Thursday, October 27, 2011

fabric fixation

ah, pittsburgh. how i love your weather forecasts calling for snow before Halloween has even happened.

on the bright side, that means i get to take out early some of my fun winter wardrobe pieces, like my beloved pairs of chocolate brown and purple leather gloves with the ruching at the wrists. i love when it's finally cold enough to take these pairs of gloves out from the closet. i even get to match the purple pair with my three-quarter-length-sleeve empire waist fall jacket with the peter pan collar from Old Navy. the sleeves are just short enough to show off the ruching. <3 <3 <3

i love ruching. there's something so casually elegant about it. i love it almost as much as i love draping fabric, and for those of you familiar with my years working in the costume shop at Gettysburg College, you may understand just how deeply i love draping fabric.

can people have a compulsion to drape fabric? i would believe it. i used to sit around the costume shop in college and take gorgeous pieces of cloth and pin them in dramatic ways all over our dress dummies, and wish it was some cocktail dress i'd been invited to wear at a party. oh for those days.

p.s., now i want to find a winter coat that's reasonably priced, warm, and makes me feel like a Swedish snow princess. i'm thinking something with a hood, princess seams, and fake fur trim. any suggestions?

Monday, October 17, 2011

a glitzy-glam new beginning

so if i have seemed to be MIA, it's because i've taken up a lot of my free time in making ground with my new part-time job, writing web copy for a local jewelry vendor!

Falkora Jewelry is the name of the game, and it has been so much fun so far to work with the lady behind it all. her business got off the ground this summer, i believe, (or maybe earlier?) but already she's had good success both selling cute costume jewelry at vendor fairs, and in creating her own unique line of dangly tunnel earrings for women with gauged ears. i didn't know much about gauged ears before this, but i am learning that it's an increasingly popular fashion trend. i think it's great that she's identified this niche in the market and has just gone for it.

she's a super creative person herself, and pretty much allows me free reign to write whatever i like, occasionally tweaking and editing my work when she feels something doesn't sit right. which is how i decided to pay tribute to The Oregon Trail, one of the best moments of the early 90's. i also greatly enjoyed telling the story of the Mod Assassin Necklace, and Don't Make Me Take Out My Hoop Earrings.

as part-time work, it's perfect in that it allows me to hone my copywriting skills while just giving me a creative outlet on the side of my day job, to let my imagination wander. which just about seems to suit the style of Falkora.

so far i've written copy for all of the necklaces, and many of the earrings, and am just starting on rings this week. mind, the website is still in development, so stay tuned and tell your friends!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

up, up and away

for all who are feeling the struggle against adversity right now, here's a little reminder that many things are possible beyond what we can conceive:



UP is one of my favorite films. i pretty much cry in the first five minutes of the movie, every time i watch it. and again at the end. and i love the premise that an old man turns to adventure by converting his house into a giant hot-air balloon.

i like films that remind us that only when things are truly bleak, is there room to see outrageous possibilities.

enjoy the rest of the weekend, dear friends.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

a bit of fashion, a bit of rain

after what began as a long, stressful week is now finally unwinding to a semi-relaxing weekend. if only it weren't forty degrees and raining. hmm. the wine might have to come out of the fridge.

today i went briefly to the vendor fair and student fashion show, as part of the tail end of Pittsburgh Fashion Week. i do wish i had gone to some of the other events during the week, but alas, they cost a bit of money and that's just what i should not be spending in excess right now.

the vendor fair had a nice collection of jewelry samplings, but it was a bit smaller than i expected. also, my $10 ticket for "general admission," which allowed me to pick one fashion show to attend, seemed a bit pricey considering each show was about 5 minutes long. i was able watch two before they moved us out of the conference room and brought in a new crowd, but even so, in total, my $10 got me about…12-15 minutes of actual fashion catwalk time.

perhaps this is how fashion shows work, however. God knows the New York fashion week is probably zillions of dollars to get into, to view one waif-like model clad in shiny six-inch heels and a couture burlap sack.

on the other hand, the excitement and pride of the student designers, in getting to display their work, was inspiring to see, and reconciled the price and time length issue for me. and their designs were fun–well cut, unique, inspired. and maybe that penn state freshman who's been designing clothes with his mom and grandma since he was 11, will be famous one day, and this was the opportunity that helped foster his confidence to keep designing.

meanwhile, i am starting other new and exciting projects (more to follow on this!). but my fat orange cat has just climbed onto my lap, so for the immediate future, i guess my project is rubbing tummies.

it's not just for the classroom!