Silhouette

The silhouette (outline or style of a garment) is the most
dominant visual element of the garment and it dictates a great
deal of other styling features/elements that make up a design.
Fashion circles often focus on a specific silhouette but because
of the diversity of modern line many kind of apparels are used
concurrently and a person usually has a great variety of silhou-
ettes in his or her wardrobe at the same time. All people do not
wear the same silhouettes. People wear different silhouette
according to the season, occasion and taste.
Silhouettes are modified or altered by adding fabric padding at
various parts of the body or corseting (narrowing) the waist or
bust to create specific illusions. The shape of the silhouette
usually compliments the shape of the body, but exaggeration is
often used to create a specific or special effect or balance and
emphasis a part of the body, that is currently in focus or
fashion.
The basic silhouettes are: -
(a). Slim Line Silhouette
(b). Soft Dressing Silhouette
(c). Shoulder Wedge Silhouette
(d). Hour Glass Silhouette
(e). Extreme Volume Silhouette
(a). Slim Line Silhouette: - Pants, tight fit skirts slacks, shorts,
etc. are a few examples of slim line silhouettes. Slim line
silhouettes hug the figure with very little space between the
garment and the body. It is a “Classic tailored” silhouette
(extremely well tailored or stitched garment). The tailored
silhouette for women is very exceptable for business apparel,
because, it is similar to men’s business suit. Pants or trousers
must fit well to enhance the figure (it is a unisex clothing). The
illusion of height is easily created with pants, jeans, slim fitted
blouses and other slim line silhouettes.
(b). Soft Dressing Silhouette: - Straight gowns, pleated skirts,
parallels, jackets, regular fit jeans, burmudas, tops, dungaries
etc. are a few examples of soft dressing silhouettes. Sot
dressing silhouette describes a garment styled with more ease
and fuller fit. Softer, thinner, and flowy fabrics (light weight
fabrics) are usually used for this type of silhouette.
(c). Shoulder Wedge Silhouette: - This uses a padding or
fullness, to enhance the visual width of the bodice at the
shoulder, this gives the figure a masculine width at the
shoulder and tend to make the hip area look narrower by
comparison and usually the bottom is slim in contrast to the
shoulders. This silhouette also makes a person seam taller.
Slight padding on sleeve extention can effectively balance any
figure and squaring the line of the shoulder makes a person
seam tall and gives a more youthful look e.g.: - few examples of
shoulder wedge are coats, jackets, Raglan sleeves, Batwing
Sleeves, Leg-o-Mutton sleeves, Dolman sleeves etc., cut with a


great deal of fabric under the arm will create a wedge silhouette.
This silhouette is a style variation that tends to be popular
when more masculine values are attributed to woman. Shoulder
pads were popular in “tailored suits” during world War I, when
women were encouraged to join the work force.
(d). Hour Glass Silhouette: - This is a feminine silhouette
because it contrasts full bust with wide hips. The narrow waist
is the accent that provides constant contrast between wides areas
of the figures. This has been a dominant theme throughout
fashion history because it emphasizes typical feminine figure
characteristics. In the past waist inches were pulled to make
female waists look extremely slim. Sometimes these cruel efforts
to make flexible waists smaller, wear so harsh that women
fainted from being corseted (this silhouette was during 18th to
19th century). Flared skirts teamed with tops that have fuller
sleeves and a very fitted waist create thin illusions. This
silhouette is very feminine, i.e. the width of the hips and bust
are increased by contrast with a smaller waist.
(e). Extreme Volume Silhouette: - Extreme volume silhouette
is sometimes a popular fashion. To achieve this look, several
layers clothes are worn at one time. Layering several bulky
garments over each other to create an extreme figure volume is
an example. This silhouette is particularly suitable for cold
weather dressing and is often found in outer wear. This fullness
of the garment successfully camouflages many figure problems
and large women have a variety of wardrobe choices. When
fashion decreases fullness is beautiful.
This silhouette is very dramatic and effective on a tall woman
and it will successfully camouflage angular body lines if worn by
tall slender women. Full volume silhouette is very typical of
worm winter clothing.