Branding - GAH!

So I'm looking at branding for the moment. It's a pain, I can't afford to outsource this even though it's not my forté, so I should really! But I'm a poor student so I'm struggling onwards.

I'm looking for a killa strapline that isn't cheesy. Those of you who don't know me personally may be a little surprised by this - I do cheesy VERY well, so it's been tough! Here's some stuff I've thrown away so far:

Your passion is our fashion - this one actually made me through up a bit in my mouth, I was not aware there was a level of cheese in the universe that could make me do that! ;)

Etre Meilleur - French for Be Better ok but a bit posey

Aaaaaaaah Fashion! - but I thought as I'd already stolen the name of the company from Gok, this might be going a leetle bit too far

You'll never put a better bit of fashion on your kife - the bus to reality street has left the terminal and you missed it

When the going get's tough, the tough get fashion - desperation sets in

Feel the fashion - then sleazy 70's music slides in afterwards

Fashion this - I imagined a big fist with fashion this written on it, hey, I'm desperate!

Don't live a little, live a fashion - I swear at this point I was getting delusional!

It could be because I'm rubbish at this kind of thing - I am. But, I'm going with the fact I've been up since 0400 this morning due to bird song and heat. I'm British I'm not made for sunny weather and whoever thinks bird song is lovely can come and listen to the cacophony outside my bedroom window and be woken up by it!

Anyhoo the contenders are:

Great Fashion. Great Times - conjures up those lovely days of summer when your off out with your friends having stupid amounts of fun, but can I really guarantee great times?

and

You've always got time for fashion - although that doesn't really strike me as fantastic

I've decided to go with:

Where do you want your fashion to take you to today?

Which doesn't make me retch and is pretty much the best I've come up with - faint praise that this is. It is, however, much better than freelance fashion designer which is the alternative.

If you've got anything you think would work leave a comment.

As usual, if you follow my blog, I'll follow  your's.

Mwah mwah

dxx

Fashion Show

I have major issues with this program.

First, exactly what are the rules? Project Runway is in it's 10th season (11th if you include All Stars) and Heidi still trots out the what exactly goes on every episode. This program never has told you exactly what is going on.

Secondly, the prizes. Apparently it's some kind of big NBC secret what the contestants actually win as nobody will say if they get the money bid on the clothing or if this is how much they will make of them. Again there is (allegedly) a $6,000,000 collection in all 3 stores up for grabs but nobody knows if the winner gets 6 million or that's what goes into the stores!

Thirdly, the mentors were odd choices in my opinion. The only person I understand being there is Nicole Richie.

And the winner - don't look if you haven't seen it:

::drum roll::

Kara

I think Kara deserved to win and I'm really glad she did - I want my tailoring to look that sharp!

Mwah, mwah!

dxx

I've been naughty

NO! Not that way - wash your mind out with soap! I haven't really blogged very much, ergo, I've been naughty!
I promise to do better starting, well now really ;)
This is what I handed in for my portfolio - have a look and tell me what you think. I have to say I'm very proud of the work I've done this year, I know there are flaws but I've learned SO much and I can draw. Admittedly, the only way I can draw is using illustrator put it's still valid!

This is my customer board, it's supposed to tell you she's busy and is juggling a lot of things from family to work and the influence her city has on her. I hope you get that from the board.

My inspiration boards, I was inspired by the clothing my muse needed for a week in here life, she runs a PR business and has to attend lots of different functions as well as getting through the day to day stuff.

I've named all my garments after areas of Manhattan to bring in the theme of the city she lives in. This is my work out outfit. I've tried to fit the name with the outfit based on the vibe of the area - I know how arty do I sound? ;)

A casual brunch outfit or just dropping off the kids - my muse is super woman! This collection is also about me learning new skills so I've tried to include many different types of fabric from jersey to chiffon.

Easy day at the office or brunch with the girls, she'd wear this is she didn't have any clients to see but could dress up the look if she needed to see somebody unexpectedly.

A more formal day at the office look.

A kimono style dress that can be worn for the more casual events she has to go to like a Soho art gallery opening.

A formal gown for grand events such as opening night at the Met.

My range plan, the looks all together I hope it looks like a collection even though they are very different garments.

And my colour board which I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

Tell me what you think of them and when I get the marks back I'll let  you know what I got.

So far I've only got one result which was over 70% (equivalent to a first) for my presentation, I KNOW the rest of the marks will not be that good!

Mwah, mwah!

dxx

Project Runway All Start ep 2

PR All Stars Ep 2 Quick round up of the catwalk!

Michael is repeating his whingeing this ep, you don't own the fucking colour red!

And now to the outfits - there was VERY little drama last week.

Kenley, bad remake of the 80's prom dress. Molly Ringwald did it better!

Rami darling 2 things, your skirt is horrid and makes her look big. Second the colour ALL wrong for your girls skin tone! You are SO much better than this - we get it you can do stuff that's not draping!

Gordana Gehlhausen, love the 20's feel, not keen on the panels or the fishing net on the top. It would have been more interesting to have had the netting extend the full length of the dress and ditched the V odd panels. Not loving not hating.

Mila Hermanovski average and expected - not to say it's bad but it's forgettable which is great if your girl is promoting something. She'll look awesome but the dress won't get in the way. I'd have been happier  if you'd done something unexpected with the accesories. And yes, my red gown for final collection is very expected but I'm not on bloody PR All Stars ;)

Sweet P darling your girl did not look like Cinderella unless she's pregnant and living in a double wide. The fabric is sweet and lovely and you could have done something really fantastic and unexpected but you didn't. The dress made me sad.

Mondo, I love you, you mexi pixi you, but really? BAD mother of the bride dress, this dress made me eat chocolate.

Jerell Scott, why? Why did you raid the soft furnishings from the 70's theme bar down the street? Why? She looks like a walking bloody sofa man! The skirt is in a really soft material and looks heavy. And breathe!

Kara Janx young and youthful she is NOT. You used sad curtain material and she looks like she should be in The Sound of Music. Oh, and the hem is uneven.

Anthony Williams there is a touch of the drag queen about this but I like it - betcha shocked aren't you! - I like the gloves but think if you're going to go with styling as strong as them you need to keep the rest of it hard. Her hair was too soft at the back and the shoes were average.

Austin Scarlett I love this dress. I could have lived without the black tulle tbh and think the bodice design would have worked on it's own if done in a flat metallic instead. You don't look at this dress and think that's a days work and you do with most of the others so far with the exception of Mondo and Kenley.

April Johnston lovely, wtf were you thinking? If your dye had worked it might have saved the dress but the dye is VERY bad and the dress isn't good enough for you to overlook it!

Michael Costello it's no big secret that I hate the whineyness of this person and wonder if he's in denial as he pings my gaydar quite a bit, but this dress is FABULOUS. I even like the feathers and I'm not a feathery person. Not loving the strap at the back, I get why it's there but I think the dress is enough without it.

And Sweet P is Auf'd for me it would be hard to choose which of the garments by Sweet P and Jerell I dislike the most. I'd like to say Jerell cos I love the P but I think they made the right decision.

I'd have been happy if either Michael or Austin had won based solely on the garments - that feels so good to say after the last few seasons of PR that we can judge based on design not drama! And Austin wins - yay!

I'm probably a little harsh - shall we blame my hormones or rather, this is all stars and my expectations are HIGH!

On a general note I'm LOVING the fact the judges are making sense and giving out constructive criticism and Joanna Coles is VERY good in Tim Gunn's role, but I am missing him.

Can ANYONE remember what the perfectly nice woman is called who's hosting this?

Having annoyed another group of designers I'm Auf!

MWAH MWAH!

dxx

The Golden Globes

Because I can :)

Melissa Macarthy in Badgley Mischka

Love that she's in Badgley Mischka, hate the colour, the fact it's a big girl cliche gown and her hair. Love her though! Dressing for your shape is important but this isn't it.

Connie Britton in who the hell knows?

For our UK readers you may have seen her in Spin City.  Sweetie, there's vintage and there's charity shop rummage bin. This is a red carpet event please dress for it, going shopping down town it's ok to dress like this but the RC needs more hon! HATE the shoes, love the clutch but not with this dress.

Diane Lane in Reem Acra.

Love this it's Hollywood glamour old skool! At first glance I thought this was Catherine Zeta Jones but it isn't. Daine Lane our UK audience will know her more for the fact she's Josh Brolin's wife. Love the accessories - the clutch is enough to commit mild violence over. FABULOUS dahlink!

Emma Stone in Lanvin.

Nice to see somebody in colour but I'm not sure about the panels at the side. Not loving the bag but the belt is freaking awesome. Teeny bit goth and I LOVE that. Liking the hair as well.

Kate Beckinsale in Roberto Cavalli.

Usually don't have a bad word to say about her but could you have done this in colour? Other than that MISS THANG!

Kelly Macdonald in Lorena Sarbu

Kelly? Why are you wearing a mu-mu? Nice bag though.

Mirelle Enos in Naeem Khan

Erm, before anyone says I'm gingerist I live with a ginger person - 2 if you include The Cub. This is not a good colour for gingers. I'm not sure about the bodice shape either but I quite like the skirt.

Kelly Osbourne in Zac Posen.

I know she's been caned by the critics for her hair but I like it. Why shouldn't she dye it any colour she wants? Don't like Zac Posen frocks though they never seem to quite work. Kell, you look awesome on the weight loss though.

Julianna Marguiles in Naeem Khan

I love the fact that you went with a colour, but this? This is all your stylist could come up with? Another freaking mu-mu which makes you look shapeless - I've seen you on The Good Wife, you've got curves, werq them!

Helen Mirram in Badgley Mischka

Saw this and jumped up and freaking down. How awesome does she look? The colour is great, the accessories are phenomenal and her hair is sublime. Queen Helen does it again!

Yes, there were a lot of other badly and well dressed slebs but Queen Helen won the night for me.

Well I've pissed off another load of slebs, stylists and designers so my work here is done.

Till next time!

MWAH MWAH

Dxx

Random stuff and me me me!

Hello all, did you miss me?

I missed you!

First off, a link to another blog site Tom & Lorenzo, they are fabulous and opinionated - says so right there in the header! - they also make me laugh harder than any other fashion bloggers out there. They are responsible for many laugh out loud moments when I should have been doing something at college. Go follow them on Facebook and Twitter, tell them I sent you!

Quick fashion round up

A friend sent me the link to this site QooQoo, they are based in Latvia (great fashion knows no boundaries!) I think the stockings are stupidly cool. I can see many cool kids wearing them and looking fabulous in a way that only people under the age of 25 can! I would most definitely have worn these when younger.

Florence Welch leaving Radio 1

Designer Unknown

Flo! I LOVE you, you are fabulous and this generations Stevie Nicks. You have no idea how pleased I am that you aren't wearing some uber serious brand like Chanel or Dior (I love both btw) and dressing far beyond your years. You don't know how much I've prayed for you to wear something new, young, quirky, vintage and flirty, but Flo THIS IS NOT IT. This, is your designer raiding their mothers old 70's curtains and churning out a shapeless suit with 80's trousers! Remember this Flo?

Designer Unknown but probably vintage

Remember being all quirky and ethereal whilst rocking walking boots? I'd like that Flo back now pleassssseeeeeeee!

Film round up

I've been watching a lot of films recently, when I say watching I mean they've been on in the background whilst I've been working for college or playing with The Cub (age appropriate natch!). Here are a few of my favourites:

The Big Lebowski - I know loving this film makes me not really a girl as females apparently don't get or like this film but I think it's AWESOME. It's not my go to movie when I want cheering up, that comes later in the list, but, if I'm happy then this will make me even happier have had to use a link as unable to embed this particular video but it's YouTube if you're worried and not child or office friendly!

Careful man!

Parenthood - I love this film, I refuse to consider it a guilty pleasure, for me it's just pleasure. This film cheers me up from my darkest moods and I refuse to analyse why in case it ruins it for me. Again not child or office friendly but we're all adults and if you're at work you should be working and reading my blog of course!

The Green Lantern - ANY film with Ryan Renolds is going to be a feast for the eyes but I enjoyed this as he's really funny and got great timing - feel free to disagree, but you're wrong.

This is NOT a picture of Ryan Renolds!

And me me me!

I've been super busy over the last few weeks as I've been doing a report and writing a written proposal for college, the latter is done now and I'll be posting that over the weekend to give you and idea of what my collection is about. For now here's a taster of some of the images:

The Illustrator work is all mine!

Until the weekends dahlinks!

Mwah mwah!

dxx

The Emperor's New Clothes

I've been busy busy since the last blog.


I finally started my sketchbook samples of which can be found here:

As you can see there is still much work to do, 3d stuff needs to be added but Illustrator and I are still EXCELLENT friends ;) A lecturer actually said they liked it which in a first in Project Runway erm, I mean my history ;)


The contextual studies brief was launched I can either do a 3000 word essay on anything fashiony (did you like my made up word?) OR I can do a 3500 word written report which looks like a hybrid of a market report, editorial and research for a business plan. 
I'm torn. The essay is for those of us taking the academic pathway, i.e. topping up to a full degree and the report is for those who are thinking of going into employment/their own business. As I want a full degree and will probably start my own business at the same time I have NO IDEA which to go with. I'm pretty good at written reports - I've completed enough of them I should be! - but that won't help with going to uni. Will figure this out as I go, any comments to push me on one direction or another will be welcome!


My fellow students have launched some blogs - take a look at them NOBODY is doing anything anyone else is doing, we are a diverse group:


Alex's
From what I've seen of her work she's going for an avant garde look - should be v exciting on the runway.
Mikey
Mikey, is straight and single, ladies btw ;) He's VERY indie inspired and this should be a very exciting journey as I love the indie :) He's a great artist and this shows through in his work. He also sits next to me.
Tanya
Is possibly the most focused and organised person I've ever come across. She's very inspired by bridal wear so if you're in the market for a bridal gown keep an eye on her work which I'm sure will be stunning!
Leonie
Leonie is using a lot of appliqué in her sketchbook, I've been teaching myself how to do hand embroidery so I'm really interested in the techniques she's been using with machine work.
Damon
Ex-hairdresser and funny guy, he sits next to me as well. I'm a thorn between 2 roses ;) His pov is gowns and evening wear and it is always interesting. As with Mikey he's also a fabulous artist! We are both huge Project Runway fans, although I'm routing for Anthony Ryan for fan favourite and I'm pretty sure he wants Josh to win.


It's a widely known fact I'm a HUGE Project Runway fan, I'm an even bigger Tim Gunn fan - he's awesome and I won't have a word said against him :)
I've started following Chloe Dao's blog. Chloe Dao is a season 2 Project Runway contestant. She's creating a collection in 4 weeks from start to finish so it will be interesting to see that unfold. I like the blog as it is written in a friendly way which includes the reader in her process, I'm not a huge lover of her work but it's good to see the creative process unfold and think, one day that might be me! I like what she did with her mood board and will consider it as something I may include in my portfolio work.


Can we say yum much? I love, love, love this. It's SO NYC and echo's what I'm thinking of for my collection. Oh to be thin enough to do a Versace dress justice.


It is a badly kept secret that I have a crush on Perou, not only is he witty and intelligent, so are his pictures. 
He's a fab contempory photographer and I urge you to check out not only his website but also this ad for Focus on Imaging


Review the s/s 2012 Louis Vuitton collection 
Ok, so this isn't going to get me any kind of invite to a Louis Vuitton collection any time soon. First let me start by saying I LOVE Marc Jacobs, I do, I love the femininity and tailoring. I do not love this collection, I know the press love it but I don't. Take this for example:











She is THIN her BMI must be heading towards underweight and this makes her look massive! Who wants to wear something that makes you look like your hips don't stop?

It's not camel toe but then it isn't flattering either. What on earth are those shorts supposed to be? It looks like she's going through gender reassignment! This is an RTW (Ready To Wear) collection so the clothes should be worn by people. I know of no female who would want a bulge in that area. Have to say I love the top though, a bit WASPIE but I still love it, reminds me of Pringle jumpers from the 80's.

I really like some bits of the collection, the leather biker jacket would look amazing with jeans or black trousers. 
If this wasn't an RTW collection I'd have loved it, but it's meant to be worn by people not models. Not that models aren't people but they do have a unique body shape. I know it's Louis Vuitton and most of this collection won't make it to production but still, you'd think they would have tried to make it a little wearable. Why not do an avant garde collection and forget the RTW? Emperor's New Clothes anyone?








Yet another Project Runway first, erm, I mean Project Runway fav of mine Christian Siriano has launched a limited addition pump (that's American for shoe btw). I'm hoping by the time this gets posted on Sunday there will still be some left! As an online friend of mine who's doing a fashion course would say - LUSH!


On a completely non fashion but related to my stuff/topic for collection, this BBC report is totally cool.


As ever comments are welcome and if you follow me I'll RTF.


Mwah mwah


dxx