Gene designs from fabulous, young fashion designers in El Paso, Texas

Love in Louisville and Love in Bloom did not come first in our story but this photo is ready to welcome you to read more about the great designers “Out in the West Texas town of El Paso…”

You can see why “I (we) fell in love with a Mexican girl”.

These photos are from other Gene collectors. We are working to learn who so we can give credit for the photos and styling.

We present from left to right, Love in Louisville and Love in Bloom. Regina’s original design was in black and the black version is very limited because it was done for the Sandra Stillwell and Ashton Drake Gene Convention in Louisville as a special event. Love in Bloom was an Ashton Drake line doll. The pink color was styled by Joan Greene. Love in Bloom is the doll that was honored to be the Gene doll photographed to introduce the male doll, Trent Osborn, to the Gene Marshall line. We are looking for that photo to share.

But, of course, Love in Bloom has its own Wiki page.

The same designer of Love in Bloom, Regina Ganem, also created The Perfect Gift when she was a Junior at the CCTE, Center for Career and Technology Education, a part of the EPISD – El Paso Independent School District.

The Perfect Gift is a boxed outfit. Here she is in the Ashton Drake catalog photo.

If you cannot get enough of these amazing fashions, go to the general Gene Marshall and Friends Pinterest page and enjoy photos from 20 years of fashion doll history.

Or read about this doll’s history at Gene Marshall Wiki

To be continued.

New Directions in Black Western Studies (CFP)

Miquel Juarez, another amazing El Pasoan, posted an email he received this week. Congratulations, Miguel. We love you!!

The Official Blog of the Western Literature Association

New Directions in Black Western Studies

Western History Association Conference

Hilton San Diego Resort & Spa, San Diego, California

01-04 November 2017

 

We are seeking proposals for the 57th Western History Association Conference workshop and American Studies Special Issue: “New Directions in Black Western Studies.”

Though several scholarly historical treatments of Blacks in the North American West exist, few engage with what Black Western Studies means in a contemporary context. Over the past decade there has been a return to the west in intellectual and artistic production at a rate not seen since the 1970s. Several critically acclaimed television series, films, music albums, and literary texts are rooted firmly in western historical legacies. Likewise, the relationship between Blackness and western geographical and cultural identity has been explored in various disciplinary genres. From film, music, literature, and art to theatre, architecture, and museum studies, These possibilities drive several questions undergirding…

View original post 583 more words

All there is and ever was – – – I want it all, I want it all — Emily Haines, Metric

Many of you know that we have always been inspired by Metric lyrics. Somehow, again and again, the lyrics take us where we need to go, find us where we are, or meet us when we arrive.

In The Shade, Emily Haines sings about “everything” with her typical eternal touch. You can listen to a bit of it at Metric’s website – click Music, click on the album Pagans in Vegas. If you have ever been lucky enough to hear this song in concert, you may find it staying with you.

Here are a few of The Shades lyrics from Genius

With eternal love, the stars above

All there is and ever was

I want it all, I want it all

I want it all, I want it all

A blade of grass, a grain of sand

The moonlit sea, to hold your hand

I want it all, I want it all

I want it all, I want it all

In an October 2015 article at Time Magazine’s website, Metric’s Emily Haines on the Band’s Two New Albums and Breaking Free From the Internet, the author, Nolan Feeney, states, “While Pagans opens on a cynical note—“Got to be sedated to be seen/ On the cover of your magazine,” Haines sings on the entertainment-industry critique “Lie Lie Lie”—the band’s songwriting experiments produced some of their most positive, optimistic material yet. Instead of panicking about the state of her life (as she did on older songs like “Help I’m Alive” and “Breathing Underwater”), Haines is on the mood to celebrate on tracks like “Cascades,” a five-minute robot trance she says is about “loving being alive, the feeling of going strong with whatever it is that’s compelling you on.”“

“El Paso: Love all the way down to the rivets”

Over on the Reid Miller apparel website blog, there is a story entitled “El Paso: Love all the way down to the rivets.” It is an enchanting story of a first time visit to the West Texas city, El Paso.

Reid says, “When I arrived in El Paso the beauty and peace I experienced was so startling that I worried I would get into an accident in my rental car with all that there was to take in around me. There were mountains and desert seeped in a beautiful pink then yellow light from the desert sun, with the freeway painted peach and light green to match this curious, beautiful little city that seemed to have appeared out of my dreams.”

She observed, “The next morning I returned to the factory to find people working away at their machines, the music humming in the background. Workers chatted and laughed, it was Friday and everyone was looking forward to going dancing. A group of a dozen or so people worked on beautiful old machines, framed by golden spools of thread, in a beautiful atmosphere, loving what they do and the people they work with.”

Well, let Reid tell you…

As her About page says, “Reid is a designer, entrepreneur, researcher and passionate bike commuter. REID MILLER Apparel is her vision for a more beautiful, creative biking world, where a woman’s form and freedom are celebrated through high quality, stylish attire for bike commuting.”

We love Reid’s determinations to “improve on what exists to create a better biking world.”

It is also great that her line and Bob Paluzi are making such meaningful work for people.

Do you dye?

Have you been dyeing to dye?  If so, you may want to check out Pro Chemical and Dye.

You may also want to visit the Surface Design Association.

Fascinator with recycled sisal and machine embroidery

Fascinator by Lucille Junkere

Shibori Girl

Shibori Girl writes —

“this silk started out white, like winter snow
then it became dark-like midnight

lights and darks, hills and valleys formed
and greens in many shades and hues swept across the land”

Here are two photos to entice you.

While Desmond Morris is watching. . . Kate Bush re-appears.

The Human Animal by Desmond Morris – The Language of the Body could be an invaluable aid to you if you plan to travel the world for sourcing or for leisure.  If you have six minutes, take a look – it could save your life.

If you have a few extra minutes, in this version of The Language of the Body, around seven minutes into the film, you can see the confusion that can arise from head nodding or shaking.

This post also accidentally became a post about youth and aging.  Click on and you will see what we mean.  Well, it does happen to ALL of us — aging is one of our inescapable realities as any kind of animal.

The Human Animal – Beyond Survival is one of the best references we can find for learning about us.  We have watched it for years in Fashion History.  This version varies somewhat but all of the key points are still made.

A later version of Desmond Morris introducing The Artistic Ape

If you would like to see Desmond himself when he was younger, look at this interview with Kate Bush “back in the day”.

And keeping on the Kate Bush bandwagon, you may want to spend some time getting to know her history.  You may better understand the nature of music history and influence.  The Kate Bush Story (2014 BBC Documentary) takes us back to 1978.  At least watch the first ten minutes, then IF you can stop, turn it off.  Elton John is just one of the people who talks about Kate.  If you make it to to 12:02 you will get to see the last performance of Ziggy Stardust.  And if you make it all the way to 14:58, you will see how important it could be to get over shyness.  Eighteen minutes in you get to the analogy of the voice as fabric.  Hmmm, it all comes around. And if you make it twenty minutes into the documentary, you may begin to wonder how much Kate may have influenced even the Cirque du Soleil.  At 27:00 Babooshka may give you an early Gaga moment.  43:22 tells us, “Creativity comes from the freedom to fail and the freedom to fail comes from experimentation and that is what gives something its individuality.”   Oh… just a few moments more and you can hear Kate with Peter Gabriel and, wow, even hear how Elton John’s life was changed by Kate.  And PLEASE get to 45:14 to hear that others believe in the power of the classics of literature — Wuthering Heights and James Joyce’s Ulysses.  Go ahead, watch all the way to the 59:00 mark and perhaps you will go on to be your own artist, inspired by inspiration itself.

Other: Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights (Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1979)

“Wuthering Heights“ is a song based on the novel by Emily Brontë.

Google Images of “Wuthering Heights” book covers “Wuthering Heights” – the novel, you can read the entire novel here

The Reader’s Guide to the “Wuthering Heights”

Kate Bush BBC Documentary 1979 – The Tour of Life

Kate Bush – The Kick Inside – full album

Kate Bush Re-Appears in 2012

Kate Bush Opening Night of her return August 2014

If you go off and read Wuthering Heights, come back and listen to this version Man sings “Wuthering Heights” in original key

Kate Bush – The Whole Story (19 videos)

Kate Bush – Cloudbusting (which could lead you to Wilhelm Reich)“Out on the winding, windy moors We’d roll and fall in green You had a temper like my jealousy Too hot, too greedy How could you leave me When I needed to possess you? I hated you. I loved you, too Bad dreams in the night You told me I was going to lose the fight Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering Wuthering heights Heathcliff, it’s me, Oh Cathy I’ve come home, I’m so cold! Let me in-a-your window

Heathcliff, it’s me, Oh Cathy I’ve come home. I’m so cold! Let me in-a-your window Ooh, it gets dark! it gets lonely On the other side from you I pine a lot. I find the lot falls through without you I’m coming back, love Cruel Heathcliff, my one dream My only master

Too long I roam in the night I’m coming back to his side, to put it right I’m coming home to wuthering, wuthering Wuthering heights Heathcliff, it’s me, Oh Cathy I’ve come home, I’m so cold! Let me in-a-your window Heathcliff, it’s me, Oh Cathy I’ve come home, I’m so cold! Let me in-a-your window Ooh! let me have it Let me grab your soul away Ooh! let me have it Let me grab your soul away You know it’s me Cathy! (Repeat 3X) Heathcliff, it’s me, Oh Cathy I’ve come home, I’m so cold! Let me in-a-your window“

Songwriters: Bush, Kate

Wuthering Heights lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

Name Dropping

Official Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo’ole

Because words have always meant so much; because dolls and ghouls have had their influence for hundreds of years; and, because A Monster High Fashion Show let’s us know that Freaky Just Got Fabulous

More from the Met gala red carpet and Charles James

You must click the link and read this fabulous article and view the slide show.  Let’s start with a quote about Charles James from the New York Times article, Architectural Underpinnings of Cinderella: Technology Brings the Designs of Charles James to Life — “Dior credited James with inspiring the New Look of 1947.  James was also known for designing the first fashionable down-filled jackets; mixing unrelated fabrics such as taffeta, velvet, satin and tulle; and playing with textures like matte and shiny, flat and ribbed. “

Our favorite looks from the evening include men in white tie.

Ten – Maggie Q in Zac Posen

Nine – Felicity Jones

Eight – Diane Kruger in Hugo Boss

Seven – Suki Waterhouse in Burberry

Six – Hailee Steinfeld in Prabal Gurung

Five – Janelle Monae in Tadashi Shoji

Four – Karlie Kloss

Three – Taylor Swift in Oscar de la Renta

Two – Johnny Depp in Ralph Lauren and Amber Heard in Giambattista Valli Haute Couture

One – Karolína Kurková in Marchesa

 

“For our young people…this center will be a source of learning & inspiration.” —First Lady Michelle Obama

The First Lady cut the ribbon to open the Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Met! —  @MichelleObama #MetGala

#AnnaWintourCostumeCenter

metmuseum        ✔ @metmuseum                 Follow

“The new Anna Wintour Costume Center is designed to accommodate and inspire the next generation.” —Director Thomas P. Campbell #CharlesJames

“We have been given a facility that will allow us to experiment w/ new strategies to present fashion as never before.” —Curator Harold Koda – 9:10 AM – 5 May 2014

The Charles James exhibition will open May 8, 2014.  The Met offers this great link to images.

@MetMuseum Press Preview today of the new #CharlesJames exhibit! Photo: Cross section of his 4-Leaf Clover Dress

24 hours before the #MetGala, photographer Cass Bird took the best ball gowns of spring for a tour of Manhattan.

6:50 AM – 5 May 2014

Met Gala Ball Gowns Cause Instagram Frenzy in NYC

By Chioma Nnadi | Styled by Karen Kaiser – 24 hours before the Met, photographer Cass Bird takes the best ball gowns of spring for a tour of Manhattan.

Vogue Magazine @voguemagazine 

Met Galas have always attracted attention.  Some attend as fashion rebels.

Victoria Beckham in Giorgio Armani at Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, 2008 Photo: Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic from the post Met Gala Dress Code Rejectors

Vogue Magazine on Instagram

This next link may not be permanent but enjoy while you can – Social Media

This link to Fashion Sleuth is a permanent fixture.  This site has photos of gorgeous fashions that have been reproduced for the Gene Marshall doll.  There are a number of Charles James designs in the mix.  Can you find them?

More Pooh

The Tao of Pooh.  We found the audiobook!

The Tao of Pooh audiobook, full.  This is a completely delightful reading of the book.  One listener comments, “This keeps me sane here at college. I’m prone to think way too much, and this audiobook encourages me to take it slow and easy. I’d be a wreck without it. Thanks!”

The reader of this book sounds very much like the recording of A.A. Milne himself reading Winnie the Pooh.  Adorable

On page 58 of the book, page 73 of the PDF and at 58:18 into the audiobook is this song composed by “Pooh”.

How can you get very far,

If you don’t know Who You Are?

How can you do what you ought,

If you don’t know What You’ve Got?

And if you don’t know Which To Do

Of all the things in front of you,

Then what you’ll have when you are through

Is just a mess without a clue

Of all the best that can come true

If you know What and Which and Who.

A masterpiece!

A.A. Milne and Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear

The Pooh. Who knew?

Or should that read The Pooh Who Knew?  You decide.

While surfing the earth for the Latin translation of Winnie the Pooh, titled Winnie Ille Pu, we came across a book we did not know existed.

This book is also inspired by A.A. Milne and Winnie himself.  The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff is fabulous and hilarious.  Some of our readers did not meet Pooh when they were children.  Yet many met him through reading to their own children.  It is a noble use of time.  So before you read on, make a pledge to read to a child.  Winnie the Pooh is a great place to start or continue.

Winnie the Pooh was first published in 1926.  The copyright was renewed by Milne in 1954 (just a note to authors to stay awake!)  Today’s world is interestingly complex.  Imagine the movie rights, or the plush toy rights, or the amazingly lucrative rights to the little vinyl toys…those that are made for pennies and sold for dollars.

Wait, let’s get back to Winnie the Pooh, the real deal.  Can you let your mind’s eye see all the people young and old who have read this classic?  Can you see the joy and laughter and peace that was provoked by these simple, precious tales?

Winnie the Pooh offers the reader such memorable quotes as:  “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”  or “People say nothing is impossible but I do nothing every day.”

We did find the Latin translation, but as we said, we also stumbled upon The Tao of Pooh and the PDF version so you can read it on your own computer screen or tablet.  We assume you can even print it if you like… all 173 pages of it.  In The Tao of Pooh, Hoff uses the stories of A.A. Milne and the “voice” of Winnie to show that some of the “Great Masters of Wisdom” came from the west.  It is hilarious and enlightening (get it?)  In case you cannot read this image, it says, “You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you.  You have to go to them sometimes.”

With chapters titles such as “The How of Pooh? The Tao of Who?  The Pooh Way, Nowhere and Nothing or The Now of Pooh”, you know you will enjoy the read.

You may also learn a bunch of stuff from the original books as well.  Things like going out to meet the customer, or saving for a rainy day even as the sun does shine.

And in case you did not already know it, there is a fun website Just-Pooh.  You can find history, information, “news”, stories and games.

I actually work as an artist for Walt Disney Animation Studios and know a little bit about the legal affairs regarding copyrights of Winnie The Pooh and E.H. Shepard’s illustrative works. In 2007 Disney lost a court case of all ownership and rights to everything relating to Winnie The Pooh. It became a bit of a legal scandal because Disney had not been accurately reporting revenue from Winnie the Pooh sales which were somewhere in the range of 1 billion dollars a year. As far as I know copyrights of E.H. Shepards work as of now are public domain which means copying his art is unfortunately not against the law. – See more at: http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/2009/08/03/ripping-off-eh-shepard/#sthash.Omiigr9I.dpuf

I actually work as an artist for Walt Disney Animation Studios and know a little bit about the legal affairs regarding copyrights of Winnie The Pooh and E.H. Shepard’s illustrative works. In 2007 Disney lost a court case of all ownership and rights to everything relating to Winnie The Pooh. It became a bit of a legal scandal because Disney had not been accurately reporting revenue from Winnie the Pooh sales which were somewhere in the range of 1 billion dollars a year. As far as I know copyrights of E.H. Shepards work as of now are public domain which means copying his art is unfortunately not against the law. – See more at: http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/2009/08/03/ripping-off-eh-shepard/#sthash.Omiigr9I.dpuf

I actually work as an artist for Walt Disney Animation Studios and know a little bit about the legal affairs regarding copyrights of Winnie The Pooh and E.H. Shepard’s illustrative works. In 2007 Disney lost a court case of all ownership and rights to everything relating to Winnie The Pooh. It became a bit of a legal scandal because Disney had not been accurately reporting revenue from Winnie the Pooh sales which were somewhere in the range of 1 billion dollars a year. As far as I know copyrights of E.H. Shepards work as of now are public domain which means copying his art is unfortunately not against the law. – See more at: http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/2009/08/03/ripping-off-eh-shepard/#sthash.Omiigr9I.dpuf

I actually work as an artist for Walt Disney Animation Studios and know a little bit about the legal affairs regarding copyrights of Winnie The Pooh and E.H. Shepard’s illustrative works. In 2007 Disney lost a court case of all ownership and rights to everything relating to Winnie The Pooh. It became a bit of a legal scandal because Disney had not been accurately reporting revenue from Winnie the Pooh sales which were somewhere in the range of 1 billion dollars a year. As far as I know copyrights of E.H. Shepards work as of now are public domain which means copying his art is unfortunately not against the law. – See more at: http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/2009/08/03/ripping-off-eh-shepard/#sthash.Omiigr9I.dpuf

I actually work as an artist for Walt Disney Animation Studios and know a little bit about the legal affairs regarding copyrights of Winnie The Pooh and E.H. Shepard’s illustrative works. In 2007 Disney lost a court case of all ownership and rights to everything relating to Winnie The Pooh. It became a bit of a legal scandal because Disney had not been accurately reporting revenue from Winnie the Pooh sales which were somewhere in the range of 1 billion dollars a year. As far as I know copyrights of E.H. Shepards work as of now are public domain which means copying his art is unfortunately not against the law. – See more at: http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/2009/08/03/ripping-off-eh-shepard/#sthash.Omiigr9I.dpuf

 

The Cat’s Meow . . .

Why Paint Cats

This is what the internet does to you.  1on1 has been in love with Why Paint Cats: The Ethics of Feline Aesthetics for years (Images from the book by Burton Silver and Heather Busch).  And every once in a while, we have to snoop around the internet to see if there is any new word on the aesthetics of cats.  We found them dancing!  This has been ongoing for more than ten years. Also check out  Why Cats Paint: A Theory of Feline Aesthetics.

Some of you may be new to this so here is a small feast for your eyes and a tad of information for your brain.  Check out Snopes.com – Painted Cats.

In case you thought we forgot this blog was about fAsHiOn…

                                              Mad for Plaid

More fun at incredible things – “painted cats, real or eye trickery“

Painted Cats on YouTube

The Mean Kitty Song – rap for Sparta

There are some magazine covers created by yours truly, with the aid of these great photographs and Big Huge Labs.

And during our surf we found this image at incrediblethings.com

More images of eye art at this link: incredible things – eyes

and Pin-Ups wearing nothing but MILK

Clothes from Milk | Euromaxx Adaptable

Love is a place.

Metric (PC: Wikipedia)

“What’s holding up your face?  Nothin’ but blue skies, passageways to windows that don’t close.  Where do you live?  Love is a place.  Where are you from?  She says, ask yourself, ask anyone.  What’s holding up your face?  Nothin’ but blue skies, passageways, the mind’s eye contemplates.” – Emily Haines, Metric, Old World Underground, Where are you now?

Listen

Metric in 2008 (PC: Wikipedia)

Quite the display of artistry…

Mind-Bending Blue Chair Illusion

Unrelated Side note:  Check out Chalk the Block – a wonderful weekend in El Paso, TX

Share the dream…

English: Advertising material printed by the doll-making firm of Pierre Francoise Jumeau (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dolls are not new… dressing dolls is not new.

People have dressed dolls for hundreds and hundreds of years.

And it looks like a doll that was first created in 1995 may be around more years than most of us.

Once again the Phoenix rises.  To those of us who love to design and create for the 16″, larger than life, Gene Marshall, we raise a glass in salute.  Gene, created and designed by Mel Odom, is making her third reincarnation.

In Gene’s first appearance, which lasted a glorious ten years, she was developed and produced by Ashton Drake Galleries with Joan Green leading that enormous endeavor.

Reminisce with me.  When Gene was introduced to the world in 1995, she opened the door for the 16″ fashion doll.  Joan Green told me about the development needed to move the Chinese and Taiwanese sewing factories from the production of cheap doll clothing to the production of a nearly couture line of fashions.

Premier

Listen, as Mel Odom, the doll’s originator, thinks back on the early years of Gene Marshall. (Five minutes) and just so you know the music was written and performed for Gene and her theme………. Share the dream.

Now, let’s listen to Joan Green introduce another character in the world of Gene Marshall (2000).  Watch the first five minutes of this video…

During the first ten years, Gene, a fictitious Hollywood star of the 1940s and 1950s, appeared in so many different costumes.  And a large number of designers and creators were making and selling garments, jewelry, hats, shoes and furniture for Miss Marshall.

Gene – Calendar Girl

These were grand days. Even Simplicity and Vogue got in the act.

In her second incarnation, 2005 – 2010, Gene joined the stellar line up at Integrity.  Mel and Jason Wu gave Gene fans a new thrill.  Below: the rare blonde version of Lone Star Soiree.

And to make an absolutely, fabulously long story short.  After a two-year retirement, JamieShow and Angelic Dreamz bring us a resin, ball-jointed 16″ Gene, who can wear all of her gorgeous garments from the last twenty years.  Sew on…

Another five-minute video celebration of this latest Gene doll.

…. don’t cha wish your dolly was hot like Gene…don’t cha?

Related articles

• Gene Marshall Rises From The Ashes at IDEX 2013 (dollobserver.com)
• The Iconography of Fashion Dolls (insidethefashiondollstudio.com)
• The International Fashion Doll Salon in Kyiv, Ukraine + Photos (theepochtimes.com)

Thinking in 5-7-5 . . .

Cassie Thinking about Cubism

You know this is true

We live and work in a box

Think outside of it

Cebit, the world’s largest IT fair, is underway in Hanover, Germany, and this year, 2012, one hall in particular is worth a closer look.  Click and watch for 5 minutes.

Our power of visualization is tied to our power of manifestation. – Pedram Shojai

Who is Sew-Cool Separates?

Image via Wikipedia

Becky says of herself, “My name is Becky Colvin.  My specialties are jeans & tee shirts, followed by hand-knit sweaters (with both cable & fair isle designs) and knitting patterns.

 

The dolls I create for include several dolls designed by Robert Tonner including Tyler Wentworth, Matt O’Neill, and Ellowyne Wilde.  I also enjoy designing for Helen Kish’s little Riley, Bitty Bethany, and 14″ Chrysalis dolls, as well as Heidi Plusczok’s Candy.  A recent addition to my doll fleet are the Little Darling dolls by Dianna Effner.

 

I am a teacher by training, but my doll business and my hard-working nurse husband have made it possible for me to be a mom & artisan right now.  My son Jeremy is 8 and in second grade this year.  Though I enjoy my business, being Mom is my first job description. “

 

Do read the History page  to see how Becky started her business Sew-Cool Separates . Then surf on through the offerings.  Remember, however, as much as you may like what you see, you cannot wear any of it.  Unless you join Alice.

Berlin Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2012

Image via Wikipedia

Euromaxx, a lifestyle Europe daily tv show is  now live streaming and Video on Demand.  It is a fabulous way to stay informed on art, fashion and lifestyle around Europe.

Berlin Fashion Week  F/W 2012 just ended. Euromaxx pulled their fashion segments out of each daily and offer them VoD.  Each segment is about 5.5 minutes long.  Enjoy.

Videos – A Week of Fashion

Countdown in Berlin

Final Preparations

The Heat is On

Fashion Week Begins

The Catwalk Shows

Non-Stop Duty

Related articles

• Milan Fashion Week Street Style F/W 2012 (marieclaire.com)
• Editor’s Picks from Europe: Favorite Looks from F/W 2012 Fashion Week (marieclaire.com)
• Harpers Bazaar:Derek’s London Fashion Week Diary: Fall 2012 (harpersbazaar.com)
• The Forecast: Street Etiquette @ 2012 Fall New York Fashion Week (hypebeast.com)
• New York Fashion Week, Digital Goes Deep (fashionablymarketing.me)

A pop-up to love…

Image via Wikipedia

Outsiders

Video

on

demand

 from

Euromaxx

on dw tv.

Celebrate the hearts

Magda does it for coins.

Magda sent us a link to her latest artistic efforts.  She has been selling her items on CafePress, Spoonflower, and now Etsy under

La Tiendita de Magda

.  Since we love her artwork, we wanted to share some links.

Golden Strings

And… Rose…

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition at the MET

Andrew Bolton narrates this eight minutes of perfection.

When the job justs seems too large to tackle….

Image via Wikipedia

Look at these children and take heart… any job can be accomplished with hard work, abundant practice, determination, and dedication.  Take three and a half minutes to be inspired by kindergarten children.  Notice that they are undaunted by the size of those guitars.  Enjoy.  This link was sent to us by Joann Wardy, a fashion retailing legend.

The point of this video is that no matter how big a job may look, the only way to conquer it is by trying…and trying….and trying.

These children look so proud of themselves and you must admit that the music is delightful.

 

 

 

Follow this…

Huckleberry Jackson on photostream and huckyjackson on ebay.

Look HERE for completed auctions.  The winning bid on this Hucky Jackson was EUR 261.00, approximately $357.36.  There were 13 more fashions in this Hucky offering.

 

13 Bids Sold

$357.36

Google launches Doodle competition, celebrates Paul Cezanne’s birthday.

Google launched its fourth annual “Doodle 4 Google” art competition for K-12 students Wednesday.

Students in the U.S. can submit a drawing of Google’s logo with the theme “What I’d like to do someday.” The top entry will be displayed on Google’s homepage.

On this 172nd birthday of Paul Cezanne, visit Expo-Cezanne and enjoy his work and his knowledge.  The site quotes Cezanne, ““May I repeat what I told you here: treat nature by means of the cylinder, the sphere, the cone, everything brought into proper perspective so that each side of an object or a plane is directed towards a central point. Lines parallel to the horizon give breadth… lines perpendicular to this horizon give depth. But nature for us men is more depth than surface, whence the need to introduce into our light vibrations, represented by the reds and yellows, a sufficient amount of blueness to give the feel of air.”
Paul Cézanne to Emile Bernard, 15 april 1904

Are you an illustrator?

If you do any illustration by hand with various media, this post entitled, So you have questions about Copic Markers….  is for you.  Carolyn Peeler is a designer and instructor for the scrapbooking audience.  Her post is focusing on a type of marker and she gives great tips on how to use them.  You can also visit her blog, Cut ‘N Paste, to read other posts.

Carolyn says, “I have had a few emails asking that I share my Copic tips with you. So, here are a few basics for using Copics, along with my favorite color combos.”  She then goes on in great detail about how to choose and use the markers.  The main point being made about the markers is that they are perfect for blending and shading.

Carolyn also gives a link to the store where she buys her Copic markers.  The store is Emma’s Paperie and you can search the site for the markers page.  The markers run nearly $5.00 each so you only want to invest in them if you are a prolific illustrator.

You can also find the markers at Dick Blick.  Here is a page on the Dick Blick site that shows you how you can choose the markers.  But search the site also to see the various types of Copic markers before you make any selections.

Did you get to vote for the vampire fabrics at Spoonflower?

Remember to keep your eyes on the competitions so you can join in one of these days.  We just voted for the vampire fabrics and some of them are hilarious.  For example, this one by gomakeme made us laugh so hard our teeth almost fell out.

  

  

We also voted for this hilarious print of Sock Monkey Vampires by hollishammonds.  This fabric is not yet for sale but it was still able to compete in the competition.  Voting ends 10/14/10 if you would like to dash over and vote.

But we also need to “toot our own horn”… one of our first EPCC Fashion Technology graduates, Magda Bowen, has opened her Spoonflower shop and her fabrics are so much fun.  They did not meet the criteria for the vampire contest, but how perfect are they for the Halloween or por Dia de los Muertos!!

Magda also did this textile, called funnybonze.  We just love it and hope to be able to purchase some really soon!!!  Maybe you can put your ideas on Spoonflower.

Oh, and check out Magda’s shoes at zazzle.com – she has a number of pairs of shoes available.  Some are inspired by Dia de los Muertos.  Some are inspired by Loteria Cards.  And this example is inspired by and titled, “Frida and Friends”. 

 

Frida and Friends by Madga Bowen

Frida and Friends detail

Dash over to zazzle.com and be the first in the fashion lab to sport a pair of these fine art shoes by a master illustrator.   While you are there, sign up and start designing and selling.  What a great opportunity to see your work in production!  Can you imagine wearing your own shoe designs?

Skulls and Hats by Magda Bowen

Skulls and Hats detail

 

Décolleté or Décolletage

Adjectives and nouns… each with their own ambition.  Let’s get these two words in their rightful positions.  But first, let’s enjoy the concept.   

From the FIT museum, we present George Barbier – Le Grand décolletage from Le Bonheur du Jour ou Les Graces à la Mode, Paris, 1924.  And the museum tells us, “George Barbier (1882-1932) is considered one of the finest illustrators in the Art Deco genre. With a distinctive elegance and simplicity, he captured the mood and atmosphere of his time. Barbier was successful in a multitude of visual disciplines, including fashion illustration and advertising graphics, as well as poster, textile and wallpaper design. Influences on his work included the Orientalism and bright coloring of Léon Bakst’s costumes for Schéhérazade, Aubrey Beardsley’s Japanese-inspired serpentine line, Chinese lacquers, classical imagery from Greek vase painting, and 18th-century painting and decorative art.”  

WikiMedia Commons has so many fabulous images under the term Décolleté In Art.  Remember, the images at this site are available for your use.  There are currently 118 images within this concept, so click the link and see for yourself.  

Now to the definitions – from Wikionary:   

Adjective décolleté m. (comparative more décolleté, superlative most décolleté; feminine décolletée) 

1. Having a low neckline that reveals the cleavage.

La Goulue arriving at the Moulin Rouge

Noun décolletage (plural décolletages) 

1. A low neckline on a woman’s dress, especially one that reveals or emphasizes her cleavage.

Etymology French from décolleter, to bare the neck and shoulders Related Articles 

• WATCH: Katy Perry’s Outfit Got Her Kicked Off Sesame Street (styleite.com)

Influenced by the stars…

Image via Wikipedia

 

Trend forecasting and target designing make apparel designers in the end.  Feeling the mood of the moment is one cool trick.  Recreating the past is another. 

You can find inspiration many places.  Search both present and past to find the future.  FanPix is one place to start. 

At FanPix, you can search the current era or surf the history of film.  You can search by name to save time.  If you use the IMDb to find films of impact on fashion, write down the names of the key actors.  Next, come back to FanPix to find those actors by name in order to get more photo images of the garments or fashions worn in the films.  Determine how these pieces of clothing will enter the consumer supply chain.  Then decide how this impacts your customer. 

 

For example start with Audrey Hepburn.  Find the names of her various films.  Determine which designers dressed her.  Look at her film images and predict which of Audrey’s looks is affecting fashion now or will affect fashion in the future. 

Rita Hayworth photo at FanPix

 

 Remember to check the Film category in the LinksList for more film inspiration links.  

¿Dónde está mi galleta? and It’s not easy being green.

Esto no es fácil ser verde.  Esto es la verdad. (It is the truth.)  It’s true. (Es verdadero.)  Even Thoreau would understand. (Incluso el Thoreau entendería.)

¡Yuky y un gran cero grande! Hahahahahahaha (Hahahahahahaha)

Have a great day (Tienen un gran día) and if you need a language translator (y si usted necesita a un traductor de lengua), we recommend Web Translation (recomendamos Traducción de Web)

Hmmmm…. do you think we can find the translation for “trendslator”? (Fashionnation1on1 coin: trendslator [trendslator])

And speaking of trends and with Sesame Street always on our minds, let us also recommend Wikipedia.

Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo, presents.

And if you have a spare six.5 minutes to learn how to make a character come alive, enjoy.  And remember, wasabi is a “sometime food“. ROTFL

And, of course…SensationalColor would be blogging about this guy!

Yet he never gets political over being blue.

1-2-3-4-5 ….. 1-2-3-4-5 ….. 1-2-3-4-5 ….. 1-2-3-4-5!!!!

And, hey, where is my cookie?

Imagine your Fashion History project could be digital.

The internet is such an amazing resource!  Your Fashion History project could carry images such as these with all the information that pertains to them.

“Portrait of Grand Duchess Bianca Capello de Medici with Her Son, by Alessandro Allori (b Florence, 31 May 1535; d Florence, 22 Sept 1607).  Current location: Dallas Museum of Art”

Le corset a travers les ages could be translated as simply as “The corset through the ages” but when the phrase is put into a French>English online translator, it translates as “The girdle has foible ages.”  Which is actually very funny and poignant.

WikiMedia states, “The high-waisted Empire silhouette is seen in certain high-belted styles of Classical antiquity, and was the mainstream middle and upper class fashion in Western countries during the period ca. 1795-1820 (in this context, it is known as the “Directoire” and/or “Empire” and/or “Regency” style). It enjoyed a limited revival as part of late 19th century “Artistic Dress” styles or attempts at “Dress reform”, and again in the late 1960s / early 1970s.”  (Fashionnation1on1 note: the current 1970s influence on Spring 2011.)

The search above on WikiMedia led to a page with Fashion by era, year by year!  Here is a link to 1791 fashion images and information.

So…let’s all come into the modern age without leaving the past, and all of its glory, behind.

“This Winton Motor Carriage advertisement from the July 30, 1898 issue of Scientific American has often been identified as the “first” ad for an automobile.”   Image from – The First Automobile Advertisements from the online exhibits of the Henry Ford.

You also have the following types of information at your finger tips with few a simple keystrokes (CTRL C and CTRL V = very little typing but always remember the rules of “quotation”):

1830 – America has over 50,000 mills with machinery driven by waterpower.

1830 – Louis Godey publishes the Lady’s Book, the first successful women’s magazine in the United States.

1831 – William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator,  to encourage the end of enslavement.

1835 – Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville writes a report on American society, Democracy in America, after traveling 7,000 miles throughout the United States.

1839 – The era of photography begins in the United States, as Louis Daguerre’s process for capturing photographic images is introduced.

1842 – The first gummed postage stamps bring changes in the postal system, as senders–rather than the receivers–begin paying for a letter to be delivered.

1842 – The state of Massachusetts passes a law that limits children under 12, who worked in factories, to a ten-hour day.

1846 – Elias Howe invents the sewing machine.

1850 – At a time when women always wore skirts, women’s rights advocate Amelia Bloomer wears a garment of full trousers, which became known as the bloomer costume.

1852 – Massachusetts passes a law requiring all children between the ages of 8 and 14 to attend school at least 12 weeks a year.

Fashion caricatures show the moods of the modes.

Image via Wikipedia

 

Fashion caricatures have entertained (or annoyed) throughout the ages.  We can even imagine that some cave paintings were making the fashion commentary of the day. 

Fashion caricatures show the moods of the modes quite well.  Not all were enamored of the variations fashion creatures demanded. 

All images and words to follow are from WikiMedia.org. 

“Following the Fashion” a December 1794 caricature by James Gillray, which satirizes incipient neo-Classical trends in women’s clothing styles, particularly the trend towards what were known at the time as “short-bodied gowns” (i.e. short-bodiced or high-waisted dresses). This caricature satirizes the figure-type which is most flattered by high-waisted dresses, contrasting it with a body-type which was not flattered by the style — as well as playing on the perennial struggle between attempts of the “Cits” (families of rich merchants in the City of London area) to imitate the stylish aristocrats of west London, versus the determination of the aristocrats to socially repulse the Cits, and consider them to be still unstylish.” 

 

“Ah ! s’il y voyoit !…” (“Ah! What if he could see!”). Library of Congress description: “Print shows two fashionably dressed women walking on a country road and a “blind” beggar with a small dog on a leash and holding a cup and stick in right hand. The man has stepped on the skirt of one of the women causing it to tear, exposing her bare buttocks for the “blind” man to see. A satire on contemporary clothing fashions.” Aquatint and etching. 

 

“Les Modernes Incroyables”, a satire on male fashions from Caricatures Parisiennes, 1810. (The original “Incroyables” were males who took up cutting-edge or extreme fashions in the 1790s; their female counterparts were the “Merveilleuses“.) 

 

Surf over to the WikiMedia list of fashion caricatures and learn more.  There are currently more than 100 caricatures to enjoy! 

Color your world.

“O! Beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green–eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.” — Othello

Sensationalcolor.com says, “And while many sources are content to let Shakespeare take credit for inventing the idea of a person turning green with envy, a Greek poet beat him to the punch more than 2,000 years earlier. Sappho wrote of a forlorn lover being green in one of her works dating back to the seventh century B.C.E.”

But you do not need to be jealous of those with more color knowledge than you. Just go surfing to learn.

Sensational Color is a fun and fabulous place to start.  Kate Smith says she started her “career in product development and marketing, where I was able to work my way into the executive ranks of several Fortune 500 companies, learning to predict color trends and capitalize on using color effectively.”

How great to be able to learn from Kate!  She has so much to offer on her site.  She has jam-packed it with great color information.

In the fashion area, Kate posts on the color of opal saying, “The indigenous Aboriginal people of Australia have a beautiful legend about how this mystical gem came to their land. The creator came down to Earth on a rainbow. This voyage was to bring the message of peace on earth to all humans. The very spot where his foot first touched down suddenly became alive, and the earth was glowing with all the colors of the rainbow.”

Under the Meanings tab you can find: Color Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology, Colorful Phrases and Their Meaning, Color Around the World, and Origins of Color Words.

Under the Theory tab, you can find a most basic explanation of the color wheel in Color Relationships: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Hues.  Each visit, click on a new tab and work your way through this site and the others linked.

Take your time and visit these links often until you truly understand how to use color in your world.  There is such a feast of photos and information on the internet about color.

The Blog tab takes you to more information by other professionals.  In one post, Kate Smith gives a quick link to the Pantone color portfolio Fall 2010 forecast.  You can explore this pdf for more information.

The blog will take you off in many directions, all colorful.

On August 6, 2010 Michèle Coppin posted, “I recently saw the fabulous Yves Saint Laurent retrospective at the Petit Palais which [ended] August 29th. The show cover[ed] forty years of the designer’s creations and ends with the most gorgeous ball gowns in an apogee of color – a combination of elegance and purity of line in candy colored hues.”

For future reference, here are more links that need to be explored and enjoyed.  Also, remember to drop into Polyvore.com and play with color.  All the “materials” are there for creating colorful or neutral fashion color stories.

Each link here represents only one page of each website.  They link to the basic color theory page of these sites.  Know that each site offers an amazing array of various color offerings.  As time permits, study them all.  You may think that this could get redundant but each site truly takes a different slant on the way they show the basic theory and it all becomes a wonderful conglomeration of knowledge about color.

Remember, in fashion the first element that attracts the customer is color.

Color competency seems like a great skill to possess.

Color Wheel Pro – See Color Theory in Action

Color Wheel Pro – Visual vs. Mixing Color Wheel

Color Wheel Pro – Classic Color Schemes

Color Wheel Pro – Glossary

Color Matters – Color Theory

Tiger Color – Basic Color Schemes

Over the years, visit these links and the many others in the LinksList under the category Color.

Spoonflower, anyone?

Image via CrunchBase

 

You really want to check out this website.  Spoonflower.com  

There you can do many things that pertain to textiles.  You can see the work of other textile designers.  You can enter contests with your original textile designs.  

You can upload your own textile designs and purchase the fabrics created from them.  If others purchase your fabrics, you earn a 10% commission, without ever having to touch the fabric yourself.  

Imagine if you developed a following for your fabrics.  You could get something going.  You could blog about your fabrics and offer free patterns for items that you feature on your blog.  Then, as you develop a blog following, and post links to your textiles some people who will pop over to Spoonflower to buy your original textile designs.  Why not?  What is there to lose?  

There could be much to gain.  

Here are some example of prices but there is NO MINIMUM order:  

Fabrics: (learn more about these) << this link will lead to fabric info
Quilting weight ($18/yd)
Organic Cotton Sateen ($27/yd)
Organic Cotton Knit ($27/yd)
Upholstery-weight twill ($32/yd)
Linen-Cotton Canvas ($27/yd)
Cotton Lawn ($24/yd)
Sizes: (why order a test swatch?)
Test Swatch (8″ x 8″) $5.00
Fat Quarter (21″ x 18″) $11.00
1 yard (42″ x 36″) $18.00
2 yards (42″ x 72″) $36.00
3 yards (42″ x 108″) $54.00
4 yards (42″ x 144″) $72.00
5 yards (42″ x 180″) $90.00  

If you are the designer of the textile you purchase, you get a 10% discount on these prices or a 20% discount on orders of 20 yards or more.  

These types of web sites (like cafepress.com; zazzle.com) where you can upload your artwork and products can be made with your concepts, designs, illustrations, and more are a great way for you to get started in your design career.  

Remember, this gets you an “inventory” without upfront costs to you.  

Find the reason to start now, not five years from now.  

 Treehugger.com says, “From the quirky to the sublime, the site probably has a [textile] pattern to suit everyone, but thankfully it also boasts an eco-conscious side: patterns that patrons buy are printed using eco-friendly materials and methods.”   

Related Articles

• Spoonflower: ‘Online Social Networking’ Meets ‘Print Your Own Fabric’ (treehugger.com)

While surfing around at Spoonflower, we found fabric from someone we know.  Daniel Bingham has a pattern club for fashion dolls.  Daniel started with knitting patterns and later added patterns for sewing.  He obviously also offers his own fabrics to his club members.  What a smart move.  We love this idea!  

  

Daniel Bingham textile and garment design on Tonner doll.

 

And how about this for perfect and easy to make jeans for the 16″ fashion crowd.  Go, Daniel! 

Daniel Bingham jeans fabric and pattern

   

Daniel Bingham jeans, "distressed" w/o the chemicals

Fashion rivals art

    

Behind the Scenes of Quicktake: Rodarte shares some great video and other information about creativity and forward thinking.      

The Rodarte Juarez and El Paso inspired collection has made the news many times.  Remember, the only bad publicity is no publicity still holds true.    

For a side trip to “the only bad publicity is no publicity” and thinking about Oscar Wilde, quotations, more quotations, English proverbs, French film director François Truffaut, blogging, blogging with Zenmata, social media, corporate attention-getting, and more …Oxford comma intended… hit one of these links.  Set a timer and then let’s get back to Rodarte.    

Putting fashion on the cutting edge of art may be even more interesting than all of the above.      

Caroline Baumann says, “[the] Rodarte show was like no other—breathtakingly beautiful materials in muted tones combined to communicate a dreamy state. Gorgeous pieces with surprising, mixed use of knits, lace, felt and silk.”    

Just five years old and making such a wave.    

You can watch a one hour and sixteen minute video of “Laura Mulleavy, one of the designers behind Rodarte and [then] Vogue’s fashion news and features director, Sally Singer at Cooper-Hewitt discussing Rodarte’s work and the installation of the Rodarte exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.”    

The Manikin fashion army, ready for their Rodarte!

 

 Sarah Scaturro from the Cooper-Hewitt design blog says, “The first thing that comes to my mind when planning for an exhibition that has fashion is: how do we want to show the garments? Typically the answer is “on a mannequin”. While there are other ways to showcase clothing, such as hanging (as in the show I recently co-curated at Pratt Manhattan Gallery) or press-mounted into a 2-D shape (like the Maria Cornejo garments in our current Design USA exhibition), mannequins and dress forms provide the ideal architecture to support the garments in the round – as they are intended to be worn by their creators.” 

Click around and see more and for now, here are a few more Oscar Wilde quotes to entertain you. 

“I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.” 

“Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.” 

“The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.”

“How you would walk the fashion mile… Hand me down and call it style.” Metric

StyleCaster is a decent website to catch up or keep up with fashion trends.  Better yet, you can publish your own style on StyleCaster – just register to get started.

You can click on Fashion, News, People, Shop and more to narrow your search.  People led to Tania Barri who is a design student in Mexico.  Tania’s StyleCaster page supplied a link to her blog, PinkAndBubbly.  You should take a few minutes to run through Tania’s blog to see how simple it is to keep the world informed about your own style.

Clicking Shop led to “Recent Trends” which included Viva Mexico!  It seemed appropriate after reading Tania Barri’s fun blog!

The StyleCaster site says, “Oscar de la Renta dipped his brush into the palette of Mexico.”  You can find the entire line on Style.com. 

Jean Paul Gaultier took his Mexican inspiration to a different level.

El Paso Saddle Bags made a showing.  Where can you take this concept?  How about a suit jacket like Jose D Saenz created from a gorgeous, bright yellow serape?  Or the great orange serape jacket that Jose created for himself?  You should ask him to show them.

Back to Mexico – StyleCaster says, “Why We Love It: When the sun is high o’er head, who isn’t inspired by the Southern border? Whether you’re on a beach or just out to dinner, this exotic look is sure to turn heads with its bright colors and festive prints. Airy fabrics, flirty hues, embroidered tops and crazy patterns come together for a look that screams fiesta!”

 

Diane von Furstenberg's woven wire bracelets

Read The Full Article from StyleCaster Viva Mexico! – StyleCaster http://www.stylecaster.com/trends/121/viva-mexico#ixzz0sMzgbYwD
Sign Up For StyleCaster! StyleCaster“

Before you run off to play in the summer sun, check out the Fashion page of StyleCaster.  It is a great place to learn about styles and “looks”.  You can click on Occasion to see:

• Cocktail
• Everyday Casual
• Night Out
• Office  

or click Style to see

• Bohemian
• Casual Chic
• Classic
• Edgy
• Girly
• Workout Girl

You can also choose to look by Body Type, Color, Product Type or Temperature.  Go for it and give your style chops some exercise.  What a great way to learn! 

If you are ready to get bloggin’, check out OnSugar.com – it may help you spread your fashion fame!  And if you are “not quite ready for primetime”, you will still enjoy checking out the blogs already on this sweet site.

“Lessons from fashion’s free culture”

Learn about copyright and the fashion industry at ted.com – click Johanna’s name below to go directly to the fifteen minute video.

Ted.com, whose slogan  is Ideas Worth Spreading, hosts “riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world”. 

“Johanna Blakley studies the impact of mass media and entertainment on our world.”

“Copyright law’s grip on film, music and software barely touches the fashion industry … and fashion benefits in both innovation and sales, says Johanna Blakley. At TEDxUSC 2010, she talks about what all creative industries can learn from fashion’s free culture.”

LumiGram - click picture to access the web article

If you still have a moment, drop into Johanna’s ReadytoShare.org website to learn more.   “The Ready to Share project explores the fashion industry’s enthusiastic embrace of sampling, appropriation and borrowed inspiration, core components of every creative process.”

LuimiGram - click picture to access web article

While we recover . . .madsilence

There is so much fashion history activity in El Paso right now that most of us have no time for a real RandR this semester “break”.  You can catch up with “Awakening Our Giants” and “50 Years of Fashion” in other posts, but for the moment, relax and see the fusion of costume, music, youth and effort portrayed by the Yoshida Brothers.

Before you click through, this link came from another wordpress.com blog called madsilence.  This post is about Shamisen and there are a number of wonderful video clips.

Where are we? We promise to be back. In the meantime…

El Paso Magazine tells us that Sam Rodriguez, UTEP student, created the winning design for the Take Back the Night national campaign.

“Miner’s artwork picked for T-shirt of national campaign“
To read the entire article, click the Title
by Arleene Barrios, PIO, UTEP

Posted on March 22, 2010
“The national committee organizing the Take Back the Night awareness campaign against sexual violence announced March 16 that it has selected a design by UTEP junior Sam Rodriguez for its national commemorative T-shirt.

The front of the black T-shirt is decorated with a flickering flame on top of the stacked words Take Back the Night, which are shaped like a candle. The shirts will be used as a fundraiser for the event that started more than 33 years ago in Brussels, Belgium.

The back of the shirts have the TBTN logo along with 10 points of light—the 10 centers, colleges and universities, including UTEP, that were selected to participate in a special April 29 program.”.

Here we go….

If you have a plan you win

 

El Paso Sky Aesthetic

Dyeing to know…

Off following links again…  and landing for a short time at the Harris Museum & Art Gallery. 

We will not be finding ourselves at the museum any time soon.  But you may.  The exhibit continues through 2010.  And we can take a closer look through links to the current exhibition called,  

Embellished: The Art of Fabulous Fabrics

Court suit

 The notes say, “Take a closer look at textile patterns and techniques in our new Costume Gallery exhibition. From delicately embroidered florals to bold geometric prints, the clothes we wear transform us into living works of art.

 

From Chinese slippers to Horrockses dresses, come and discover a secret world of warps and wefts, stitches and sequins, pigments and dyes.”  The website has a wonderful slide show with detailed photographs of beautiful embroidery embellished fabrics and garments.

 

The current exhibition first caught our eye but then links were clicking.  Madder Modes: The Hidden Meanings of Wearing Red looked so interesting that a side trip to the past was required.  The exhibition was held in 2007.  The page on the exhibition asks, “Did you know that ‘madder’ is a type of red dye made from the root of a plant?  Or that another red dye, cochineal, is made from crushed insects?”  Now cochineal gets us close to home in two ways.  Cochineal is an insect that lives on Nopal cactus, which grows in our part of the world.  In fact, cochineal from Mexico was used to made the Red Coats red.  Cochineal is also something we talk about in Fashion History.

Redcoats

 All those little bugs….and their glorious color.  

The red of the cochineal was as expensive as gold. 

The Red-coats firing during a re-enactment of the Battle of Lexington

 It would be great if there were more garment and textile pictures from the exhibit but even the one picture above of the court suit gives us a feel for the images we could have seen at the exhibition.  There is a short slide show on the website.

The museum notes, “Historically, red has been worn to indicate official status, but it has also been thought to have protective and even healing qualities. In modern times, red is seen as a glamorous colour that draws attention to the wearer. In some cultures red is worn to mark a very special celebration like a wedding. Red is also the colour of romance and passion. This exhibition looks at a variety of red clothing, from hunting jackets to party frocks, and tells the stories behind them.” 

Vivienne Westwood, Red Satin Slash Shoes, c.1991

Costume and Textiles at the museum…

“There are over 6,000 items of costume at the Harris. Although the majority are women’s clothes, there are also menswear, children’s and baby’s clothing and costume accessories. The earliest item is a pair of men’s silk slippers dating from the 1620s.” 

Shall we pull out our passports? 

On a side note… Lana surely loved her dash of red… 

 

That red will take you places! 

Are you still here?  Okay, then how about a little more on the Horrockses dresses?  Don’t you just love it when you learn a term of speech used in an English-speaking country that differs in just a small way from the common word in usage in our own country?  Follow the link to the Horrockses dresses and you can find some fun terms of your own.  A favorite of ours is “swing tags” for hang tags.  Yeah, that has a great sound!

FNO Is Back

From Vogue UK we read, “THE biggest night in the fashion calendar, Fashion’s Night Out, is back for 2010. The international editions of Vogue confirmed this morning that they plan to repeat the global shopping celebration on September 9 2010.”

Shall we make a plan?  FN1on1 hopes that many of you will join us to party and shop.  Long Live the Fashion Industry!

Check out a few shots from FNO 2009 on The Rest is Just Icing and there is a permanent link to Jessica and Cassandra’s blog on the LinksList.

FNO 2009 - Jess and Cassie in front of Agua promoting VIDA

Surf on over to Vogue UK to read about FNO 2010 and check out the links to the 2009 FNO  photos or click the links here.

SEE ALL THE ACTION FROM THIS YEAR’S FASHION’S NIGHT OUT HERE

SEE THE CHICEST SHOPPERS AT FASHION’S NIGHT OUT

SEE WHO VOGUETV CAUGHT UP WITH AT FASHION’S NIGHT OUT

But most importantly, put 09/09/10 on your Fashion Calendar!!

Two Movements has a word with TMFB

Fellow student, Adrian Correa has some great treats for the world.  Two Movements shows style.

 

 His stacked glasses are one of our favorites.

Paulina at The Men’s Fashion Blog shows some of her fine photos of Adrian’s work.  The post is excellent and the work inspires.

All photos are by Paulina, check them out and read Adrian’s design and arts philosophy.

 

RIP Irving Penn

The days march on, taking us with them.  But the images remain.

Irving Penn 1917 – 2009

Irving Penn: Balenciaga dress, 1950

Zuill Bailey – another El Paso treasure.

You may think this has nothing to do with fashion but we think that great music, like great art, inspires the fashionable soul.  Zuill Bailey performs on a 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello.  Imagine, that instrument was made about three centuries before you were born, and yet its sound rings on today.  Click the link to hear some stunning cello music.

Bailey is internationally acclaimed.  In addition to his extensive touring engagements, Bailey is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro Musica, Artistic Director designate of the Sitka Summer Music Festival and Series, (Alaska) and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Save some pennies and make it to one of his concerts and your whole life will change!!

Click on his website, Zuill Bailey – music will play!!

And if you have about four minutes more, check out this YouTube video of Zuill in a solo performance.  See the passion.  More than a few of us are waiting eagerly for the Pro-Musica season to start.

Zuill Bailey

Zuill Bailey

Paul Henry Ramirez, artist and friend

El Paso Proud  – it has been a wonderful day here in the Sun City.  And to add the fun, we just received an update from Paul Henry Ramirez.  Paul Henry is a native El Pasoan who studied at the University of Texas El Paso, UTEP.

We were fortunate to have Paul’s sensitive and wonderful artwork for the grand opening of the Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts here in our city.  Enjoy the art and find a link to the Paul Henry Ramirez website, listed under El Paso in the LinksList.