An apology, NYFW and 1st Assesment Portfolio Sneak Peek

Hi kids,
So sorry for the lack of postage. So much stuff has happened in the last 4 months it's crazy. I've been involved in a heap of work, moving states, making weird life decisions, getting myself into situations that I never thought I'd be stupid enough to be found in, trying to be an adult,  living off instant noodles and 3 hours of sleep daily, pricking myself with pins, cursing the schools sewing machines, spending ridiculous dollars on transport and art supplies.... just to name a few.

I was kind of thinking that I should just abandon this blog , but since starting up my course, I think that would be a stupid thing to do. Rather, I'd like to use this as a platform to showcase my assesments and designs , as well as keep up the previous stuff I've been doing for y'all before. Not sure if any of you actually care about my experience in fashion school thus far but I've discovered a few things about fashion school already;

- the teachers are basically all best friends and go out with each other on the weekends
- you can never be early enough for it to be counted as ridiculous
- in saying that, being 2 minutes late is grounds for a glare and a late note
- my favourite place to go on break time is the dirty alleyway right next to the entry doors, where all the other smoking kids hang out 

- never upset the illustration teacher by not doing the homework
- the overlocking machine is the scariest thing known to mankind and should not be fucked with AT ANY TIME EVER UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE
- you think you loose something from your bloody expensive technical kit at least 3 times a day
- hold in your pee until break time during patternmaking or you'll be 1000 steps behind when you come back and the teacher will not help you until you're 1000000000 steps behind
- the tracing wheel does not work unless you slam your whole body weight onto it
- it is okay to not know wtf you're doing. It's not okay not to try
- the communal fridge is probably breeding new life forms.. 

- noodles taste disgusting after the first 2 weeks of eating them for lunch 

- the idea of carrying around a massive suitcase on wheels is becoming more appealing

- everyone is not actually a bitch (contrary to popular belief) but are the best people in the world 

- THE LIBRARY IS FILLED WITH MAGAZINES
- never use the school printer

I've been loving it. Even though it's getting intense (we're only 4 weeks in and it's crazy) I'm very excited. this is something i've wanted to do for ages, and I'm finally doing it. That being said, our assessment is due in week 10 ? and it goes to panel in week 13... model, styling, photo shoot , complete assessment piece, finished portfolio. Yeah, nervous is an understatement.
First assessment: Skirt. Brief: Encounter Culture, SS16/17 

Here's a few pics of my draft portfolio thus far (incomplete)

 I've actually got my final design (skirt + top) approved by my design coordinator but the above sketches are experimentations of my designs (not showing the final design till the finished product). As you can tell, I'm doing Japanese culture and traditional dress- linking it back to the traditional mens formal kimono 'hakama' culotte and moulding it into a modern day womenswear ready to wear piece. We are designing and making the whole skirt, but we get to buy and re-create the top (to complete the look obviously) so the top half, you'll just have to see once it's all together I guess. Primary colour of choice is Black Plum (SS 16/17 Encounter Culture colour chosen by the professionals within the fashion industry).  Secondary colour of choice is off grey/marble grey. Wanted to do grey black but it was a bit too wintery, so this grey will do just fine. 

I'll post more update pics regarding my design as time progresses, including construction shots, model prep etc. 

x

Anyway, enough about me. NYFW FW16/17  has been conjuring up some good stuff lately. I don't have time right now to do what I did before and pull out reviews under my sleeve for every collection I'm interested in, so I'm just combining beautiful looks from various shows together. Some featured include Alexander Wang, Tibi, Vera Wang, Tommy Hilfiger, Altuzzara, Hood by Air, Fenti x Puma, Ji Oh, Phillip Lim & Delposo (Just to name a few) 

Amazing work. Loving the influence of street wear in the luxury setting. Loving the fur details, including the return of the fur vest as well as new additions like the fur sleeves and the fur turtleneck collar. Dark earthy tones shine through as the winner for the FW season and designers take on a playful approach with lettering and logos slammed on basics; casual yet still a statement. Japanese silhouette influences as well as some Victorian era inspired cuts- and we cannot forget the quirk of it all. New York is my favourite place to watch (apart from Paris, of course) because of it's individuality, expression, modernity , evolution and of course- the acceptance and show of new and emerging designers. I love seeing more and more designers names on the catwalks, it makes me inspired to be there one day too. We all know that winter is my favourite season, so no matter what New York had lined up, I would love it nonetheless. Some of the shows this year really made me gasp and my jaw drop to the floor in awe- Like the Marc Jacobs show and Alexander Wang show. Can't wait what the rest of the world has in store, but New York definitely set the standards high. 

x