Two Dresses. One Finalist.
March 17th, 2011 § 2 Comments
I mentioned last week that I was working on and then submitted images of two dresses for a little design competition. Now that one of the two was selected as a finalist, I feel proud enough to share my entries to the California Community College Statewide Fashion Symposium Fashion Show.
But, I mean, really people, can we please try to come up with a longer name?
My original plan was to make two dresses, but this didn’t really work out the way I had hoped, and at the very last minute, Ramon suggested that I enter my One-Yard-Wonder Cowl Back Sequin Dress, as it technically meets the requirements of the competition in the Evening category. Brilliant man he is. This dress was selected as a finalist.
Business in the front, party in the back:
The second dress, for the Contemporary Sportswear category, I started the designing Friday before submissions were due, and had it finished by the following Monday. Sadlly, this dress wasn’t selected as a finalist, but I still love it, and I am going to make another one that fits my, slightly smaller than standard, figure. Both fabrics are Polyester, as I didn’t want to spend a fortune on a dress that I wouldn’t be able to do anything with other than submit it for the competition. So, there are two animal prints. The entire dress is “silk charmeuse” and the center front panels are the second animal print in silk chiffon, layered of the charmeuse.
While I am very excited that my one-yard-wonder was nominated as a finalist, I do feel a twinge of disappointment that the dress I made specifically for the competition wasn’t selected. The sequin dress needs to be mailed down next week, so I’ll get it out, hopefully, by Monday. As for the silk animal print dress? I do love it, and I wish my photography did it more justice. It really is a lovely, and flowy little dress. I would like to show it to my mom, in person, and then I am pretty sure I will be listing it for sale on Etsy.com.
Plans may be in the works for driving down to see the event, as it would also make a great Mom/Daughter weekend getaway to look at fashion, fabric, and race-horses, as it is the closing weekend of Santa Anita.
The California Community College Statewide Fashion Symposium Fashion Show, “A Whirl Wind of Fashions,” main event, where the finalists will be worn on real models—god-damn I sure hope this dress fits—will be held at the California Market Center on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 12:45PM. More info can be found here, while hard to find, is under the “News” section. Additionally, here is a piece about the event from the LA Times.
Super yay on Saint Patrick’s Day! (Intended to be read that so that it rhymes)
I feel all warm and smooshy inside 
Whimsical Notes in Everyday Life. It is the small things. Day 22.
February 13th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I am always trying to find ways of saving the little creative influences in inspiration that I find, but have yet to find the proper mechanism.
When I was younger I used to go through Architectural Digest, tear out anything that I thought was amazing, and paste it into a binder with many, may sheet protectors, creating a tinted window into my ideal three dimensional space. As I got older, my fascination and pleasure from working with three dimensional spaces and shapes grew, however my math skills did not. At some point, around the beginning of high school, I started to realized I thought your parents are sometimes wrong when they say, “When you grow up, you can be anything you want to be.” Not understanding that my idea that I wasn’t good enough to grow-up to become an architect due to my poor math skills was actually the fault of my lack of self confidence, and had nothing to do with my actual capabilities.
Finding new avenues and outlets for my creativity, i do honestly feel that I have gone down the right path, first with studying commercial art, and now moving into creating three dimensions through fibers and textures around the body. All of this being said, I still do not have a solution for saving the whimsical notes and inspirational tid-bits that come into my view, so, even though they may sometimes be unrelated to fashion, I don’t see why I shouldn’t do it here.
I have always loved the idea of building rooms around details that make you feel like a child again. I haven’t seen an example executed so poignantly as this in many years. Wishing that the HDR effects weren’t quite so prominent, the house is still lovely to look at, and also for sale.
On a smaller, still three-dimenstional and whimsical note, while starting to gather ideas for our trip to New York later this spring, I learned about the original Whinny the Pooh dolls standing in the main branch of the New York Library. Now, not only have I found a great new blog to follow, but I think that we are going to NEED to make a trip to the public library while on our great adventure to see these amazing artifacts. I think it is amazing that they exist and that the soft little critters have survived for so long.
And lastly, to bring the whole thing full circle, in strict opposition to the visual opulence I have been staring at for the past week with the Alexander McQueen dress that I just finished, I found a feminine, soft, and whimsical look from Moschino in 2009, followed by a retail look in fall 2010 that shares my love for soft, small critters.
Moschino Chip and Chic Pre-Fall 2010,
Wishing that I could not only find, but afford either the Silk Charmeuse from the dress, or the printed cotton from the shorts, I can think of so many great things to do with this simple, cute fabric.
SoCal Cannonball Run. Day 108.
December 15th, 2010 § 3 Comments
There were a few who took my fabric lust a little too lightheartedly, clearly not seeing the depth and gravity of the problem. However, one of you, my friend Jenson, got it, and offered a trip down to LA, as he had a press product launch to attend on the afternoon of December 14th, in Irvine.
Having made a number of glutten free sandwiches, acquired a case of water, apples and two bags of kettle chips, Jenson and I were in the car and driving by 6 am yesterday. My lead-foot worked to our advantage so that even with 4 bathroom stops—I drank a lot of coffee, then a lot of water—we pulled into Mood Fabric’s Beverly Hills parking lot at a squeak after 11.
Oh great holy ground. I found you.
There they were, hanging from the ceiling. The store owner was there, and quickly pointed me in the direction of the McQueen silk charmeuse bolts. Amazingly beautiful, bold, intricate and, well, striking, I slowly pulled the price tag out of the round bolt. Expecting the DVF silk prices that I’d previously witnessed at Britex of $350 + a yard, I almost fell over when I read $50/yard. Pinch me, I must be dreaming.
They had very little McQueen left, but I did find another digitally printed silk charmeuse animal print that I felt like I couldn’t live without. Wondering through the isles, Mood has more selection than any fabric store I have ever been to before, even despite it’s small size. Upon discovering the Wool Wall, I almost peed my pants. Want pinstriped wool? Well, name the color of the wool, color of the pinstripe, thickness of the pinstripe, width between the pinstripes, and they have it, and here is the best yard, it’s just about all between $18–25/yard. Wait, what?? Really? You can’t even buy a wool remnant at Britex for less than $100/yard. And it just goes on, and on, and on …
Wall-o-Wool:
After a phone call to my mother, concerned I was going to spend too much money—”Well, what did you go down there for, again? And, you haven’t been spending any money on anything just in the hopes of buying one yard of one thing down there. 800 mile trip … just buy the fabric”— I was all lined up to buy two yards of two McQueen prints, only to discover that there was only 1 1/2 yards of one of them, and other than the 1 1/2 yards hanging from the ceiling, that was it. Micha, the very patient gal that was helping me gave me all 3 yards for the price of two.I figure it is enough to working with other fabrics or leathers to make something seriously amazing. Micha told me that the FIDM students that had scheduled to come in that afternoon would be “literally crying” when the realized that I bought the last of their fabric. Sorry, but know it went to a good place!
All three of these prints are large prints, and were shot over a tabletop.
3 1/2 yards (for the price of two)
2 yards
1 1/2 yards (Not McQueen. It was in the Cavalli bin, but I am not positive it is Cavalli)
I thought about getting some wool for some of the projects, but decided that that should be another trip where I can spend more time, and know a little bit more about what I am doing regarding tailoring. So, I was reasonable and stuck to what I drove down there for.
After heading over to Irvine for the most disappointing product launch I’ve ever witnessed at Fox Head, Shift, we got back on the road, and feeling a little bonkers we got back home at 11:30. Totally worth the trip, and I can’t wait to do it again. Biggest fabric selection I have ever seen, everything is high quality, and a quarter of the price I can get similar items up here. So organized, everything is clean, has a home, and is somehow easy so see. No searching for a needle in a haystack. Great staff, super helpful, and as I mentioned, patient. I love you Mood. I love you.
Miles travelled: 786
Total Hours: 19
Glutten Free Sandwiches Eaten: 3
I5 Bathroom stops: 6
Fabric Acquired: Priceless!
