Category Archives: Fashion Show

Intimate Apparel: 1st Ensemble Critique

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My lack of recent posts is due to the insane frenzy that was in C714 this past week as we tried to complete our first ensembles for yesterday. While some other specializations work on both first ensemble and the Cotton Inc. ensemble at the same time, Intimate Apparel finishes the first ensemble and then moves on to the cotton ensemble afterwards. (Which means now we only have three weeks and counting to start and finish our cotton looks!) Looking on the bright side, I have to give credit to the lovely Intimate Apparel ladies for pulling it together and really making the first critique an amazing presentation. Our critic, Flora Nikrooz, was present for the critique and we each got one-on-one sessions with her and Professor Armillas to make any improvements on our garments for Judging Day, which is April 17th.

Here’s a preview of the impressive Intimate Apparel presentation:

Front left: Caroline, Angenille, Erin, Jenn, Yazmil, Mira

From left: Alina, Larissa, Yie Sung, Emily, Lindsay

From left: Gina Marie, Me, Tessa, Sara, Nina

Last but certainly not least! From left: Natasha, Judy, Gina

Although some lucky girls are actually getting a break for spring break next week, the rest of us will be in the workrooms starting to drape our Cotton Inc. ensembles. I’ll be back with updates soon!

In Living Colour…

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Life as a fashion design major is many things, but to keep it short and sweet, it’s “Gone With the Wind Fabulous”. You are officially on your own and navigating the “The Wonder Years” in the middle of Manhattan.

The opportunity of meeting your business partner, soul mate, or even post college roommate is ripe for the taking. Always put ample time aside to complete your studies and success is sure to follow. Also in the fashion industry everybody knows everybody so be caring, kind, and not catty. Don’t believe me, ha, you’ll see.

Lastly, believe in yourself! Now is the time to stand up straight and to paraphrase Cher from Clueless, “wear your most capable looking outfits”. Be the young man or young woman who you have always aspired to be. Stick Rachel Roy’s photo on your dresser as a firm reminder if you have to, but never give up.

As always, I’ll be here if you need me. I know the tools of the trade and am not afraid to share.

 

XoXo – Mark

Children’s Wear Senior Class: Fitting Fun

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Helen’s dress muslin.

A couple weeks ago we had our fittings! It was difficult at times, for many of us had to make several adjustments to our muslin prototypes in order to get the best final fit for later.

The little girl we had for Size 5 was so patient, quiet, and sweet. We couldn’t ask for a better little model. Then there was a little Size 5 boy, another cutie, who was also sweet but got a little tired after awhile. Luckily not many of us were making garments for boys.

We also had a Size 10 girl, that only one student, Alyssa, needed. All the rest of us are doing Size 5 girl or boy and mainly girl

Here are a few photos from our fitting session with the adorable fit models.

Our little Size 5 model getting fitted by Jihaeng.

Size 5 Boy getting fitted for Chelsea’s tailored jacket.

Our Size 10 model getting ready to be fitted by Alyssa.

After our fitting, we all adjusted our patterns, tweaked some things, and once that was done we could begin cutting fabrics!

Here’s a preview of the fabrics I’ll be working with and my designs, along with the muslin prototype of my first design. Note that my second dress will be sleeveless (no it doesn’t have two different sleeves! I was trying out options.)

I have 3 garments total, a dark blue velveteen peplum jacket, a dark blue brocade dress, and a dusty blue cotton shift dress with gold lace applique. The first garment is strictly for Fashion Show and the other is for the Cotton Inc. design contest that all of us in Children’s Wear are required to participate.

At this point, pretty much all of us have began sewing something. It’s all coming together! Look out for my next post to see some garment progress! I will be documenting everyones work until show day. Stay tuned!

My Life by the Numbers…

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Attending F.I.T. is pretty awesome and has awarded me some really cool opportunities. Attending Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week, internships at design houses, and even much more. All that and more can be yours with much hard work, patience, and sacrifice. Here is my life by the numbers.

Dancing the Night Away...

A Reminder to Plan my Outfit for the Spring Formal

32: The number of fashion shows attended between freshman and senior year

5: Personal days claimed per semester for each class

3: Industry related jobs held in between programs

100: Professional connections made yearly

1: Nervous breakdown

A Mood Board for Another Personal Project

I find refuge in the versatility a nomadic lifestyle.

The fashion show component of my semester is going well. Today was the fitting and I was totally taken aback, none the less relieved when my garment draped perfectly on the fit model. No alterations needed! Next step, cutting out the fabric, sourcing notions and trims, and lastly, getting some sleep. Dark days are ahead, but the work WILL pay off come May. Ciao fashionistas!

My mentor Miss Tracy Reese & mother Anna Sui

The two ladies that constantly inspire me and serve as a reminder that hard work pays off in the world of fashion.

 

Casting on this week

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We knitwear students were lucky enough to receive a bunch of free yarn courtesy of Lion Brand and we received a bunch of it on Wednesday!
Here are some of the yarns that I got and spun onto some cones to be ready for the machines!


There’s some really beautiful, soft mohair in there. mmmm soft

Then I started testing out some of the yarns on the brother machine.

This weekend though I was able to get back on the stoll machine and knit down my intarsia to find out how it would run. After a long morning of setting up the program and machine, I finally got to knitting on the machine only to find that there were a few glitches leaving my first knit down with a bunch of holes and runs, but, of course, nothing’s ever perfect on the first try now is it? With some fine tuning and revision of yarns I was able to come up with something! There are still a few dropped stitches and the yarns will be a little different but it’s a step in the right direction!

Hopefully I will be able to program my sweater into this computer this week and knit it down soon with my cotton yarns!

Time is winding down so quickly already and things are so busy trying to find time for school, interning, and working… or daydreaming about what I’m going to do after school or thinking about how nice is must be on a sunny and foreign coast right now.
I digress
Just hope I have enough coffee to make it through these next few weeks!

^.^

Choosing Intimate Apparel: For the Love of Corsets!

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One of the most stressful times at F.I.T. is when you have to choose your specialization 5th semester. For those who don’t know, the first two years in the Fashion Design AAS program are the same for everyone, and then at the start of junior year (in the BFA program) you have to choose a specialization for the next year and a half: Sportswear, Knitwear, Childrenswear, Special Occasion, or Intimate Apparel. I came to F.I.T. wanting to do Special Occasion, as I was interested in doing bridal design. Because of this, I took Corsetry I and II my sophomore year because I had extra room for electives, and figured this would aid me in designing bridal corsets. What I didn’t know was that by taking this class, I would fall in love with shapewear garments and decide to make Intimate Apparel my specialization so that I could make more corsets. My corset for my cotton ensemble will be the eighth corset / bustier that I’ve made at F.I.T.! So my suggestion for those who are worried about choosing their specialization is just to go with your gut, check out the BFA shows from previous years, look at the curriculum for each specialization, and to not worry if you don’t get your first choice specialization on D-Day. It won’t be the end of the world, and just because you’re in a specialization doesn’t mean that you’ll be stuck in that category for the rest of your life!

A couple of corsets and a bustier that I’ve made in the past:

Marathon tuxedo corset: took 24-hours start to finish

Body Contour corset

Foundation Design bustier

P.S. I’ll have an update with the Intimate Apparel girls sometime this week. Our first ensemble is due next week so I’ll be sure to get some entertaining video clips straight from C714!

Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself…

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Hi Guys & Dolls,

My name is Mark and I am in my senior year at F.I.T., the best college ever! My concentration is special occasion, pretty things, anyone? I love it here and as will you, don’t be shy with your questions.

Nervous? Well don’t worry, I and the other bloggers are here for you. We were all 17 once, reading well, Seventeen and the likes of Teen Vogue before the all nighters and frequent trips to Mood fabric store came in. Click here to check out the home of Project Runway!

1920s Mood Board

Something I am currently working on

I am always working on new concepts and looking for ways to make my love of history, trends, and people relevant in my work. One tip for you aspiring fashionistas out there, start a journal filled with images, fabric, and even buttons that inspire you. Trust me, it pays off!

Keep in touch and let me know what you want to hear next!

XoXo – Mark

 

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of knitting!

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Hey guys!

I’m Aimee and I’m here to take you inside the basement of F.I.T. …. the knitting dungeon! So let me brief you on what I will be working on this semester! I am working on some pieces inspired by the rainforest. There’s a lot of prints and fun color.. well bubblegum colored things if you think that defines fun. Anyways, below are my sketches for the show… (subject to multiple changes along this journey)
all rights reserved

Now that you have an idea of what my style looks like I can show you some of the technical work behind this and what I have been working on this past week!

Below are the patterns I am drafting to mock up my prototypes. fun fun!

and I also got a bunch of cotton yarn in!

but I believe there is a lot more yarn I am going to have to purchase that I’m going to have to test out for these garments!

Today was a fun day though! I started working on my intarsia sweater and I’m really excited about it! I’m using the Stoll machine to knit down the sweater so my work is all computer generated!
Here is the image I used for the sweater exported into 4 colors which will translate into 4 yarn colors..

and then here it is translated into the stoll program
all rights reserved

Unfortunately I was not able to knit down the swatch today because the file I’ve made on the computer is quite complicated to knit and will take a little more time than I bargained for, but nonetheless it shall be done!

Will keep up with you guys through the week!

Ask me questions if you have them! I’d love to give you guys a chance to have all your questions answered, too whether it be about knitting, or fashion, or F.I.T. or what I had for lunch, or if my knitwear girls and I refer to ourselves as knitty biddys.. WHATEVER YOU GOT. sky’s the limit!

Showtime

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Here’s a little taste of my looks at the show! This was one of the best days of my entire life. I have to just say the stylists were BEYOND great this year. FIT set up the great hall so perfectly and having the chance to share my work with my family was the most incredible feeling. After it all happened though I really truly wished that every student got a chance to be a part of it, even more than I wished it before. It was the most exciting thing, and is something I will remember forever. Congrats everyone… It was super impressive. More photos to come!    

IT’S HERE!!!!! OH YEAAAA!!!

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So it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Today is the fashion show!!! I’m very excited  & proud for my fellow seniors who will have there garments featured in show. This semester we have learned a lot,fought a lot of battles :) stood up for what we believe in! Maybe a tad bit rebelious but we live & we learn :)

What I love the most about my special occasion class is that we stuck together as one big family through it all. our motto was ” we’re all in this together”… Everyone having there Beading parties, & slegrapples plus many more great memories. Our senior year is historic!!!

It was all fun while it lasted but it’s time to hit the real world !!!!!

BEST OF LUCK TO THE CLASS OF 2012!!!!!!!

Dont forget to tune in to the show 4:30pm & 7:30 pm online

THANKS :)