mad props, yo

You can spot an art school student a mile away, especially fashion students.  They have the drawing boards tucked under their arms, oversized tote bags with an assortment of rulers sticking out sagging under shoulders, artbins hanging from the arm that’s just a little longer than the other, and bags under their eyes from lack of sleep.  I see girls finish up illustrations on their laps on the train.  Man, I am so glad all of that is over for me.  Because you know, once you leave school, you never stay up all night to get work done or agonize over this and that until you get nosebleeds.

But seriously, I gotta give these students mad props for being able to deal with the hassle of school while commuting by train.  It was hard enough for me to go to school but it would have been a great deal harder if I didn’t have my car.  We all schlepped so much stuff back and forth, not to mention stuff we’d have in the car, on the off chance we might need it that day.  It would suck to have to carry your final projects to school in the mass of rude shuffling bumping bodies that is the morning train.  I did a summer in London, and I took the tube everywhere, but had no classes that required major schlepping.  Taking a full backpack everywhere was crazy enough.

So yeah, mad props, guys.  And good luck.

assignment

Check out this story in WWD: “Standing Toe to Toe: More Female Designers Take Control in Fashion”.

And then tell me what you think.  Some tidbits:

Observers say an intense focus on wearable, figure-flattering clothes is among the reasons female designers have recently made enormous strides — even if they have a long way to go in such male-dominated fashion capitals as New York or Paris, not to mention the executive suite…

De Saint Pierre linked the rise in female designers today to the fact that fashion “is less couture driven. It doesn’t mean less creative. It’s become more real.” …

Missoni concurred that female designers take a different approach. “Men design what they would wear if they were women and women are flattered by the idea of wearing something a man would like them to wear,” she explained. “When I design, I always take into consideration the practical aspects of wearing, for instance, a sheer dress or a very deep neckline. So I always think what I would miss or need. I figure out new solutions, linings, finishings…

Indeed, Lanciaux said the moment of true equality will arrive only when it is no longer an issue if a designer is male or female. “When you are a great artist, everybody forgets your sex,” she said…

notes from the weekend

–I decided I hated everything, so I did a lot of sitting around, designing a bunch of new stuff, while watching Grey’s Anatomy.  I got the husband hooked too, so the two of us camped out in front of my computer, working and eating basically all weekend.  We blame the Crazy Chickenjoy Lady (you know who you are!) for mentioning that it was a good show in the first place.

–I was thinking about Valentino retiring.  And Ferre passing away.  And Claiborne, and Blow.  Is it just me or have there been a lot of deaths and retirements in the fashion industry this year?  Disturbing.

–I’m still in the middle of reading Deluxe.  I keep getting distracted with little things like paying bills and launching a start-up and working my day job and trying to do my share of the household chores.

–Life is busy, but I’m still around, guys.

fickle

I’m redesigning everything.  Everything.

i rock, yes i do

Heh.

A billion (or as my dear Cheeky likes to say, fortyleventeen) hours of designing, editing, redesigning, re-editing, and and and, I have a ginormous (patchwork) poster made of marking paper w/ charcoal sketches of my line pinned to my wall next to my even more ginormous pattern table. Yeah, I know the designs will evolve during sample development, but for now, the framework is set.  First muslins start tomorrow. Or, maybe I’ll take a day off. Or finally mail out the seller’s permit form that’s been sitting on my desk.