All in a days work

I'm wrapping up for the night and getting very ready for my trip to Ecuador tomorrow and I wanted to share my day, and my week. I woke up with a solid idea for the Braciallini competition that I will be participating in this semester (more on that later probably), so I'm very happy that I finally know what I'm going to do. I planned on going to LIC before heading to the studio, but the pattern maker whom I was supposed to meet was running late so I went to the studio first. On the way there I helped a girl chase her runaway puppy and keep him from running into the street, so that was good, and gave me positive energy. Then I saw two girls kissing, that was hot. Then I went to the studio and did some work, went to the garment district for a drop-off, finally went to LIC to pick up from the pattern maker, went back to the studio, did some more work, then back down to the garment district, back up town, back to Union Square, finally, errands, packing, dancing, also finally, and now here I am, summing up a days work :)

P.S. Interning has been awesome so far, I had a great week being there, and I feel like I'm learning about pattern making, especially for gowns and cocktail dresses, super important, and I love doing runs and going on errands because I get to meet people in the industry and learn where everything is located. So over all, it's been great, and I can't wait to go back, and to start classes again.

Learning as I go

We all know that a big, major huge part of learning is hands-on experience. After all, you won't learn everything that you need in a classroom, no matter how insightful the teacher is, or how hands-on the class is. That's why everyone recommends doing an internship, or two or three while in school. I think that this is a great idea - I want to learn as much as I can about daily operations of a fashion business and I want to meet as many people as possible, hear their stories and learn from their experiences.

With that said, I decided to look for an internship for the spring semester. I spent a long time working on my resume, changing it from that of a marketing professional to that of a fashion design student. It was definitely a challenge combining past skills with new ones. But I finally finished it and last week I started sending it out. Craigslist and FreeFashionInternships.com are GREAT resources! I got 3 replies. The first was for a volunteer oportunity at the (capsule) women's trade show. I'm super excited about it, two whole days of meeting and hopefully helping and working with some of the hottest up-and-coming designers. I can't wait. The second two replies were for internship opportunities. Both were young companies, with really great clothes, I was really excited to meet them.

So I got myself ready and pretty and all set to go. And here is where the learning process comes in. These interviews were completely different then the interviews that I'm used to. Same format of course, you sit down and talk, but as I really don't have that much to say about myself yet, I had the opportunity to talk to these designers, and ask them about themselves, their studios and their work. And I blanked. You know that moment in an interview, or any conversation for that matter, when you know that you have to say something, and it really better be something good, and then it turns into just ask a question, and then it turns into just say anything, move your mouth damn it and nothing is coming out and you're sitting there smiling going "ummmm, yea" all in a matter of one minute or so? Yea, it was like that. And that sucked. And of course I got upset aftewards. But that made me think about what I should be asking, and what I would want to be asked about if I was the one interviewing. And although the experience was not the best, it did help me learn about how to prepare for future interviews, which is pretty good. And, even better, I did hear back from one of the interviewers, and he wants me to come in on Monday morning! Fortunately, even fumbling and bumbling can be overlooked when people know that you're just starting out and learning. And I can't wait to start :)

Playing with color

For my color theory final, we were allowed to create our own projects based on what we learned in class. The projects were allowed to be within our major, or based on what we have done in class through out the semester. I recently saw the amazing and incredibly inspiring Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit at the Whitney and decided to do a collection based on her work. I really liked her earlier works, so I decided to focus on the Series I paintings. The colors and the layers are so intense and vivid, it really gave me a lot of inspiration, and a lot of looks to choose from. I also thought about Georgia O'Keeffe herself, her life, where she lived and her style of painting. I wanted to make the collection beautiful, sensual and earthy at the same time. To tie in what we have learned in color theory, I decided to focus on one color, and play around with its shades, hues and tones. I picked the color orange, lightened and darkened it, added gray and mixed it with red. I also used two shades of blue for the shoes to compliment the orange and highlight it even more. I really like how this collection and presentation came out. Here are the results, and more to come soon!

Romeo & Juliet, Sergei, Max and Joan

Here is the first of my final assignments. This is the final project for Fashion Drawing I class. We were asked to select an art movement from two options - surrealism or pop art - and create a capsule collection of 10 looks based on an inspiration taken from within the selected movement. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to work within the surrealist movement. I thought that it was a better fit for the flowing lines and movement that I am drawn to, and encouraged more playful details and unexpected cuts, volume and silhouettes. As I was doing research, I came across the Ballet Russes company, run by Sergei Diagilev. As a former dancer, I couldn't help but be drawn to it! The ballet company was renown in the 1910 - 1930's Paris for their dramatic stage productions, for the best dancers and composers of the time, and the most prominent artists and designers, who created stunning costumes and stage sets. Among the surrealist artists who worked with the company were Max Ernst and Joan Miro, who created the costumes and stage sets for the production of Romeo & Juliet. My collection is inspired by their designs, the story of Romeo & Juliet, and by the movement, grace and beauty of ballet.

A few months later...

A few months later, and here I am, reading over my last entry. Unfortunately I'm not that great at keeping resolutions and my idea to blog every week about my experience in school didn't go over too well. I'm actually really bummed about it, but the semester turned out to be so busy that the only free time that I had was usually spent on sleeping or trying to maintain a semblance of a relationship with hubby and our friends (I think they still remember my name...I hope). And in the time that I was not writing, I was super busy keeping up with homework and acquiring new skills! And yes, I still love, love, love my hw, there was just a lot, lot, lot of it!

Since I spend so much time working, I decided to post some of my work here on this blog, especially my final projects. I really like how they came out and I'm very proud of myself for all the work that went in them, and the results that came out! I'm still in the process of making all the files blog-friendly (converting the files from PSD to JPEG), so in the meanwhile, here are some pics that my husband took of my final Drawing and Color Theory projects, and of me working :)

Drawing, inspired by Ballet Russes Romeo & Juliet sets, created by Max Ernst and Joan Miro:
Color Theory, inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe's Series I paintings and the color orange:
Me at work :)

So here it is, a glimpse into what I have accomplished this semester. More to come soon :)

week 1

So. I survived the first week. It wasn't too bad actually. I took 8 classes, spent the week running around trying to get supplies, started on a tremendous pile of homework that I think will only keep on growing as the semester goes on, and I keep getting more and more excited every day. I LOVE my homework! How crazy does that sound?! Have you ever heard anybody saying that? That they actually love their homework? Well, here it is, the first time ever - I love my homework, I really do. But let me explain why - I am learning about colors, how we perceive them and the meanings that colors hold for us. I am learning how to draw fashion figures, how to start mood boards and swatch collections that will later serve to inspire my designs. I am designing and drawing my own logo (awesome!), I am learning how to sew, and am analyzing designers, their lines and stores. Did I mention that this is AWESOME! And I have to say, and this will sound cheesy, but I feel like the creative side of me is starting to come out again. Playing with pencils and markers and colors for a week without sitting at a computer unless you want to will kind of do it to anyone I think, but it's pretty exciting, and I'm psyched to see it happening.

I think that's all I have to say so far. Maybe I'll post later, but for now, I think I'm going to go study!!

It's been a while...

It's been a long, long time since my last post, over two years in fact. I didn't mean to stay away for so long, but one thing led to another, and two long years of internet silence resulted. Many things happened. I traveled to Serbia, Montenegro, UK, Morocco, Amsterdam, Jamaica, Florida, California and Nevada. I moved twice, shopped way too much, and wore some amazing outfits. I continued working and then decided that I had enough of it. Most importantly, I got engaged and got married. That was and still is an amazing time, and maybe I'll talk about it some more another time. But right now, I want to talk about my job, deciding that I am not happy with it, and doing something about it!

Sounds pretty boring, right, blogging about work? But it explains how I got to where I am now. I was unhappy, unsatisfied and quite honestly downright miserable. And after many attempts to change my situation while staying in the same career, without any positive results, I decided to change everything. I applied to the AAS program in Fashion Studies at Parsons. And I was accepted.

And now here it is,schooltime. After months and days and hours of waiting and waiting and eagerly counting down the moments until classes would start, here it is, that amazing wonderful moment when the process towards everything I have wanted and dreamed of will begin. I will now not only be eating, living, breathing and talking about fashion, I will also be making it, hopefully. Pretty cool, huh?

So what's the point of yet another long rant on seemingly nothing relevant? Well, I decided that I want to blog about my experience at Parsons, and share with you, the world, everything that I will experience and go through during my time there. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this and post at least once a week.

Wish me luck!

Two parties, two outfits, and nothing to wear

So here's what happened. Last Tuesday I had two completely different parties to go to. First was a cocktail party at Henri Bendel, second, a b-day party at tenjune. With no time to come home and change in between, I had to choose an outfit that would work for both. The two options were either a baby-doll cut little black dress with black tight and gray patent leather and suede T-strap shoes, or, black jeans with a black tank and a long gold sequined top with patent leather booties (hot gold sequined top, not trashy looking, shiny gold sequined top). I chose the little black dress.

The problem started when at the cocktail party, at least ten other girls were wearing the exact same outfit - with various styles of black dresses. Call it classy, call it lack of originality or call it nothing else to wear, but I was seriously regretting my wardrobe decision that evening, and it was only 9:30pm. Fast forward to the club, what do we see as soon as we settled down at our table? Not one, not two, but four girls dressed in tight jeans and sequined tops. And a half an hour later another girl showed up in the exact same outfit. Talk about being happy about what I was not wearing! It's one thing to be in a little black dress at a cocktail party, but being in the same outfit as five other girls at a small and still trendy club! It hurts to even think about it! (For the record, all of their tops were tacky with shiny sequins.)

Bottom line is that I was going to whine and rant about how there's no more originality left in fashion and how everything is exactly the same and everyone dresses exactly alike (I still love you H&M). But no! I refuse to believe that. I'll just have to work harder next time and put more thought into what I wear. Because feeling tired and lazy when getting dressed is just no excuse for looking average. And so what if the outfit is just a little bit forced. At least you'll be the only one in the room wearing that gold taffeta skirt, blue polka dot top and pink shoes (sometime originality and creativity closely border tackiness and what-the-hell-was-she-thinking, but that's a whole different blog).

Hey this almost works:





top from target.com, skirt from jcrew.com, shoes bcbg from zappos.com

France 2

I'm back in New York! France was amazing! Beautiful, charming, stylish and so so very tasty, it was everything I expected it to be and more! And as for the fashion, it was every where! On people of all ages, in large towns, the tiniest little villages, kids, and sometimes even dogs!There were so many adorable boutiques that I seriously think I almost got whiplash from staring at all the window displays for too long. I loved that girls did not wear sneakers unless they were actually exercising. Guys didn't wear sneakers too often either. Everyone looked comfortable but dressed to impress at the same time - cute jeans, flats, a nice shirt and a tailored jacket, jewlery, makeup - easy, effortless, but very clearly pulled together and oh so cheek. Dark colors ruled, on the streets and in stores it was black and grey only. And I loved that H&M and Zara were everywhere, talk about universal style! These stores are so popular that in Monte Carlo, Zara was literally around the corner from YSL...go figure. But my favorite part, the absolute and total fashion love of my vacation was this coat from Custo Barcelona:

It's a little hard to see in the picture, the website images are better: http://www.custo-barcelona-store.com/index_flash.php?idioma=ING&tienda=85 but this coat is just so beautiful and unique! The red and grey fabric will let you stand out in any crowd, the cut makes it very girly but the fur sleeves give it a sophisticated edge! Just like everything else on that website, this coat is really one of a kind, and inspired the fashion part of my vacation!

Forcing what you wear

This morning while doing my usual routine of pulling random clothes out of the closet and somehow turning them into a wearable, office-appropriate outfit, my sister, who stayed over at my apartment the night before, turned around, looked at me in slight amazement, and said
- you always look so good when you dress for work, do you plan your outfits? It's so hard for me to get dressed, I always have to try things on the night before to make sure that the outfit works.

Now obviously I didn't have a tape recorder so I'm paraphrasing. And obviously I have my bad work-outfit days too. And although I don't try clothes on at night, I do think about what I want to wear the next day. And I also have plenty of days when I'm running out of my apartment at 8:50 screaming "I'm late" because I couldn't think of what to wear or because the outfit that I planned on wearing just didn't work. But the point is that the comment made me think about how long it takes me to get dressed and whether the time I spend getting dressed has an impact on the outcome of my outfit (very scientific, I know, but w/e, I'm bored at work).

And here's what I came up with: in general, the less time I spend on an outfit, the better it looks. It comes together naturally, showing my own unique style. On the other hand, when I spend two hours putting together a 'look', it becomes exactly that, a 'look' rather then something that's really me. It might look good, or even fabulous, but it's forced, and that always shows. The extra piece of jewelry, the over-the-top shoes, the scarves, belts, whatever it is, if you see a girl or a guy with just a little too much on, you know that they spent way too much time getting dressed before leaving the house and their outfit is forced.

Unfortunately amazing outfits don't always happen in 5 minutes and sometimes making something work takes forever, but here's the deal - after you're finally fully dressed and ready to go, get rid of as many accessories as possible, or at least take off the very last thing that you put on. Because after all, less is more!

One of my favorite shoes

I always thought that fashion exists on the Upper West Side. After all, just because you have to look for it doesn't mean that it's not there. I was once again proved right yesterday. While out shopping for a b-day present, I couldn't help doing a serious double take when I saw a girl wearing these Tashkent by Cheyenne platform wedges:

I've been in love with these shoes since the first time I saw them last April. The style is so unique and funky, the holes in the back add a little bit of edge and the variety of colors (they come in grey, black, burgundy, and deep blue) means that there's a pair for any one's wardrobe. My personal fave is the grey. The girl I saw was wearing them with a Burberry-ish plaid mini-dress, but these can be worn with jeans, leggings, shorts, skirts, or whatever else comes to mind. With shoes like this, you just can't go wrong!

Image and details from shopbop.com

France!!!

It's that time! I've been waiting and planning and now it's almost here, in one week and one day, or next Friday, I'm off on my first trip to France! Woo hoo! And now it's time for my favorite part of planning for vacation - packing! My previous trips were all to places where I'd be at the beach all the time, very active/adventurous vacations that required rough clothes, or at one place the whole time, like resorts or cruises, so I wouldn't have to carry my stuff around all the time. But this vacation is different. I'll be in one of the most fashionable countries in the world, traveling from place to place every day. Bringing a big suit case will be really inconvenient, and I will be site seeing and walking around all day long. And of course going out and partying at night. So I need a wardrobe that will be comfortable, France-worthy stylish, can easily go from day to night, and can fit into one small suitcase! This is not going to be easy.

But after looking at some packing lists designed for backpackers (http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/womenpacking.htm, http://www.backpackeurope.com/packing/tips.html, http://www.reidsguides.com/t_pa/t_pa_packing_list.html), I think I have a good start:

1. two pairs of jeans - fitted grey and blue jeans
2. leggings
3. a few long sleeved t-shits that I can layer or wear separately
4. two or 3 sweaters
5. two dresses that won't wrinkle, one of them black so I can layer it with the t-shirts and legging during the day or wear out at night.
6. flat boots, sneakers, and maybe if I have room, a pair of black heels
7. and of course all the accessories and toiletries and small necessary stuff like a hat and tons of scarves.

I'm sure I'll rework this list a thousand times and change it all completely when I actually start packing next week, but I'm excited just thinking about it, and I think I'm of to a pretty good start!

Guess what I saw today?...S&tC Spoilers

Here are a mere 3 of the gazillions of images posted on the web of the wedding scene in the upcoming S&tC movie. But guess what I saw today - a stretch limo pulls up to a town car out side the Bryant Park Grill, Big steps out of the car, Carrie runs out of the limo towards Big and starts hitting her with her bouquet screaming "I knew it, I knew you'd do this to me!" Miranda and Charlotte run out after her, try restraining her and eventually lead her away with a hysterical Carrie collapsing in their arms!

Ooh, the drama! I can't wait to find out what actually happened!! And all in one lunch break!

I have to say though, I love the Zac Possen dresses on Miranda, Carrie and Samantha. The wedding dress on Carrie is absolutely stunning but WTF's with that blue feather. I know you're supposed to have something blue but I'd want to see the bride's face, not parts of dead chickens!

Meat packing on a Wednesday night

Last night was great - art exhibit opening at the Soho House, dinner at Paradou and an In Style party at Tenjune. I say pretty good for a Wednesday night. Of course I was checking out every girl that walked by me. Soho House was great, the typical, gorgeous "I don't care what I look like, I'm fabulous no matter what" crowd. The only thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was a girl wearing a tiered skin colored mini-dress with the layers starting right below her chest. Tiered dresses don't work for anyone except uber skinny tall girls (models), and skin colored dresses only work on girls who don't have that skin color! But anyway, skipping dinner and moving on to the In Style party, it was great, but after a while i was looking around and thinking how many girls can wear the exact same outfit! It was either tight mini-dresses with flab sticking out, baggy dresses on skinny girls making them look preggers or the leggings look...will we ever get over the '80's??? It was like all the girls called each other before leaving home to make sure that they're wearing the 'right' outfit. Boring! Just in case you're wandering, I was wearing a high-waist brown pencil skirt!

I'm trying to find some good pics online, our camera broke.

A runway show I actually like

Transitioning from structured and sophisticated to delicate and feminine to fun and flirty, from super glamorous to just super weird in one collection Alexander McQueen created yet another unique and vibrant show. Some pieces are genuinely weird and I can't imagine anyone wearing them, but others, like the pink to purple chiffon dress with black butterflies are absolutely gorgeous. I want that dress...

The structured:

The sophisticated:

Delicate:

Feminine:

Fun:

Flirty:

Glamorous:

Weird:

Yee-haw! ...huh?

Way back when before dust masks men would tie hanker chiefs around their nose to protect themselves from breathing in dust, or if you're into the occasional cowboy flick, to keep their identity hidden while robbing banks. While taking those much needed breaks from herding animals (or robbing banks) they would pull the hanker chief down and let it hang around their necks, creating a cowboy-cool look repeated in every Western movie ever made. This is a great look for the wild, wild west, or those occasional horse back riding excursions - after all, you have to have the right look at all times for all occasions. But lately I've been wandering, what is it doing on the streets of New York?

I've been seeing girls sporting scarves styled as cowboy kerchiefs all over the City lately - during brunch in the East Village, on the subway after work, around the West Village and Meat Packing while out at night. I know New York can be wild and dusty and in the heat of summer rather smelly, but turning a gorgeous Hermes or de la Renta scarf into a cowboy kerchief is unacceptable. After all, no matter how many different kinds of 'animals' we have here, you're not about to go herding them. Or start robbing banks, I hope. Bottom line is that the cowboy boot style was bad enough, let's leave the scarves alone!

Here are some images of how scarves should be worn from BergdorfGoodman.com:

Color me purple

Getting dressed Thursday morning I noticed that for 4 days in a row this week I wore something purple. Purple tights with black pencil skirt, sweater and round-toe pumps on Monday; purple shoes with a brown button-down dress and brown tights on Tuesday; black flared pants with a purple jersey fabric top on Wednesday; and brown pants, white top and beige shoes with purple flowers on them on Thursday. By Friday I had enough. I decided to go with more subtle blues and grays instead. But what do I get in by in-box on the one day that I wanted to skip this color? A shopbop.com trend alert screaming that Purple Rules! I guess it's nice to know that I'm wearing the trends before they even announce them :) But it got me thinking about what this color means and why I was so drawn to it this week. I did some googling, and here are some attributes of purple:

http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html
Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.

According to surveys, almost 75 percent of pre-adolescent children prefer purple to all other colors. Purple is a very rare color in nature; some people consider it to be artificial.


http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/purple.htm
Royalty and Spirituality: Purple is royalty. A mysterious color, purple is associated with both nobility and spirituality. The opposites of hot red and cool blue combine to create this intriguing color.

Nature of Purple: Purple has a special, almost sacred place in nature: lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet flowers are often delicate and considered precious. Because purple is derived from the mixing of a strong warm and strong cool color it has both warm and cool properties. A purple room can boost a child's imagination or an artist's creativity. Too much purple, like blue, could result in moodiness.

Culture of Purple: The color of mourning for widows in Thailand, purple was the favorite color of Egypt's Cleopatra. It has been traditionally associated with royalty in many cultures. Purple robes were worn by royalty and people of authority or high rank. The Purple Heart is a U.S. Military decoration given to soldiers wounded in battle.

Using Purple: Deep or bright purples suggest riches while lighter purples are more romantic and delicate. Use redder purples for a warmer color scheme or the bluer purples to cool down.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_psychology
Envy, Sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth, royalty, nobility, ceremony, mystery, wisdom, enlightenment, arrogance, flamboyance, gaudiness, mourning, profanity, exaggeration, confusion, homosexuality, pride, Scorpio (violet, star sign), May, November, riches, romanticism (light purple), delicacy (light purple).Purple is the color of mourning for widows in Thailand, favorite color of Egypt's Cleopatra, and the purple heart - given to soldiers who have been wounded during warfare.


Hmm...I guess I was feeling powerful, yet spiritual. With a special connection with nature. You an find more websites like the ones I mention by googling color 'meanings'. Meanwhile, here are some purple goodies from my favorite online store, shopbop.com: