Mary Cassatt [not so] Modern Woman

Earlier this week i was cleaning out my disaster of a room when i stumbled across a book of Mary Cassatt impressionism paintings and such. I love how in a lot of her pictures you can see how certain styles of dress have evolved since the 1800s.

Ruffles.

Lace.

"Extinct?"

The hipster hat.

Not sure about this one, but it's classy.

what the hell was wrong with me?

In short, let's just say I've come a very, VERY long way this year. But since I have all the time in the world right now and a year to reflect on, I guess I might as well just go into the dirty details of the whole gory, unfortunate, and PAINFUL first month of my school year. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little bit...but it was pretty torturous. And let's just say it was the polar opposite of fabulous. Mostly due to one, minuscule thing.....MARCHING BAND (gags). And actually, it really wasn't that minuscule, mainly because if you were wearing that THING (I don't think we could safely classify it as an outfit for fear of being arrested by the fashion police) in a crowd, I promise you would've been noticed. The only part of the THING that was almost acceptable was the beret (it wasn't completely acceptable because it was made out of this putrid hunter green felt-like fabric that was itchy as all hell). That would be in lieu of those tall, clunky helmets with the ridiculous feathers on top. But the overall ensemble was just ECH. Not to mention my school's colors are dark green and gold, also not the prettiest of color combinations. So naturally, I was despondent through the whole ordeal of band. I mean, don't get me wrong, playing an instrument (I played the flute) is actually fun. But the marching...uh uh.
Hello me.
Yes, that would be Katherine Hepburn. In DOTS.
An M.C. Escher. Well, my take on it.
Still life. With some unidentified fruits and vegetables thrown in.
So I switched into studio art, where I was considerably less miserable....almost even happy (let's not forget, this is still SCHOOL). I had a pretty fun class, while we were a little on the, well, um, rowdy side. Quite honestly, as long as my projects got done on time, I couldn't have cared less. Which was hardly ever. I mean, they were handed in on time. I just always seemed to find myself scrambling to finish the final part of the assignment...I tend to be an O.C.D. perfectionist at times....oftentimes.

The switch to art was a decision I 100% should have made before school started. But of course I didn't. Silly me. Well, all that matters is that I made it through the year alive (but slightly scarred from those marching band uniforms)!

Moral: Always do the thing that makes YOU happy. What you hate...eliminate.

what i've been up to whilst wasting my valuable time......

Oh no, I've been committing the crime of first degree blog neglect! Well, here are some styles and trends that I must say, I THOROUGHLY enjoy. A few weeks ago when I was strolling along Fifth Avenue (aka shopper's paradise), I naturally had to stop in at one of my favorite stores that gives me style inspiration: none other than Bergdorf Goodman! My two favorite things to look at there are definitely the shoes and the eveningwear. I think that would probably be due to my insane attraction to insane-looking things (exhibit A: the purple Versace gown)! And it's never too early to start looking at those crazy stilettos that I could only imagine owning (along with the blisters that would most likely match).
As for my go-to accessory inspiration shop: Henri Bendel. That store is the absolute epitome of hip and trendy accessories. And me being a jewelry lover....it's just pure heaven. :) I really hope none of the employees minded my shoving more than a few very large pieces of jewelry onto my relatively small body.
Switching gears a little bit: finally, school is winding down! Hopefully after final exam madness I'll actually have the leisure of posting on here. Enjoy the pics and goodnight!

Looks like tissue paper, no?
I like sequins. :)
Rainboots that look like they're made out of lace? Captivating.....
Mixing prints.....crazy or cool (or a combination of the two)?
This is what I'd like to call a ballgown for the battlefield.

Oscar......you're a genius.

This just might be one of my favorite collections of all time. I would be the proud owner of any one of those ensembles... I might even create a holy shrine for all of the pieces, if I were ever to be graced with the honor of owning them (is there such thing as a fashion shrine?)! From the clothes to the amazingly chic hats, every piece is thought out, accessorized to perfection, and just plain dazzling! Ummmm.... LOVE much!?

to pretend is to be...sometimes...how can anyone fill the shoes of Rachel Zoe!?

I never realized how much more fun it is to rummage through someone else's closet rather than your own! I say that because I had my first client/model recently, and I think I just may have turned her closet inside out (sorry Syd)! We did a little photoshoot (why not?) and these were our three favorites. We had to make a few revisions to a couple of the original outfits to give them a little extra something. :)
My personal favorite is definitely the outfit with the black sweater cardigan, gray halter top, long beaded necklace, and funky bracelets. Now looking back, we also could have thrown on a pair of big sunglasses! Can you say urban chic!? The "white tee" outfit was kind of a fun, dancy workout look. I think the silvery gray legwarmers made it (although they're kinda hard to see)! We used the same long beaded necklace as the previous outfit, but we swapped the chunky bracelets for a set of sparkly blue bangles. I think we could probably label this one as "elliptical elegant". :D
The last outfit we used was very simple and cool. A dress with a plain black top, a tiered pink-patterned skirt, and black wedges. But of course a simple outfit MUST be styled at least with a few pieces of jewelry! We added on a short silvery necklace, purple beaded bracelets on one wrist, and a really awesome colorful and printed bangle.
Hopefully there'll be more clients to come in the not too distant future! Bye for now!

novice

Finally I'm getting a chance to sit down and actually post something on here! I wanted to share some of my fashion illustrations with you all; not all of these are from my course at Parsons though. Most likely, any outfit that I sketched that is blue is from Parsons because they are part of a collection I designed there. Each person in my class had to pick one issue that was important to them and base all of their designs off of that one theme. The ideas were all so diverse and interesting, ranging from rainforest destruction to the economic crisis. I connected all of my "blue" outfits through the theme of ocean pollution. We also had to decide whether we wanted to design casual clothes or eveningwear. Me being the rebel type, I was the only one who decided to do eveningwear (or maybe it was just because I wanted to be able to draw a lot of gowns due to my not being very good at drawing legs). I also did the eveningwear because I wanted to design flowy garments that represented the fluidity of the ocean. I tried to emphasize the beauty of the ocean, in an attempt to make people want to keep it as beautiful and clean as possible. After the recent oil spill near the Gulf Coast, I actually thought a lot about the collection I designed and the meaning behind it. This was EXACTLY what I thought that humanity should try to prevent!
Keep in mind: the blue things are from Parsons when I was a COMPLETE AND UTTER BEGINNER. :D Well, i guess technically i'm still sort of a beginner at all of this! Anyway, the things in black and white are my most recent (and also the one in purple). Thanks for reading!