Oscar Inspiration

My poor DH. On Sunday I watched the pre Oscar show on E! and the whole ENTIRE Oscar show. He finally stopped me when I turned back to E! for the post Oscar show :)

I just can't get enough of the Oscar. I love looking at all the stars and analyzing every single dress.

I thought Nicole Kidman looked the most jaw dropping with that amazing red and just the simplicity of the line. I really liked Penelope Cruz's Versace dress just 'cause I am a sucker for anything that looks that extravagant. I also liked Reese Witherspoon's dress. It looked wonderful when she walked.

Here is a page from my sketch book.

I always get inspired when there is a parade of beautiful dresses in front of me. You can see that the sketches in no way even resemble anything that was on the red carpet.

I've been working on the business end of the line, so it's nice to get some of my creative energy out.

I am Official!

So as of today, my business is official. I went to the New York County Supreme Court House today to register my Doing Business As or DBA form and got my sales ID. I guess I should set up a business checking account, although it's not as urgent.

This is the court house.

The building has so much character, with gray marble, grand entrances and extremely high ceilings. I had to go down into the basement where they keep all the records. I think all built to intimidate. There was no one there. No lines, no waiting. That made my day. I even had time to meet up with my DH for a quick afternoon coffee break.

Pages from my Portfolio

Wow, I didn't even realize how long it has been since I've blogged. With all the excitement surrounding Chinese New Year, I haven't really worked on my line much.

Also a friend referred me to a job opening so I've been working on that. It would be nice to have the extra cash to fund my line.

Here are some pages from my Illustrator flat portfolio. This is the mood board comprised of pictures DH and I took during our vacation to Maui last year, attending the unforgettable wedding of my friend N who wants to be known as Aphrodite here on forward.

Color palette inspired by the mood board.
Page 1 of the Illustrator flats.
Page 2 of the Illustrator flats.

Moody and Desperate

This is the color story board I am working on. The coloring is richer in real life. I've got to ask my DS if she has any tips on lighting when taking photos since she's becoming quite the photographer.

From school we were taught to work with an inspiration. While, I think it's helpful in creating a story, I am the type of person who can take things a little too literal.

For example, I had been inspired by the movie The Black Dahlia. But with that inspiration in my head, I just couldn't get away from all the gorgeous two-piece suits and smart hats Scarlett Johansson wore.

So instead, I am going to work with a color palette and a word palette like ... Moody, Desperate, you see where I am going?

Here is a little something that is neither moody nor desperate from my DH.

Shopping the Stores

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to earn $150 by participating in a focus group about mascara. I love talking about beauty products. My friend "N" and I can talk about it nonstop for hours. So to get paid for it is extra nice.

It also gave me an opportunity to shop the stores. When I was at FIT and told my none fashion design friends that for my homework assignment I had to go shopping at Barney's they were all like, "where do I sign up for your class". I have to admit it is much more fun than my NYU days where homework would be spending a day in the library on the whatzumacallit database looking up industry info. so I can write a 10 page report on nothing.

Anyway, I started at Takashimaya and walked my way down Fifth Avenue. I love just going into the Takashimaya store. I always have to stop at their floral design shop at the entrance and just absorb all the beauty. This time I actually went up stairs and looked at their merchandise.

I saw a lot of innovative design as expected, but the target customer is definitely 55+ and above. All the merchandise was well designed and well constructed. Not my target customer but still nice to look at.

I also stopped at Saks Fifth Avenue where I spend the bulk of my time looking at everything from the designer collection on 2nd Floor to the evening dresses on 8th Floor. My main purpose this trip was to get a better feel of my competitor's price points, although to have Badgley Mishka and Vera Wang as my competitor is a honor I hope to live up to.

I was actually surprised at how much lower the price points were. I would say retail was $300 to $500 for a cocktail dress and $500 to $1,000 for a long evening gown. The styles were relatively simple within this price range. For the more complicated designs shown on 2nd and 3rd floor, the price point was of course much higher, but that's not where I want to compete. I was going to price my line higher, but after this trip I'll have to make sure my manufacturing can sustain the cost of production.

I think if I am able to deliver an innovative and fresh design within these price points, I will be able to be successful.

My lesson here also is to get use to bringing my camera with me everywhere now that I've started blogging. A blog is pretty boring without pictures right?

Weekend at the Library

I spend the whole entire weekend with DH at the New York Public Library. But it was not as boring or as nerdy as it sounds. The Library at Bryant Park is amazing, Beau-Art at the best. Hey, that can be part of my inspiration for Holiday '07. Maybe I'll do a little bit more research on the Beau-Art period.

DH was there to study for an upcoming exam. I spent Sat working on my business plan. I finished my "Executive Summary" which I am suppose to leave to the end, but I had an idea so I ran with it. By the end of that day I was totally businessed out so I spend Sun catching up on all the WWD and Daily. That was much more fun.

This is the ceiling above the Rose Reading Room. I am going to try to go there on my own during the week 'cause there are just too many distractions at home to get much work done.

Take Two

This is actually my second attempt at a blog for my digital design journal. For the four people that read my first blog, you will know that I had a name crisis. But thanks to all the people who gave me feed back, I have definitively decided on the name of my fashion line (it's Paize btw) and am ready to move forward.

Besides the other blog was turning out to be more a journal of my start-up woes instead of a design journal, so this time, I am going to try to stay away from the business end of things.