Fashion Industry Career Advice

I always knew I loved Andre Leon Talley!

Blown out of proportion.

I have a LOT of work ahead of me if I am going to be the artist I want to be. I am "old" , but I'm not dead. Man, yesterday I went outside feeling good , I made this cute shirt (oversized ala 80's) and so I went outside with this casual, but put together look. I technically know that I have gained alot of weight, but when I saw my reflection in a store window I could not even take a second look. I remember when I used to shop in plus sized women's shops to get oversized baggy stuff and now I can actually FIT this stuff! I mean I used to get a giggle about how these women used to look at me hatefully and now they look at me like I'm one of them. People, I am going to call my cousin pronto and get on her diet. I have many friend who are curvy who look hot, but most of my friends like that are either porportioned or Jessica Rabbit. Not much of a problem design wise. All this time I have intentionally not made any new clothes for myself because I keep figuring that I will wait until I lose weight. The problem is I get invited to so many things that I don't wind up going to because I didn't have any clothes and now I go to try on clothes and now even my fat clothes don't fit. Uggh.
Here's the truth, you have to have real skills and resources to dress a plus sized woman. Most fabric is 60 inches wide while many silks and fine linens are 45 inches wide. If you have 1 yard 45 inch fabric you can make a cute skirt or a pair of pant or a dress for a shorter woman. That same yard of fabric might make a scarf or a legwarmer for a plus sized woman. Believe me, I used to be able to make a fully pleated skirt with what I now have to use as a straight skirt and lord help me if I want details! Then if you design for a plus sized woman you have to think of her as an individual, you can't just make something and go. Some plus sized women have wide hips, some have huge breasts, some have huge stomachs. Most are not well porportioned. So this requires to to put more thought into the dress than you normally thought. Uggh.
One of my friends suggested that I make good quality basic clothes and just start taking them in which is what I am going to have to do. I have to live my life.

The button knows

I remember when I first started designing I really wanted to stay away from buttons. I would do plackets and zippers only and maybe frogs and loops occasionally. When I finally got past my fear of not spacing them perfectly and the like, I couldn't get enough of them. I bought so many on ebay, I think I payed someone's college tuition! The great thing that comes from ebay is that you always finding some kind of vintage thing. I found something that was popular for a moment. I mostly saw them on infomercials though. Button covers.

It's not sliced bread, but it is FABULOUS. I accidently bought from ebay because they were the exact design I wanted but now I found a new addiction! You can sew a plain white button on your shirt and the put these on top depending on the look you are going for! Soooooo much better than dealing with that nightmare button cover kit when you are trying to make exactly what you want AND you can change them when you choose. You just snap! and you have a whole new shirt. If there is someone out there who will make them, I will buy them all....

Honest clothing

'The time has come,' the Walrus said, 'To talk of many things:Of shoes -- and ships -- and sealing wax -- Of cabbages -- and kings --And why the sea is boiling hot -- And whether pigs have wings.'

Every time I hear that quote I think that it means that it is time to cut the crap and do whatever it is that you came to do.

I started this blog about 2 years ago, have been inconsistent, and I reap what I have sewn. I think that now it is time that I cut the crap and be honest with myself. I am writing this for myself, but if anyone reads this, read at your own risk.

I am looking at the 80's fashions come back and I am happy, but I am pissed. At myself. So often I talk about how I miss the innovation and the daring about the 80's and early 90's. To me, then it was about excess, experimentation, and rebellion. Now it's about boredom and not having anything better to do. There are no new ideas so we are recycling the old ones - without the reasons behind them.
I am pissed at myself, because for all these years I have been waiting for someone to "get me". I have been waiting for the "right time" , the right amount of money, the right size, the right feeling to come my way. I have correctly predicted trends for years now and have not made any money off of it. Fifteen years since I got messed up by a screwed up fashion school, fifteen years since I worked for someone who pissed on my ideas (which people have made lots of money one since then) I kid myself , I have not been a designer I have sat on the sidelines. While I have been sitting on the sidelines, someone has died, someone I did not expect is going to school for fashion, someone who did not know how to sew is now sewing and making money. My favorite designers, Mizrahi, Miyake, and Mugler have now all triumphed and failed and are triumphing again.

Ahhh wtf, I am going to stop bitching in this post. I won't say what I am going to do. I am just going to do it. If you appreciate it great, if not, great, but all are invited and are welcome.

ISSEY MIYAKE AT FIT

Some of the best models of the time and one of the greatest couture designers of all time.

Weird clothes though for these time, neh?

Becoming unzipped!

Yesterday, after being scheduled to meet a NEW client after missing several appointments for personal reasons , I am on my way to bring the client their garments and one of the zippers completely bust open on me! AAAAARGH! No one wants to hear excuses and I HATE giving them. Hopefully my work will allow me to to able to have one more chance (again!)

Unfortunately zippers breaking is not all that uncommon in life. On the coldest day of winter your zipper won't open, won't close, breaks a tooth, or simply causes you to become exposed. Sometimes you won't have time to have your local tailor replace the zipper. You are on your way to work or late for an event and you have to fix it. Here are a few links to suggestions on fixing a zipper on the run:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Fix-a-Zip-With-A-Broken-Tooth/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Fixing-A-Zipper/

http://www.ehow.com/how_2302669_fix-broken-zipper-.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

http://www.ehow.com/how_116322_fix-stuck-zipper.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art

If that doesn't work you can

• pin the problem and cover it with a jacket , shirt, or scarf. Please make sure it looks like you MEANT to do it as a fashion statement!



• Reschedule.



• Announce that you have had a problem with your zipper so there is not an "elephant in the room" , then dazzle them with your smile. Hopefully you wore your good underwear underneath your clothes.

Someone is smocking me!

After years of procrastination, I am starting to do those pet projects that take forever to do, but are things that I have in my head. If I had my way I would be a seamstress in the house of Chanel doing handwork all day long and LOVING it. When I do embroidery or other techniques by hand I think of rich ladies in centuries past who were thought of as accomplished when they could do great needlework. Anyone who knows me knows how I feel, we as women threw away what we DID have and now we have to pay others for the privilege of doing what we used to do ourselves (with better materials and better quality).

The thing is , if I could get paid to love quality fabric by fashioning it with needle and thread I would be in heaven. Even when the needle would prick me I would just be thankful and keep it moving. There is nothing finer than a quality hem, or intricate beading. I could go on and on about the subject, but I am just hoping that this will inspire someone to do what they love and what they believe in NOW and not wait for the "right time" to do it.