Update #2: Halfway Done With School

Hello friends and family,
As crazy as it is, I am half way done with my schooling here! It has gone incredibly fast because they keep us so darn busy. I have experience and learned so much in the past week and half and I am looking forward to what I will get to do in the coming weeks. Here is the update of what I've done since my last post.

Rad Hourani Couture Show
So this is the fashion show I was looking forward to the most because I love Rad Hourani's designs and aesthetic. He is a designer of unisex clothes that are often times rather minimalistic but have so many smart details and are made impeccably. Because it was a unisex show, he had male and female models with the same hair and make up and shoes(with heels). One guy had 5 inch heels and was having quite a hard time figuring them out. I loved it. It was SO inspiring to see not only his clothes up close, but the whole production of his show. It was at the Candian embassy here in Paris, and it was very, very well organized. All dressing instructions were attacted to each look and everything was labeled and in place. It is so uncommon for backstage at fashion shows to be so clam, but it was very relaxing back there! He also show many pieces 2 or 3 times (just in different looks) so that helped with the calm atmosphere. Rad was very controlling and helped dress almost every look, so it was essentially impossible for mistakes to be made. During the other couture show I went to, I was feeling like couture is not where I want to go in the industry because it often meaning heavy beading, or complicated embroidery, etc., but seeing Rad's clothes gave me a different idea of what couture could be. I have never seen a collection so well thought out, so cohesive and so well made. I had to keep pinching myself backstage, it was unreal. I will never forget how great of an experience that was and how much I learned from just being in the environment.

This is where the show was. It was in the morning and on grass and they had an interesting walking pattern!

These signs were posted backstage. I think it is his motto, sort of. All the models had to follow these intructions, it actually adds a lot to the show. love it.

These were masks for the last look of all the models.

The order of each look and model to be used as a reference for everyone backstage. So helpful!

This is my creeper photo of Rad Hourani. He dresses in his designs, as did every single person backstage. Everyone was in clothes from past seasons and almost everyone, girls and boys, had the same haircut.


This is a link to blog I found with pictures from the show, since I wasnt actually able to see it and could take pictures of the clothes backstage
http://style-anywhere.com/2013/07/05/rad-hourani/


Couture Techniques
This is the reason I am here, of course, so I thought I'd show you what I have been up to. Since it really isn't very exciting to look at, I only will post one picture, just so you can get an idea. We are all making the same dress so that we can focus on the technique, not so much the design. Couture means that it is very high quality and all hand made, so we have to do a lot of hand sewing. Rather than using pins to keep things together, we pin something and then baste it (hand sew a temporary stitch), and then either machine sew or cut, etc. To trace the pattern, we chalked a line and then basted the line. Everything takes forever. Classes are 5-7 hours long and it seems like I hardly get anything done in one day, but that is the couture way! My teacher only speaks French, but we have a translator/teaching assistant to help when needed.

So exciting, right! I am actually learning alot about being exact in every single step of production, as well as do's and dont's about pinning, ironing, stitching, etc. I never knew I was being so sloppy before!


Shibori
One of the coolest things I have done here is Shibori, which is a Japanese method of dying fabrics. It is kind of like tie-dye, but there are so many ways of doing it and many more patterns that tie-dye. And it is not ugly... sometimes. The first type of shibori we learned is called arashi, which is a pole-wrapping method. Basically it involved wrapping thread around fabric on a pole (or bottle in our case) and creating little pleats in the fabric. This creates a really cool chevron pattern, or also a fish-net looking pattern. We first dyed the fabric a base color (black for me), and then wrapped it on the bottle.

Next we put the fabric and bottle in a discharge solution, like bleach, to take away the color in the exposed areas.

Then we painted on a few colors to that and microwaved it! I painted it with a light beige, dark beige and a burnt orangey/red color.

Once it was cool, we had the option to let it dry on the bottle which would make it pleated, or iron it. I personally didn't like the pleats so I chose to iron. This is how it turned out!

The next type I got to try was called tesuji which involved wrapping fabric around a rope and then dying it. This method was easier, but also didn't have as cool of a result. I started with a lavender color and the over-dyed it black.

Feathers & Smocking
These are another few areas I have been learning skills in. Today we learned how to use feathers. I learned the characteristics of different feathers from various birds and was able to make an accessory with them! I chose to do a hand piece/braclet/corsage type thing. I used goose and pheasant feathers. I actually had to pluck the pheasant feathers from the leathery skin. It was disgusting and smelly.

This is the pheasant

Final product!



I also learned smocking today! If you dont know what it is, just look because I dont know how to describe it. :) This process is so so easy and it looks so great after!

This is the front.

This is the back, which I think looks even cooler than the front! You can see that I drew a grid with a pattern as a guideline. That is honestly the hardest part.


Sightseeing
Here are just some pictures of the things I have seen and done since I've been here!

This is the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is one my favorite places here. It is BEAUTIFUL. Also, very close to my apartment!

These are some of my friendies. The girl in the middle front in my roomie!

The Sacre Coeur is amazing.

Eiffel Tower!

This is the view from the Trocadero, which is incredible. We stopped here on our class bus tour.

Who's Next is this giant trade show/market that we got special access to. It was cool to see the enironment in which buyers work with designers/brands.

This was an exhibit in the Louvre all about undergarments through out history. There were corset type things made out of metal and giant wooden structures for volumes, etc. It was so cool! I love this one so much.

We also went to Musee d'Orsay, which is home to many paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Degas and many others!

MACAROONS. I am obessesed with them. They are so good, although quite pricy. I bought 9 this day, one of each flavor. They were all gone in the next 24 hours.

I went to Louvre for a few hours with my class last week. It was incredible! This is from my favorite room from our visit. I plan on going back the next two fridays so I can see as much as possible!

Notre Dame!

July 14th is a national holiday in France called Bastille Day. Most of my class signed up to go on a cruise that day, but a few of us didnt, so instead we went to a friend's house. He was having a rooftop party to watch fireworks over the Eiffel Tower. It a little scary to get up there with this janky little ladder.

But! This was the view! It was so worth it. We were with a bunch of locals and we felt so Parisian.

Fireworks over the Eiffel Tower. It was a once in a lifetime experience. I will never forget this.

These are the girls I went with sitting on the roof!

PARIS

After a very long trip, I am in Paris. This is something I have wished for years and it is hard to believe I am actually here. The flights were actually pretty great (besides the food). I arrived to Paris an hour early, thinking I could maybe make it to the first day of class on time. I quickly found that a pay phone cost 10euros and the number they gave me to schedule a pick up didnt work on them. After many minutes of panicking I eventually went to information where the lady called for me and figured it out. An hour later I was picked up (interesting with another girl from Colorado), and two hours after that I arrived at the school. That shuttle was incredible chaotic, I am shocked we didnt get in an accident. I learned that I will NEVER drive here. Ever. After feeling over whelmed with the stress of the arrival I was questioning why Paris is so loved, but as soon as I got to the school, I understood. It is located right next to an incredible church and across the street from that is a little courtyard with two fountains and a few little shops. My apartment is on the other side of the church, so it is obviously very easy to get there. My roommates name is Liliya and she is from Moscow. She doesn't speak English very well but I have enjoyed teaching her a few words and phrases so far. She is very nice. Our little apartment is rather cute! We both sleep in a room that has two big windows and room for a dining table. It also has a little bathroom and kitchen in separate rooms, as well as a small walk in closet. I love it except for the rock-solid beds. The main building where classes are held has 4 floors, each one for a different subject (fashion design is on the top floor). As soon as I dropped off my luggage, I went to the lab and started sewing right away. The professors only speak French, and they speak to you like you understand it perfectly. Almost everyone understands very little, so we have a translator named Madeleine to help us when we are desperate. After 3 hours of sewing lines and doing mock hems by hand, I hurried home to change and came back to go to a couture fashion show for a designer for Eric Tibusch. We were helping dress models back stage, which was great because we could see the contruction details and feel the fabrics and textures. It was very hectic and quite disorganized which is what I am used to during fashion shows. I didnt bring my camera to the show, but some of the clothes were amazing. It was interesting to see that they were not perfectly constructed like I expected. I found some mismatched seams and uneven hems, etc. It was incredibly frustrating to not speak french there though because we would get yelled at to find something or do something and have no idea what to do. Anyone who could translate was already running around like a crazy so we were not very helpful there. After the show, some girls and I took the metro home, which was a maze but I loved it. The next day I had French survival class (where I found one girl from Kazakhstan, Kirsten!) in the morning and then we went to a couture exhibit at the city hall of the 4th arrondissement. It was incredible to see garment from legendary designers up close. My favorite part was being able to see a sample garment including marking/fitting notes from Karl Lagerfeld (head designer of Chanel). I wish so badly I could hvae taken a picture because it was flawless. In the exhibit there were garments from the 1800's along with garments shown in the 2013 shows, so great. After the exhibit, I had time to nap! Then I went to the next fashion show for Alexandre Vauthier. This one was at a much nicer location and was obviously a higher end production. Every model wore a pair of Louboutins (with the red soles). The model I dressed wore a beautiful jacket that was embroider with a zillion beads and crystals. It was incredibly heavy and fragile, but so amazing. I brought my camera this time so I have pictures! I met some new students at this show and we walked around the 7th arrondissement (where the Eiffel Tower is) and it was incredible, and then I got home early! And that is all so far. I have hardly had any free time to eat, let alone visit any attractions. However, I have gotten to see alot already through traveling to each event. I really love it here, and I would love it more if I walked less. My feet are dying but I am hoping that gets better. I will post things as often as I can, but I give no guartunees! Loverretta



The church next to my school.


My first real baguette. AMAZING. Im obsessed. Also, my room in the background.


The venue for Vauthier show.


Special backstage pass, does that logo look familiar?


The heavy gold dress with the crazy embroidery that I dressed the model in.




Finale dress that I also helped dress. This model was from Kansas!


Cool wall in the school's courtyard.


View from my window!

inconsistency

I can never find myself getting used to the inconsistency in my life, which makes sense i suppose. all of these ups and downs have been wearing me out and i can never seem to find a way to take a break and get back to normal. i dont feel like myself as much as i should or as much as i want to. A cohort of mine introduced me to this poem today, it is how i feel sometimes. by Frank O'Hara


Now I am quietly waiting for
the catastrophe of my personality
to seem beautiful again,
and interesting, and modern.
The country is grey and
brown and white in trees,
snows and skies of laughter
always diminishing, less funny
not just darker, not just grey.
It may be the coldest day of
the year, what does he think of
that? I mean, what do I? And if I do,
perhaps I am myself again.

round 2

I am sitting in my brand new (to me) apartment, all alone since my roommate isn't moved in yet, bored out of my mind. The reason for this is not a lack of things to do, but more so a lack of materials needed to do those things. You see, I have a fashion show coming up for which i need to have a mini collection (five cohesive pieces) of recycled/green/sustainable materials completed. For this i am making a continuation of the pop tab dress i did in the spring, so i have been using a bunch of alternative materials. I am at a point where i very much need a glue gun, but i have forgotten that at home... which brings me back to sitting alone on my couch in front the the air conditioner (which is such a blessing). So i figured since is has been quite a while since my last post, i would update the 0-2 people that actually follow this blog.

1. i have dyed my hair red! not orangey red, like natural gingers, but red red. like firey red. i have been wanting to do this for many months and for some reason built up the guts to do it one week. the first dye i tried turned my hair a dark coppery brown, which was nice, but not what i was looking for. i felt so bland with brown hair since i have not had normal hair since i can remember. so 2 days ago i re colored my hair and got the desired color. Not going to lie, Rihanna was a big influence in this decision because let's face it, she looks great with red hair.



2. project runway has started! it is two, almost three weeks in and i find my self counting down the days until thursday rolls around because that is how much i enjoy it. i hope you know exactly what im talking about when i say that project runway is a gem. like diamond status. however, i don't think i will be getting cable here in fort collins which means i must 1)wait an extra day to watch the episodes online on friday, or 2) make friends with someone who has cable, but who also doesn't watch jersey shore, since they are on at the same time. This one i consider to be darn well impossible so it looks like i'll be waiting an extra day.

3. last weekend i participated in a fashion show in denver. it was "faith based" charity benefit show in which i showed 8 pieces that we're made in the past or just recently made. i was one of three designer to show and i had a great experience! i got a few offers from people to buy my clothes, and for high prices too! i also made lots of connections with local designers, models and photographers, so hopefully they will come in handy in my future! i dont quite have pictures from that yet but hopefully they will come soon. I had a bunch of family friends come to support me which really meant alot. i'm pretty sure that they were at least 25% of the audience!

4.i am beginning my second year at CSU in a few short days! i have a great course load, which consists of only one class that i am dreading. Public speaking. gross gross gross gross. i serious hate speaking in front of people, however i do see the value of it. i think the main reason i am not excited for the class is the preparation of the speeches, not necessarily the talking in front of the class. As i get older i find that less intimidating, thankfully. i am sure it will go well as long as i have a rather lenient teacher. i looked up here rating online at work today, and it looks like she wont be too bad!

well, that is not alot of news, but it must be the important news since that is all i can think of right now. i will continues to update this bloggy often if i can! maybe then it will be more enjoyable!

:) loverretta

"i feel like such a waster of time!"

wow, i'm quite a slacker on this blog...
all of my free time is devoted to one of the following
1. sewing
i am trying to finish the last two dresses (of three) that i making for a recycled fashion show. the rules are that each thing much be made 70% out of recycled/recyclable material, and the other 30% can be fabric, closures,thread, etc. i of course decided to do way too much, and am late on the deadline. they are not too strict on that luckily! the show is on the 28th so i need to have them done by then. in addition to those recycled things, i have sewing to do for one of my classes. we're in the process of making a jacket. i chose to do a little gray blazer and i am looking forward to wearing it when i'm finished!

2. school/homework/projects/tests
luckily this semester is not too stressful! i have a pretty easy workload. every once in a while i have to spend extra hour working on computer designs for two classes, and i write papers about once a week for my comp. class, and of course i study for tests when they come around. all in all, homework doesn't take up nearly as much time as i would think! the only down fall of this is that when it is necessary to do homework, it is especially hard to get myself focused!

3. friendies
i absolutely love bonding with people, especially kind, genuine, fun, exciting, and in some case attractive people. i don't know if i've mentioned my friend amy, but she's just the best, and in her dorm i have met so many great people. every weekend i spend lots of time over there and i usually get closer to a different person every time. this weekend it was a boy from hawaii, who is good looking and fun and great, so basically that was enjoyable.

4.work
i got a job! i have only worked a few hours, but it is still sort of weird getting used to having a job in school. i work for the rocky mountain collegian, which is the school newspaper. i work for advertising as a designer. the designers are responsible for formatting, making changes to, and at times designing ads that go in the paper. i really enjoy it so far but i get overwhelmed with all the information that i need to learn, since i'm not super comfortable with different types of files and what works with which programs and what not. i will get it though, hopefully!

5. doing absolutely nothing
...by myself. i am really always doing something when im with people, even if it's only talking or playing video games. when im alone i feel like such a waster of time! like today i went to a barbeque with amy, but then i came home and i facebook-ed, and watched some tv, and laid around for 3 hours. my butt is numb from sitting for so long actually. i feel like this time in necessary for me though because i think i might go insane from being so busy all of the time! i just wish i wasn't sooo lazy sometimes though. i mean 3 hours? really? that's pushing it.



anyways, that's what's up.
my birfy is in 5 days! 19, yay!
i also really need to go to the grocery store, and i have needed to for probably a month, but i really don't want to walk there.
andddd, goodbye :)

loverretta

music

have you heard of Matt Hires? if not i would highly recommend that you look up his music. i don't know what it is, but every song that i have by him makes me feel very much emotionally attached to it. for example, i just listen to "Oh, Sunrise" and feel that nothing was a worthy of writing about as that song. i thought these lyrics were especially appropriate on a beautiful sunny day as today has been;
referring to the sun, im assuming...
"And lift up your head,
Oh, the night's long and lonely,
And nothing's the same when you're gone."

for quite some time i have been trying to compile a list of songs that i consider to be epic. i mean epic in the sense of they never cease to be incredibly great. this is my small list so far, in no specific order:
-Driving with the Brakes On - Del Amitri (thanks to one of my older siblings for this one)
-Beautiful Mess (From a Raining Jane Session) - Jason Mraz
-If It Kills Me (From the Casa Nova Sessions) - Jason Mraz
-Everybody Knows - John Legend
-The Great Escape - Patrick Watson

if anyone out there has a song they think is epic, timeless, meaningful, and enjoyable, i would honestly love to know what it is :)

music is in fact a big part of my day. in the morning when i have to get ready while my roommate is sleeping, i am able to choose whatever i want to listen to on my ipod, which is honestly quite difficult because i like variety, so i am constantly trying to find something different to listen to. on the morning when we both are getting ready, i have an even bigger challenge because i want to choose music that she and i will like. then on my way to class i have to make a selection to enjoy while i walk. then when i am doing homework i must choose something appropriate for the subject. then there are those times when im painting my nails, or sketching, or when i have friends over, or when i'm trying to cover up the noise of the screamo music coming form next door (i've found that nothing does that though), or when i eat a snack, all of which music is necessary as far as i'm concerned.


anywayyys,
school has begun and i am in love with it, or most of it at least. my favorite class is Intro to Apparel Design, in which we have already sketched over 20 designs, learned some pattern making, learned to sew on industrial machines, gotten to use sergers, and are working on making a skirt and its not even the third week yet! i love going to that class and i wish it lasted longer than 3 hours. i also enjoy my textiles class and my computer design class. the least great parts of my schedule are college composition and logic and critical thinking. however, those are really not too bad.

in other news, i met Mondo Guerra last night!! if you dont know who that is, he was runner up for project runway this past season, and he was my personal favorite due to his amazing use of color and pattern and his quirky personality. i met him at an FGI professional chapter meeting and was completely please with him. he was so warm, kind, confident, and comfortable being himself which is really something i admire. the only thing that brought me slighty down that night was the fact that my car broke on the way back to fort collins... i should have expected that.

what a relief!

Much to my excitement, the rejection/acceptance letter from the apparel design and production program yesterday. i have been waiting for this since the middle of october when i turned in my portfolio/project. it contained 3 photos i took on the CSU campus, 3 fashion illustrations inspired by the photos, and for each one a one page paper explaining where the inspiration and my passion for design. I was not completely confident in the final result, but i am happy to say that I MADE IT!! i was so nervous and terrified to open that letter but when i read the first word "congratulations", i couldn't help but cry tears of joy. i didnt know just how worried i was until i knew the results. i am so so so thankful to have made it and am looking forward to all the things i will learn and do in the future (starting this semester!).

In other news, the holidays are over... although i am still on break... for another week and a half. Needless to say i am ready to return to school after discovering that news, and also i miss Fort Collins. I have had so much fun there in the past months and i am excited to get back to my routine and the new friends i have made there. however, i am going to miss being home, and i will especially miss the food. i remembered recently that i'll have to go back to dorm food soon, it was not a good moment.

I had a marvelous holiday, i loved loved loved spending time with my whole family, which is a rarity. christmas was especially fun with my eager nieces and nephews and their christmas spirit. My favorite was when Ella remembered that we needed to feed Santa's reindeer, but the reindeer food was left at home. We quickly whipped some up (oats and glitter) and the girls sprinkled it on the lawn for the reindeer. i am so thankful to have family that lives close and to have seen the family that doesn't live as close. news years was also very enjoyable. I got to spend it with the friends that left Colorado for college, so being able to spend time with them made it very memorable!

i hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

loverretta