Sketch to Dress
Brides.com has a sweet new feature called Sketch to Dress, where wedding gown designers’ sketches and the end result of their work are posted side by side. Right now, there aren’t many wedding dresses posted, but I’m really hoping they add more in the future because it’s fascinating to see how the design evolves as it goes from lines on paper to cloth draped on a living body.
Sometimes I like the drawing better, and sometimes I much prefer the wedding dress itself. I’d be interested to hear your take on it — do you ever find that the finished product is disappointing when compared to the sketch?
In this case, the Peter Langner wedding gown is much more flattering “in the flesh”…though this may have something to do with the fact that the model in the sketch is apparently one of the fish people from the planet Aqualon.
Mad bridal model versus bored bridal model…the real live model in the Atelier Aimée gown wins, but cripes, does she ever look bored.
Again, the actual Vineyard wedding gown shown here is so much nicer than the sketch, though that may have something to do with the bizarro folds in the fabric of the drawing.
Here the question is moot because both gowns are terrible. I know! Let’s put what looks like a loose knit vest over a body-hugging wedding gown! Angel Sanchez…master of extremes. I either adore the dresses or despise them.
The actual wedding dress wins again…though perhaps my hatred of Bratz dolls is clouding my judgment. That is a Bratz doll in the Badgley Mischka sketch, right? Just look at those lips!
The drawing of the Angel Sanchez gown looks like she’s wearing an eyepatch.
I’ve always been fascinated by the difference between the sketches and the finished products. You can see it in action quite a bit on Project Runway, too. There are always a couple challenges where you see at least a solid glimpse of someone’s design as well as the finished product.
Most of the time, as in this exercize, I prefer the finished piece…though every once in a blue moon there’s something on the sketch that looks really cool and by the time it gets to the finished garment it looks like hot buttered ass on a stick. Deep fried, too.
I think part of the reason I generally prefer the finished piece is because the sketches are often so exagerrated. And then there’s the fact that the sketches are two-dimensional representations of something that’s meant to be seen in 3-D. If you’re looking at a flat version of a completely impossible body, then the eye sometimes gets disturbed.
Why yes, I have spent entirely too much time thinking about this.
mkb: Now I can’t stop thinking of the cartoon bride as a Bond villain…
Twistie: You mean most real-life brides don’t have stick arms and scoliosis? It’s funny — if models are skinny, how about those sketches? I think that if I was designing fashion, I’d draw using cartoon models that are just a little more realistic in terms of body size. The living, breathing models look chunky next to the sketches, and I’m sure they are but a fraction of my size! (Of course, that’s probably why I don’t design clothing for a living.)
You brought up a good question here. I’ve always loved the sketches on pattern envelopes; a picture shows and reminds the designer about all the basic lines and crucial design elements while developing the pattern. Like what a blueprint is to a house or building, a finished sketch not only holds all the necessary info, it can sell the design as well. There are eras the design on paper outdid the reality. Remember Erte and the twenties? Anytime I see dresses from this era, I’m reminded how far off symmetry went. Check out most 1920s bridal portraits. Then check out the sketches. Sketches usually win.
It’s interesting how different the sketches of a design look from the actual clothing. I’ve just started learning to sew from Connie Crawford. She is a fashion/pattern designer and wanted all her patterns to have actual photos of the clothes on full and smaller figured women. Butterick did that for a few patterns, but often they also had a sketch. The sketch looks so different than the photograph! I guess it’s the fit, that on a drawing the clothing outlines the actually body shape, where in real life that would be too skintight to move.
Great link! I’m a costume designer so I think I can shed some light on the sketch issue. Fashion figures are typically drawn more elongated than real figures. Necks, legs, and arms are all drawn impossibly long so that the figure looks thinner and more graceful. Picture a tall vase vs. a shorter one. They may be the same width around but the taller one will ‘look’ thinner to the eye.
For costume sketches, or commercial pattern sketches they will typically draw the body closer to real proportions so that people have an easier time picturing themselves wearing the garments. For fashion illustration part of what they are selling is the glamour, so the figures are more exaggerated.
All that side I love looking at these sketches (and when we get to see them on Project Runway). I always find it fascinating to see the creative journey. It doesn’t always end up wear you think it will.
I love it! Has there been a project runway wedding challenge yet? There should be. Anyway thanks for stopping by the blog, always a pleasure. Keep in touch.
Best,
Hannah
http://www.writinghannah.blogspot.com
Yes, Hannah. There was a challenge in Season 1 where the designers had to make wedding gowns to please their models. Ironically enough, Austin Scarlett came within an ace of being eliminated in that challenge…but was later hired by the guest judge, Amsale, and is now creative head of Kenneth Pool bridal.
And in Season 5, the final challenge before the finale was to make wedding gowns with a last-minute twist that each designer had to make a coordinating bridesmaid gowns to go with them.
In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m something of a rabid Project Runway fan.
I want Tim Gunn to come to my house and eat homemade scones and feed me sweet, sweet backstage gossip in return.
having stared at maybe 2000 dresses online, and being in the midst of trying almost as many on: when will designers get creative, plz?
Or maybe, when will store buyers (the people who stock the stores) get ballsy?
Everything I’ve seen has been the same. THE SAME.
At least the second dress here has a *slightly* different silhouette to it than the others, which are the classic aline, mermaid, sheath….all we’re missing is the princess and ballgown shapes to round it out.
I am seriously annoyed/disappointed with the wedding dress world right now and wishing I knew how to sew.
I love seeing how the concept comes to life with these dresses. Sometimes it is exactly what you imagined it to be and other times…..well, it can leave a little to be desired. As the wedding dress is one of the most important parts of the wedding day to the bride, I think that it is nice that designers are showing their thought process via the initial design. I think that it helps to give brides a better visual if they are having their own dress custom made.
I find it interesting to see how close a fashion designer’s end product looks when compared with the sketch.
During production, things may need to change depending on the materials needed to complete the design. Sometimes unforeseen elements about the design pop up when the design is placed on the body.
It is good that most of the time a design comes out very close to what is planned. I well know the design and dressmaking process because for 22 years, I designed custom wedding gowns for local brides.