death

robert rauschenberg is dead. i first saw Monogram when i was 9 years old...it was on loan from its home museum in Scandinavia and was temporarily in the Guggenheim when i went with my father in November. little did i know that he would forever stick in my mind and become one of my favorite artists today. sigh..another great artist is gone forever.

casablanca

casablanca is one of my favorite movies...and this is a design from one of my favorite graphic designers

paris!

im actually going! 

floundering

sometimes i wonder if fashion really is the route for me...i am passionate about it, but im almost more passionate about traveling and experiencing other cultures. i'd do that in a heartbeat...

should i finish my education at parsons? should i find something else? what i really want to do is become a peace corps volunteer...what can i really do with my life? and who the hell do i talk to about it?

london transport

thanks to a clive dilnot lecture, i was introduced to the london transport's posters...here are a few of my favorites

a quick link

huge old school neon signs

another photographer i love

amanda mehran

ryan mcginley

all of these are photos by ryan mcginley

artist love

a picture of my ideal marriage...i wonder if it'll happen?

(full text through lexis nexis...)

dali

i fell in love with this dali sketch...

current events

why not be inspired by what's happening right here, right now? god, i watch it every single night on CNN...

idealism vs. experience

young vs. old

strong woman in a man's world

controversy

setting precedents

security, economics, reaching out to the "poor" people

change

fall 2008 fashion weeks

new york:

• threeasfour
• ralph lauren
• rag and bone
• charles nolan
• vera wang

london

• roksanda illincic
• christopher kane
• erdem
• gareth pugh

milan

• emporio armani
• burberry prorsum
• bottega veneta
• prada
• gucci
• iceberg
• dolce and gabbana

paris

• victor and rolf
• balenciaga
• akris
• andrew gn
• chrisian lacroix
• emanuel ungaro
• dries van noten
• rick owens
• stella mccartney
• valentino
• giambattista valli
• celine
• alexander mcqueen
• rue du amil
• lanvin

an obvious preference for overseas designers...

50!

my 50th post in less than a week...but now my notebooks are all up to date! at some point i need to take the time to scan some drawings...

random from my phone

i found this in a book of katies's...dont remember which one

a cool pattern and palette from the floor of Purl

becher photos! these are at the met...have i mentioned how much i love watertowers??

letty lynton

this famous dress that joan crawford wore...

influenced fashion significantly, hence the middle dress below

(i had give up hope that i could ever find this photo again but i did!)

found on ffffound

browsing through ffffound.com, i found these cool images

surrealism

investigate the ideas behind surrealism...translate to fashion? eveningwear project??

if only

so many times i've lamented the state of the fashion industry today in comparison with how it used to function for most of the 20th century. i had never quite figured out why it bothered me -- the speed, the knock offs, the competition...

maybe its because i see high fashion more as an art form than a business plan. to me its a chance to exercise creativity, producing something unique, innovative, interesting without working in a traditional artistic sense. artists are given time to develop ideas...while they do depend on selling their paintings, thats not their main thought -- they arent constantly under a time table or constantly pushed to do something radically different every time. fashion designers used to be like that too...fashion moved more slowly, so the art of designing could be practiced.

if only we could get back to that sensitivity...

holes

inspired by the pattern magic books...i found them at kinokuniya, thanks to my previous methods teacher

holes -- passageway -- both going in and coming out

organic shaped holes in outer layer -- all match up on edges

contrasting piping to emphasize 

chiffon overlay with holes and piping -- see contrasting print underneath 

gives impression of holes flowing over body

evening wear -- very constructed holes and shapes

mummification

a linen gown -- huge train

yards and yards of fabric, wrapped all up to shoulders/neck/face

linen? muslin? -- unbleached

rough vs elegant silhouette