Gift Idea – Books for the aspiring Fashion Designer

3 December, 2008

by Nicole.C

I’ve just been browsing through Amazon.com for a fashion gift book for a friend. She is the type who loves pretty things and always steers clear of ‘timeless’ pieces – or in her words, “Boring! No individuality!” She scoffs at the recent editorials concerning ‘heritage fashion’ and ‘ivy league’ trends. She refuses to buy from any store that has the same items available in more than one location. Her entire fashion philosophy has been, “If everyone’s wearing a bubble skirt now, then I should have been wearing a bubble skirt two years ago!”

It’s such a thrilling challenge finding just the right Christmas gift for a friend like this, yet I believe I have finally been able to narrow it down to two options:

Russian Textiles: Printed Cloth for the Bazaars of Central Asia or

Art Deco Textiles: The French Designers.

After browsing through so many books on fashion icons, fashion magazines, fashion designers and the like, I realised… what is it that makes one pencil-skirt differ so different to another pencil-skirt? One could be a total flop and the other the next ‘it’ skirt.

Patterns are everything, especially if you like expressing yourself through your clothes, and especially if you never want to be thought of as ‘classic’ – a.k.a. “Boring!”