NYS Sheep & Wool Festival

So many fleeces.  Wool in its raw state, before it's carded, dyed, and spun.

Obsessed with these yarns.  All about the color and texture!

Saw this awesome tapestry at one of the booths.  Love this piece of inspiration.

My beautiful purchases :) back to the loom!

Picking Pedals

As summer is coming to a quick end and and others are getting ready for fall and back to school, I am still soaking in the sun and savoring the beauty that summer brings.  A technique my mother is teaching me, I picked fresh flowers from her garden and will use them to create a beautiful pattern and burst of color onto fabric.  I took off petals, different grasses, snapdragons, etc along with matter ( a type of red dye) and spread across the fabric.  Next, I rolled it up tightly and let it boil in water on the stove.  It needs to sit for a few days but will share the end result once its complete!

The Killers Killed It

Some pictures from Firefly! My friend Amy and I had such a great time.  Racing back and forth between stages, we didn't want to miss a minute of good music!  My only complaint was the food :( Hopefully next year they can improve upon that and really make it one of the best festivals on the East Coast! Regardless, I definitely got my music fill.  I was most pleasantly surprised by The Killers.  Although they were the only band headlining that night which made for a massive crowd, their performance was pretty spectacular, fireworks and all!

Firefly!

This weekend one of my best friends and I are attending Firefly Music Festival and I am absolutely thrilled!  Not only do you get to hear great music at festivals but they are also filled with great food and fashion, all my favorite things! I am most excited to see Cults, Modest Mouse, and Yeasayer.  More pictures to come of the concerts and fashions :)

"In Her Hands"

My newest Project! For this wearable work of art I was inspired by the book "In Her Hands" by Tuttle.  It provides beautiful photographs and text of women all over the world and their tradition craft.  Creating their craft is their way of life, and their hands are everything to them.  

I wanted to expand my interest in weaving and got started on a rigid heddle loom.  The bodice of the dress is all handwoven using different weaving stitches.  Additionally I hard two embellishment trims at the waist.  The skirt is a two-tone sheer voile fabric. More Pictures under my portfolio!

"Mexicali Rose"

I came across this blog, The Glamourai, which featured a beautiful photo shoot titled "Mexicali Rose."  I'm obsessed with the colors, textures, and styling of the garments.  Oh and even the styling of the hair! What makes me like this even more is the Frida Kahlo feel of it.  The hair, model's faces, and the garments with hearts on the front totally have Frida influences.  It is awesome and totally worth showing my readers.  Go to the link to see the whole shoot!

Sneak Preview::

Hello All!

I have survived Collection 2 and am extremely happy with my results.  All my pieces (including collection 1) were accepted into the annual fashion show that will be this Friday.  Additionally, I had a mini photo shoot for my new collection just because I was so excited about it :)  I am proud of how it turned out and feel it really reflects me as a designer. Check out a few of the pictures!

Icelandic Talent- Music & Fashion

Garden of Enchantment- Photography/Illustration

Mundi

Royal Extreme

This coming Friday I will be heading to New York to see Of Monsters Of Men, who are from Iceland.  Needless to say, I'm super excited to see this sold out show.  I first heard them last August and fell in love with their mix of vocals.  When a girl and guy sing together, it usually catches me instantly. So, in honor of my excitement, I would like to share some cool photos from Reykjavik Fashion Festival in Iceland.

Crazy Crochet

While researching, I came across this piece of art that was too cool to not share.  I discovered the Smithsonian's Community Reef.  Using hyperbolic geometry, this reef was created by Margaret and Christine Wertheim is all crocheted out of yarn.  I'm sure the images do not do it justice but they still really caught my attention.  The structure had lots of helping hands to create it, over 800 people from the Metropolitan D.C. area, as well as people around the country and world.  Over 4000 pieces of coral were crocheted to construct the reef.  The crocheters looked living corals, such as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in order to form complex and natural-looking structures.  Although the recreated Reef is no longer home  to the Smithsonian, it is still displayed at the Putnam Museum in Davenport Iowa.  Next time I'm in the midwest, I am definitely putting this on my list of things to stop and see.

The link below is a lecture by one of the creators Margaret Wertheim that gives thorough detail of the construction and growth of the coral reef project.
Lecture By Margaret Wertheim

Look #2

 

ruffle around sleeve hem

Buttons are for the jacket, Beads for the first dress

Bronze leather that will be a mini skirt to complete the look

As it has been very hectic the past month plugging away at my collection, I am finally well underway on my second look!  After finishing my dress ( for the most part, with photos to come), I felt my collection going in a different direction than I had originally planned.  I found new fabric swatches, drew more sketches, and got more opinions, so what you see in the photos is a reflection of that. For a preview of the third look, yes I have had to narrow it down to three (time is going by way too fast), I am making leather pants and an asymmetrical tunic that will include layers of the various fabrics and possibly some silk painting!  It is bittersweet that the deadline is approaching, since I will be graduating and will miss very much all my fashion friends that I've grown so close to.  Late night sewing definitely leaves room for lots of bonding moments.  Anyways, shown is what I've been recently spending my time on.

London Fashion Week

In the height of London Fashion Week, I was very excited to see Matthew Williamson's new Fall 2012 collection.  As one of my favorite designers, this collection did not disappoint.  He incorporated a very sophisticated color palette that grabbed attention as well as lots of fun prints.  Williamson also used bits of texture and played with different silhouettes and proportions.  I was additionally a fan of his gold and brocade pants throughout the collection!  Below are a few I wanted to share.

First Look

I am well on my way into my first look of my second collection.  The first two pictures are of the skirt of the dress in muslin/sample form. The following two pictures is it draped in final fabric.  This week I will continue on finishing the bodice, which I am very excited for.  More to come of fabric closeups and further progress.

Mary Katrantzou

Above are images from Mary Katrantzou's Spring 2012 line.  She is a fashion inspiration to me, especially for her use of color and prints.  This season Katrantzou was inspired by crushed-car sculptures of the American artist John Chamberlain, tin-can labels, pictures of tropical fish, and found fields of daisies and tulips.  She designs all her own computer generated prints that transform into primarily cocktail and event wear.  Her ambition is to make both art and the wearable, which is a goal I am constantly aiming for.  There is a line between being too much of a costume and being wearable and when designers can create that artistic fantasy that women can look fabulous in, I think that is truly being successful.