#art principles

Buttons Should Button: Of The Trouble With False Fastenings in 1963

The Dress Doctors did not have a problem with certain kinds of decoration. Bows that did not actually tie, for example. Some bows in clothing, especially the large showy kind, are often constructed and sewn into shape by the dressmaker and the woman wearing them simply puts on the garment and looks like she tied her bows. I suspect the bow a the neckline of this little wool suit was one such decorative item. It appears on a secretary working in Paris in an episode of The Saint from 1963 called “The Work of Art.” The middle loop of this bow was sewn as a separate strip and then tacked around the longer strip that make up the larger loops of the bow. All well and good.

But extra buttons that served no purpose seem to have driven the Dress Doctors to exasperation. They were recovering from the Victorian frou-frou which was a riot of excess decoration at times, so one can understand their objections. And looking at this suit you can see what happens once you stoop to false fastenings.

So advised Helen Hall in 1943 when talking about remodeling a dress by adding a new fabric in order to save a slightly worn garment or one that had become to small. She wrote during World War II when fabric and garments had to be conserved because of shortages. This was all part of the “make do and mend” efforts. She offered several sketches of how this might be done well.

Before she turned to nature for color advice, Hall advised asking a someone at a fabric store for help. Back then, many people in retail were training in the art principles--in fact, big textbooks were published just for retail workers--so there was bound to be someone would could make a good harmony of color for you. Hall’s book was Simplified Home Sewing which gave more of the nuts and bolts, or needles and yards of the process.

Contrast

Lighting

Hi everyone! This is a blog that I started as an attempt to better understand “hive mind” and why the top ranking entries in Love Nikki competitions are just that high ranking. If you’ve played Love Nikki before, or are currently playing it, then you’ll know about the competitions that the game holds. 

If you’re anything like me, then you’ve had moments where you’re either completely lost about what to do, or completely confused as to why certain outfits rank higher than you. I’ll be attempting to explain why that is the case using what I remember from my art class (i.e. techniques, color coordination, principles, etc.) as well as my own logical reasonings and limited knowledge of psychology. At the same time, I’ll be giving my honest opinion on what I think of the different entries that I discuss!

I’ll be using the top entries from my friends lists, entries from the top of the leader board, and entries from around the middle to the bottom of my friends list for my examples.