some rambles

I tried to participate in last week’s Carnivale, but I couldn’t think of any fashion or wearable purchase that made any sort of significant impact on me. I’m a different sort of fashion blogger and my relationship with fashion design and wearables is different. I don’t blog about fashion because I love clothes or accessories. I blog because I think that there’s a real absence in the media about what it’s really like to be a designer—not one of the crazy famous people, but a real, everyday, down to earth designer who’s trying her best to reach her ambitions. Sure, fashion is about fantasy—and I’m sure that’s why the myth of the designer still exists, but I’m here to kind of burst that bubble.

Back to last week’s Carnivale. I love my kimonos, but their purchases weren’t that special. Probably the most significant fashion acquisition was the purchase of my portfolio book, from the $125 one of my design teachers gave me. It really touched me that he thought my designs deserved a better format than the $30 plastic book I could afford at the time.

The most meaningful objects to me are my mother’s jewelry. Pretty much everything is replaceable except theses pieces. She passed away when I was 13. My father split up my mother’s jewelry between us kids. None of it was very expensive—doesn’t really matter. Among other things, I got her engagement ring—a cheap little number with the settings so loose one of the diamond dust particles is missing. I love it. It was the first “real” gift my dad gave her. I can’t wear it because I’m too afraid something will happen to it–like my own clumsiness. 

Then, there’s my car. I love it because it symbolizes mobility and financial independence. I bought that baby on my own accord, got a loan with my own credit, with no co-signer, when I was still in college.

So what am I trying to say? Basically, I’m done being sick, I’m getting my butt in gear about blogging and I’ve taken a 5-day hiatus from working on any side projects and it’s time to get going on the next thing! Next project: something I haven’t done in a really long time—a project completely uninfluenced by outside design direction, or molding a customer or any of that marketing stuff. I already do that at work. The only things I’m going to think about are basic price points and construction. Other than that, sky’s the limit. We shall see…

p.s. Okay, I lied about the 5-day hiatus. I actually started thinking about this new project as I was wrapping up “sparkle”. And I’ve been making some lists. Hello, my name is Zoë and I am a design addict.