aussie bound!

Well my friends, I'm off! I'm leaving for Australia in an hour. And guess what? I haven't a clue what I'm going to be doing there! I'll be visiting my older sister, who plans every day and leaves it all as a surprise until the day begins. So come back and see me in July to find out where I've been :)

<3

summer maxi

Last fall I bought a maxi dress on a whim at the Gap. It was on sale, I love gray and white stripes, I couldn't resist. Last week I wore it for the first time and was a bit unsure. Maxi dresses can do weird things to the body, and horizontal stripes over my hips? eek. I took some quick snapshots at school. Yay or nay? How would you style this look?

dress: the gap

belt: fossil

sweater: target

DAAP fashion show preview

If you can't wait until I get the pictures up (fingers crossed my CD drive works by tomorrow afternoon) take a look at this video of photos from the show! A quick shot of my gowns is on at the 18 seconds mark.

playing catch up

I've been gone for ages, but for good reason! Critique, apartment searching in Dallas, alterations, dress rehearsal, fashion show, graduation, and now I'm preparing for a 2 week trip to Australia! I haven't even been around to do a weekend in photos post, so here are some snapshots saved up. They're all out of order...

painted a mini cornhole set for my cousin's dorm

katie did my hair for the show

post graduation party

blue snow cone :)

church festival - pastor in the dunking booth

graduated!

lacey & me at the cocktail party before the fashion show

my gown at daapworks

bathtime for casey

grad cap!

new apartment in Dallas

the sunflower

glitter!

picking out jewelry for styling

model gifts

2011 daap fashion show

Tomorrow is the night we've been working toward for 5 years - the 60th annual DAAP fashion show! I am so excited to have my work shown in such a professional manner for my family, friends, and neighbors. I've just gotten home from tonight's dress rehearsal, and it was incredible. The work that my classmates have done is inspired. I am so proud of the fashion design class of 2011.

If you can't join us at the University of Cincinnati tomorrow night, I encourage you to spend some time watching our live webcast of the event, starting at 8PM EST.

http://www.uc.edu/ucit/digitalvideo/daapfashion2011.html

I promise to post photos and video of the entire collection as soon as possible!

final collection preview

So... maybe I forgot I had a blog over the last week or two. :)

I've been so ridiculously busy! We had our final critique for our collections, which went amazingly well. It was a really rewarding end to 9 months of working my butt off. Jay Ott, a DAAP alumn and designer for The Row, led the critique and said that some of my pieces really reminded him of Margiela. That was a pretty sweet moment.The weekend after the critique, my family had a big graduation party for my little sister and I, because she graduated high school that night. I had relatives in town all weekend, and my birthday was on Memorial Day, so the celebrating continued.Last week was a whirlwind and I can barely remember what I did. Thursday my mom, my sister, and I left for Dallas to look for my next apartment. We drove 16 hours there, spent a few hours looking at apartments, found a real cute one, shopped for an hour, then started the drive home. It was pretty nuts. Now I have 4 days until our huge fashion show, 5 days until COLLEGE GRADUATION (whoa!), a week and a half until I leave for Australia, and almost exactly one month until I permanently move to Dallas.

Doesn't it feel like life is moving awfully fast all the sudden?

Well, while I'm waiting to get back the professional photos of my collection, here is a sneak peek of my senior thesis, Linguistic Relativity.

"Oh Happy Day" Goes to Paris!

I've been reading the blog "Oh Happy Day" for a few years now. I've been inspired by all the party ideas, learned a lot through the DIY projects, and read in jealousy about her recent move abroad. Now, dear friends, it's our turn! Incredibly, Jordan of Oh Happy Day is able to give away a 7 day trip for two to Paris!

Enter the giveaway here, and if you are interested in anything lovely I do recommend you follow this blog.

senior thesis: look #6

This is the sixth look in my collection of 8 for my senior thesis in fashion design at the University of Cincinnati. To find out more about the concept development and inspiration I took for this project, check out my posts here and here. The first post explains a bit about my concept for this collection, which I've named Linguistic Relativity. The second post goes a bit deeper into the concept and shows the charts I made based on research.

For this project, I took a lot of inspiration from words in foreign languages, masculine and feminine perceptions of garments, the different ways cultures perceive color, and the number (plural vs. singular) of certain words.

View look #1

View look #2

View look #3

View look #4

View look #5

This dress was designed with the feminine figure in mind, and is all about the color blue. The Russian language has more words for blue than any other language, even having different names for light blue and dark blue. Because of this, Russian speakers are typically better at identifying between shades of blue. This inspired a gradient blue gown.

More on this blue theory here.

This is going to be my grand finale piece, although I'm showing it sixth to you. I am working on it right now, I'm about to put in a shelf bra and then start the lining. I just tried it on for giggles, and was amazed to see that it actually fit me! Now, my model will be 3-4 inches taller than me, actually, more like 8 inches taller with her shoes on, and she'll wear a tulle slip underneath it, so it will be a lot bigger and more dramatic, but you get the idea. Anyway, I'm thrilled it fits me because the materials for this one dress alone were about $300....eek!! Now I just need to be invited to a ball.

senior thesis: look #5

This is the fourth look in my collection of 8 for my senior thesis in fashion design at the University of Cincinnati. To find out more about the concept development and inspiration I took for this project, check out my posts here and here. The first post explains a bit about my concept for this collection, which I've named Linguistic Relativity. The second post goes a bit deeper into the concept and shows the charts I made based on research.

For this project, I took a lot of inspiration from words in foreign languages, masculine and feminine perceptions of garments, the different ways cultures perceive color, and the number (plural vs. singular) of certain words.

View look #1

View look #2

View look #3

View look #4

Without further ado, here is look #5. This is the only look that I really haven't started in final fabric, despite the critique being in 6 days. It's just taken a backseat to some of my more favorite designs, and I guess since my model wasn't around much it didn't motivate me to work on it. I'll likely start it tomorrow.

This dress has a corset style bodice, representative of the word "corset" being masculine in most languages, although being an extremely feminine garment. It has a "collar" and button down placket in the front, mimicking a men's shirt, flowing into an ombre chiffon skirt. The color palette derives from a word in Latin that means "watercolored" rather than a specific color.

news coverage of daap seniors

Sadly, I'm stuck in bed with a fever, a week and a half away from the critique. I managed to sew up one of my evening gowns today, so I do feel pretty good about my progress. I still have to go back and add horsehair to the hem, cups to the bust, and lining, but it's coming along I suppose.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a little press that our class got today. Embedding for the video was disabled so click here to see the coverage. Screen shots below.

senior thesis: look #4

This is the fourth look in my collection of 8 for my senior thesis in fashion design at the University of Cincinnati. To find out more about the concept development and inspiration I took for this project, check out my posts here and here. The first post explains a bit about my concept for this collection, which I've named Linguistic Relativity. The second post goes a bit deeper into the concept and shows the charts I made based on research.

For this project, I took a lot of inspiration from words in foreign languages, masculine and feminine perceptions of garments, the different ways cultures perceive color, and the number (plural vs. singular) of certain words.

View look #1

View look #2

View look #3

So, introducing look four! This look I am really excited to show you guys! I have just about finished it in final fabric. I'm meeting with my model tomorrow to mark the hem and sleeve length. So far all my classmates really like it, and I have to say I quite love it as well. I just wish I made it slightly larger so that I could wear it afterwards :)

I've been calling this look "la militaire." The design was inspired by classic military/masculine details, but embellished in a way that makes it very feminine and soft. I used a wonderful mint green wool combined with a pale rose chiffon. I used plain flat gold buttons to finish the look. I was debating adding the patch pockets as shown on the drawing, but I think it would end up being too busy. I was also thinking about making a simple gray legging to go underneath. What do you think?

senior thesis: look #3

This is the third look in my collection of 8 for my senior thesis in fashion design at the University of Cincinnati. To find out more about the concept development and inspiration I took for this project, check out my posts here and here. The first post explains a bit about my concept for this collection, which I've named Linguistic Relativity. The second post goes a bit deeper into the concept and shows the charts I made based on research.

View look #1

View look #2

For this project, I took a lot of inspiration from words in foreign languages, masculine and feminine perceptions of garments, the different ways cultures perceive color, and the number (plural vs. singular) of certain words.

This particular look was inspired by menswear, and is a representation of a notched collar. I focused a few of the pieces in my collection on classic mens or women's fashion details, and tried to twist them toward the other gender. So this is my feminine version of the notched collar. Since photographing my sketches earlier this quarter and now, the end of the quarter, I've changed the fabrication a bit. I started with the idea of using this nice brown suede and adding horsehair and structure within the coat. A friend gave me a great amount of this wonderful dark brown wool, which ended up being perfect for this coat. I also used a brown leather piping to kind of highlight and maintain the shape.

This piece is almost finished being made, I just have to add the lining and decide on a closure! What do you guys think - a giant button on the hip, as shown? I came across some kilt pins that I thought could be interesting too. Any suggestions?
More of my looks coming soon! Our final critique is in 2 weeks and the fashion show is in 4. Crazy!

weekend in photos

So sorry for the delay in posting! As I mentioned last week, I was feverishly working on a project for an interview, and then I was whisked away to Dallas for a few days for interviews at two companies. One went so well because it was with my old boss, the other I wasn't sure about. Turns out I got a job offer for the unsure one! I'm really excited, but I'm still waiting to see what happens at the other company. So it's been a crazy few days! I didn't get too many photos, but here ya go.

oh you know, just hanging with "the beatles" in "las vegas"
(high school's afterprom)

little sister & me before her senior prom

Dallas - I love flying at sunset

One of the companies took all us candidates out for a really nice dinner, and these cute little guys were dessert!

blurry Cincinnati at night :)

wednesday wednesday

Apologies for my absence, I can't believe it's already Wednesday... this week is flying by! And tomorrow I'll be flying to Dallas, so I may not be back to blog until Saturday. In the meantime, here's a bit of sparkle for your day. Kind of want to go dip my lips in glitter now..

+source

from the inspiration folder

While I'm busy working on this interview project, here are a few things from my inspiration folder that caught my eye lately.

weekend in photos

This weekend, I...

Enjoyed the sunshine!

Started researching & ideating for an interview project.

Put senior thesis on hold having finished a look in final fabric!

Tried a new lipstick. Not sure... thoughts?

Had coconut almond chip ice cream for breakfast... in bed...

Attended the high school variety show where my sister sang & played guitar, dedicating it to our parents. Suck up/Cutie!

Sat outside in our small town having coffee, yay warm weather!

Kept sketching,

And picked out swatches.

I've been so concerned about getting this project done for my *big interview* later this week that I almost forgot I have an interview on campus tomorrow. Off to check that I have resumes printed...