CONNECTED EXISTENCE 1 2 DESIGN FOR THE FASHION SYSTEM CONNECTED EXISTENCE A fashion study of comfort and quality to empower socialization and femininity in the fast fashion world. Supervisor: Arturo Dell’Aqua Bellavitis Student: Maria Kovacsova 10525001 Academic year: 2016/2017 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 This project could not be delivered without the help of people, who surrounded me with their support and motivation. The problem of the fast fashion and trends that are present now need a better understanding in sake of finding the right solution. For that, I would like to express my special thanks and gratitude to my supervisor, Arturo Dell’Aqua Bellavitis, who supported me through the entire project. He gave me the right guidelines to stay focused and to deliver a complete thesis. I would also like to thank for being kind and motivational throughout the reviews and meetings which gave me more power to continue. As for the extra hours of consul- tation and guidance, I would like to thank Debora Sinibaldi, who kindly helped me find a way to pick the right design for the dresses. Secondly, I’m very grateful to my parents and siblings who have always been standing next to me, to my friends and Pietro, who cheered on me during the challenging times. I would like to express my special thanks to the photographer, who helped me finalize the project with wonderful images. 5 ABSTRACT 6 This thesis focuses on the problematics of fast fashion and rapidly changing trends. The fashion industry, which has turned out to be rather more trend-centric than humanistic, is struggling to provide high-quality clothing at an affordable price for the masses. Although mass pro- duction has always been challenging design-wise, that should not stop the fashion to be functional and not just decorative. The low quality and the insane focus on our appearance has brought many problems regarding self-image, body diversity, comfort and feminine issues. The goal of this thesis is to investigate this problem and to give a solution for the fast fashion. The research part is composed of chapters that examine the damages caused by the over-consumerism. It brings up the issues regarding low quality and bad tailoring. The chapter Research on quality, focuses on the bad production and the lack of sustainability while explaining what durable fashion is. At the last sub-chapter varied brands are shown as an example from small to big corporations which have sustain- able and eco-friendly approach. The other half of the research is targeting mainly the topic of socialization and the importance of human interaction. The technological tools that are supposed to make us more connected, in fact, separate us from the reality. This part also includes the problem of misunderstand- ing individuality and compares it with collectivism. To understand socialization better and the role of clothing in it, the end of the research focuses on clothing as means of identification and uniforms in general. These chapters investigate the question of uniforms: what are they and what form they appear in? What in particular is the purpose of school uniforms and what did the Soviet school uniforms look like? The project development offers a solution on clothing and fast fashion in which the product is a single dress in a form of identical clothing. There are six different proposals as a design study. Starting from the first dress that is the most detailed and old-fashioned to the final two identical dresses that are radically minimalized and modern. The color palette and the styling of the full collection is inspired by the soviet school uniforms. Fabrics that are used in this project are carefully selected, mostly to be comfortable, sustainable and natural to support motion. 7 INTRODUCTION 8 The world has become an over-consumeristic place, where fashion has a bigger role than ever. We buy products on a daily basis regardless of their necessity. To make us purchase more, fashion trends have come to change rapidly creating a huge chaos, where quality and comfort are not primary. It is very hard to find a well fitted dress that lasts longer than a season on the mass market. But where does this trend of consumerism go and what can we do against it? Even high-end brands seldom provide the quality that should be equal to their price category. This might seem like a disconnected, over-pro- duced fashion place. To go against it, as a first step, we should understand better where does it come from and what damages has it caused already. Does it affect our relationships as well? To find a solution for such a big problem, that is deeper than just the problem of an outfit, has inspired this work and collection. Its main purpose is to embrace femininity, quality and comfort as well as to support the formation of friendships and human interaction through fashion. 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS 10 ABSTRACT 6 CONCLUSION 104 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 A UNIFYING DRESS 107 INTRODUCTION 8 PROJECT DEVELOPMENT 109 TABLE OF CONTENTS 10 6.1. Design study 110 FASHION AND TRENDS 13 THE ELEGANT DRESS 111 1.1. What are trends 14 THE JACKET 119 1.2. History of trends 16 THE WAISTCOAT 127 1.3. Nowadays trends 26 THE TENNIS DRESS 135 INDUSTRY OVERVIEW 39 THE BASE DRESS 143 2.1. Industry overview and Fast fashion 40 THE COLLECTION 141 2.2. Buy-use-throw away theor 44 RADICAL MINIMALISM 153 2.3. Not humanistic fashion / BIBLIOGRAPHY 162 Body diversity in the industry 48 RESEARCH ON QUALITY 53 3.1. Research on quality 54 3.2. The times of quality over quantity 60 3.3. Minimalistic approach to fashion 64 3.4. Brands and their humanistic approach Sustainability in fashion 68 HUMAN AND SOCIETY 75 4.1. Human as a social being 76 4.2. The belonging vs individualism 82 4.3. Clothing as identifiaction 88 STYLING RESEARCH 91 5.1. Uniforms and their function in our society 92 5.2. School uniforms 94 5.3. Soviet school uniforms 100 11 12 FASHION AND TRENDS 13 1.1. WHAT ARE TRENDS? Trend: A trend is what’s hip or popular at a certain point in time. In fashion, it’s the big wave of a certain style, color combinations, fashion of new (or old) designs. Fashion has always been around since the beginning of mankind. It doesn’t mean simply a way of dressing. There is much more behind it. It’s a definition of a historical era, a certain political, cultural and social status related to a certain period of time. All these aspects are de- fining diverse styles of wearing garments, taste, way of thinking, behavior and lifestyle itself. The bigger is the group of people who relate to a certain style, the bigger the trend becomes. This is all clear to most of us, but the more important question is: why are there trends and what is their real, deeper function? Our society is structured into different kinds of groups of people bigger social circles narrowing down to smaller friendships and fami- ly-like relationships. It can be firmly stated, that humans are social beings and total separation is not typical of them. This is a very im- portant life element and the fear of being rejected by a certain group we would like to belong to makes us want to become one of the key-members of the circle. The better we are, the more celebrated we become and the bigger security we have (we might even become the leader of the group). Therefore, fashion has become the most crucial way of expressing one’s socio-cultural status. The way we dress comes first in importance over words, thoughts and ways of behavior. By following someone else’s style, one can easily adapt and relate to them. That’s how trends are formed. 14 Group of girls dressing up similarly and sharing the same trend 15 1.2. HISTORY OF TRENDS While looking back in history, we can see what kind of trends were related to different political eras. Starting from the end of the 19th cen- tury the way of dressing started to change rapidly. As an example, the sheath dress, a close-fitting dress with a defined waist, has taken on several different forms. In the late 19th century the “princess silhouette” was favored with a fitted waist showing off a corseted figure and accentuated by a heavily ruffled lower back. This era was known for its rich, high standard-like living with overloaded luxury and joy - just as the aristocratic class. In the 30’s the bias cut was introduced, making fitted styles more attainable. Women of the 30’s (or rather, the ones who led the kind of lifestyle that called for gowns) began to favor the dramatic, long sheaths as an alternative to Greek styles. In the 1940’s, sheath styles became even more popular. Fabric rationing during wartime called for simpler, more fitted garments. Bigger shoulders, narrow waist and hip lines referred to the “working woman’s style”. Since the war started, the lacking amount of man in the fac- tories made woman to take over the working places. The trend formed according to their social status and gave a much more soldier-like look, breaking the feminine, fragile lines. 16 1930’s 1940’s 1940’s 17 The 1950’s and 60’s were prime years for the sheath, and the versions worn during these two decades are what we tend to envision when we think of this dress.