Beautiful Native American Fashion

One of the groups of people I have a keen interest in are the Native Americans.  I've had an interest in them for a very long time.  I admire their traditional dress, and I love the freedom of life ( I call it that) they had before others came to their land.
  
There are many Native American fashion designers incorporating their people's designs into clothing creating beautiful garments.  I'll mention three today. 

www.dorothygrant.com

                                            by Dorothy Grant
                                    www.stylefinds.blogspot.com

 Dorothy Grant is a Haida from Ketchikan, Alaska who now lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia.  She attended the Helen Lefeaux School of Fashion Design, graduating in 1988.  Dorothy opened a retail store in 1994 in the Sinclair Centre in Vancouver, B.C.  She includes Haida images of old legends of her people in her clothing.  Dorothy's works can be seen in museums.  Visit www.dorothygrant.com to see more of her couture designs.

                     by Patricia Michaels                         

          www.adobefashion.wordpress.com

                                          by Patricia Michaels
                                   www.cinematicafterglow.com

Patrician Michaels uses natural materials such as bamboo and silk hemp.  Patricia learned her craft from the Institute of American Indian Art and the Chicago Art Institute.  She lived in Venice, Italy for a while learning the art of contructing clothes from an Italian tailor.  View her collection at www.pmwaterlily.com.

                            by Virgil Ortiz                                 

                    www.kathrynkeats.com       

                                              by Virgil Ortiz
                                             www.tfaoi.com

Virgil Ortiz comes from a family of potters, and so that explains why his places pottery designs on some of his clothing.  Another familiar design seen on his clothing is the Pueblo cross symbol.  His company is called Indigene which also features bags and accessories.  Virgil's designs are sold in Scottsdale, Los Vegas, Miami and Los Angeles.  Go to www.virgilortiz.com to see more of Virgil's work.

Till next blog!

A Dress Made in an Evening

Saturday was a busy day for me.  I altered four pairs of pants for a lady during the day, then the evening was spent making a dress for my daughter to wear to a wedding on Sunday.  The couple is married already and they wanted to renew their vows... that's so nice!!!  I suspect there will be more people I know getting married this year or next year.

Well, my daughter and I spent some time deciding what fabrics to recycle, what new fabrics to add, and the actual design of the dress.  I'm getting good at making clothing from draping and without a pattern, it's kind of liberating.  I enjoy making clothing patterns though, so I won't abandon it, it's just temporarily on hold (until I buy fabric to complete my daughter's 5-piece spring/summer line for this year and I hope it's soon).   Her dress is made of 3 different variations of polyester fabrics in 3 different shades of blue (my favorite color!).

I'm pleased with the dress.  I was so tired from the humidity in my area Saturday evening that I almost gave up on completing the dress and was resigned to letting her find something else to wear, but since she was pleased with how the dress was going to look while I was draping, I pushed on.  What we mothers' do for our children!!! Lol...  I've had a bit of a taste of what it's like to design and sew in limited time like the Project Runway contestants.

Also, here is the picture of the blouse I made from a scarf my friend gave me.  Yes, she knew I was going to turn it into something else...

What do you think of the sleeves?  Their quite interesting...  The blouse was for myself, but I needed more fabric to lengthen the blouse.  I'll have to make about two of these for myself with the proper amount of fabric.  


Till next blog!

Sarah and Soccer (No Connection)

The fashion world is flooded with designers.  I've been thinking off and on about all the movie stars, t.v. stars and singers designing and selling clothing to the public.  They have an added advantage; people know their names already and they most likely have a following of fans, and so they have customers just waiting to buy their goods.  

One of these designers I admire is Sarah Jessica Parker.  She is a woman who believes that everyone should be able to buy stylish clothing at affordable prices.  Sarah worked with Steve & Barry's (a sportswear retailer) to design and make clothing, under the label Bitten, for under $40 retail (Wow! I read that the starting retail price was $20 and under!).  Steve & Barry's is now out of business and so is Bitten.  I'm sorry about this.  The clothing were stylish and current.

                    Bitten by Sarah Jessica Parker                  Bitten by Sarah Jessica Parker
                        www.fashion.elle.com                                    www.familycircle.com      
 
Now, how many of you are watching Fifa World Cup soccer games?  I'm enjoying this time where most of the world is united watching a favorite sport and rooting for their country.  Unfortunately, Canada doesn't seem to have a national soccer team so we are left out, but I'm hoping on the United States, English, or Jamaican soccer teams to make it.  I have a few more favorite soccer teams as well.  I guess you know that I'm posting pictures of the soccer jerseys.  I couldn't let this opportunity slip by.  I'm loving the colors.  

It will be a bit sad when Fifa is over.  Life has to go on though...lol...

Till next blog!

Jamaican soccer jersey - www.aworldofsoccer.com
 US soccer jersey - www.soccerpro.com
English soccer jersey - www.shop2wear.com 


                              

Past and Future Face Off!

I love the intricacy of women's clothing from the past, the amount of work that must have been put into many gowns and suits, and the impression of a romantic era.  I love the unusual silouettes of future clothing with avante garde touches that gives visions of cars flying in the air like airplanes and super tall buildings (trying to reach Mars I guess).  Guess what?  The past and future have a face off this week!

The clothing from the past are from around the year 1909.  The clothing that won't be worn for some time (two of them anyway) were designed in 2009.  Clothing with 100 years seperation.  Ready, set, go!

     http://abagond.files.wordpress.com             by Roberto Cavalli           
                                                            fashionshops.files.wordpress.com 

                                                                          by Haider Ackermann 
               www.antiquedress.com                http://iwantigot.geekgirl.com

 Donna Karan
www.sensiblility.com  

http://wardromtherapyll.com

                                                                                       
                                                    

                 http://e.vint.com                          by Barbara Bui
                                                                  www.zeblog.com


Who won?  Or is it a tie?  You're free to let me know.  Till next blog!

                                                                                               

Stylish Clothes for the Junior Miss

We see the same "uniform" on certain groups of people.  For instance, new mothers' live in sweats and t-shirts.  Business people wear dark suits.  The blue collar set wear jeans and shirts.  So when I see someone on the street  wearing something unusual and stylish, I silently give them kudos for experimenting and making my day.

I tried to get my daughter to wear designs I made especially for her.  She'd wear them a couple times, but, as is the teens' habit, she wants to wear what her friends are wearing.  The fitted t-shirt, denim jeans and the hoodie.  The next day is: another fitted t-shirt, another denim jean, and, another hoodie.  Guess what she's wearing the third day?  Mmmmmhmmm.... (well, my son wears the same things, but why is it that we women focus more on girls getting dressed up than on boys?)

I guess the opportunity to get the junior miss to wear something different is to church, to a birthday party for a relative (an older relative), to a wedding, you get the picture.  Some of the styles I'd like to see on some young ladies once in a while are:

 

The teens have their "uniform", but there are the few who love to dress to stand out.  Teens have to be teens after all.  But I will continue to look for the junior miss whose fashion sense stands out in the crowd and silently give thumbs up...

Till next blog!

grey ruffle blouse - www.1015store.com
grey long skirt by Xhilaration - www.amazon.com
blue flip flops by Propet Coral - www.onlineshoes.com
blue ruffle shirt - www.bidudo.com
taupe tiered skirt by Byer - www.amazon.com
beige sandles by Privo Ranford - www onlineshoes.com 

Colorful Prom Dresses

It's prom dress season, so I've collected a few pictures of prom dresses that I like.  The dresses I chose were selected on the basis of silhouette first and then color.   Sometimes I can't seperate the two because the silhouette and color go so well together in some cases.  I added three modest gowns as well.  I believe in modest and stylish clothing.  I'm an advocate for gowns and dresses with sleeves or with some form of covering for the shoulders in some way.

I noticed that the first few dresses I chose were blue.  I just love the color.  When I noticed the one color choices, I searched again for dresses I liked in other colors as well.  I had to give equal opportunity to a variety of color dresses (lol).

www.jovani.com

                                        www.sydneyscloset.com

www.nexteve.com

                                     www.promformaldress.com 

                                           www.nexteve.com


For those going to their prom, have a great time.  Till next blog!

What a Girl Wore toTwo Weddings

I'm continuing the theme on weddings from last week's blog.  This week I wanted to show what I made for a young girl to wear to weddings.  It was mentioned to me that I should do a blog on bride's maids dresses for a future blog; I think that's a wonderful idea, and I will follow up on that!

While looking through my daughter's closet, I came across two dresses I made for her for two weddings we attended a few years ago.  I wanted to make something unique and one of a kind that couldn't be found in stores and was also affordable (of course sewing clothes makes them very affordable).  When my daughter was 9 years old, she wore:

 Well, this is just a taste of what she wore.  This fabric is very pretty, a blue embroidered flower pattern on a delicate beige fabric.  The color combination is unusual.  I bought it on sale from a fabric store.  The style of dress I made looked 1920's.  I'll post the whole dress next week.  The full photo I took wasn't flattering due to the background.  At least one person thought I had spent a lot of money for this dress.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Sold retail, this dress could cost about $60.00 or more.

When my daughter was 12 years old, she wore this to the next wedding:

 I already had the coral polyester print fabric which I had purchased a few months prior.  The maroon silk jacket was made from a silk shirt I never wore but didn't want to give away (I hate giving away anything made of silk).  I just love the pleating in the coral fabric on the front of the maroon fabric. 


I was thinking yesterday that there should be a reality show called the Frugal Fashion Designer.  I believe a lot of people would appreciate watching a clothing designer make stylish clothes that's affordable for the general public.

To change the subject, I'm adding pictures of things I saw and liked online.  There are so many talented designers out there.

 
 Till next blog!

 black ruffle jacket - www.avantegaudy.wordpress.com
bronze and teal bag - www.iofrer.com