Couture and Watermelon salad…

One of the greatest pleasures at Ecole Holt Couture is celebrating well deserved credit for the tremendous effort and progress that EHC students have made since beginning in September 2017. This year we are between Graduation goal posts, so we decided that a class luncheon date would be very welcome.

Bonterra Trattoria in Calgary’s belt line district was the restaurant of choice on this sunny Friday afternoon. Of particular enjoyment for me, as lead instructor of this class, was the luxury of just hanging out with 6 amazing talented individuals whom I normally don’t have the opportunity to relax and chat with.

Our teaching intern, an EHC Diploma graduate, is an invaluable asset to the group contributing many hours of advice and support to each of the students. Having plans to travel the world in the future, will do very well combining her couture training and experience, cultural background plus a university education under her belt. We are very glad to have her on staff while we can!

We are interested in our students beyond their training and performance at Ecole Holt Couture. Their range of ambitions is wide and far reaching from further developing a career in Indigenous Fashion [see also http://ifwtoronto.com/ ], or taking control of unique design ideas by introducing them fully developed to the market, and transitioning from or combining Eco rehabilitation with fashion, or offering truly appealing and well fitting fashion for the not-so-common shape or size, to a career based on theatrical fashion culture.

Whatever, their plans and aspirations are, the students will acquire the tools and skills to begin traveling upon their life-long creative journey which will certainly evolve from one form to the next, and I’m enthusiastic for each one of them.

In the meantime, required term projects must be completed and submitted and another school year will commence after a well-deserved summer break – or is it a longed-for period of uninterrupted sewing time! (Hm-mm, perhaps that may be my own aspiration for this summer).

Cheers! J

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Couturier Magic

One of the differences between a fashion designer and a couturier is that a designer may not be able to turn their creation into workable realities on their own without the help of the pattern maker, or have sufficient knowledge of fabrics and their properties along with respective technical structuring methods and skills. These other experts may also advise the designer on occasion that what they have designed is not possible to achieve.

Couturiers have the advantage of being insiders to all of this knowledge and experience. Of course, the training to become a couturier is therefore more intense and takes longer to master the skills.

Couturiers also are also trained to visualize garments in three dimensions; how a garment looks from the front, back and in profile is also very important to a successful design. In this respect, they can also creatively conceal how and where a garment is closed rather than the standard front center, back center or side. Also how a particular element of design will be supported is so important.

Not quite sure about what is happening with the bodice on Sophie’s dress below, but it’s not a good look foremost because it doesn’t fit her properly. How would you press the creases out of the skirt below? Ah, but yes there is a way that the skirt could be constructed to have full access for pressing!

Everyone can picture a low cut back or low cut neckline seen at the Oscar’s award evening gown for instance, but honestly, no one should have to use sticky tape to keep that neckline or back line from revealing too much. (Let’s put a theatrical disclaimer in here, where anything goes for the stage – temporarily). Or using another example of a ballooned skirt, it must definitely be supported but also be accessible to be pressed after it has been cleaned or worn several times. How patterned fabric is matched, draped or joined invisibly is also in the realm of the couturier’s skills.

One might think that couturiers are so constrained by all the above technicalities that creative new ideas may be hampered or left unexplored to accomplish things that have not been done previously. Yes, that could happen, but experienced professional couturiers are inventors of methods, and are more potentially constrained by the lack of adventurous clients than by the lack of ideas. J…

Photos – Yohji Yamamoto designer