Textile design, also known as textile geometry, is the creative and technical process by which thread or yarn fibers are interlaced to form a piece of cloth or fabric, which is subsequently printed upon or otherwise adorned. Textile design is further broken down into three major disciplines: printed textile design, woven textile design, and mixed media textile design. Each uses different methods to produce a fabric for variable uses and markets. Textile design as an industry is involved in other disciplines such as fashion, interior design, and fine arts.
Point paper for Dove and Rose woven double cloth by William Morris, 1879.
Printed textile design: William Morris, Strawberry Thief, 1883.
Woven textile design: A woven Navajo saddle blanket from the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Mixed media textile design: An embroidered Kazakh, chain stitched rug.
Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into outfits that depict distinctive ways of dressing as signifiers of social status, self-expression, and group belonging. As a multifaceted term, fashion describes an industry, styles, aesthetics, and trends.
Minidress by John Bates, 1965
Woman's Bicycling Ensemble, 1898, LACMA
Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, was a leader of fashion. Her choices, such as this 1783 white muslin dress called a chemise a la Reine, were highly influential and widely worn.
Albrecht Dürer's drawing contrasts a well-turned out bourgeoise from Nuremberg (left) with her counterpart from Venice. The Venetian lady's high chopines make her look taller.