designers such as Ossie Clark and Azzedine Alaïa, both of whom I have studied in Art Textiles, having also visited an exhibition at the Design Museum in London about Alaïa. Vionnet was ‘a passionate admirer of the fluidity in Grecian dress’ and I drew a large amount of inspiration from the unique shaping that she used. The bias-cut design was a very feminine look as it was hip-hugging, due to the fabric being cut at an angle of 45 degrees, emphasising the silhouette of a woman’s figure. This design of a ‘full-length evening dress that plunged at the back’ was described as ‘the most tantalizing style of the decade’, which proves just how popular it was. Vionnet wanted to highlight the best aspects of woman and expose their feminine side, having once explained that ‘when a woman smiles, here dress should smile too’. I believe that the shape of my dress represents a low-backed, hip-hugging dress that flares out to the ground very well, which effectively highlights the model’s shape while maintaining elegance and fluidity.
I chose my fabric by reading up about how different materials hang and what would look the best for the bias-cut design I was planning to do. The ‘slim, streamlined look was emphasized by the use of slippery satins’ in the 1930s and so satin seemed to me the perfect choice for my fabric, as it honours the original style whilst appearing graceful. As ‘metallic lame came into fashion’ at a similar time to the bias-cut I decided I wanted to make my dress a metallic dark blue, as this would also emphasise the fluidity of the dress because of the way light would shine onto it and be softly reflected. Before selecting the pattern from which I was going to make my dress I found various illustrated books to help me find the perfect design.
The Complete Fashion Sourcebook and a book on 20th Century Fashion were both very helpful in giving me new ideas and techniques about how my dress would look and be made. Finding out about the history of the dress has allowed me to understand the struggle of producing garments that existed during the time of the Great Depression, because of the economic crisis with unemployment levels and lack of money. This can be said to have initiated a shift in the way clothes were made, especially as ‘the fuller lines of the garment required more fabric than in the 1920s, and a response to the economic depression could be seen in the use of cheaper fabrics for the evening’.
To conclude, my project research has not only played a significant role in the creation of my artefact but has also broadened my mind and taught me more about the fashion industry in the 1930s. Overall, I am very pleased with my finished design, especially because I used my plan throughout to guide me and ensure that my dress was exactly how I envisioned it to be. I feel that I have achieved everything that I wanted to and learnt many new skills in the process. My dress fits the traditional 1930s style in terms of its elegance and fluidity, whilst functioning fully as evening wear.
