TECHNIQUE
36 Fashion Translations
Fashion infl uences come from many different
sources, including sports, clubs, social and eco
nomic class, and different cultures. It's up to the
designer to translate and adopt these influences
to fit into the mainstream.
The rugby shirt, for example, allows teams to
identify themselves with team-specific colors
incorporated into the five or six horizontal stripes
called hoops. The "rep" tie is used by schools,
clubs, and military regiments to display their af
filiations. The term rep refers to the ribbing of the
fabric's weave, not the color and configuration of
stripes (a common misconception). How might
the idea of wearing your "colors" figure in the
design process?
Interesting distinctions develop among differ
ent social and economic classes. In the United
Kingdom, costermongers, who sold fruit and veg
etables from market stalls, would set themselves
apart from other vendors by sewing a row of
pearl buttons along the seams of their garments.
The result was called a Flash Boy outfit. A large
cargo of pearl buttons from Japan in the 1860s is
said to have contributed to the development of
this trend among the tradesmen.
Henry Croft was a part of that community, and
he is cr edited with creating the unique Pearly
Kings and Queens look in 1875. Croft, a teen
age orphan who had a desire to help those in
need, understood that he needed to set himself
apart to be noticed, so he covered an entire suit
with pearl buttons. The first "pearly" was born.
The working class adopted the Pearly Kings and
Queens tradition to continue the "whip around,"
which is what they called making collections for
those in need.
Denim garments have been interpreted and
reinterpreted over the years. Introduced as work
clothes and then adopted as fashion by teenag
ers, denim went on to serve as a canvas for such
embellishments as metal studs, hand painting,
and rhinestones. Sometimes the fusion of two
different fashion languages can result in a fresh
new idea-denim and pearly buttons.
78 Fashion Design Essentials
Mary and Fred Tinsley,
Pearly Queen and King of
Southwark, London, 1949
