Tag Archives: fashion

The Forecast

Posted on by
Reply

Last week I had the pleasure of attending Seattle Magazine’s The Forecast. There were quite a few retailers involved, and I think the stylist(s) did a great job of mixing stylish outfits with fashionable Seattle-appropriate pieces. It doesn’t rain every day, but if you think layers aren’t necessary here, you’re talking crazy.

The event was at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle. I had never been there before and was really impressed with the space. (The main downfall to going anywhere downtown nowadays is that you have to pay to park on the street until 8pm. Are you KIDDING me Seattle? Geesh.)

There were so many things I liked, but I would say my favorite jackets overall were by Wraphabillement, launched by Elizabeth Roberts in 2011 and the designs by Terra, which were brought to the fashion show by Seattle E-Bike.

Continue reading →

Fashion Inspiration

Posted on by
Reply

I got this book as a Christmas gift. Visual:

I love it because it’s not very big, but is packed with 450 images dating back to 1865. There’s no text wasting any space – it’s just a photo and a caption on each page. I really like looking at vintage photos for current inspiration, and I know I’ll go back to this one over and over. Here are a few of my favorites at the moment…

The leather satchel, flower bag and crocheted shawl on the left – love. it. The guys on the right look seriously fashion-forward for being from 1874. I mean do you see those skinny pants?

The model on the left must have felt so stupid in that outfit. But the swimsuit on the right is amazing. Can I have that as a dress please?  

Houndstooth! Plaid! Riding boots! Wool hat! (Camel toe!)

The hats on the left are pretty great and I guarantee no woman in the last 10 years has looked that good playing golf. 

I saw a spread like the photo on the left in a recent Vogue and I thought, “How creative and innovative!”. Not the case apparently since this photo was taken in 1966. It still made a great spread though. And OH the colors of the dress on the right. Love.

Knife pleats are my favorite.

That jumpsuit on the left is amazing. It’s too bad only 2% of the population have the body shape for it. 

The perfection of the way the plaid lines up on the jacket on the right gets me all excited. (It’s really difficult to do it that well.) The photo on the left is annoying me.

Those paper bag waist rolled hem pants on the left are sort of incredible. Zoot Suits, man. It’s where it’s at. And on the right: Brigitte Bardot. Enough said.  

 

What I Wore Book Giveaway!

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve been following the blog What I Wore for about a year now. I discovered it through a friend when I was in New York and have checked it pretty religiously since then. Jessica is so fantastic that someone even paid her to write a book about her personal style. It hits the shelves in 10 short days, and in honor of that she’s giving away a free book to 10 people. (I’ll probably buy the book anyway, but free stuff is always more fun.)

See her original post about the book giveaway here. (FYI, if you have a blog and are into fashion you can re-blog her post to enter the drawing too.)

And here’s a little note from Jessica’s original post:

I’ll be giving away 10 signed copies of What I Wore: Four Seasons, One Closet, Endless Recipes for Personal Style plus a personalized illustration (of you!) to one extra special reader!

What I Wore illustrations

To enter: REBLOG or REPOST this giveaway on your site and link back to this page. (If you don’t have a blog, you can e-mail whatiworebook(at)gmail.com your pre-order receipt as well.) You must enter the link to your post in the comment section below (so I can find you!)

Contest Ends July 12, 2011 11:59 EST. Official rules here.

 

Portfolio time.

Posted on by
Reply

I realized something when I was interviewing for assistant design positions in New York last year. Well, I realized lots of things, but what I want to mention today is that I find that it’s really hard to lay out in portfolio-format exactly why your talents exceed the rest of the applicants. What I do know is that I’m not happy if I can’t be creative every single day, but I also can’t function if my fabric isn’t sorted by color, if my pens aren’t put where the pens go and if there are dishes in the sink before I go to bed. I am a creative person with a type-A personality. I’m a hard worker, a fast learner and am organized to the point of being annoying about it…but how exactly do you put that in a creative portfolio?

Alas. Here are a couple of pages I’ve been messing with and will eventually add to my portfolio. Maybe along the bottom I’ll put, “I DO THINGS QUICKLY AND ACCURATELY WHICH IS WHY I WOULD BE THE BEST CHOICE.” or “BECAUSE I HAVE A MILD CASE OF OCD YOUR LIFE WILL BECOME EASIER IF YOU HIRE ME.” Eh, it’s a work in progress.

Made by me: Plaid holiday skirt

Posted on by
Reply

Remember the skirt below from this post? As you may also remember, it was too long for my model to wear with her Hunter boots, so I shortened it and now have it for sale on Etsy.  (It’s in my ‘sample sale’ section because I didn’t really intend on selling it when I made it. Click here to check it out.) The sheer navy blue overlay is gathered, and the plaid fabric is pleated. I was trying to go for a textured look…but I’m pretty sure it would have looked the same if I had just gathered both layers, which would have taken a fraction of the time. Eh, you live and learn.

The rest of my outfit:

Sweater: Old Navy (I had to buy this on my way to work a few months ago in NYC when I got caught in a torrential downpour. I was wearing a sheer white blouse. Sort of funny now, not so funny then.)
Tights: Fred Meyer (1/2 off on Black Friday. Thankyouverymuch.)
Shoes: Payless
Belt: H&M
Bobbly necklace: Calvin Klein, thrifted
Chain Necklaces: Forever 21
Earrings: Jessica Simpson

Best of Seattle Magazine: Outfit #2

Posted on by
2

This is the last post about the Seattle Magazine Best of 2010 party, I promise. For the final round you get to see what Megan’s second outfit was, and also what I wore to the event.

My outfit:

Jacket: Made by me (click here to buy it!)
Skirt: Made by me (Click here to buy one!)
T-shirt: Made by me
Tights: Target
Boots: Nordstrom Rack
Bright pink bracelet: Proof that while I may look 16, I am in fact over 21.

Megan’s outfit:

Capelet: Made by me (Click here to buy one!)
T-shirt: Made by me
Skirt: Made by me
Tights: Target
Boots: Hunter
Belt: H&M

It was such a fun night. Megan – thank you! I owe you big. Huge.

P.S. You may recall the sneak preview of a different plaid skirt? That one ended up being too long for the holiday-themed Hunter wellies and capelet outfit, so it got the boot. Luckily I had grabbed this back up skirt at the last second. Phew.

Best of Seattle Magazine: The event

Posted on by
Reply

To accompany yesterday’s post, here are some photos from the Seattle Magazine Best of 2010 party. Visualize; 1,700 guests, 29 participating restaurants, 21 participating wineries (read: free food and alcohol), live bands, Teatro Zinzanni performers and various Seamless in Seattle designers.

A special thanks to Steve for schlepping our stuff to and from the car countless times, and for taking such fantastic photos. Boy I’m lucky.

And just for kicks, Steve’s outfit:

Jacket: Alfani
Shirt: Made by me
Jeans: Levi 501′s
Shoes: Asics

Best of Seattle Magazine: Outfit #1

Posted on by
1

It has been a whirlwind of a weekend here in Seattle. Fantastic, but insanely busy. For today I will post Megan’s first outfit from the Best of 2010 Seattle Magazine party, and when I have more time I’ll explain what actually went down. What I’ll say for the moment is that Megan looked beautiful and did an absolutely fantastic job, Steve was a huge help, the spot I chose to take photos in had terrible lighting, and 1,700 Seattleites attended the event. Stay tuned!

Megan’s outfit:

Capelet and dress: Made by me
Tights: Target
Pumps: Charles Jourdan

Made by me: Dresses for Megan

Posted on by
2

Steve’s cousin Megan recently commissioned me to make her not one, but two dresses (!). Originally she wanted one for a charity event, (so fancier) and then she thought maybe one for work would be better. I made two based on photo inspirations she sent me and (luckily) she ended up liking both. Since she lives in Vegas, I was creating these dresses based on the measurements she had taken of herself, and it made me really nervous to not have her in front of me while going through the process of making them. It was my second project after being back from NYC…and I was terrified to be perfectly honest. But thankfully we were able to meet up in Seattle a few weeks ago for a final fitting and wah-lah! Two new dresses were completed.

These are photos she sent me of dresses she likes. (The girl has great taste).

One of the muslin versions I created after finalizing the pattern.

The beginning stages of the top portion of the dress.

My first time using boning. It's not as scary as one would think.

Complete except for the zipper and the hem.

Every dress should have pockets.

Boy she's cute. :)

The second dress is a more casual version of the dress above. It still has pockets, but it got shorter and wool was thrown into the mix. This one was also based on photos Megan sent me.

The wool bodice.

Complete except for the zipper and the hem. (I know, I really need a dress form.)

Megan, you're my hero.

Megan was kind enough to take and send photos of her wearing the dresses. Thanks Megan! :)