The inspiration/knock-off thread

[Manuela]

Has anyone seen all the comments and discussions about misappropriating cultural garments... namely the Kimono?.. seems some pattern designers have been shamed into renaming their patterns.

I have, and I think it’s gone way too far. The saddest example was one of my students doing a study into Cheung Sams (also called Qi Pao). She worked very hard onthe project (year 11, so really complex) and (with some guidance by yours truly) made an excellent sample of a Cheong Sam in red silk brocade that fitted her to a T. She didn’t dare to wear it for the year 11 dinner dance, because she was afraid to be accused of cultural (mis)appropriation. She was born in Hong Kong to British parents (her dad was also born here)....

I hope we can now go back to the fun bit of the thread - getting inspiration and (hopefully) seeing things made.

[Lizzy777]

@Lizzy777 here a picture of the actual kimono Anna Hathaway is wearing, in a different colour-way, retail price £790.- 

https://oliviavonhalle.com/uk/shop/by-product/robes-and-kimonos/capability-zebedee-full-length-robe.html

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That's so lovely. Is she actually wearing a kimono in the first picture?  I thought it was a jacket? I like the pattern I have bought though as I was looking for a jacket similar. Looking forward to making it but if we can find the exact pattern like anne hathaway is wearing, I would get that too otherwise I'll wait till I can draft my own in a while. Beautiful fabric. Do you think it is silk?

[Efemera]

Have I just had my knuckles rapped there @Manuela?... I was merely posting as a matter of interest..I have no real opinion one way or another.

[Lizzy777]

Has anyone seen all the comments and discussions about misappropriating cultural garments... namely the Kimono?.. seems some pattern designers have been shamed into renaming their patterns.

I didn't know anything about this so couldn't comment just yet because I need to find out what it is all
about. Just googled up some information on it now.

lizzy

[Kwaaked]

Please take all the dirndls and dutch caps and wooden shoes you like.  Misappropriate them.  Please.

Please.

PLEAAAAASE?!

(I had to wear them as a kid...sucks to be me.)

[Samantha]

The first is this black silk shirt.  The front view looks, and is, relatively plain, but the back detail is beautiful.  So the basic shirt premise is easy enough to copy but the back will take a little working out.  And is that a lace underlay beneath the back slit, or does the model have a tattoo? I can't decide.  Either way, I really want one of these.

Armani silk crepe shirt with guru collar

I don't know how it's done but I too love the back of this shirt. If only we lived closer we could meet up and try and work it out together!

[dolcevita]

for the Armani Ottoman jacket it wouldn't take much pattern work with Lekala 5543 to get a similar look - perhaps add a little more height to the shoulders and sleeve cap and extend a shoulder pad a little - it's a very squared shoulder look. 
A few similar fabrics around too - like this one perhaps
this one more white than black
and this navy with white could give it a softer look

Lordy, I'd forgotten what a bunch of enablers the TSP folk are!

I've just ordered some of the 'more white than black' ponte roma, even though my stash passed SABLE size some while ago.  Well, it was in the sale.  And I don't have anything like it in my stash.  Enough justification?  Someone say yes, please?!

The lekala jacket is nice, but the original has a very cut in shoulder that I rather like.  I've remembered where else I saw it and it's from an Ottobre cropped knit jacket from a few years back.  I made a version in a striped ponte roma and have worn it a great deal, and it has a centre front closure.  The body is very different, but I'm sure I can work with it as a start point. 

Thanks, ladies!

[dolcevita]

I knew I'd seen that shoulder line in a pattern, somewhere.  It turns out that it was Ottobre rather than Burda and the reason I remembered it is because I made the jacket a few years back, out of striped ponte roma.  It's a jacket that's had lots of wear and is starting to bobble a little bit now, so a replacement wouldn't be a bad thing. 

The pattern won't be too hard to adapt, I don't think.  It has a shoulder princess seam dart and waist darts, but these can be sliced and diced into a princess seam.  Also, the 'built-in' collar can be separated out and put into a contrast fabric.

Rather than clutter up this thread, which I think would be fun for a general inspiration pieces thread, I'll start a different one for the project itself.  In the meantime, here's the line drawing for the Ottobre pattern.  The issue is 5/2013, for reference.

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[Manuela]

Have I just had my knuckles rapped there @Manuela?... I was merely posting as a matter of interest..I have no real opinion one way or another.

No, not at all  It’s just sad how far it’s gone....

[Manuela]

@Lizzy777 the original is in silk. I plan to make my version knee length and in cotton. The only thing I take from the original is the combination of zebras and stripes. I might even enter it in the ‘playing with stripes’ contest.

@Kwaaked, a friend of mine has a thriving business of selling and renting out dirndls and lederhosen here in Hong Kong. Come Octoberfest time her trade is roaring, coming from Berlin, I never had to wear those horrid things. Interestingly, the Bavarians don’t make noises about misappropriation of beer festivals in China and elsewhere named Octoberfest, where locals wear traditional Bavarian or Austrian outfits.

Shanghai Tang got successful reinterpreting traditional Chinese outfits into modern day clothes. Nobody in Hong Kong considered it misappropriation, on the contrary, people thought it was a genius idea to make denim Cheong Sams that sold like hot cakes in Hong Kong and internationally.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - often attributed to the late Karl Lagerfeld, but I’m someone else said it before him

[Manuela]

Another thing I saw and want to replicate is an off-set stripe effect like this. My version would have it at the centre front and an asymmetrical hem ending on the black stripe. My stripes would be between 4-5cm white and either black and white or navy and white. I’ve been hunting forever for fabric.

[jintie]

Manuela, do you have an amazing social life that you are keeping quiet about, or do you merely change four times a day, for meals?

[Greybird]

@Manuela it's lovely. I'm sure yours will have stripes that aren't such a mess in the middle though.

[aprilla]

@Manuela it's lovely. I'm sure yours will have stripes that aren't such a mess in the middle though.

Yes, a very striking dress but the middle is all I could see too

[Efemera]

Me too...