Anatomy of a designer dress
Blueprint for the red carpet ... Lisa Ho's floral print maxi-dress
comes to life on Kate Ritchie.
Latest related coverage
Deconstructing Lisa Ho's maxi-dress
Photos Lisa Ho's Floral Fusion maxi-dress from conception to red carpet perfection.
Lisa Ho has been in the fashion business for 26 years and her stores are always full of $1000-plus dresses that walk out the door. And it's Ho's distinctive summer prints that have made her one of our most successful designers and businesswomen today. Her winning formula: this humble Queen of Prints has learnt that investing time and money in a collection means your customer will come back for more. Quality over quantity is what counts.
Take Ho's $1299 fusion floral-print maxi dress that was unveiled at her spring-summer 2008 collection at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in April. The dress arrives in stores next month after almost nine months in development. We're not talking haute couture hours - which involve months of hand beading and sewing - but Ho's time is invested in developing unique prints for her eponymous label.
"We only work with original artworks or vintage prints, so we are scouting all the time, Ho says. If we see something we think has potential, we will buy it but it may be put away for the future. If I'm really in love with a print and the cost is high, I will subsidise a print. It's not the best commercial decision to make but the big picture is I want to enjoy what I'm doing and I want the prints to have integrity."
Fusion floral was bought from a French studio and it was the basis and inspiration for Ho's summer 2008 collection, for which she developed 12 new prints. "If we are going to run a print it has to be very strong and almost have a personality of its own. Prints tend to be very difficult to work with because they are difficult to wear. It's not like wearing a block-colour dress - a print needs to be spot-on and work on your body."
Ho says she pays about $US600 ($615) for a tiny swatch of fabric to which she forever owns the copyright and can manipulate as she pleases. "Of course you can buy printed fabrics ready to go but it may not be exclusive - I don't like to do that because you never know where its going to end up."
And so the long and expensive process begins. First the artwork has to be set up to a scale and decisions made about colours and base cloth. The tweaked artwork then goes to a print house to be struck off which is the original screen print. Ho then tweaks the screen print again. "I may lighten it up; pull back on the tone. It may have to go backwards and forwards a couple of times. [When] its right, I order samplings and a 50-metre roll."
Once the fabric is back from China ("Everyone used to turn their noses up at Chinese silks, but the best silks are coming out of China and everyone is using them," Ho says) the design process begins with the pressure of Fashion Week - and the Logies - looming.
"Because this was such a strong print, I didn't want it in too many pieces, so this particular dress will be limited. It will only be available from September until the end of the year - you won't see the print again because it won't be produced again. If you do a really good dress that has integrity and is going to last the test of time, your customer won't ever throw it out."
One of Ho's more famous customers is Logie winner Kate Ritchie. She visited Ho's Chippendale headquarters the week before Fashion Week and earmarked fusion floral for TV's night of nights. "I was surprised because usually women want to wear a solid colour to that type of event," Ho says. "Honestly, I was a little nervous at first because she is not as tall as a model who was wearing it for the show and I was worried it was going to swamp her. But after Fashion Week we made a few adjustments and it looked great on her."
Such a public debut for a gown has its pluses and minuses. There was instant demand for fusion floral after the Logies aired in May. The same occurred when Bec Hewitt wore Ho to the 2005 Logies. The downside is when the copycats hit their print machines. "I still see replicas of Bec's dress walking down the street. If you do have a very successful print, people will be inspired and they will do versions of your print," Ho says.
"These days I dont think anyone would be game to completely knock off your design because of the copyright laws. It's also pretty easy for us to prove a breach because we can substantiate where a print came from every single step of the way."
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