Application of Zipper in Fashion Design

Application of Zipper in Fashion Design

As a garment accessory, zipper is one of the most common accessories in modern clothing. With the improvement of people's living standards, people's consumption concepts are also changing. People's choice of clothing has changed from paying attention to practicality to pursuing fashion, popularity and novelty. The addition of more design elements makes today's clothing more colorful.

1. Types and characteristics of garment zippers

Zippers first appeared in the middle of19th century. With the development of more than a century, the fashion with zipper as accessories began to prevail, and zipper began to slowly change from clothing accessories to design elements. They not only have more perfect functions, but also are endowed with certain symbolic features, forming a unique cultural connotation and becoming one of the favorite design elements of designers. There are many kinds of zippers, but the basic structure is the same, all of which are composed of cloth tape, fasteners, sliders, locking pieces and other parts. There are closed tail, open tail and hidden form. According to the material of zipper, there are metal zipper, plastic zipper and nylon zipper. The oldest metal zipper can be divided into aluminum zipper, copper zipper and black zipper because of the different metal materials used for chain teeth. The outstanding characteristics of metal zipper are strong firmness and strong metal texture, which can show the sense of output and the beauty of wildness. Plastic zippers also have many product lines, such as translucent zippers. Nylon zippers are soft, smooth and brightly colored, including invisible zippers and waterproof zippers. When choosing zippers for clothing, we should choose them according to the different properties of zippers.

At a luncheon more than 80 years ago, a novelist named Franco promoted a zipper sample to the people present. He gestured with his hand: "Pull it and he will open it. Pull it again and he will close it!" " The characteristics of zipper are explained. How to choose a zipper according to the requirements of clothing design needs to consider the compatibility with the main materials and styles of clothing and the characteristics of zipper. Can be considered from the following aspects:

(1) Choose the zipper according to the strength.

(2) Design according to the material of zipper teeth. The material of zipper teeth determines the shape of zipper, especially the softness and feel, which will directly affect the compatibility and aesthetics of zipper and clothing. For example, plastic zipper is suitable for clothes with thick fabrics, nylon zipper is light and meets the requirements of thinning clothing fabrics, and metal zipper is rough and natural, especially suitable for denim clothes.

(3) Choose the zipper according to the clothing style. In the application of clothing design, zippers with different materials are combined with the style of clothing, and they are selected according to the different fabrics, structures and colors. Metal-textured closed-tail or closed-tail double-headed upper and lower zippers are mostly used for denim and high-grade leather clothes with heavy texture; Zippers with open tail and right insertion or open tail and left insertion are mostly used in the design of casual wear and sportswear; The closed double-headed double-headed zipper is mostly used in the design of children's wear and special tooling; Invisible zippers with shy appearance are generally used in the design of skirts and trousers, including some small dresses, which make the outline and lines of clothing appearance more concise and smooth.

(4) Choose the zipper according to the color and decoration of the clothing. Considering the color coordination of fabric and accessories in clothing design, it is necessary to choose a zipper with the same color as the fabric to make the main material and accessories have a seamless effect. Sometimes in order to form a strong contrast effect, different colors will be selected.

2. The application of zipper as a design element in clothing.

The contact between zipper and clothing first began in military uniform. With the development of the times, zippers are more and more widely used in clothing. 90% fashion designers in the world pay more attention to the fashion of zipper while paying attention to the functionality of zipper, thus serving the fashion design. Therefore, with the diversification of clothing design style, function and aesthetics, the matching zippers are also colorful and changeable.

2. 1 zipper. Beautiful lines

From the paintings of Mayan culture in ancient Egypt, Babylon, India, Greece and America to the works of modern masters Picasso, Matisse, Klee and Miro, lines are used as the basic language of modeling, thus creating infinite and amazing lines with rich expressive force. Through the combination of lines, it shows the beauty of density, truth, movement, rhythm, rigidity and harmony. Line is one of the indispensable modeling elements in clothing modeling, and zipper can often express the richest, most vivid and most vivid part of clothing visual language communication through line form. Zipper not only enriches its use function, but also constructs a unique aesthetic function. The production process of zipper form is the embodiment of the law of formal beauty "point-to-point movement into a line, line-to-line movement"

The change of lines has always been an important means of clothing style design. Because the structure of zipper itself has the visual characteristics of rough and bold lines, it has become the focus of fashion design to express the design of lines with zipper. Zippers can also be properly used in the lines of clothing. In order to emphasize the style of clothing and enrich the design language, zippers are applied to the position of the dividing line and edge line of clothing, such as darts, shoulder lines and yokes. , enhance the visual effect. It can also be used for clothing contour modeling line, cutting line, pocket decoration line and so on. For example, Phillip Lim, a Chinese designer, rolled a circle of zipper on the soft pleated lace, and the radian of zipper became the skeleton of lace, which was stiff and textured.

In addition to the conventional structural line design, you can also use the line sense of zipper to restructure the clothing to form an unconventional clothing effect. Hussain karajan, who is called a "fashion genius" by the clothing industry, has incorporated zippers into those wonderful structural designs.

2.2 decorative beauty of zipper

As a decoration, zipper appeared on the fashion stage in 1970s, and it can also play a certain decorative role in clothing. For example, exaggerated zipper teeth are used as decorative elements on the surface of clothing. Some accessories will also be applied to the zipper elements. Generally, the preferred material for accessories with zipper as the element will be fashionable metal zipper. Metal zipper not only has unique luster, but also has the characteristics of both rigidity and flexibility, which can meet the needs of different shapes. In 1970s, American punk rock put zippers anywhere in clothes in order to show its personality with an unusual dress, hairstyle and makeup, which should probably be regarded as the embryonic form of modern zippers. Today, the image of "punk rock" is still enduring in the fashion world. Many rebellious young people dream of owning a wild motorcycle jacket decorated with many metal zippers, and zipper has become one of the most symbolic languages to shape the image of punk rock.

Zippers with different colors and textures also create infinite possibilities for design. Using zippers for color design, such as using hard bronze metal zippers on denim fabrics, the combination of nostalgic metal feeling and denim fabrics is the most classic color tone, and the famous American Levi's jeans are a typical example. After time tempering, the most striking change of jeans is the use of zippers. The zipper replaces the traditional buttons, which not only brings unprecedented convenience, but also brings a brand-new look and feel to denim clothing.

2.3 Use zippers to add and subtract clothes.

Many times, in addition to the vertical division of zippers, we can also divide zippers into dimensions. For example, you can divide the girth on the sleeves and change the clothes into long sleeves, middle sleeves or short sleeves at will. There is also a direct use of a long zipper belt to become a fashionable handbag that can be carried with you. The whole bag is connected by an integral zipper, and the design is unique and fashionable. This design named "Magic Zipper Bag" skillfully uses the characteristics of tightness and flexibility of zipper to realize the shaping of volume, which can cleverly hide the volume.

Using the elasticity of zipper to realize the functional design of hidden volume. For example, in clothing design, the hoodie design is hidden in the stand-up collar structure, and the zipper at the back of the collar is opened to present a foldable hat, so that the volume of the clothing can be extended. Besides. Design a "movable" clothes pendulum with zipper, and the clothes can be long or short. Another example is the ever-changing zipper skirt designed by designer Sebastian Errazuriz. This skirt is inlaid with 120 zipper, and each part can be disassembled and changed at will. As he himself said: "This zipper skirt can be turned into an evening dress, a T-shirt or even a belt."

Conclusion:

Small objects contain great principles, and small details make great designs. Smart designers regard this common clothing material-zipper as a breakthrough of clothing design innovation, and use it to change the fashion of design style and style color. The most important ability in design is creativity. Although the zipper occupies a small area in the whole dress, it can make the finishing touch if used properly. The innovative use of zipper has become a new element of decoration, practicality and creativity.

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