Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.Dressmaking

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Modularity in apparel production : an industry-integrated investigation : Master of Design exegesis, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Hoori, Te Paea
    The central focus of this project, as outlined in the industry brief, is to develop the workflow and manufacturing capabilities of the apparel company Kapinua, through expansion of the brand’s 3D-integrated, customer driven, e-commerce platform. Based in Levin, New Zealand, Kapinua is a vertically-integrated manufacturing and retailing company. Specialising in made-to-order (MTO) digitally printed garments, Kapinua have developed an online platform that allows its users to select and customise garments from their web browser. With the support of New Zealand government organisation Callaghan Innovation, Kapinua wishes to expand, develop and refine this digital asset. Through iterative design practice, analysis of Kapinua’s systems and processes, reflective documentation, and literary research, this work looks to explore possible applications of customisation and modularity in the production of apparel. Informed by client needs, the primary project outcomes are relevant sizing charts informed by parametric research; grading rule tables; modular pattern templates; a library of products prepared for Kapinua’s 3D-integrated, online platform; and a structured filing system to organise and access digital assets. Further objectives include improved efficiency through workflow streamlining and early iterations of resources designed to assist with future product development within the company. More broadly, this research poses the question: How can digital technologies help create economically-viable, structurally customisable patterns - and how can this increase customer satisfaction, garment fit, and improve the way we engage with clothing?
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The new costume designer : an exploration of digital and physical technologies for costume development in the film industry : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design, Massey University, College of Creative Arts, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Lewis, Jessica
    Three-dimensional (3D) simulation software is utilised for digital visualization of garment design, pattern development, drape, and fit on virtual models and avatars within the costume and fashion industries. This practice-led project explores the use of digital design technologies for costumes created in a digital space and asks “How do current digital and physical technologies work as integrated practice within the industry of costume design for film?” From a fashion perspective, many researchers have looked into how historical costumes can be reproduced as accurate 3D models or how 3D modelling software can be used for prototyping and fit for production efficiency. However, there is little published academic research discussing the use of digital technologies by costume designers for physical costume design and development in the film industry. Initial research for this project included interviews with experts from physical costume design departments in the film industry to gain insight as to the extent and relevance of collaborative work experiences using both physical and digital processes, systems and technologies within their practice. Through an original creative project using an iterative design process, this research project focuses on the generation of physical costume concepts for a fantasy creature. These costumes are designed to tailor to the exaggerated humanoid body of the “koloss” character from Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn: Era 1 series as he morphs from a child to an adult. This project explores how patternmaking and 3D cloth simulation software can be applied to costume generation that navigates the physical and virtual world. Digital and physical visual, patternmaking, and sampling tools are utilised with tacit knowledge of an experienced technical fashion designer to explore how physical costume designers can feel empowered in the creative process when working between physical and digital departments.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Dressmaking : how a clothing practice made girls in New Zealand, 1945 to 1965 : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Vincent, Dinah
    This thesis looks at domestic dressmaking to understand what the practice meant for practitioners beyond making garments. It focuses on New Zealand girls in the period from 1945 to 1965, when dressmaking was understood as a universal part of the female experience at home and school. Despite this assumption of ubiquity, little work has been done to document how dressmaking happened in homes and in schools and, more importantly, how it affected girls. The critical framework combines feminist historical and sociological thinking — including Bourdieu’s theories of habitus and cultural reproduction — with fashion studies, cultural studies, material culture and object studies. The methodology reflects this interdisciplinary approach by layering personal recollections gathered in 15 oral history interviews, with documentary evidence, image research, and object studies. This thesis argues that dressmaking offers a new lens through which to view female experience in New Zealand at that time. Dressmaking not only shaped appearance: it affected the allocation of space and time within households; it established and reinforced shopping behaviours; it created inter-generational bonds as women shared their skills within family groups; it maintained relationships within extended family groups as a source of hand-me-down clothing; and it offered the possibility of paid employment either within or outside the home. Beyond the home, dressmaking was part of girls’ school experience, used to prepare them for a prescribed femininity, but perceived as second-rate subject because of the strong association with domesticity. Dressmaking also offered girls and women a means of engaging with change - in fashions, fabrics, patterns, and tools. Memory, place, objects, and people combined to influence dressmaking practice. For some, dressmaking became ingrained as part of their identity and can be understood as habitus. The thesis shows how dressmaking shaped girls’ identities as much as dressmaking was used to shape garments.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Draped garments : the influences of fabric characteristics and draping methods on 3D form : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2006) Li, Ying
    This thesis explores the way in which fabric characteristics; in particular the drapeability can influence and create three-dimensional form for garments. The aim is to combine scientific, visual and drape research and design methodologies to better inform the final design outcome - in this case a collcction of garments. The characteristics of a fabric influence the draping effect. How fabrics with different drapeabilities influence design ideas and final forms is explored and revealed in this thesis. An experimental fabric drape testing method is developed, which is suitable for the design processes of a practicing designer in order to investigate fabrics' drape characteristics. Six fabrics are chosen from the experiments that establish the quantitative and visual evidences for the design development. Each fabric is draped into one form according to its characteristic that influences the design ideas. Then other fabrics arc draped into the same form to provide comparisons of their different performances and evaluate how they create different appearances for the same form. A range of three-dimensional effects that are different from conventional garment shapes are created in which the fabric controls the final form. Various draping methods inspired by selected contemporary designers are employed to design the spatial effects around the body. Concepts of deconstruction, imperfection, volume, voids and architectural shape, are addressed in the design methodology. The collection "Changing Dresses" is the final outcome of the initial design research, in which six dresses are creatcd with variations from a single basic form. A range of draping methods are employed that best highlight the qualities of the fabrics and create sculptural forms that reflect the knowledge of fabrics on the body gained through the research. The three-dimensional garments, thus, stem from the research into the relationships among fabric characteristics and draping methods.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Unpacking Mrs Wood's suitcases : the signifying potential of unsewn cloth : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Philosophy at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2009) Mutsaers, Lilian
    This thesis examines unsewn cloth pieces which once belonged to Victoria Wood and places them into their social and historical context. It uses the biography of Victoria Wood and her fabrics to argue for the importance of fabric collecting and dressmaking for New Zealand women from 1935 to 1955. It questions why ubiquitous fabrics bought for dress making are not represented in historical accounts of women, or in more general accounts of historical clothing and dress. Aspects of material culture theories are employed to analyse the material properties of the fabric pieces. These are situated within a wider domestic context to demonstrate that there were intrinsic qualities of fabric that influenced and were imagined by many women in this period. Oral histories and other documentary research add to the wider account and provide evidence of the way that dressmaking fabrics reflected the shifting notions of domesticity. The thesis suggests that fabrics bought for the creation of clothing can represent the past or a person. It also demonstrates how dressmaking fabrics simultaneously embody personal and social narratives which reflect the emotional and cultural values of a particular period. In this thesis I construct narratives which are based on the social and historical findings to highlight the importance of fabric collecting and dressmaking as an everyday domestic practice.