activewear collection

The reason I haven't posted in ages - but it is finally done!

 

Spandex work out top with nude mesh
Spandex/polyester blend "silky" basketball shorts

 

Spandex sports bra with nude mesh & hand dyed straps

 

Ponte cover-up sweatshirt

 Spandex leggings

 

Nylon waterproof running shorts with ponte waistband

 

Spandex/polyester blend "silky" cut out top

 

Nylon gym bag

 

Spandex sports bra with nude mesh & hand dyed straps

 

Spandex empire running top

 

Spandex compression shorts

Inspired by highway interchanges; designed & executed by me; photographed by Julia Carleton.

kardashian sisters t-shirt contest : VOTE KELSEY!

Hey everyone!  I just wanted to take a moment to share with you that my friend Kelsey Fairhurst, a classmate of mine in fashion design, is in the top 3 for a t-shirt design contest for the Kardashian sisters.  The winner gets $1,000 and the shirt will be produced and sold at Sears for the Kardashian Kollection.

To vote, just click on her illustration above and "like" the photo on the facebook page it takes you to.  If you want to see more of Kelsey's incredible work, go here.  She really deserves to win so please vote if you have the chance!  Thanks so much!

More updates soon on CFDA stufffff.

2 days left to vote for my design! Want to see me on Ellen?

Hey everyone!  Just wanted to remind you that you still have today and part of tomorrow to vote for my t-shirt design here.  Just vote "Rachel".  I am the first contestant listed.  You may also vote once a day.

The events for the 10 finalists begin tomorrow.  We will be staying at the Empire Hotel in the Upper West Side, and I will finally get to meet my 9 competitors.  Yesterday they sent us flip cams to record "confessional" style documentation of us packing and talking about our design, so this is what I will be doing today.  I will upload it once it is finished! 

Wednesday we will get to visit the CFDA Fashion Incubator, a space used to foster up and coming designers for 2 years with mentoring, to help them succeed.  Then we will attend the Anna Sui fashion show!! 

Thursday morning begins with hair and make up (any suggestions?) and then at 1:00 we will gather on the terrace of the hotel for the announcement of the winner!  I am already so nervous just thinking about the final seconds leading up until the reveal - I could not sleep last night very well!  That day will conclude with meeting the CFDA members and a Q&A with Chris Benz.

If I win this competition, my t-shirt will be produced and sold in a 5 day flash sale from September 14th - 19th on eBay, along with the 6 accompanying designer t-shirts designed for vitaminwater as well. 

Another amazing piece of this competition is that the winner will be flown out Saturday to LA for ... THE ELLEN SHOW. 

If you would like to see me on the Ellen show, feel free to vote for my design and help support my dream of starting a line out of college!  The $5,000 scholarship granted to the grand prize winner will be an amazing jump start to my figuring out my future. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported me thus far; if you would like to repost I will be more than happy to do a post for you in the future. 

(I am so jittery just imagining what it would be like to walk onto the set of Ellen!!!)

xx
Rachel

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. 

a few designs

For the past few days I've been sick with tonsillitis (and it's a whole lot of fun) so I've been taking it very easy. Now that I'm done with school, I can actually do nothing now! Which is exactly what I needed this week. But now that I'm feeling better, and can do more than just lay around, I wanted to sketch out some ideas I've had in my head for a while.

Since I will be co-oping next quarter, I will have the luxury of no homework (so free evenings and weekends) - which means I can start sewing for myself again. I brought some fabrics from home, mostly ones I've had for a while and still can't figure out what to make with them. The other day (while at home, eating soup, and reading Real Simple - the best way to get better) I saw an image of a herringbone jacket that reminded me of a fabric I have and instantly I found a use for it. It's a beautiful lightweight coral wool herringbone, and I'm going to conquer my fear of jackets with it.

Shawl collar jacket with assymmetrical hem, wrap front, tie closure, and bell sleeves. The idea is like a "sophisticated bathrobe". We will pretend any of these photos does color justice; for reference, the fabric looks most like the first.

The second is for a fabric I fell in love with at the store a few weeks ago - I love rose gold in jewelry, and this is basically rose gold fabric ... win. In experimental design, one of my friends had a concept using cardboard boxes constructed with fabric, with a wooden frame inside. At one point she tried on the skirt, but without the frame, and the corners of the "box" collapsed and draped so nicely I wanted to make my own version. So this is going to be a holiday skirt inspired by that very idea.

Cowled "corner" skirt with black waistband and six box panels. In this set, the last photo is most accurate in color. There will be an invisible zipper in the back of this skirt for closure.

I'm pretty excited to get started on these. I will probably do the skirt first, since jackets intimidate me a little - I will definitely be doing a muslin version on that one. I'll keep the updates coming!