Vinyl as Fashion Fabric designing course
Vinyl is a plasticized variation of Polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Although
PVC is hard, with the addition of plasticizers it can be made pliable
enough, for example, to coat fabrics in any thickness.
scientist working for BF Goodrich, accidentally discovered this compound
while trying to form a synthetic rubber. At first he thought that the
rubbery gel he created would work as a bonding agent to adhere rubber to
metal. However, through further experimentation he found he had
invented a highly versatile plasticized vinyl that, in the early 2000s,
has hundreds of uses.
conformity, particularly in clothing. By the 1960s the public was
ready to have fun with fashion, and clothes reflected the radical social
change of that decade.
In the mid 1960s couture designers André Courréges, Pierre Cardin,
and Paco Rabanne, noted for their modern and futuristic looks, seized
upon the high-tech look of these fabrics. Vinyl-coated fabrics not only
gave a new surface appeal to their designs, but lent a modern structural
look to the designers' new vision of architectural shapes rather than
fluid draped lines. Modern clean-lined geometric shapes characterized
their designs. Garments were cut to suggest simple geometric forms, boxy
with hard edges, angular straight lines, or circular in shape.
André Courréges, who claimed to have invented the miniskirt, made vinyl fashionable with his miniskirts, helmets, A-line dresses, and suits. Inspired by astronaut boots, he used vinyl in his "Moon Girl Collection" to create the shiny white boots that accessorized his designs. The "Courréges boot" was mid-calf length with open slots at the top and a tassel or bow in front. Soon the look was being copied everywhere. Popularized by teenagers wearing the boots on discotheque television shows, they were soon called "go-go boots" after the gogo dancers who wore them.
After its first trendy appearance, vinyl's popularity in rainwear was
only occasional because the vinyl coating rendered the fabric
unbreathable. Wearing the coat, or other article of vinyl clothing, can
become very uncomfortable, keeping heat and moisture trapped next to the
skin. Also, although the fabric is waterproof, the garment isn't. In a
heavy downpour water can get in through the seams. In the early
twenty-first century, hi-tech fabrics and new construction methods have
taken over the waterproof category in clothing, but the use of vinyl in
other areas continues to grow.
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