Priscila Lena Farias / Anna Calvera Marcos da Costa ... - Blucher

Sewn or Simulated: transformational fashion realizations
MARTIN, Kathi / Associate Professor / Drexel University / United States
KO, Hyeong-Seok / Associate Professor / Seoul National University / South Korea
Fashion design / 3D garment simulation / Multidisciplinary
research / Historic fashion / Design education
This paper describes developments in a fashion design program
which, through the embrace of progressive technology and the
interdisciplinary research opportunities afforded by a university
venue, is addressing new practices for fashion design. In particular,
this paper considers advanced 3D technology for production
of the physically-based simulation of clothing being incorporated
into the fashion design curriculum.
1. A Brief History of Fashion Design
Education
The study of design in the United States was instituted in the latter
half of the 19th century when, in the wake of the1876 Centennial
Exposition in Philadelphia, financiers and philanthropists began
to think about how education could be constructed to improve the
quality of manufactured goods by including the practical study
of the art and craft of design in vocational training. In the early
Schools of Domestic Science and Arts women were trained in the
skills necessary to obtain jobs in the needle trades, learning both
traditional design and craft techniques, and the machine made
processes into which some of these hand techniques were being
translated and rethought. The Fashion Program of Drexel University
began in such a milieu in 1897. Philadelphia philanthropist
Anthony J. Drexel envisioned the Drexel Institute of Art, Science,
and Industry as an institution of higher learning uniquely suited
to the needs of a rapidly growing industrial society. Son of an
artist, he understood the influence of both fine and design arts
with the study of science and industry in education. (Rottenberg,
1990). Collections of art, craft and dress were purchased in Europe
and, when Drexel opened in 1892, these examples were on
display and used as prototypes to inspire the students in their designs.
In 1894, the Drexel Department of Domestic Science and
Arts offered three specialized programs: domestic science, cookery,
and dressmaking and millinery, the latter to teach young,
mostly immigrant, women the skills to populate the growing
American garment industry. By the early 20th century advances
in sewing, cutting and finishing technology brought mass production
to the fashion industry. The Drexel Institute continued
integrating the practical requirements of industry into its curriculum
and in 1936 became the Drexel Institute of Technology.
In the second half of the 20th century Computer Aided Design
and Manufacturing (CAD/ CAM) software migrated out of research
laboratories and into design studios and the merchandising,
manufacturing and distributing processes of the fashion
industry. Drexel responded to the industry’s need for designers,
patternmakers, drapers, sample makers, and merchandisers educated
in both traditional and computer aided solutions for fashion
production. In the curriculum, greater emphasis was given to
the design of fashion along with the craft of fashion production.
Donations from designers and benefactors enabled the Historic
Costume Collection to continue to grow to be one of the finest
fashion teaching collections in the United States. The Collection
is used internationally by students and scholars for research on
color, silhouette, embellishment, construction and theme. A.J.
Drexel’s vision of an education inspired by art and kept relevant
by current technology and industry demands continues to drive
the Fashion program.
2. Computer Aided fashion Design
A review in 1990 by Willard Van De Bogart of Computer Aided
Design (CAD) software available to the fashion industry determined
that designers were “finding a more predominant role
in all decision making within the garment industry in terms of
what software best feels like a creative tool in order to design
clothes.”(Bogart, 1990) Software programs like SnapFashion,
with its suggested 5 MB of RAM and an 80 MB Hard Drive, provided
a library of fashion design component elements which
could be “snapped” together to produce new designs with pattern
accuracy and speed. For example, if a particular dress silhouette
did well in one season, the sleeves, neckline, length, pocket detail
and fittings could be interchanged with elements retrieved from
the software’s library by the designer or even the merchandiser.
Print, woven, and knit design was particularly adaptable to CAD
processes. PrimaVision and Pointcarre software provided the
ability to accurately visualize a textile design before it was manufactured.
Additionally, software was being developed to streamline
the patternmaking process. Bogart “observed the trends of
interchangeability, bundled software, ease of use, and innovative
design tools as to having a competitive edge in being able to accurately
visualize the garment before it goes to manufacturing,
and then to market” and predicted that” 3D (simulation) will be
the norm rather than the exception.” (Bogart, 1990)
The “Fast Fashion” revolution is driving many companies to produce
new designs every two months. Recent improvements in
artificial intelligence and 3D simulation help the designer to more
quickly translate runway and street style into this month’s trendy
“must have.” Candace Lombardi observes in her review CAD is the
New Black, “While pin-bearing seamstresses and mannequins
are still used for couture, the maker of clothing bought off the
rack is more likely a piece of software.” Lectra and Gerber offer
programs for design, 3D prototyping, pattern making, size grading,
nesting of the pattern pieces to maximize use of materials,
Design Frontiers: Territiories, Concepts, Technologies / Proceedings of the 8th Conference of the International Committee for
Design History & Design Studies - ICDHS 2012 / São Paulo, Brazil / © 2012 Blucher / ISBN 978-85-212-0692-7