Staying Up to Date

One of the many things I learned my first year at Purdue in Apparel Design was to try and stay on top of the news, especially the news involving the fashion world. I have been trying my best to do this. I check various news sources in the morning, I'm subscribed to receive daily/weekly/monthly newsletters from places such as Style.com, Vogue, and Rachel Zoe, and I also have certain tags for checking Google News such as Fashion, Fashion Design, Vogue, etc. On top of this I discovered I really like reading the online Vogue UK news, it's very interesting and well put together. They have interviews, updates, people, great pictures and more! I still enjoy Vogue US but UK is neat because it's just a little different vibe and I enjoy the site.

How does everyone stay in tune with the fashion world? I'm thinking of just going ahead and getting a Vogue subscription for the year. I should also start catching up on WWD because when I had to read it for class Fall semester I enjoyed some of their articles, it'd be interesting to see if multiple places write about certain topics and comparing what they have to say about those topics. I hoard my magazines though, so I like the online options. However, I do love thumbing through my glossy magazines and looking at all of the pictures and then ripping some out to paste in my sketch books on my inspiration pages. It's not the same when you print out pictures, at least it isn't to me. 

I'll leave you with a quote about staying in tune to everything going on around you:

"Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening" from Coco Chanel (Fashion Quotes).

Works Cited:

"Fashion Quotes." Brainy Quotes. N.p.. Web. 14 Jun 2013. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/fashion.html>.

Cleaning Out the Closet

So this isn't a post referring to one of Eminem's songs (if you didn't think of that well now you can check it out), this is a post referring to me actually cleaning out my closet and boxes and figuring out what clothes to keep and which ones to sell or donate. I have way too much stuff in general, but one thing that really clutters up my space are all of my clothes and shoes laying about. Since I've been on summer break I have yet to fully unpack, leaving me with boxes everywhere half filled or fully filled. Over the next couple of days I will be going through everything and making important decisions. It's hard for me to give away certain items because of memories (the main reason I have a million t-shirts). However, I know I don't wear some of them a lot and I could probably do without a lot of the clothes I have, especially since I've only been getting more and haven't gone through my clothes in forever. 

I plan on taking all the things I don't want to keep/wear anymore and then dividing them into categories:

1. Items I will keep for crafts (such as a t-shirt quilt or scrap fabric)
2. Items to try and sell at second hand stores
• Ex) Snooty Fox and Plato's Closet
3. Items to donate to Goodwill or give to my friends (such as shoes)

Hopefully I will have a lot of stuff to give away and will be able to actually have an organized room and closet; something that hasn't really happened since we moved into the house years ago.

I will be reposting on this topic once I have everything all organised and will be posting before and after picks.

New Jeans for my New Job

I buy jeans maybe once a year or every two years. They're a staple in my closet, but I rarely need to replace them. Sure, every now and then a pair will have holes in places you just can't fix or will just stop fitting properly. Then I'll buy a new pair, and sometimes if I find a pair I really like I'll just buy 2 of that pair and have sort of a back up if something goes wonky. But since my new retail job requires that if I wear denim at work it needs to be their brand, I needed a wardrobe update. During the school year I worked in the dining court in my dorm and I pretty much wore the same 2 pairs of jeans 3 times a week to work. So about 12 hours a week these jeans suffered spills, stains, rips, etc. This left my wardrobe with only a couple pairs of jeans, which isn't a big deal except I wear jeans all the time and a lot of wear can cause some jeans to be ruined a lot quicker than you would expect.

I decided to go shopping yesterday, with my employee discount (half off my entire 1st purchase), to find 2 pairs of jeans that I could incorporate into my wardrobe with no effort and that fit me enough to be willing to spend the money on them. I am used to not spending over $20 for a pair of jeans, so the fact that the prices range from $40-118 made me a little worrisome. I just like spending less on items so I can save up my money for other things unrelated to fashion (or books and rent) or saving it up for a big fashion item (such as a pair of Louboutin heels I've been drooling over forever). I went with my mom for some bonding time and we found 2 pairs of jeans that fit me really well and aren't over the top in any way. I got one pair of skinny, dark wash jeans with a little embroidery detail on the back pockets. The other pair I bought are short (i tried on the regular and they were about 3-4 inches too long for me), a medium/dark wash, boot cut, and have detailing on the back pockets and noticeable stitch detail. They are both comfortable and I plan on wearing my new skinny jeans to work today to show how I can incorporate the brands we sell and what we represent style wise by mixing these jeans with my own collection of flats and tops and jewelry.

Since I'm currently wearing the skinny jeans (breaking them in for later), here are a couple of pictures of my other jeans.

I probably could have taken a better photo, but here it shows the different shades  and  the detail in the jeans.

Here is one of the back pockets with the stitch detail.

Resorting to Chanel: Chanel's 2014 Resort Collection

I love how on Style.com you can view the fashion shows, sure it's just pictures, but it's a great way to stay in tune with all the styles, colors, accessories, etc. This morning, while writing and stamping for work, I watched the Chanel Resort collection as a picture slideshow, and I loved it. The men's styles were even amazing. It was a great transition from their last show, which seemed more dark and mysterious to me. This show was more light and airy. The colors were mostly whites/creams and blacks and blues, keeping things simple but bringing in prints and a variety of fabric choices. I admired all of the pearls; layers and layers of pearls adorned the necks of some models walking down the runway. Usually I don't really love a lot of the Chanel shoes presented in the shows, however, I really liked the heels in this show. I thought the makeup and hair added an edge to the otherwise non-rebelliousness feeling.

I like that Style.com allows you to view current collections; it makes it easier to stay current with all of the future trends and stay in tune with the designers and what everyone in fashion is thinking about. I try and stay updated with everything by reading magazines, such as Vogue and Seventeen and Teen Vogue and WWD, but I also go online to sites such at Style.com and Vogue, etc. I also read books, watch fashion related shows, and go to art museums. I think doing all of this allows to me to think more creativity, expand my mind, and come up with great ideas I wouldn't have otherwise.

I think it's important to stay in tune with everything happening inside the world of fashion, especially if you want to be a part of it someday. Also, people in fashion always have to stay steps ahead of others, always thinking and always on their toes to come up with newer and better ideas than what's going on. They need to keep people interested and guessing. 

If you're interested in reading more and seeing the pictures from the Chanel collection, then go to this website: http://www.style.com/fashionshows/review/2014RST-CHANEL

The Fashion Devil Is Back For a Sequel (Potential Spoilers for The Devil Wears Prada)

If you love fashion, Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Vogue, magazines, or just want to watch a great movie or read a great book, then I highly recommend The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. But now to the new and exciting news, Lauren Weisberger has written a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada titled Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns and takes place 10 years after Andy (the main character) left her job at Runway. I for one am looking forward to rereading The Devil Wears Prada and watching the movie (which is slightly different from the book) before I dive into the sequel. 

The whole story line just reminds me of all the obstacles and various potential challenges I am going to face in the fashion world. The fashion world isn't for everyone and I know it's going to be hard, but I love it so far and I think I can handle it.

I Know it's Almost Summer but Here are the Pantone Colors for Spring 2013

Last fall in my Intro to the Apparel Industry we were given an assignment that I thought was a lot of fun. First we were introduced to the Pantone website and how they collaborate with a handful of designers to portray the selected "It" colors of the season through the designers' sketches. We were then given a figure already drawn (but no clothes on it) and given the task to pick a designer and color selection and create our own ensemble and explain our inspiration and why we picked the designer and colors. My outfit turned out to be a pink pencil skirt and peplum top, wool and plaid, with a solid pink satin (possibly) down the right side of the garments. My designer had used all over one color so I chose to as well, using the one shade of pink for the whole sketch. i drew inspiration from Katharine Hepburn for the more masculine, clean cut and tailored lines, but leaned towards Audrey Hepburn with the pink and then the shoes to make it more feminine and pull it all together. I loved the assignment and I think it allowed everyone in the class to see what each person's styling and sketching was like and how we all think about colors and garments.

According to Pantone, Spring of 2013's colors are: Dusk Blue, Tender Shoots (a shade of green), Lemon Zest, Linen (a soft pink), Poppy Red, Nectarine, Monaco Blue (a darker blue), African Violet, Grayed Jade (sort of a soft, faded turquoise almost), and Emerald.

I for one am glad to see that I have some of these (or similar shades) colors in my wardrobe, yet it's almost summer and i think I will be transitioning these colors for the Summer and early Fall seasons.

Here are the Fall 2013's colors: Emerald (a repeat from Spring), Mykonos Blue (similar to Monaco but maybe a tad darker), Linden Green, Acai (a deep but vibrant purple), Samba (a shade of red, so holding on to your poppy items will work), Koi (a darker orange than nectarine), Deep Lichen green, Vivacious (a dark pink), Turbulence (a grey), and Carafe (reminds me of coffee).

For Fall I will most likely be searching for something Acai; out of all the colors it was my favorite. If I find something I will definitely be posting about it, it'd be a huge success for me since I never really search for this specific of a color.

For more information on the colors, the designers they pick, or just to browse and learn more about Pantone, visit their site at www.pantone.com