Written by Hana Hyman
Photo by Hana Hyman
Schiffer Fashion Press contacted District, interested in having two of their recent publications reviewed. The first is “Emerging Fashion Designers 3,” a collection of brief profiles of new fashion designers and images of their notable work. Many of these designers happen to be SCAD students. The second is “The SFP LookBook” — click here to read that review.
“Emerging Fashion Designers 3” has definite value, but needs some changes. Here is my advice to any publisher considering cataloging works of fashion:
1. Give credit where credit is due.
The main purpose of this book is to highlight the work of recent fashion graduates, sure. But in doing so, you’re showcasing the talents of photographers, stylists, makeup artists, hair stylists, etc., all of whom deserve to have their work acknowledged simply by including their names in the bylines. I don’t think a caption of “Photo courtesy of Savannah College of Art and Design” is enough. Who actually took the photo? This oversight occurs throughout the book.
2. Mind your pixels and dimensions.
If you’re going to make an image full-page, be sure it has a PPI high enough to support that size and yield a clear, crisp photo in print. Page 76 is an example of where “Emerging Fashion Designers 3” failed to do this.
3. Make no exceptions for image quality.
Color grading is a vital step in garnering images for print. It’s pointless to include an image so dark it loses the detail of color and texture, especially when showcasing work where portraying color with accuracy is essential. Pages 20, 21 and 25 are examples of this shortcoming.
Poor quality images should not be included in the book at all, let alone given a full page, as on page 11.
4. Consider chronology.
If you want to organize a book of reference alphabetically, don’t confuse the reader by not including the designer’s work as it is named in the book.
5. Be consistent.
Process work such as the sketches on page 68 makes for an interesting addition to designer profiles. But they should not be given a full page, like on pages 50-51, especially if process work isn’t featured for every designer in the book.
6. Use only tactical typography.
Don’t put typography rather than quotes over or near an image of a designer’s work. The work should be able to stand on its own. Besides, typography is an art form to be taken seriously. Words covering the work can make both elements look tacky.
Also, remember that subtlety goes a long way — you can skimp on variations in size, color and style. See pages 73, 77 and 91 for a few examples.
7. What’s in a work?
When listing materials, don’t batch them. List each material per garment, per outfit and per designer, and again, be consistent. This problem occurs throughout the book.
8. Page number diets are so out.
Please don’t skip inclusion of page numbers. This book, by and large, is reference material and as such should be easier to navigate.
9. Honor the creatives.
Don’t degrade the work of some by including others that do not come close to matching the quality of their peers’. I’m not going to call out pages on this one, but as a rule of thumb: quality over quantity.
10. Be careful with categorization.
The index contains a mistake on page 37, where it puts a designer from Cincinnati in the SCAD section.
It’s marvelous that a book like this exists to bring attention to fresh fashion graduates entering the industry. “Emerging Fashion Designers 3” gives anyone access to inspiration, for creating work or even for hiring talent. It was a pleasure to come across so many fellow SCAD students in the volume as well. However, this book is not without its issues, pun intended. Organizing and displaying art in general is a very tricky thing, but I think Schiffer Fashion Press owes it to the designers they take in to do a bit of a better job at it.