The Fashion Resource Book: Research for Design

I bought this book as my daughter's work is featured inside. I was very proud to buy a copy.After looking through it in more depth I realised what a fantastic teaching aid it is.I am a secondary school textile teacher and I am going to buy another copy to use in the classroom.Children of this age tend to struggle to research and connect inspiration past and present so this is a very helpful and interesting book.Well done,Thank you,

A helpful resource book, handy for those interested in fashion

The Fashion Resource Book is a fascinating insight into the ways in which top designers are inspired by history, art, street wear, the military, the materials themselves and earlier fashions. Primarily aimed at students and professional designers, it is lucidly written and accessible for the ordinary reader.This is a very well researched, written and presented book. Beginning with a short historical overview, it goes on to examine the research process of eleven top designers before plunging into the meat of the book, which is overview and examples of how a rich mix of inspirations have influenced the fashion world. The parallels are given exactly, showing, for example, a 1925 Hussar photograph followed by the 2008 Alexander McQueen jacket that it inspired. These pairings are consistently good, giving not just evidence for the book's main point -- the inspiration for fashion is everywhere -- but detailed insights into how designers interpreted and reinterpreted what they found.We are all consumers of fashion, even if we resolutely try not to be. This book gives the uninitiated a gorgeous introduction to where it all comes from. It will doubtless also be a source of information for those for whom fashion is the day job.

My daughter is currently studying GCSE textiles and planning to take A'levels in Textiles and Fine Art so this was an obvious book to pick to review. It is eminently readable and although aimed at students and designers I found much of interest for anyone with an eye for fashion or interest in art.It starts with the research process and it covers some major designers (eg Paul Smith, milliner Stephen Jones and Maria Cornejo) looking at their inspirations and providing interesting insights. The main body of the book looks at the inspiration in more depth: history, art, world cultures, architecture, nature/science, film, icons and uniform/sportswear/workwear are all covered. I loved the world culture section with its photographic examples looking at the Ikat patterning, African, Peruvian and Himalayan - showing why they have proved a resource and inspiration for current designers.The last part of the book has 15 case studies from Westwood to Chanel, Gaultier to Burberry - each 2 pages with an outfit from the designer then pictures of possible influences they have researched. The writing gives more biographical notes on their careers but the pictures fill in the 'inspiration'/research ideas.This is a beautiful book to look through and my daughter has definitely found it helpful, interesting and would definitely recommend it to her peers. I think it is a great, and different, coffee table book to have around; it has much to recommend it as you browse through enjoying the pictures plus the nuggets of fashion information and insight.

Described as a resource book, this is a rather modest volume in itself for that purpose; certainly, it has lots of photographs, some useful one-page case-studies and observations from names in the industry, together with some helpful and interesting illustrations.Rather, its true function seems to be to serve as a guide to sourcing ideas, listing what areas of exploration provide the most lucrative inspiration and how to best apply those resources when you find them; in this respect, the book does quite a clear and comprehensive job. Much of the advice proffered would apply to any visual artist/designer regardless of your chosen field or discipline and it is certainly an interesting and informative book on its specific subject; it would, however be of most use to the prospective student at the stage of preparing a portfolio of work for a fashion course, or perhaps already in fashion-related study with the intention of applying for a full-blown degree course. The research process laid out here would be routine practice for any second-year degree course student, but it would be helpful - regardless of experience - to have this as a working handbook.I was impressed by the very sound advice not to rely heavily on internet research or photography - though they have their place - but to seek out original items that can be studied in the round; a valid point for anyone who works in visual/functional design - a few moments of examining any crafted article will reveal more about its construction than most photographic images could.Fashion isn't my field, but I know many people who have been trained in or are involved with the industry; this seems like a pretty useful primer for both the student and the interested observer of fashion, as such I consider it quite a recommendable book.