all for the love of good design

Above is a video of Alexander Mcqueen’s sketches coming to life in the runway.

It’s time for a confession: I can’t draw.  As a student of fashion and design, I feel like it’s almost expected that I have the ability to at least sketch.  Why?  Because as part of the design process, sketching allows designers to visually record their ideas to help them execute it.  Whether it be for fashion, interiors, buildings, etc., the sketch becomes a blueprint of the final product.  Moreover, it is the most effective way to communicate one’s ideas to clients.

While I do believe that sketching is a crucial first step in designing, recent trends have proven that it is not necessarily a prerequisite, especially in fashion.  Our culture’s current obsession with fashion (read: Project Runway) has pushed many celebrities to create their own fashion line.  Victoria Beckham, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z and even socialite Nicky Hilton launched their own lines of clothing without the use of sketching.  When asked about it, Victoria Beckham responded with, “Do I draw? No, but then again nor do lots of designers.”

The success of their celebrity lines are debatable (I didn’t even know Justin Timberlake launched one), but this is probably due to factors other than sketching (like good taste).  Still, the fact that they designed clothes without sketching is inspirational to those who have the vision, drive, and creativity, yet lacks the drawing skills to record it.