It has come to my attention, my dear students, that there is a popular trend, here at FIDM, involving the use of collage techniques in the service of creating images which are intended to illustrate the source of inspiration for your projects. At our school, it seems to be a very popular to simply cut or tear images out of fashion magazines, and then glue them to a page without any sort of visual organizing principle, and then to call it a composition. Because I’ve been seeing a lot of very cryptic, ambiguous, and enigmatic découpage, I wanted to write a little treatise which analyzes some of the important aspects of this medium, and to also outline some of the inherent pitfalls which exist, the moment you pick up an x-acto knife.

Now, I am well aware that as a designer there are many disparate and varied influences and impulses which feed the creative process, and also that photo montage, or découpage, is one of the more effective ways of gathering things together that might not traditionally be in the same place at the same time. And, I am by no means suggesting that you stop, or even narrow your sources of inspiration. If anything, you should be looking for ways to broaden them. Neither should you stop using collage techniques in your projects, but, when it comes to presenting your concepts in this vernacular, it is important to be certain that your collage is accurately representing the vision which you are attempting to communicate.

For those of you that have forgotten, or perhaps were unaware, collage techniques first became prevalent during the Dada movement in Germany, right after the first world war. As the simplest google search will show you, the collage artists of the Dada movement used these techniques to create absurd, strange, and sometimes, disturbing images, that made comments on the times in which they lived. They were able to do this without employing a specific narrative, but instead, produced a general sensation or emotion. Because of the random nature of finding and compiling the source material of these images, collage is particularly suited to this end.

However, when it comes to fashion design, and particularly in this class, the more direct and concise your work is, the better it will convey your idea. This is also true, in a very literal sense, when we speak of collage techniques. As you are working in this medium, I’d like you to think about the following ideas:

1. Learn from an expert. Take a look at the work of contemporary collage artist, Peter Lewis.

2. Attempt to isolate the most important element of your chosen image. You are working with scissors and blades, here. If you like the image of the girl, why not cut away the hedge she’s standing in front of?

3. Size Matters. Scale/proportion is one of the most important of our principles of design when employing collage techniques. In a collage, generally, the viewer will presume that the largest image in the composition is the most important.

4. Consider your Composition. Take advantage of your elements of design to create a hierarchy in your composition. If your concept is “Chinese-Elizabeth Taylor-Aligator-Women”, try to organize your images in such a way that the viewer experiences these descriptions in that order. God knows, it would be terrible if your viewer mistook your image for an “Elizabeth Taylor-Aligator-Chinese-Woman”

5. Fool Me Twice. Try to lift your collage elements out of their original contexts. Look for images that cannot be traced. As your viewer, I presume that you’ve intended everything which exists in your composition. You may not want to include another fashion designer’s work unless you are specifically intending your work to be an homage to that person.

6. Keep it neat. Stains, jagged edges, and tears speak volumes, without saying a word, so unless your concept involves distress, abuse, or dilapidation, keep your composition free of imperfections.

7. Blow me away. I know you guys are capable of doing this stuff in your sleep, so at least make it look like one of your eyes is open.