Mood Board A/W 08-09

When I was working on S/S 08, I didn't have a mood board, 'cause I was just rushing through the process. Now that I have given myself more time, this is my mood board for A/W 08-09.

I can see how a mood board can be beneficial in the design process. It is an inspiration and an anchor.

Lost Roman Holiday

I was just catching up on all my WWD reading and ran into an article about an Pompeii Exhibit showing in Dallas.

This reminded me of the time when I went to Pompeii with my DH. We had such a great time. Walking through the ashes of old Pompeii was surreal.

I would like to explore this inspiration at another date, not for the season I am working on now, but I guess I'll just file it away and maybe it'll work for another season.

Radom Find on Google Images

So in my search for inspirational images, I found these series of hand-painted photographs by fine arts photographer, Wendi Schneider.

This was the first image that caught my attention. I found it because in the description it says the model is laying on vintage 1940's textile.

Since I like the photo so much, I started looking through the rest of the series and I found that a lot of images where exactly what I was seeing in my head. The poses, the colors, etc.

It's 1947

My first deadline has come and gone. I didn't get a chance to do ANY work this weekend. I am still working on my story/mood board. Now I am exploring the whole 40's feel.

The vintage Vogue covers I found before were all too 1920's, too flapper. I am leaning towards a slimmer silhouette with a tiny, tiny waist. I guess it's a back lash against all the "pregnancy" dresses.

Here are some more images for my mood board.

This is my favorite image. The whole mood is very mysterious, dark, and sexy. The only thing I don't like is the yellow plaid. Is it just me or is she wearing black ankle socks? I think I am going to have crop this picture 'cause I can't stop staring at her socks!

Vintage Vogue Covers

Another inspiration I want to explore is vintage Vogue covers, especially during the 1920's. I wanted to go to the FIT library where they have all the vogue magazines, but was sad to find out that the library will be closed until the end of this month.

Luckily for google, I found a whole bunch of sites that had pics of vintage Vogue covers. Here are some that I like.



This last one is very spring so if I don't use this inspiration, I can save it for next season.

The Black Dahila

So according to my schedule I have to be finished with my storyboard and color board by next Monday. That give me 3 "business" days and 2 weekend days to do this. I actually already tried to talk myself into giving myself a couple more days and "rework" the schedule. That conversation only lasted 30 seconds before I reminded myself that was how I got into trouble before.

To start with I want to explore a story that I was exploring before ... the story and the movie "The Black Dahlia". To me the movie told a story of sadness, murder, mystery with a undertone of twisted sexual desires. Sounds like a good collection? :) I would love to hear any thoughts you may have on this story and/or other stories.

Here are some arresting imageries from the movie .....

Moving on to the next season ....

So as I mentioned yesterday, due to sever procrastination I am blaming on the beautiful summer days, I am pushing back my debut collection to Fall/Winter '08. To make myself feel better, I referred back to Kathleen Fasanella's book The Entrepreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing, where I remember her saying that Fall season is the best launch time.

This is on page 43 under "Determine Market Entry" ....
"Fall is the easy favorite ....", "It is the number one selling season by a wide margin." "... Fall Market is the best choice of a start-up."

The only reason I didn't adhere to her advice before was because I was too impatient to launch my collection.

So now I have a definitive launch date .... January 1, 2008. And a definitive development schedule with hard deadlines.

Below is the schedule I adopted from Fasanella's book. I've broken up the steps a lot more and of course instead of 16 weeks, I've given myself 23 weeks.

Vegas Baby!

Okay, okay, so I've been back from my Vegas trip for a week already. Sorry these pics are so late.

This is Daisy wanting to go on the trip with us.

I think every tourist who has ever gone to Vegas has a picture of this shot.

This is the sculpture I was staring at the full 4 hours we were playing Pai Gaw at MGM Grand.

I was really trying to finish all my draping so I can get samples made. So as I was rushing through the whole process, I realized that I had really procrastinated too much and now I am at the point where I have to decided whether to just punch out a small collection or to push back a season and really do it right.

Of course I chose the latter. So now my debut collection is going to be Fall/Winter '08. I am going to try to use as much as I can from all my work on S/S '08. Even as I am starting now for F/W '08, I still don't have that much time. First step is to work out a time line, print it out and stick to it.

Designing Shapes

I've been really busy finishing up on my designs. I really should be done with my first samples at this point so I am about 3 weeks behind on my schedule. And I am off to Vegas for a long weekend. Alas, I always work better when under pressure.


This is my first attempt at cutting out the organic shape of the neckline. I felt the shape was too small ....

This is my second attempt. I felt the shape was a little bit too odd, if that makes any sense.


I reworked the shaped a couple of other times. This is the progression of the development.

I decided on the last one, but kept all the other shapes taped to my worksheet in case I want to change my mind.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I got my camera in the mail a couple of days ago. Love the camera! I've been taking so many random pictures.

I Work Where I Eat

After living in NYC for over 10 years, I've become quit used to living in small spaces. And while my current apartment isn't small by NYC standards, when I am working, I do wish I had a large loft with a large working table and all the room to run around in.

Here's a picture (that I took a while back ... still waiting for my camera) of my working space.

It's not too bad, except I feel like I have to clean up after each work session because it is also my living space. I can't just close a door and forget about all the fabric scrapes on the floors, loose thread lying around, and all the various tools of the trade I've collected over the past year or so.