Couture Contest: "Decades of Fashion" ENTRIES & RESULTS

In the Couture Contest, members were asked to create an ensemble characteristic of a fashion style from a 20th century decade. Enjoy!

Please vote carefully. You must vote for four different entries. If you vote for any entry more than once, ALL FOUR of your votes will be thrown out.

You may assign one vote to one entry for each of the following questions:

Which design demonstrates the most complexity and technical skill?

Which design has the most original concept?

Which design best captures the spirit of the decade chosen?

Which design used the material most creatively?


Then follow the link at the bottom of this thread to place your votes!

Entries:

1900s

Entry #1

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Design Concept: My concept is a young aristocratic widower of the early 1900s. I have very little experience and knowledge in sewing so my technique was to research authentic patterns from the era I chose on the internet.


Entry #2

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Design Concept: The dress is mainly machine sewn with minor details hand sewn.
The materials i have used is fabric, lace, sewing thread and decoration pearls.


Entry #3

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Design Concept: I was inspired by Charles Frederick Worth, the English fashion designer who is said to have been the father of haute couture. I admire the sleekness and delicacy of the House of Worth's ballgowns, so I used a gauzy lace and a light silk-like fabric.


Entry #4

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Design Concept: My inspiration for concept: Belle Epoque, Gibson Girl and S-bend shape.

 

1910s

Entry #5

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Design Concept: My concept was based on the silhouette and stylings of popular evening gowns worn around 1910.
Gowns of this period boasted square trains flowing from mid-back complementing the trains of the skirts themselves, embellishments around the bust and neckline, as well as rich colors. Sheer and silky fabrics were all the rage, so to invoke a similar looking style I used chiffon and satin (with cotton for the lining and underskirt).

Entry #6

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Design Concept: I decided to make a walking suit from 1911 - the era when the Empire line returned to fashion, freeing women from uncomfortable S-bend corsets, the Titanic set sail (briefly), and clothes for ladies were slowly becoming more practical and easy to move in! So what's more beautiful and practical than a walking suit to go out and see the sights in?


Entry #7

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Design Concept: I sewed an outfit heavily ispired by the ones weared by the newspaper-boys of the era. I choose to use no shoes 'cause (not rich) children at the times often didn't have them.


Entry #8

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Design Concept: I was inspired by the tunic and skirt style gowns of the mid 1910s. The pattern was based on patterns from the 1910s and draped on the doll.

 

1920s

Entry #9

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Design Concept: I decided to sew the flapper dress- one of the more memorable fashions from this decade. The flapper dress provided women with a comfortable look that also flatten the chest and hips.


Entry #10

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Design Concept: The concept behind this outfit was influenced by the flapper style of the late 1920s, more exactly the time around 1928. The fashion of that time was characterized by cloche hats with very short and unsymmetrical brims and sleeveless dresses with low waists.


Entry #11

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Design Concept: I was going for a kind of 'flapper girl' look, and wanted to tweak the design a bit to my own tastes, so I browsed through images and created my own design based on the doll.

Entry #12

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Design Concept: I decided to go with 1920s inspired party dress look. I avoided over the top beaded look which is commonly seen in 20s and went with a more controlled design of beads which would resemble a large necklace rather than all over the dress pattern. Over all my idea was to stay simple but stylish.

Entry #13

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Design Concept: My concept is simple: a 1920s party dress that feels good in the hand and makes the wearer sparkle! I've been a fan of 1920s fashion for years, but haven’t had a good excuse to make my own until now. I had some difficulties during construction, but I'm happy with the end result!


Entry #14

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Design Concept: since my grandmother taught me to crochet and inspired my love for miniatures by giving me a set of miniature antique hooks i decided to do an party outfit of the sort she might have worn as a stylish but thoroughly respectable young lady - one with access to fine materials, but needing to make everything herself with her own handiwork and instructions/inspiration from ladies magazines of the day.

Entry #15

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Design Concept: 20's wedding dress, flapper style.


Entry #16

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Design Concept: The style of the doll inspired the outfit. The boyish figure and elegant limbs embodies the spirit of the 1920's. High fashion became assessable to all, no longer the domain of the richer society. My outfit is more towards the rich end of the spectrum with a two layered dress constructed from silk with an overlay of lace, hand-beaded and embellished with hand-embroidered silk ribbon roses. For added glamour the outfit is completed with an Arctic fox stole made from faux fur and beaded evening purse which is constructed using crochet and beads.


Entry #17

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Design Concept: My concept was for the Bright Young Thing of the 1920s. I wanted to play on the expression "the bee's knees" with stripes of yellow and black, and two bee charms. I wanted to use pleating in my skirt, and also play with a low back with a fairly modest front.


Entry #18

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Design Concept: I chose the 1920s very famous style - flapper dress, the evening dress for dancing.

 

1930s

Entry #19

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Design Concept: I knew that I wanted to do some sort of everyday clothing, because that was the type of clothing I think of from the 1930s. The" Hoover Apron" or "Hooverette" was a house dress that could be tossed on by a house wife so she would appear to be somewhat pulled together if company called or she needed to run to the market for her family. As floral patterns were popular I used two different colors a 1930's reproduction cotton print. With the exception of the button holes, which were hand-sewn, the dress was sewn by machine. Many clothing pieces emphasized a slim figure and broadened the shoulders, so I tried to capture that with her sleeves and the line of the dress.


Entry #20

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Design Concept: The '30s represents the height of Hollywood glamor as many recognize it today as well as the elegance of women's fashion. I wanted to convey this with use of silky materials and lace as was popular for ladies evening wear at the time. In order to mimic the flowing silks and gowns that flattered the female for I've utilized the bias cut which saw a relatively large revival in the '20s and '30s to show off Iple's lovely curves.


Entry #21

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Design Concept: For me fashion are upon other things, the clothes one chooses to wear to feel pretty/special/different, not the ones one works in or is forced to wear (uniforms, etc.)
I decided on a French evening dress of the 1930s, mostly out of personal taste, but also because France was/is one of the big name countries in this industry, and the 1920s and 1930s.were the beginning of last centuries fashion boom.
The examples I found reminded me of Greek and Roman fashion, I suppose the clothes were inspired thus. The dresses looked light, elegant and comfortable to wear. As I most probable will keep the dress, my boys tasted went into consideration too: he prefers long, fantasy-magician-elf robes. These evening gowns are similar enough^^
After deciding the decade, I expanded my initial google search and selected a few pictures of dresses I liked (most of them drawn on the cover of pattern booklets (not the patterns only the covers), some photos of vintage dresses). Fusing ideas from different dresses (skirt from one, top from another, sleeves from a third and belt taken from jet another dress. Bead décor and hair pieces own creations inspired by what I found in pictures)


Entry #22

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Design Concept: My concept was a little bit private academy, mixed with some more adult fashion features. Panelled skirts with gores and capelets were a very defining feature of the 30s, as well as high waistlines with tucked in blouses. I was going for more 1936, when the hemlines started rising to just below the knee.


Entry #23

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Design Concept: I was inspired to create a 1930s Dustbow/Depressionl outfit when I found myself bemoaning the fact that I likely didn't have enough fabric to create an elegant, prize-worthy gown. It made me think of my doll, a beautiful princess, a girl for whom I could not make a gown. And the idea was born. What would a princess do if she was living in poverty? If she was caught up in the 1930s Dustbowl and found herself without gown or crown? What would she do to make her fantasies come true? What would she do to escape her cruel reality?
I started by sewing a simple, 1930s outfit. I based it off of the early 1930s, when the shape was akin to that of the 1920s: square. Though the Dustbowl became prominent during the mid-30s, when the popular tulip-shaped dress came into being, I knew I had to stick with something a little older, not quite in style. When you are poor, you can't just go out and get the latest style. You make do with what you have, even if that means outdated hand-me-downs. So, the square shape, knee-length skirt was born. The top was model directly off of pictures of 1930s gown, with short sleeves and modest necklines.

Entry #24

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Design Concept: I am a huge fan of the late 1920s and early 1930s, so this dress is meant to represent circa 1931. It is transitional between the loose, beaded garments of the mid 1920s, and the satiny, fitted bias cut gowns of the mid to late 1930s.

 

1940s

Entry #25

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Design Concept: This is a dress for a teen living in the nineteen forties.


Entry #26

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Design Concept: The main idea is that child skirts at the time became shorter due to material shortage during World War II.


Entry #27

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Design Concept: One of the major events of the 40's was World War II - a war that absorbed people's attention on a global scale. Men and women alike found ways to serve their country and that was the inspiration for my piece - a nurse's uniform. I looked at pictures of different uniforms then pieced together the pattern used for the doll uniform from a vintage pattern I had and a button up shirt pattern I found. The cape was made after looking at another cape for reference.

 

1950s

Entry #28

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Design Concept: Concept: a casual 50's outfit, suitable for a young girl to wear when she goes out for a walk in the summer. Inspired by the blooming roses.


Entry #29

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Design Concept: I wanted to make a 50's style dress, so i measured out the two pieces of fabric(both the same size), sewed them together and added the finishing touches (ie,waist band, straps, neck piece ect)


Entry #30

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Design Concept: Concept was based off of Audrey Hepburn's Oscars Dress in 1954. Along with a common color scheme of peach and rose for the fabric.


Entry #31

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Design Concept: I was inspired by 50's Pin-up culture and full circle dresses, combined with my overwhelming love for "Fragile Vintage" -theme.
So I took pretty much my basic idea from "high class" young lady, who has her Full Circle Dress and a matching Bolero, decorated with Beads, Lace, and Ribbons. She looks innocent in days, when her shoulders are covered with short Bolero, but after she takes it off, she is ready to go to dance with others of her age.

Entry #32

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Design Concept: My sewing skills are self taught, and therefor sometimes a little off the beaten path as I figure it all out as I go. My patterns are a little rough, and adapt as I go. The 50's are definitely my favorite vintage aesthetic, with the cute patterns and outfits. I'm glad it's making a come back in recent years.

Entry #33

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Design Concept: I wanted to recreate a glamorous cocktail dress like those worn to high society functions in the 1950's. I drew inspiration from the bodice of one dress and the skirt of another to make something new that felt like something old.

 

1960s

Entry #34

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Design Concept: The dress I have made was inspired by Yves Saint Laurent 1965 cocktail dress based on the painting style of Mondrian.


Entry #35

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Design Concept: Concept: New form of fashion starting in the late 1960s, the Mini Dress. It helped make more revealing clothing socially acceptable and led to other hit fashions like the mini skirt. My entry is based on the earliest Mini Dresses, showing the least amount of skin.


Entry #36

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Design Concept: My concept was the hippie era of the later 1960s, when clothing was inspired by Native Americans and other ethnic peoples.


Entry #37

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Design Concept: This dress has been inspired by 1960s Japanese fashion. I decided to use authentic Japanese material from Nippori in Tokyo, trying to keep true to not only the cuts and styles of dresses from the era but also the bright colours and fun of the 60s, with a very Japanese twist.


Entry #38

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The concept was born after the doll. She just recently got a character, and clothes like this is what she would wear to a party. The colours and fabrics were chosen for two reasons:
1. She's South-Korean, and I wanted to use glossy fabrics like those you'll usually find in hanboks, and
2. The "space age" of the late sixties. There were so many fun outfits at the time, that I wanted to try and incorporate a bit of that. That is why I went for the grey.
The four fabric squares at the front right hem were also inspired by a hanbok I saw one time, and I wanted them to add some colour. They also works due to the use of geometrical patterns during the sixties. I thought it'd be fun to make it look a bit like a coloured in window, which is why I added the grey edges.


Entry #39

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Design Concept: As a young child in the 60s, I saw the Vietnam war play out on the nightly news broadcasts. At the same time the anti war protesters screamed for Peace and the end to a war they felt was unjust. Hippie culture and flower children wanted everyone to love each other and Riis was reflected in their clothes. I remember the fringed vests and floppy hats, the beads and peace signs and the headbands, and boho dresses. I wanted to contrast the peace movement with the attire of the drafted GIs. I put peace signs and protest slogans on the fatigues worn by the GIs. I finished all the seams and used actual buttons and buttonholes instead of snaps to give the outfit authenticity. I put a lot of time into the details found on Army fatigues as I wanted to show respect for the guys and gals who gave so much during the war. I also wanted to do the same for the protesters and flower children


Entry #40

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Design Concept: I wanted to create a dress from London's swinging 60's.
I used white cotton for the collar and the cuffs, and cotton in a retro pattern for the dress.
The dress is lined for the upper part for a neat finish, and closes with a snap in the neck.


Entry #41

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Design Concept:It all started with my mother, while thinking of a decade, I remembered about the figurine magazines she told me she alwayws looked at when she was a child, and the dresses my grandmother made for them to use on the weekends. Asking my mother was a fun idea, being that it got her intrested into my project. So I decided that was the way to go. After researching about dress styles, I started being really fond of the inverted pleat in front of some of the designs from the decade. So the basic idea behind the outfit was a summer-ish outfit that, without being the most casual, is inspired on 'that dress you'd put on the afternoons to go and have an icecream and meet up with friends on the weekend.

 

1970s

Entry #42

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Design Concept: I wanted to go for an early 1970's hippie/disco look. I really liked the style of the peasant top with flared sleeves and bright green/yellow/orange, just some of the colors that were really starting to come into style. I also have never made bell bottom pants before so I decided to give it a go.


Entry #43

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Design Concept: 70's club fashion was all about attitude, so I went with bold animal prints, rich velvet and satin textures, and a royal purple and gold color scheme with simple purple ribbon for decorative trim.


Entry #44

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Design Concept: The idea of this outfit came from a tiny pendant, a sign of peace. I bought it a few year ago. When I was in my secondary school, I had similar pendant, long skirt and the blouse lace. I was walking a lot on mountains paths and I thought I was a real hippie.

 

1980s

Entry #45

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Design Concept: I was inspired by the 80's. I wanted to combine the edginess of the punk scene with the playfulness and colour of pop fashion.


Entry #46

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Design Concept: I decided upon the fitness look from the 1980's.


Entry #47

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Design Concept: I started with the idea of "Material Girl" for a sewing contest, which of course, led me to the 80's. I wanted to make a child of the 80's outfit rather than something for an adult, as my girl is very child-looking. Also, that gave me an excuse to make a doll sized Lisa Frank trapper keeper- you couldn't be an elementary school girl in the 80's without one!

Entry #48

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Design Concept: I made a dance to rehearse outfit that looked like the once I have seen in movies like Flashdance, Breakin', Fame and Girls Just Want to Have Fun.


Entry #49

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Design Concept: Despite being born after the 80s, I've grown up listening to glam/hair metal from that era - I've been somewhat obsessed with it since I was about 4 or 5 years old, so naturally when someone mentions the 80s I instantly think 'hair metal'. My inspiration for this outfit was none other than Axl Rose from Guns'n'Roses - nothing fancy. The wig my doll wears is his default and helped cement my choice in place.


Entry #50

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Design Concept: This is a coat dress with a hat and a belt in a style that was popular in the 1980s.


Entry #51

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Design Concept: Kind of going for a punky 80's look with the leather mini and colorful fingerless gloves and leg warmers. Big hair was a thing and off the shoulder crop tops were in so I incorporated those as well. I was told if your earrings didn't touch your shoulders you weren't cool enough, so big hoops happened! The only part of the costume I worked around were the shoes! I picked the 80's because the only pair of shoes I had that matched any particular era are the one's he's wearing.


Entry #52

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Design Concept: I wanted to create a 1980's outfit that is based on the athletic wear of that decade but also giving it a casual look, so I sketched a design first, and then used a recycled shirt, leggings, socks and tights to assemble the outfit with my sewing machine.

 

1990s

Entry #53

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Design Concept: Inspired by High Couture Fashion of the 1990s - 2000 era, when designers became renowned for borrowing various elements from history and incorporating them in their own designs in modern and edgy ways. The catwalk became a canvas for fantasy and avant garde imagination- underwear became acceptable on the runway as outerwear, notably with Gaultier's cone-bra worn by Madonna. With the rise of designers like Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, and Paul Gaultier, the high fashion world became an ephemeral platform for impractical and otherworldly creations. Compared to previous era's when a mere few centimetres of raised hemline could cause a stir, designers now had to stretch their imaginations to cause shock and gossip.
This era truly paved the way for fashion as we know it today, where "everything had been done" previously in history, and designers were forced to look to the past and rely on their imaginations to come up with new combinations of refreshing the old.


Entry #54

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Design Concept: My concept was the grunge period of the early 1990s, inspired by Nirvana/Kurt Cobain.


Entry #55

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Design Concept: I wanted to create the sort of outfit I wore in the early 90s in middle school - Stirrup pants and long tshirt pulled into a "tshirt clip"


Entry for fun

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Design Concept: I used denim and tie-dye sheets to create overalls and a shirt.

 

Please vote carefully. You must vote for four different entries. If you vote for any entry more than once, ALL FOUR of your votes will be thrown out.

You may assign one vote to one entry for each of the following questions:

Which design demonstrates the most complexity and technical skill?

Which design has the most original concept?

Which design best captures the spirit of the decade chosen?

Which design used the material most creatively?


VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!