Job:02-30034 Title:RP-Fashion Design Ref and Spec Book
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19 4 THE FASHION DESIGN REFERENCE + SPECIFICATION BOOK
(Text)
Chapter 18: Portfolios
At the beginning of a career, assembling a body of work is about presenting
depth and range: The goal is to show how well the designer sketches, styles,
and solves design challenges. Talented designers who have already explored
many genres of fashion must edit and compartmentalize their work.
PRESENTATION
A master portfolio will archive the complete breadth of the designer’s work. It is a good idea
to keep quality color reproductions organized into categories. Designers who specialize in cus-
tom eveningwear, say, will want to separate their bridal work from formal gowns, dinner suits,
and special occasion dresses. Within each category, the designer will want to demonstrate as
much variety as possible.
Each segment of the master portfolio can be bound into an independent volume of the port-
folio or presentation folder. Designers can work in any size, but traditionally choose 11" × 14"
and 14" × 17" (A3 and A2) formats for drawings and photographs. Quality scans, photographs,
or copies of the original work can also be reduced to fit in a smaller book that is easier to
carry. Hand-held electronic devices like the iTouch or iPhone now make it easy for the designer
to have a current portfolio readily available.
Look Book
When this process is undertaken for a speci c designer collection, the folio is often called
a “look book.” The idea is for the pages to be easily perused in the way that a catalogue or
magazine might be reviewed. The presentation style is important, because so much fashion
content is available to the general public that they are apt to take a certain standard of qual-
ity and creativity for granted. When these are lacking, it can undermine the designer’s true
purpose, which is to focus on the clothes and the ideas behind them. Look books can be
made up of sketches, but most big companies produce them with photographs that have been
created in a studio or captured on the runway.
Layout
Fashion designers must approach the assemblage of their work into a physical or a virtual
presentation with the mindset of a magazine editor. The more thought that goes into the dis-
tribution, repetition, scale, and ow of materials in their chosen format, the bigger the impact.
Designers need to address a number of questions: What will the content be composed of and
how will it be laid out? Which images will be repeated for effect, á la Warhol? Which images
will be cropped and resized based on importance and for variety? How will text be handled?
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Job:02-30034 Title:RP-Fashion Design Ref and Spec Book
#175 Dtp:225 Page:194
192-197_30034.indd 194 2/27/13 5:05 PM