#antoniodonnanno

[professorpski]

Fashion Patternmaking Techniques: Technicality and Whimsicality

This technical volume by Antonio Donnanno is one of several by Promopress which show both a garment and how it would be worked out as a flat pattern. This volume’s title equates haute couture with very dramatic evening styles which overlooks all of the neat little suits and daytime dresses couture houses have ever made for their wealthy clientele. (Other volumes treat those kinds of garments). But then most of us only know famous couture houses today because of the dramatic dresses worn at well-publicized galas and ceremonies, so this may explain the approach.

A chapter on pleats, drapes and frills gives us the dress with the short layers of skirt upon skirt, while another chapter on ruffles, flounces and jabots both describes the basics of those design elements and gives us Dress with Collar Flounces and a very deep, and probably impractical V-neckline in the back. Notice the whimsicality of the blouse whose sleeves are then attached hem of its blouse. But what happens when you need to scratch your head, which is what I was doing while pondering this sketch. There are chapters on garments with raglan sleeves, with cut-on sleeves and then later ones consider tailoring and basic draping. There is also a chapter on painting on fabric, and that is the only embellishment covered.

So, this is definitely a volume that will get you imagining evening and cocktail dresses and some of the more dramatic ideas for necklines, skirts, even sleeves, if that kind of garment is your obsession.

You can find Promopress online here: https://www.promopress.es/en/

[professorpski]

Fashion Patternmaking Techniques: Jackets, Coats and Cloaks

This is another volume by Antonio Donnanno which uses the block or sloper method to create a whole variety of garments. This one covers jackets from the ubiquitous blazer to the motorcycle jacket to the more interesting cuts that women only tend to wear. It defines types of jackets and coats as you see here with the raglan sleeve, the redingote, and what he calls the Montgomery and we call the duffle coat. The redingote, by the way is a reworking by the French of the word riding-coat, then reworked back into the English language. How is that for fun?

Along the way, he explains the basic terminology for different kinds of collars, sleeves, and garment lines for both women’s and men’s coats and jackets. Each one comes with a full sketch of how to draft the pattern pieces by altering the basic block: see the “Collarless Lapel” for part of an example of such a sketch. 

Capes and hoods in variety show up under the cloaks section, although I think they only work well for evening wear. I really like sleeves for daywear as you can remain warm and use your arms fully. But a striking cape is something most of us would be willing to cope with for an evening out. A last section explains how to cope with fitting problems for those garments that fall close to the body.

This is a technical manual and if you studied it closely, you would gain an almost encyclopedic knowledge of drafting and outer wear garment design. You can find it here at PromoPress: https://www.promopress.es/en/