The Australian Wool Fashion Awards

Portfolio for Entry 0412

Entry Names: Kash and Clare O’Hara

Entry Number: 0412

Entry Section: Section Four- Woven. An outfit for any

occasion using woven wool rich fabric, i.e. race wear, day
wear, suits.

Judging Criteria

Technical skills - garment assembly and construction- 50%

Design Skills - creativity, visual impact - 45%
Portfolio - inspiration, presentation suggestions - 5%

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Contents
Chapter 1: Inspiration ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................4
Brief ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................4
Theme .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................5
Colours ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................6
Race wear inspiration .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................7
i) Race wear fashion do’s ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................7
ii) Race wear fashion dont’s ........................................................................................................................................................................................................7
Australian racing style icons in black and white .........................................................................................................................................................................................8
Fashions on the Field entrants .................................................................................................................................................................................................................10
Style icon- Coco Chanel ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................11
Designer inspiration- Catwalks .................................................................................................................................................................................................................12
Boater hats ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................15
Gloves .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................16
Chapter 2: Fabric Construction ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................17
Fabric content ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................17
Chapter 3: Garment Construction ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................18
Design sketches ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................18

Patterns ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................22

Cutting ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................23

Sewing ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................24

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Chapter 4: Final Design ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................27
Final Design ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................27

Chapter 5: Resources used for research......................................................................................................................................................................................................28

Websites...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................28

Magazines ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................29

Newspapers..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................29

Books ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................29

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 Chapter 1: Inspiration
Inspiration
My Design Brief: To create a woman’s race wear outfit made from woven wool fit to win
the Myer Fashions in the Field at the Sydney Autumn.
Whenever I sit down to start designing a particular garment or an outfit, I always look at
the design brief or I create my own so that it gives me something to work towards. In
this case, since it is a competition, the design brief was very broad “Section Four-
Woven. An outfit for any occasion using woven wool rich fabric, i.e. race wear, day
wear, suits.” This is great because it allows me to get really creative and set my own
brief within that.

Brief
My Design Brief: To create a race wear outfit, made from woven wool, fit to win the
Myer Fashions in the Field at the Sydney Autumn Carnival.
After reviewing the criteria for the Australian Wool Awards as well as the criteria for the
Fashions in the Field at the Golden Slipper Festival 2010, I wanted to create an outfit
that epitomises style, sophistication, originality and elegance. I wanted to design a
fashionable cutting edge dress with a jacket so it is appropriate for autumn racing as
well as a wool or felt hat (straw hats are not appropriate for autumn racing), gloves and
stockings that all tie in with the theme of the design.
Before looking for inspiration I need to be specific in a theme and colours so it gives me
a direction to where I am going.

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Theme
I have decided on a nautical inspired autumn/ winter look for my race wear design. I chose
an autumn/ winter carnival look because it’s most appropriate when designing an outfit
from wool.

I chose a nautical look because it has a classic and timeless appeal. Moving the style into a
sophisticated direction broadens the allure of the nautical trend, working for youth as well
as a more mature market which is what race wear is about.

The nautical trend is a trans-seasonal and extremely wearable look. It's one of those rare
trends that transcends ages and markets, looking great when dressed up into a classic race
wear look. It has been prevalent in a lot of recent runway shows for both Spring/ Summer
and Autumn/ Winter, and I want to take this trend and create my own designs.

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Colours
I decided on a black and white colour scheme.
One of the key Autumn/ winter 2010 colour palettes taken from Fashion forecasting website WGSN is black, grey and white. Black and white always looks
stylish, sophisticated, and classy and is often seen in nautical inspired looks. These colours are often worn by the winners of the Fashions on the Field too.
Outer: White with black trimmings
Inner: Black and white stripes and a black and white patterned fabric.

Archetypal monochromatic tones range from flawless black, and warm or cool greys to purest white.

PANTONE Black C

PANTONE Black 4C

PANTONE Black 6C

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Race wear Inspiration
To truly understand race wear looks, it is important to look at the history of
women’s fashion at the races and to look at the traditions that have stayed in
these looks over the years. One clearly evident tradition is a woman has always
worn a hat to the races. In recent times this has extended to fascinators and
headwear but in my design I wanted to go back to the early tradition of a hat.

Other traditions for dressing for an Autumn/ winter carnival have been women
have always covered their shoulders by either wearing a dress with a sleeve or a
jacket over the top of their dress or skirt and top. Women have always worn
gloves and stockings with closed toed shoes too.

To create a perfect race wear look I must also look at what’s appropriate and
what’s not and after reviewing the fashions on the field criteria, looking at the AJC
dress regulations, looking at past winners of fashions on the field, looking at racing
style icons, and using my own tuition, I have created my own list of do’s and
don’ts for designing a race wear look.
Race Wear Fashion do’s for designing…. And don’ts….

Design a dress or a skirt and top (covered No lycra or sequins!!

shoulders for Autumn/ winter). Pants, shorts (The Australian
or jeans are definite NO. Wool Awards have
set the criteria to
Design an outfit that will be flattering on a make the garment
woman’s body but still sophisticated. Opt for a at least 60% wool so
knee-length style, or an empire-line. You can this helps with
get away with a shorter dress if you’re covered deciding on
up top i.e. showing your boobs and legs is too materials)
much!
No micro-minis.
A Hat is a must. Wool or felt is a must for
autumn/ winter, not straw. Don’t use your
everyday bag or any
Gloves are a must. big handbags- opt
for a stylish clutch or7
Stockings and closed toes shoes are best for a little purse.
autumn/ winter looks at the races.
Australian Racing Style icons in Black and White
To gain further inspiration for my design, I looked at some of the famous Australian women racing style icons. The following photos are
pictures of these women in black and white outfits.

Kate
Waterhouse

Megan Gale

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Jennifer Gai and Kate Waterhouse
Jennifer
Hawkins
Hawkins

Megan Gale

Miranda
Kerr Emma Freedman
and Zoe Foster 9
Fashions on the Field Entrants
To gain further inspiration for my design, I looked at some of the fashions on the
field entrants and winners.

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Style Icon- Coco Chanel
When designing any garment from wool, it’s hard not to look at Coco Chanel. Coco Chanel is the perfect style icon for this design brief as she loved creating beautiful
and stylish garments from wool, and she loved black and white. She always created garments that were stylish, feminine, sophisticated and always unique. A lot of her
garments looked the same but it was in the detailing or the fabric choice that made each piece beautiful and unique.

Coco Chanel also loved the nautical inspired look and loved completing an outfit with hats and gloves.

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Designer Inspiration- Catwalks
When creating a new garment or a new outfit, I always look to the trends on the catwalks too which helps to design a fashion forward outfit.

There are a lot of current designers who have been using black and white in their colour scheming and using wool fabrics. There has also been a return to classic styles
and femininity with a modern edge.

Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel

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Givenchy Burberry

Valentino

Armani

Christian
Dior 13
Jean-Paul Gaultier Christian Lacriox

Karen
Walker

Zac
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Posen
Boater Hats
To complete a race look it is important to have the right hat.

The boater makes a welcome comeback as a hot accessory option for women because of new shapes and detailing. The Boater hat is a trans-seasonal hat
which ties in perfectly with a nautical inspired wool outfit, and the classic look and style the boater projects is perfect for the races.

I wanted to look at the summer straw boater hats for inspiration but the main source of inspiration will be the felt or wool boater which were both seen in
the Marc Jacobs and Chanel Autumn/ Winter 2009/2010 runway shows.

Chanel
Marc Jacobs

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Gloves
To complete an autumn/ winter race look it is important to wear gloves.

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 Chapter 2: Fabric Construction
Fabric Construction
Garment Fabric Content
Outer: The dress and jacket is made from 100% wool woven into a textured cross waffle weaved design. The wool was already woven and purchased from the
Fabric Shop, Surry Hills, NSW.
Fusing: A medium weight woven fusing was used. This was purchased from E & M Greenfields, Surry Hills, NSW.
Trimmings: A 7mm black nylon braid was used for the trimmings. This was used to create stripes and give the garment further detailing and more of a nautical
look. This was purchased from E & M Greenfields, Surry Hills, NSW.

Fabric Lining 17
 Chapter 3: Garment Construction
Garment Construction
Design Sketches
To create the perfect dress and jacket to achieve the design brief of a race wear outfit made from
wool, I took in all the inspiration and began to sketch some ideas. A number of sketches were
drawn and I then chose the design that I thought incorporated a nautical theme and was true to
the autumn/ winter season, as well as being a classic design that would look great when made of
wool. The final outfit (dress and jacket) as well as the hat and gloves are all my own original
designs.
I always like to sketch ideas down but my designs always evolve as start to make the garment.

Some of my
initial
sketches

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Some of my initial sketches

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Some of my
initial
sketches

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Sketch of
dress

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Patterns
Garment: Once the final designs for the garment were finalised, I created the patterns using Gerber. I made the pattern to a size 10 but I made some alterations
to the pattern as I went along.
Hat: I purchased a straw boater hat then traced around it to create a pattern for the hat.

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Cutting
Garment: The fabric was laid out on my table and I then pinned the
pattern to the fabric before cutting out each piece individually.

Cut garment pieces

Pinning the binding to sleeve piece

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Sewing
Jacket:
Main fabric and lining fabrics were cut
Medium weight woven fusing was applied using an iron to fuse the fabrics together. This gives the fabric some stiffness and gives the garment
a structured look in particular with the collar and cuff.
1.5cm seam allowance was used on all seams.
7mm nylon braid was pinned, stitched and sewn to the sleeve heads, cuffs and around collar. The braid was secured using topstitching.
The sleeve head was gathered and set into the armhole.
Main and lining fabrics were sewn right sides together, leaving a small panel on the jacket to turn through.
Inner sleeve lining was slipstitched around the cuff.
Hook and eye was applied to the centre front.

Sewing the jacket A sleeve of the jacket

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Dress:
Main fabric and lining fabrics were cut.
1.5cm seam allowance was used for all inner seams.
Darts were sewn.
Front and back panels were joined together at shoulder seam.
The skirt piece was sewn around the bottom of the back panel.
The shell of the garment was placed on the mannequin and left to hang for a period of 24hours to allow the fabric hemline to drop to an even level. After
assessing the skirt hemline the fabric had dropped, so the piece was cut around the base of the hem to level out the hemline.
7mm nylon braid was sewn around the hemline of the front panel in 3x layers.
Lining was placed inside the dress and pin-stitched around the outer shell.
Bias binding was sewn around the neckline and outer perimeter of the fabric.
Roulette loops and buttons were attached to Back Panel (which fastens to the front)
Button was attached to CB of Front panel.

Sewing the dress

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Gloves:

Gloves were purchased from MYER

7mm nylon braid was sewn around the knuckles of the gloves in 2 rows
Hat:

Straw hat was purchased from EBAY

Main wool fabric was cut to size to cover hat.
Striped lining was cut and sewn to the underside of the hat.
2x rows of 7mm nylon braid were applied around the crown of the hat.
Bias binding was sewn around the perimeter of the hat

Gloves The boater hat with the under lining

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Chapter 4: Final Design

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Chapter 5: Resources Used for research
Resources used for research
Websites
www.wgsn.com
www.net-a-porter.com
http://www.racingfashion.com.au

http://theslipper.com.au/festival_race_days_events/myer_fashions_on_the_field.html

www.tawfa.com.au

www.ragtrader.com.au

www.ajc.com.au

www.fashiontrendsetter.com

www.fashioninformation.com

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Magazines
Vogue
Harpers Bazaar
Grazia
Madison
Rag Trader
In Style

Newspapers
“Essential Style”, Sydney Morning Herald
“S” Sydney Morning Herald
“Sunday Life”, Sydney Morning Herald

Books
“Pattern Making for Fashion Design- Third Edition”, by Helen Joseph- Armstrong, Prentice-Hall Inc, 2000
“Chanel- Collections and Creations”, by Danielle Bott, Thames & Hudson, 2009

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