Patricia K. Flynn
Two objectives are inherent in this clothing design plan: to successfully learn to draw the human body in relative proportion, and to design an outfit that a teenager would wear, as well as explaining why s/he would like to wear it. Basic supplies needed would be pencil, eraser, ruler, drawing paper, magazine pictures of people and clothing, assorted scrap fabrics, and tracing paper. Markers and pen and ink may be utilized on final clothing design drawing.
I.
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Drawing the Figure
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A.
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Basic Female and Male Proportions.
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Figure 2
B.
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Block Forms (Cube, Cylinder, Wedge)
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Figure 3
C.
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Figure Balance and Action Line
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Figures 4 & 5
D.
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The Head, Hands and Feet
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Figures 6 & 7
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Figure 8
II.
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Texture and Pattern of Fabrics
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Utilize scrap fabrics and magazine photographs to simulate in drawing two or three of the choices below.
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Prints
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Lace
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Checks
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Velvet
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Plaids
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Knits
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Stripes
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Denim
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Metallic
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Leather
III.
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Teenage Design Themes
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Utilize one or more of the purposes of wearing clothing in order to design an outfit that a teenager would wear.
Human beings wear clothing for three reasons:
utility
,
status
, and
sex
. Seldom do we wear a particular style of clothing for one reason. People often have two or more motives for wearing an outfit. We may buy a coat to protect us from cold weather and at the same time want to convey a message: conservatism, flamboyance, sophistication, or toughness. During the 1930’s, J.C. Flugel published one of the earliest theories on the psychology of clothing, in which he stated that clothing is worn to satisfy the contradictory need for modesty, the desire for attention, and protection.
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Clothing chosen for the purpose of utility can protect people from the extremes of climate, make working easier or more comfortable, or provide safety in sports and warfare. Practical clothing at times becomes fashionable rather than protective. Leather driving gloves with cutoff fingers may never touch the steering wheel of a car. Camouflage/military clothing is worn by teenagers who have never experienced war. Throughout the history of man what is called practical clothing sometimes has a magical purpose. From the earliest discoveries of man to present times a particular piece of protective clothing, a decorative object or body paint(cosmetics) can symbolize some magical power. Examples may be found in sports or entertainment clothes. Tshirts and sweat shirt may have inscriptions that symbolize good luck. A teenage girl may wear her boyfriend’s sports jacket to symbolize their affection for one another.
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One’s position could be determined by clothing. The only people who could wear sandals in ancient Egypt were in high position. The Greeks and Romans determined a person’s social class by the color, the number of clothes worn and the type of embroidery that was applied to the clothing. As time passed the more clothes one had the higher one’s status was.
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For today’s teenagers it is not just enough to have more clothing as a sign of one’s status. It is necessary to have separate outfits for each activity that one participates in; this clothing must have the currently popular brand names and be obviously labeled. Adolescents’ jeans and sneakers have status symbols applied to their rear ends and feet. Advertising expenses has caused the labeled clothing to be more expensive, yet the quality of the materials is not necessarily any better than unlabeled clothes. Gold jewelry, especially in the form of neck chains, is a status symbol for many young people as well as adults.
Since many urban teenagers are members of minority groups, it is important to understand how status affects their choices in dress. When a minority group is denied access to the status symbols available to the rest of a population, as a result of oppression; the minority group will seek out a means to raise selfesteem. Clothing is one of the most easily exhibited symbols of status available. In a research project (1963) it was found that black people spent far more money on clothing than white people. Black dress, particularly of males, is distinctive, and has a great influence upon mainstream fashions.
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Beyond identifying whether people are male or female, clothing conveys some obvious and many more subtle and disguised sexual messages. Teenagers dress to attract the attention of their peers both male and female. Clothes that bare specific parts of the teenage body do not necessarily mean that the individual is making an overt advance to the opposite sex. Sexual messages in adolescent dress are dramatically influenced by the media through advertising. Personalities in both music and the movies direct their appeal to their youthful audience. The flamboyant and sensual dress of contemporary teenagers primarily emanates from M.T.V.(Music Television). Twentyfour hours a day visual and auditory messages bombard young people through the technology of video tapes. Video music stars dress and perform in order to appeal to the developing sexuality of teenagers. Adolescents creatively borrow the clothing styles of popular music personalities to suit the image(s) they wish to convey. Contemporary teenage styles offer a variety of choices of sexual display, which is as changeable as the behavior of adolescents. Since the 1950’s sexuality has become a more openly discussed issue. Adolescnece is a time of awareness and experimentation with sexual identities which are reflected in the choices of dress. Sexual identities range from heterosexual, homosexual, unisexual to androgynous.