Fashion and Textile Design
A WebQuest for the 9th grade (art)
Designed by
Tyler C Anewalt
Introduction
Fashion design is a multi billion-dollar industry. Textiles are fabrics like denim, linen and silk. Raw materials used to make textiles come from three main sources: animals (such as wool from sheep and silk from silk worms), plants (like cotton, flax and jute), and synthetic materials (like nylon, polyester and acrylic). Fibers of these materials are spun together to make longer workable fibers like thread and yarn, which are then woven or knotted together to make fabrics.
Some textiles are designed and made for specific purposes; some can be very expensive and even give status in some cultures. Weather it be a robe worn by royalty in the 18th century or Armani Exchange jeans, fashion and textiles are important in many cultures for different purposes and reasons. This WebQuest will focus on patterns and textiles and their place in contemporary and world cultures.
The Task
Pick a culture to research and answer the following questions in complete paragraphs and make completed sketches as if you were presenting them to a fashion design firm as a proposal for a new line of clothing.
· What is the culture you are researching and from what time period? Provide a brief history and background on the culture.
· What are the kinds of traditional and contemporary fashions of your culture?
· What are the kinds of traditional textiles, textile designs, and patterns of the culture?
· What are the unique characteristics of your cultures fashion and textile design?
· Make sketches of the traditional style of clothing worn by your chosen culture. Put together one completed out fit labeling each piece of clothing with a name, material, and process for making each.
· How is this style of your chose culture different from that of contemporary American culture?
· Design a hybrid style of contemporary American fashion and your cultures traditional fashion.
The Process
· Pick any world culture. The only restriction is that is needs be before or around the 1800’s.
· Research the culture making notes. Make sure to be aware of time period and geographical location being researched. Make a few notes on history and traditions of the culture.
· Research the traditional fashions of the culture. List and describe what was worn daily and for special occasions. What kind of fabrics are used, what kind of patterns are indigenous to the culture. Notice details, define fashion vocabulary, and make quick sketches, notes on colors, etcetera.
· Answer the questions in the Task section
· Make a design for the layout for presenting your cultures fashion, including full sketches of people wearing the traditional clothing, labels, and color and pattern samples.
· Sketch ideas first then arrange on 36 x 40 matt board or foam core; sketches can be cut and pasted to presentation board, not computer printouts of pictures!
· Repeat last two steps to design a hybrid fashion style of both contemporary culture and the cultures traditional fashion.
· Present both fashion designs to the class as if they were selling it as proposal for a clothing line.
Evaluation
Learners can be evaluated with a simple rubric with the following criteria
Research/Written answers
Creative effort
Neatness and craft
Presentation
Conclusion
Students will have learned about all the cultures the class presents and the traditional fashion of each culture. Students will also exorcise creative thinking skills to develop the hybrid fashion. The students will learn confidence and public speaking by pretending the project to the class as fashion designers. Communication and teamwork skills can be developed if learners work in teams.
