Sew Thus is Life...

So I got my hand on a video of the show! You can see my stuff below. The full 2012 show can be watched here . Enjoy!

As the weekend winds down I can finally recap some of the events- basically the Annual Fashion Show put on by my school every year- this past Saturday in fact. My family (below) came to support me, as well as my boyfriend, roommate, my bestie and her boyfriend. As always it was a lovely affair, with my evening kicking off with a reception for the VIP guests being honored at the gala that was held later that evening. There I met Alan Sirkin, an alumnus and the President of PVH Co,(Phillips- Van Heusen) the parent company to many high name brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Van Heusen, Calvin Klein, Geoffrey Beane and others; as well as Francis Shammo, CFO of Verizon via his son and girlfriend who were very interested in what "fashion designers do". After a couple glasses of wine, two cheese plates and several rounds of mini-crabcakes  and chili chicken skewers, it was time to head downstairs to the show. It was very surreal as many of the girls will be graduating in two wee...

I'm a happy lil camper right now. Contemp is done and I got into the Annual Fashion show all in the same day! And I thought of this song. And I wanted to dance. So I did, by myself in my room. Its such a relief knowing that my work was strong enough to be accepted, it makes the upset stomachs and all nighters well worth it. Now I can focus on making my mini-line for my interview with Charming for  Friday. Collection is not just a class, its definitely a labor of love, a lot goes into creating things interesting enough to considered different, or avant garde or just worthy of attention. Like my class judge told me, "its often that one little thing that makes it safe that makes it forgettable; so be bold". I did, and I guess it paid off. I honestly couldn't be happier. This weekend I'm also going to start a new page on my blog, "Random Tutorials (Having Nothing to do with Fashion)". lol. But its going to be a collection of simple tutorials of some of m...

Upendo- Chopteeth Afrofunk Band  Oy. Collection officially kicked my butt this past week thanks to the addition of academic and co-curricular distractions and hangups. But its finished and off for Fashion Show judging whatnot. I'm happy with it for the most part, of course there's things I'm a little concerned about, but nothing so major; I think I have at least a 75- 80% chance in getting all 5 pieces in. Anyway, what's done is done. If you recall from my earlier posts I channeled West African wax prints (ankara to some) into Western society silhouettes (echoing a similar idea from my wedding dress). The whole process was a learning experience- from the fabric sourcing, to manipulation (including a temporary fear of color resulting into a heavy hand of black that eventually got nixed), to "industry" critique to actually putting the looks together. I even legit had a major brainfart the other day when my professor said we were supposed to keep a journal for...

Two quick notes first! I'm sure you noticed my new header upon clicking on my page. I wanted something more exciting than a typeface but not as cluttered/ messy as the last one. Second- I started adding "pages" to the tab bar located under the header. This will probably expand as classes wind down and I get into other things. Maybe I'll do some simple tutorials or patterns or something :-) But ok- Last week for me was one of those weeks that so much happened, you can't really remember anything. You know, one of those completely blurry crazy busy, one-thing-after-the-other weeks. First it was my midcrit for Collection, which went mostly well... but of course it had those time and distance issues that inevitably come up. Our critic, Jessica Groom, a well established designer who's worked for several companies has offered good advice but wants to make changes now to one of the pieces that could've been addressed before now if she was based locally/ had see...

I never thought myself to be overconfident. If anything I'm always afraid that I didn't do as well only to find out otherwise. I tend to be proud of my work after the fact, but never in the process. I mean my industry is tough; and yes, you can stand by your work, but that doesn't make people accept it. Yesterday I was happy that my muslin fit, and I think it's ready to go to final cutting. Apparently Jane did not. Don't get me wrong, she didn't hate what i showed her, and she thought the execution was done well. It just wasn't SEXY enough. not sexy enough Jane? I understand a model and a dressform are two different things, for one a model is LIVING, with imperfections and bad posture and anorexia nervosa and stress and flat pattern homework and periods and no boobs and unshaved pits and feelings and-- what am I? chopped liver? Not SEXY. Apparently my neckline is too high and the bodice has no structure( after I asked her if I should make a foundation). a...

So Collection is chugging along very smoothly... and I just fit my muslin on my model and.....IT FITS! ITS PERFECT! I've never made a muslin that fits so perfectly. unfortunately, my professor had to leave before I could fit... so I'm not sure if I can cut this weekend, depends on if we can all meet tomorrow. My fabric also came in yesterday so I'll let you see those in a bit. Back to the collection. My first look is a fitted semi- sheath dress (semi because it's technically strapless, but taking cues from Africa, its a "Sheath"). I'm calling it the Bantu Sheath dress, and it features side to back cutouts, and a twisted and knotted center front detail. I'm using the royal blue and orange wax print for this one. front, with knot detail back My next look, pending this ones final cut approval, will be a three pc pants set featuring skinny pants, a gathered bustier top and a large sweeping linen swing jacket. I said I would show you the fabric...

So the whole premise behind my collection is African wax prints. So in doing my fabric and color research I stumbled on a few textile trade shows showcasing the seasons upcoming fabric trends. One of them were the wildly graphic styles that I'm using in Collection. Below are the prints I'm tentatively using, we'll find out for sure tomorrow... blue/lime/orange Orange/ turquoise wax dynamic orange/blue/lime So that's my side. Stylesight, my fashion trend crack, have posted some good inspiration shots, some blatantly African-feeling or tribal. Maybe later I'll post more of the shows but for now enjoy these lil tidbits. Thanks to Stylesight for helping me stay inspired and making my life a lot easier, Brush Tribal Ok. Going to bed so i can "make it werk" tomorrow. Peace babydolls. P.S. as of 6:00 i got confirmation my lil African hookup has my fabric in stock and i should have it by Tuesday!

Ok, I know I'm getting really bad about keeping up with posts. So here's a quick recap of all that's going on. Wedding Dress: Is back in my possession, of course there was a myriad of things my teacher and tech design guy wanted me to fix, not only for the Sew In Love show but the annual school show too. (blah) On top of that they wanted me to add beading EVERYWHERE. Ummm... in progress of sorts. Here's what it looked like before pre- added embellishment (the original fabric is already embroidered and sequined, I guess more is more his time..)  front, with overskirt  back front again, without overskirt Collection 1: Had my concept and color crit/ presentation already, now we're working on sketches and complete looks. I lucked out in finding two models already, I'm waiting to hear from one more before I have to resume my search. The title of it is called "Motherland Redux" and is based around wax prints and African transmodernism.I'll post pic...