The Dress Deconstructed : Sure, a dress is easy to wear--but a good one can be hard to find. Designers toy with cut and fabric to come up with a look that flatters all figures.
A woman might get more mileage from a suit or sportswear separates, but a dress is feminine and fast . Slip it on, add a few basic accessories--shoes, hose, handbag, earrings--and out the door you go.
Granted, the woman-dress relationship isn’t ideal. But it’s not the frequent trips to the dry cleaners or the almost zero mix-and-match possibilities that send women scurrying to the suit and separates racks. It’s the dearth of attractive styles for all the historic dress places--lunch, brunch, dinner, work, weddings.
The dress can be tricky to design and merchandise. It needs to impress instantly with what insiders call “hanger appeal,” and something as minor as a drooping belt can ruin the image and discourage the consumer.
The task can be so daunting that Los Angeles designer Rosemary Brantley, who chairs the Otis College of Art and Design fashion department, says: “Students tend to back away from dress design. To give a person a great look with only one piece stumps them. It’s much easier in separates.”
Caught in a Catch-22, manufacturers have responded to a drop in sales with a drop in production--and higher prices: There were 41 million fewer American-made dresses in stores in 1992 than in 1987, but their value increased by $377 million, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The difficulties have actually encouraged some sportswear giants, including Jones New York, to jump into the abyss. Two years ago, the 24-year-old firm added a dress division aimed at career women willing to spend $160 to $200 for a dress, $260 to $300 for a dress and jacket. Danish-born designer Heidi Maria Schwarck, 31, was wooed from Tahari to create such “classics with a twist” as the $190 coat dress in her spring collection.
Keeping the Jones consumer and cost limitations in mind, Schwarck starts the design process with the selection of colors and fabrics for an entire collection. Her spring coat dress, one of at least five styles in the same material, was produced in black and fawn. The lighter shade was chosen, Schwarck says, because “it’s a good transition color. It will look good even if you don’t have a tan.”
The textured rayon fabric--with a “silk hand” or “linen hand,” depending on who’s talking at Jones--is a company staple with a proven track record. So is Schwarck’s dress. Introduced last fall, it became a bestseller and is back, without sleeves, for summer.
If Schwarck is starting from scratch, she makes a quick sketch. In the case of the coat dress, she wanted something “easy, casual, not too serious or overdone. I thought of a trench coat. So I started with the back.”
The sketch goes to a pattern maker, who whips up the left half in muslin and pops it on a form.
The two women tinker with the muslin, fine-tuning the pattern before it is made into a sample garment. Schwarck chooses the trimmings, which were minimal for her coat dress: two clear plastic buttons, a heavy-duty hook and eye, and a mahogany-colored, imitation-leather belt with white stitching.
The company’s fit model takes only 15 to 20 minutes in the sample to tell Schwarck “things I can’t see”--as well as things she can. She has the model sit, cross and uncross her legs to make sure the dress doesn’t open or ride up too much, stretch her arms to check sleeve movement, and bend forward to see if her bra shows.
The hemline is a given. For the Jones customer, “It has to be at the knee. We can’t go any higher,” says Schwarck, who takes each new design on a trial run in the office after hours, leaving notes if she wants changes.
*
Construction details--the wrap front, separate bodice and skirt, set-in sleeves, lapels, trench-coat back--can be enlarged or reduced to cover customers ranging from the company’s “ideal” Size 8 to large size and petite. The pattern pieces are cut with a minimum of waste; a Size 8 coat dress is squeezed from 2.3 yards of 58-inch fabric.
Because this is “a functional dress,” the two flap pockets are usable--perhaps to stash a lipstick, Schwarck suggests. The garment, which is fully lined, has a number of extras including ample hem and seams and the back design.
Jones produced 1,350 coat dresses for spring. It took one year and at least 35 company employees to get them to the consumer, who would decide if the fit, fabric, seams and such were worth $190.
The price could indicate a $45 to $50 cost to the manufacturer, for materials and labor, and a $95 wholesale cost to the retailer. But an industry insider, who requested anonymity, estimates material and labor costs were $38.50 and the net wholesale price $75, which reflects an 8% discount to the retailer.
Despite his calculations, he says the dress is not overpriced. “Not for a label like Jones New York. They buy nice fabrics. They do it all from scratch. They have an overwhelming staff of craftsmen. If that were a moderately priced dress line, they would have knocked off somebody’s design, made 90,000 to 100,000 dresses, used cheaper fabrics and cheaper trims, and the dress might retail for $100.”
Jack Handford, a veteran Los Angeles designer, sees the numbers differently: “The retailer would be lucky if it makes a $10 profit on the dress, and the manufacturer nets 6% to 7%.” The Jones label, he adds, means the customer can expect “good workmanship, good fit and a well-priced garment that’s reliable but not terribly innovative.”
And that’s a compliment. “If you made the same dress in lame with sequin trim, the Jones New York customer would bypass it and the stores would have to eat them for breakfast,” Handford explains. “Stores are looking for certain manufacturers who fill certain customer needs.”
*
Whatever the label, women want a dress that will endure many wearings and cleanings. To check for quality, experts suggest scrutinizing the garment while it’s still on the hanger. Look for an even hemline and sleeves that hang straight. Make sure the collar lies flat and the lapels don’t pucker. Any puckers will get worse with dry cleaning. Check for neat, finished workmanship on seams, buttonholes and hem. Crush a bit of fabric in your hand to test for wrinkle resistance. And when you try on the dress, sit down to test for ample hip room.
Schwarck says that despite its one-piece construction, her dress can deliver a number of looks. A woman could change the neckline with a scarf or a lace camisole. She could make the garment dressier with high heels and matte gold jewelry, or give it an ethnic flavor with a different belt. And when she’s had the dress for ages, she could do what one of Schwarck’s assistants did: Whack it off below the pockets and wear it as a long jacket over leggings.
For Tina Hagen--a Los Angeles sportswear designer who includes at least one dress in every collection--that could be asking a lot from a frock.
Her advice to women on the verge of a purchase is simple: “I think you have to look at it in terms of your own lifestyle. It should make you happy. You should look pretty in it. You want something you’ll enjoy and something that will last. But a dress is not a microwave oven.”
The Dress Deconstructed
The $190 wrap-front coat dress in a Size 8 by Jones New York takes 2.3 yards of 58-inch textured rayon, with a silk or linen “hand,” or feel. 1) The set-in sleeves and “quality” shoulder pads are designed to hold their own during multiple dry cleanings. 2) The notched collar and lapels should be flat; any puckers would only get worse. 3) Leather-look belt in mahogany with white stitching keeps the wrap closed. Out of sight are two clear plastic buttons and a heavy-duty hook and eye. 4) Becasue this is a “functional dress,” flap pockets are for real and roomy enough to hold a lipstick. 5) A full lining and sturdy seams and hems contribute to longevity--and price.
