By Kofoworola Agboola

Perhaps the most important thing you will need to develop as a fashion designer is the ability to interpret styles that your clients bring to you.

Clients are unforgiving when a fashion designer cannot reproduce the desired style, most especially when the designer wasn’t honest that producing the style is way above their current skill level.

It’s understandable if clients get upset of course, they expect the designer to live up to their role and get their money’s worth too.

However, style interpretation does not need to be hard, and I have put together some basic guidelines to help you deconstruct any style that your clients bring to you

There are 3 basic techniques that every style emerge from and they are:
*DART MANIPULATION
*ADDED FULLNESS
*CONTOURING
Every dress either combines all of these techniques, uses just one, or combines two.
So, when next you find yourself in a situation where you can’t properly interpret the style your client wants, or perhaps you want to try out a challenging style, here are the basic questions to ask:

ALSO READ: END OF THE ROAD: Rudeboy’s Lawyer speaks as wife files for divorce

*THE Dart manipulation question: Dart manipulation, as the name implies is the manipulation of darts. It involves moving darts from one point on the basic bodice to another.

What do I mean by moving the darts? The darts that come with the basic bodice by default is the shoulder dart and the waist darts, and when trying to determine if a style has a dart manipulation technique, you are basically looking to see if the darts have been moved from their original position (shoulder and waist).

So you are asking the dart manipulation question – Has the dart position changed? If so, where? Note it down.

* The Added Fullness question: Added Fullness as the name implies means adding fullness to a design. Examples of styles that have added fullness include A-line dresses, flared dresses, etc. Again for the added fullness question, you are comparing what the basic bodice looks like with this new design. Has fullness been added? If so, where? Note it down

* CONTOURING question: Contouring means that the bodice has been molded to fit above, in between, and below the bust and waist. Examples of styles that have been contoured are bustiers, corsets etc.

Again, for the contouring question, you are comparing how the basic bodice is different from the new design. Has the bodice been contoured? If so, where? Note it down.

Other basic questions to ask are as follows:
STYLES LINES: Are there style lines on the new design? Ie princess seams, yoke seams
NECKLINE DETAILS: Front or back? Is it high neck or low neck? V neck or square neck?

Darts or pleats: Are there one dart, two darts, or multiple?

Garment length: Is it mini, knee-length, calf-length, or full-length?

Sleeve types: Is the sleeve short, long, cuffed or not, bell-shaped, shirt style, bishop style, or coat style?

Accent pieces: Does it have collars, cuffs, plackets, pockets, waistbands etc?

After all these questions have been answered, you are already more than halfway to revealing all the details of the design and what you need to do to achieve it

Agboola kofoworola is a fashion designer, coach, and consultant and can be reached on
kofoagboola@gmail.com

Vanguard News Nigeria