obsession : fruit prints

Possibly the most-talked-about print of the spring season was Prada's ridiculous and wonderful banana print (well, the whole show was perfection in my opinion, but that's me). 

 Perfectly bold and graphic.  Had then been smaller, it might have looked garish.  

Stella McCartney was on the same brainwave - bright, punchy, and totally different.

 

Very contrasting to Miuccia's print - photographic and realistic, and with a computer-graphic type symmetry.

That last print hasn't left my mind since I first saw it.  At the fabric store today, I was browsing the clearance section after having picked up a mint georgette for my draping final (think sheer, gathers, column shape - pics soon).  I stopped mid-step when I saw an outlandish white fabric with a lemon and lime print.  Are these going to become shorts?  What else would they be.

 

 

That is exactly the fabric right there.  High-waisted shorts with no waistband; invisible side zipper, darts in front and back, no cuffs.  Just totally clean.  Can you picture this with a sheer white jersey tank?  Summer heaven. 

Just for a little fun:

 

Great minds think alike - top from Zara.

beauty : neon pink lips

Hot pink lips at Diane von Furstenberg and Fendi, respectively.  I am absolutely obsessed.

stylish blogger awards

A huge thanks to Julie Rose at Julie Rose Sews for the Stylish Blogger Award!  If you haven't checked out her site, it is very worth doing. 

How this works is you post 7 random facts about yourself, then pass the award onto 5 other bloggers who do the same!  So away we go.  I'll try to think of some things people don't already know.

1. I love the smell of sunscreen, because it reminds me of summer that much.
2. My new favorite colors are slowly becoming orange and purple. 
3. Linguistics utterly fascinates me.  Not only the etymology of words but the actual formations of words in your mouth when you say them as well.  Google it.  The names for different parts of the words are fabulous (dipthong, for example). 
4. Christopher Kane and Josh Goot are beginning to take their places at the top of my favorite designers list.  Kane's galaxy print fabrics and Goot's abstract painted prints are what won me over completely.
5.  I have to write everything down.  I also have to set alarms on my phone to remember to read the things I write down.  Without these things, I would live an "ignorance is bliss" life and forget to do anything.
6.  I finally have a new deviantART account! 
7.  This summer, I plan to teach myself how to use flash in hopes that I can better redesign my website.  So updates on that soon!

The 5 bloggers that you should add immediately:

Natalie Brooke
Kristin Hardgrove
Lauren Kolodny & Erica Chan Coffman
Leandra Medine
Andy

blogger issues

I've been trying to upload posts for about a week now, but there is something wrong with the Blogger server and it rejects photos (this problem spans across many Blogger users right now, not just me).  So bear with me, I do have posts (including body wear images) but for whatever reason am unable to share them for now.

Have a wonderful long weekend! 

P.S. I have somewhere to live in New York!!

urban farmer updates

 

Just need to do a few more then I'll do a post with them in a line-up, in the correct order for the collection.

vitaminwater CFDA contest submission

vitaminwater and the CFDA (council of fashion designers of America) are hosting a contest for vitaminwater's "color collection" of t-shirts.  Six designers have already created shirt designs, but they are allowing submissions for the seventh!  Since DAAP is a CFDA-selected school, I thought I'd take a shot at this.

 

I was asked to put together a mood board showcasing my inspiration.  The flavor I chose to work with was "drive", a blood orange and mixed berry water.  I was particularly in love with the label, which as you can see above is bright orange and royal blue.  Since complementary colors are big for spring 2012 (and I'm loving orange and blue right now), I played up the color combo in my design.  And because the brand I am representing sells water, I designed my colors to look as though they were painted with watercolor paints, and used water droplets to capture the essence of the product further.  I have always admired vitaminwater for their simple logo and its beautiful sense of balance, so I kept my design centered and linear with clean edges.  I hope my design captures the brand identity while still maintaining my own design aesthetic, and that it shows a creative abstraction of a recognizable product.

I needed to submit a flat of the design on a white t-shirt (the design could be on the front or back, but not both), and then a croquis version of the design.  Both were done using a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet (love), and the actual shirt design was done in Photoshop CS3 (I know, I know).  And I am very proud of those water droplets.  

For a t-shirt, this is definitely something I would wear, so I hope that it strikes a chord with the judges for being a unique graphic representation of my inspiration.  If not, I had a lot of fun doing it and I learned how to make water droplets in Ps!  So it's still a winning experience.  The winner will get $5,000 and a two-day trip to New York City with a guest, to see their shirt produced and showcased at NY Fashion Week (September 8th -15th - WOOHOO for being down there anyway!), and to watch a few fashion shows as well!  Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.  I can't remember if you can vote for your favorite designs - I think you can - but that won't be til September.  Wish me luck!

Oh, and we had to include a head shot (they said it is so they can see what the next big designer looks like!).  If you want to see which one I picked, it's the one I'm now using in my "about" section. 

geometric draping project

I loved this assignment - use fabric starting as a geometric shape (I chose a pentagon) and drape a garment using three seams or less.  The fabric may be cut into in any way, as long as it is not a seam (hems, neck holes and armscyes, etcetera do not count as seams - however pleats and pintucks would).

I used three seams total - the center back seam, the seam attaching the halter neck back to the top of the center back, and the inch-long center front area at the base of the deep v-neck.  Does this color remind you of scrubs?  I have a minty green jersey at home that I might try to make this out of - it would drape so nicely.  The material I used here is a woven crepe-back satin. 

In a perfect world, that center front crease would be pressed out. 

Anyone in the mood for a little humor? 

No, those aren't tan lines - that is my chest being squished unnaturally upwards.

Overall the critique went great - George had some suggestions for better cups next time (tighter directly under the bust, a slightly looser cup so it doesn't "squish" as tightly, padding in the outside corners of the cups rather than the bottoms).  It was really fun to see everyone in theirs - the styles were of such a variety and everyone looked so (uncomfortably) killer when George tightened the laces of our waists even more!

If I could change anything about my corset, it would be that I took out more width in the waist area rather than all over - I did not take anything out of my corset.  George advised us to take out 2" as that is the standard minimum measurement subtraction for corsetry but mentioned those of us "built without flesh" wouldn't experience much of a change with it and that we could leave our patterns as-is if we preferred.  I figured it would just get too uncomfortable with that many inches taken out so I left it.  But, I could have achieved more of an hourglass figure with an inch or so taken out of the waistline.  But I am so glad I know how to make a corset now!

Sewing up some of the body wear pieces tonight!

corset project

 The corset is finished! This was a project for my draping class - we will wear these all in the hallway tomorrow and critique them.


Salmon pink cotton canvas
Nude lace overlay
Cream broadcloth lining
12" gold busk
Padded cups
34 bones total

on my wish list 5/17

Since I can't really move much, I'm sitting on my bed with my laptop wondering what I can do.  I might as well share some of the things I'm currently obsessed with (since a lot of bloggers do this) because the least I can do is move my fingers and type!

Gorgeous and intriguing draping done in an interesting print; Alpha 60 Vivienne dress, $280,00

The perfect bright pink for Spring; NARS Pure Matte lipstick in "Carthage", $25,00

The shoes I'll have my models in for the body wear critique, amazingly identical to those in my sketch; Gabriella Rocha Demetria, $60,00

Extra points if you can name what show probably inspired this dress design; ASOS Variegated Stripe Frill Hem Dress, $55,40

I would make leggings out of this fabric; Spandex World Inc. tie dye mesh, $8,00 a yard