DESIGNING FASHION

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29778, 22 March 1962, Page 2

DESIGNING FASHION

N.Z. Woman At London Course Miss Patricia Wallace, a young Christchurch fashion designer, recently spent 12 weeks at the Paris Academy, a school of fashion in London. Run by a French woman, it is one of the few fashion designing schools in London which holds short courses. It is attended by married women interested in designing as a hobby and also by those intending to make it a career.

Working for her firm in Christchurch, Miss Wallace had learnt mostly mass-pro-duction methods and patterndrafting. In London she wanted to learn about finishing and concentrated on draping and handling different types of fabrics. She also took sewing and embroidery classes.

"The draping is done straight on to a model instead of with patterns, and you create the style as you go,” Miss Wallace said yesterday. A chiffon-like fabric called moule was used, and was also used in the fashion houses, she said. About 60 attended the school. Classes included pattern drafting, fashion drawing, sewing and embroidery—the latter being mostly traditional and of a type suitable for use on garments. In Miss Wallace’s class were African students, one from Thailand, two from India, and a few English girls. She was the onlv New Zealander.