Most ladies will agree with me when I say that the easiest article of clothing for the summer is a dress! A dress is a wonderful asset for infinite reasons! For one, it’s a complete outfit wrapped into one piece! Also, choosing the right silhouette, color, and fabric translates into a multifunctional outfit that can be worn to both work and cocktail hour! What’s easier than picking out one article of clothing in the morning before work and being done with it? This premise drives us to make the perfect dress that can be worn to work for years to come!
What goes into making a dress?
- Inspiration: Throughout the year, we take pictures, pull images, and start brainstorming so that our ideas are organized and cohesive when it’s time to build our mood board (which is a pictorial diagram of our ideas and contains images that inspire us, possible fabric options, and a color palette).
- Design: Drawing on our mood board for inspiration, we sketch anywhere from 20-30 possible dresses. This step is pretty important because it’s where our ideas start to take shape. We usually have several designs in mind and use this as an opportunity to put them on paper. This also allows us to see whether an idea we have been imagining looks good in reality! We then narrow down our ideas to about 10-15 sketches that we will actually create.
- Fabrics: Since most of our dresses are figure-flattering, we locate fabrics that contain 3- 5% lycra (which provides for “give” in all the right places!). This is one of the hardest steps because not all fabrics are created equally! We look for fabrics that are high-quality and will withstand the wear-and-tear of frequent use (remember, we strive to create dresses that will last multiple seasons!!). Also, we look for fabrics that are suitable for summer seasons— “breathable”, comfortable, and light-weight. We have been using cotton blend fabrics, but plan to add light-weight wool blends and silks for future collections.
- Color Palette: With fabric swatches in hand, we determine our final color palette and start picking out the perfect trims (buttons, zippers, etc.). Choosing colors that are slightly trendy, but classic is important to us. We look for 2-3 colors that are on-trend and choose our other colors based on what will remain classic season after season (i.e. whites, ivories, grays, browns, etc.). Finding the right trim is no cake walk either! We look for buttons that are unique, but classic. We choose buttons and zippers that are of the highest quality and will last for years to come!
- Samplemaking: Our sketches and fabric samples (and trim) are next sent to our patternmaker/samplemaker to bring our ideas to fruition. This step involves multiple fit sessions via Skype (as our wonderful patternmaker/samplemaker is out of state) to ensure that the design is accurate and to get the precise fit that we seek. Once the first samples (also called the salesman samples) are complete, they are returned to us for a final inspection. This is our chance to confirm proper fit, design details, construction quality, etc. and make any necessary changes.
- Market: We show our samples to potential buyers/clients to gather necessary feedback to determine whether certain styles should be changed and/or eliminated from the collection. We have accomplished this by showing during fashion week in both Washington DC and New York City , which has put us right in front of press and potential buyers/clients! Soliciting feedback is a very important part of the design process because if no one likes your stuff, then no one will buy it! This is the perfect time to make any changes before actually having anything produced. We take all feedback (positive and negative) to heart and use what we feel is appropriate to make necessary adjustments.
- Production: Lastly, we work with our factory to get the final collection produced! And, that is it (well, the condensed version…that is!)!!
Here is a handy guide from Refinery29 illustrating good options for matching body types to silhouettes: http://www.refinery29.com/dresses-for-your-body-type.
shopaikan 