Class exercise

the carpet was in red.
the fixture in store were mostly in brown.
with most merchandise were in blue, and some were in red.
the red products were the hit selling products that contrast with other blue ones so can attract customers.
the wall behind were red to attract shoppers to go further in the shop.
the red carpet on the floor is a contrast with the light blue floor to draw people attention to the table on top. there should be placing some new arrival products.
red and blue can produce harmony.
the diffferent intensity of blues let the store looks 'smarter' and less dull.

Dior Fall 2008 RTW

It is a collection with supernormal cutting and design, but rich and plentiful color combination. According to John Galliano, the theme of this collection is "optimism and opulence", it probably because it was still not the time to face crash of economic downtown. Opulence is not an irony in the economic downturn now. It definitely not work if use this as theme in nowadays market.



The hue used in this collection can be briefly divided into four, which are red, yellow, violet and blue, Of course also with achromatic black & white.

The color used in this collection is sharp, as the intensity of color is high.
As most of the colors used are complementary, there is a obvious contrasting effect.

The mood of the colors used is cool (mostly violet and blue). Respond to the theme “opulence” .Blue green and violet are the dominant color in the collection, together with the silky fabric gives a classy feel.

There are also different intensity with the same hue, which enrich the variety of colors.

Complementary color theme: yellowish green and violet.

It is an intersting combination, which gives a fresh image.

the details (gloves, huge hat) adds the classy feel.

Dior Spring 2008 RTW

After all the heady image-making, a pragmatic payoff was obviously the plan for ready-to-wear.
Galliano brought back his pantsuits as pinstripe three-pieces and Marlene Dietrich white-tie tailcoats, reprised the pagoda-shouldered silhouettes of his Madame Butterfly collection, and, of course, laid on a rendering of his signature bias cutting in jazz-age chiffon and thirties charmeuse.

The Dominant colors of this collection were white, brown and beige, black.







Analogic color theme: red, orange, brown
there were also serveral garments in orange with different intensity


In the whole collection, tinted color was the dominant. There were 29 out of the 58 garments were in tinted colors. With only little sharp color.

Hence , the mood of this collection is simple and natural.














With the 60th birthday of Christian Dior, some garment silhouettes also followed the one designed by Dior. Streamed waist line is the renamed feature.

This set of garment suit is using the mono-chromatic scheme.

It is the common silhouettes adopted by most office ladies nowadays.







There is the principle of familarity, which is readily for people to accept.

Dior Fall 2007 RTW

The theme of collection is back to 40s.this time played out in full glorious purple, pistachio, electric blue, and fuchsia, rather than black and white. There were so many chromes in this collection.
The colors in this collection were yellow, purple, black, fuchsia and a little green and blue.

this is a collection "declined" from Galliano's triumphant Madame Butterfly haute couture collection for Spring. To "decline," in fashion-Franglais, means to take the wildly expensive handcrafted fantasies of couture and turn them into factory-produced lookie-likeys.This collection is chic and showiness. Some of the designs were grandma-liked, but also with attractive python jackets and ostrich swing coats.This applied the principle of novelty. There is a surprised combination of colors with can draw audiences attention.The collection is not dominant by black and white this time. The proportion of each colors is quite even.Most colors are using high intensity, which gives a sense of coolness.
The whole collection is sophisticated and expensive.





This is a analogic complementary color scheme. With two analogic colors, orange and yellow contrasting the complementary one, blue.
The outcome is still harmoney in some sense. it gives an impressive vision.
Galiano is good at playing colors, more than patterns. he can make out sense of harmony even if the colors may not match at all.






Here is using the double complementary color scheme.
Purple complementary to green,
Blue complementary to yellow.
It is a color scheme which is difficult to use.

This again showed that Galliano is a color expert.

History of Christian Dior

The most influential fashion designer of the late 1940s and 1950s, CHRISTIAN DIOR (1905 to 1957) dominated fashion after World war II with the hourglass silhouette of his voluptuous New Look. He also defined a new business model in the post-war fashion industry by establishing Dior as a global brand across a wide range of products.

Dior longed to become an architect but, at his father’s insistence, he enrolled at the prestigious Ecole des Sciences Politiques (nicknamed Sciences Po’) in Paris to take a degree in politics which, or so his parents hoped, would prepare him for a diplomatic career.

All Dior wanted was to work in the arts. In 1928, his father gave him enough money to open an art gallery

The first Christian Dior couture show was scheduled for 12 February 1947. Clothes were still scarce and women wore the sharp-shouldered suits with knee-length skirts that they had cobbled together as makeshift wartime versions of Elsa Schiaparelli’s slinky 1930s silhouette

Dior's first collection were luxurious clothes with soft shoulders, waspy waists and full flowing skirts intended for what he called “flower women”.

Editor of Harper’s Bazaar, the US magazine. “Your dresses have such a new look.”
The New Look was absolutely appropriate for the post-war era. Dior was correct in assuming that people wanted something new after years of war

The official paradigm of post-war womanhood was a capable, caring housewife who created a happy home for her husband and children. Dior’s “flower women” fitted the bill perfectly.

Class Exercise

This was my work before the lecture:

After the lecture, I learned to use Analogous color scheme, complentary color scheme and triad etc.

1st set: Complementary color

2nd: Triad

3rd: Analogous color

4th: mono-chromatic color

5th: Analogous color

6th: Analogous color

Seasonal Color Analiysis by Gerrie Pinckney and Carole Jackson

In the 1980s, Gerrie Pinckney and Carole Jackson both wrote books elaborating on the idea of seasonal approach to personal color analysis.

in the system, color grouping relate to nature's four seasons - spring and autumn have a warm undertone, summer and winter have a cool undertone. the seasons further difined by the saturation of the colors - spring and winter colors are ckear, bright, and vivid; autumn and summer are more subdued and less intense.

Dior 2007 Spring RTW

Different from the previous collections, dominant by black and white, with gorgeous and very sophisticated design, this collection Is a minimalism. The colors combination is comfortable and relaxing. With familiarity and very natural.

That explains the settled-down atmosphere on the spring runway.
The idea-fueled Dior mania is sectioned off for couture, while ready-to-wear strikes up a conversation directly with the customer.
Main colors: white

This ready-to-wear collection is also suitable for mass public, which indicates the bottom-up theory.








Mono-chromatic color scheme.
there are different value of white and yellow respectively.
This gives a sense of harmony.
The white ones give a clean and simple feeling.
The simple degisn also gives a sense of intimacy.

Overall, this is one of my favourite collection.