Frida - esque Intimate Apparel

Task : Develop an 'intimate apparel' collection motivated by a certain individual

Working within a group, we selected Frida Kahlo as our muse. With various elements to her personality, Frida was the perfect iconic figure to inspire our intimate apparel designs. We each individually came up with our own collections; encouraged by a certain aspect of Frida. My final collection was motivated by the traditional Mexican and romantic elements of Frida, and the familiar technique of crochet. Designing two looks for each category - Foundation, Lingerie, and Lounge wear - crochet was definitely carried throughout each area. The final girls developed for this collection are my 'contemporary Frida's' - using accessories of flowers, jewelery and wrapped 'bandages' to hint the chosen muse.

Final Mood Board - a common source of inspiration for our group.

Cover of Final Collection Folder

Final Designs (Left to right): 2 Lounge wear, 2 Romantic, 2 Foundation/Shapewear

Final Flats and swatches for the collection.

trends, trends, trends.

Four trend boards that were developed for part of my final 'Fashion Presentation' project. Collagind street style images, with mood images and pairing them with appropriate fabric swatches and a colour palette

Mixed Textures

Seasonless

Minimalistic

Chunky Knits

...because trends are always on the FRINGE.

Nylon's newest blog, FRINGE, provides a unique voice, style, and perspective to legions of intelligent, hip young women focusing on bringing current and upcoming trends to college students and young professionals on a budget. The blog provides a nationwide interactive view on young women's style while delivering affordable otptions because trends and style are always on the FRINGE.

For my Creative Fashion Presentation's class the final project is a roup presentation based on a chosen theme. The theme/form of the presentation is very open, it can be a slide, video, power point, trunk show, gallery presentation, live runway, etc. My group and I have decided to create a company where we are bloggers, associated with NYLON Magazine, for our new blog FRINGE. For our final presentation we are throwing our blog's launch party. FRINGE will be featured on the walls providing the audience with a chance to interact with all aspects of the new blog. The guests (classmates) are encouraged to dress to impress in their latest street-style apparel for a chance to be featured on the blog. A blog station will be set up featuring our layout and the blogs newest posts so guests can scroll through and view pages from the beginning.

For the first part of project we were to develop the target market of our customer, utilizing demographic and pyschographic information. We also had to develop a mission statement, vision statement, company history, and individual profiles/bios - as well as designing the Invitation and the Press Kit to be used to sell our services to 'potential clients' - our classmates.

Being someone who loves visual presentation, and always spends majority of her time on the visual aesthetic of her projects, I took on the role of compiling all our information and content and designing the final logo, press kit, and invitation. Really playing off the idea of fringe - the small and easily portable press kit is held together in a handmade suede pouch and is accompanied by a similar matching invitation.

The next stage of the project is to get our blog going - collecting an array of images and content for posts, and really developing the site to meet the goals of our final vision.

Although there are no posts yet, you can visit our up-and-coming blog at: www.fringefitnyc.blogspot.com

We can also be followed on facebook and twitter.

for Max Azria.

Last Wednesday I handed in my first project for my Fashion Art & Design class. The focus of the class is designing collections by exploring the roles of research, design development, and editing in the fashion design process. Emphasis is placed on the application of design development to a variety of design groups. For the first project we were to select a designer with a diffusion line. We then explored and compared the differences between the two lines, and finally chose one of the two to design for. The designer and diffusion line I initially explored was Max Azria vs. BCBG Max Azria and then continued with Max Azria's Fall 2010 collection to expand and design for.

"Minimalism Reconstructed" - Max Azria

Deconstructing geometric shapes and piecing them together into clean, simple and form fitting silhouettes, while balancing a colour palette of muted tones, Max Azria's aesthetic for his Fall 2010 collection provides a foundation for future designs. Within the collection there is a play of contrast - between architectural constructed pieces to soft draper, and light-weight fabrics pared with metallic overlays and more structural fabrics. My final collection was strongly influenced by this element of contrast. Expanding the colour palette, while staying close to muted tones, and introducing more fabrics, I found it easy to translate the concepts of Azria's Fall 2010 collection through my designs and aesthetic. The layering of simplistic pieces successfully displays the choice of fabrics and their unique qualities, the architectural lines, and the feminine body beneath.

"fashion is a muse, you must seduce her."

While trying to come up with a muse for a group design project, I was introduced to the outrageous 'fashion maniac' Anna Dello Russo. This Italian fashionista is currently the Editor At Large and the creative consultant for Vogue Japan. Exact looks from the runway are not often replicated - down to the last thread - in our everyday world. Unless you're Anna. A favorite of street-style blogs like the Sartorialist and Jak and Jil, Anna lives in Milan, where she has a separate apartment next door to her own just for wardrobe collections. Collecting couture and ready-to-wear clothes for twenty years, she has quite an immaculate collection of fashion forward garments and is very particular about how she stores and packs things.

J'ADR





My style is completely schizophrenic. I can be feminine, sexy, over the top, masculine, androgynous. I see fashion as a way to play with your personality, to flirt with a part of yourself. It’s like when you go on a date with someone. You’re excited, you dress up, and you look phenomenal. When you get dressed, you should always be dating someone — even if it’s just yourself. -- Anna

www.annadellorusso.com

dig: The High Line & Chelsea Market

A few weekends ago the roomies and I decided to have yet another adventure day - where we enjoyed browsing a street festival on Bleeker St. and eventually found ourselves taking in the city view from the High Line and indulging on some grub at the Chelsea Market.

The High Line is a park that was originally constructed in the 1930s to lift trains off the busy streets of Manhattan. It is now open as a public park - combing concrete pathways with plantings - that will eventually be a mile and a half long when complete. It will run through the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea, and Hell's Kitchen with access points from street level at every two to three blocks. With an amazing view of the city, fixed and movable seating, lighting, and special features, the park is a great place to visit regularly.

From the High Line we stumbled into Chelsea Market, where we refueled with some grub and discovered a weekend sample sale - dangerous combination for starving fashion students.

The Chelsea Market was originally the National Biscuit Company complex, where the ovens baked everything from Saltines to Oreo cookies - yummm. The ovens went cold the complex was reinvented to a the market that offers evocations of the site's history. The old factory floors weave and bob, and the central hall is a jumble of disused ducts, an artificial waterfall, the original train shed, old signboards and other elements. To walk through the Chelsea Market is sort of like strolling through a postindustrial theme park interspersed with food stores, restaurants, cafes, and little shops. The market runs from 9th to 10th Avenue and is hugged by 15th and 16th Street. It is definitely quite the atmosphere for photographers - I will be returning soon enough to collect proper documentation.

What greatness comes from our spontaneous escapades!

fashion's night out!

Fashion's Night Out (FNO) was an amazing event for the public - which hyped up the city even more for Mercedes Benz NY Spring 2011 Fashion Week. The one-night celebration was dreamed up by Anna Wintour to lure shoppers into stores and revive the flagging fashion industry. Running only for its second time on Friday, September 10th , FNO fanned out to 100 cities around the country, and 16 countries planned their own versions.

The city was packed with fashionistas, and eager shoppers - making their way around the city to shop and visit their favourite stores, meet top designers and get pictures with many celebrities.

With my camera fully charged, my roommate, Jeanette and I began our FNO at 5:00pm at Macy's at Herald Square. After meeting the amazing soul singer, Joss Stone, and getting a few shots of Train and Tommy Hilfiger - we then moved on to Bergdorf Goodman, where there were hundreds of people lined up outside to see Victoria Beckham and Mary J. Blige. We wandered Bergdorf's browsing the lines of the top designers, mingled with fellow shoppers/browsers, and enjoyed free beverages and amazing blueberry frozen yogurt - yummm! Making our way out of Bergdorf's we ran into crazy fans awaiting to get a snapshot of Sarah Jessica Parker. On our way down in the elevator, we stood next to the flawless, Kelly Rutherford, Lily van der Woodsen from the TV series Gossip Girl. While being flustered by the fans and using the elevator as an escape, I have Kelly Rutherford on one side of me and Jeanette on the other side mouthing 'Get a picture of her!"...There was absolutely no way I was going to take my enormous camera and literally point it in her face. So although there is know picture evidence of this encounter, take my word - she is flawless! From Bergdorf Goodman's we made our way to Barney's where Mary - Kate and Ashley were making an appearance, and judging a karaoke contest - alongside the Proenza Schouler boys. So after a long and regretful wait, we got our snapshots of the girls and left the madness at Barneys. With only an hour left of FNO we wandered in and out of stores - Michael Kors, DKNY, Longchamp, and more - and danced, mingled, and loaded up on the last free goodies, cocktails, and glasses of champagne.

All and all our night was pretty eventful, but much was missed. There are so many things going on and are scattered all around NY. You really have to set your game plan at the beginning of the night and pick and choose your best route. With all the hype that came out of this crazy event - CBS aired a special on Fashion Night Out on Tuesday September 14th. Vogue.com has the full episode right here: http://bit.ly/bH4IRu

Anna Wintour was on CBS The Early Show the morning after to talk about this year's FNO. Check out her interview here: http://bit.ly/aPwACw

enjoy: FREE rice bowls, swamp water, vintage stores, and magic.

The adventure of my fall 2010 exchange at the Fashion Institute of Technology has started off very well. I'm going into my fourth week of living in NYC - I'm still adjusting to the fact that I'm 'living in NYC'. Located right on FIT campus, at W 27th Street and 7th. Ave. is mi casa. A small two-bedroom apartment shared between 3 other girls. Although the kitchen is quite small and we can't all sit at the table together - the bedrooms are a decent size. And the view from my bedroom window is awesome - the Empire State building in clear sight.

I'm on a mission to see and experience as much as I can before this exchange is over. That is where the To Do/To See List comes in. The roomies and I have a list - that continues to grow each day - where we have made note of the particular things we would like to do and see before my departure. On the list we have: see a ballet, statue of liberty, brooklyn/brooklyn bridge, the Harlem Market, skating at the Rockefeller Center, the Macy's Parade, the Young Designers Market, ride the mechanical bull at Johnny Utah's, the Plaza, and much much more.

On top of that to do list, we have a bulletin board slowly being covered with business cards of places we have come across throughout our exploring of nyc and would like to return to.

Even thought the list of things To Do/To See continues to grow, the list of things we have enjoyed is also coming to along.

Pocha 32 crazy ceiling decor.

Koreatown (on West 32nd St, between Broadway and 5th Ave.) has become a favorite spot. Originally we came across the restaurant, Pocha 32 - a whole in the wall in Koreatown where the decor is quirky and you can get $1 rice bowls. But last weekend my roommate, Jeanette, and I found a place (I'll get back with the name soon) that serves FREE rice - perfect for a student's budget. So since our rice was free we decided to split a bottle of 'smooth & fragrant' Sake with a side of 'lots of lemon'.

Brother Jimmy's - swamp water is a must. A delicious alcoholic beverage served in a large fish bowl. Yummy!

Vintage stores - the flea markets and vintage shopping here is awesome. My bedroom wall is slowly being decorated with old postcards from the vintage shops I have come across.

Magic - A horse that I had the pleasure of meeting - he has quite the personality and loved the camera.

preview of the completed ruffle dress.

Although I plan to document and take more justifiable photographs, I know many of you have been curious to see the finished ruffle dress (my final garment for my fashion draping class). The fit is perfect, and the plan is to wear this dress at this years Team Brother Bear Third Annual Gala.

Keep an eye out on my website for better photographs.