How to Draft an Evening Gown

Use your imagination and understanding of the importance of the original gown sketch to design stunning formal wear.

If you're still mourning the death in 2010 of evening-wear designer Alexander McQueen, you've an obvious passion for fanciful design. Traffic-stopping gowns like McQueen's creations rely in good measure on great drawings---or drafts---as it's on the drafting table that your ability to conceptualize a vision that exists only in your head takes shape. Top evening designers are visionaries. Emulate them by energizing your evening-wear designs with flair. The end result will be unique and stunning.

Instructions

1. Learn to sketch haute couture fashion. Fill class, workshop and seminar schedules with courses in black and white rendering, markers, line drawing, design, draping, construction, color theory and fabric selection to begin each evening-gown project with a creative road map.

2. Envision the woman destined to wear your gown. Keep her in mind as you sketch and revise, using age and body type to guide your vision and help you stay on target. Pay attention to the nuances of evening gown engineering.

3. Explore the work of other evening gown designers for inspiration and ideas. Peruse pattern books to consider updated vintage designs. Look for unusual couture.

4. Visit fabric stores. Take your preliminary sketch along. Touch, fold and examine material. Choose bolts of fabric that meet your drawing's criteria as weight, draping and stitching must follow the specifications of your rendering for the gown to be properly constructed and finished.

5. Start drafting. Follow the perspective rule preferred by many design professionals: rather than using the standard seven-head lengths to determine the height of the woman onto which the gown will be drawn, make your drawing eight-heads tall to accentuate the sweeping drama of typical evening gown designs.

6. Take your original line drawing from simple to complex. Use a swatch of the fabric you've selected as your guide to render a final version of your evening gown using your favorite detailing medium---markers, watercolors, pastels, artist's pencils or another drawing tool. Present your finished design draft to the client.

References

• Gender Tree: Analysis of a Strapless Gown
• Tip Deck: How to Draw Clothing
• Recycle Runway: Glass Evening Gown

Resources

• So Vintage Patterns: Evening Gowns
• Gender Tree: Analysis of a Strapless Gown
• Recycle Runway: Glass Evening Gown