To show you: New York Fashion Week for Fall 2011 is underway! There are already some great things going down the runway - Doo.Ri showed us how beautiful grays can be, in luxurious draped jerseys and wool tailored coats; Rebecca Minkoff sent down some fabulous textures (and furs, and prints ...); and Threeasfour did some fascinatingly unusual garments you just have to see for yourself!
To tell you: I will be doing a graduation dress for one of my sister's classmates! My sister, in addition, will be wearing a dress I made and wore myself for my high school graduation - the infinity dress. You can tie it probably twenty different ways, and so even though it will be the same gown, you won't even know it is. The gown I'm doing for her classmate is literally going to be a copy of a bridal gown from the J Crew Collection - which runs for close to $900,00. I will be working on the sloper and first rough pattern tonight! I am very excited to do this - the fact that someone came to me and asked me to make this for them was incredibly flattering, and I couldn't be more honored. I will be fitting her throughout the process in a fully-functioning muslin before I begin the final-fabric version (which isn't needed until the end of May, to play it on the safe side - but it will be done before then). More updates to come!
To acquaint you: I bought a raw food cookbook today! I read the entire thing this afternoon with the sunshine pouring in through the window. I am not interested in going raw - I simply think the techniques to create interesting flavors and recreate every day dishes are fascinating! If you aren't familiar, raw eating is a vegan diet that goes a step further by keeping all foods raw (or cooked below 104 degrees). The belief is that fruits, nuts and vegetables maintain their highest nutrient levels when raw, or until meeting 104 degree heat, when the nutrients begin to fade slightly from cooking. All recipes are strictly fruit, nut and vegetable based, then. And you guessed it, the desserts are thus good for you (and you can eat chocolate - you simply use the raw cacao bean or cocoa nib instead, with something to sweeten it). You aren't confined to just eating apples and oranges and cashews plain though - there are recipes for "pasta" using zucchini ribbons and a pesto made from parsley, walnuts, avocado, sun-dried tomato, and lemon, for example - which sounds delicious. I find this all very interesting - as an inspiration, rather than a lifestyle, for me personally. What do you think of raw food? Are there any food-related things that you'd like to share?
And of course I didn't forget my promise to never have an all-words post. I love to look at designer sketches - the different styles, how they translate into real garments - their personality really comes through. Rather conversely, I don't recall who drew these - and the signature doesn't help.
Have a good weekend everyone!