oh hello hello hello, remember me? i must have fallen off your blog radar a super long time ago with my lack of consistent postings. but i really have good reason! for the last few months, i have been completely absorbed – mind, body and soul – into this project that has really been the biggest deal of my life.

video title slug

that’s right, LVMH, short for louis vuitton moët hennessy, the company responsible for practically 90% of the world’s luxury brands, somehow collaborated with parsons. this is a contest called “the art of craftsmanship revisited: new york“, that involves students forming teams of students from the different schools (fashion, photography, technology, etc) in parsons, and coming together to make a documentary and also a complete ensemble.

the assignment

the aim of this project was simple: LVMH x parsons wanted to bring some light to the dying craft of artisans. the history of artistry in europe is very strong, but it seems to be fading out in america, and so the whole idea of this project was to shine the spotlight onto these artists who have toiled with their hands and passed down their craft through the generations.

right at the beginning in late november, we were given a huge list of different artistry that was available in the new york area, and had to choose one. there were areas like book binding, neon lights, calligraphy, puppet making, glass arts and so on. after much debate, my team chose metal arts. we proceeded to throw ourselves into completing the initial rounds for submission, which was to basically give the judges an idea of what we might come up with in the final round. when we thought about metal arts, there is just so many different aspects of it that we didn’t really know where to begin. but our idea was that the image of metals is so strong, but yet it can be melted down and turned malleable and into liquid, and we wanted to capture a split second in time of this moment made by both the metal and the artist’s hands that are creating it.

we were free to choose any category as it did not matter – in the end, we were given our artisans based on our initial submission. and you know what, they loved our submission so much, they gave us the artist involved in metal arts. hearing the judges say it was the best feeling ever.

that’s when the shocker came – i don’t think any of us expected what sort of amazing artists they had lined up for all of the teams. our artist, or artists rather, were from this french company called les métalliers champenois (basically meaning ‘the metal workers from champenois, a place in france) who moved to new york after winning the bid to restore the statue of liberty.

completely blown away by LMC

that’s right folks, i mean, this was a huge deal. in short, there were problems with the gilding of the statue of liberty when she was first done, so they were contracted to restore the flame and torch, and also recast miss liberty’s face and toes!!

you might recognise some of these?

we went to their atelier a few times and were honestly flabbergasted with some extra flabbers… it wasn’t just the statue of liberty that they restored, but also the supremely ornate rails of chateau de versailles and the gates of the place stanislas in nancy, france. i can’t go on long enough about how amazed i was with their work. the statues that you see in central park, the staircases of some serious aristocrats…. besides all those historic restorations, if people like bill gates and jerry seinfeld let them into their house, you know they are pretty legit!

some of our first sketches and design ideas

so we had lots of talks and meetings, discussing what it was that we saw that really sparked some inspirations within us. the movements of each of the artists at LMC, the repetitions of those moments, the importance of their hands in molding their craft, the fact that that everything fits like a puzzle since they don’t usually weld things, the idea of visual symmetry through different proportions, and even the amazing latticework that goes inside each restoration piece. jean, a seriously nice and hilarious french man, who runs LMC, told us this, that although they are artists, they are first and foremost, technicians. everything is a calculation, everything is based on really understanding and knowing the fabrication of their materials, the technical details that might escape a layman’s eye but what they as artists need to catch on.

it was inspirational and all too exciting. we focused on the way that LMC worked and their mentality, and brought this into our ensemble. layers, 2D to 3D, technicality, functional but beautiful, curvilinear, structure and movement, organic, restrained, controlled. those were our key terms in thinking about our design.

unveiling the trace

that’s the name we gave to our team of 6, 3 from the design and technology school, and 3 of us in fashion. it was the perfect name, because we drew our inspirations from the processes and movements that our artists go through in creating their own craft, and we wanted to trace their lines and convert it into our own craft.

the idea was to have a dress as a foundation to build up upon, creating abstract lines that told the story of the latticework that LMC builds into their restoration projects.

this was the plan for the crazy seams on our dress! no straight lines! whoah!

the first drape for our dress

it was decided early on that we would have the second layer was to be a more translucent layer of cowls that was a representation of both the movement of the artists as well as our representation of the repoussé that LMC is famous for. unfortunately, our initial design idea did not work at all. at. all. it was just impossible to force the fabric to do what we wanted it to. not that we wanted to force it that way at all.

so we draped and re-draped nonstop for like, a good two or three days, until we arrived at something that all 3 of us were happy with. it’s no good if just one of us liked something. this was a group effort. you can’t agree on something when even one person was unhappy with it.

we knew we wanted all cowls over the foundation layer, but it was more difficult than we thought!!

we draped our initial concept. and hated it. so we tried all sorts of different ideas

i can’t tell you how many times we tried draping this. we seriously met everyday for a few days and just kept draping and pinning things to the dress form to see how we liked it. there were a lot of different things to consider, especially if the drape went with the image of our artisans that we wanted to portray. in the end, we decided not to force it and to let it build in our minds for a few days while we concentrate on other things.

like the half-jacket. we knew exactly what we wanted. it was initially my idea. we were having a really nice little dress and everything and i wanted something that was somewhat masculine and that represented strength; my idea was that because everything was based on the work that the artists created with their hands, i wanted something that covered their right arm and protected it.

this was our quick drape of the jacket and its first sample

getting the perfect fit is a headache

many other teams made garments that were rather loose-fitting or in stretch materials which are easy to fix and forgiving. we used 4-ply silk for the base dress, a double layer of chiffon for the drapes as well as wool cashmere for the half-jacket. plus, it was such a streamlined and clean look, it needed to fit perfectly. PERFECTLY.

but this perfectionist side of ours was not fun. the school did not inform us of what sort of models we were to have. the instructions were that we should hand in our finished garment, completely done except for the hems, and that after handing it in, we would be assigned models and then have out fitting. which was really quite a crazy thing. i can’t even explain it to you. we had such a fitted dress and the fact that there were no straight seams made it even crazier. monica was our fit model in class and so we asked her to wear it for us and that’s when we realized how much of a horror it was to make one-shouldered dresses. neither of the 3 of us had ever attempted it before and it completely slipped our minds that the fabric stretches out so much on the bias.

plus, because the school simply instructed us to drape on the dress form, we were simple-minded enough to drape for a girl of a “regular” height. when monica tried it on, however, it was barely skimming her butt.

so without knowing what kind of models we were getting, runway models or fit models (they have very different heights and measurements), we dumped that first finished dress and remade it to make sure it was longer and better fitting. it was mad. completely insane. since i was more familiar with making patterns on 2D and manipulating it, i was assigned the grand task of reworking the dress patterns. marvelous.

and i really couldn’t complain about it because it was my grand idea of having all those curved lines in the first place.

with no measurements provided, we tried the dress on monica and realized how short it was!

werk!!!

i basically had to redrape a really simple dress silhouette that fitted an estimated of a model’s size (which is a great mental war, considering i didn’t know what sort of models we were getting). from there, i drew the shapes of the seam lines we wanted, while looking at the pieces of the very first drape we did. then it was on to pattern-making and some serious mind-boggling mathematician work. patterns are all about math. did you know that? i don’t think i could have done it without knowing how to add, subtract, and divide all sorts of numbers and fractions. i hadn’t done it for so long, it took me a good day and a half to get it exactly how i wanted it.

redoing the dress and reshaping the seam lines. and laying out at the old drape and wishing it had worked!

pattern manipulation.... "fun!!!".....

and so after many days of redoing everything and being really perfectionist anal buttheads, we probably really killed ourselves unnecessarily but we did end up with something we were happy with. this was our first finished sample of the entire look, in muslin and then in the actual fabric.

finally, the 3 of us could agree that we loved how this looked

blending technology and fashion

the techie guys in our team came up with an amazing code on computer that captured only the movements that were made on film, and with that, the “center” of all these movements were found and extremely amazing abstract lines appeared on screen. it was amazing. we wanted to use these lines and integrate it into our garment. how?

during one of our visits to the atelier of LMC, we looked to the ground and found dust. literally, metallic dust that was simply just remnants of metal stuff that they were cutting, soldering and so on. and we swept them up to keep, just in case. so we decided to put them to good use. to LMC, it was trash. but to us, it was beautiful.

we captured the movements of the artisans into a code

elahe and antoine going through the process of the fabric treatment i thought of

the finished cowl, complete with the code

it was gorgeous. my lousy photos don’t do them justice. i think it turned out better than the 3 of us expected it to. we’d tried fusing (basically, gluing) so many different colours of chiffon together and then sandwiching the metal bits in between them, but finally it was this very neutral beigey-grey that we liked. the gold metal bits looked amazing inside of it.

last minute craze

the deadline towards the show was coming up and we were panicking. it was only a week before the show that we found out that we were in fact going to use the fit models that we usually have in school. so we had to go through some crazy first-come-first-served email contest and fight for monica to be our model. we really wanted her because she has the best personality and we wanted someone who was fun and spunky. no use having a model who frowns and whines about everything.

we reworked our dress after fitting it to her, took apart whatever we needed to and then put it back together. it was a whirlwind, i tell you, a real whirlwind. for the last 6 weeks, we’ve spent almost everyday in school together working till 2am in the morning, discussing, making, contemplating, reworking, remaking….

this is me, concentrating on finishing the insides of the half-jacket

our heels: what we bought, and what we changed it into!

the big day at milk studios!

who'd have thought i'd ever make it into this sort of list?

the line up

red carpeting and pretending to be a star. except there isn't actually a red carpet.

she's totally working our look!!

walk the walk!

monica and myself. as you can see i need to grow another 10 inches.

monica with gerry and jean-paul from LMC

susie bubble and aneta from bobbintalk were some of the bloggers present

how cute is she!

the scene and some of the other teams' works

ta-ta!

sweet dreams are made of these

in a twinkling of an eye, 2 hours flew past. i felt like i was in a daze. it was surreal. we spoke to so many people. there were tons of guests who asked monica who made her outfit and she would direct them to us. this harper’s bazaar photog really loved it, so did this guy who’s a fashion publisher, and a few fashion editors at magazines. we got some really great feedback. i felt like i was on a high. surpassing cloud nine. it was unreal.

our tiny backstage corner

in the milk elevator

drinks + a huge relief that it's over

it was so much work and it put us so behind in our regular schoolwork, but i don’t regret a minute of it. i learned so much and had such an amazing experience. what more could i ask for? winning the $20000 grand prize would be amazing and certainly won’t hurt. but i had the time of my life. being at the fashion event and having the opportunity to take part in this contest was simply fantastic. having the avenue for people to come and look at something i’d poured my heart and soul into, the feeling of people admiring or even criticising your garments, it was great. we never had the chance to do that before, not to such a large crowd. we couldn’t stop smiling. i could do this over and over again.

it was the end to a very long day after awful rains and seriously strong winds, and i was tired. but i was interested in seeing the revealing of the new collection by miguel antoinne. also, because i kind of love visiting off-site venues more than the tents, when i had received an invite to miguel antoinne, i quite readily rsvped to go.

i went through his website and really loved some of the details that he brought into his menswear. the men have it hard; you can’t push it too far or it might be too feminine, and you really have to go into smart details in mens clothing because all most men wear are just jackets, vests, shirts and pants.

it was held at a slightly sketchy part of town, on 31st street between 9th and 10th avenues. i’d never been there, but when my cab approached the site, i did think, “there’d better be available taxis nearby when i leave!” it was a lofty, warehouse building, but i was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the 12th floor and walked into a white and clean space.

i was running late from other shows at the tents, and when i got there it was already pretty packed. i was offered a few times to sit at the front row, but the seats were right next to the runway and i knew that i’d rather stand at the back to watch the show from a comfortable distance. while waiting for the show to start, a japanese photographer took a couple of pictures of my outfit. i gave her my card but forgot to ask for hers’. why am i so retarded?

my seat somehow had no collection or press materials, and i wasn’t sure what exactly the inspiration behind the collection was. but sometimes, that’s good too because no matter what the inspiration is, the clothes need to be able to speak for themselves.

i loved it. especially this suit. i seriously loved it. i want one. mens’ size, ladies’ size, i don’t care, give me one please. the print was gorgeous. a stark black and white rick-rack print, that wasn’t perfect, that had uneven black lines, and that’s what made it so beautiful. i also loved that it did not have a lapel, and it fit this model really well.

i felt its shoulders were just right, and the no-lapel look kept it looking a little cleaner; if there had been one, the print might have been too clashy at the chest area.

it seemed that miguel antoinne played a lot with his lapels for this collection. he did away with lapels in several jackets, used shawl collars in different shapes on some, and on one, he did some sort of fabric treatment in a shape of the lapel too.

you can't see it very well but the detailing on the shoulders of this jacket was great. and i thought it was cut really well.

i also liked the rounded square shape of the lapel on this jacket.

i’ve compiled some of my other favourite looks into this video. the use of a light grey leather in a pair of pants and also a pair of shorts really appealed to me. i also really appreciated the white shirts with contrast pocket welt fabric, and even the two-tone shorts. there was one large blue print that i wasn’t very fond of, but overall it was a very modern colour palette and i loved the use of black with blues, a light almost warm grey, and stark white.

i would have loved to see more of the white and black rick-rack print, but i think it was only used in that one suit, which was such a pity! more more more!!

overall, it was a clean collection that can be added to any man’s wardrobe and also paired with his own existing pieces. the miguel antoinne customer is probably someone who wants his clothes to be stylish and well-cut, but also appreciates having extra details in his clothing that makes it different from anything else he owns. the guys in the audience were certainly quite well-dressed. a lot of them had bow-ties though, and perhaps this can be incorporated into miguel antoinne’s next collection? might as well capitalize on what your customers want, right? haha.

having said that, i think the wrong jackets and pants were put on one or two of the models who were quite beefy. their looks did not fit well which was a pity, especially when one leather jacket seemed way too tight on the model to me. (or i’m just being picky in my own taste.)

drinks and hors d’œuvres were served after the show ended, which were super delish i might add. i was also famished. still, i should really have found out the name of that caterer. everyone swarmed into the reception area though, and being the socially awkward fashion student i am, i had to bolt.

while waiting for the elevator, i realized that it was next to… probably the original elevator of the building.

check out that amazing colour and texture. rotting wood?! hellllll yes. love.

oh, and don’t worry. i got a cab within 3 minutes of leaving the building. my bad, miguel antoinne!

the lovely naoko jackson brought me along with her to the arise: promise of africa collective. this was one of the shows during the s/s 2010 mercedes-benz fashion week that i was really interested in watching, because i’d been so fascinated with african textiles. it all began about a year ago when i was researching prints, and came across the most beautiful woven trims made by african artisans.

and so the love affair began!

for the first time in my life, i’d actually asked/begged for an invite to the show. i am usually such a mouse and not at all able to ask for things, but i’d really wanted to see this show so i somehow mustered up the courage to email the pr rep to ask for a ticket, standing, seating, crawling, anything would do.

unfortunately the reality was that i am quite a nobody, and they replied to say that the show was full.

i lamented on twitter, and nao-chan invited me to join her team. i will be eternally grateful!

we arrived at the tents at about 7:30pm and stood in line and tried to glare at the people who were pushing at us. we also got interviewed by nvmagazine.com and i’m quite sure i stuttered as usual. i’m hoping against hope that if they put that clip online, that the editors would be kind enough to edit my s-s-s-stutters out.

it was a rainforest-y feel when we got into the promenade. everyone was green because of the lights, and i loved that they played these jungle sounds. it was packed and there were women wearing traditional african clothing which i loved. one lady had the biggest hat ever and she made it werk!

for those who don’t know, arise is a style, fashion and cultural magazine that celebrates african achievements in all fields. the 4 designers who showed at the mercedes-benz fashion week, were the chosen winners of the arise fashion awards, where over 50 designers from 20 countries took part.

within minutes of the show starting, i was rudely aware of how awful my camera was. either that or i have no idea how to use it. i need a fancy-pancy dslr.

isn't this a disgrace?! ugh.

so i switched to taking videos instead!! i took short clips of my favourite looks from each designer.

the first was jewel by lisa. lisa folawiyo’s collection was a mix of quality ankara, with linens, lace, silk, taffeta and chiffon, and all her garments are apparently hand-embellished with beads, sequins and swarovski crystals.

unfortunately i’d loved four other looks by lisa that i failed to capture on my camera (refer to #fail pictures above), but you can get a gist of her designs from the video.

as a designer myself who is obsessed with colour and print, i wanted to hug lisa! her collection was simple and quite casual, but it was in bright, warm colours and adorned with sparkling jewels. she used large bold prints in contrasting and complementary colours, mostly primary with blues, reds and yellows, topped with some lovely shots of warm orange. i could not get enough of those prints!!

she had a couple of slim pants; one of the pant looks was covered in swarovskis or something else that shone in the light, and i loved how it looked walking down the runway. the other pant look was a slim jumpsuit; very clean, and because of the print, rather bold. i loved it.

otherwise, her collection was mostly shorter or knee-length girly dresses, with flirty gathered skirts that swirled as the models walked down the runway. other than the jumpsuit, most women of any shape would probably look amazing in any of her dresses. i’m quite sure i’d love to own one!

the designer in a jacket of her own print. hot.

next was tiffany amber, whose designer, folake folarin-coker, is co-honouree for best designer 2009 at the arise fashion award. this is the second time she is taking part in the arise africa collective.

it was a rather mature collection, with beautiful and light silks that floated and billowed in the wind as the models walked. there were some jewel and metallic tones, but it was mostly magenta, a sort of canary and also mustard yellow and a light blue colour palette. what i loved most about her collection was how the dresses seemed to glide so effortlessly across the runway, and how they caught the air.

the last look was the above blue dress, that looked like it was sea foam and waves. but my favourite dress, i couldn’t find pictures for and you’d have to look for it in the video (it is the first dress in my video). it was a bright yellow colour, and cut with extremely wide and square sleeves that almost looked like a cape, and filled itself with air like a hot-air balloon. the main bodice had a sort of blue print and was topped off with beading of some sort, but it wasn’t randomly placed; the position of the print on the dress was very calculated and it trickled very well down the model’s body. gorgeous!

folake folarin-coker

the third collection we saw was by eric raisina, who was born in madagascar. anyone who has the word “raisin” in their name and is from madagascar is a friend of mine. (ps: eric needs to have a website asap.) eric has a masters in textile and fashion design at the institut francais de la mode in paris, and ahem, he’s worked with kenzo, jean paul gaultier, thierry mugler, yves saint laurent, christian lacroix and christian dior.

ek-ki-su-ki-yooooz me? that’s like my freaking dream resume! dammit! but don’t let those big names fool you. eric holds his own.

as a designer myself, i can truely appreciately eric’s collection. it was very fiery and sexy, and maybe not something that i can pull off or have the guts (or the body) to wear, but i know the amount of work that had to go into making each dress of his. he uses some really pretty silks and other fabrics and works his own wonders in them, creating amazing texture through pleating, gathers, ruffles and other appliques.

you know, it’s so easy to just slap on a print. but when a designer actually thinks not only about the shape of his garments, and how it looks from all angles, and is also concerned enough to design his own textiles, i am in awe and full of respect.

my favourite was probably the last dress in the pictures, but i preferred it from the back. it was a one-sleeve dress, with a sleeve that extended from the left waist toward the right shoulder. in a simple black double-silk jersey, it would have been so chic. but in this eye-popping orange and pink mix, it blew my brains. i think my only criticism was that the styling of his models looks were rather inconsistent, and i would have personally preferred some form of consistency. some models had contrasting shoes; some didn’t. some had bouncy waves, some had hair all over their faces, and some had hair that was slicked back. hmmm.

eric raisina. gotta love a man who wears shades of orange and yellows with blue.

the designer to close the arise show, was david tlale. he was the winner of the arise fashion award for best designer in 2009. he’s also won the elle new talent award and the sunday times designer of the year award in 2003.

david is a talented designer, and i think what i loved most about his designs was how he concentrated on featuring a woman’s neck. to me, i felt my eyes being drawn constantly to her neck, which is probably one of the most beautiful parts of a woman’s body. (that is, if you aren’t overweight and don’t have leather skin like a certain rachel z*e. oops, did i just say that?) he also played it up with strong shoulders, but instead of how many designers have done it by just inserting huge shoulder pads and squaring the shoulders off, he built the shoulders up with fabric treatments, pleating, braiding and twisting the fabric around the shoulders to give it height or just to highlight it.

there were many incredibly wearable pieces that would fit right into my wardrobe, with a lot of separates that i would love to wear, day or night. i especially loved the look with a black vest and a sort-of twisted tube around the arm-holes, with ruffles around the neck in the high-collar. it was suuuuper!!

the downside, however, was that i felt his collection, wasn’t really a collection. it was a gathering of his amazing designs, but it did not feel like it had one consistent point of view. the show kicked off with this look:

i’m not sure what that is. i’m not quite a fan, especially with the ruffles at the sleeves. it had some interesting details which could have been expanded on, but this was one solo look that had no partner. it could have been an extremely modern and a little avant-garde collection but it really needed another look in his collection to go with it.

then david went into a lot of dressy and smart casual separates which were probably my favourite from him. then bang! this dress came out on the runway.

i felt like it was not only badly made (do i sound like a bitchy nina garcia on project runway?), but it was just wrong. the model had extremely obvious problems walking in it. the skirt was too tight for her and it would have been ok had the mermaid seam been above her knee instead of just below it. but it restricted her movements tremendously and everyone could see it happening. ouch. to add to that, it was extremely heavy with massive amounts of tulle in the front, and hardly any in the back. so the model had to not only take small steps, but she had to kick the crinoline with each step she took. everyone around me made a comment on it. it was a little painful to witness.

but everyone forgot about it the moment tyson walked out. the first time i saw tyson’s picture was when he was the face of the polo sport perfume many many years ago. i was probably like, 10? and i thought he was cute. hohoho. and let me tell you, the crowd cheered and clapped when tao and chanel iman walked. but when tyson came strutting out, man, the hoots and whistles were just on a different scale. this is what supermodels are made off.

david tlale closing the show

and there you have it, the fabulous four designers for arise: promise of africa collective! i was honestly hoping to see more prints, but the designers did not disappoint with their use of colour and embellishments. it was great and i really enjoyed this show!

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disclaimer: all nice and non-blurry photos are courtesy of the lovely folks at image.net.

in a big effort to blog more and succumb to the wishes of my readers (heh heh. go vote if you haven’t already!), i thought i’d share how i spent my saturday.

3 of my friends and i took a walking/shopping tour of downtown new york. it was really quite amazing and we promised to do it once a month. (although once we start getting busy, that probably ain’t gonna happen!)

i woke up late and threw on the first thing i saw in my closet!

zamiang! tshirt by undercover for hysteric mini
skirt by comme des garcons (bought on ebay for $50! can you believe it?!)
pink polka dot socks
green beary flats by mercibeaucoup;
ginormous voodoo necklace by RÊVASSEUR (now available for sale!)

as fashion designers, a shopping report is always important. any designer always needs to be aware of their market, their competitors, and their target customer. who is your customer? who is going to be buying your clothes? what does that person do? where does he or she shop/live/hang out? without this knowledge, one cannot be completely successful.

we do this often, especially with large projects. yesterday, we decided to do a little walking tour and cover some of our favourite stores that would be in our competitive price range and target audience. it was an amazing day. hot! (we kept talking about armpit sweat stains hahaha) but amazing nonetheless.

we started with art supply shopping in chinatown, then walked over to the rick owens store. i love rick, i do. but i need to lose about 20 kilos and gain a feet in height to look good in those clothes. still, i want some in my wardrobe!! from there we went to number (n)ine.

oh number (n)ine, number (n)ine… how i love you so. designer takahiro miyashita must be infatuated with kurt cobain because kurt has been his inspiration for his collections since forever. and hello, i bet johnny depp’s closet is filled with number (n)ine items. or at least i imagine it to be.

the thing i love about number (n)ine is this; not only are the clothes just beautifully made, they have this sort of “rich” feel with a touch of bad-boy punk. i can’t explain it well, but it is gorgeous. what puts it above the rest, for me, is how miyashita has created an entire shopping experience for his customers.

i’m sick of all these stores that do nothing to their interiors. why aren’t they creating an entire shopping experience for the consumers to bask in? i’m sick of the white walls, the stark and bare look. don’t give me this minimalistic bullshit. there are brands that suit the minimalistic look, and brands who pretend they do. take a look at the number (n)ine store… this is how it should be done!

can i hear a hell-yeah?

this was the first time i had visited the new york store. although i’d been to the tokyo store several times, it is so hidden and secretive, i would get a little lost finding it each time. but each time i did, it was like an entrance into a beautiful wonderland. this is what having a store means to me. the clothing was beautiful, no doubt. my friends who had never heard of number (n)ine were in awe. i, for one, was running like a headless chicken all over the place, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at everything. i touched everything. i looked at all the clothing inside out. they were a work of art.

go asap to the number (n)ine store located at 431 washington street. for some reason, the brand has decided to close its doors at the end of the year. it is a sad time in fashion, and unfortunately, bad things happen to some of the best people.

from number (n)ine, we walked along the west side toward the meatpacking district.

a bookstore selling only cookbooks? i need to go back.

apparently, i am currently quite obsessed with these gold plates. i want them all over my house, over every door.

from tribeca, we walked all the way toward the meatpacking district where we popped into all sorts of stores. we spent some time at the maison martin margiela store, where we admired the mastery behind the ideas and garment construction. one of the guys working at the femme store said he wanted my voodoo necklace. then we went next door to margiela homme, where the cute sales assistant there walked by me, walked back, and said, “you have amazing style by the way.”

THANK YOU, CUTE BOY! BY THE WAY WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER AND ARE YOU STRAIGHT? haha.

at alexander mcqueen, i saw the most gorgeous coat of the season. and then i did the most terrible thing. i tried it on.

then i refused to take it off. it was beautiful. practically everyone in the store turned around and stared at the coat. it was beautiful. did i say that already? it was a mossy green coat with huge sleeves and a trapeze shaped bodice. the front did a sort of drape, and it was cut with some chiffon panels in the middle that fluttered really pretty. i wanted to bolt with it. my friend, hee, was like, “gilda, it was made for you.”

i know already! it was made for me and it was made to be sold at $5000 bucks! i need to sell a liver for that!

we went next door to jeffrey after that. they were celebrating their 10th year anniversary, and designers had designed clothing for dolls that were on display in the store. can you guess which designer did what? some are pretty obvious! some… i had no idea who they were. haha!

a sales woman at jeffrey asked if i was a designer, while i was ogling over some undercover dresses. then as we were leaving the store, this guy ran over and said, “excuse me miss! i just had to come over. can i touch your necklace? it’s amazing. where did you get it?”

i don’t know if any of you are designers, but you must have created something with your own hands before. it is the most satisfying experience to hear people compliment something that you have made. it really is! it’s way more satisfying than the smoothest dark chocolate on earth.

i can’t lie – i was really quite happy.

from jeffrey, we walked to see the comme des garcons black store, where our friend who’s working there, emi, said we had to go over to the main comme des garcons store, which was obviously on our menu of must-visit stores.

i nearly died; the junya collection was breathtaking, and i was completely smitten with this amazing avant garde comme des garcons vest and jacket. it was $370 and $455 respectively. again, i wish i could put them on and bolt from the store at lightning speed. i tried them on and felt them up. i was like a horny teenage boy looking at the cutest little girl. then i had to put them away. dammit. damn you, rei. why are you so clever?

we went to the balenciaga store nearby then, and elahe tried on a skirt in a nude-peachy pink colour. it had a few zips around the skirt that would open and cause the skirt to drape in certain ways. wow. love.

while she tried that on, i looked at the balenciaga bags and wondered when i can finally buy one. i’m not a bag person. i don’t spend much money on my bags, and i never really do have nice bags to carry to evening events. my most expensive bag is about $200. i’d rather be spending my money on food and clothes, than bags. is that weird?

at balenciaga, a customer there stopped me while i was looking through the racks, and told me he loved my necklace too. never mind the dude at jeffrey’s, this was a guy who shops at balenciaga, repeat, balenciaga, telling me he loved my necklace? wow. i was ready to lift my hands to the sky (or at that moment, at the balenciaga ceiling), and shout “hallelujah!”

it was about 4:30pm by then, and we were drained and tired. we’d been walking nonstop since 11am. crazy huh? my feet were killing me and thank god i wasn’t in heels. we started walking over to cafeteria in chelsea to finally have some food, and along the way we saw this funniest dog. he was walking alone, in the middle of the street, with the s-l-o-w-e-s-t strut ever!! his movements were so slow, i had to whip out my camera to take a picture.

of course, elahe decided to pose together.

at 5pm in the late afternoon, we finally got our food. if you’ve never been to cafeteria before, you just need to. i had their mussles and a glass of lychee bellini. oh yeah, this is what new yorkers are supposed to be doing on weekends. having a chill time at a chill place, not cooped up in their apartments or work studios working and sewing some garment, like we usually are. it was a little sad that we hardly get to enjoy ourselves like this.

our server at cafeteria couldn’t get over my necklace either, except she thought it was a bag. the day was just pretty funny. it was the third time i had worn my voodoo necklace out. the first time was to the latex ball with patricia field and the house of field, the 2nd time, i’d worn it with a purple tshirt, with a turquoise tutu skirt and harlequin tights. granted, the 2nd time i was one colourful little walking circus.

was it too much?

it had gotten a few compliments then, but the compliments i received yesterday was out of this world.

both hee and elahe were like, you need to put that necklace up for sale asap. it was mad, the number of compliments that came flying my way. i was quite shocked and was not expecting it. elahe counted 10 people. whoah. but the thing is, will people actually wear it if they could buy it? i don’t know. i guess, we’ll see!! you tell me! would you put it on?

like a comet
blazing ‘cross the evening sky
gone too soon

like a rainbow
fading in the twinkling of an eye
gone too soon

shiny and sparkly
and splendidly bright
here one day
gone one night

like the loss of sunlight
on a cloudy afternoon
gone too soon

like a castle
built upon a sandy beach
gone too soon

like a perfect flower
that is just beyond your reach
gone too soon

born to amuse
to inspire to delight
here one day
gone one night

like a sunset
dying with the rising of the moon
gone too soon
gone too soon

michael jackson was a big part of my childhood. i remember my dad playing his ‘thriller’ record. i remember watching michael’s movies and trying to dance like him. i remember my brother imitating michael’s dressing from when he was like, 5. i remember this picture of my baby brother, a huge smile on his face, one hand pointing towards the sky, with a hat on his head, dancing to michael’s song. we must have watched his movie a million times. i must have watched the dance scene in “jam” 4 million times, and his interview with oprah even more.

he was a hero in my heart and i loved everything about him. i cried when i watched that movie/documentary about his life and how he wanted to just be a child. when i graduated from primary/elementary school, i got my entire class to perform “beat it” during our graduation ceremony. i cried when i saw him in concert when i was about 13 or 14. it was amazing listening to him sing, watching him move. i was in awe.

michael must have affected us in so many ways. i’m no singer, and i’m no dancer. but i remember wishing i could dance like him. who didn’t?

years later, here i am loving military uniforms. i’ve loved military uniforms for as long as i remember. my last collection for school, i based the entire collection on epaulets. was i influenced by michael as a 7 year old kid? i think so. he was my icon. he was the pioneer. he was the king. look at what he wore, 10, 15, 20 years ago. look at what designers are putting on the runways now. balmain, balenciaga, who else? even if you hated his music, we were all affected in some way, you in those gladiator sandals, in those jackets with accented shoulders.

thank you michael, for some of my best childhood memories. you are a legend, my legend, gone too soon.

you know, i’ve never done things the way i “should”. the way society tells me to, the way my friends do, the way it’s expected. i act differently, dress differently, design differently…

unfortunately, because of that, i’ve met with obstacles along the way. my parents were one of my biggest obstacles, because they couldn’t understand how i could give up my childhood dream of being a vet and become a god-forbidden fashion designer-slash-seamstress. fortunately, they came around and i’m lucky enough that they are now one of my biggest supporters.

and then comes the insignificant-but-yet-always-there-to-annoy-me teachers. oh, i could go on and on about them. i’ve had teachers from 3 different countries, and the best of them are those who might not share your aesthetic and views, but they support it anyway. if they think you are weird, then they are gonna make you be the weirdest you can be. if your designs are ridiculous to them, then you better become the most ridiculous one out there. they are supportive in that way, strange as it sounds.

but then there are the teachers who just bring you down and tell you to stop what you’re doing because you’ll never succeed. teachers who take just 3 minutes to give you a critique when they spend 15 minutes on someone else, because they honestly don’t know what to say to you. teachers who suck the life out of you and leave you in despair.

worst still are institutions who think of themselves as a business and a dictatorship before they remember that they are there to educate their students. institutions who try to put you in a box and force you to be who they want you to be, instead of who you are and who you can become.

my 2 years in parsons have aged me. yes, i’m 26 years old now. but i’ve never felt my age nor thought about how old i am as compared to my fellow classmates. but when i’m in school, i feel like an angry, frustrated little old bitch. on some days, everyone’s on a short fuse. we’re agitated, tired, we look like shit, our skin is bad, our eyes are bloodshot, and we’re just irritable from not sleeping.

i’ve never been in such a bad-temper.

i can’t say i enjoy it. in fact, i absolutely hate it. it’s a mental struggle and sheer willpower to stay alive. if i’d known what a hellhole my life here would be, before i’d moved to new york, i don’t think i would have come. but alas, i’ve invested too much of my parents’ money to come here, and no matter how much i hate the school, i just have to grit my teeth and finish it for their sakes. i can’t quit, because i’m not a quitter.

but if i have to go through one more year of this shithole, i’m definitely not going to succumb to pressures, and give up my opinions just to get a better grade or to win some competition.

i see that happen all the time – people remove their own personalities from their designs just to win a competition. they adjust themselves so that the teachers will pick them for something. we have a saying in school that’s called the “parsons look”. the clean-cut, simple, ready-to-wear look that parsons is well-known for, and in my vocabulary, it means boring clothes that have no point-of-view.

people talk about this “parsons look” – “oh, you know that’s never gonna get picked because it doesn’t represent the school”, or “she won the competition because she referenced past winners and did her project the way the school likes it”.

it pisses me off.

where the fuck is your backbone? where is your personality? is this the way your parents brought you up? did they never teach you to have your own voice? did they never instill in you strength and character and integrity?

i despise people like that. d-e-s-p-i-s-e. stand up for yourself, for fuck sake.

it’s different if you are working for someone else and you need that paycheck. yes, you can’t always be the designer you want to be. you can’t always be wild and flamboyant, or avant garde or couture. but, i firmly believe that even if you were working for someone and had to adjust your aesthetics to suit the company’s looks, there are always ways in which you can inject your own personality into your designs. in fact, i think when designers of different aesthetics come together, you can work together to create the best product that blends the best of different voices.

but until then, you are your own designer, you are your own voice. if i edited myself and edited my collections so that i could have the “parsons look” that this school wants, then i could never sign my name at the bottom of those sketches, and i could never put that in my portfolio. because it just isn’t representative of who i am. and i would be ashamed of it.

yes you’re right, this post is almost like a rant. maybe it is. but this message goes out to all of you who are in the creative world – be who you are and never be embarrassed about it. do not ever let anyone shove a cookie-cutter in your face!

i just had to say this, perhaps as a reminder to myself. i’ve been really tired and lacking of sleep recently because of the sheer amount of things that we’ve had to do in school. (by the way, when i tell people that i’m tired, they scoff and make it a competition of who has more things to do. only my friends in the fashion department at parsons can understand this. we have 30 hours of class a week, for just 19 credits, and our work never ends in class. we take it home and work day and night for our craft. i’ve had arguments with people who tell me fashion is frivolous and “it’s so easy because all you do is draw”. arseholes.)

yesterday marked the due-date of a project that we had been working on all semester. as juniors, we were assigned to do a mini-thesis at the beginning of the semester. it consists of 3 looks of at least 6 garments, that we had to design, drape, pattern-make, create a sample. and then sew the final product for. sounds easy and it all fit into one sentence, but it was quite a lot of work to complete within 5 months. we have two 6-hour sewing classes a week, and of course all our own free time to finish everything.

and because the school is stupid, they never provided any details for us till just weeks ago, so we never knew how the judging process would be, how the show would be, and in fact, till this day we still don’t know how many people will actually get into the show. but anyway, a jury came into our class consisting of like, 10-15 teachers, who gave us points according to our design and how well it was sewn.

i was proud of what i did, but i was upset with myself because i did not finish my dress the way i wanted to. i’d run out of time, and in my head it just wasn’t complete. of course, i’d stayed up all night the night before to try and complete it, but at noon, i fell asleep and woke up at 2:30pm, just enough time to rush to school by 3pm. but i had lost 2 and a half precious hours that i could have finished my project with. oh well. it was too late to regret.

after the jury came and went, my teacher, who’s great by the way, came over and told me something that made me real sad. she’d loved what i did, and gave me tips along the way to achieve the look i wanted. but she said, “a few teachers thought your designs, especially the second look, was too conceptual.”

in other words, it wasn’t representative of the school’s look. i guess.

you know, i’ve gone over this a million times in my head and each time i think about it, it just frustrates me. runway shows are supposed to create an atmosphere. it’s supposed to be inspiring, like what john galliano does with his shows. he creates a look, but it doesn’t mean you’ll find it in the stores later, because he’ll also create a toned-down wearable version of the initial over-the-top design.

so i’ve accepted the fact that i’ve come to parsons to receive an education, all these thousands of kilometers away from home, only to find that although i have supportive teachers who offer advice and constructive criticisms, i also attend a school with a stupid president and a policy that students who don’t fit into the mold will basically, just not be acknowledged.

i’m not gonna lie: it’s discouraging sometimes. but i’m not gonna back down and i’m not going to be embarrassed about who i am.

i am gilda. i am a fashion designer. and i have my own voice. it’s my life, and it’s my designs. i’m gonna do it my way.

this was my collection. i still have finishing touches to do, but it was my take on a military theme, based on epaulets. a little different from how most people who do a military collection, but you might be able to see hints of it. the collection was a mix of a very sponge-y neoprene, and bamboo cotton jersey and bamboo satin. i wanted to blend organic fabrics with some plastic neoprene! it was harder than i expected to sew, but i love neoprene and will use it forever.

sadie, trying on my dress for me. if i may say so myself, i do love it. heh heh heh.

darling michael took one look at my ziggy cape and wanted to put it on immediately. yes, this is the look that was too conceptual. at least one person liked it! yay!

so well, there you have it. my little 3-look collection, christianed “ziggy” by kesiana, a friend in class. all comments and constructive criticisms welcomed!

and i leave you, fellow creative person, with this – if you are a designer, a writer, a blogger, a gardener, a painter, a daydreamer – never be afraid of who you are.

it’s your life. do it your way!

more for nosey parkers:
+ discover your passion and find a purpose
+ what i love about me