Shopping & Fashion Blog

It is lovely to see well dressed children particularly small children who can look cute and fashionable at the same time. Babies have no say in what we dress them up in so we can be as flamboyant or simplistic as we like! Specialist shops are in abundance nowadays with prices ranging from sensible to the ridiculous. A small child has no concept of wearing designer clothes only the parent. Whether the clothes be cheap and cheerful or expensive and chic, babies and toddlers will still make a mess while eating, crawling and generally doing things small children do! No matter how much or how little you spend, clothes still need to be practical. For anyone who has had the pleasure of dressing a wriggling baby or toddler, the buttons and zips definitely need to be in the right places. Time is limited when dressing or undressing your child so fiddly buttons and badly positioned zips and ties are a definite no no! Easy access via poppers especially in baby’s trousers is an excellent invention. Just think how much time it takes to put kicking legs into a pair of trousers!

Babies grow at an incredible rate so one doesn’t have to worry much about clothes being worn out, they tend to be outgrown and still in beautiful condition. This is great if you are possibly going to have more children or have someone with a smaller baby to pass clothes on to. Definitely a money saver if you are on the receiving end of another parents generosity. Toddlers are wonderful little people who you can still dress to look cute – until they suddenly start to become independent and pick their own clothes. When they are at this stage you can forget looking stylish and fashionable, toddlers tend not to have any colour co-ordination or dress sense – be warned! Early school years can be really simple, as most of the time the child will spend wearing a school uniform. Clothing your child is easier though it can be expensive depending on where you buy the uniform. Most of us buy at least a size bigger blazer or trousers so that the child ‘can grow into them’, this can cause embarrassment to our children. Be diplomatic and not too enthusiastic about your child’s growing abilities.

The wonderful teenage years! – A clothing nightmare. Just when you thought that purchasing a school uniform was simple you find out to the contrary. Your teenager suddenly must have designer named shoes, trainers, trousers – whatever they wear has to have the latest logo emblazoned on the front or back. Buying labels and sewing them on won’t work, teenagers may be difficult but they are not easily fooled. At the end of the day, buy what you can afford, make sure the clothes are reasonable hard wearing and put together properly. Dressing smaller children should be practical, it seems silly putting a pretty dress on a crawling baby as they will probably come to a stand still if they keep putting their knees onto the dress! As to dressing teenagers, well that is another matter, birthdays and Christmas come in handy for purchasing expensive clothes or trainers as presents, this can often be a good compromise. Trends chop and change like the wind for teenagers so while your child is small enjoy dressing them up in colourful tasteful clothes that you have chosen, they at least won’t worry about losing their street cred!

ashion has certainly come a long way from the top hats and petticoats era of the past. Clothes today have become a great combination of aesthetics and function. One might think that because of the progress that we have maid in the area of clothing, we would not look back at our past. Reality, as always, has a way of denying what we all think. Today, we all see a resurgence of popular fashion styles from the past. It seems that old school fashion is coming back. First of all, what is old school fashion? Well, it constitutes of fashion coming from 1970s-1980s. Old school fashion is being brought back by fashion conscious young adults and teenagers today. Old school fashion is not only determined by the clothes. Old school fashion is evident in accessories, hairstyles and even in the attitude of the youth today. The question, however, is why? Why is old school fashion coming back?

There are a variety of reasons why people are bringing back old school fashion. First of all, this fascination with the past has started with television. Do you realize that the people who are bringing back old school fashion are the ones who grew up watching reruns of such shows as Happy Days? We are also the same generation who enjoy watching TV shows based on the past such as That 70’s Show.
Come to think of it, we have been exposed so much to old school fashion in other media. Think of the movies: we are the ones who enjoyed watching movies of old shows like Starsky and Hutch, Charlie’s Angels and other movies which have been resurrected from the old death of camp TV to the new life of the cinema. Well, the media certainly brought about the old school fashion revival. It was the spark that created the fire. The question, however, is what fuels the flames? The truth is, people like old school fashion. It looks good and helps them reconnect with a past which was not as complicated as the world today. The reason why old school fashion is constantly gaining popularity is the fact that once it was reintroduced into society, people found that they actually liked it.
Old school fashion is also very popular because of the fact that there’s just something about it that is so sexy. Old school fashion was designed to show of the beauty of the human body. Fitted shirts and pants, cool patterns and designs, these are the trademarks of a past which young people have not experienced.
Another reason why people think that old school fashion is so cool is the fact that, combined with today’s technology of comfortable fabrics, old school designs can be pretty showy and yet casual at the same time.
So why is old school fashion coming back? Well, some people would see it as a metaphor for us trying to reclaim a past that never really belonged to us. It can also be a metaphor for trying to extract the best things out of the past. You see, when old school fashion was brought into this century, we never really brought all of the bad memories with it. Old school fashion could either be a great example of recapturing the beautiful past or it could be a bad metaphor for selective amnesia. You decide.

Good creative skills are essential for the specialised fields of fashion design and dressmaking. Consequently, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of the industry and be able to apply acquired skills in a theoretical and practical manner. Lifestyle Learning Direct, one of the Gold Coast’s premier online learning and correspondence course providers, suggests that in order to be a good fashion designer or dressmaker you need to be able to:

1. Understand fashion trends, clothing ranges and colour groups.

2. Learn Know how patterns work - flat patterns, commercial patterns, tracing patterns and pattern blocks - read patterns, choose pattern sizes and have basic pattern alteration knowledge.

4. Have knowledge on the range and quality of the many fibres and fabrics available today - natural and man-made fibres, fashion fabrics, modern developments and special fabrics - which will have a large bearing on your creations.

5. Be familiar with the tools and equipment necessary for good dressmaking: scissors, tape measure, pins, machine needles, hand needles, stitch ripper, tailor’s chalk, haberdashery, sewing machine, overlocker, iron, ironing board, full-length mirror, flat cutting surface and storage.

6. Be conversant with inserting zippers and sleeves, buttonholes, waistbands, types of stitching, seam types, stretch sewing, and so on.

7. Present a design collection using fashion drawing and design skills, as well as the competent use of colour and themes.

8. Understand which designs will suit the client’s life and activities, as well as know the basic body shapes, hair styles, make-up trends and how to plan a wardrobe.

9. Know how to set up a system, research customers, basic business structure and types of operation.

How can you become a better Fashion Designer and Dressmaker?

To gain professional fashion design and dressmaking proficiency, it is best to undertake a specialised course that teaches you the essential skills. Lifestyle Learning Direct is a leader in the provision of writing distance education courses that aim to give students a broad understanding of the industry competency regarding both the theoretical and practical application of this knowledge.

Apart from understanding the application of various dressmaking and design skills, by learning elementary drawing techniques to professionally define your creative visions, you can uncover clever ways of presenting your designs and using various media to lift your work.

Recognise and anticipate fashion trends, develop a design theme, and gain an understanding of the process and workings of the fashion haute couture industry. Also, learn how to identify, select and find the fibres that make your clothing stand out from the rest by perfectly balancing style and function.

If you dream of being your own boss, as well as the theory of fashion design and dressmaking you also need to know the practical aspects of how to set up in business.