The Anatomy of Couture

The course provides practical and theoretical knowledge of how to restore old clothing – selection of fabrics, stitches and seams, treatment of the material, how different materials age, how to care for and restore different fabrics. In the course of the workshop, students will learn about the internal structure of haute couture clothing, allowing them to later create period-specific silhouettes or re-interpretations of them – pattern solutions for textiles, materials. The course will provide knowledge and skills that can be used to get closer to the secrets of high fashion. All of the participants in the course will be able to restore a part of dresses brought in by the lecturer.

The course teaches handicraft skills that have become a rarity, something highly sought-after among professionals. ˇFewer and fewer people practise these skills in a world dominated by modern fashions. Today clothing made 40, 50, even 100 years ago are held in high regard, as they involved the use of original patterns, hand stitching, high-quality tailoring. To this point, the creation of such clothing have remained shrouded in arcane mystery – they seem easy to imitate at first glance but it is impossible to achieve the right effect without knowing what is going on “under the dress.”

Course leader

Mirjam Maramaa, History of fashion and costume design, University of Arts London

Target group

The course is mainly meant for fashion design, theatre design, restoration and design students.

Course aim

Aim of the course:
- bring a disappearing specialized manual skill to Estonia and teach it to Estonian and international students
- restore articles of clothing in the collection of some Estonian museum and thereby contribute to the preservation of an exhibit item with historical value.

Credits info

3 EC
ECTS

Fee info

EUR 0: FREE