Fashion Dictionary
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Dacade, Laurence
Laurence Dacade, French shoe designer. Studying at Afpic School of Shoe Design gave Laurence Dacade the training and understanding of shoes she needed to build her internationally successful brand. Dacade’s designs are French, elegant, sexy and never boring. She stands for elegant high-end men’s and women’s shoe design with a rock n’ roll feeling. The shoe designer has collaborated with successful fashion houses such as Balmain, Givenchy, Oscar de la Renta and is known for her internationally famous fans such as Mary-Kate Olsen and Gwyneth Paltrow.
DailyCandy.com
DailyCandy, online fashion site. It delivers their reader's the best in style, fashion, food and fun for free via email, video, and the Web. It is a unit of Comcast Interactive Media and distributes 3 million email subscriptions via 28 editions, including 13 daily editions covering New York, Los Angeles, London, only to name a few.
Dallin Chase
Dallin Chase, women's high-fashion ready-to-wear brand, founded by Jason Cauchi in 2006.
Daniella Kallmeyer
Daniella Kallmeyer, South African fashion designer, born in 1987. Before establishing her own namesake fashion brand in New York, Kallmeyer was inspired by her interest in effortless, simple, classic but often androgynous clothing. Her cultural background helps her as a designer to incorporate that individuality into her clients needs. Kallmeyer's designs are known for its chicness and dedication to empowering women.
Dart
Darts are used on garments that are tailored to fit the wearers shape. They make a flat fabric three-dimensional. A dart is created by tucking under a part of the fabric, creating a triangular shape on the inside and a flat cone shape on the outside of the garment. Darts are most commonly used on the women's busts and to tailor pants, skirts and dresses to the shape of the hip and waist, but can be used anywhere that requires shaping to the body.
Dash Boutique
DASH, fashion boutique, founded 2006 by the Kardashian sisters Kim, Khloe and Kourtney in Calabasas. DASH became known and popular though the founders, who are the stars of the reality-TV show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”, in which the womenswear boutique is frequently featured. After the first store in Calabasas emerged as a success two further boutiques in Miami Beach and New York City were opened.
Dashiki
Dashiki is a type of a men's garment. It covers the top half of the body, can be worn formal as a tailored suit or for informal occasions as draped clothing. The most popular form of a dashiki which is usually worn in West Africa, is a loose-fitting sweater garment with an embroidered and tailored V-neck collar.
David Evins
David Evins, New York-based shoe designer, lived from 1909 to 1987. Evins opened his design studio in 1947 together with his brother Lee, who remained a partner until Evin's death in 1987. Evins was most famous for his elegant pumps that had become fashionable in the early 1950's. In contradiction to most fashion careers, Evins had never planned on being a fashion designer in the first place. His career started rather accidentally. (more)
David Koma
David Komakhidze aka David Koma, Georgian fashion designer, born in Tbilisi. After studying Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Koma presented his first fashion collection at the age of 15. He then continued to take up studies at the prestigious fashion school Central St. Martins in London which he chose to make his home. In 2011, Koma showed his first collection at London Fashion Week and already two years later he replaced Nicola Formichetti as the artistic director of Thierry Mugler.
(more)David, Charles
Charles David, Italian-born, American shoe designer. David launched his namesake line in 1967 in Canada. The collection includes shoes, boots and handbags sold in Charles David boutiques, selected department stores and specialty stores across the U.S. Until today, all Charles Davide shoes are manufactured mostly in Italy. The brand's focus remains in the production of fashionable heels.
Davis, Ruthie
Ruthie Davis, American-born shoe designer, based in New York. Davis launched her namesake shoe label in 2006 after working in the industry for years, designing for well known brands such as Reebok. Today the American shoe designer is considered to be one of the seven most influential shoe designer worldwide. Ruthie Davis is mostly known for her sexy and sophisticated high-heels with distinct architectural shapes and a vivid color palette. Her designs are inspired by the contradiction of minimalism and glamor. Davis herself describes her styles as the symbiosis of Manolo Blahink pumps and a Nike sports shoe. Although Davis herself works out of New York City, all here shoes are handcrafted in Italy. As of 2012, Ruthie Davis added a women's and men's sneaker collection to her brand.
De la Renta, Oscar
Oscar de la Renta, Dominican-American fashion designer, lived from 1932 to 2014. De la Renta was known for being one of the world's leading fashion designers. He gained international attention in the 1960's as one of the designers who designed clothes for Jacqueline Kennedy. De la Renta started his career at the fashion house Balenciaga and worked then for Lanvin and Balmain before founding his namesake ready-to-wear fashion label in 1965. The brand's trademark is their luxuries evening dresses and red carpet gowns. De la Renta passed away in October 2014 and left behind a huge place in the fashion industry.
De Lennart, Sonja
Sonja de Lennart, European fashion designer, born in 1920. She is know for inventing the famous Capri Pants in 1948. The three-quarter pants that end below the knee got its name from her love for the Italian isle of Capri. After World War II in 1945, de Lennart began to design clothes and opened her first namesake boutique "Salon Sonja" in Munich, Germany. Three years later, the European designer designed a tight three-quarter length Capri pants that was created for the winter and summer collection. That classic Capri pants became immediately popular among women after years of wearing the rather masculine, not fitted pants. Her fashion collection became known as the Capri Collection.
Décolleté
A décolleté is a French term coming from the 1700s and means 'without a collar'. It is the part of the body between the neck and the bust line of a woman that is designed to emphasize the display of the women's breasts. The noun of décolleté is décolletage.
Dello Russo, Anna
Anna Dello Russo, Italian-born fashion director of Vogue Nippon (Japan). Dello Russo approaches fashion through a distinctive quirk: she combines her outfits down to the smallest detail, as they were represented on the runway. Due to her amazing sense of fashion, she's become a fashion icon across the world.
Demeulemeester, Ann
Ann Demeulemeester, Belgium fashion designer, born in 1959. She is the founder and creative mind of her successful namesake fashion label. What makes her different from other fashion designers is that she always creates her designs in a very dark, punk and almost scary way.
Demi-Couture
Demi-couture is a French word and means literally translated 'half-couture'. Since it relates to the fashion term 'haute couture', custom-made high sewing, the more detailed version of its meaning would be “half-custom-made women’s clothing.” Due to the 'demi' (= half) in front of the 'couture' the term demi-couture is more classified under ready-to-wear in the fashion business.
Denim
Denim is a robust, sturdy cotton fabric used to make jeans. It is typically a woven material and often times dyed indigo, the standard color of the blue jeans we know today. Back in the 18 hundreds, 'Denim' was mostly used for work-wear while today it is found in all areas of fashion. The name 'Denim' is a french made-up word combining 'Serge' - the original used, robust fabric for work-wear - and its place of invention, 'Nîmes', a small town in France. When the fabric gained international popularity, the original term 'Serge de Nîmes' was abbreviated to 'Denim'.
Dennis Basso
Dennis Basso, American fashion designer, born in 1954. He founded his namesake fashion label in 1983 by selling a collection of furs out of the trunk of a rented car. Today, Dennis Basso is recognized as a luxuries fashion label and is one of America's premier couture fur brands.
Diana Vreeland
Diana Vreeland, fashion editor, lived from 1903 to 1989. Vreeland was well known as a fashion icon during the 20th century. In 1965, the fashion editor who not only worked for the fashion magazines Harper's Bazaar and Vogue but also for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame.
Diane von Furstenberg
Diane von Fuerstenberg aka DvF, Belgian-American fashion designer, born in 1946. Von Fuerstenberg is best known for introducing the wrap dress in 1974, just four years after she began designing women's clothes on her own. Due to her huge influence on women's fashion, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) named her as their president in 2006.
Diesel
Diesel, Italian fashion brand, founded by Renzo Rosso in 1978. It is headquartered in Molvena, North Italy. Not only is the clothing company widely known for offering an array of different jeans styles to the young adult market, they also provide everything else from casual clothes for men and women, underwear & fragrances.
Dietrich, Marlene
Marlene Dietrich, German Actress and Singer, born 1901 in Schöneberg. Dietrich was one of the first and only German actresses that reached broad international fame. She became famous with movies such as Shanghai Express and Destry Rides Again and soon after became a Hollywood and style icon. Her long legs, raspy voice and extravagant fashion made her a sensation and known as one of the most glamorous and bold women in the world. On screen Dietrich was known for wearing exotic costumes featuring glamorous dresses, adapted menswear and the iconic top hat. Her personal style was equally ornate and included lots of fur and mens suits. In the 1930’s, Dietrich revolutionized womens fashion by making it acceptable for women to wear pants. After a glamorous life in fame Dietrich died in 1992 in Paris. The American Film Institute has voted her one of the 25 greatest actresses of all times.
Diffusion Line
A diffusion line is a secondary fashion line created by a luxury fashion designer or fashion brand that sells at a much lower price point than the primary line and is often sold in a separate high-street store or outlet. Diffusion Lines have become very popular amongst high-end designers and brands such as Armani, Prada and Vera Wang. A diffusion line allows the brand to offer their products to a much wider group of customers while profiting from the high-end brand’s prestige. Also diffusion lines have been used by brands to combat high street brands copying their fashion and selling it at a low price point.
Dimitri
Dimitri Panagiotopoulos, Italian fashion designer, born in 1978. The designer who goes only by his last name, founded his namesake fashion label Dimitri in 2007 after studying fashion design in Milan. He is not only well known for his feminine and clean silhouette of his designs but also for his perfect sense of quality, accuracy and sophisticated tailoring.
Dinner Jacket
A dinner jacket is a men's formal jacket that was invented by Henry Poole of namesake Tailor Company Henry Poole & Co. in London in 1860. It is usually tailored and made of a black or navy blue fabric, comes either single or double-breasted, has large silk lapels and is worn with a white shirt and a black bow-tie. Only the English call it dinner jacket or dinner suit. For the American's it is a tuxedo, for the French, Italian's and German's it's called smoking.
Dinner Suit
A dinner suit is a men's formal suit that was invented by Henry Poole of namesake Tailor Company Henry Poole & Co. in London in 1860. It is usually tailored and made of a black or navy blue fabric, comes either single or double-breasted, has large silk lapels and is worn with a white shirt and a black bow-tie. The matching pants has usually a satin stripe that is running down the sites and is worn with a cummerbund which was called a waistcoat back at the time. Only the English call it dinner suit or dinner jacket. For the American's it is a tuxedo, for the French, Italian's and German's it's called smoking.
Dior
Christian Dior, French fashion designer, lived from 1905 to 1957. Dior was an influential fashion figure in the 20th century, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion couture houses, aka Christian Dior. In 1946, the French designer established his fashion house and introduced just one year later his first fashion collection named 'Corolle' (English: the botanical term corolla or circlet of flower petals), that went down in fashion history as the 'New Look'. Dior's designs were more sensual than the masculine, over-sized shapes of the recent World War II styles. (more)
Dirndl
A dirndl is a traditional dress outfit from Tyrol. It is worn in Germany, especially in the Bavarian area, Austria and South Tyrol. The outfit typically consists of a blouse, a bodice, a knee-length skirt that is gathered at the waist and an apron.
DKNY
DKNY stands for Donna Karan New York. It is a less expensive line for younger women. The namesake American fashion designer, born 1948 in New York, USA launched her own fashion label 'Donna Karan New York' with her husband back in 1985. Meanwhile, the Donna Karan brand also carries the DKNY Jeans line, a denim-inspired collection and DKNY for men, launched in 1992.
Dolce & Gabbana
Dolce & Gabbana, Italian-born designer duo. Domenico Dolce, born 1958 in Sicily and Stefano Gabbana, born 1962 in Venice. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana founded their fashion house in 1985 by combining their last names. Today, the luxury fashion label distinguishes two main collections: 'Dolce & Gabbana' and 'D & G collection'. The latter is a more flamboyant but casual line, inspired mostly by urban streetstyle and adressing a younger target group. Both collections offer a full palette of women's and men's ready-to-wear clothing supplemented by footwear, handbags, sunglasses and watches. As of 2012, Dolce & Gabbana started to add a couture line to their overall brand collection.
Dolce, Domenico
Domenico Dolce, Italian fashion designer, born 1958 in Polizzi Generosa, Sicily. Dolce was already interested in fashion when we was only six years old and began designing his own styles. While looking for a job in 1980, Dolce first met his 'later' business partner Stefano Gabbana at a fashion house in Italy, where Gabbana was working for, asking for a job. The two got to know each other better while Dolce was instructed by Gabbana in the daily routine of the design process of the fashion house. After working together for five years, the due came up with the idea to design their own clothes. They eventually started off their own label Dolce & Gabbana in 1985.
Dolman Sleeve
A dolman sleeve is a sleeve that has a very wide arm hole that can reach down to the waistline. It also has a narrow wrist. The sleeve is typically cut in one piece with the garments bodice. The dolman sleeve became popular in womenswear during the Civil War and regained popularity in the 80’s on jeans jackets worn by men and women. A dolman sleeve on a garment makes the shoulders look slouched and therefore slims the waist. Dolman sleeves are typically used on clothes that are supposed to look casual and effortless. Today, the dolman sleeve remains popular, especially on sweaters for men and women.
Dolman Sleeve
A dolman sleeve is a long sleeve that is very wide at the top and narrow at the wrist.
Domenico Dolce
Domenico Dolce, Italian fashion designer, born 1958 in Polizzi Generosa, Sicily. Dolce was already interested in fashion when we was only six years old and began designing his own styles. While looking for a job in 1980, Dolce first met his 'later' business partner Stefano Gabbana at a fashion house in Italy, where Gabbana was working for, asking for a job. The two got to know each other better while Dolce was instructed by Gabbana in the daily routine of the design process of the fashion house. After working together for five years, the due came up with the idea to design their own clothes. They eventually started off their own label Dolce & Gabbana in 1985.
Donatella Versace
Donatella Versace, Italian fashion designer, born in May 1955. Donatella became the head designer and vice-president of the Italian ready-to-wear fashion brand Versace after her brother's death Gianni Versace in 1997. Her older brother Santo Versace became CEO her daughter Allegra Versace inherited 50% of the family business. It was Donatella's brother who founded the luxurious label back in 1978. Versace is best known for its body-conscious clothes and sexy designs and is today one of the world’s leading international fashion houses.
Dondup
Dondup, Italian fashion label, founded 1999 in Fossombrone by Massimo Berloni and Manuela Mariotti. Dondup started as a denim brand but has quickly expanded its offering and now sells all types of menswear, womenswear and children’s clothing. The brand is known for its unique denim, using various innovative fabrics and techniques. The company uses traditional looms, new dying techniques and pure linen jeans offering highly fashionable denim. The label currently is sold in over 800 stores worldwide with the main revenue coming from Italy, but is also expanding to the US and Asia with more stores.
Donna Karan
Donna Karan, American fashion designer, born 1948 in New York, USA. She is the founder of the namesake fashion labels Donna Karan New York and DKNY. After working for the Anne Klein fashion house as one of the head designer, she eventually started launching her own fashion label 'Donna Karan New York' with her husband back in 1985. They offered 'modern clothes for modern people' that could be easily mixed and matched. Three years later, Karan already nicknamed as 'The Queen Of Seventh Avenue', offered an addition fashion line called DKNY, a less expensive line for younger women. Meanwhile, the Donna Karan brand also carries the DKNY Jeans line, a denim-inspired collection and DKNY for men, launched in 1992.
Donoghue, Karl
Karl Donoghue, Yorkshire-born fashion designer. He started his fashion label in 1995, designing ready-to-wear and accessories from the finest shearing and leather fabrics. Inspired by natural materials and the many-sided British style, he designs each collection with attention to detail.
Double Jersey
Double jersey is a knitted fabric produced on a knitting machine with a vertical and a horizontal row of needles. Both sides of the fabric have an identical look and feel. Double jersey is more durable and of better quality than single jersey and therefore is more expensive. It is used for high quality t-shirts, jackets and sweaters.
Double Knitting
Double knitting is a knitting technique that produces two or more knitted fabrics simultaneously on a single needle. These fabrics may be connected such as interlock fabrics, but can also be separable. Connected double-knitted fabrics are thick and could have uncommon color designs.
Double-Besom Pocket
A double besom pocket is an inset pocket that has a slit opening finished on the top and bottom with each a narrow, welted piece of fabric also known as piping. The piping makes the pocket more resilient. This kind of pocket is used on the exterior and interior breast on men’s jackets as well as on the back of men’s suit pants and trousers and may have a button for closure. Besom pockets can also be used as the front pocket of women’s pants and then are usually angled.
Double-breasted Jacket
A double-breasted jacket or coat is a closed with two parallel vertical rows of buttons and has a large piece of overlapping fabric which is held in place with both rows of buttons. Double-breasted jackets are contrary to single-breasted jackets which close with one row of buttons and overlap slightly. Many modern double-breasted jackets have one of the two rows for the pure purpose of decoration. (more)
Double-Entry Pocket
A double entry pocket is a patch pocket, that can be accessed sideways or through the top. It is made by sewing a finished flap pocket on to the shell of a garment, leaving one side unattached to the shell. This way two separate pockets are formed, one accessible through the top flap the other one through the open side. Double entry pockets are used on outerwear jackets and coats.
Double-point dart
Darts are used on garments that are tailored to fit the wearers shape. They make a flat fabric three-dimensional. To create a double-point dart the fabric is gathered on the inside of the garment, sewn together from one point to another point within the fabric creating a diamond shape. Double-point darts are most commonly used on the waist of women’s dresses shaping the fabric to the body.
Doucet, Jacques
Jacques Doucet, French fashion designer, lived from 1853 to 1929. During the 1920s, he was widely known for designing elegant, sophisticated clothes that were more luxury than practically. His dresses for instance were often made of flimsy transparent fabrics. Due to that fact, Doucet's popularity increased tremendously in the fashion industry since no one else dared to design such clothes back at the time. He was a fashion designer with an amazing taste whose designs were mostly created for actresses of that time.
Drakewood
Drakewood, German menswear label. Drakewood offers a large selection of high-quality menswear basics in sophisticated but urban designs and slim fits. The brand uses cashmere, linen and organic cotton and is known for using the highest qualities and newest dyeing techniques such as surface garment-printing on cashmere, lightweight jerseys or snow-dyeing treatments. Drakewood clothes have been worn by the famous German actor Till Schweiger in some of his movies.
Dress
The term 'Dress' is a generic clause for a piece of clothing and synonymously used with apparel, clothes or garment. In a more literal sense, the term describes a combination of two or more pieces of garment usually consisting of a skirt and a sewn on bodice. For the main part dresses are worn by women only as an alternative to the combination of a skirt and blouse. Dresses became widely popular as a fashion item around the 1860s.
Drexel University (DU)
Drexel University, founded 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel in Philadelphia, PA, USA. DU is a private research university ranked among the top 200 universities worldwide. As a part of DU the Antoinette Westphal College of Art and Design was founded where students can study fashion design, styling, advertising and technical design among others. AWCAD’s fashion program is ranked among the top 20 fashion programs in the world and is known for it’s interdisciplinary work in small groups simulating a future work environment. The teachers have a strong network in the fashion industry and are able to provide students with up-to-date knowledge in industrial production, advanced technologies, marketing and merchandising of fashion.
Dries van Noten
Dries van Noten, Belgian fashion designer, born in 1958. The namesake brand was established in 1986, when Dries van Noten presented his first menswear collection in London, just six years after graduating from the Antwerp Academy. The fashion label known for its 'kinky' style is available at retail and does not offer haute couture.
Drop-Stitch Knitting
Drop-stitch knitting is a style of knitting that creates a ladder-like structure in between knitted rows. This way a very soft and see-through fabric is created.
Dropped Waist Dress
On a dropped waist dress the waistline is cut to be positioned on the hip rather than on the natural waist, visually elongating the upper body. Dropped waist dresses were especially popular during the 1920’s.
Dsquared2
Dsquared2, Canadian fashion brand, founded in 1994 by the twin brothers Dean and Dan Caten. The brothers design duo, born in 1964 in Toronto, are creating men's and women's clothing, footwear and fragrances in Milan. The intelligent combination of their Canadian heritage with refined Italian tailoring and the attention to detail are the brands signature. Dsquared2 has become an international fashion house, whose fashion shows are known to be very entertaining. A runway show in 2005 for instance, showed singer Christina Aguilera stripping male models of their clothes at the end of the show.
Dunhill
Dunhill, British luxuries meanswear label, founded by Alfred Dunhill in 1893. The brand offers high-end men's clothing, accessories and leather goods.
dvb by Victoria Beckham
dVb Style, denim brand, founded by Victoria Beckham. Beckham is a successful English style icon, fashion designer, business women and model.
The Daily
The Daily, short version of 'The Daily Front Row', fashion website, founded by Brandusa Niro in 2002. The editor-in-chief writes about fashion shows, front rows and behind the scenes stories during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. The site is updated every day. It also provides their readers with a fashion blog, The Daily’s blog: Chic Report.
