Summer Internship: Day 39

What exactly is part of the job of being a designer?  I learned one of the aspects today as Christopher and I took a little field trip to meet with a client.  This client had a special event to attend in the future and wanted Christopher to design a dress just for her.  The dress incorporated a piece of jewelry she wanted to place on the front.  Christopher had to take this into perspective, knowing that this was going to be the dress's focal point.  He asked her for details such sleeve length, neck finish, hem length and any other desires.  With him, he had carried his sketch book so that during her description, he could visualize for her what it would look like.  She wanted boat neck, sleeve above elbow, hem above knee, and cinched in under the bust.  Christopher literally created this beautiful sketch in a matter of minutes and the client immediately loved the results.  He went through and took measurements: from the high-point shoulder to hem, sleeve length, bust and under bust.  This client conciliation was over in a very short period of time.  Christopher is very efficient in understanding what the customer wants and translating that to a illustration.     

At this point, the first step is complete in the process.  Our next venture was to, my favorite, S.R. Harris to source material for this dress.  The client also requested that the dress was "stretchy".  Christopher did not want to take away from the piece of jewelry that would be placed on the dress so he looked for black material that stretched but not to a point of transparency.  We looked at several bolts of black fabric until we found one that fit the description.

The following step after purchasing material is to start construction with an appropriate pattern.  Christopher does not completely finish the garment; instead, he gets to a certain point and then has the client come to his studio to finish fitting more elaborately.  This gives the client and the designer an opportunity to make sure everything is looking and fitting correctly before finishing stitches are places and ready for wear.     

This is just one of the many opportunities a designer has in the industry.  I will discuss more in the future!  

As far as my work, I created a new pattern to make the "mod" style dress I had sketched.  My material is bought so I am sure you know what is coming next!  Sewing:)