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THE RUDI GERNREICH BOOK |
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Fall 1965, black-and-white wool-knit tunic with black-and-white pants and socks. Buttons and Bows Most fashion designers are really what I call dressmakers. The good ones can make beautiful and intricate dresses that have a little curve here, a big swag there, a silk camellia at the neck, and it's quite a lot like making expensive lampshades. The dresses they make are exact and specific to the time, fabric, age, and wealth of the woman and materials at hand. These dressmakers produce what is called fashion. What they manufacture cannot be translated into other fabrics and retain its integrity without sacrificing the intrinsic quality of the garment. Think of a beautiful taffeta ballgown printed with cabbage roses. Now imagine it in Harris tweed. It just doesn't work. Design, however, is a different matter. If the design is valid, pure, and functional, it can be interpreted in different materials and be used again and again. Fashion becomes dated, good design does not. Fashion creates problems, design solves them. The three-tiered dress at right is the same design as the one on page 45. There it is shown in beige, bro~n, and black chiffon. It was like wearing a cloud. Here it is in multipatterned wool knit. It looked and felt completely different. It had the eccentric look and the swing of the sixties (the era it reflected). Because it is pure design, it could be made in dozens of different fabrics and lengths and always look right and contemporary. This was the most important element of Rudi's talent. His designs could be reinterpreted endlessly.
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