Nothing To Wear

A birthday party.  This is how it began.  As my excitement grew to spend an evening with one of my close friends, a thought popped into my head.  That thought led me to spend notable time perusing the web in search for something to wear.  I used to have this horrible habit where I would buy a new dress almost every time I went out.  That habit was kicked quickly upon warily standing on my own two feet, paying for rent and the mountain of every other expense I seem to have attracted like a magnet.  So I checked out F21, and with my luck they were in one of their weird transitional-we don't have that cute of stuff right now-phase...you may or may not agree, but my research has confirmed this.  I looked on All Saints website, then came back to reality and agreed with myself that I cannot spend upwards of $100 on a top...$200 on a dress.  I checked some other sites, but still wasn't finding anything worthy.

Luckily, I recently went on a fabric shopping trip downtown.  There, among homeless citizens, I found a great crochet lace fabric that I thought would be perfect for a Bavarian costume I'm currently working on.  I bought it and eventually decided it wouldn't be right for that costume so it was put aside. 

I've been craving a simple high-waist mini lately, and the crochet lace inspired me to try and create a simple yet classy skirt I could wear to the birthday party.  It began with me draping the gray knit backing for the skirt on my dress form in a very messy, haphazard manner.  I knew I only had a couple of days and limited energy, but half-assing this skirt wasn't an option.  I would need structural support for the knit fabric to stay up on my waist, so I re-draped, and re-sewed a skirt with boning and a black contrasting binding along the top.  I also wanted a subtle tail hem...just because. 

I wanted to make a sheer chiffon tank to go with it, but time was not on my side and I ended up pairing it with a simple black tank.  For someone who tends to over-think their designs and tries to come up with the most technically challenging concepts, this was truly an exercise in simplicity.  

Image property of C.A.P.

Image property of C.A.P.

The Art of Failing

I've always admired my mother's ability to apply watercolor paint to a blank canvas so freely and openly.  Her beautiful brushstrokes create dream-like scenes of forests, flowers, exotic animals and seascapes. 

I tried to paint a lily when I was about 10, and was unsuccessful.  I believe this is because I tried to control every aspect, every color, every runny water mark.  I design the same way.  My personal favorite garment I've made is extremely technical, and won two awards - one surface design award for the use of laser cutting, and the other was an overall technical award for my couture collection senior year of college. 

 Now that I'm out of college and work full time to sustain living in Los Angeles, draping, pattern-making and sewing are squeezed into a schedule with a 50 hour work week, a social life, and any other useless time sucks.  Sometimes when I get home all I want to do is eat and watch some show on Hulu, but then I remember my ultimate goal and how bad I want it.  I work on patterns for a dress for a couple weeks in between working and living, make sure they are perfect, cut out a mock-up, put it on the dress form...only to be disappointed that it's not what I envisioned.  You see, when I'm at work and we need a pattern it's a matter of an hour or so that the pattern maker has the pattern completed, it's put up to be cut, and we are looking at the sample by the end of the day.  It's not that easy when it comes to doing everything yourself. 

 So now I have this semi-complete mock-up of a dress that I know I don't want to spend any more time on, and am starting to accept that not everything I start is going to come out perfectly, but in some way still helps me get a step closer to my goal, and maybe one day I'll have a pattern maker who can whip out patterns for me.  Until then I'll try and learn from my mother and take it one brushstroke at a time.

In Good Company

Image by celebritybug

When I studied abroad in London I met a very inspiring individual.  This person would coach me along during my term when I felt overwhelmed and under-prepared.  We would stay in studio until the instructors kicked us out, snacking on treats we would pick up because breaking for dinner was out of the question.

I remember feeling so out of place as the professor gave us our mid reviews and I was told I would earn no better than a "C," maybe a "B-" as a result of my work and research abilities.  As an over-achiever, and believing I could do better, I took this as a challenge.  The lessons I learned and experiences I had are priceless, and far more valuable than any grade.  By the end of the term I received an "A" and was one of the only (along with my friend) students whose work had been pre-chosen to be shown in the annual fashion show.  I thank you, James Paul.

An amazing artist, generous spirit, and gifted individual, I have the pleasure and honor of being able to call him a friend.  You may or may not recognize him from the first season of Bravo's, "The Fashion Show," where he placed third in a mosh posh of emerging and already successful artists.  His designs are unique, and truly inspired by years worth of research.

As an aspiring designer I look up to you and your accomplishments and thank you for being apart of my life.

Jan Lim Photography / Annonymity Fashion

Once again, Jan Lim has left me in awe as he conceptualizes and executes yet another shoot.  I was lucky enough to be involved in the sense that he asked to use some designs I created previously. 

In addition to Jan, several artists joined talents resulting in the following series:

Model: Katherine Torres

Fashion Design: Colleen Patterson

Make up: Nowsheba Rahman
 

Hair Stylist: Peter Felix

Assistants: Ahdom Sayre & Marc Guittap

Art Direction & Photograph: Jan Lim

Skeletal Dress: Fur Free Fashion

Model: Rae Binley
Photo by: Jan Lim (http://www.janlim.com/)
Hair: Peter Felix and Romwell Pamatong
Make-Up: Mallory Glenn
Dress: Colleen Patterson

I'm entering this piece into a competition based around fur free fashion and protecting the wildlife.  That is definitely something I can get behind.

RAW fashion show

My collection for the RAW show on 2.3.11.
Photo by Lina Lecaro of LA Weekly

Behind The Scenes 1.9.11

I personally enjoy "behind-the scenes" footage because it gives a look into what went on before the finished product is shown.  You can see how people interact and the many talented people who aren't actually seen in each photo.  Okay, so this isn't an amazing behind the scenes clip, nor is it a reasonable length to form an accurate opinion of what was going on, BUT you can see smiling faces and artists at work. 

I want to try and take more videos (on my sweet little iPhone) of my work in progress and simple daily life. 

More to come.

Photos from 1/9/11!!!



Lissa Endriga





Pilar Alexandria

  Photographer and Art Director Jan Lim put together an amazing shoot; a shoot that lasted from 8 am to 12:00 that night!  In that time span we shot 8 of my dresses, including concept shoots envisioned by Jan. 

The models were amazing, the hair stylist and make-up artist were a dream to work with.  Jan and Ahdom (who assisted Jan) perfected the lighting and the setting.  Natalie came early and stayed the entire day, helping with accessories and fixing the dresses while they were being shot.  We even recruited her at the end of the day to model one of the dresses for a "shadow puppet" concept Jan put together.  Renee came and served as a second pair of eyes for me.  While I was getting a girl dressed with Natalie, Renee would be making sure the dresses looked good during shooting.

There were no bad attitudes, we went way beyond the time schedule we made and everyone was patient and focused.  This shoot gave me hope and made me even more optimistic about what can be done.




 


Stassi Schroeder

 



Rae Binley

 



Rae Binley

 




  

CREDIT:

Photographer/Art Director: Jan Lim

Assistant to Jan:  Ahdom Sayre

Models:

Latoya Hawthorne

Pilar Alexandria

Stassi Schroeder

Lissa Endriga

Rae Binley

Natalie Rumore (not seen here)

Chris Radd (not seen here)

Hair Stylist: Peter Felix

Hair Stylist Assistant: Romwell Pamatong

Make-Up: Mallory Glenn

Style Asst./Accessories: Natalie Rumore