Photo: Throwback to Mark Neighbour and I at iD Dunedin Fashion Week. Image credit: Otago Daily Times.
The importance of construction and designing for the body.
Mark Neighbour is a patternmaker, designer and fashion lecturer. Mark and I discuss clothing and construction, and how the technical aspects of making, and wearing clothes on the body, informs his own design work and his teaching. Learn about his early influences, growing up in country Australia, which led him to his lifelong love affair with clothing and its construction. Listen to Mark’s design advice for fashion students and makers.
In this episode:
- Mark’s early fashion and design influences growing up in a country town, and being a fashion student in the 1980s.
- His first jobs in the fashion industry and some Brisbane fashion history.
- The designers who have been the biggest influence on Mark’s work: Paul Poiret, Madeleine Vionnet, Elsa Schiaparelli, Halston, Cristobal Balenciaga, Azzedine Alaia.
- The importance of construction details in designing clothing, and how you should look at your own wardrobe for inspiration.
- Knowing who you are designing for, and putting your personal style into your designs.
- Designing for the imperfect human body and for comfort, rather than fashion for slim people on social media. Why Cristobal Balenciaga liked couture clients with bellies.
- What gets Mark Neighbour out of bed in the morning 🙂
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