Showboy among the Showgirls

Resource: http://www.vogue.com/
fashion-week/861986/louis-vuitton-spring-2014/

          





     Ever since I was little, I've had a huge affinity for creative detail; the kind of detail you would see in the clothes that an Austro-Hungarian Princess or a High-class Victorian would wear (a prime example of Austro-Hungarian Princess attire is seen here with 2 looks from the Fall 2014 Christian Dior Haute Couture collection). The craftsmanship is completely eminent and displayed via the embroideries, lavish amount of fabric and rare jewels. 

  When I tell others that haute couture pieces take thousands of hours to make, I often hear that they would not have the patience to work that long. For me however, I do not see that as a nuisance or a creative deterrent. The first piece I ever composed took me 2 years to complete, but it never occurred to me that I spent several hundred hours sitting behind the piano and blank sheet music. It is the craft in itself that is rewarding enough to make time irrelevant. Many months ago when I saw Marc Jacobs' last collection for Louis Vuitton and his correlating Spring 2014 collection, I was inspired to get back into a creative immersion. The result was a decked-out romantic yet contemporary hoodie.

     As of now, I have just about zero skills in tailoring, but when it comes to embroidery and deconstructing I know what I'm doing. So I started out with a hoodie: navy with white speckles. I chose this because I wanted a color that was light enough to bring out the details in the black embellishments and had some texture. Though it may not seem evident through the pictures, the hoodie is a XXL. I' not too keen on have tight fitting clothes

because, 1- I don't have the body I used to have when I was 16, and 2- there isn't room to get creative with proportions and silhouette; not to mention I'm a 90s baby and  I'll always have a soft-spot for oversized clothing. 
    
   I thought it'd be easy to find the embellishments I was looking for, but I couldn't have been more wrong. It took me about 2 months to find the exact style of Victorian trims, tassels that best replicated the ones seen on Marc Jacobs' Spring 2013 designs. As usual, I ended up going to eBay and found a sparse number of tassels and trims I needed.
   

A backstory about the feathers I used: about a year and a half ago, I interned for LUX MGT (a Chicago event production company). One of the amazing opportunities I got was to help produce a fashion show for Julius LaCour. His brand Maison de LaCour covers a broad spectrum of styles and brings together many influences and past trends, all of which I find a bit rare to see nowadays in upcoming designers. I highly suggest taking a look at his designs and enjoy some of the fresh new looks: http://www.juliuslacour.com. Nonetheless, I got the honor of watching him at work and talked with him in his studio. After mentioning some of my creative endeavors, he gave me a whole bag of black feathers he didn't need anymore! The McQueen in me started concocting many ideas, one of which manifested in this feather shouldered t-shirt: 

      Since I took the photo, the bird on my shoulder has grown a bit. It's looking rather healthy now! Haha

     But getting back to the hoodie, everything that was a little bit boring was done: found the hoodie and got all the materials. Then I began embroidering >:D

    The fabric I used to make ruffles was a rayon/polyester fabric (which was often used in the Victorian times to many mourning gowns). I made a strip of ruffles and sewed them onto the shoulders(somewhat as epaulets)and on to the cuffs. The thing with the ruffles on the left cuff is, they are comprised of about 80 2-inch squares of rayon that have been sewn with a cinch and then sewn on the cuff one by one. Though I didn't mind the time it took, the hand cramps were bothersome. Not to mention they're always alarming to pianists, haha! In the end, I spent 5 hours cutting, pinning, cinching, then embroidering the squares...but dammit it looks friggin' cool.

   The braided trims are rather self-explanatory. My decision to have the trim on the pockets go down to the bottom of the hoodie was so the already large garment was elongated even more. This theory was applied to the fringe along the zippers as well.

  






  



Then, the naughty part came into play. Though the tassels are placed along the lower shoulder, I like to think of them as showgirl nipple tassels ;D It was a bit tedious keeping them in their exact place considering that they're made cheaply in China and have a rather thin holding-strand. Once it was finally done, the first thing I did was put it on, went to the mirror and shook mah tah-tahs!

     I thought I was done; then I looked at the back...it was blank, a complete contrast to the front. I knew it was going to have to have the same flourish and decadence as the front. This was the most tedious part.

   So, this is how the back turned out. Lots and lots of embroidery. Because of the thin fabric, I had to double thread and double knot each embroidery just so it'd stay on. The reagents for this concoction I used were: an ostrich feather (it was huge so I cut it up into three pieces), ruffled rayon, regular feathers, feather stems (that make up the vertical strip below the ruffle) and tassels. Though it took me about three weeks, it was well worth it in the end; a work of art that is beautiful from all angles will always be wearable.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

     

All runway photos resource: style.com

The Unmistakeable Pen

     From what I've seen, a lot of people prefer using pencil for sketches; one of the reasons why is because mistakes can be erased and what's originally intended can be made. 
     A long while ago when I was just a kid, I took an art class downtown Chicago. Though I don't remember too much, a piece of advice that stood out to me was that 'there is no such thing as mistakes.' To an extent I agree with this, but I full heartedly agree with it when I'm working with go-to drawing medium: the pen. 
     When I first started working profusely with pen, my trashcan overflowed with crumpled paper. My solution was to draw with nothing in mind and when my hands do something odd I'd go with it. Most often, I end up with a drawing that I'd never consciously think of.

So here are some pen drawings!

Abashed From the Past

Sporting my Willy Wonka
(Tim Burton Wonka) sunglasses.

     Although it's a little embarrassing looking back at the little 'photo shoots' I had when I was younger, I still consider them a form of creativity/art. One of the great joys in my life is showing my art, and I shall do that...even if it's abashing that I used to have a complete baby face, haha!
     Recently, I showed some of my friends these photos and they didn't even recognize me! :O

Oh Mah Gad Shus

(Source of detail and runway photos: style.com) 

     Miuccia Prada has an immense talent for creating trends in mens footwear; she has wittingly combined typical styles/features of classic shoes to wittingly create new fads in fashion. 

Triple hybrid shoe

One of the first footwear hypes she made was in Spring 2011. The shoes were a triple hybrid of oxfords, espadrilles and sneakers (as seen on the top of the page to the left). I've asked a lot of my friends about their opinion on them and my conclusion is that you either love em' or you hate em'. Those who enjoyed them said they the shoes are unique in a quirky/cheeky sense; the clash between formal (oxfords) and casual (espadrilles and sneakers) makes a new statement.

     My friends who weren't the biggest fan of them said they're a bit too odd and that they are a forced mash-up. The espadrille roping clashes with the leather because they are two materials with a totally different feel: espadrille roping gives off a loose folk style whereas leather is more rigid and bold in it's statement. Also, taking into consideration the two-inch platform they can be a bit much.

     My opinion on the shoes is that they are an amazingly clever hybrid that are surprisingly versatile. These shoes can be worn formally or casually in such a way that it will never look forced. As you can see in the pic below, they can be paired with a typical suit ensemble; but more importantly they will enhance the look by making a modern/contemporary style.

   

Here in Chicago, a mecca of businessmen and women, I encounter many people who are suited up in well-tailored outfits that are topped off with a pair of sneakers. The walking they do in their commute can be fairly long and unsuitable for dress shoes. This is what first came to mind when I saw these shoes for the first time. I was and still am hoping to see all those businessmen follow in suit (no pun intended) and sport these shoes to work. 

     Shortly after this collection came out, a plethora of other shoes came out which replicated this hybrid. Cole Haan was one of the brands that hopped on the bandwagon fairly quickly.     About 3 or 4 years ago, I was at Nordstrom with my Mom and Brother. We were going up the escalator and I saw a table with many shoes placed accordingly. As my vision grew closer so did my walking pace. Cole Haan had created a great spinoff of the trend and thanks to my Mom I was speed-walking to my closet to put together an outfit which would accommodate these shoes. Here's some pics of the shoes from a photo shoot.

     The businessman will commute to work and be on time no matter the weather. Way before my time (I'm 21 by the way), a solution these men used to survive the rain was wearing galoshes over their dress shoes. For those of you who aren't familiar with what a galosh is, it is a rubber slipper you put over your shoes in order to keep them dry from rain or in some cases snow (see picture below).

     As much as they are convenient, they take on an unflattering form once put on and it is hard to pull off the style. They do not conform to the contour of the heel platform and make the shoes look a little more bulky.

     Miss Prada pulled out another one of her tricks in her Fall 2012 season by presenting leather oxfords and loafers that were dipped in rubber. This solved the task of having to put on galoshes in order to weatherproof your shoes because the rubber serves as a stylish built-in galosh.

(Galoshes photo source: http://www.hangerproject.com/swims-golash-oversoles-leather.html)     

     

     I must admit though, I had my doubts about the shoes upon first sight. After more looking of the details I finally came to love them. The shoes were sold in different color schemes and the different combinations made a surprisingly huge difference in the style of the shoe. 

     When I see the brown brushed leather oxfords dipped in rubber, I immediately think of a hunter who's coming to work from hunting in the woods; the black rubber dipped loafers could easily be worn by a suave and humble older man hanging at the lounge in a bar; and Marc Jacobs wore the black oxfords with white rubber to the Miu Miu 2013 Spring show.

(above photo sources: http://www.yoho.cn/fragment/detail/index/fid/1655000, http://www.upscalehype.com/2012/10/marc-jacobs-wearing-prada-rubber-tipped-oxford-shoes-at-miu-miu-2013-spring-summer-paris-fashion-week-show/; photos below personal photos.) 

     The most recent hype Miss Prada has created, in her Fall 2013 Men's Collection, is a bit more subdued compared to the previous shoes shown. However, the statement is still an obvious reference to the hybrid. 

 

     As usual, I fell in love with these shoes at first sight; there is something familiar yet completely new about them. The structure is typical (mimicking oxfords and desert boots); the details are familiar yet exaggerated (the zipper replacing the laces on the oxford and the heavily stylized lugg sole). 

 Another detail that is prominent in Prada footwear is brushed leather. Brushed leather has the appearance of being worn out and this is done by an inconsistent coat and paint. A good example is the shoes seen above to the right. The thing I love about brushed leather is that it gives the shoes a great presence and a little bit more pop, not to mention the heavy coating also increases the durability.
     On that note, all of the forementioned shoes are very very heavy. The leather is thick and resilient and the soles are quite dense to serve resilience as well. When I compared the heaviness of the shoes to the 5-inch platform sneakers I have, I think that Prada's may outweigh the massive sneakers.

     In the end, these shoes are ridiculously expensive. Though the craftsmanship gives the price some good sensibility, these shoes typically start at $1100! 
     However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. As aforementioned with the Cole Haan shoes, these highly-stylized shoes are catching on with the more affordable brands and in some rare cases are replicated very well. Of course, there are some knock-offs from China but I wouldn't suggest that if you intend on wearing them for a long time.

     As Katie Grand (the curator for the Louis Vuitton: The Art of Fashion exhibition) said- "...As long as you've got good hair and a good shoe, you can do pretty much anything in the middle" (the middle referring to the torso and legs).

Thanks for reading!