A Year of Pretty - February 27, 2014

These dresses.....like soft chiffon ice cream.
I want to live in these dresses.
These dresses......to run along the shore with toes in the sand.
The dreams that will come true in these dresses.

A Year of Pretty - February 05, 2014

Today's Pretty Post is a backstage look at Chanel's Spring 2014 collection. Really, I don't have a whole lot else to say . . . . the photo says it all.

(the original source for this photo is kinda obscure . . and kinda not. The link on Pinterest was broken, but a little digging around brought me to a holding tank for images for the look book for Chanel's SS2014 collection. In Italian. Where the credit is given to FotografÍa: Cortesía de Chanel / Olivier Saillant. Which is more than the Pinterest post gave credit for)

Make Your Own Occasions

Today is Monday. I’m going to wear a dress.

In itself, this is not an earth shattering concept. But let me explain a bit about how it comes about.

The other night, I was having a deeply philosophical conversation (okay, a “three glasses of wine in” conversation) with my dear friend A. I was remarking on the number of Pinterest posts of dresses, shoes, jewelry etc. that posters had commented “Beautiful. Wish I had somewhere to wear this”, or “I’d never have an occasion to wear this.”

Two years ago my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer; both breasts. At the same time, she was on the very top of the kidney transplant waiting list (one is not supposed to know they are at the top, but the nurses who care for my mom? . . . . well, she’s a favourite of theirs). Transplants are not given to people with cancer because the anti-rejection drugs taken after the transplant will speed up the production of cancerous cells if cancerous cells are indeed in the person’s body. So this new diagnosis after already waiting eight years for a kidney was an extremely harsh blow. My mom would have to be taken off the transplant list, fight the cancer, win against cancer and then go back onto the transplant list.

My mother; a fortitude of strength, made an instantaneous decision. Double mastectomy.  She said “I’m in my 60’s. I’m not having any more kids. My husband loves me . . . what do I need them for? I just need to get on with it, with living.”

Out came the breasts. She started chemotherapy. Her hair started to come out. We shaved her head. We cried. We bought beautiful scarves and dressed them up with brooches. My mother can rock a turban like nobody’s business.

And we started using the good china. For breakfast.  For meatloaf on a Tuesday night. For any occasion we felt like it. Because we had come face to face with the reality that life can quickly change directions on you and that there could come a day when we would no longer have occasions to celebrate.

So we MADE the occasions. And this is life. It’s not entirely about the occasions that are presented to you. Often it is about the occasions you create for yourself.

Today, my mom is a Silver Fox. She has a beautiful head of silver hair. We have 14 more months of testing to make sure she is cancer-cell-free. Then she goes back to the top of the wait list. In the meantime, we enjoy life.

Today, on a Monday, I’m going to wear a dress. I’m going to do my hair and make-up and then get on the skytrain and go to work. I will undoubtedly be the most elegantly dressed person riding public transit. But it doesn’t matter. It’s not important that people wonder why I’m dressed up. Let them wonder. Let them think I have some special occasion that I’m off to. 

The truth is I’m off to the most important occasion in life: life itself.

A Year of Pretty - January 30, 2014

It's a cold day in January.

So today's Pretty Post is this gorgeous gown by Svetla nad Sazavou born designer Blanka Matragi. An award winning designer, she hand dyes all her fabrics, so each garment is unique.

The colours on this dress are just fantastic. Rusts and coppers and steel blues and greys. The floral detailing provides a unique contrast to the silky flow of the gown. The fur trim really helps set the tone of this dress: old world Russian elegance.

The model's hair and make-up also compliment this gown. I could just imagine her name is Tatiana or Katarina or something equally as fabulously Russian Empire.

This dress would look great on a Hollywood red carpet . . .if ever there were exceedingly cold weather in Hollywood. So dramatic . . so mysterious . . ."Who is that regal-looking woman in her silks and furs?" Now that I think of it, this would have been perfect on Keira Knightley for the premier of Anna Karenina

Enjoy your day and stay warm out there.

A Year of Pretty - January 23, 2014

I can't believe it's already only three months until my birthday. My big birthday. The big four-zero. Yikes!

Onto something more positive. Today's Pretty Post is the GORGEOUS Chanel dress, found via Pinterest, linked back to walkingthruafog. And there it ends.

This is stunning. This is glamorous. This is Chanel.

This reminds me of some lace I have that I will be using on my Great Gatsby Challenge, due in . . .a month. Yikes again!

While my design will be no where near this elaborate, it's still nice to think I haven't got it ALL wrong.

(the shoes are pretty awesome too)

Anyhow, enjoy today's post and wish me luck as I continue with designing (which right now is really just a bunch of ideas with editing and a good dose of compromises).

A Year of Pretty - January 21, 2014

Okay, so yesterday I posted about a chair with castor wheels on its front legs and a couple cushions and some flowing fabric that may have been too light to be a throw to keep warm. So I daydreamed that it was a gauzy, dreamy evening gown tossed on the chair after a night of dinner, dancing and champagne.

Today's Pretty Post is said dreamy dress. Well, not really actually. But we can pretend. Or at least I can.

The original post is from Pinterest and the link leads to everlytrue on tumblr. But there it stops.

So I'll have to make some educated surmises about this dress. The fabric appears to be a silk charmeuse with pleated chiffon in different lengths underneath the shirt, and ruffled chiffon over the bust and forming the sleeves. No glitter but lots of understated glam.

I try to combine different textures when I am designing, and this style of elegance is what I'm trying to achieve in the Great Gatsby Design Challenge I'm currently working on. I know the roaring 1920's were about beads and sparkle and fringe and feathers. But team this up with a couple long strands of pearls and you're the belle of the ball.

A Year of Pretty - January 20, 2014

Today's Pretty Post is this chair with distressed finish and interestingly . . . castor wheels on the front legs. It looks like it might be quite heavy, so this would make sense. Simply lift up the back and push the chair along on its wheels until you have it moved to where you want it. the front legs would need to be chopped down a bit so that the chair still remained level and not tilted backwards.

Also liking the brooch pins added to the cushions. Clever little detail. I like clever little details.

Not sure whether the gauze is a throw or a evening gown draped on the chair from the night before. Let's go with evening gown . . .makes this photo seem more romantic and a bit mysterious.

Because really, as a throw the material wouldn't keep anyone warm. But as a stunning dress it's sure to light some fires within.

Enjoy your Monday and seek beauty all around you.

A Year of Pretty - January 14, 2014

I should be designing today. But I'm getting over this cold. My second cold in a month's time. I caught my first one about a week or so before Christmas. I was finally getting back to my usual self by New Year's Day. Then round two came along and now I am heading into the final stages of this one.

It's hard to be creative when you aren't feeling well. The problem is I have scads of ideas running through my brain . . .especially late at night when I am trying to fall asleep. (Never TRY to fall asleep. It does not work. The harder you try, the more futile the result). But setting those ideas in motion and actually getting them down on paper is the difficult part right now because of this head cold. I usually end up walking away to go blow my nose.

Case in point. It's currently 2:10am and I am nowhere near being ready to fall asleep.

I'm also up against a deadline. First fittings for the Great Gatsby themed fashion show are on January 22nd. That's in eight days. I'm only one pattern into my designs and haven't cut the muslin for it yet. Am I worried? Not really, because I'm pretty used to pulling a rabbit out of a hat in the eleventh hour while behind the 8 ball, so to speak. Should I be worried? Probably.

But it will all work out. I have faith. Just not enough sleep.

So. Today's Pretty Post, designed to inspire me to be more creative and actually get stuff done is this AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS beaded dress. The designer is Anna Sui for BHLDN. Photo source is a flickr post by Herkkupeppu. On the BHLDN website, the Aiguille Gown dress is still available in a number of different sizes, and shows some styling options such as jewelry and head pieces. There are several studio shots of the dress, as well as "real weddings" photos of the dress on different body types, which I think is pretty great because we all know that how a dress looks on an industry model and how it looks on the average female frame can be quite different.

I like how the rows of sequins above and below the waist form a chevron pattern, and how the waistband reflects this chevron design in its center. Very art deco. The button detail down the front is interesting, though I'm not certain they are functioning buttons. The silver chain and necklace also mimic the sequin patterns and provide a great contrast to the softness of the garment.

It's Great Gatsby, but with a modern silhouette.

A Year of Pretty - January 12, 2014

Hmmm, if only I could wake up looking like this . . . .

A Year of Pretty - January 08, 2014

In a little over six weeks time, I will be participating in two design showcases; one on February 22nd, the other on February 27th. Luckily, the theme for both showcases is the same: The Great Gatsby.

Which brings me to today's Pretty Post. The photo is from a tumblr post which no longer exists, so I have no original source. Sorry.

So what does chosen theme represent to me? Besides the obvious beading and fringe and feathers and dropped waist lines, Gatsby is a state of mind. It is elegance, it is decadence. It is the beginnings of women cutting their hair into short bobs, of forgoing the previous decades (centuries) of corsets and hip paniers and other foundation garments meant to alter the female torso into the "ideal" shape. 

It's the start of a more free time, a looser time (both in dress and in morals). It's fun, it's flirty, it's here to drink champagne and dance the night away.

I am striving for six looks. I'm very excited about this challenge simply because I get excited about beading and trims and lace and whispy dresses like those shown in the picture. Although, the front beaded one probably weighs a few pounds.

I'm going to stay with a lighter colour palette; pinks and gold and champagne wishes and caviar dreams. Basically, if you took the black garments out of this picture, you'd have my colour palette. This means these six new pieces will mix well with the five looks I created for my first collection back in September. Ah ha! smart thinking !

So get out your feather boa and stay tuned while my creative process begins, my late night struggles to get things done endures and I try to recreate the fabulousness that is The Great Gatsby.

Have you Missed me ?

I have been away, I mean, I haven't gone anywhere physically, but I've been away from here. From this blog. It seems like just a couple weeks, but in truth it's been months.

Life ran away with me. Or rather, I ran away with life. Together we eloped into a frenzy of office work, fashion sketching, pattern drafting, muslin making garment construction and (horror of horrors) . . . restaurant work. A second full time job.

Yes, despite my previous thoughts of not returning to work in a restaurant, the $13,000.00 for a new roof and balcony had other ideas. So back to prostituting my soul table side for $$ I go ! Okay . . . I'll admit I do love the industry, but no the long hours and the effect it has on my sleeping pattern, my eating pattern, my aching back-knees-calves-and-feet pattern. Essentially . . . my life pattern.

And silly me, I did this heading into the last term of my graduate program. Yes, I am crazy. Or a glutton for punishment. Or destined for design disaster. Time to tell. Time that I don't have . . . for things like this blog.

Because if you're paying attention, I now work 40 hours in the office, 35 hours at the restaurant and 12 hours at school, plus about 10 hours of homework. That's 97 hours per week. Yeh, I'm gonna have to go with "crazy" on this one.

So I think the next little while will be about posting inspirations and ideas and less about writing and actual "blog" blogging.

A blog without any real "blogging". Or blog writing.

You get the picture. Or you will, because there will be a lack of blogging.
Just pictures.
Which you will get.

Beautiful Flocked Ivy Silk Art Fabric by FabricMart

Design Inspiration - part 6

beautiful colour palette as inspiration for the upcoming collection.

Design Inspiration - part 5

It's here. My last term of school. My final project. My five looks that will walk down a runway and represent me. Daunting; capital D.

So, in anticipation, I'm going to start sharing a couple images of inspiration for my collection. Most of these are either from Pinterest or Etsy, and along the way they have lost their original links. If you recognize any of these, please let me know the source so I can give credit where it's due.

>>>The shorts/vest/sweater combo to the right is Chanel SS2012....no mistaking those iconic pearl buttons and the soft structured look. (in love with the layering and textures!)<<<

Which brings me to the theme of my collection: Softness in Structure and Architecture as Design. Think of the curves of the Sydney Opera House, or the swoop of the roof of the Richmond Oval (formerly the speed skating track for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics). I'm also evolking memories of travel while honoring classic design. (Whew! all that in five looks.)

I have most of my fabrics selected. All the patterns are made and test toiles put together. Cutting on the "real fabric" begins tomorrow night. Fingers crossed and wish me luck!

In the meantime, enjoy!

All That Glitters

New Year's Eve is fast approaching. Found this FANTASTIC dress on Pinterest by Atelier Versace. Personally, I think the model has had her waist nipped a little by our friends at Photoshop (I mean, come on...unless she has been tight lacing for 10 years....that is one tiny waist).

Either way, it's a stunning dress. Kind of a champagne gold colour. Great for them fancy New Year's Eve balls all the gals are going to. Imagine all the hours it must of taken to cut each petal detail, finish the edges, add beading detail and apply to the garment.

And check out the height on that leg slit....yowza!

The hair is something else altogether.

Today on Etsy - December 21, 2012

So today on Etsy this adorable chic dress was featured on the home page. Beautifully designed by Vanda Fashion out of Isreal (two sisters, infact).

AND they are having a SALE !

This one ladies...is coming home to me.

Bit of Bliss - take 3

 

mmmmm....... le sigh.

Design Inspiration - part 2

I won't lie . . .every time I see this picture in my "virtual closet", I lose control of the function in the lower half of my jaw. Extreme gorgeousness.There were no details with the original photo, so I can't even credit the designer. But whomever they are . . .so inspired !

Layers upon layers of fabric without creating bulk. And seemlingly light weight and a flutter. Stunning colour, like a summer rose in bloom. Simply stunning. Simply amazing.

This dress would not need much in the way of accessories . . but of course would need the perfect pair of shoes. Might I suggest these by Parisxox . . . .


le sigh . . off to Fashion Design class I go . . .

It's a Cinch !

Call me crazy, but I like corsets. That symbolism of ultra feminine suppression to me is just . . . ultra feminine. 

I own several corsets, both steel boned (where the steel ribbings are inserted all the way around) and steel / plastic boned (where only the front ribbings and stays are steel and the rest are flexible plastic). And while I’m not a tight –lacer by any means, I do like hug of a properly fitting corset on my body, not to mention what it does for my already hourglass figure or how it makes me feel. . . like I want to bust out in cabaret tunes.

Corsets have also improved my posture. Working at a desk most of the day, there is a tendency to slouch over and not sit up straight. I find I am less tired and my shoulders are not as sore on days that I’ve worn a corset. My “work corset” is an under bust style, making it easy to breathe while still providing support to my back and core. And most importantly, people at work don’t see the top or tail of it peeking out of my suit jacket. Not that there’s anything wrong with showing off a great corset. Just maybe not in a meeting discussing Bailed Waste Productivity Forecasts.


Then again, maybe that would make the meeting more interesting.