These days I received this question from a colleague here on social networks and then I realized that I didn't talk about it much, although it is something that in the past aroused interest, these draping differences I didn't use to talk about often nor write about.
Before talking about French draping itself, I need to tell you a little story of my trajectory with the technique.
When I started studying the technique, back in 2005, a professor came from São Paulo who stayed at the University for about 2 weeks and taught the subject intensively.
In the pre-internet era, by the way, what was shown by the teacher was recorded by students only with pencil and paper, and we didn't even have books or bibliographies on the subject at the time.
Then a few semesters had passed and another teacher, my mentor to this day, teacher Ana Laura Berg, also from São Paulo, gave a training course for teachers at UCS and by chance another teacher invited me and I was the only student to be part of the course.
Everything that teacher Ana Laura took back with us was in line with what I had learned from the first teacher, so I understood that draping was always done in the same way.
And what form was that? I will list here:
The canvas is always ironed and prepared in advance.
The dummy must count the ribbon markings
The screen must always be locked with the pin
We cannot "fill" the canvas with pins
The indicated and suitable fabric is one whose composition is 100% cotton
We must not stretch the fabric
The screen before being positioned on the dummy must contain markings
Well, here are just some basic "laws" of French draping, which aren't written anywhere, but that I've noticed as a difference.
And when I saw that there was a difference?
Once, after a few years, I saw a university professor teaching the technique more "freely", she would place the canvas on the mannequin, stretch and pull the fabric, mark the canvas after the mold was ready.
I remember when I saw it I was shocked, but I soon understood that she had learned the technique from the English.
After, a few more years passed and I started to have contact with other materials and teachers of the technique and then I started to see that there is a difference between how draping is taught in France and how it is taught in other places.
Of course, there are schools in other countries that follow the French methodology, an example of this is the book Draping: art and craftsmanship in fashion design written by a Dutch woman.
But I realize that the British have a different way of working, just like the Italians and the North Americans.
I also notice that the Spaniards and Russians also follow a little of the French methodology, they make the canvas following some precautions as mentioned above.
Here in Brazil there is a little bit of everything, because just as I had teachers who learned the technique from French masters, many teachers learned from the English and Americans. Even in some educational institutions they call the draping technique, which is the name of draping in English.
Another existing methodology that I sympathize with is the adaptation made by the Japanese. I really like to follow Japanese modelers who use draping, so much so that the TR Pattern is a mix between draping and flat modeling.
In addition to the variations that I mentioned, there is still creping, widely used in the party fashion segment, which is the technique where we obtain the body mold through masking tape, that is, we wrap the mannequin with masking tape and thus we will obtain the shape of the body. This methodology originated in the lingerie segment and began to be adapted to others.
A question that is often asked is if I am a fan of creping and particularly not, As I learned the traditional French technique, and I realized that it is the one that delivers the best quality when making the mold, because when we mark the dummy, we mark the screen and we make the correct sequence, there is no way the mold will be wrong. And of course, there's still the fact that the technique is chosen by French Haute Couture ateliers, where each piece of clothing is like a work of art. So, in my opinion, it's the best way to obtain a mold that presents a perfect fit, isn't it?
The only problem with French draping is that this technique does not model the pants. So much so that you won't see Stockman or Esmod mannequins with legs.
Manequins franceses em um atelier que visitei em Paris (2017)
In the North American draping we can see a variety of models, such as pants and mesh draping. In this case, we can see mannequin brands with legs, as is the case of The Shop Company mannequins brand, those that have it say "Collapsible Shoulders".
American mannequins at Mood's New York store (2019)
Currently as a content creator and draping teacher I usually study a little of each methodology, but I always stay faithful to French moulage, especially in the course Secrets of French Moulage, where I teach 100% the original technique.
On my youtube channel I test other methods: I work with knitted moulage, trouser moulage... I experiment with draping on other fabrics... in short, experiments that I like to do and share with my students and followers .
I hope this post was enlightening about the types of moulage and that you enjoyed this content!