Accessories Design instructor Iris Feldman is known for her comment: “belts are the ugly step child of the accessories world.”
For Mara Holmgren, it’s the all-important detail that has you by the waist. Holmgren has worked for eight years as an executive in product development for Perry Ellis and Ralph Lauren.
“What brought me to Accessories Design was this idea of pulling together an outfit and the accessory being the statement and focus rather than the outfit itself,” says Holmgren.
“We think of handbags and shoes as the dominate accessories.” Holmgren is out to challenge that notion.
Accessories Design Prof. Vasilios agrees with Feldman. “The students don’t realize the significance of belts until they take Belt Design or the Accessories Sketching class. Then they have a brainstorm: ‘Oh, I have them in my closet! They must be part of the accessories industry.’”
Homgren got her start in Vasilios’ evening Accessories Sketching classJ:
“It’s line drawing, proportion, marker rendering techniques, the same as shoes and bags and all accessories,” says Vasilios who is the creative director of the men’s shoe line RobertoVasi.
Says Holmgren, “The creative aspect of product design accessories began to appeal to me. I found the market to be generic and safe in terms of design aesthetic. There’s actually a lot of room for creativity and more intricate designs for what’s offered.”
The challenges to crafting her belt –“My style is Parisian chic” — were many:
“The number one thing in making a belt is cutting a straight long pattern,” she says.
Then come the crown jewels:
“Second is placement of your design details such as rivets, connectors, or applique on the belt itself.”
And then…
“It’s about getting the right consistency and feel and stuffiness. It needs to hug the contours of the body,” she says.
Correct says Vasilios “It requires a lot of fit testing. Compared to the shoe to the foot, a belt is to the waist.”
To learn more about Accessories Design major, go to Footwear and Accessories Design at FIT..
Photos provided by Mara Holmgren.
2 responses to “The accessory that grabs you by the waist”
Thank you for this article.
Great article Rachel! I was a little dismayed by Mara’s statement: “I found the market to be generic and safe in terms of design aesthetic.” This may be the case in the American market but there doesn’t seem to be the same aesthetic limitations in Europe. To which market was she referring? Or was her scope limited by the Perry Ellis and Ralph Lauren product lines?