Category Archives: Aria

Children’s Wear Senior Class: In a Blink of an Eye

Leave a reply

Runway image of my dress via Fashionista.com!

So as we all know, last week, May 1st, 2013, was the debut of the Future of Fashion show. It was really exciting to se mines and everyone else’s garments come strutting down the runway. The only downside was a seating mix up that had me and a couple of my friends and our parents sitting in the back row (which we were very frustrated about, but eventually got over it. I blame the girl who seated us in reserved seats…very upsetting and confusing. Word of the wise – Make sure the ushers know where they are seating people!) When Children’s Wear came down the runway however, we all stood up to see, we didn’t care!

As usual, Children’s Wear stole the show. The entire audience was in a frenzy, cheering more loudly than they did for any other specialization. It’s always amusing how people react to children’s garments. It makes me very happy to witness it.

Those little models really worked the runway though! My little one was sashaying like if she was a seasoned Top Model. It was a little scary! Oh and fun fact, my model appeared in a Tide commercial that’s currently airing. I thought that was funny and random, don’t you agree? I can definitely see potential in her future!

It all went by so quickly. I can’t believe that I’m finishing up my final bits of work and in about a weeks time, I will be a college graduate. Four whole years leading up to this. I do however, feel accomplished. I learned so much in my years at FIT, finishing and polishing the skills I originally learned in the High School of Fashion Industries. So I’ve really been doing this for eight years of my life. I’ve come very far since my most humble beginnings.

I do have, like many FIT graduates, a love and hate relationship with the school. I had many excellent professors, got to learn so much that I hadn’t known, but times were tough. Work was no joke. There were a few sleepless nights, all-nighters, mishaps and hardships. But look at me now, I got through it. In the end, everything always worked out.

Now it’s time to look toward the future. What exactly do I plan to do once I graduate? Where will my path lead me?

- Aria

Children’s Wear Senior Class: Post Judgment Day

1 Reply

All lined up for judging.

So the fashion show judging has come and gone. I speak for myself when I say that I was surprisingly calm that day. At around 1pm, we all collectively carted our dressed dressforms downstairs to the Great Hall. We made a mini spectacle in the      C-Building lobby with our little kiddie forms rolling through. There were countless smiles and joyous expressions as we passed by everyone in the halls. Everyone is always happy when they see little kids garments, it’s a fact.

We spent the day in class sewing garments we hadn’t finished whilst we watched movies on Netflix on the computer projector – featured films included Aristocats, Pochahontas, and the newest Tinkerbell movie. Yes we are adults, young at heart and proud! It was nice just calmly watching nostalgic films while we waited until 6pm for the judging posting. No use in stressing at that point.

Then the time had come, where we went down to see the posting of who got into the show. Everyone was anxious, and it didn’t help that they were an hour late in posting the results. People were frustrated and on their last legs, many running on no sleep. I felt strange being so calm and collected in comparison.

Then the list was posted, and it saddened me a little when a few students in my class did not get any garments in the show, even if they submitted two. Even though my garment was chosen, it gets diminished a bit when my fellow classmates are disappointed. But no one cried or fretted too much in our group. We all know that we did our very best, and at the end of the day – getting in the fashion show does not equal whether or not you get employed out of college, hard work and determination does (as well as a bit of good luck!)

Nine total garments out of about 17 submitted got in, so about half. It would have been nice to see everyone get something in the show, but it’s understood that sometimes things need to get cut, and it’s not always because the garment was particularly bad. Fashion is a subject of opinions. A garment thats fantastic to one person may be a monstrosity to another, it’s impossible to know. Doing your best work and enacting your design vision is what’s most important.

Tomorrow, May 1st, is the big show day. It will be exciting to see everything walk down the runway. But I tell you, before you know it, it’ll all be over. It’s been a great yet often challenging four years, but as I keep saying, it doesn’t end here!

Plans for the future in my next post, until then! See you on show day.

Children’s Wear Senior Class: Student Showcase III – Garment Completions

Leave a reply

From the previous showcase, Thai’s finished outerwear piece. She’s also our class Critic Award winner! Click for bigger!

As promised, an individual showcasing of garments from us girls in C706! Everyone deserves a little spotlight don’t they? I’m here to shine it.

We all did some great work. It really came together. There was a lot learned and plenty gained. I’m astounded at how long we were working on all this stuff! From the guidance of Prof. Seggio and the help and expertise of Prof. Varcelona, we made this all happen. It sure happened quickly. Just one blink and the Fashion Show will be over in a dizzying whirlwind and a couple of weeks after that we’ll have a diploma in hand. Wow.

Let’s not get sentimental just yet, time for the showcase!

Return of the Baroque Sisters, Jen and my own dresses.

Casey’s ensemble finished. I’m getting not only the surrealist vibe, but the 1960′s too. You see it right? Mini Twiggy.

Close up of Janine’s beautiful iridescent wool coat with fur cuffs and pink silk dress. She even found matching iridescent buttons at M&J Trimmings. The bow on the dress is so darling. I’m feeling a bit of Chanel sophistication here. Prim, Proper, Posh little lady.

Jihaeng’s adorable sporty number! I can’t get over the ruffled sleeves and the cute heart face. Just too cute for words really. Bonnie suggested pairing it with winged converses. I agree!

Poorum’s colorful ruffled gown with sequin bodice detail. The little fur vest was so soft and lovely too.

Ivy’s layered look complete.

Klazina’s Girl outfit. Earthy and sporty. I love the fur vest, and plus, it’s reversible! Forgot to get a picture of that! It’s awesome.

Chelsea’s Boy and Girl looks, her Girl being for Cotton Inc. I’m just in awe of these! Her construction is just amazing, and these two looks coordinate quite nicely don’t they! I’d love to see them coming down the runway together. Wouldn’t you?

And I had to single out these lovely details. That plaid check shirt is darling, and the cut cotton lace trim on the skirt is fantastic. Truly hard work, but great work.

Alyssa’s size 10 girls. She also did an amazing job with her construction. The wool toggle coat is a feature from last semester that she made a coordinating ensemble for. These garments really display what Alyssa’s design aesthetic is all about.

What do you think of our work? And you haven’t seen it all quite yet, there’s still some unfinished garments. Many may not end up in the fashion show but hey, they are definitely getting posted here!

Look for the post Official Judging recap next time.

Children’s Wear Senior Class: Critic’s Visit and Pre-Judging – Doomsday?

Leave a reply

Dressing the forms.

No not doomsday, not by far. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

So yes, our critic, Bonnie Young, was arriving to make her critique of our finalized garments. The aura was mixed, some anxious, some aloof, some indifferent (like me).

Speaking for myself, I only submitted one garment for review, and that was my Baroque inspired dress. The jacket will no longer accompany it as I believe I stated before, and instead will go for my Cotton Inc. look, which even still I am not submitting for the contest. Personal choice. I’m treating it now as a no pressure final garment for grading.

Helen’s accessory page. Highly professional presentation don’t you agree?

 

Anywho, we all prepped with high hopes and star glazed eyes (overly dramatic wording alert), pining gleefully at the opportunity that lie ahead (told you).

Prof. Seggio informed us to come prepared with printouts and ideas for how we will accessorize our looks, as well as the design sketch and swatches. (I opted to do a CAD drawing from my own sketch actually.)

Lining up! And admiration by Helen and Jihaeng.

Thai doing some final pressing.

Helen in preparation mode.

Neutral to color splash! Helen, Janine, Poorum.

Earth Tones. Student Showcase III of these garments and more coming in the next post.

Near complete lineup. I can’t wait to show you all the detail shots. We’re an awesome group! I’m proud of everyone and myself included.

When Bonnie arrived, we greeted her. She was immediately shocked at how much we’d accomplished since she last visited. It was tough though, since her time with us was so limited, unfortunately that if we had any flaws or needed tweaks, at this stage it was already too late to make any major changes. I think if we had maybe one more visit at the stages of early construction, this could have been avoided. But overall, the results and feedback were okay, it varied from person to person, I won’t get too specific, but yea we survived it.

I will be showcasing everyones individual garments in the upcoming post. Later, look out for a report on the Judging Day (or should I say “Judgement Day”) happenings and our class Critic Award Winner.

No matter what happens, we all know we worked hard in the 1 1/2 years we’ve been doing Children’s Wear at FIT, gaining the skills we will use for our career lifetimes. It doesn’t end here!

Children’s Wear Senior Class: Boys are Back in Town

Leave a reply

Ivy’s Boy look in part.

Thought fashion show judging has come and gone, I’m going to continue backtracking and showing you all what Children’s Wear can do!

In Children’s Wear, Boys fashion is highly under represented. In this industry, designers who can do Boys fashion in a way that is new and innovative are highly valued. It’s been a complaint time and time again from industry professionals as well as retail customers, that Boys wear is always a bit lackluster. It’s difficult to push the envelope for boys wear. You have to be careful to not over embellish, but at the same time, if you want to stand out from the Gap Kids basics, you have to walk the tightrope.

Well we don’t have many Boys garments as we do girls (every student in our group did girls garments, and if they did boys it was their secondary look) but it was done! Four students went out on a limb and tried it. I deem them successful.

The humble beginnings of Chelsea’s wool tailored jacket. It’s a brown houndstooth with corduroy collar and sleeve detail. The construction is impecable. Just wait until I share photos of it finished. I could easily see a dapper little lad sporting this number a la Brooks Brothers (can totally see it hanging in their flagship store too.)

Casey’s Cotton Inc. garment for Boy. Gingham checks in varied sizes. Also note the leather pocket edge. It’s those touches of whimsy that brings a Boys garment from basic to brillant. I think she executed that well. And the coordinating cotton twill pant, which I do believe sports some fantastic white topstitching.

Ivy’s complete look. Her little boy is bound to be cozy in all this warm layers. The pants though, I must point out. You don’t see much of the pegged skinny pants for Boys in our industry, but I do hope it catches on. It’s totally chic. Little boys will be out here looking FLY!

Klazina, another student, is also doing both a Boys and Girls look, but I haven’t gotten photos of her Boy look just yet. Trust me, it’s something. I mean after all, she hand screen printed the print for her Boys puffer vest. I must show it to you all next time around.

I personally fend much better for myself with Girls design, but who knows where I might find myself in 5-10 years down the road. These gals though, sure have the knack for Boys fashion. I do hope we’ll see a boy or two walking down the runway. For years of Fashion Show history, there hasn’t been much if at all. I hope to see that change.

Oh and see also, Children’s Wear is the only specialization in Fashion Design where you’re not limited to just female clothing, how about that?

More coming! Recap and report of our Critic’s Visit and Pre-Judging starts in my next post!

 

Children’s Wear Senior Class: Backtrack – Prepping for the Critic’s Visit

Leave a reply

Jihaeng ruffling for her skirt!

So this past Wednesday, our critic Bonnie Young visited to make her picks and make tweaks for what she wanted to be sent down for judging. But hold on a minute, what exactly happened before that?

So what exactly goes into prepping for the Critic’s visit?

Running around like a beheaded chicken. No, I’m just joking. Basically you just want to show your best work possible, bottom line. For some that brings more stress than others. I think my fellow Children’s Wear gals handled everything pretty well, and there were many who really exceeded expectations, at least in my opinion.

Contrary to popular belief, Children’s Wear is NOT the “easy specialization”. It’s not the one you chose just because you want an easy time. Proportions are important. You have to think in a totally different way from Women’s Wear. It’s extremely technical as well (excellent pattern making skills are KEY.) One huge plus side to Children’s Wear though is yay less fabric yardage! But don’t get me wrong, it is less stressful. If you’re considering Children’s Wear, go for it!

Now for photos! Let’s see some more of what everyone was up to in the weeks leading to the critic’s visit as well as some garments you may have never seen…

(You can click on the photos to make them larger by the way!)

Jihaeng’s skirt and leggings. Sparkles and grommets!

Made a bow for my dress! Was a hair accessory, but now it’s actually going on my dress, haha.

Casey’s surrealist jacket and pants set. There’s also a cute matching top and pant set under there! Casey isn’t afraid to push the boundaries of style for Children, innovation is very important in this industry.

The amount of student work I have to share is limitless! Stay tuned, in my next post I will be showcasing something different, Boys fashion! You thought it was girls girls girls? Nope, we do have a few boys garments over here in C706, *Hint: Get a teeny preview of that back over at the Fitting Post here! 

Fashion Show judging is actually this week (yikes, hell week!), but I’ll have full coverage of that a bit later on, so look out for that too, but for now, shameless plugs for the Children’s Wear family! We’ve worked hard and everyone will be sure to see.

Children’s Wear Senior Class: What is it like being a Children’s Wear designer?

Leave a reply

There’s so much beauty in being a Children’s Wear designer. It’s freeing, you can unleash your creativity without fear of it being unappreciated. People respond to your work with a happy expression of love and endearment, rather than a casual “nice” or a bland “interesting”. We put our work on display and it’s instant smiles from everyone.

We all chose Children’s Wear for different reasons. Be it the need to try something different, by chance, or like yours truly, who chose Children’s Wear because of a feeling of disillusionment with Women’s Wear, feeling that my designs were just too youthful in nature and my inspirations just did not interpret well into women’s clothing. I love whimsical, cute, fun, vintage, and alternative styles, many of which just weren’t fully accepted when I was still doing Women’s Wear for my associates degree. I think if I was doing that now, I would be very unhappy with it. But you know, that’s just my personal opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I do still love Women’s Wear and respect all who have the creativity for it!

Anyway, here we are, Senior Year 2013. It’s been a long way to getting here, but yet it seemed as though time flew by. It’s time for the Senior Show, and in Children’s Wear, the work is well underway.

We met our critic, Bonnie Young, on the second day of classes. She is a Children’s Wear designer herself. We showed our sketches, fabrics, and inspirations and she gave us all feedback. Afterward it was time for patternmaking and draping (I stick mainly to patternmaking, as I find it more efficient.) Slowly but surely we worked to see our garments start coming to life.

Then we began getting fabrics, shelling out the money we were all reluctant to spend, but eager to get some things we truly loved. I myself spend about $80 total on all my initial fabrics, which compared to some is nothing! Students, especially in other specializations, have spent hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Crazy huh?

This past Wednesday we had our first model fitting, and that’s where I’ll leave off. I’ll have photos on that in my next post.

Until then! Thanks for reading!

- Aria