Most clothing is based on geometric shapes, some are left alone while others are adjusted to fit better. In fact, many countries designed clothing out of rectangular shapes sewn together. Other times, the material is printed with geometric shapes such as the hexagonal pattern on the dress worn by Mrs Trump when she arrived in Florida.
As far as popular fashion, one automatically thinks of the 1920's when a revolution occurred, freeing women and allowing Art Deco to influence life.
Art Deco evolved from cubism by breaking down the visual shapes into the basic geometric shapes. From art, it trickled into fashion and jewelry. As far as dresses went, fashion designers eliminated darts and extra seams so the rectangular pieces were sewn together to form a cylinder.
This many of the dresses of the time were created with rectangular pieces to create a dress that hung loosely on the body so women had more freedom. In addition, they often used geometric patterns on outfits such as checkered pockets, square necklines, or even material with geometric shapes.
In Alaska, native clothing referred to as Kusp'iks are often based on rectangular shapes. I was taught to take a long piece of cloth that was the same width as my shoulders and twice the length from neck to just below the hips. The neck is cut in the middle with an elliptical shape. The arms are two smaller rectangular pieces of material that are sewn to the edges of the shoulders and then the seams are sewn shut. Then cuffs are added to the sleeves to make them fit and a hood is added to the neckline. The final step is to make a skirt out of shorter rectangular piece of material that is two times the circumference of the bottom. It is pleated and sewn to the bottom of the outfit. Add trim and you are done.
As far as countries, look at how clothing is constructed. The shape and way geometric pieces are put together depends on the width of the material. For instance, one type of Japanese kimono, the Yukata or unlined kimono, is made out of material that is about 14 inches wide and 12 to 13 yards long. It is designed to use the 14 inch wide pieces so they are sewn together to form the complete piece of clothing. I'm using numbers for a standard sized Yukata. Think of two sleeves that are 14 by 42 inches, the actual body panels are 14 inches by 2 times the body height plus one inch. The front strips are 7 by 55 inches, the collar is 7 by 76 inches and a collar reinforcement that is 7 by 35 inches.
If you look at photos of traditional clothing you will see that many are designed and made out of rectangular pieces of material as shown above. If you can get your hands on a book by Max Tilke, his drawings show every seam, so you can actually see how things fit together.
Other traditional clothing uses long pieces of cloth such as the Indian sari. The sari is a piece of material about 6 feet long by 36 inches worn by women. The piece of material wrapped around their body once or twice and then a bunch is pleated and stuck in the waist band and the last bit is thrown over the shoulder. In that vein, the Scottish kilt is also a long piece of cloth that is pleated, sewn, and it's ready to go.
Take this all a step farther and have students create their own fashion out of squares or rectangles like a project Runway. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear. Have a great day.
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