Inspiration

First and for most my informal name is Tori Wilson, even though I wish my design collection to be called Victoria Anne. As I grow older my life surrounds fashion more and more. Wanting to be a designer, most of my inspiration comes from Jeanne Lanvin, one of the first Haute Couture’s. Though some say that they are couture; (ex: Juicy Couture) truly they are not. To be a real Haute couture you must have follow these rules:

1. Design made to order for private clients, with one or more fittings.
2. Have a workshop in Paris that employs fifteen people at full-time.
3. Each season (i.e., twice a year), present a collection to the Paris press, comprising at least thirty-five runs with outfits for both daytime wear and evening wear.

This is what I want to do as a designer, bring back haute couture something that Lanvin helped start almost 100 years ago. My dream is to bring back Haute Couture, even when it is a dying art. I want to do this through designing and bringing back the classic style of 20,30,40, and 50’s yet adding my own edge. Just going online and looking at vintage gowns I see the great they have in them and even the greater potential.

Like this gown I found on one of my favorite vintage shopping websites, www.Hemlockvintage.com. The 1940’s dress is not designer or anything yet, it still embodies how much attention to detail with which the dress was made. I love how fitted it is to the body, rather the mannequin, and even the matching silk scarf that hangs from the strap. It seems attention to detail was much more important in vintage clothing. Perhaps this is because they did not have the resources to do everything by machines in huge factories, rather doing everything by hand and an old fashion sewing machine. Whatever they did back then I feel will out last anything I have today because of the attention to detail they paid just to make the dress look amazing.

Now I go back to my true inspiration of all vintage clothing Jeanne Lanvin. Being an Haute Couture her designs had to be fabulous. My personal favorite is this gown from the winter of 1935, which now resides in the Victoria and Albert museum in London. You can tell without any close ups at all that this gown was all about attention to detail. Why you ask? Well because of the way it falls on the person/ mannequin, it falls perfectly to flatter a body. Also it shows the skillful use of trim/ruffle which was a trademark of Jeanne. Jeanne Lanvin was an extraordinary designer and very influential in the 20’s and 30’s fashion world. One day I hope her influence shows through on my designs, with a bit of 2000’s edge of course.