Summer 2012: Ombre Mini Skirt

I've been very interested in the art of ombre dyeing and wanted to try it out.  I had this crochet lace that I thought would be perfect for my experiment, so I dove head first into attempting to ombre dye a finished skirt I had made.  I used my dad's cooler, that will no longer be returned to him...

You can do a simple Google search for ombre dyeing and have several hits, but I found the Rit Dye tutorial to be the easiest to follow.

Things I would do differently:
1. I hung the skirt on a hanger and let it sit in the dye for the specified amounts of time, versus actually holding it for 10 minutes and swirling it around to give a smoother transition between each level of saturation.
2. Made sure the fabric was 100% natural...it wasn't too big of a deal, but the thread was synthetic, so it didn't take the dye....rookie mistake.

Ta da!!!...

Inspiration

Where does inspiration come from?  As a young designer I find myself asking that on different occasions.  Do I look at what successful, notable fashion houses have done?  Do I do research the trends that months from now I'll be seeing in every knock off, cheapy fashion store out there?  Or do I say screw it all and go with what I'm feeling?

While attending Woodbury I was faced with this challenge for my senior project.  The possibilities were limitless, the only thing we were asked as young designers was to incorporate the broad theme of "living green" into our collections.  Beyond that it was up to us.  Everything we had learned up to that point was ours to use.  I remember tossing and turning at night trying to come up with an idea, a concept I could run with and not be bored by.  I tend to have a short attention span, and get bored by ideas quickly so I knew it had to be solid.  Then, finally it came to me...the human body.  How amazing, this beautiful, organic being made from organ systems that are each responsible in its success at striving.

This inspiration came to me like a light had been turned on after being in the dark for weeks.  Once it was there it grew and pushed me to create a collection I was proud of.  But inspiration comes and goes.  Sometimes I go weeks without feeling inspired, other times it flows out of me.  I appreciate design houses such as All Saints for their unique approach to designing, where doing what they are good at is amazing.  They seem to follow their own flow, not necessarily what has been said to be the next trend. 

I guess my point is that when I go looking for inspiration it doesn't come naturally.  My inspiration comes from my experiences, and how I'm feeling at the time.  But I don't think there is a right or wrong way when it comes to designing, because as long as the outcome is what you envisioned, it doesn't matter where the inspiration came from.