Fashion A-Z

From applique to zippers, a comprehensive dictionary with definitions and
meanings of key fashion vocabulary, written by Camilla Morton.

Pleats

Pleats are a fold or doubling of fabric that is pressed, ironed or creased into place. (Pleats that are sewn into place are called tucks). There are many varieties, but the side and box pleat are the most common, although they can be accordion, cartridge, circular, curtain, draped, fluted, Fortuny or French. They can be inserte, as well as inverted. Pleats add an even greater fullness to a shape (particularly the skirt). Think Marilyn Monroe over the air vent in ‘The 7 Year Itch’.

Plissé

Plissé originally referred to fabric that had been woven or gathered into pleats and has also been known as crinkle crêpe. It takes its name from the French word for fold. Today, it is a lightweight fabric with a crinkled, puckered surface, formed in ridges or stripes. Plissé can also describe a chemical finishing technique, where plisse fabrics are used for underwear.

Portiere

Portiere is a curtain that hangs over a door or covers a door-less entrance to a room and comes from the French word porte, meaning door. From Gone with the Wind, where Scarlett O’Hara makes a dress from green velvet window curtains, to Mr. Dior (who Chanel said draped rather than dressed) and the drape of fabric at the top of a runway, it is certainly a curtain with possibilities.

Fashion A-Z

Pleats

Plissé

Portiere

A-B

C-E

F-G

H-L

M-O

P-Q

R-U

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