Summer Look

Summer Look by brimalotke

One of the things I love about summer is all of the bright colors that are always in style. For this look I decided to go for a complete outfit: swim suit, crop top & lace shorts, colorful sandals, and then a kimono for a cover up or just outer layer over the entire ensemble. The swim suit is a 2-piece option that is turquoise, white, & orange with black out lining around the seams. I think it's a great swim suit style and would pair really well with the turquoise kimono. The lace shorts are a vibrant coral orange color (color depends on your screen) and I paired them with a bright yellow crop top featuring a cartoon watermelon slice on the front. These go great with the sandals that are full of colors and pom poms. I love the bright colors and I hope you enjoy this summer look!

Summer Whites & Brights

Summer Whites & Brights by brimalotke

Vintage Inspired Swimwear

Vintage Inspired Swimwear by brimalotke

One of the things I love about high waisted swim suits is how they can look amazing on anyone. They fit a variety of body sizes and they can be really fun and unique swimwear options. The ones I selected to include in the Polyvore picture are swim suits I felt would work for different body shapes, have that vintage and retro charm, and would work great with this summer's trends. 

Pants Galore!

Some of the new donations!

Since I've moved from St. Louis to Champaign, IL I've interviewed at a couple places, unpacked my things, and tried to improve my website and portfolio. I've accepted a management position since here in Champaign the costume design positions are insanely slim and not really paid. I'm about to start working as a costume design assistant for Oklahoma! and I really can't wait. Since Wednesday morning I've been helping (It's kind of like being the Costume Shop Manager Assistant) the Costume Shop Manager (who is also the designer I'm assisting, go through the costume shop and organize everything. Since the shop is also where the costumes are kept it's not in the best shape. People leave stuff on the front tables instead of putting it away, or they put it in the wrong box, or they move stuff into the wrong sections. It's crazy how people put things everywhere without thinking. Next week starts measurements of all the actors and actresses and then BAM we'll be pulling costumes.

Most of the brown pants
ready to be put away.

In preparation for pulling for such a huge cast, we've been going through the shop's costumes. Wednesday I moved all the prom & wedding dresses to a new spot and then shuffled the period section around until it was less chaotic and crowded. Yesterday and today I've been focusing on pants. We both thought it wouldn't be such a huge task...well...the boxes all were labeled but what was inside them was wrong. So I've been going through the new donations and labeling & sizing them. Then I went ahead and went through almost all of the rest of the pants boxes to make sure everything was labeled, sized and would go in the right color box. It's a very time consuming job but it's neat to see the entire stock of pants and to get an idea of options for the show.

One of my favorite boxes to go through is the "Loud Pants" box. It has crazy patterns, colors, and more. It's just a cheerful box and has some great options. I was able to add a couple new pairs to the loud box and if any more need to be included then we'll need another box, which is a great thing in my opinion. I wish we had this many women's pants options, but I may just have to try some of these on for fun! Or somehow bribe my boyfriend to come to the shop and model some pairs for me so I can blog about them and have decent pictures to show off. 

*Side note: I've started a tag on Instagram for whenever I post neat costumes from the shop (or other places) & it's #mycostumefind so check it out for more finds!

Just some of the "Loud Pants."

Summer Vibes

Summer Vibes by brimalotke

Kimono Sleeve Robe

For "Ariadne" my team constructed a blue velvet, blue satin lined, robe with kimono style sleeves and blue floral embroidery details. It's stunning. The picture you see to the right is me trying on the muslin mock up....which I get to keep! I plan on first finishing all of the seams and then hemming it. Next step will be to wash it because I want to try my hand at dying it. I think I want a rich maroon color, but we'll see what happens. I plan on adding some details like the embroidered flowers or some strips of patterns. I might even throw a lining in for the heck of it since we have the patterns still. But I might be starting a different project before doing all of this to the robe.

Projects Update

Since work in the shop is slowing down I've decided to start up a project. Hancock Fabrics is going out of business here in St. Louis so I went and got some cool things to start working on during my last few days. I did buy a dress pattern and I'm think about trying to go ahead and do that, but I might make a shirt instead with a visible zipper down the back and save the dress for when I can just sit down on a weekend and do it all at once. I bought black fabric with red hearts for the dress and a black with deep red roses for a blouse. I of course then caved when I saw a black and white plaid hounds-tooth with thin pink stripes and bought 3 yds to make a skirt & vest combination. I'm pretty excited about getting back into making my own things and I have a LOT of fabric and materials at home that I can use when I get settled in IL.
I plan on starting a project tomorrow so when I do I'll take pictures and do a step-by-step post with tips and such. So stay tuned for actual exciting posts. Work has been unexpectedly busy these past few weeks so it'll be nice to return to blogging and getting new material for my blog and my website!

Quote From McQueen

Quote From McQueen by brimalotke

Wedding Fever

Wedding Fever by brimalotke

Peach Wedding

Peach Wedding by brimalotke 

Success

{A small pastry from when I was in Roanne.}

This post is a little different, it's basically me just contemplating where to go after my contract with the Opera Theatre is over. Am I successful? Will I be successful? Those types of questions and such.

"Être homme, c'est précisément être responsable. C'est connaître la honte en face d'une misère qui ne semblait pas dépendre de soi. C'est être fier d'une victoire que les camarades ont remportée. C'est sentir, en posant sa pierre, que l'on contribue à bâtir le monde." -Antoine de Saint Exupéry, from "Terre des Hommes"

This quote, from the author of "Le Petit Prince," can be translated to:
“To be a man is to be responsible: to be ashamed of miseries you did not cause; to be proud of your comrades' victories; to be aware, when setting one stone, that you are building a world.”

To me, success is really hard to define and put into words. Now you may think this quote has nothing to do with success, but being aware of what's happening around you, how to be a better person, and how to just do something that has an impact on others- that can all be described as successful. Of course, with this then any small achievement can be success. But when you're struggling to see if you've been successful, then it gets tricky because for most, you define your successes based on others around you. For me, I like to think I've been successful so far. I graduated from a big ten college and I landed a great first job after college. The hard part is going from there and trying to feel like you haven't become a one-hit wonder. I'm going to keep pursuing my dreams, and if it takes me a while to become a costume designer then it takes me a while. I'm going to try my best not to define my success against others or against time. We'll see what happens in the future.