Country Chic

Not a lot of people can pull off a country inspired look, but for Hale, who can pull anything off, she rocked it! For last week's CollegeFashionista article I wrote my piece around Hale's bolero and how she managed to pull the outfit together. To read my full article you can check it out here: "Cowgirl Chic Bolero Style."

Menswear Fashion Shows

Ever since I worked with my friend Eric on menswear for the fashion show I've been paying more attention to men's fashion. I've scrolled through many fashion shows catwalk pictures looking at all of the garments and how the designers put together the full package for the ensemble each man is wearing down the runway. There's a lot of differences between a menswear show and a women's show, such as the atmosphere is more relaxed at a menswear than the hustle and bustle at a women's fashion show. Just soaking everything in is a great way to think about menswear. I think my favorite pieces tend to be more structured and tailored garments. As of now, my top 3 fashion shows (overall) that have come out of London this week are: Baartmans and Siegel, Tom Ford, and Burberry Prorsum. You can click the names if you'd like to look at the different pictures from the shows. I haven't quite figured out my future design path, but I do enjoy working on menswear and I think I would like to have some part in menswear in the future. I do know I will have male models for my senior collection in 2 years, so lots of tailoring! 

Project: Dress or Shirt?

Front View

As I've mentioned in a previous post I've only had a little bit of time to work in the lab on the machines. When I was there last time I serged the edges on a scarf and then, instead of starting a whole new project from scratch, I found a dress in the scraps bin. It was a simple, single strap knee-length dress with just 2 bust darts, side seams, and a seam down the back. Nothing fancy about it. I decided to spice it up a little bit.

I shortened the hemline so that it's a shirt length and it's shorter in the front than the back. Then I seam ripped the side seams and sewed in a panel of black satin fabric on each side. The panels are about 2 inches wide. After finishing the seams around the armhole and hemline I decided to take the straps and change them. The dress had two cords to tie in the back and when I seam ripped the sides I cut them off. With these I cut them again, but in half, and braided them with the one strap on each side. Then I sewed the braid to the top and voila! Fancy braided straps! It took less than an hour and I have a cute tank top ready to wear out and about! 

Close up of the braided straps.

Side View

I'm hoping that I can find more good finds, especially at Goodwill, to alter and make my own. It's neat to just see something and think "Hmmm, I can take this plain shirt and change the neckline and add some details and trims and wow now I have a fancy cocktail dress." It's not all like that of course, but I do enjoy making things different and being able to just be creative and try different techniques. Especially when the garment is really cheap or free, because then it's not wasting fabric, money, and time! Hopefully I'll be able to spend more time in the lab, I really want to work on my bustle so I can make my bustle skirt! Stay tuned for more on other projects later on this month.

New Article Published And More

The Fashionista showing
 off her earrings.

Hello All! It's been a crazy couple of weeks. I've just finished up with my Personal Finance class, I've sewn a shirt (expect a post soon), and I've been trying to not be overwhelmed with writing for CollegeFashionista and working for Charming Charlie. 

My new article is published on CollegeFashionista today! It's titled "Rainy Day Grays" and you can check it out by clicking here. It's all about how to pair a great pair of statement earrings with an ensemble for a chilly, and potentially rainy, day. In my article I wrote about how pairing a solid color knit dress and statement earrings is a great choice because it'll draw the focus of the eye to the earrings. So, if you're interested in a little how to then check out my article.

Stay tuned for a new post on my article every Friday and also a few this weekend as I try and catch up on my writing. My life is about to get a little more hectic since I'll be starting 2 new classes on Monday the 16th.

STYLE GURU BIO: ME

My feature picture on my article.
It's me trying to be stylish and not
goofy in a picture.

Hello Everybody! It's official, my first post is now published on CollegeFashionista! It's just my Style Guru Bio, so not an All in the Details report, but it's still worth reading. For the full article and pictures check it out here: Style Guru Bio: Brianna Malotke.

It's a great start to this whole internship. I submitted my second post, but first All in the Details report, today and it will be published next Friday. I like that they have us submit them a week early and then go over them for errors and message us about things we should fix or tweak. I only had a couple of problems, such as I forgot to change the sizing of my photos and I formatted a few words incorrectly. I triple checked my second article though so hopefully there are no errors. 

I am really glad for this opportunity. I am able to work on my writing and I get to work on how to put things all together, which is great practice for working on my portfolio in the future. I think when I go to work on my portfolio, for job interviews and such, I will definitely include a few of my favorite articles that I've written. It's a way to show that I am a diverse designer and that I am able to do more than just the basics.

Well, every Friday I will be posting a link, or even my entire article, on here so stay tuned!