The Dominion of Subtle 
Learning how to sew and design clothes leads us through many stages of development. These stages are borne out differently for all of us, depending on how we are taught. Early stages might be dominated by prints with simpler patterns. Intermediate stages are an exploration of various color and fabric combinations, along with silhouettes from the past. A good many designers – while they may have a fine command of the craft - find comfort or success at an intermediate level of development. Masters, however, have acquired such a fine-tuned attention to detail embracing all aspects of design that the effect they achieve has graduated to the realm of subtlety.
image: Chanel spring 2006 couture www.style.com
Few would doubt that Karl Lagerfeld and Alexander McQueen qualify as masters of their domain:
image: Alexander McQueen a/w 2006-7 www.style.com
image: Chanel spring 2006 couture www.style.com
image: Alexander McQueen a/w 2006-7 www.style.com
image: Chanel spring 2006 couture www.style.com
image: Alexander McQueen a/w 2006-7 www.style.com
image: Chanel spring 2006 couture www.style.com
image: Alexander McQueen a/w 2006-7 www.style.com
Appreciation for a master’s understated cleverness does not require a trained eye, but it does require taste. Subtlety is not for those who are easily won over by bold accents. It demands its own attention to detail from the onlooker. Alertness is key to appreciating the intricacy of lace and layers, or how a shape is tweaked just so to push through the mundane into the mysterious.
