Fashion and computer technologies

Fashions are always changing and using a computer enables illustrators to respond to the fast moving world of fashion. I’ve always been interested in the illustrations by Patrick Morgan and when I was thinking of what I could write about linking both fashion and technology I thought this example might be interesting to my readers.

Patrick Morgan started his career as a freelance designer after completing a degree in Graphics and Illustration and has provided works for advertising campaigns including Selfridges, Hewlett Packard, 3 Mobile, Impulse, The Body Shop, Levi’s and British Airways. He created images for advertising campaigns, while also pursuing his interest in illustrations created via computer for fashion campaigns and design.

The art of fashion illustration is to give the viewer an insight into whats in current high fashion magazines. Taking cuttings and writings from magazines and websites is a good way to keep you up to date with what’s on the catwalks. Patrick Morgan encapsulates all elements of fashion into contemporary illustration. Most of Patrick Morgan’s work uses a combination of traditional drawing techniques and computer rendering – the computer enables him to perform updates easily and also speeds up the whole production process.

Advanced computer technologies have allowed for fashion illustrations to be sketched digitally, rather than sketched by hand, creating a professional and efficient illustration. Before a garment or item of clothing is produced it must be designed and the image must be recorded on paper with details including buttons, zippers, pockets, colours, measurements, fabric etc.

Fashion illustrators create accurate images out of ideas, representing products as diverse as hairstyles and spectacle frames. This includes work as a forecasting illustrator for prediction services, where predictions have not yet been realised and photographs cannot be used. Their work must be clear enough to be used effectively by the manufacturing and production team, as well as media and retail outlets.

FASHION- "Denim jeans"

After days of trying to work out the subject for my blogs I have come to the conclusion of 'fashion', broad topic i know but it is something that shapes my life and i think technology, media and culture interlink well within the subject.

My first blog is going to cover an item of fashion, that being 'denim jeans'.

Denim jeans have become a powerful form of popular culture, especially over the past 50 years.

Loeb (later Levi) Strauss arrived in San Fransisco in the 1850s during the time of the Californian gold rushes with a load of calico that he intended to use to produce tents for the miners, although he found there was a surplus of tents but a shortage of quality material for the production of durable trousers. Levi Strauss had the canvas made into waist overalls. Miners liked the pants, but complained that they tended to chafe. Levi Strauss substituted a twilled cotton cloth from France called "serge de Nimes." The fabric later became known as denim and the pants were nicknamed 'blue jeans'. Initially, 'blue jeans' or 'denim jeans' were sturdy trousers worn by workers in factories, especially in World War II, although over time denim jeans became a symbol of mild protest against conformity and are now the preferred attire of the new adolescents and other members of society, with a large variety of styles e.g. flares, painted, stone- washed, marbled, stretch, skin- tight, skinny leg, boy cut, boot cut, dirty, light and dark denim. Denim jeans have become almost a way of life- a part of our consumer and popular culture. The media portray pictures of celebrities and the fashion elite sporting denim jeans on numerous pages of magazines, newspapers and on television. Through these images a message is portrayed to society revolving around the ideology that jeans are accepted and considered 'trendy.'

Technology is a major aspect that assists with the production and variety of jeans available so

I also looked into the way jeans are made.

I found the process went from:

1. The design being drawn by a pattern maker (based upon measurements)

2. A person or 'a computer program' then calculates the optimal fabric consumption. (The process being made quicker and easier through advanced technology)

3. The denim is then cut via a textile cutting machine (once again we need the help of technology)

4. Jeans are then sewn together via a sewing machine

5. Jeans are then distributed to a washing plant where different looks are achieved through different washing times and different amounts of pumice stone. (washing machines are another form of advanced technology)

6. Buttons and rivets are attached

7. Then onto the packing room where labels and tags are attached

8. Jeans are then placed in a poly bag with a warning text and packed in a box and shipped world wide.

Interesting facts that I found:

An average jeans factory can manufacture approximately one pair of denim jeans every 15 minutes and 2500 pairs of jeans per day and when you think of the process with the inclusion of a zipper, buttons, rivets and labels without technology the fashion industry would be no where near as advanced as it is today.

The website I reviewed and provided in the link below shows images of the different machines for each handling.

http://jeans.information.in.th/how_they_make_jeans.html

Another interesting fact about jeans... Levis Jeans have an option on their website

http://www.levis.com.au/

to individually design your own jeans. Through web- selling via the computer/ Internet the company is offering consumers with a unique garment of brand labelled clothing.

I found the study of denim jeans interesting as they began as wear in the workforce and with the help of technology have become probably the most popular fashion item.