The Shoulder Pad 'Look'

This article doesn't go into all the looks that can be created by a shoulder pad. It is really just about one kind of look. I'd like in the future to write more on shoulder pads.

The shoulder pad is an accessory which emphasizes the shoulder. It re-draws the shoulder line. Or maybe it does something more obvious. It pads out the shoulder. Yes this is what it does. Maybe too, the shoulder pad can be called a fashion accessory and when the shoulder is accented in such a way, and given new emphasis and shape and importance as with the wearing of the shoulder pad (or some shoulder pads) then perhaps the shoulder pad can be called a fashion accessory. Indeed there is a possible market for specially made shoulder pads and this adds to the view that the shoulder pad is a special type of 'extra'. It is an accessory to a look and it completes a look. If the wearer has shoulder pads 'falling into' the sleeve area, then you can perhaps say that the shoulder pad really completes the look. And this is why the shoulder pad is an accessory to a look, even if it is not a fashion accessory like jewellery.

The shoulder pad is an accessory; The shoulder pad must have the correct form and structure for its purpose; Some shoulder pads accent the shoulder line and then extend and 'fit' into the sleeve area; They fall into the sleeve area in such a way as to create a real new appearance for this shoulder area i.e the shoulder pad falls into the sleeve area, .rather than just stopping or ending at the tip. What may be thus effected is that the shoulder pad pushes out the sleeve and it looks then as if the wearer is wearing an over-sized garment. Still this is a certain type of look.

These kinds of looks can be created but when designing a shoulder pad, the most obvious aim of the design is for the shoulder pad to fit the shoulder...and when the shoulder pad falls into the sleeve area... it is to be asked if there is really suitable 'fit' here. However then you can ask is 'fit' or 'correct structure' important for design. As in all areas of design, fit and structure are certainly important but the consumer or the end-user can wear or use the product/garment or accessory as he or she sees fit. That is why there is so much individuality; It's called customizing.

The reason all of this is mentioned in this article is because of a certain type of shoulder pad which, as mentioned previously, falls into the sleeve or juts into the sleeve. Imagine a light wool fashionable jumper, a button-less full sleeved women's top..and then imagine a shoulder pad accenting the shoulder line, padding it but not only this. The shoulder pad also helps in creating a new look. It falls into the sleeve area and it pushes out the sleeve so that the top of the sleeve doesn't 'fit' into the armhole; there is no curve; there is a whole new look, a real padding-out, and depending on the shape of the pad itself, maybe a certain sharpness in the overall look. It is only that the garment obviously 'fits' overall i.e. in the armhole, waist etc, that you can see that the pad is effecting a new 'look'. The effect is that the shoulder line is elongated. The effect is artificial but this is maybe the look that is wanted. The shoulder pad has really 'padded' out the shoulder line.