My own French fashion Doll

I modelled my french fashion doll on my friend Black Betty, who has a very distinctive look. Betty is a naughty mistress of the dark who has secret sinister intentions. shhhhh, she might hear us..

Impact of blogs

"Today, the group who sets the 'hip' is often likely to emerge from the streets, from youth cultures rather than from the elite at the top and the mainstream of the social strata... In other words, fashion can and does 'bubble up' the social hierarchy from the bottom up to the status of high fashion..." John Dawson and Jung-Hee Lee in 'International Retailing'

Anyone can start a fashion blog. A dedicated consumer of fashion. Someone who already works in the industry, a person aspiring to work in the industry or someone who has a passion for fashion and desires a wider audience.
Generally they focus on a certain trend i.e. Street fashion or accessories such as; shoes or bags. Blogs are now considered mainstream media, providing an instant up to date way to follow trends.
Fashion Blogs first appeared in 2002, and now there are estimated to be thousands of them and hundreds of people living off the profits of their blogs. In an article in the NY Financial times, it noted that being a fashion blogger is a respectable and profitable career for someone in the fashion industry and they can easily build a cult following around their particular area of expertise.


A lot of people have great success with their blogs and have received front row seats at international fashion shows, published books and had opportunities to work with famous fashion designers. Literally going from an unknown blogger at home to a celebrity fashion blogger, their opinions are valued. Some have been noted in Vogue and earned the respect of Dolce and Gabbana, Burberry and Alexander McQueen.
The Fashion Industry has adopted social media as a marketing platform to reach customers online. American Apparel and Topshop were the first labels to see the potential in embracing these forms of social media. Other designer labels first saw it as a threat and feared it would tarnish their brand image but have now embraced it. Designers such as Louis Vuitton and Oscar DeLa Renta even have face book pages.
Perth’s Own blogger, Songy Knox at stylediscovery.com.au has gained a cult following. Capturing the Perth Fashion scene with her camera and helping out new designers by promoting their work. Check out my Blog @ ppashion.blogspot.com

"Fashion is always the product of the culture and the society that spawns it, embodying the concerns of the wider society in its myriad styles..." John Dawson and Jung-Hee Lee in 'International Retailing'

History of fashion dolls

A history of fashion Dolls
The history of dolls dates back to BC but the use of dolls in promoting fashion can be traced back to 1396 when the court Tailor for Charles IV paid 450 francs for an entire dolls wardrobe to be sent to the Queen of England from the Queen of Bavaria. They were life sized dolls presumably made to the measurements of the Queen of England.
Louis XIV was known to send life sized dolls to every European court, depicting the latest styles and accessories. These dolls included every construction detail and dressmakers were able to remove the clothing and make patterns. If it was necessary they would unpick the garments, assess the cut, make a pattern and re-sew the garment. They represented the latest trends in fabric and trimmings.
The peak of French fashion dolls were the mid 1800’s. They were between 9 and 30 inches tall. They had leather bodies, stuffed with horsehair or sawdust, bisque or porcelain heads and glass eyes. The most prized had jointed wooden bodies.
These dolls were very popular amongst affluent Victorians who liked to buy them for their daughters to teach them the correct way to dress. They were also used to help perfect sewing techniques; they would use fabric remnants to create identical outfits to their mothers.

There were entire shops in Paris dedicated to selling dolls items: parasols, wigs, shoes, furniture, gloves and stationary. Every necessary item was replicated in miniature.
In an 1865 edition of La Poupee magazine which was a monthly edition dedicated to doll fashion and containing patterns. It listed 95 items which were necessary for a full dolls wardrobe, it contained 7 dresses, 4 blouses, 2 veils, Russian boots and 3 different capes to name a few.
After WWII the couturiers of Paris created a representation of fashion history. It was called the Theatre De La Mode. It showed in 1945 and was called “perfection in miniature”.
It showed the fashions of France in post WWII, made by the country’s finest designers. It toured Europe and America. Its first stop was Sanfransisco, where it remained until the early 50’s. It was re-discovered in the Maryhill museum of art in Goldendale, Washington in 1952 where it had been preserved beautifully. It had a second world tour in 1990, visiting Paris, New York, Baltimore, Portland and Tokyo. It featured 9 different stage sets.
The Theatre De La Mode still resides at Maryhill Museum of Art and each year they have 3 of the 9 backdrops on display for the mannequins who display the casual and formal wear of past days.

History of Fashion Magazines

Origins of Fashion Magazines
The origin of fashion magazines can be traced back to the late 1400’s when the first fashion plates illustrated by Albrecht Duver were used to record the typical national and regional dress in Nuremburg and Vienna.
Previous to fashion plates, dressed dolls were distributed to potential customers. The peak of fashion plates was the 17th Century. In 1640, Wenceslas Hollar, a polish man working in London produced 2740 fashion plates depicting the fashions of the English working middle class.
In 1794 the Gallerie of Fashion was issued monthly, featuring two hand coloured fashion plates with either gold or silver metallic paint highlights. The most popular and successful fashion plates of the 18th century were, Cabinet des Modes 1785-1789, La Gallerie des Modes 1778 which produced 342 editions. The Lady’s magazine 1770, La Belle Assemblee 1806 which ran for 63 years and The Lady’s Monthly Museum 1798.
Fashion plates died off after the 1900’s, when hand colouring was replaced with colour printing and cromo-lithograph.
Ackermans Repository of arts 1809, also contained articles about furniture and art and was distributed monthly.




Samuel Beeton founded the two most important British fashion magazines of the 19th century.
Mrs Beetons The English Womans Domestic Magazine 1852 and The Queen 1861, which was the longest running English magazine. It featured mainly articles about social events, occupations and literary interests. The Queen ran until 1968 when it was bought out by Harpers Bazaar. The queen in the title was dropped in March 2006.
Vogue magazine was founded in America by Arthur Baldwin Turnure in 1892 as a weekly publication. When he died in 1909 it was taken over by Conde Nast and was changed to a fortnight issue. It spread to Britain in 1910, had little success in Spain, but was hugely successful in France.
In 1973 Vogue became a monthly publication and is now published in 18 countries featuring fashion, life and design. Vogue Turkey was launched in March 2010.
Elle magazine started in 1945 and means “she” in French. It is the worlds largest fashion magazine with 39 international editions in 60 countries with 1.1 million copes distributed each month.

Nothing like a Dame....
“I am traumatised by the problem of climate change” Dame Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Westwood is aware of the contradiction of being a commercially successful fashion designer, and an environmental activist.
In 2005 she set up a foundation called “Active Resistance” to encourage engagement between art and humanitarian and environmental issues.
“The AR manifesto reveals that in the pursuit of art, the art lover becomes resistant to propaganda. This ethic arms him with a sane outlook on life.”
Recent collections of hers were titled, Propaganda, Active Resistance and Chaos. The Autumn/Winter Paris fashion show February 2009 was called +50, a reference to the temperature increase we will experience when carbon dioxide exceeds acceptable levels in the atmosphere.
In December 2009, Dame Westwood announced she was designing T-shirts for Anvil knitwear to support the efforts of rainforest nations at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen to stop deforestation. Anvil knitwear is an American fashion company that sells 16 products made from recycled cotton, organic cotton, recycled PET and transitional cotton.

The t-shirts she designed had slogans reading: ACT FAST/SLOW DOWN and Say YES to the Rainforest.
Dame Westwood is Currently designing a capsule collection with Lee Jeans for Autumn/Winter 2010/2011 for her anglomania line.
Dame Vivienne Westwood continues to support the Prince of Wales Rainforest alliance. Attend Climate change summits and challenge company owners like Richard Branson to see how they are changing the way they do business to help combat climate change.

Interview with Lia Parravicini of Fallen Feathers

“I created my label with the desire to re-glamorize the world, breathing new life into vintage design.” Lia Parravicini 2010

Lia is one third of Perth’s premier Burlesque troupe, Sugar Blue. Not only is she a well established performer she also creates beautiful, vintage inspired clothing for her fashion label “Fallen Feathers” which she started in 2007 whilst completing her diploma in Fashion Design and Technology at Swan Tafe Bentley.

The name Fallen Feathers comes from the inspiration for her second year collection at Tafe. She drew inspiration from the Bordello houses of the Moulin Rouge. The fallen being the dark side of the houses, and the feathers coming from her love of the colour palette of the male peacock. Lia used ostrich and peacock feathers to embellish accessories within the range.

Lia’s love of fashion grew at the age of 15 when she started tinkering on her nannas sewing machine, designing and constructing clothes for herself. From there she experimented with patternmaking and learnt from trial and error.

After high school Lia worked for a vintage clothing and costume company here in Perth for five years where she became inspired by the beauty of vintage clothing and design. Especially passionate about the extravagant designs of the 1800’s and 1900’s, it seemed natural she would use these periods to influence her own designs.

Listing Betty Page, Marlene Dietrich, Dita Von Teese and Gwen Stefani as her style icons, Lia says her main inspiration comes from music. She said losing herself in a piece of music and letting the design ideas form is one of her best starting points for a collection.

Lia has a love for all things Vintage, and draws inspiration from circus, burlesque and the twisted concepts of Alice in Wonderland which she based her diploma collection around. She describes her design aesthetic as being strange, beautiful vintage inspirations, designed for a world of modern madness!

Lia is currently designing for several companies, a range of ready to wear pin-up clothing and is working on three different made to measure burlesque costumes for Sugar Blue. She uses lots of Chinchilla and ostrich feathers for her couture costume range and would like to use more silks but for the moment is using silk satins for the pinup ready to wear range.

Fallen Feathers is promoted through various websites including Lia’s own, the sugar blue burlesque website, photography websites, and online shopping stores. Lia has business cards in various shops in which shop assistants wear her label, and she has had her collections modelled in various parades, film clips and a range of garments are currently being used to promote a new venue in Seminyak Bali.

The Fallen feathers range can be found online at fallenfeathers.com.au and esty.com.au
In store at :Redstripe clothing Northbridge and at “Ruperts of Subiaco.
Prices range from 15.00-$100.00 for accessories, $45.00-$400.00 for ready to wear. Lia also does made to measure couture. Prices depend on the complexity of the design.

Strange, beautiful vintage inspirations, designed for a world of modern madness!

Images from David Wooley photography @ sugarblueburlesque.com and vintageglamourphotography.com

Vivienne Westwood has an environmental conscience

‘Don’t buy clothes! Stop all consumerism! Why not protect this gift of life while we have it? Maybe surprisingly, it was Vivienne Westwood saying this after presenting her last collection during London Fashion Week in February.

Dame Westwood has been using recycled elements in her creations since the 70's. Applying recycled bicycle chains, safety pins, razorblades to garments.

In a 2007 interview she spoke out against what she perceives as the "drug of consumerism".
She created a manifesto of Active Resistance to Propaganda, which deals with the pursuit of art in relation to the human predicament and climate change.

Against the claim that anti-consumerism and fashion contradict each other, she said in 2007 that "I don't feel comfortable defending my clothes. But if you've got the money to afford them, then buy something from me. Just don't buy too much"

Very wise words...