Chala Jamison 

May 11,2021

Buf 2247

Extra Credit  Essay 

Dr. Munroe 

    The fashion label, Yves Saint Laurent, was co-founded by Pierre Berge. In 1965, the French-based company, Yves Saint Laurent, created a multi color jersey dress. The dress had a geometric design based on the Piet Mondrian artwork created in 1929. The original piece of art contained black, red, blue, and yellow oil paint on a canvas. ”The length of the artwork was 17.72 inches by 17.72 inches (Johnson , 2021)”.The canvas of the Mondrian artwork is what inspired the Saint Laurent Jersey dress in France 1965. This dress resembled the painting and used black, red, and neutral beige colors. 

The color of the dress is black, red, and beige with an ideal field for color blocks.  The use of black in the dress is very bold and stands out. In psychology and fashion black shows sophistication. The red is a powerful color; it is a small amount that shows a little of assertiveness. The base of the dress is beige, a natural color. The beige is a warm tone that balances the dress.The other color used is black, which is also neutral color. Shading isn’t very obvious in this dress because the designer used solid neutral colors and primary colors. The last color that is used in this dress is red which is a hue. The color value of this dress is lighter rather than darker. There is more beige used in the dress than a dark color.

The dress contains wool fabric. Wool is a natural fiber. Wool fiber is sheep or lamb fleece ,goat , camel, alpacas or llamas. The fiber structure of wool has the longitudinal view that shows wool fibers have scales on the fiber. It has a medulla that is along the center of the length of the fiber. When viewed under a microscope a can show a black line in the center of the fiber micrographs . The luster of the wool fiber is dull and the texture of the wool fiber is a natural crimp . Wool properties that are high include elastic recovery, elongation, resilience and flexibility. Wool has high quality wrinkle resistance and recovery due to the high elastic recovery and resilience of the wool fiber. Wool creates a rich texture and thick fabrics. It can be either rough and coarse or woven very lightly and smoothly. This dress looks smooth even though the fabric may be heavy. 

Wool fabric is excellent for travel garments, it recovers the shape and size. Wool can absorb moisture vapor generated by the body and that helps to maintain an even body temperature. The reason for this is that wool has the highest moisture absorption of any natural fiber. The garment would be typical for the cooler weather. Wool absorbs and holds water without feeling mushy in cold damp climates cause it’s a hygroscopic fiber. If a wool garment is completely wet the fabric will conduct heat away from the body. 

In design, lines are a mark left by a dot or a point moving over a surface. It is often an outline or contour, showing the edge of something. “They can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, long, short, straight, curved, thick, thin, solid, dashed, blurred, uneven, sharp edged and can create patterns ( Dewy, 2018 Pg 1).” The lines in the garment are solid black horizontal and vertical lines . The vertical line highlights the height and color. There are two horizontal lines. The line top horizontal line and the vertical midline appear to be the same width. The second horizontal line is at the hem and appears wider than the vertical line and the top horizontal line. The designer who created the dress used lines to create a pattern from sharp edges and to replicate an earlier art style. 

Composition is the organization to make visual displays as a whole. Composition of the visual design also affects the balance. Composition means that a design is successfully arranged and has balance. This dress seems to have good composition because each line seems measured and exact. The left and right portions of this dress are a mirror image. The sides hold equal weight. The space and colors are distributed evenly and are organized.

Balance is the distribution of the visual weight of objects, colors, texture, and space. If the design was a scale these elements should be balanced to make a design feel stable. “In symmetrical balance, the elements used on one side of the design are similar to those on the other side; in asymmetrical balance, the sides are different but still look balanced (Dewy, 2018 Pg 3).“ In radical balance, the elements are arranged around a central point and may be similar. There is symmetrical balance on the upper portion of the dress which is created by the vertical line. However, the bottom part of the dress has a thicker horizontal line. This makes the bottom of the dress have asymmetrical balance.

Rhythm is self contained movement from element to element. Rhythm leads the viewer’s eye from the dominant object to the subordinate object. The rhythm that is used in the design of the dress creates organization. The eye is drawn to the bold black lines because most of the dress is neutral color. The neutral color and black lines keeps the dress organized and is easy and balanced to look at. The single red line attracts the eye but is not dominant. The combination allows the dress to have rhythm. 

Form is the shape, appearance, or arrangement of a design. “Wool fiber recovery is great when it needs to go back to its original shape, this means that this dress will hold its shape( Dewy, 2018 Pg 1).”. Wool fibers have a round cross section. The dress has color blocks, which creates the Mondrian order artwork in the dress. The garment accommodates the body by making all the shaping in the grid seams invisible.

Proportion is the scale, weight and relationship size in the elements. All the parts of the dress have unity allowing the dress to appear proportionate. The amount of color block that is red and neutral goes well together. Although there is more neutral color than red. The neutral blocks and the dense black lines take up more weight in the dress than the red accent. The dress still appears proportionate because the designer used straight lines and sharp edges, so the measurements and color blocks seem exact.

Repetition is repeating an idea or element. The design that is repeatedly used in the dress to create organization is the use of lines. The lines are repeated at the top and bottom of the dress horizontally and bisect the middle vertically. The dress also only uses and repeats the same primary colors, similar to the artist. The repetition works with the pattern throughout the dress. The repetition in the design is similar to the artwork in 1929. 

Dominance describes a trait that covers over, or dominates, another form of that trait. The dominant element of the dress is the black color it is very bold and stands out. The black lines are what create the balance and composition of this dress. In fashion and psychology the use of  black shows sophistication. While the red is a powerful color it is a small amount so it doesn’t dominate the design. 

Juxtaposition is when two things are placed close together with a contrasting effect. The wool fabric dress has black lines that contrast with the beige neutral color. The red color is also very different from the beige neutral color on the dress. The use of these three colors allows the dress to have a contrasting effect. These colors are each very different and are not close in shade or tone.

This dress was designed in the 1960’s and reflects that time. “The Vietnam war occurred in the 1960’s and the country was recovering from turmoil (Zakarin, 2018).” The people at that time desired peace. The neutral beige color that is a peaceful color. The 1960’s was a very liberal era and women were dressing less modest. The dress is less modest because it shows arms and legs.

C, K. (1966, March 1). Intro – The Roaring 20s and Swinging 60s. F.I.T. https://exhibitions.fitnyc.edu/roaring-20s-and-swinging-60s/exhibition/#s3

                                              CITATION 

Zakarin, J. (2018, August 21). Influence. Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://www.history.com/topics/1960s

Johnson, P. (2021, January 03). Piet Mondrian. COMPOSITION II, with red and Blue. 1929 (ORIGINAL DATE PARTLY obliterated by Mondrian): Moma. Retrieved March 25, 2021, from  https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79816

Dewy, J. (2018, March  21). Elements of design: Design defined. Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://www.invisionapp.com/design-defined/elements-of-design/

C, K. (1966, March 1). Intro – The Roaring 20s and Swinging 60s. F.I.T. https://exhibitions.fitnyc.edu/roaring-20s-and-swinging-60s/exhibition/#s3