The backs of garments is so terribly neglected in design it’s almost a tragedy. This is especially true considering the potential it holds for design, and especially that for women’s garments where baring some of it is considered stylish, sexy and/or desirable in some other way. Men’s garments, not so much, hahaha.

But think about all the things you can do with the backs of garments, though.

For starters, if you just cover the back, it is the biggest cut on your upper body garment on which you have to work. If you wanted to put any sort of design on it, whether applique, attachment, pattern, jewelry, and so on, you won’t have any larger territory on which to work for your shirt, blouse, coat, dress shirt, T-shirt, dress top, etc.

Then, if you want to bare any of it, you won’t have a larger space into which to cut holes, maybe form nets of bands to hold something together, add netting for a surface that is see through to simulate bareness while allowing work to be done on the surface.

There are so many possibilities! What I have listed are concepts, but if you want to see details, please go to my Pinterest board called Backings and see what I have there. These are all possible ideas that have been done. Some are rather challenging, but maybe they’ll inspire something you can do more at your level. Others are rather simple in looks and/or effort, but they really make an impact. There will be more with time as I find more examples and grow that board, so you may want to check back once in a while (no pun intended), or follow the board if you’re on Pinterest.

You can make your garments a lot more interesting just by giving a little thought to their backs, whether you buy these garments, design or make them. You can also make an impression you might not otherwise be able to make with your fashion, like if you walk past someone in the same direction to have something to grab their attention. If you have or plan to make something that looks interesting from the front that will turn heads as people walk past you in the opposite direction, give them more to look at and be wowwed by when they turn their heads! And give them more to talk about regarding your fashion! 🙂