3/15 photos of the week and some updates

Sorry for the lack of updates everyone!! I have been so busy with work (and am on a fitness kick so lots of running to prepare for a 5k, knitting to finish up some projects, and general studying about how to begin a fashion brand) so I haven't totally been focused on blogging lately.  But here are some images that have been inspiring me recently!

 In love with this neon orange layer over a simple tank and shorts.

 Again, another entrancing detail - an alluring, exotic cuff with casual jeans.

 Minimal beauty at its best.

 A gorgeous use of color and pattern.

High-rise jeans lend themselves well to a peek of skin in the back - demure and sexy.

Tomorrow, I have my last day as a graphic tees co-op at Abercrombie & Fitch.  And oh my goodness, how wonderful an experience it has been.  I have learned so much about the ins and outs of a successful company - from organization and production, to execution and review.   A few weeks ago I ordered a book off Amazon called How to Set Up and Run a Fashion Label and it has definitely gotten the juices flowing in my head... 

This summer my university transitions from a quarter system to a semester system - unfortunately for our class, we end up getting the short straw and have a mini co-op period over the summer (7-ish weeks) and then our first "semester" co-op back to back with the summer one, for 15 weeks I believe.  Some of my classmates are rolling this into one long co-op, but I have chosen to break it up and use that short period to my advantage to do an entrepreneurial quarter, in which I develop and execute a mini collection (7 weeks is much nicer to go without pay than 15, and good thing I work fast!).  I am very excited about this - I think this opportunity will allow me to better formulate my ideas about my future. During the summer I will be able to have this experience to compare to the others I have had, to understand if I truly want to be my own designer and live out my own aspirations, or work in a collaborative team much like that at A&F, to which I will return in the fall for my semester co-op.

So, there is much to think about!  With the book I have been reading, I have been doing a lot of ideations on branding, where I would want to take a line if I had one, etcetera - so during the next quarter at school I will be doing a lot of background thought on what kind of line I would like to do over the summer with the potential of further developing that brand into senior year when I do my senior collection. It isn't that impossible to get contact with a factory for production - you just have to do all the pre-production work and send it to them in a format that is clear. However, I think this is something I could definitely achieve.

In other news... my CFDA portfolio has been selected to move on to the competition!  A panel of professors reviewed the class portfolios and selected the few to send in for the scholarship - each school has a limited amount of portfolios that can be sent in for the final judging.  I am eager to find out what happens next...!

Stay tuned for more! I am ready for a relaxing spring break and the start of knitwear!

CFDA updates

The project is almost complete!  Today I finished my last of the illustrations (I redid three, and within those three redesigned one).  I also finished the layouts for the flats and re-ordered the looks.  In total there are ten.

My next steps are to scan in those three redone illustrations, and start mounting the fabric swatches and assembling the final thing!  Pretty exciting.  I also need to figure out a title.

Why is that part always so hard?

In other news, I hopped on the Tumblr bandwagon and started one for my own personal styles.  In it I post photos of things that inspire me personally, for what I would like to wear/exude as a fashionable person.  It is helping me really nail down my own style - something that for everyone is much harder to do than we think.  Hopefully it can inspire you as well, and maybe you will make one yourself!  Right now I am trying to limit it to fashion-only photos (which is hard .. there are so many food photos and house photos and bunny photos I want to post).  But, the point is that when I'm feeling stumped I can click through it and be inspired again.  I think I may also do a weekly Tumblr post for the blog, like a "photos of the week" type thing.  We will see.

Hope everyone had a lovely three day weekend!  I was lazy, and it was great (besides doing three illustrations, so I guess that's not really lazy).

More to come soon.

CFDA class project

For those of you still wondering if I exist ... I do!  The thing that has been robbing me of my free time lately has been our new design class, in which we design a well-considered collection complete with swatches, full illustrations, and an essay and submit it to the CFDA for a scholarship at the end of the quarter.  As you can see, a lot of work must go in to this project!

Here are some shots of the process work, and a couple explanations along the way:

 

My mess as it is currently consuming my bed, and my working color palette, inspired by the colors on a scan of a brain during a migraine.

Preliminary sketching

Wool jersey and alpaca yarn; inspirational palette of lilac-beige-grays

My knitting pattern charted out and in progress; a swatch of a variegated yarn that happened to match my palette

More color inspiration; watercolor print design based off of the brain scan

Sweater to be done in a kid lace, shown at right

My concept evolved around the migraine - tension, twisting, tightness, a wrapped up feeling.  Since knitwear is my passion, the collection will be of knits - I also found this fitting due to the way each loop is interlocked and interacting and when stretched, tension forms between each stitch - entrelac and cables will be featured in the designs as well, to further propel this idea of twisting, intertwining, knots and tension. 

Stay tuned for illustrations!

hello again!

SO SO SORRY about the lack of posting - I haven't utterly forgotten about the blog, I've just been so busy back at school trying to prepare my portfolio for upcoming interviews.  One of the things I am working on is a project for Abercrombie, and it is taking up a lot of my time.  My interview with them is Monday, so free time should happen a little more once that is over!  I just feel guilty playing around online until then - cause it reminds me of the time I could be using to do something more productive.

But so I don't pull a "post without pictures", here are some very quick shots of what I am working on, just until more begins happening:

 

Left, new swimwear illustration.  Right, Abercrombie look #1.

Newly developed croquis

 

better watercolor photos

These paintings were shown before, but now I have better full-shot images in better quality.  Just thought I'd share!

Today I tag-teamed with Sam to put together Molly's wedding gown (the champagne / pinkish colored one, for the plus-sized bride).  We got a lot done!  I will take some pictures tomorrow, and will also be coming home with some beautiful, finely knit gray jersey fabric!

In the coming weeks, some fun projects are coming up - working with Ann Taylor LOFT for their new campaign photo shoot, and Swarovski.  I am so excited!

weekend updates

Hello everyone!  I hope you are having a nice weekend.  Sam is in LA for the weekend (to finish up fittings with Elle McPherson for a new reality fashion show) so I've had some time to work on my own little projects.

 I did some painting!  Those are sheer sleeves, of course.

I have also had time to finally tackle my knitting - decreasing in a lace pattern is difficult because every row will begin at a new point in the lace chart (this will make the most sense to any readers that knit).  So quite literally I will have to write out every row from here on out, and now that I've attempted a few rows and gotten them right I will be on my way knitting again!

 Sneak peaks mostly - you can see the hand-written rows (such a pain but fun, like a puzzle) and the elasticized ribbon I bought for it. 

 

And last weekend I made it up to Mood Fabrics to get some swatch ideas for my tailoring design of the moment (no buying fabric yet, since my ideas go bipolar sometimes).  I'm still playing with the brain scan idea, so the exterior of the coat will be in a blue-gray wool (like a steely slate color) with a vibrant orange-red lining.  I have always loved silk faille for its texture, so I want to use that as the lining fabric.  However, finding this in vibrant colors is proving difficult - I may need to dye it myself (which I would be more than happy to do!)

 Quick sketch I made for reference.  The top swatch is a camel hair wool, $30,00 a yard; the darker swatch is a wool cashmere blend that is $25,00 a yard.  In a perfect world, I do not want a textured wool - something more felted and flat, and brushed.  These are more color references.  I expect there to be more options as fall approaches.

Now for more knitting!  Have a good lazy Sunday everyone.

weekend update

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!  I've already eaten half a chocolate rabbit. 

 

Yes, from Mood Fabrics a la Project Runway!  "Sweet pea" spandex with lilac dip-dyed power mesh.

 Finalized design choices, disregard the blurriness.  With each design, the backs will vary - on the first, the dolman piece dips below the back strap of the bikini top, whereas in the second, the cover-up has a high back and the one-piece has a low one.

And some quick shots of the watercolor print assignment.  I love doing faces surrounded by a cloud of hair!  Margie taught us to do that.