When I made my collection last year I touched a little bit on creating structure within garments and found it really cool how you can create a 3D shape from a flat pattern piece so recently I've been having a look about on the internet to see how to create more elaborate shapes in garments!
When I first started looking into ways in which origami could be incorporated into garments I thought of how to create little flowers from folding fabric and using these as decoration on an outfit. I've done this a few times already through watching youtube videos and the like and find that it can look very feminine and that the folds in the fabric add to the appeal.
However, recently I started to look online at how entire garments can me made from origami techniques and was AMAZED at what some designers have achieved, especially Issey Miyaki. I had researched him in high school for a project and was fascinated by him but had no idea about his work with paper folding and it's incorporation into his catwalk shows.
Examples of two different Issey Miyaki outfits from different collections:
When i was in my 2nd year at university I tried a little bit of paper folding in the back of a garment but I could never do it to the incredible standard like those above. I didn't use it to create any structure either, instead it was just as a detail on the back of a dress but the effect still looked really good for a first try!
The whole point in origami is that you don't need to cut the paper to create the shapes and you also only need the one sheet of paper, which for a garment means you'd only need one piece of fabric but this is really complicated to do which is why it's more common for origami to be incorporated into garments through the use of multiple fabrics which are altered to create both fit and structure.
There is a youtube channel by Arif Khan and he does some incredible designs with origami that create wonderful patterns in a garment instead of structure and they look pretty easy to do when you have a knowledge of pattern pieces.
Here is a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1S91Jl8ufw
So yeah the art of origami can be great for use in garments as there are so many different ways to produce shapes and patterns on fabric. Here are a few of my favorites that I've found online in my research of the topic, as you can see the possibilities are endless and each garment looks amazing in it's own right.
The only problem with 3D origami pattern cutting is that it can produce some crazy shapes which makes the wear-ability of the garment become compromised which is why it is more likely to be seen on the catwalk instead of in the likes of high street retailers.
Hopefully in the future there will be more of a crossover from catwalk to high street in regards to origami influence in fashion but until then I'm happy to see where the designs go, especially in regards to Issey Miyake because his designs were already incredible and can only get more complicated so it'll be interesting to see what he does or if he even decides to introduce something to a more accessible market.
I'm currently in my first year of Masters in fashion design. I'm looking into creating shapes on the whole body not just as an element. This was great tank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this post could finally help someone! By the end of my origami project I couldn't look at another piece of folded paper but it's good to know all the effort has helped someone!
DeleteGood luck with your masters!
Hannah