ASYMMETRY in FASHION DESIGN MASTERCLASS
Here’s the replay video of my workshop about Asymmetry in Fashion Design (and in design in general) It’s a specific masterclass lesson I’m giving from my book
Fashion Design is a craft, an art, and a Language.
And as languages go, it’s a visual and verbal language. It’;s also a social, societal, psychological, spiritual, cultural language, an ancestral language, a language of hand craft, artisan technique, materials, memories and traditions.
Fashion is a technical and technological language, a language of decoration, identity, functionality.
Adornment speaks.
Materials speak.
Artisans speak.
People, Speak. and Dance.
CONTRAST is KEY:
Sometimes everything about a garment is symmetrical, but you’ll notice how the asymmetrical examples up and down this page often have more impact when they play off in contrast to other symmetrical elements within a garment, look, or layout.
In my book the Language of Fashion Design: 26 Principles Every Fashion Designer Should Know, Asymmetry is just one principle that I break down for you, verbally and visually, with the goal to inspire you to create and use it in your own way!
Not only in garments themselves,…
but in marketing, graphic screen prints, poses, accessories and fashion illustrations, asymmetry is ABSOLUTELY one of the most dynamic principles you can use to create movement, energy and interest in garments which otherwise would be stable and static.
(There’s another principle in the book called Symmetry though, and although it’s very common in fashion design, understanding and applying it conciously can have a striking impact as well.)
The beauty of this book and this masterclass is that it isolates the principles so that you can digest them one by one. I
In a world of constant overstimulation, it’s meditative to take one lens to peer through and reflect upon until it becomes a part of you in a new way.
And for those of us who love fashion, it’s just….. delicious to delve into that.
I recommend you listen to the masterclass
with your fashion sketchbook/ croquis book in your hand and see what kind of spontaneous fashion design inspirations spring to mind as you integrate your own experiences of asymmetry.
Pull up a croquis template perhaps and sketch ideas as they arise.
How does it work for YOU? What are its benefits? What are the unique ways that YOU will use asymmetry?
Asymmetry is such a powerful design element to use, particularly in fashion! Let’s explore it together. Through the curated images from my book- we’ll go deeper into the implicatons of one of my very favorite principles of fashion design.
Here are some examples of asymmetry in fashion design and illustration::
Asymmetrical page layout and styling of a symmetrical color, created by color blocking inside and outside the garment.
Another design principle visible in the fashion illustration above is Negative Shape. Both her leg and her shoulder are visible through cut-out areas in the dress itself. And, yes, there’s a masterclass on that too! (and a model drawing mini-course online too )
Notice how the fall of thse cascades to one side also create asymmetry.
Assymetry in Action
AND NOW FOR YOU:
- What have you designed , drawing, or dreamed up during the video?
- How can asymmetry work for you?
- Do you love it? Hate it?
- Do you own and wear asymmetrical pieces?
- Can you take an symmetrical design and make it asymmetrical through embellisments or slight tweaks to the design?
- What about if you create a symmetrical garment that bvcomes asymmetrical through wearing (for example fallling off the shoulder)?
