Tag Archives: cotton inc.

AND—its SPRING BREAK!!! Woohoo!

Also, I got into the BFA fashion show with my cotton dress! Here is my super cute model who told me, “I would TOTALLY buy this dress!” I decided I am going to make a matching doll outfit for her to put on her American Doll and carry down the runway! Cute, ehhh, ehhh?

Cotton Dress

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Here is my cotton dress thus far.

Week 3

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So, a few weeks ago I delted facebook because I found myself being distracted by the nothingness that happens on the site. In this video, you will hear my roommates ridiculous reasoning to why I should still be on the site. Feel free to laugh. You will also see my dying process for the cotton dress….and my distractions in between. Feel free to laugh, again. Finally, you can see kids “dancin’ for change”, the work of my classmates, my skype date, my very “lived-in” room and one of the subways that I depend on every single day! Oh, btw this is one of my favorite songs —U2~ “It’s a Beautiful Day” <3

ENJOY, my friends!

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Final Words from Fashion’s First Lady & the Magic you Missed

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Great advice is hard to come by. Great advice from an icon and a legend like say, the amazing Ms. Carolina Herrera-well, talk about a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! The thing about getting great advice is, since it’s not such a common occurrence, I like to take every opportunity I can, to share it. That’s why I’m ever so grateful for the opportunity to be able to share such grand advice, on such a grand scale.

But first……

One of the hardest truths many of us have had to come to terms with this semester, is that fashion is a very an insanely an outrageously- dare I say, horrendously (you get the picture) competitive business. In this way, the fashion show serves as a mirror of this business, and another tool that the school makes use of to prepare us for, “the real world”. What sucks most (obviously) about this, is that even some of the most talented people out there aren’t being recognized. For no reason other than there just aren’t enough spots in the show job market (see what I did there!) That being said, I’d like to take this last opportunity to pay tribute to a few of these people: my classmates. Each one of these people, is a creative genius in her own right-and I have every confidence, that one way or another, they’ll be making a name for themselves. Here’s to you!

Carolina's critique: "This is very sportswear." Truely, a direct representation of what our specialization is all about

Carolina's critique: "This is very sportswear." Truly, a direct representation of what our specialization is all about

The judges weren't feelin' capes this year, but wow, was this piece a stunner

My critique: "Lady Gaga would totally rock this!" Great shoulder detail. Also, kudos to anyone bold and brave enough to make a leather dress.

Wait until you see the back of this rockin' 4 pc ensemble....

... See what I mean? How's that song go? "Gimme a cape with hair..."

For anyone who thinks making a cape is easy, I dare you to reproduce this one. Fair warning: you can't drape like this girl can.

Money! Yay!!

What’s next on the horizon for me, you wonder? Well, aside from having just blown my fabulous Cotton Inc. check on Muse tickets, (Yay, money!) I’m pleased to reveal this exclusive bit of exciting news: I’ve contributed two new styles to a popular clothing company (original info removed at company’s request 8.12.10). It’s something a little different… but the buyers coming in seem pretty pleased. (so am I! Yay, I’m a designer!) I’m looking forward to walking into a store and seeing my work on the racks. (note to self: make small version for Li’l Humphrey!) (content removed 8.12.10)!

Now then. Don’t let her perfect appearance intimidate you. Along with being one of the most elegant and regal women in the world, she is hands down one of the nicest, warmest, most charming….the epitome of loveliness; and I had the very rare and outstanding honor indeed, of having her as my critic. As you continue to marvel at a few choice uh… fashion show “deleted scenes,” let Carolina’s wonderful words of wisdom (I love alliteration) for the world of fashion students and wannabe designers ring in your ears…. Oh! As for my epic last words…. It’s been an adventure, you guys. I think I’ll take a nap now.

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Fin

(originally published 4.30.10 @7:52 pm)

the end has no end.

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So unfortunately, I don’t have quite as exciting news as Christina. Friday morning, I was going over the Manhattan bridge to my internship when I got a call from my friend who had just checked her email to find that she was on the list of chosen garments. She checked my email only to find that I was not on said list. What a friggen bummer. Not much more I can say, except that I am super proud of the work I’ve done and I really couldn’t be happier with my two looks! I was a little bummed all day (needless to say), and when the designers at Opening Ceremony asked me what was up, I admitted that I had found out that morning that I didn’t get into our senior show. To my surprise, three of them exclaimed that they too did not get into their shows! This sort of gave me a little hope because here were girls with my dream jobs, and they hadn’t been chosen for their shows. Not to say I’m not still completely bummed, but it was nice to be reassured that it’s really not the end of the world. It may be the end of my undergrad career, but it’s just the beginning of years of designing and maybe some day I’ll have a runway show of my own!

So this week (before judgment day) was nothing short of epic. It’s similar to what we experience every year with the week our term garments are due, but this was more… this had a goal in mind and thus even more motivation for a couple of sleepless nights. This is sort of what my Monday and Tuesday looked like…

Then Tuesday night blended seamlessly into Wednesday morning and that looked a little like this:

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At 6:40 am my friend, Dani B, met me at my apartment and we called a cab, then we made a pit stop to pick up our friend Teresa, then over the Brooklyn Bridge we went. Our little knit lab/cellar/cave/dungeon has never been so hectic. We started dressing our forms around 7:15 and around 8 am, our critic arrived. I don’t think this was required of her at all, but she brought with her tonnes of accessories and shoes that she had bought the night before with our garments in mind – super sweet and wayyy appreciated. The class looked amazing (as did the other knitwear class!). Honestly, to be one of those judges must have been extremely challenging, I sure wouldn’t know how to narrow it down! Every single piece was Fashion Show worthy if you ask me!! Here’s what mine looked like: (FYI, my Flickr is not letting me sign in so I will link these pics to my better-quality ones as soon as it’s working again. PLUS i will include photos of the designers and garments of the whole knitwear specialization so CHECK BACK!)

me and my fashions.

i thought the last one might be a little distracting (with my booty and all), so this is what the judges actually saw.

necklace i made by hand.

closeup of necklace.

body suit closeup with button-out leather and vinyl collar (you can wear one, both or none! i wore both to da clubz last night).

miss stitch skirt with chains closeup.

And here’s everyone in my class!

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At 9 am, the Fashion Show judges and the Cotton Inc judges arrived and we aptly left the building to bask in the sun and breathe for the first time in over a month. It sure was a strange feeling. Half an hour goes by and we head back to the dungeon, undress our mannequins, return them back to their respective classrooms, and stuff our months of hard work back into our lockers. Then we do what any Fashion Design student would do in celebration – we head to Dallas BBQ for margaritas and fried chicken where I promptly fall asleep at the table (this is not a joke, according to the rest of the girls, it was for a solid 8 minutes).

All-in-all, it was an incredible experience and there’s a tonne that I’m able to take away from it all. I don’t even think I’m done with my collection, actually. Though technically I’m done the work in that class, I think I’ll make a third look to sort of sum it all up. Plus I’m in touch with an awesome photo student from school, B. Charles Johnson, who’s going to shoot my looks and previous work as well. I think we could make something SUPER rad.

Also, as a side note… when I got back to my internship (from the Garment District) on Friday, after I had told them I hadn’t made the show, I asked if they wanted to see my garments. They all crowded around and the number of “oohs” and “aahs” and gasps I heard really gave me the ego boost I needed. They were so shocked that I had made all of the fabrics and everyone picked their favourite pieces. It was such a great feeling!

How to be a Gracious Loser, and Other Things I Don’t Know

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Dear Sportswear Trackers,

Where the f- did we go wrong?

…..”I rather not be in the show with the rest of you guys than to be in the show without you”, I overhear one friend of mine sharing with some others. That is loyalty. That is a friend. That is…complete and utter crap.

We’re all friends here, and we all recognize each others talents, which made Friday’s grand announcement doubly difficult to digest. For many of us, we have to get over both the shock and disappointment of our own rejection and that of our brilliant classmates. Indeed there were many exchanges of

The Rejects. Boo....hiss....boo!!!! So my crocheting's a little wonky, but oh my cotton-my glorious cotton!!

“I thought for sure you were going to get in,”

“I don’t get it, your stuff is amazing,”

“You?! You didn’t?! No way, no way”

and the still lingering consensus of:

“Why?….why……?”

and my personal favorite:

“This….is some….bulls—”

Even Lil’ Humphrey still can’t believe his little monkey ears. He had his favorites like the rest of us. (Mine included, of course. Also, he did help out at some point so he’s taking this rather personally).

Look at him. He's taking it so hard.

…I can’t help but take it personally. I understand that design is subjective but it’s not like there were only 3 judges. And people like those on our panel–professionals held in high regard in their prospective industries– well, wouldn’t I want to appeal to their tastes in the first place? So why feed me crap about how this decision has no reflection on how good I am as a designer? No, it doesn’t mean that I’m a bad one. I know that I’m not and not everyone can be in the show. In fact, many of the people that were cut, I thought to be brilliant, shining examples of what the “Future of Fashion” is really all about. So, no, not getting into the show doesn’t make me a bad designer– I happen to think I’m a very good one–but it tells me that I’m just not good enough. They only wanted the best. So I’m not the best….and isn’t that what we all want to be?

Both looks w/o their perspective outerwear on. Chic, classic, understated elegance...me.

Look 2 with look 1's sleeveless jacket. The whole point of a Sportswear Collection to me, is that all the pieces work with eachother.

Frontal view of my Cotton Inc. Garment. I thought for sure it would get in.

Back view. It's a mercerized cotton jersey top with cotton voile binding. Bindings on knits...give me something for even braving this.

The "multi-top". It's one of my signatures, being able to change the garment. I made it reversible with a layered look. Here it's even on backwards as a boatneck.

Patience is a Virtue

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So after a weekend of hardly any sleep, a tedious Saturday session at school, and a few snafus, ensembles 1 & 2 are done! Finally, a sigh of relief. I honestly do not know how I finished second ensemble (the cotton one) for Monday, seen as how I started sewing it the Tuesday before.

My cotton garments came out a lot better than expected, A LOT better. The pintucking I decided to do came out with precision (so I got to keep my $98 from Stanley Pleating) and looked amazing. I had some fellow class mates come up to me after it was on the form and say “Christina, I can’t believe that you did all that yourself, I was standing there looking to see if any were uneven, I couldn’t find any!” (hooray!). It did look good on the form, and I am proud of it. After class was over, the critic came up to me with the professor and commented on how much she was drawn to my cotton ensemble, and how disappointed she was that she could not be part of the cotton judging committee. I think I could be in the running for the cotton award on Wednesday, but I do have some stiff competition. Everyone has done a beautiful job, I am proud of my classmates.

bodice with pintucks

Bodice side view with antique lace

Bustier with Petticoat and Panty

I was a little disappointed that the critic award winner was not announced in class on Monday, as I thought it would be. We got to class and put our 2 ensembles on the forms and were told to take a 1.5 hour break so the professor and critic could deliberate on who gets to show their second ensembles Wednesday, any aesthetic or construction changes, and the decision of the CA winner. We did not get a personal critique from the critic, just a general overview of what she thought at the end of class when we returned from the 1.5 hour break. She was very impressed with the work that we did and understood that each and every one of us put our hearts and hard work into every piece we created. Success.

Tomorrow is the ALMOST the final judging day. We will do everything that we did on Monday all over again for the fashion show judges to come in and select our garments for the show. Also, the Cotton Inc. committee will come to see our cotton garments and choose their prize winner. We will not know who was chosen for the show, nor the award winners until Friday when “the list” is posted outside of the fashion design office. Feels a little like volley ball try-outs in high school, right? Its only Tuesday and Friday feels like months away, I am very impatient to see how everything will turn out, hopefully you will be seeing one of my ensembles strutting down the runway. Keep your fingers crossed!

can’t afford to be just one in a flock.

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BIG UPDATE.

So this week has been an especially crazy one, I must say. On Monday, knowing that our final critic meeting was on the coming Wednesday, I asked my internship if I could leave a few hours early and tack those hours onto Friday instead. (I intern at Opening Ceremony, btw since for whatever reason I haven’t mentioned that before? It’s totally awesome, though, and I wish I could own absolutely everything in their SS10 collection!) I went to midtown, picked up some last minute supplies (organza in the burgundy colour of my top to use as trim and some thread for my orange leather). I went home and basically worked all night on finishing up what I could. On Tuesday I mostly spent my time working on Cotton Inc though I really didn’t have much to show for it on Wednesday.

Wednesday was our critic critique and it was a little rough, I have to say. The following is a video of the beginning and end my my critique (there’s a large middle section missing).

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So needless to say, I was not left feeling extremely excited after my review. There were a lot of things that Jean said that I thought were truly valid and insightful, but she also made some comments that I didn’t entirely agree with. Now I know that this is not unusual and of course I did not expect for her to love everything, but I found it difficult to debate my point of view; firstly because I was running on very little sleep, but I also I thought it unnecessary because in the end, I truly am free to make my own decisions so I might as well not cause a fuss out of it.

Things to point out:

1. I do agree that something is wrong with the shapes. I personally think that the proportions work, with the high waisted pant and the cropped jacket and top (I’m fully aware that this look is not for everyone!) but perhaps the under top is missing something. Maybe that it’s just that the cut isn’t doing much for it? But I wonder if my chunky/statement necklace will fix that?

2. One frustrating portion of the critique was how Jean mentioned that the top seemed too short and that a longer under piece might have made more sense proportionally. In my initial design, this was longer but I was advised to shorten it. Ha… go figure.

3. I also was a little confused because I thought that making a statement or standing out was important because this garment was for a Fashion Show. I took this to heart and decided to use vinyl in my garment to play off of the lighting of the runway. Also, by my use of colour, which is my “thing” (I’ve always said that rainbow is my favourite colour!) and I honestly didn’t think I was even doing anything outrageous in my colour story. Yes, unusual, but not CRAZY. When I had already determined my colour story and designs, amongst others I saw both Balenciaga and Marni Fall 2010 shows and I became pretty confident in my colour choices. I understand that not everyone will wear those colours together, but I am not designing for everyone.

4. Lastly, I certainly understand what she is saying about working for someone else. Not everyone will understand my vision, and not everything is going to sell, so sometimes I will need to conform or redesign. However, the way I see my career at FIT is that this is my chance to really explore who I am as a designer, because I’m not designing for any other mold. This is my time to get to the raw of who I am as an artist — I’ll have plenty of time to follow molds for the rest of my life! No, I won’t necessarily get into the show, but as my mom told me in an inspirational voice mail that I received while I was in my next class, how would I feel if I conformed to my critic’s or professor’s opinions, when I didn’t agree with them, and I didn’t get into the show anyhow? I’d be left without a garment my soul was in, and I wouldn’t be in the show. And she’s right! I’d rather not get into the show but at least know that what I created, was something I’m super proud of! Thanks, momma! Sidenote, I also take my parents opinions especially strongly as together they own a chain of clothing stores, where 50% of the merchandise is in-house designed and produced mostly locally (it’s called, Plum, and it’s just on the west coast of Canada) – so they too are informed critics!

Overall, the experience with Jean was extremely valuable. I’m sure I will come across many more “tough critics” in the future of my career, and this was a great trial run. Thankfully, Jean expressed that she was impressed with my conviction and articulation of my ideas which I think was a great compliment because it was important to me to portray the confidence that I had in my design.

Back to the garments… here’s my current progress on Cotton Inc!

crazy pointelle graph - knitting a sample of it on the Brother machine. every pointelle hole has been hand transferred!

very preliminery stages of bodysuit (that red is just waste yarn and will be removed).

pointelle on bodysuit close-up.

Cotton Inc. bodysuit with Look 1's jacket.

Future of Fashion

Tag Archives: cotton inc.

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

Start of Cotton Inc. Ensemble

Sorry for the delay on posts—BUT I GOT IN!

Cotton Dress

Week 3