Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Flapper: Erase the difference between bust and hip and let the hem carry motion
- Type
- Set in Flapper's manner (Geometric capitals used as another decorative band, never as a slogan), and let Rational Dress's lettering (Put size and purpose where the wearer can check them) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Flapper's material (Light silk, beadwork, fringe, with the weight gathered at the hem); bring in exactly one thing from Rational Dress (Light woven cloth, washable fabric, fastenings that do not constrict).
- Colour
- Build on #eae6de, #6b655c, #1a1815 and admit one accent from #eae6de, #6b655c, #1a1815.
Where they fight
- Both belong to Fashion History, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Flapper Adding fringe over a nipped waist destroys the straight line the whole idea rests on and leaves a costume that merely signals the decade.
- Rational Dress Claiming function while keeping the old pattern only moves the constriction somewhere else, and the body is no freer than before.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Flapper (Style, 1920s) and its accent from Rational Dress (Style, 1850s–1900s). Structural cues: Straight shift dresses; Bobbed hair; Dropped waists; Beads and fringe. Accent cues, used sparingly: Bloomer-type garments; Refusal of the corset; Bicycles and sportswear; Form from function. Composition: Erase the difference between bust and hip and let the hem carry motion. Type and lettering: Geometric capitals used as another decorative band, never as a slogan. Let one material quality come from the second style: Light woven cloth, washable fabric, fastenings that do not constrict. Mood: Exhilaration, Rebellion, Play, Technology, Trust. Color: build on #eae6de, #6b655c, #1a1815 with a single accent drawn from #eae6de, #6b655c, #1a1815. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Flapper 1920s / Style / Fashion History
The 1920s woman who made the body's liberation visible in a straight silhouette, a short hem and bobbed hair, wearing the same period spirit that Art Deco gave to geometry.
- Rational Dress 1850s–1900s / Style / Fashion History
A reform movement that refused the corset and the trailing hem and redesigned clothing around health and freedom of movement. In dress it is what functionalism is in design.
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