Who's Getting Married?

                            apesara
                      www.flickr.com

For some time, wedding dresses and marriage have been on my mind  this year.  And I don't know why.  I suspect that someone in my family may be getting married soon.  My friend said that her long-time boyfriend told her he wanted to talk to her about something, but at the right time.  Now, both of us have tried to figure out what this could be, and a marriage proposal is at the top of both our lists.  

flippinyank

www.flickr.com

While I wait to find out who may soon be engaged, I've been watching wedding reality shows, combing any bridal magazine I can find, and sketching wedding gowns I may soon attempt to make.  One of my favorite wedding reality shows is called Say Yes to the Dress on Slice tv.  I just love to watch the brides-to-be trying on different styles and cuts of designer wedding dresses. 

 

 Wonderlane

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 For those of you who are budget minded and watch this show, you can imagine what I'm thinking when I hear the prices for some of the gowns.  Nothing against women who believe that the higher cost of the gown makes the day more special, but I don't think I could spend more than $500 on a wedding gown (but then I'm stingy).  Actually, if I could buy one for $200, I would do it.  Weddingdress.com is an online store that sells gowns from $99.00 (wow!) to about $400.  Let me throw this in now if you're really super- budget minded. There is a video on Youtube called $10 Wedding Dress - Threadbanger Projects.  I couldn't believe the simple but nice looking wedding dress that came to life using t-shirt fabric!

My favorite wedding gown designers so far are Vera Wang, Amsale, and someone new to me, Angel Sanchez.  Vera Wang uses a lot of tulle, giving a lot of her gowns an ethereal quality.  She experiments with volume and shapes and her dresses are unique.  Amsale uses both soft and structured fabric for her designs.  The bodices of her strapless gowns are unique in that she uses diagonal pleating on some of them to personalize the dresses. She's also bringing in the short wedding dress for 2010.  Angel Sanchez uses firm fabrics for most of his collection for 2010.  I appreciate the flower neckline on one gown, and the assymetrical flounces on others. 


View these three designers' 2010 collections on Youtube:

Vera Wang Bridal Gowns - Spring 2010 Lookbook
Brides.com - Amsale Spring 2010 Runway Show 
Brides.com - Angel Sanchez Spring 2010 Runway Show


Enjoy!  Till next blog.

The Good Old 70's...

I was watching the Jackson 5 singing "I Want You Back" on Youtube a while ago, and I was just gawking at their brightly coloured tops and pants with the platform shoes and thinking "Whoa... a lot of colour..."  The 70's was certainly a time of freedom of expression clothes- wise among other freedoms.  I was looking in a Sears catalogue for fall 2009 and saw a nice pair of women's pants in a grey and black plaid.  Last time plaid was really in style was the 1970's.  Plaid looks pretty good now a days...

 

Designer is Y-3

                                   www.fashionweekphotos.com

I remember my sister and I proudly posing, around 1976, in our living room,  for pictures in our newly purchased plaid striped pants (one was red and blue plaid on white), two-colour platform shoes(brown/black and burgundy/black I believe) and I believe our knit tops had stripes in them as well, but I don't think they matched our pant plaids though.  But then, you didn't have to match, that was the style.   Put two colours or prints together that didn't quite make sense (well...the pairing made sense then) and you fit right in.  Aahh, the 70's...  

www.fashion-pictures.com

www.fashion-pictures.com   

Think Brady Bunch, think the Partridge Family, think the Evans family from "Good Times".  Striped flared pants, winged collars, bright colours, loud prints.   I remember those good old days of good family values, innocence, the innovative music... I miss that decade... 

www.fashion-pictures.com

I've noticed quite a few designers have plaid clothing among their collections from about 2007.  It hasn't become a favorite so much among the general public, but I think we may be seeing more people wearing plaid fabrics in some clothing form soon.  The teens are wearing a lot of checked shirts now, which I remember was a must have among teens in the 1980's (especially in the form of a lumber jacket...  I live in Canada). 

We can take some note from the 1970's.  I often wish, especially during the winter, that a few more people would experiment with colour.   After all, colour is what makes life a bit more interesting and fun to view.   Let's try to make this winter more interesting by experimenting with colour.

Till the next blog!

New Design - My S Saks

I've been working on some designs for accessories in between designing the ever late fall/winter sample clothing for SK Clothes.   The accessory is the bag.  I just love bags.  If there is any clothing or accessory I would collect, it would be bags.

Right now I love long strapped bags which leave hands free for doing other things like shopping, reading on transit, eating, etc.  I wonder about us women always having to carry big bags containing everything with us when men only have a wallet in their pocket.  But I myself will not travel without my  wallet, lip gloss, tissue,  pen, novel,  you get the point.  So I've designed a convenient bag for those teen girls and women who need a bag, but only for necessities and want to travel hands free.

The S Sak, which I call my design, is made of two to three fabrics for attractiveness.  The strap is sewn in diagonally and made of two fabrics as well.  It is lined with the contrasting fabric. The entrance to the bag is made of the same contrasting fabric as the lining and opens and closes with a drawstring.  What's good about this sak is it's washable, it's attractive, functional, and it's worn diagonally to prevent the strap from slipping off.  (When I carry the long strap bag the traditional way, over one shoulder, I'm forever tiring of slipping the strap back in the correct place.)  The S Sak is a type of backpack with one strap and one storage space on purpose, so females can only carry what's absolutely needed.  

These four saks are for sale on my ebay store page.  If you would like to purchase any one of them, my store link is www.stores.ebay.ca/SK-Clothes.  

Till the next blog.

A Little History on Clothing We Can't Live Without

As much as some of us love to dress for success, dress to express ourselves, dress to convey a mood, don't we all just love the basic pieces of clothing?  I'm talking about the must must haves.  The denim jean and the t-shirt.

Now, I love an opportunity to look nice anytime, to show how good I can look, to get a couple side glances when I look just right.  And then there are always the times when I just want to look casual.   I read or hear of women always saying that " I'm most comfortable and myself in t-shirt and jeans".  I used to think that women who said this were the one's who always had to dress for their career and were in the limelight a lot.   Well, I'm not in the limelight, at least not right now (wishful thinking)  and I have to agree with them myself.

I remember my mother telling me about her girlhood days when people dressed up to go for a walk down the street or to the park.  And they most likely dressed for the movies, a concert...Now a days, we think that's a waste of time and money to  dress somewhat formally for the purpose of looking good to have casual fun (although people still dress for the theatre).    Well, how many of you still wish dress-up days were like the past?  I don't know if I do.  

 

Target Rocks Red Market 1 : March 2008 Australia

Picture courtesy of FashionWeekPhotos.com 

I'll give you a bit of history on the t-shirt and the denim jean.  The t-shirt was first introduced to American soldiers by the European soldiers in WWII.  The American soldiers appreciated the comfort of the t-shirt and started wearing them as undershirts.  By 1955 the t-shirt could be worn alone and be acceptable (thanks to stars like James Dean).  The denim jean was made for workers in 1873 by Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss (a popular brand name for jeans).   Women were free to live in jeans from around the 1950's and on, whereas before, the acceptable clothing were skirts and dresses.

These are two pieces of clothing that can be dressed up or dressed down or even in between, timeless pieces we can't live without for now and some time to come.  I think the hoody and the sneaker also should be added to the list of things we can't live without.   

sneakermaniac.com

 

Complicated Clothing

I'm having a good time looking at fashion websites where mere mortals can view what the popular fashion designers have concocted past and present.  I like what I see, although I'm surprised at what I like now.  What I like is not what I would wear though.  I'm just very impressed with the complicated ideas and the construction of some of the garments.

When I see a garment with a lot of draping and applique and embroidery (hopefully not all three together), my designing and sewing juices want to get going.  The more complicated the garment looks, the more of a challenge it was to create, and I love challenge.  Fashion is functional for most of us, and it can be art for those looking to make a bold statement.

Right now, I'm interested in making wedding gowns, I've had an interest in doing this for quite some time.  I'm planning soon, though, to make a mock wedding dress out of  sheer drapery fabric just to get going and see what develops. 
  

On Aura Tout Vu, Mode a Paris Haute Couture Spring Summer 2007-08

 On Aura Tout Vu  is a designer I'm not familiar with, but this designer's gown inspires me.   I would never wear this gown (too ostentatious), and pink is not my colour, but this is a shade of pink I find appealing and would wear,  and the amount of ruffles and where they are placed is attractive to me.  The ruffles are placed in such a way on this semi-form fitting dress to balance it evenly.  I would love to find out how long it took to make this.

 Lefranc Ferrant, Mode a Paris Haute Couture Spring Summer 2007-08

Lefranc Ferrant is another designer I haven't heard of, but I love how he draped this black dress.  The shape of the dress is simple, the length elegant and the amount of draping and where it's draped adds so much interest.  This I would definately wear.  The simple line with the interesting neck and torso would get appreciative looks for any woman who wore this.

Well, this week I'm working on a bag/backpack design.  I've made one sample and it looks cute, so I'm making more this week.  I may be reworking my fall/winter clothing designs, but once the bags and the clothing are done, I'll post pictures.  

Till the next blog.

Fall 2009

Summer is over, fall is here already. I can't believe it! The days are going by very fast... Which reminds me, time for fall and winter clothing.

I'm currently working on my fall/winter sample clothing for 2009-10. And it's already September 21. I know I'm late. Blame the lack of finances, but I hope to finish the samples by the end of October. Spring/summer sample clothing for 2010 will have to be worked on simultaneously so I can promote the spring/summer clothing from January on.

My fall/winter clothing will incorporate a bit of structure, some ruffles (ruffles are all the rage now), and of course a Bohemian flare in some pieces. I won't be using too much black, if I use any black at all. You'll be one of the first to see my designs, so keep reading my blog.

The above design is from my spring/summer samples for 2009, but it could easily translate into fall because of the navy blue colour. I used two pairs of pants(as seen above), one light blue and one dark blue, to make this semi-fitted puffed sleeve jacket. The facing and collar are made from navy blue cotton mix fabric I purchased at a fabric store.

Currently I'm looking at all the fashion websites I can. It's amazing what some of the successful designers are making. Some designs are really exquisite, some are mediocre, and some clothing designs made me really wonder what the designers' were thinking! There are ruffles almost everywhere for the fall/winter designs for 2009.

One of my favourite websites is www.nymag.com. If you love fashion, even though you may not be able to buy some of the designer pieces, take a free look at what's being sold on Bloor Street (Toronto) and Hollywood Boulevard ( California!)