Historical Context Within Fashion

How fashion professionals use historical and cultural research as source material for fashion inspiration? * Reference to key themes, discussion and concepts raised in the Design in Context unit * Referenced quotations (using Harvard referencing) from at least four academic texts to support your arguments * Referenced images * A critical analysis of examples of relevance to your degree subject (Design & Development; Graphics; Photography or Promotion & Communication) * The conventions of academic writing

Inspiration is the fuel for our designer's minds and bodies so are always in need of it. Research is absolutely central to the fashion design process. It underpins designers’ ideas, informs the shapes and proportions they use, influences the materials they choose to work with and determines the techniques they use to put them together. Luckily there are thousands of resources at our fingertips that can be interpreted into design especially fashion. As the hunger for new trends grows the industry has come to establish a seasonal schedule, which goes Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. this cycle puts major amounts if pressure on designers to deliver on time considering the whole design process they have to take which, includes inspirational research, designing, prototyping, manufacturing, orders and so on. A lot of fashion professionals now are constantly referring back to historical and cultural garments and imagery and interpreting them within their designs using patterns and even traditional construction techniques to get ahead of trends each season. This work is going to explore how contemporary fashion professionals use historical and cultural resources when gathering inspiration for their designs. A lot of designers use their own personal histories and cultural identities as a starting point for the main concept for each collection. The elements of historic styles can be seen in all types of designers work more interestingly it