Accessories

Accessories are a very important part of fashion. They can turn the most simple outfit into something that looks like you spent time on putting together, if you know what you're doing. Overkill with accessories is a bad thing, and can make one look ridiculous and no clue what they are doing. Accessories are often times a lot cheaper than clothes too, so if you can't afford a new shirt, get a new scarf to add to things you already have.
The only reason I even like the winter season is because of accessories. I love wearing scarves, gloves, earmuffs and hats. I could wear a knitted hat everyday of my life, if they weren't so hot. I do think they are making a come back, because everywhere you go now you are given so many choices in different styles and colors.
Some trends in accessories that I like that are coming back are suspenders and glasses (fake clear lenses and retro sunglasses). I think they are fun and can look really cute if you know how to wear them. I've seen a lot of feathers this season in stores like Forever 21 on accessories, such as earrings and headbands.

(accessories shown are from Urbanoutfitters.com)

Gueat Speaker : Elyse Mullis

The speaker today was actually the best one we have had. She was only a few years older than us and knew the kind of information that we would want to know and needed to know. With just graduating and already having a job that she is really into, make me feel a lot better about life after graduation and I hope I am as lucky.

I really found it interesting that she learned graphic design at her internship and then was able to use that at her new job, when she graduated with a completely different major. Also, because I had initially planned on doing a concentration on graphic design because I really wanted to do some sort of advertising for a company of a magazine. She also really made me want to go on the New York trip, which I probably will go on next Spring, because it's a good way to meet contacts and get your foot in the door, an opportunity that is a lot harder living in North Carolina.

I also really liked how she showed us end uses of some of the fabrics from her job. And how she made curtains, aprons and bags from fabric she got for free at her job. And she has to be doing well because the South Park and Balentine areas of Charlotte are really upscale and the cost of living there is high. It just shows that the possibilities are endless.

Sweatshops

A sweatshop can be defined as, a working omnent with very difficult and dangerous working conditions, where a lot of times the workers are not given rights and are paid very little money. This can include exposure to harmful materials, hazardous situations, extreme temperatures, or abuse from employers. Sweatshop workers are often forced to work long hours for little or no pay, regardless of any laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labor laws is also a huge problem.
And as horrible as this issue is, it benefits our industry. Some of the people who have to do this as a job, may not be able to find jobs any other way, and rely on this to feed their families. So many of the children are forced to work to take care of their families as well. And as awful as these conditions are there are worse things that could be happening, they could be sold into child prostitution in some of the poorer countries if they were not doing this.
One of the main reasons I shop at American Apparel is that they are made in California and are sweatshop free. I can feel relaxed and at ease with every garment I have and know that I am not wearing something that a small child was forced to make. I also like how it is made in America, because we need to get our jobs back in the US to help with the economy.

Art vs Usability : Milan Fashion Week

The age old question when it comes to fashion is if it's wearable, art or wearable art? In my opinion, it's up to the person wearing it. People have different tastes, and some people would actually wear some things that the average person would consider not everyday attire. Generally speaking, high fashion pieces are more on the art side, while clothes at the mall can be considered more on the usability side because they fulfill everyday needs in clothing, such as protection while the high end are something that only few can afford and are sometimes only worn once.

A lot of the clothing for the Milan 2009 Fashion Week included geometric design, transparent materials used in many dresses and probably the most unique to Milan's Fashion week this year were the sky high heels. The heels were insane, and it's no wonder that some of the models took a plunge on the runway. The transparency of some of the dresses made them look more like lingere, but then again some were paired with solid fabrics which made them actual wearable peices for than just wearing them to sleep.

I personally enjoyed Dolce and Gabbana's collection for 2009 in Milan. They took normal evening gowns and jackets and took them to a whole new level. They used a lot of poofy sleeves and embelishments and really knew what they were doing. They looked vintage still, but with a new age twist.

Inspiration & Design

I was an art major before I transferred here and decided to do fashion. So I've made garments before but they were more for the visual aspect than wearable purposes. But that is a question that's brought up time and time again, is fashion art? The first dress I made in high school out of 4 decks of cards and duct tape for a project to make clothing out of something that's non fabric or like materials. Last year in my fibers art class, I made a was out of men's underwear for a deconstruction/reconstruction project. I really enjoyed the idea of this more so than ever making actual clothes, because I never worked on the construction skills to make professional looking clothing.
(my friend wearing it as a Halloween costume last year... only picture I could find of it :/)


My inpiritation when it comes to designing and fashion in general is vintage. I love clothing from the decades past, especially the 60's and 70's. I recently received a lot of clothing that belonged to my late great aunt that had been stored away in an upstairs room for atleast 40 years untouched. I really like wearing something that belonged to a realative or even a second hand shop that I know no one else I know will have.

I really like dresses, I wear them a few times a week, and if I had enough I would wear one everyday. I really like feminity and over sized buttons, exaggerated prints and large bows. I find myself wanting to combine garments a lot when I am shopping, because I would like one peice more if it had the characteristics of the other or the embelishments or coloring of the next one.

Ethnic Influences in Apparel Design

It's no secret that cultures influence each other in different ways on a daily basis. So ethnic influences in fashion are no surprise. Most are so common that they don't even stand out anymore. American influences on other cultures is called westernization, an example would be how many countries that now wear t-shirts instead of only their original way of traditional dress like many African countries.

In the past few years there have been a few major ethnic trends in Western dress. Asian influences were big a year or so ago with the silk Asian dresses and shirts with wide sleeves that sometimes wrapped around and tied. Scarves have been really big as well, especially the now trendy keffiyeh that everyone wears wrapped around their necks, which are an influence from the middle east.

Europe is always influencing fashion in America. Especially in places like New York, people tend to follow trends in places like London. People in America that dress Euro are usually considered much more fashionfoward, especially compared to Americans sticking to your basic t-shirt and jeans.

I talked about Anna Sui's Native American looking trends in her line from this years New York Fashion show in my previous blog as well.

New York Fashion Week Trends:

Of course I haven't had the chance to look through all the collections for New York's fashion week yet but from looking at the ones I have, I've spotted a few trends. I've noticed that floral prints, highwaisted everything and bohemian chic are very popular, which I have always liked and am glad to see.

After browsing online blogs, I came across a compiled list of other main trends that I noticed myself a great deal at . The ones other than my favorite trends they listed were: asymmetrical, white dresses, pant/short suits, sheer fabrics, harem pants, cleapatra inspired, color (here is a link of the colors for the season), and ruffles/bows.

I really enjoyed Anna Sui's collection. There were a lot of gladiator sandles, bright funky patterns, lots of beading and these really cute bags that look like they were made by Native American tribes. The collection does not make me think New York at all and that's awesome.

I really think House of Holland looked horrible. It was mixing bright floral prints with polka dots and cutting up polka dots from denium. The men's line was a lot worse than the women's but there weren't more than a handful that I liked at all. Even Agyness Deyn couldn't pull them off.

Organic & Environmental Friendly Clothing

This year has been all about "thinking green". Alot of popular clothing stores have jumped on the bandwagon and have atleast a few items they are selling that are more friendly towards the environment than garments they had in the past. While working at Forever 21 last year, I couldn't begin to tell you how many shirts and bags we got in with the recycle logo on it and slogans like "I Love Earth'. I am pretty sure none of those were organic fabrics though, and totally defeated the purpose. So make sure if you are trying to help the environment, make sure you actually are instead of just appear to be.

Even though I think it is a great idea, a lot of times it's really expensive, and being a college kid with a part time job I can't always go for the organic things I wish I could. I do, however, spend a good deal of my money at the Los Angeles based store American Apparel which is a vertically integrated company that is only made in the US and is 100% sweatshop free. They have mostly cotton clothing that is made from 20% organic materials and I've read on their website how they are going to try to bump it up to 80%. They recently added new brighter colors to the organic sustainable edition t shirts, so you don't have to get just dull colors like many other organic shirts!


In 2006 the well known Levis Strauss added 100% Organic cotton jeans to their product line for the first time in 100 years. Not only is the jean itself eco friendly, they also use recycled buttons, zippers, rivets, fabric for the tabs and natural dyes for different shades of the jeans were used. The tags are printed in recycled cardboard and printed with soy ink.

Many people are opting in using an eco-freindly shopping bag instead of wasting plastic shopping bags at clothing stores and groceries. Donating clothing to thrift stores instead of throwing no longer worn clothing will also help a lot, as well as shopping at second hand shops and vintage stores and giving old clothes a second chance. Buying organic cotton instead of regular cotton is a good way to go as well.

Favorite Designer:

MARC JACOBS!

The main reason I love Marc Jacobs so much is his advertising. I really like that anytime I open a magazine I can tell right away that it's an ad for his campaigns because of the style in coloring, sexuality and usually his bizarre choice of celebrities. Some random celebrity choices include: child actress, Dakota Fanninig, the former Posh Spice, Sophia Coppola and the amazing M.I.A.

I also am a huge fan of his women's attire. I'd much rather look at clothes I could wear everyday or on a more normal basis than things I would never be able to afford or never have anywhere to wear them to. His Marc by Marc Jacobs is very trendy, young and New York. I really like his use of over sized bows, buttons, prints and layering.

Throughout his career he always takes risks and tries new things. He's been quoted as saying, "I love the reaction of love or hate. It's indifference that bores me to death."

(M.I.A for Spring/Summer 2008)