Dip Dying and Bleach Painting

This week's PFA (Purdue Fashion Association) meeting will be dip dying and bleach painting! I think it'll be a lot of fun. It's different from our usual end of the year tie dying meeting.I think it'll be great!

I've bought white shoes, basically Keds, to dip dye. I'm thinking pink or blue but I don't know, I'll decide at the meeting. I kind of want to bleach paint a shirt or something but as of now I don't have anything I'd want to bleach. But maybe I'll find something before Wednesday. Here are the examples and I'll share more after the meeting on Wednesday!

The president of the club emailed me some photos to send out to everyone in the club as examples of what we're doing and I thought I'd share them so you know what I'm talking about. The first one is what happens when you are dip dying shoes. I'm really excited and hope I don't ruin mine.





This next picture is an example of bleach painting. You can do a cool design or words or even polka dots all over. It's neat because you have control over what design you're creating, it's not like tie dye where one slip and all of your colors are bleeding together and you suddenly have brown in your shirt.

Finally, this is reverse dip dying. It looks really neat and if I had a plain shirt I'd try it. I hope someone at the meeting decides to do something similar to this because I'd love to see how it looks on different fabrics.

Musical Inspiration

After the fashion show a few weeks ago I've been thinking about my senior collection. Sure, I still have a year but next spring I plan on being in London at the London College of Fashion studying culture and history and learning to make hats, corsets, and shoes. Then hopefully that summer (2015) I'll be doing my design internship and most likely I won't have enough time to focus on any ideas for my senior collection. I've always said my senior collection would probably be all red, white, and black with touches of grey here and there. And honestly, that's probably my color scheme but with a variety of fabrics: silk, chiffon, velvet, brocade, and more. Because why not? I want them all to be a little different but want the audience to want to touch the clothes. I also want to do 9 designs. Why stress myself out? Because I want a challenge, a great portfolio, and I want to show everyone what I can do as a designer. I also want to have 4 guys and 5 girls. I'd have them walk in a girl/guy pattern and end with the 9th model a girl wearing an evening gown, or my version of the wedding dress (probably black and crazy). I'm really looking forward to it.

But on to my other ideas, they all really revolve around one band's musical influence: My Chemical Romance. While they are no longer together, they've made some great music and have heavily inspired some of my designs. As of now I'm thinking of trying to use one of their songs for my senior collection as the models walk the runway. it'd be perfect.

Since I do still have time my ideas could change, but I still really want to try and make all these ideas happen, I think it'd be a really amazing way to showcase my abilities. We'll see what happens come senior year.

Birthday Books

My birthday was this past Wednesday, April 16th, and it was pretty great. For my birthday I received some books from my grandmother, and they are pretty great!

Here they are:
1. "Fifty Dresses That Changed the World" -Design Museum
2. "Chanel: Collections and Creations" -Danièle Bott
3. "Couture Sewing; The Couture Cardigan Jacket, Sewing Secrets from a Chanel Collector"
    -Claire B. Shaeffer


I am very pleased because I have had the first two on my amazon wishlist forever and have been waiting to get some extra cash before I bought any more books. I have glanced through all of them because I haven't had the time to actually sit down and read them thoroughly but I definitely intend to read them cover to cover. I plan on making a cardigan following the instructions in the Couture Sewing book. Just another thing to add to my summer to do list, the never ending list.

I'll be posting more on the books specifically and how they influence me (I'm seeing tweed jackets in my sketches in the next few weeks) or just how amazing they are and worth the read.

The Father of Haute Couture

In my History of Fashion class we have a project due on Charles Frederick Worth, known as the Father of Haute Couture. I figured since I haven't posted something about a designer recently I would share what I've learned. So my post is a short biography of Worth composed from 3 different websites from a list of references my professor provided me with for the project. I've highlighted  and linked my references at the bottom so they're easily seen and accessed (Just click the reference and it'll take you to the original page).

My Condensed Biography:

Charles Fredrick Worth was born October 13, 1825, in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England (“Charles Frederick Worth”). After his family went from being affluent to just making it, Worth went into several different apprenticeships.  The one that stuck with him was working for Lewis and Allenby, London silk merchants. He stayed with Lewis and Allenby until 1845 and after this Worth moved to Paris. When he moved to Paris he worked for M. Gagelin, a “prominent firm that sold textile goods, shawls, and some ready-made garments” named Maison Gagelin (Krick). In the shop young women were used to model the different works created for clients of the shop. One of the models, Marie Vernet, and Worth fell in love and were married and eventually had two sons (“Charles Frederick Worth”).

Charles Frederick Worth. Image Credit: Fashion Model Directory.

 

Worth would create elegant dresses for Marie to wear around made out of Gagelin silks from the store and wanted them to be sold alongside the store’s products. However, ready to wear garments weren’t common at the time and Gagelin denied Worth’s requests to sell Worth’s dresses despite the attention they were receiving. With this Worth went out on his own and partnered with Otto Bobergh, his financial partner, to open up Worth and Bobergh, a dress store, on the rue de la Paix (“Charles Frederick Worth”). And finally, for the first time, women could receive the “whole dress, design and fabric, at the same location” (“Charles Frederick Worth- Fashion Designer”). 

Worth accomplished a lot in his time. He was the first designer to start showing collections in advance and the first to use real women as models. He recognized that women needed more than just daytime and evening dresses, they need maternity wear, mourning clothes, and house wear. His designs were most notable for his attention to fit, his use of trimmings and keen fabric choices, and his incorporation of historic dress (Krick). He also created several perfumes during his time.

From the 1840s and onwards Worth designed hug crinoline creations, despite his distaste for the crinoline dresses. However, with the help of the Princess de Metternich, Worth launched a new shape into fashion (“Charles Frederick Worth- Fashion Designer”). By flattening the front and making the back more full, he created the bustle that was popular well into the 1880s (“Charles Frederick Worth- Fashion Designer”).

Worth died in Paris on March 10^th, 1895 and his two sons, Jean-Philippe, who was raised in atelier and studied painting, and Gaston, who handled the business affairs of the company, then ran his shop (“Charles Frederick Worth”). The brothers were successful for quite some time until in 1956 the House of Worth closed its doors for the last time.

References:

"Charles Frederick Worth." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004.

Encyclopedia.com. 7 Apr. 2014 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Charles Frederick Worth- Fashion Designer." Fashion Model Directory. FDM. Web. 14Apr 2014.<http://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/designers/charles-frederick-worth/>.

Krick, Jessa. "Charles Frederick Worth (1825–1895) and The House of Worth". In

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum

ofArt, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/wrth/hd_wrth.htm (October 2004)

Officially an Intern

One of the requirements for my major is to complete a retail internship. The class is CSR 300 and it's 1 credit. In order to complete the class you must have 140 hours of work experience for your internship, as well as a LOT of paperwork.

For starters, I am using my job as a Charmer at Charming Charlie as my retail internship. However, my hours start counting from April 5th, so the Wednesday to Friday that I helped set the store up do not count towards my internship hour requirements. But, I do already about 25 hours towards the 140, so yay! I have filled out my site approval form, and wrote my 3 learning objectives and gave them to my manager who will be signing off on everything and meeting with me for my midway and final reports. On top of these I will also have a more in depth paper on the company, work environment (how orientation was, what we do, etc.), and my learning objectives. Besides this assignment I will have weekly journals where I write about my hours, what I did during my shifts, how they relate to my learning objectives, and more.

I think as far as a class goes it shouldn't be too hard. It's mainly a lot of paperwork that I have to stay on top of because I can't miss deadlines. I feel that as long as I stay organized (I already have a binder with dividers and paperwork going) I will be fine.

After this summer I will just have my design internship (which I've heard is really 2 design internships to get enough hours), which will be the summer before my senior year.

Bustling Bustle Blueprint

So after creating a very simplistic top for my pattern making class I decided I wanted a challenge for the skirt project. After joking around with my friend it was decided she was making a hoop skirt and I would make a bustle skirt. Why? I don't know what I have done with my life, this project is already too expensive and too time consuming and I actually haven't made anything yet. I did some sketches and created plans for the bustle part. I tried several different ways to make the bustle part but then had to go to class so I'll start fresh on Monday.

After my sketches were checked I purchased fabric, which was way more than I anticipated. I bought 6 yards of red satin and 5 and 3/8 yards of black taffeta. Besides fabric I bought embroidery hoops to try and work on the bustle. I thought I could create a bustle using the wooden hoops and an elastic waistband that fastens in the front using hooks/eyes or corset like lacing. I'm hoping I can start working and finish the bustle part on Monday and then during class on Tuesday I can start draping the taffeta part of the skirt. I was planning on making 2 different skirts: the black taffeta (almost like a petticoat type under skirt) and then the red satin on top being draped and pleated and more. But, my professor suggested I make it into 1 skirt and the waistband would be more sturdy and it would keep the skirt from shifting side to side.

So stay tuned for more information and eventually pictures of my methods. I'm hoping to be done in the next couple of weeks, but with work and school that may be a little difficult. But I'm hoping!

Charming Charlie Charmer

I am officially a "Charmer" at Charming Charlie, the new store that is opening this week in the mall. Woo! It's a fun and upbeat accessory store that also offers some apparel. They are color coordinated and want to make everyone feel fabulous. 

I applied and had an interview right before spring break. I actually applied the Wednesday evening and got a call Thursday after my classes and before I left to head home Friday. I had the interview at 5pm that Friday and expected a phone call with a yes or no that following Thursday or Friday. However, I got a call from them Sunday with an offer to be a sales associate, and of course I said yes! 

I started working this past Wednesday. I worked 5-9pm Wednesday, 4-9pm Thursday, 3-9pm Friday, noon- 9pm yesterday and finally 8am-5pm today. I have worked a lot this weekend helping with a variety of tasks to help get our store ready to open. I've done everything from unpacking boxes to helping stuff purses for display to helping make displays (maybe one of my favorite parts). 

I will be going shopping tomorrow for a few things at Charming Charlie. First off, I want a new purse. After unpacking all the purses I just want something different than what I use now and I think I may have the perfect one in mind. I also want a few new jewelry pieces and a watch. I will post about my purchases after I make up my mind. There are too many options to even decide before I go shopping, especially since I know what we have to offer, it might take me over an hour to just walk around and shop. I will be taking a friend who will be able to tell me No and make sure I don't spend over my budget. 

I am excited to start working in the store when it's open and when we work with customers. I think it will be great retail experience and I finally know how to run a cash register (hopefully efficiently enough for work) so I can't wait to get the full experience. I enjoyed working at Express but this is a whole new atmosphere and I think it'll be a lot better. I'll post more after I start working in the store- but I encourage you all to check out a Charming Charlie, it's amazing!