1. We love… Fashionary
NANCY TONG, WGSN 24.08.09
Hong Kong designer Penter Yip combines the efficiency of a Moleskine notebook with technical and
inspirational information in a sketchbook made especially for fashion designers.
WGSN explores Fashionary, a stylish time-saving tool for the style set.
The Fashionary Penter Yip's sketches in his Fashionary
As a fashion design student at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Penter Yip found two speed bumps
in his sketching process: a lack of silhouette templates and the constant need to reference design
books. Noticing that the issue wasn't his alone, he dreamed up a sketchbook combining lightly printed
silhouette templates with a handy and efficient design and textile reference.
Post-graduation, he began a process which lasted almost two years, working for one year to raise
capital and then spending five months planning and collating his research. His purpose: to free
designers from tedious interruption during the research process, ultimately saving sketch time.
Sketches and swatches Penter Yip
Yip wanted the Fashionary, his version of the indispensable fashion sketchbook, to be used by
designers worldwide. "I searched fashion forums and contacted active members in America and the
UK," explains Yip about his research process. "I shared my idea with them and asked for their impres-
sions." Based on feedback, he designed sketch pages with three barely-there body silhouettes.
Pattern layouts and garment styles Body measurements
"I looked through design books and websites to collect technical information [such as] standard body
measurements and classic garment styles," he continues. Fashionary also includes an up-to-date
index of 1,200 fashion brands, a map of worldwide catwalk events and an extensive list of popular
style blogs. It even has a pocket at the back so that swatches and other clippings can be kept safely. A
rubber band, in the spirit of the Moleskin, holds everything together.
Yip also chose to walk an unconventional route to market Fashionary. Observing cult followings on
fashion blog anniespandex.com and design forum notcot.org, he worked to harness the power of
word-of-mouth recommendations. Maintaining Fashionary Twitter and Facebook accounts, a homep-
age and accompanying blog, Yip plugged straight into the online fashion world. Yip's under-the- radar
technique has proven successful, with a recent rave feature on dazeddigital.com, as well as an upcom-
ing spotlight in GQ magazine.
Available since mid-July, 180 copies out of an original run of 500, have already been sold, mostly
through etsy.com. Fashionary, in Yip's own words, is not yet ready for mass-consumption. "I spoke
with publishers and at this stage I feel the book is unfit for mass markets," he told WGSN.
Sketches in Fashionary
His plan is to continue to improve the book - he's already begun research into his second edition as
well as a menswear version, focusing on shirt details. Keeping his eye focused on fashion websites has
provided Yip with a dense feedback pool of professional and student fashion designers. Keeping ties
with the community, he hopes to extract more clever suggestions to improve Fashionary. "If I feel
that [Fashionary] is not good enough, I will always try to improve it".
A copy retails for $15.99 on his website.
Contact
www.fashionary.org
info@fashionary.org
Links
www.facebook.com/fashionary
www.twitter.com/fashionarybook
© WGSN 2009