How Fashion Forgot Alterations And Why That Matters
For years, fashion education has treated alterations as secondary work. Something basic. Something you do after the āreal designā is done. In reality, alterations are where construction knowledge is tested. Most of what fails in fittings is not about creativityāitās about structure, balance, and decisions made during construction. Alterations donāt hide those issues. They expose them. This is why many designers avoid alterations altogether. They force you to confront what wasnāt understood from the beginning. In professional environments, alterations are not about āmaking it fit.ā They are about reading a garment, understanding its logic, and deciding how far it can be pushed without breaking its structure. When fashion ignores alterations, it creates a generation of professionals who can design, but not execute. Understanding alterations is not a step backward. Itās one of the clearest paths to mastering garment construction. Michael Zamora