V&A
Fashion Design Sketchbook with Fabric Swatches
1950s · 1950s · French
Production
ready-to-wear
Material
paper with fabric swatches
Culture
French
Movement
New Look · New Look / Post-War
Influences
Christian Dior New Look silhouette
A fashion designer's working sketchbook page featuring multiple garment sketches in pencil alongside fabric swatches. The drawings show various women's garments including fitted bodices, full skirts, and tailored jackets characteristic of 1950s silhouettes. Three fabric samples are attached: a textured charcoal weave, a solid pink fabric, and a navy fabric with small white polka dots. The sketches demonstrate the designer's exploration of different proportions and details, with annotations in what appears to be French. The page shows the working process of mid-century fashion design, combining quick gestural drawings with actual material samples to develop cohesive garment concepts.
dressfit and flarev-neckknee length
Connected To
Influences·Christian Dior New Look silhouetteMovement·New LookMovement·
Echoes Across Time
2000s → 1950s · 60yr71%
SHARED
That coral fit-and-flare dress is pure New Look DNA, fifty years after Dior sketched those same proportions in his atelier — the nipped waist blooming into a circle skirt that demands a petticoat's architectural support. The designer's working sketches reveal the mathematical precision behind what looks effortless: those careful calculations of where fabric gathers, how much ease to build into the bodice, the exact flare needed to make a woman's waist disappear into myth.
Influences·Christian Dior New Look silhouetteMovement·New LookWorn with·petticoat
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