wishlist: marc jacobs bag

http://www.marcjacobs.com/#/en-us/marcbymarcjacobs/women/springsummer10/bags?lookId=0

http://www.marcjacobs.com/#/en-us/marcbymarcjacobs/women/resort09/bags?lookId=0

I couldn't copy and paste, but the new Marc by Marc Jacobs bags are fantastic!! They come in many more patterns than are shown here and are to die for.

West Point uniform

delicious. I was unable to find a good picture from the Civil War online, but I have seen them in books, boy howdy, classy.

trendi: grey jeans

About four years ago I bought a pair of 4 long grey pants from the Gap for $15. I love these pants. They are casual enough to wear like jeans, but dressy enough for dates. They are my favorites, but will be on their last leg in the near future.

Enter the actual trend for grey pants, namely jeans. When I bought these pants four years ago there was not even a whiff of grey for denim, but it's everywhere now and I LOVE it!! Because my precious, old, reliable greys were fading I've been on the prowl for replacements. I love these pants b/c they're not denim, but they're slim, not like dress slacks. After looking many many places w/ no dice I returned to my precious Gap to find grey jeans. At first I didn't think that denim could replace my wonderful pants, but I got them anyway and between my grey pants, grey jeans and navy skinny denim jeans I hardly wear blue jeans anymore.

What's so great about grey jeans? They're GREY!! Grey is a Power Neutral, so I can wear whatever other Primary Neutral I want with it! Oh man, I love grey so much!! That's basically it, besides the fact that Gap makes excellent, sturdy and comfortable jeans, which in this instance happened to be sized by waist, which is great. I wish all girls pants were sized like men's, but we can blog about that later.

Meanwhile, the best dressed boys I know where grey jeans, yummmmm.

catch up.

A couple of weeks ago the ex-First Draper at Dior came and did a 4 hour workshop here at BYU. It was AMAZING! She's a friend of one of my professors and was amazing. Of course she's French and basically spoke in French, draped a coat and told stories (which were lucky told in English). She'll come back next year to do a 2 day Project Runway sort of workshop where we come w/ a sketch and material and by the end of the 2nd day we have a finished garment.

I've been promoted to First Hand in the costume shop. I'm keeping my Wardrobe Supervising position, but now I also sew the costumes together. My first project: Marianne's bodice for Tartuffe, designed by my friend Haleh. It is adorable!!! and almost done. We had one of our last fittings today and it's so amazing!! It's boned w/ piping, of mattress ticking, silk and velvet piping. The most latter was a pain to get in and it turned out I couldn't get it good enough. I handed it off to my boss and after trying she ruled that the velvet we were using was impossible. I've spent the last two days hand binding the edges and it's so exciting!!! I've also worked on the skirt that goes w/ the bodice, as have 6 other people. I'd say it's my favorite costume, but there are SO many AMAZING designs in this show. I'm really expecting it to be one of the best shows BYU's done in years.

I have my renderings for Blood Wedding due the day school starts on January 4th. I get to build the moon and the wedding dress. My design project will be hand dying the moon like this picture. I'm excited to go home over the holidays and paint.

My friend Martha and I were both accepted to the London Theatre study abroad program for Spring '10 (in BYU years that's the end of April through mid June). I'm stoked to visit all the famous English tailors, live in the V&A, go to the Costume Museum in Bath and try to track down SRK while he films in Berlin.

Marth and I have also decided that we need to come in for an hour or so every Saturday (after the holidays) to practice our draping. I had high hopes for some personal projects this semester, but I haven't gotten to them.

I'm taking the Jewelry and Armor and History of Eastern Costume grad courses next semester!

I think I've decided on Theatre for grad school, and am very drawn to the Boston area, esp BU. Whether or not I'll work out of my undergrad I don't know, but I want to get out to Boston ASAP.

Only 3 more semesters then I'll have my Bachelor's in Theatre Arts Studies w/ my emphasis in Costume Design (w/ perhaps a Make Up emphasis).

Neutrals 101

There are three primary neutrals; black, blue (of the dark and navy variety) and brown. There are very specific rules as to with what you can wear each. These rules are either not known by many, or ignored. If you perpetrate the latter, you are a fiend. If you fall under the former category, here is a quick rundown of the Rules of Neutrals.

1)Under no circumstances are black and blue to be worn together.
2)Under no circumstances are black and brown to be worn together.
3)Blue and brown may be worn together.

Ex. If you wear a navy sweater, you must wear brown accessories (belt, socks, and shoes).
If you wear a black sweater, you must wear black accessories.

In their own category are the Power Neutrals, namely olive, grey (including charcoal), and khaki. These can be worn with any of the Primary Neutrals, however it's preferable NOT to wear black with khaki. While this is technically not breaking any rules, it is a tad outdated in my opinion.

Also
men: match your belts with your shoes and your socks with your pants.
Blue denim does not count as a Primary Neutral, it is a Power Neutral. An entry on wearing denim with denim should follow.

I have a much more extensive and strict list of rules associated w/ Neutrals, but I'll spare you.

mmmmmmenswear

Iread about 1947-60 fashions today for my history of costume class and it reminded me of Mad Men, even though the show's a little later. I've never seen the show, and have been warned against it b/c of content, but that doesn't mean I don't know that it looks incredible. Case in point, this picture. Yummmmmmmmmmmenswear.

Idk why the picture's fuzzy, but if you click on it you'll get the good res.

Can't touch this.

I'm making MC Hammer pants tonight for my home teacher. I found a pattern online. They're actually similar to Indian salwar pants so this will be a fun project. I hope he got enough fabric. Let's see!

------------------------------

Ok, so I used this website for a very basic reference and this is what we got!! I only took Dusty's outseam. I think they could have a lower crotch, but he's a little shorter than me so they might look better. At any rate, they looked ridiculous on me, and only took 2 hours from start to finish, so a success I think.

This was a great project b/c parachute pants are basically salwars and now I've made a pair w/ no harm to me! When I make real palatia salwars I'll use 60' wide and probs drop the crotch. These puppies just have a drawstring, but o' course I'll pleat my waistband.

random projects

I'm currently in the beginning stages of writing a report on India's influence on European women's fashions in the 19th century. I've been finding a lot of fun things about Kashmiri shawls, a LOT of fun things actually. It's kind of shaping into a report about the shawl, which is no good b/c I want to write about other things too. I'm sure if my professor lets me analyze extant costumes w/o accompanying materials about India, but that are clearly Indian, I can write more.

I've now had quite a few production meetings for the show I'm costume designer for that's coming up in March. The show is Blood Wedding and I'm excited. It's a Spanish play and traditional Spanish wedding dresses are black, and the director wants to keep it that way!! I'm so STOKED to design a black wedding dress. My concept for the production crew is due tomorrow, and is due to the producers on Monday.

I'm running out of/sick of many of my Sunday dresses so I'll probably have to make another one soon.

I'm going to be Audrey Hepburn for Halloween, a la Funny Face. I'm going to work on blocking my eyebrows out in make up class today. Technically today is gutsies and gories day, but I need to practice Audrey before Halloween, so I'm doing Holly Golightly after she fell down the fire escape.

wishlist: more flat front pants

I wasn't sure (why is this underlining? anyway) what to put this topic under. I'd put it under trendi, but I don't think it's as trendi as it should be. So basically, I wish more men would wear flat front pants. The only excuse for pleats is to give your giant thighs extra room because you're dancing in a tuxedo, and I mean dancing.

Anyway, you just have to look at flat front trousers to realize they are amazing. my heart skips a beat when I see an excellent pair of said slacks. Mmmmm delicious.

project: palatia salwar

Of course I love Indian costumes, esp Northern pant outfits. After I watched Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi I fell in love with Taani's salwar(s, plural?). Turns out they're patalia salwar(s) and I want to make a pair. I've found churidaar patterns online through Folkwear, and a basic salwar pattern, but so far patalia salwar patterns have been impossible to find. I've found many pictures, seen above, but I've had a hard time finding the waist construction b/c they're most often worn with a kameez. THEN, joy of all joys, I watched Luck By Chance again w/ my roomie last week and as it turns out, Hrithik Roshan has a 4 minute dance scene in white patalia salwars, and a mesh shirt, perfect for construction shots!! Needless to take I took 54 pictures and ran down my battery taking pictures of these beautiful pants at every angle. I'm excited to make them someday, hopefully before the end of this school year.

Top construction

Oh so voluminous

too horrible by half: eyeliner gone bad

Oh eyeliner, oh how oh how it can wreck your whole face.

I have small eyes, I also have purple bags under my eyes. I've come to accept the fact that eyeliner is not my friend. In fact, unless I'm as chipper as a new born goose (b/c I'd assume they're chipper) and use permanent marker my eyeliner will move and make me look like a insomniac domestic abuse victim. I think that this is a fact that many women refuse to accept about their own eyeliner usage. The days of all over eyeliner should be over. You're not in middle school anymore.
BAD BAD BAD Too much eyeliner, and too dark. If you're fair, try a brown shade.

Here's a tip, and what I do that works wonders: only put your eyeliner on your top lid, starting in the middle and going out (see below). You don't need any more than that! This opens up your eyes and if you want to get really fancy, make it thicker at the corners and maybe add a little to the bottom lid, but that's enough. Seriously, unless you have Bambi eyes, eyeliner is not meant to go all the way around as a day look.



If you insist on framing your entire eye, I can only stress the importance of fine lines and drawing on the ledge. The closer to your eye the better.
This was an experiment I did when I was 17. It took me forever to get the liner that close to my eyes, but doesn't it look great? I also added white shimmer to the inside of my eyes to brighten them. I would never wear this on a normal day. I've ventured this much eye makeup for formal events, but I'm way too big a fan of the natural look to wear so much liner.

Another helpful hint: eyelash curlers! I'd only dabbled with mine until recently, but they do wonders for the size of your eyes. Starting as close to your roots as possible, crimp your lash, then work the curler out and up to get a smooth curl. So great!!

outfit: 10/8/09

autumn demands plaid and riding boots.
Gap shirt, pants and Delia's riding boots.

trendi: true prep

Five or so years back we saw the "preppy" trend implant itself in this nation's middle and high schools. Fed by such stores as The Buckle, Abercrombie & Fitch (originally super preppy) and Hollister, this trend led the general public born after 1985 to believe that preppy meant florescent polos with popped collars, tight hip hugging jeans and ridiculously long strands of plastic pearls. I said is then (2004) and I'll say it again, this is not prep.

Luckily, a resurgence of true prep has flooded the closets of today's trendi people. Back in 2004, my bestie Sarah found two books, The Official Preppy Handbook and Things You Need to Be Told, off which we based our wardrobes and lives. I, being from the West and Midwest exclusively, have happily adopted many of the staples of the East Coast (of which Sarah is 50%). Sarah meanwhile has first hand experience w/ true prep, her gparents being straight up Irish East Coasters and all.

In case you didn't know, true prep consists of items of the East Coast/Cape Cod/Nantucket variety. The most recent, straight up and widespread prep originated in the 80s. Having missed all but 13 months of this decade, I base my knowledge of true prep of of the aforementioned books and bestie.

And now, those items that I am so grateful to see on the best dressed of us. Keep in mind that some of these items, when worn away from a sailboat, need to be handled very carefully. Also, these individual trends are great together, or alone. But please, if you wear a sweet action sport coat, don't pair it with cargo shorts, never cargo anything.

Boat shoes/Top siders: So you've never been on a boat, who cares? I'm a fan of socks, but some pairs can't be done right w/ them. I myself have two pairs of men's boat shoes I mostly wear w/ slacks. Fun times! love them!

Riding boots: So you've never ridden a horse, who cares? Make sure you get RIDING boots, not the nasty strappy, buckley pirate crap that's been trying to pass itself off as riding boots. Be legit please. Helpful hint: wear these w/ tube socks, into which you tuck your pants so they in turn stay tucked in your boots. It also helps to have a slim pair of pants to begin with.

Knitwear, specifically men's: What a great time for knitwear, esp for men. I love cardigans, and sweaters. Note the shawl collar on the left, classic. This look actually heralds back to Harold Lloyd, of 1920 silent film fame. HL wore a shawl collar like nobody's bizznezz.


Canvas shoes: Mostly seen in the Vans variety lately, don't forget the always endearing, was around long before Vans were, Keds. Red or Navy is esp. preppy.


Sport Jackets: Shown here in delicious seersucker, sport jackets are an instant way to dress up any already good foundation. You remember that random Kirsten Dunst movie w/ Paul Bettany? Wimbledon. Great Jeans, amazing white button up, sports jacket, simple and classic.

A good oxford cloth button up: keep them ironed, keep them crisp. So classy, in stripes or solid, but don't go overboard proving your masculinity by wearing pink. Also note the flat front pants: the ONLY way to go.

And what's great about today's prep is that while guys should avoid riding boots, the girls can wear all this stuff!

Again, I'd recommend one or two of these trends per outfit. Don't go overboard, esp if you're not true prep. Also, don't wreck these looks w/ skater shoes, ball caps, or esp for the girls, rainbow plastic matching earrings, necklace and bracelet set (you know you still wear them).

Yay oder Nay: yayayayayaYAY!

outfit: 10/6/09

With the arrival of autumn comes the need for dark hose, impeccable coats and fun cardigans. Don't forget trendy accessories (my favorite bag that's Gap-a-licious^max and my lurvly pashmina), a classic denim skirt and bows in your hair.

Old Navy cardigan: Christmas present
Old Navy tshirt from like 5 years ago
hand me down denim skirt
charcoal tights (nice alternative to black)
black flats
Miss Sixty Coat: my baby!!
Gap bag from like 5 years ago
Pashmina from the Krishna temple in Spanish Fork

wishlist: wrestling shoes

I've wanted wrestling shoes since like my sophomore year in highschool. A 125 friend of mine offered me his old pair, but we both decided that that's discusting. I want some new ones!! Some nice, black wrestling shoes to wear w/ slim bootcuts (I'm over skinny jeans).

I wish I'd thought of this...

http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/268/the-7-style-mistakes-weve-all-made/

and this is also fabulous.

http://men.style.com/gq/features/slideshow/v/091307STYLISH?loop=0&slideshowId=slideshow43073&iphoto=0&nphoto=50&play=false&cnt=1

too horrible by half: tights and shorts

Sarah, my bestie in Paris, tipped me off to this trend. Actually v. popular at BYU two years ago, this fad is rampant in France's capital. I'm all for tights, in moderation. I should add them to my wishlist, but there is a time and a place for tights, and the only time for tights with shorts was fourteen years ago on my first grade teacher, w/ loafers as well. This trend makes me think of the cover of my pattern making book portraying a stylized fashion sketch. The figure in question is wearing a ridiculous outfit, including spotted tights with a mini skirt. These tights make it seem like the model is stricken with chickenpox from the waist down. We can see that the girl to the far right above has lobster-itis. This trend just shows too much tight. If you're going to wear short shorts, which I don't agree w/ on account of my modesty standards, show your legs, not some technicolor disaster a la Elphaba from Wicked. Our kids are mos def making fun of us for this one.

trendi: a good pair of man jeans

We are living through a great age for men's jeans, and clothes in general, if you know what to look for. So-->
What to look for:
good fit= no more baggy nonsense boys. If you're skinny, wear lean jeans, if you're not, get a pair that's big enough
good wash= no more whiskering or bleaching or distressing, this was never cool. Also, dark even wash, YUM
Yup, that's about it. You can't really go wrong w/ a dark pair of good fitting jeans. Now boys, go find a pair because these make me ridiculously happy. And pair your pair w/ a slouchy tee or some other such fabulous man shirt.
Yay oder nay: Toats Yay^max

fashion quandry.

I took this picture on the sly as I walked to my car today.
Questions: Has the person in question talked to her doctor about a) her need to wear sweatpants in 75 degree weather and b) the fact that the right side of her body is hotter than her left? I think both are serious issues that need to discussed with a professional.

too horrible by half: fanny packs

Do I really need to explain this? All women have fat aprons as my sewing teacher calls them, to keep the baby warm, as my mother says. Do we really need to accentuate this area with another pouch to keep our change in? And wearing fanny packs to the side is no better. I for one, with 40" hips (and that's all hips, no butt) do NOT need any wider of a profile. And heaven forbid we actually wear them as their name suggests. I saw this tower of fannies in the BYU bookstore today and I nearly vomitted in my mouth, but was too distracted by getting my camera out to really have any problems. Worst of all, these "brilliant" leather fannies are the nasty patchwork type a la the spell book from Hocus Pocus, yeah, you know the one.

wishlist: sailor/fall front pants

I've wanted sailor pants forever. Maybe someday I'll make a pair...

too horrible by half: manpris

Man capris, or manpris are just a no. I'm not a fan of most types of capris. It's not a favorable length of pant and finding any pair that might be near an appropriate length is very difficult. But when it comes to men, capris are a major no. Let's think about it shall we? Capris as a rule stop somewhere between shorts and pants, meaning they leave from mid-calf to the ankle exposed. Now think of a more feminine and dainty area of a man's physique. You can't. Man ankle, when exposed w/o man calf and man knee is the definition of awkward. Most boys who wear manpris are, let's face it, not of the bulkiest build, so really from the knees down you'd think they might be girls, but no, they have hairy hairy ankles that you can see clearly because of their manpris. I have nothing against hairy man legs, but seeing only ankle is just not ok. Show me the whole bottom leg or let's keep it all under wraps, k boys?
PS I know those first pictures aren't really manpris, but come on, leggpris? come on!!!

wishlist: jodhpurs and capelets

I've wanted jodhpurs for forever and of course now I'm seeing them in magazines etc. That's always how it works with me. Anyway. I want more of real equestrian jodhpurs (but not so tight), and not the icky tapered pants that people might label jodhpurs these days. Roberto Cavalli's Fall '07 Ready to Wear has some nice, moderate pairs. I saw a pair in Lucky once that were corduroy w/ leather inner leg guards. I want the leg guards real bad.

This ensemble (who's pants I'm not so hot about) also has a capelet, which I also want. I have a pattern back home and some nice subtle plaid wool. I don't know where one would necessarily wear a capelet these days, but I still want one.

dying class w/ Jeff Lieder

Jeff Lieder, a good friend of my Janet and textile dyer extraordinaire came to BYU and taught a two day dying class for the costume students. I was lucky enough to get to attend! From 9-4 on Friday and Saturday we learned the basics of dying, silk screening, foiling, and silk painting. I'll just post my photos now and caption them.

We first dyed silk scarves using the "color by accident" method. This involved mixing our immersion dyes, shoving a wet scarf in a cut off water bottle in whatever twisty way we wanted (mine was a tight coil) then pouring the dyes into the bottle. This normally produces a mottled effect, but since I did mine so tight I got more of a tie-dyed look. After the dyes sit for 15 minutes in the bottle they are poured out and soda ash is added to stop the dyes from "crawling" and to make them permanent. This is left for an hour or more, then poured out. The scarf is rinsed and hung to dry. The dyes are now color and light fast.

After dying we started the silk screening process. We each made our own silk screen using light activated PhotoEZ sheets. These sheets are essentially silk impregnated with emulsion chemicals that when exposed to sunlight print whatever image is blocking the light onto the sheet, which image is later washed away leaving only the silk. Fine lines and detail are shied away from, but pretty nice detail can be achieved. This paper is also available in 'high def'.

Once a picture is decided on (which is smaller than the screening frame) you place it in a certain order and direction between the PhotoEZ sheet, plexi glass and a piece of miter board and felt. This is covered in something light safe until you are in direct sunlight, when you take it out and point it directly at the sun for 5 minutes, recover and take it inside. You then put it in a tub of water for 10 minutes, rinse it on a piece of plastic canvas to remove the emulsion from the image and...

cure it in the sun for 10 minutes.

And then you have a wonderful silk screen. This is then taped w/ water repellent, special tape (I have the names for everything if you really want them) into the screen frame in a certain order and direction and you have your silk screen ready to print!

SATURDAY

After we'd mixed highly concentrated pigments into a silk screening base of either translucent or opaque we began printing!! Basically you stretch out whatever you're printing onto on a table covered in batting and muslin. You blob paint at the top of the screen, hold the frame w/ one hand and kind of squeegee the ink lightly over the screen to flood it with ink. Then you do that once or twice more with more pressure in the same direction to set the ink, take the frame and screen off and wah la...

You get a print. I did my paisleys in chartreuse w/ opaque base so they'll sit on top of the fabric, and not let the fabric's color come through. The tshirt was provided by Jeff. I didn't dye it :(.

After printing we learned about foiling which involves using a special "glue" ink that will bond w/ foil in a heat clamp. This can be used in your silk screen, but I chose to hand paint it onto only some parts of my paisley.

After a print is made, but before you foil it it needs to be set in a very hot dyer for about and hour. You then place it on the heat clamp (I don't have a picture, sorry) w/ the foil on top and clamp it at at least 250 degrees for 45 seconds. Take it off/out and let cool, then peal the foil off! And there you go! The shirt can them be washed (inside out w/ foil) and fabric softened.

I used just straight translucent base for my scarf.

Jeff showing us some hand painting techniques on silk. We use the same immersion dyes we used earlier, only now we can choose to thicken them w/ a special globby stuff, and we need to activate them (like the soda ash did) before we use them to paint.

Groups of 5 worked on a piece together. This will then be separated so we can each have a scarf from it. Once it's done we roll it into newsprint, then into a cinnamon roll type configuration and steam it over a pot of boiling water for 15 minutes. Then it's washed and dried and is done!

The whole gang.