Although I will not be dressing up....

I still have little things I do every Halloween. This includes eating lots of candy and cookies and watching the Nightmare Before Christmas. HAPPY ALL HALLOWS YALL!!!!

Life is beautiful, let's share a little. 

Joy D.

Fashion Film Friday: Andrea Crews

I like Herman Dune and love the craziness of Andrea Crews, who I will be interviewing next month! 

Life is beautiful, let's share a little. 

Joy D.

The Horiba sisters: an interview

Let's start way back, like a couple of years ago. When first discovering Marios Left Tanker/ Duomo Showroom it was thrilling! It's webshop that features only a handful of designers such as Daniel Palillo and February. Now let's fast forward, I get up the courage to talk to Roy of MLT about some of the designers. I was most drawn to Blank and I was excited, I must admit, when no one had talked about them on the blogosphere. But also, I was a little shocked. The Horiba sisters have a strong vision of what they want in a garment and I looked over their lookbooks twice over. Roy agreed to let me interview them and here are the inspiring results....

1.Could you describe the concept of Blank? BLANK is a fashion brand made by the Horiba sisters (Miyoko and Kayoko). BLANK feature theme is 'starting from white and exploring the possibility's of white color'. Aiming at a personal manufacturing of clothes and the urge to make everyday life pleasant. Using the technique of printing photographs and in there own unique way suggest "trompe l'oeil" art (technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion).

2. What is important to you when making a garment? The graphics and shape to be according to the season concept.i do also care much about fabrics quality and the way the prints will look and feel. 

3. Have you always known you would be a designer? No not always. 

4. Did you have other jobs/careers in mind? I would really like to work in product design or industrial design area. 

5. What do you draw on as an artist to create your pieces? The concept and the way to express it in the collection.  

6. What inspiration did you have for the newest collection? The new Spring Summer 2011 inspiration comes from "Marcel Ayme" (The Walker through Walls) as well as art and short story from his book. And from the Japanese Manga the wall man by "Daijiro Moroboshi".  

7. Where would you like to take your work? Would you prefer to keep it in Japan? 

We currently work with a couple of shops world wide (Pixie Market) in NY but mainly in Asia i will be grate to work with more shops around the world. 

8. What do you like to do in your spare time? 

Watch movies mainly Japanese Animations and read Manga lately i watch Ganime is a kind of Animation movie with out much movement just changing still images and writing.

9. What do you think of fashion blogs? I like blogs in general, fashion blogs, and the Internet makes everything faster. I remember a couple of years back everyone was kind of hiding the collections until the last moment. I feel that fashion blogs have made everything more open and personal then the normal web page.

10. Are there any fun and exciting things happening for BLANK? I just hear that after a 3 years rest there is a good chance to Resurrect the collaboration line BLANK+MARIOS with the Italian brand MARIOS we always had fun and very good feed backs on this projects.

*Please be sure to check out Duomo showrooms blog: http://www.marioslefttanker.blogspot.com/

Life is beautiful, let's share a little. 

Joy D.

What I have been up to.

Here are a few outtakes from the shoot I did with JP, of Cult Baltimore, for a feature on WhatWeekly.com. It is a local website that covers all sorts of events in my hometown of Baltimore. Thank you to Justin for inviting me onto the WW staff! I have gotten to quite a slow start with the moving but they have been very patient and understanding. 

I interview the owner, JP. He pulled some of his favorites. 

This is a Helmut Lang late 90s runway dress!  

If you saw me at the IFB conference I was wearing a CULT screen printed shirts.

This is my favorite of the new collection. "The Terrible Children" 

JP has a way of finding the most stellar pieces. This studded button vest is from Scum Clothing.

To purchase or inquire about anything CULT....
salutcult.bigcartel.com
http://deathcultbaltimore.wordpress.com/

Life is beautiful, let's share a little. Joy D.

Fashion Film Friday!: Comme des Garcon x Quay brothers

Two years ago the Quay brothers were honored in Philadelphia. I already knew about them and rushed at the chance to finally see them in person! They also has a small collection of their sets at a nearby gallery. Fast forward to now. My love for them is basically forever. So when I was browsing YT (YouTube) I saw this commercial for Comme des Garcon's newest fragrance. What a delight. And yes, it has little to do with clothing but lots to do with the premise of fashion film: depicting the product and letting the consumer be entranced by the mood and feel.

Life is beautiful, let's share a little. Joy D.

Boy oh Boy: It has been a while, I miss you!

photo taken from wallpaper.com

I want to sit down with each of you and have coffee and chat and tell you all the exciting (and not so exciting) things that have been going on. As you know I MOVED, and that has been a shakey transition. Pictures soon of my lovely roommates and the house. I am really pleased with the space and it makes me feel great to lounge on in the kitchen or my room. Gone are the days of overhearing band practices or drunken art school freshman. I also am working again, hooray! Thank you to all new readers, I have been receiving your emails and comments. 

What else? What else? Sorry for being MIA and a little skitso with this message. The photo above is from one of my favorite collections in all of fashion month, ACNE! I just wanted to give a holler: I'm not dead yet. Although my cat loves to initiate "hangout time" at 3am every morning......

Life is beautiful, let's share a little. Joy D.

Blogger Alert!: Divinitus

If you haven't heard of the Divinitus you better ask somebody! She is beyond the typical blogger and usually dresses in black. This is where the genius comes in: her use of draping and proportion is amazing. I say this as a fan of her blog but it was very evident when I interviewed her.

1. What is your name? 

Dorota.

2. Where are you from? 

East Coast.

3. When did you decide to start blogging?

Almost 3 yrs ago during the Sundance Film Festival. It was very sporadic and not really fashion focused at first.

4. What inspires you to dress?

The search for interesting form and structure. I believe it comes from my strong background in the visual arts.

5. Do you have any strategies on the way you dress?

De-clutter. Healthy-looking hair and skin is the winning accessory.

6. Who are your favorite designers?

At the moment Rick Owens, Clayton Evans of Complexgeometries, Nicole and Michael Colovos of Helmut Lang. 

I'm curiously peeking at Gareth Pugh, and really liking dark, organic characteristics of men's collections from Obscur, Julius, and Chronicles of Never. I recently inventoried my closet and the majority is still Marni.

 7. If you could collaborate with any designer who would it be?

Rick Owens. He seems to comprehend leather's natural beauty.

8. What do you think of fashion blogging as a whole?

Shy exhibitionism. Cheap marketing tool. A fashion editor’s annoyance.

9. Do you believe fashion magazines still have relevance? (Do you have any favorites?)

Depends which one and for whom. I believe there are still some good ones. The indie, cult-oriented for a narrow audience. Not filled with false advertising, shallow content addressed to everyone and no one. Personally I don't really read about fashion so much, I prefer design or architecture. The closest thing to fashion I subscribe to is The Gentlewoman.

10. How do you feel/what do you think about having a dialogue with your readers?

I have the best readers.

If you want to see more of Dorota please check out The Divinitus. Her most recent post features, quite shockingly , color! And hopefully she will bring more great dialogue.

Life is beautiful, let's share a little.

Joy D.

This crazy thing I heard: Carhartt x APC

Leave it to APC to do something out of the box. So far out of the box I am scratching my head. Then I saw the clothing and it looks like a movie starring my father as a clean shaven mechanic. Did I mention it is set in Italy, no France or NY. There is a romance to some of the clothing that I am drawn to. I was inspired by products, located here. And decided to post a little inspiration via Polyvore.

Life is beautiful, let's share a little.

 Joy D.

My Friend Jim!

Jim Lucio is famous for his polaroids. He also works with the Council of the Arts in Baltimore, my hometown. Lucio has always wanted the best for Baltimore and in turn I have always wanted the best for him. In his collages and photos he mixes the macabre with John Waters and exploitation films. It is a fun mix that works perfectly in landscape which made perfect since when I was emailed by Jim about his entrance into the H&M contest. If he wins he will have his collage of about 1000 polaroids on display at the H&M flagship store in New York! So VOTE VOTE VOTE. Above is the mock up of the display itself (click for a bigger version). I would love to know what you think of it. 

Life is beautiful, let's share a little. 

Joy D.

Flashback and Transitions: something's in my wardrobe pt.1

This photo was taken in New York and is a good starting point. Notice the red lips....

I decided to do red lips because I needed a small change in my everyday. It was a small change to have a big impact on the way I dressed in New York. Now I am hooked on lipstick! The color, although a little faded, is the reddest lipstick N.Y.C cosmetics company had to offer. I have always been a fan of their makeup although I am almost positive it is full of additives and such. They have consistently made a good product! 

Next is my hat collection. I adore it! And I get my camera this week so my heart is beating faster everyday. Also, I might be moving in with some very good, very amazing friends of mine. We find out today whether we get the apartment/house. And all I can say is Eeeeeee!!!! and Stay tuned!!!!! 

EDIT: Sorry for the exclamations, it has been a weekend full of excitement and no stable internet connection.

Life is beautiful, let's share a little. Joy D.

Yes Please!: Charlotte Russe

Yep, and I will explain. I am a plus size-y girl with big feet and I never have problems finding clothes. One of these reasons is my never ending search for what will fit me. I could never say I have mastered this skill but I have gotten better. Another skill attained over the years is checking back at various e-stores. They always adjust to the times. This has a range of benefits including larger shoe sizes, a cleaner webpage, and collaborations! I am most excited about the former as I was looking at Lara's blog; http://www.mymilkglassheart.com. Thanks for this new/old resource. I used to shop Charlotte Russe back in the day and now I am reconsidering....a little. (all photos: charlotterusse.com)

The Shoes
While CR has upped their design game by actually hiring designers to create their looks some of the materials still look of poor quality. Overall it is a much bigger improvement than the Gap's attempt at a makeover.

The Rings
The rings range in sizes too. Now I know it sounds like I am fawning over CR and you would be right. When has a fast fashion/mall store made so many rapid improvements for the better?

Life is beautiful, let's share a little. Joy D.