A Patternmaker’s Perspective
Interviewed by Dr. Alexandria Vasquez and Allie Nugent
Written by Lexi Fujii
Herderin is a research and design studio attempting to understand the social and emotional relationship people have to clothing; and if any, the relationship to identity that clothing facilitates and corresponds to. Through Herderin, Alexandria Vasquez, PhD, and her team is currently studying the emotional and somatic approaches to empathic clothing design. Herderin is branding this body of research: Clothing the Self. The following journal entry is from a Clothing the Self interview with SF-based patternmaker, Flavia Dawson.
Today we are interviewing Flavia Dawson, a San Francisco-based patternmaker that Herderin found in our pursuit to work with the best local professionals in the industry. We’ve been working together for three years to help develop more precise patterns and extend our sizing ranges so we can begin a more scaled production with Johnny Fan.
We walk up to the second floor of a residential-looking building nestled on Potrero Avenue, a little over a dozen blocks from where eastern San Francisco and the bay greet one another. As we reach the carpeted front entry to Flavia’s studio door, we are immediately confronted with a denim-cladded Flavia herself, sporting a straight-to-business attitude. We can tell by her brisk walk and brief welcome that she’s in a rush. “I don’t have a lot of time,” she greets us with, and immediately tells us she’s about to go on vacation to Brazil – where she was born – to attend two weddings over the course of three weeks. “This is the longest vacation I’ve taken in over 15 years,” she explains to us, and it seems that she’s saddened to be leaving home for so long but excited to be on vacation. Flavia and her husband are even preparing for this trip by pushing their dinners later and later so their systems are on the new time zone when headed southeast.
We walk deeper into Flavia’s well-lit studio, eyeing the sewing stations and a large cutting table lining the entire right wall. It is clear from the beginning that Flavia is hard to break through the surface of. With every question, we receive very short and precise responses – sometimes just a “yes” or “no”, and then as we continue to tease more information out of her, the responses evolve. It’s hard to tell if it’s because she’s in a rush and is thinking about everything she must finish before leaving for Brazil, or if, which is more likely, this is how she always is: confidently concise, prudent, minimalist. You can see it in the environment around her – even the scissors on her table are lying perfectly straight, exactly where they need to be.
We ask Flavia what fashion means to her: “Fashion is about the patternmaking, the fabric sourcing, how it comes together,” she responds. Flavia recalls the act of making clothing, its creation, and not the presentation nor consumption of it. The presentation of fashion can often be a form of expression or symbolism, and the consumption of fashion can feel like a habit and a hobby to people. And as someone rather invisible in this industry – as most are in the fashion industry – Flavia does not really see clothing expression as a facet of fashion at all. What feels more important than clothing as communication, is how it feels and fits on the body. An expected response from someone whose daily job and expertise is to do just that – create clothing designed to fit bodies and feel good on them.
Like Flavia herself, her studio is extremely neat. “It’s like a disease,” she says as she sits down on a nearby chair, back as straight as a pin, and adjusts her black-rimmed glasses attached to a black beaded chain that drapes around her ears. It is clear that she prides herself in being tidy – in her studio, at home, and in her closet. “I keep about four pants and ten shirts, that’s all. They’re all neatly folded or hung on hangers. I color-code everything, and evenly separate my hangers the same distance apart. I have a pair of pants for the weekend, which must have cargo pockets because I like to go on long walks. I will wear everything all the way until the end. Until they are unwearable for me or anyone else.”
After some nudging, she also admits, “I have two dresses I hold onto. They are folded together on a hanger. I wear these for weddings or special occasions.” She recalls the day of her friend’s wedding, when the father of the bride said to her, “Are you really going to wear that?”, referring to one of the two dresses she keeps – a strapless black dress. Flavia looks at us and points her finger, “That asshole said that to me!” Despite that reaction from the father of the bride, Flavia says, “It doesn’t change that I looked good in that dress, and still would, if it fit me.”
To Flavia, clothing is mostly about comfort. “I will never shop online. How do you know how the fabric feels?” And to this, we understand the underlying sentiment. For so long, clothing was and still can be, like a second skin – providing protection, comfort, and warmth. Material is incredibly important for these functionalities – how your body feels against a material is one factor that defines how one feels in their garments. It’s part of our philosophy to focus on the feel, the quality of Herderin’s American-sourced textiles. We understand how someone, especially Flavia who deals in fabric and feel all day, doesn’t believe in online shopping.
We continue our conversation and ask her about her all-denim outfit, fitted with a medium-toned grey cardigan. “My husband bought it for me. He buys everything for me. I hate to shop. I just can't do it,” she replies as she also shows us her jewelry. This strikes us as a rather intimate exchange between Flavia and her husband. As someone who seems particular in what she says and wears, and knowledgeable in her field, to see her relinquish the decision-making of what she adorns her body with is interesting. We make a key note: Flavia appreciates the distance from clothing, so much so there is no joy in even purchasing items, as she is so part of the process of making it.
This feels parallel to the fact that she does not wear any of her client’s clothing. This is vastly different from our previous two interviews with Johnny Fan and Rebecca Burgess. She says it’s to keep distance between her work and her home life. If she wore her client’s clothing, it could blur these boundaries. “When I see clothing, I see shapes and how they are made. How things need to come together so that they are sewn well.” It almost reminds us of how a musician sees music notes or a chef sees individual ingredients and flavors. She wants to be sure that what she does for work, does not come into her home life.
Even though Flavia doesn’t hold onto her client’s work, it does not mean she’s not sentimental about clothing, just of a different source. There’s one item that she mentions that cracks emotion through her otherwise serious facade: her childhood school uniform. A smile settles on her lips as she recalls, “My mother saved it all this time, and she finally sent it to me.” As someone with such a refined and considered wardrobe, it's clear this uniform holds a significance to her if it’s taking up real estate in her paired down closet. She reflects that looking at the school uniform reminds her that she was once a child and of where she came from. Perhaps sentimental attachment to an item has little to do with the thing itself, and more with what it embodies, what it holds, what memories are attached to it.
So although Flavia doesn’t necessarily think about clothing as a tool for outward expression, she sees it more than just functionality and comfort, or at least with some items. Her closet must be a reflection of how she keeps her work and home life separate. There are her daily wears, the ones she works and moves in, and then there are her garments for special occasions or ones that hold old memories.
With each new interview, clothing is attributed to new meanings, new roles that they play in people’s lives – memories, comfort, storytelling, expression of values, and just the good ol' fashion: supporting our bodies throughout our days.
