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Millinery and Headwear Design News at SAIC
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Fashion Design Department's
imminent move to new and larger space has made it possible to add new headwear courses to the 2008 catalog listings. In addition
to the current Sculptural Headwear and Advanced Headwear Concepts courses, this spring we'll be offering the new 3D Embellishment
course, and are planning a Fall 2008 course tentatively named Headwear Form in Fabric.
3D Embellishment - Drawing
from the rich resources and history of millinery embellishment, this studio course delves into feather work, flower making,
leather tooling, wire framing, ribbon manipulation, and other three-dimensional techniques traditionally used in couture headwear
design. Students go beyond examples from the past by researching and exploring alternative materials, and developing new methods
to break away from surface treatment and literally expand the embellishment of hats, accessories and objects, or to create
works in their entirety.
Other new millinery/headwear courses for 2008 include:
Basic Millinery: Straw
Hat Design
2008 Spring semester Continuing Studies course
This course introduces students to hat design using traditional
French couture millinery techniques. Students carve a "head-block" in polystyrene, which is used in hand-sculpting
a brimmed straw hat. The course covers hand-stitching methods used to finish the hats, as well as various embellishment options.
No previous hand-sewing skills are necessary.
Headwear Design: Straw Sculpture
2008 Ox-Bow Summer session
1-week,
1-credit course
In this course students create headwear ranging from conventional to avant-garde using millinery straw
in three different forms- flat yardage, braided, and traditional hoods or capelines. Beginning with traditional techniques,
students are encouraged to venture into non-traditional straw sculpting, inspired by the nature that surrounds them. Investigation
and discussion of the historical, haute couture, functional, spiritual, or social roles of headwear will follow a visual presentation.
No prior hand-sewing experience is necessary. The supply list is provided in advance, and more difficult to source materials
are provided by the instructor and included in the materials fee.
The new courses above will be added to these existing
millinery courses:
Sculptural Headwear
The human head as a moving and turning pedestal presents continually changing
views of sculptural headwear and millinery. Students reconsider the relationship of hat to head, and the potential of traditional
and alternative materials. Straw sculpting, block carving, felt blocking, and couture sewing are used in exploration of "the
hat" as a sculptural form.
Advanced Headwear Concepts
In this advanced course students explore traditional
hat making and millinery in non-traditional ways by designing wearable sculptural forms for fashion, performance, advertising,
or art. The focus is space and volume as well as detail in both technical and conceptual aspects, beginning with assignments
based on methodology from the Sculptural Headwear course and progressing into independently developed projects and materials.
Prerequisite: Sculptural Headwear, or instructor's approval.
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