CREATIVITY in Fashion Enhancing
Creativity Find out how designers keep those creative juices flowing! p.4
Ready for the Runway It takes more than just creativity to get those designs on the runway. How exactly do you turn creativity into innovation? p.15
Inspiration Check out where famous designers like Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen get their inspiration from. Flip to p.7!
FROM THE
Summary
EDITOR’S DESK
Fashion is constant, but trends are ever-changing. The fashion industry is a cutthroat one. Designers are hard-pressed to constantly come up with new designs and fashion statements, and the need to keep up with ever-changing fashion trends is imperative to be successful in the industry. This report is split into two sections: From mind to paper This section will first look at how creativity c reativity can be stimulated at an individual and environmental level, then examine where three key fashion fa shion designers get their inspirations from. From paper to cloth Creativity is not enough. Designers need to know how to turn their creativity into innovation and this section aims to address a ddress the issue of turning creativity into innovation.
The report will also be peppered with examples and quotes from Karl Lagerfeld, renowned fashion designer for brands like Chanel, Fendi Fendi and his own label, label, Karl Lagerfeld, to provide provide more real-life insights insights on the topic of creativity in fashion design.
K a ar r l l L a a g e er rf f e e l l d d, f a as sh i h io n o n d e es s g i i n n e er r
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Summary No doubt about it: Fashion Fashion designers have to constantly constantly be creative to come up with the latest designs, keep up with changing styles and tastes, and in doing so, reel consumers in. The nature of the fashion industry is as such. Designers continuously look for ways to gain inspiration for designs, but such inspiration is not enough. Designers need to know how to cultivate these ideas, and to turn them into practical, ready-to-wear designs. designs.
FROM MIND TO PAPER: PAPER: GAINING INSPIRATION
Enhancing Creativity Fashion design is a problem, and creativity is a solution. In this respect, both the individual and the environment can work together to cultivate cultivate creativity. creativity.
▼ INDIVIDUAL Convergent & Divergent Thinking Styles
Fashion designers usually have to move from a convergent to divergent style of thinking during the design process, therefore, they have to be adept at switching between both thinking modes. Convergent thinking is applied when designers undergo the research and analysis phase to derive the best solution to a clearly defined question, in this case, fashion design. The fashion industry, though volatile, is highly dependent on catering to consumer’s tastes. Designs should not only be creative, but wearable as well. With a focus on accumulating accumulating information, they can look at past designs to determine past fashion trends. Such industry knowledge can be gained through convergent thinking, and is essential in framing the designer’s thought processes towards successful trends and customer preferences.
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Clear thinking at the wrong moment can stifle creativity.
”
― Karl Lagerfeld Divergent thinking comes thereafter. It is considered an important aspect of creativity as it allows individuals to develop their own solutions to problems. Linking it to the idea of fashion design being the problem and creativity the solution, divergent thinking allows designers to draw inspiration from various from various sources. sources. They do not have to stick rigidly to the sa me me patterns patterns and designs already in the industry, but instead, look to various sources for a creative solution which will give rise to more creative and unexpected designs.
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INDIVIDUAL Investment Theory of Creativity
The investment theory of creativity states that there are six resources required for creative enterprise. Knowledge To go beyond the status quo and do original work, one is required to have the basic knowledge of the industry and processes. This includes knowledge knowledge of the latest fashion trends, sewing experience, drawing and sketching abilities, and understanding of form and proportion. Only with such knowledge can a designer begin to think out of the box, challenge c hallenge or conform to trends, and look for creative and viable ideas for future designs. Environment Fashion designers are seen as the creative souls of the fashion industry. It is this environment that fosters creativity further, as risks appear to be less detrimental and hence, designers are more inclined to go into more risk-taking initiatives. Personality Creativity requires a risk-taking personality, where individuals dare to defy the crowd and go on a different path. Such risk-taking personality is apparent in the work of acclaimed fashion designer, designer, Karl Lagerfeld, head designer and creative director director for fashion house, Chanel. Besides many achievements during his work at Chanel, Lagerfeld’s strong sense of humour also led to many interesting pieces such as the shower-dress, cardress, and a whole range of quirky hats 1. Motivation Individuals are usually only creative in the pursuits that they enjoy. Karl Lagerfeld is definitely motivated in his job as a fashion designer. He is completely completely obsessed with fashion, and considers considers himself to be a workaholic workaholic 2 and totally in love with his job . Lagerfeld’s interest in fashion began at an early stage. As a child, he would pore over history books to look at the costume designs and accompanying descriptions, as opposed to reading the stories within the books. He was also reported as saying that his favourite childhood pastime was designing and sketching dresses3.
Thinking styles The most important thinking style that designers have to possess is the inventing style, style, where they do things things their own way. When working for Chanel, Lagerfeld incorporated into his designs the precise attributes that made Chanel’s style so famous: lack of convention, perfectionism, uniqueness, passion passion and vision. Operating on a completely different wavelength from the exaggerated, abundantly decorated and embossed styles that ruled the fashion industry then, Lagerfeld instead created pieces that obeyed his “Less is More” maxim. Powered by inexhaustible creativity and energy, he views routine as a horror 4.
This attitude clearly indicates Lagerfeld’s inventing style, and his lack of conformity to the styles set out by the industry. Instead, he chooses to push forward with his simplistic and successful designs. designs. Intellectual abilities This attribute constitutes seeing things in different lights and making new connections, which is particularly important in the fashion industry. Designers have to view ordinary clothing clothing like dresses, tops, and bottoms in very different lights, to to see how they can transform it into something unique and creative. This also entails making new connections, especially in terms of mixing and matching fabrics and colours to create new designs and styles.
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ENVIRONMENT Environment plays a huge role in stimulating, and sometimes inhibiting, creativity. In fashion design, three main factors should be considered, namely autonomy, sufficient resources of time and money, and intrinsic motivation. Autonomy Most creative individuals work best in solitude. This means that organisations have to provide creative individuals with autonomy in their work. In this respect, it would be better for organisations to provide employees with autonomy to the means, rather than the end. The world of fashion design is similar, but slightly more open-ended. With the end being the wearable designs, fashion designers have claim over this aspect as well. The ‘end’ stipulated stipulated by the organisation or company would then be the number of apparel in the fashion lines they come up with.
Such autonomy stimulates creativity as individuals have more time for themselves, which stimulates creativity. Karl Lagerfeld corroborates this sentiment. “People who do a job that claims to be be creative have to be alone to recharge their batteries. You can’t live 24 hours a day in the spotlight and remain creative. For people like me, me , solitude is a victory.” Resources Time and money are the two greatest resources that creative individuals need in order to be creative. The lack of these resources forces them to focus on obtaining them, rather than stimulating their creativity.
Time-wise, designers are usually hard-pressed to come up with a whole line of designs for upcoming seasons. When time is tight, it becomes harder harder to come up with more creative designs as stress is an inhibitor to creativity. Likewise, designers require requi re resources to do mockups of their designs before actually sending them to the production line. This requires them to have sufficient resources and time to come up with these mockups, and the lack of provision of such resources may act as an inhibitor to creativity — even if the designers have very creative ideas, as they will be unable to act upon it. Motivation Organisations should endeavor to enhance the intrinsic motivation of their employees since this form of motivation makes for the best creative works. Individuals are spurred to be creative when they enjoy and have a passion for what they do. do. Designers are usually very passionate about their job, and this sense of intrinsic motivation continually spurs their creativity. Also, when designers are able to see their designs on the runway, the sense of achievement, fulfillment, and value in what they are doing will motivate them to come up with more designs. ▲
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People who do a job that claims to be creative have to be alone to recharge their batteries. You can’t live 24 hours a day in the spotlight and remain creative. For peo ple like me, solitude is a victory.
”
― Karl Lagerfeld
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Inspiration This section will examine the likes of famous high-end fashion designers such as Alexander McQueen, Yves Saint Laurent, and Coco Chanel to find out their sources of inspiration.
Gabrielle “Coco” Bonheur Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971
THROUGH THE
Coco Chanel...
EYES OF
...was a French designer and founder of high-end fashion label, Chanel. She was a highly influential fashion designer who made waves in twentieth-century fashion with her modernist thought, practical designs and pursuit of expensive simplicity. She was the only fashion designer to be named on Time 100: The Most Most Important People of the Century. 5
A FASHION DESIGNER
Chanel was a passionate woman, and her fashion inspirations were derived from the simplicities in everyday life. She never stopped looking for inspiration for new product collections — from the closets of her lovers to the times she spent outdoors fly-fishing. She incorporated her favourite colour palettes of black, beige and white into her apartment and clothing, in addition to elements from her art collection c ollection and theatrical interests which provided themes for her collections.
The Natural Environment Chanel loved Camellia— a large but delicate flower with simple simple leaves arranged in an alternate pattern. Said to represent both both radiance and purity, Chanel grew to become infamous in her attempts to immortalise the flower in her clothes, bags, belts and jewelry; and wore a white white camellia on herself on many occasions. This flower soon became a classic Chanel trademark.
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Personality of Paris Chanel lived in the Ritz in Paris throughout most of her career, and the view from her suite overlooked the Place Vendôme, a hexagonal open area in the centre of Paris. This shaped proved to be an inspiration to her, and she incorporated it into numerous watch faces as well as on the stopper of the bottle of her most famous scent, Chanel No.5.
Fashion is not simply a matter of clothes. Fashion is in the air, born upon the wind. One intuits it. It is in the sky and on the road. ― Coco Chanel
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Men’s Wear Chanel’s clothing was primarily made of jersey material. This was a highly unusual choice from other fashion designers in her time, as jersey was a fabric most commonly used in the production of men’s underwear. At that time, Chanel was in a precarious financial position, and the cheap nature of jersey fabric made it a favourable choice. However, the fabric proved to be durable and draped well, which suited her simple, practical and men’s inspired wear, ensuring its continued use even after Chanel’s business became profitable.
As a companion to many powerful powerful and talented men during her time such as Picasso and Stravinsky, Chanel made use of such occasions occa sions to gain inspiration for her collections. In the 1930s, she was the mistress of the Duke of Westminster, and it was then that she got her inspiration for her soft-belted coats, tweed jackets and blazers, sailor sweaters and cuff-linked cuff-linked shirts. By making use of his wardrobe, Chanel created a style that was uniquely hers.
It was Chanel’s ability to take the beauty from the things around her and turn it into beautiful designs that made her designs so widely appealing. She understood understood that elegance lay in the simple flower on the side of a handbag, rather than a handful handful of frills and lace, lace, and she made this understanding the basis of all her creations. ▲
CHANEL’S CHANEL’S CAMELLIA-INSPIRED | DRESS
CHANEL TWEED COAT
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Yves Saint Laurent (1 Aug 1936 – 1 June 2008)
THROUGH THE
Yves Saint Laurent...
EYES OF
...was a French designer who owned a label under his name. His work has been acclaimed through various awards such as International Wool Secretariat Award, 1954; Neiman Marcus award, 1958; Harper's Bazaar award, 1966; Council of Fashion Designers of America award, 1981; CFDA Lifetime Achievement award, 1999; 1999; Fifi Fragrance award (for Baby Doll), 2000.
MOROCCAN INSPIRED DESIGNS | YSL’S YSL’S VAN GOGH INSPIRED JACKET |
VAN GOGH’S SUNFLOWER PAINTING PAINTING
|
A FASHION DESIGNER
YSL MODEL ON THE RUNWAY RUNWAY
Yves Saint Laurent was one of of the most celebrated and influential fashion designers in fashion history. In 1985, New Caroline Rennolds Milbank, author of the book New York Fashion, wrote, “[Yves Saint Laurent] is the most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, [he] can be credited credited with both spurring the couture’s rise from its sixties ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear reputable.” 6
Art and History Yves Saint Laurent saw fashion fashion as an art form and grew this sentiment with the public by being the first ever designer to hold a museum show in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1983. Saint Laurent had great kinship with ideas, and could embody an artist in his clothes clothes and designs through the use of hand stitching and well placed seams.
Besides his name being synonymous with his success in introducing the women’s tuxedo suit, Saint Laurent was also known to gain inspiration from non-European cultures in his work, and was the fist ever designer to introduce ethnic models in his runway collections.
In fact, the talented designer translated van Gogh’s sunflower designs into a jacket, by building up silk ribbons, embroidery and sequins in a way that mirrored the brushstrokes on that famous piece of canvas.
Morocco The city of Marrakech in Morocco proved to be highly influential in Saint Laurent’s Laur ent’s creations. creations. “When I discovered Marrakech, it it was an extraordinary extraordinary shock. The city taught me color”, color ”, claimed the designer.7 Upon retirement, Saint Laurent grew to be highly reclusive, spending most of his time in his villa in Marrakech.
Such sensitivity to creativity in art also showed Saint Laurent’s talent in revealing other people’s sensibility by the use of his craft. He gained his inspiration by imitating artists and even entire historical periods, and made use of colours and textures to reveal these similarities. ▲
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Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010)
THROUGH THE
Alexander McQueen...
EYES OF A FASHION
...was a British fashion designer and couturier who worked as chief designer at the label, Givenchy, between 1996 and 2001 before founding his own McQueen fashion label. He has been awarded British Fashion Designer of the Year, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Council of Fashion Designers of America, and International Designer of the Year 2003.
DESIGNER
“The Savage Mind” — By displacing and deconstructing fabric, McQueen explores his subversion of traditional tailoring and dressmaking practices. “Savage Beauty” — This collection was on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011 and was one of the most memorable and imaginative fashion exhibitions ever held. McQueen used used many unusual resources resources from the past and present, such as razor clam shells, butterflies, stuffed birds on a bare shoulder, shoulder, or a sprouting elk horn horn headpiece. Under his creative hand, these these organic materials come together with dazzling creativity. McQueen is well-known for his in-depth knowledge in British tailoring, his inclination to juxtapose fragility and strength in his collections, and the emotional power and raw energy seen in his provocative fashion shows. He did not conform to the conventional and normative standards of beauty set by the industry, and instead, would dress women up in outfits that obscured obscured their features. To him, him, clothes were more a form of empowerment than vanity and wearability. He saw fashion as a way to challenge the way people fundamentally fundamentally thought about clothing. clothing.
“Romantic Gothic” — McQueen’s narrative approach to fashion can be seen in this collection, where his engagement with Romantic literary tradition such as death, decay and darkness can be seen. “Romantic Nationalism” — Looks at McQueen’s fascination with distant past while w hile “Romantic Exoticism” examines the designer’s focus on distant places. “Romantic Primitivism” — Explores McQueen’s engagement with the ideal of the “noble savage”.
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McQueen’s sources of inspiration came from f rom unusual places: Fine artists, television television programmes programmes on nature and science fiction, his mentor Isabella I sabella Blow, Renaissance painters, and primitive primitive societies. His designs designs have been deemed as “changing the course of fashion, history and culture.”8 He also had a love for nature, mainly due to its unpredictability and spontaneity, and emphasized these attributes in his work. Collections McQueen’s designs and inspiration always held a darkness and the deep romanticism of the nineteenth century. Every collection tells a different story, and invokes feelings of awe, wonder, fear or terror. McQueen was also quoted q uoted as saying that he did not care about whether people liked his collections or not, as long as they felt something when they looked at it. To him, the runway was a channel where he could express his imagination, and much of his collections were inspired by his state of mind at the time he came came up with them.
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Absurdity “ and anti— absurdity are the two poles of creative energy.
”
― Karl Lagerfeld
FROM PAPER TO CLOTH: READY FOR THE RUNWAY
Ready for the Runway The previous sections showed how to stimulate creative energy, and looked at where some creative designers get their inspiration. However, inspiration and creativity are not enough. To truly be a successful designer, one has to know how to turn these creative ideas into actual clothing, ready for the runway.
▼ Communication It is crucial that the designer knows how to communicate his ideas effectively to the sample makers, to ensure that the most accurate representation of his ideas is created. Designers thus have to know how best to turn their creativity into innovation, and in the case of fashion designers, this is usually done through the use of magazine tears, swatches of fabric or drawings. Thus, it is not enough to merely have many creative ideas. It is essential for designers to have the necessary skills to convey these ideas into action.
The lack of communication between the designers and sample makers creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and stress. This is heightened by the fact that most sample makers are evaluated and judged based on their sample designs, rather than the designs on paper. Interdependence When looking for inspiration inspiration and putting ideas ideas to paper, designers require autonomy. However, interdependence between the designer and the the sample makers is crucial in
creating an accurate representation of the designer’s work. Both parties have to work together, and there there should be a constant flow of two-way communication. Knowledge and Expertise Knowing what the consumer wants is also important as this will help the designer in his choice of fabric, cutting, and other design components. Intuition is particularly important in this respect as designers have to use their base of knowledge that they they have built up over years of designing, to make the right decisions that will benefit consumer and pander to their needs.
However, knowledge and expertise may result in designers sticking to what they know, and not venturing into new and untapped areas of creativity. They therefore have to exercise their knowledge and expertise in the right moments, and ensure that it does not hamper their creativity. It is at this point that the designer has to know when to switch from divergent to convergent thinking, as stated in the earlier sections of this report. ▲
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BIBLIO-
Ref erences Main Sou rces rces Creativity as inv estment, estment, Sternberg, Robert J;O'Hara, Linda A;Lubart, Todd I California Management Management Review; Fall 1997; 40, 1; ABI/INFORM Complete pg. 8 Corporate Creativity Readings, Week 2-9 http://www.tx.ncsu.edu/jtatm/volume2issu http://www.tx.ncsu.edu/jtatm/volume2issue4/articles/sinha/sinha_ e4/articles/sinha/sinha_full_25_02. full_25_02.pdf pdf http://www.fashion.net/howto/fashio http://www.fashion.net/howto/fashiondesigner/ ndesigner/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conver http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_and_divergent_ gent_and_divergent_production production http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Fashion http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Fashion-Designer Designer
Karl Lagerfeld http://www.thebiographychannel.co.u http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/karl-l k/biographies/karl-lagerfeld.html agerfeld.html http://www.always-inspiring-more.com/Karl-Lagerfeld.119.0.html http://www.always-inspiring-more.com/Karl-Lagerfeld.119.0.html
Coco Chanel http://cococ hanel.evancarmichael.com/Lesson hanel.evancarmichael.com/Lesson-3-Be-Inspired.html -3-Be-Inspired.html http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ch http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/chnl/hd_chnl.h nl/hd_chnl.htm tm
Yves Sa int int Laurent http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/ http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/34445/the-artful-i 34445/the-artful-inspirations-of-yves-sain nspirations-of-yves-saint-laurent/ t-laurent/
Alexander McQueen http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/about/ http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/about/
End End Notes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.u http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/karl-l k/biographies/karl-lagerfeld.html agerfeld.html http://www.thebiographychannel.co.u http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/karl-l k/biographies/karl-lagerfeld.html agerfeld.html http://www.bookrags.com/biography/karl-lagerfeld/ http://www.always-inspiring-more.com/K http://www.always-inspiring-more.com/Karl-Lagerfeld.119. arl-Lagerfeld.119.0.html 0.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Chanel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_S http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Saint_Laurent_(desig aint_Laurent_(designer) ner) http://fashionurbia.me/search/inspiration http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-h http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-helander/ten-top-picks-fr elander/ten-top-picks-from-the-al_b_90383 om-the-al_b_903835.html 5.html
GRAPHY
▲ Individual Assignment 2 “Creativity in Fashion Design” This report was prepared for Dr. Gilbert Tan, for MGMT227: Corporate Creativity, by Denise Tan Su-Wen.
