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oh look. me.  
Ha! No! I didn’t die! Surprise! The last couple months of my life have been rather eventful ft. finals, moving out, moving in, and getting into my summer routine. My first summer in NYC has proven itself to be quite busy, quite unexpectedly. A couple months ago I was hunting for things to keep me occupied (and funded) for the summer months and then suddenly I have a ton going on. I’m continuing my job at the department of Athletics and Recreation at my school throughout the summer to hopefully help me keep off those summer love handles. I plan to do this by working the extreme list of outdoor trips we’re running this summer (i.e. kayaking, rock climbing, camping, and the like). That’s Tuesday. Wednesday I babysit the cutest little 2 year old in the Upper West Side via my good friend Sam from highschool. THAT is a long day (seriously, not ready for kids yet). And Thursdays and Fridays are spent at the Rachel Comey studio for my Social Media Internship. So not bad right? Four day weeks doing this, that, and the other.
And of course my school assigned a summer project to keep “our design wheels turning” which I understand but also have some difficulty wrapping my head around doing homework during the summer. I guess this is what it feels like to be a real human and not have summer breaks like the childhood us college students so desperately hold on to. Thankfully, I’m a libra, the scales, so hopefully I’ll be able to find a balance between work, homework, and something that resembles a social life. Oh and while we’re at it, we can throw in personal health and fitness, good reading to the keep the mind fresh, and the boyfriend. 
Balance, Libra. Balance. 

and I thought Jenga was hard.

Photo by Matt Perrone.

Spring brings the new, and this Spring there is a lot of new coming my way. Our lease for our apartment is ending on April 30th which means it's time to get out and into a new place. Unfortunately, the semester actually ends on May 19th, so in the middle of final projects and presentations, I also have to pack up my entire life and settle into a new location. If only the trouble ended there.

I originally was simply going to relocate with 2/3 roommates I'm living with now. We found a place in East Harlem that we liked and the wheels began to turn to get the application approved and then eventually the lease signed. However, as I've come to learn is quite common in NYC, as soon as the lease it finally proposed, something goes wrong and you're back to ground zero. In this case, there were differing financial situations and I was left to find a place for the summer on my own.

It might be hard to believe but finding a place to live in New York City is actually quite difficult and for a few reasons. You need somewhere affordable - that's always a given in one of the most expensive cities in North America - but you also need somewhere safe, accessible, and with enough room for you and your stuff (you would think that one would go without saying but you also wouldn't believe how much people pay in this city pay for a closet to live in). So I began my search on Craigslist, Naked Apartment, Street Easy, and any other apartment listing websites I had been referred to. I was mostly looking for a vacant room in a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment with someone just looking to fill their room. I kept finding amazing deals, but this is where you need to be careful. You're essentially online dating for someone to LIVE with. Dangerous and also highly susceptible to crazies. It is New York City, after all. You really are asking strangers to live with them. Kind of freaky right?

Well, I went about it with a cautious hand, but I also was getting a little desperate for a place to live as my lease end date was creeping up on me. I looked everywhere. Harlem, Brooklyn, Queens, New Jersey and obviously Manhattan. It was insane. I would reply to 50 postings and get maybe 2 responses. 

Then the most annoying part comes in. I would see an apartment, love it, get along with the roommate, and the deal would be put into motion. As soon as signing the lease or closing the deal came around, something happened. Some kind of excuse, "My friends are coming into NYC and need a place to stay", "We've decided to give the room to someone else", or they would simply just stop responding. It was like building my tower and getting it nice and tall, then one wrong move, it all comes crashing down and it's time to start over - like Jenga. 

So I've learned a few things in this process:

1. Stay positive - getting frustrated is only going to make this already stressful process even more stressful.
2. Keep an open mind - some apartments may not appear amazing from the outside but you need to use your imagination. A new paint-job can make a world of difference.
3. Don't be picky - beggars can't be choosers. Don't forget that you're desperate and might be homeless...
4. Get all the details - not just the ones you want to hear. Is the neighborhood actually safe? Is the person actually clean? Laundry is how many blocks away?
5. Trust no one - People are going to say yes, but like I said there's always an unexpected no. Don't get your hopes up and look out for yourself because this stuff is subject to immediate and unexpected change. 

Beware kiddies, this chica is tired of her tower falling down and she's getting pretty good at balancing. 

The only way out is up. 

Ya dig?

Just submitted a super massive digital assignment today that took me an absurd number of hours of my life a.k.a. a long time. Just out here working away, contemplating whether I should be wearing sunglasses while I work to protect my eyes from the endless hours staring at my computer screen #shadesfordays #isthatathing? I was digitizing my collection inspired by Donald Judd and other minimalist artists from that time which is what led me to the logo of the collection in the bottom right corner, and the over all design of the clothes. And now I'm voluntarily staring at my screen to tell you all about how I just spent hours...staring at my screen. Oh the irony. Isn't that always the way? Like when it's 3 AM and I have homework and I'm exhausted and just want to sleep but then is 3 AM on a Friday night and I'm like "so.... pizza anyone?". Why don't I just go to bed! 

Hope you're all enjoying a wonderfully spring Easter weekend! 

Creative Creature

Spring! Can you believe it?! SPRING!

Ask anyone what their favourite season is and they will more than likely tell you a transition season i.e. fall or spring. It's probably because these seasons resemble change and change is good. Well this spring there is a lot of change and I'm not just referring to my hair colour (for those of you who haven't seen me in a while... surprise!). New job, new living situation, new friends, new summer plans, new new new! Finally the weather matches my mood! Happy! Like my songza playlist - "Wake up smiling"! Slash Pharrell's "Happy" on repeat. 

Is it just me or does my room look like spring time meets six-year-old art student. I mean, those are a six year old's tutus and I did buy my pillow cases from the children's section of Home Sense... They don't put maximum age restrictions on these things people! I can't help it but put my spring enthusiasm into my work and obviously my outfit choices. Believe it or not I'm actually starting to stand out a little bit at my school - something I thought was impossible due to the vast range of hair colours in the studios. I also dress like I'm getting younger - the Benjamin Button of Parsons, perhaps? #wearwhatyoulike. Oh, and I smile. A lot. God forbid a fashion student isn't miserable, am I right?

I have big things on the horizon my friends. I hope the spring time is making you as happy as it's making me!

:) 

Organic Geometry

This is it! The finals of my first year in the Parsons Fashion Design program. Doesn't it seem like I've been doing this forever? Boy, it has been a long year, but a good one at that.

My course load this semester has been a little hectic. I take two studio electives on top of my core studio classes which means a lot of creating things with my hands, which as I'm sure you can assume, is time consuming (now you smirk at my charming rhyme). Finals can be stressful, but what is even more stressful is when you're making visual representations of your capabilities. What I mean is, unlike writing a final essay or exam where only your prof. or T.A. see your final work, the entire class, profs, and anyone passing by the darn classroom can see whether you put your all into your final or not i.e. lots of room for judgement and comparison. This work also goes directly into our portfolios which are presented to potential employers. So, it better be good. Damn good. Needless to say, us fashion students need to make sure all our time, money, and effort are going to pay off when we're finished, and when you multiply that by six (the number of studio classes I take), we're in for a lot of work. 

So that brings me to this project. The final for my 2D/Integrated Studio class is a group project. The assignment was designed by the people who designed the curriculum which basically translates to an overly wordy and confusing assignment. Similar to the summer assignment wording for those of you who witnessed me go through that...

We are tasked with designing a collection that is in some way, shape, or form, connected to our cultural backgrounds. My group chose to focus on cultural displacement as we all come from different countries and are situated in a new and very different culture. Then, as I've written about before, we allow the theme to organically grow and incorporate different inspirations from different areas of our lives. This leaves us with the theme:

Boxy, spring, architectural, triangular motif, cultural displacement.

What a mouthful, huh? However, with some conceptualizing and creativity we were able to translate that into a pretty killer aesthetic that is leading us towards some great clothing. Below is our mood board to kind of help you get on our train of thought. 

The whole concept is based on putting something/someone in a box that they might not necessarily fit in - placing the organic (your origin) into geometry (the cultural box) to create cultural displacement. Therefore, the organic human form into geometric/boxy clothing. Ta-Da! Logic. Kind of.
The illustration at the beginning of this post is the design I just recently got approved to create. The white fabric is hand treated which means those triangles on it I will be hand drawing with fabric markers - yet another reinforcement of our theme - hand drawn triangles combining the organic and the geometric. Mine is a rather flat design, however, my group members are doing some pretty radical 3D designing which some intricate applique and crazy shapes sewn onto the garment. I tend to lean towards the ready-to-wear, less couture style of designing...If you haven't noticed.
Each person is required to make a dress, so four dresses total, plus illustrations of a collection of 20 looks, their technical flats, mood board and fabric board (which is all the standard). And on top of all that, branding the entire project with logos, hang-tags, packaging, etc. Lots and Lots to do!
I'm headed to midtown right now to purchase my fabrics so I can start drawing on this puppy. The more I can get done in my day off (I don't have class on Wednesdays), the more time I'll have for the other dress, fabric, and purse I'm creating for my other finals! Yahoo!

Wish me luck!

Breaking in Spring

After five months of cold weather and trillions of layers, the word “spring” can have an almost immediate release of endorphins in my body, along with the colour pink (#fact). But when that word is followed by the word “break”, it is as though all my blood cells have morphed into Despicable Me minions and they’re all laughing hysterically through my veins. In other words, it’s exciting, really exciting. Fashion Design is a rather labour intensive major and pursuing it in fast pace New York City amps up the urgency and intensity of every assignment. Therefore, when any opportunity to catch up on sleep or finally eat a meal that wasn’t made in 10 minutes or less comes around, it must be taken advantage of. However, the reality of springtime is that it is often accompanied with spring cleaning, both literally and metaphorically. This means, clean up your life in any area you can think of that you didn’t have the time or energy to do during the depressing winter months. I.e. apply to internships, look for a new apartment because your lease is ending, finally take out the recycling and do your laundry. Well, I guess those are more literal cleaning than metaphoric, but they’re still very important. What spring break really means is temporarily take your mind off school and focus your energy on the ‘real human’ things that you’ve been neglecting. Though the university would like you to believe that you’re taking this time to relax and take a break so that you can come back and finish the semester at your optimal state of performance, the reality of the situation is that the break is the only thing saving you from complete life overload. Yes, life overload. I’ll leave that up to you to define for yourself as it can often mean different things for different people. So, in resistance of this life overload, whatever it shall imply, this spring break is much more about getting stuff done than taking a break from getting stuff done. I hate to break it to you, but I do not have any tropical beach bikini photos of me wearing the same Victoria’s Secret bathing suit your sister and your boyfriend’s ex girlfriend have, with my hand on my hip and my hair blowing in the wind and a charming smile, because you haven’t seen enough of those on your Facebook newsfeed this month... I actually don’t have many pictures from this spring break at all and if I did they would be of me watching movies and looking overfed (#accurate). Oh, and of course there would be pictures of me on my laptop doing things I said I would like applying to internships and haphazardly looking for apartments and...well...writing this. And believe it or not I’ve rarely put on real clothing or have any recollection of what my face with makeup on it might look like, so I wouldn’t even be looking cute in these hypothetical photos. 

Well, if you’ve read this far then you’re probably experiencing the kind of boredom that occurs during the type of spring break that I’m having. At least we’re in it together, am I right?

School starts again in four days. Four days people!

#wearwhatyoulike

Photo by Matthew Perrone

It's actually astonishing how many times I'm asked for fashion advice by those who believe they "know nothing" about fashion. Believe it or not, I'm equally as capable of telling you what to wear as a fish. A blind fish. And the backing for that is that, at the end of the day, they're just clothes -fashion is just clothes. People like to warn me about how competitive and cut-throat this industry can be but in actuality, it's the people in the industry that make it that way and I predict a fashion forecast of funnier and more lighthearted designers, including myself. I think it's about time everyone reached back and untangled the bunch their panties are in and stop taking themselves so seriously. If I have learned anything at Parsons (and I've learned tons *cough*mom and dad your money isn't going to waste*cough*), it is that you need to wear what you like and I'm sure I've posted about that before. If you're not comfortable and confident in your clothing, why are you wearing them? Anyone can buy the newest or the most expensive but that doesn't make them fashionable, or at least, I should hope not because otherwise we'd all be broke (or homeless if your wallet resembles anything similar to what mine currently looks like). Thus, I have come to the groundbreaking conclusion that my approach to fashion is simply that - #wearwhatyoulike. Shoot - who I am to tell you what looks good; if you like it, then wear the hell out of it 'cause you're damn sure going to look better than the girl who can't figure out if she actually likes what she's wearing or if she's just resisting the buyers remorse flooding her subconscious. If someone else told you what you like, you're doing it wrong.

Wear what you like. Seriously, stop being so serious. 

Ha. 

Chopped

When you have curly or wavy hair, your hair days are typically hit or miss. Unless of course you have enough will power to rise in the morning and claim the role of lion tamer and attempt to control the wild locks of hair twisting in whatever directions that make the least sense. Unfortunately, curly and wavy hair is both a blessing and a curse. Anyone with straight hair would kill to have it hold a curl and anyone with curly/wavy hair would kill to be able to predict what their hair might look like after they shower. But sometimes you just have to give in to the natural texture of your hair and let your frizzy freak flag fly, because after all, nothing is more beautiful than confidence, self-acceptance, and Hermione Granger circa Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
So in an effort to embrace my natural mane, I've decided the only manageable way to do so is to go chopped. It's become somewhat of a trend for women with frizzy big hair to cut it short and, in my opinion, they're killin' it.

Ok, that Miley one was a joke, I didn't do THAT to my hair...but you get the idea. But she was pullin' the chopped thing before she went out for crazy cakes. Short is the new long... Orange is the new black...all that nonsense. It's the 'less is more' mentality, you know, good things in small packages? ...Size doesn't matter? I'll stop.

Someone a little closer to home, who is known for this haircut, was my inspiration for this MASSIVE lifestyle change that is so much more important to write about than do my homework... Her name is Leandra Medine and she is The Man Repeller. She graduated from my school and has become a total style icon/fashion socialite/fashion influencer in NYC. Her mentality towards fashion is that we must find the humour in serious fashion and the weirder the better, which, in some ways, is similar to my take on fashion: #wearwhatyoulike. She rocks the chopped look and basically instills the confidence within me that my hair can be freshly washed and frizzy and still chic. 

Because, why not?

homework?

My school gives us an insanely long winter break for whatever reason. Normally I wouldn't complain about this, I mean who would, right? But, of course, my program felt it necessary to assign a massive winter assignment to work on while we're home so as to keep us "inspired" and "creatively engaged". And me, being who I am, didn't even touch it until the end of the almost 2 month long winter break. In my defense, I was taking some time to reconnect with friends and family while they were home for the holidays and then immediately started working at the insurance office to make some moola. Working 9 to 5 is like real life. I don't know how people do it and maintain hobbies and stuff. I have a new found appreciation for the workforce of ... the world, because trying to get my head around doing homework upon arriving home in the dark days of January at 6:30 pm was a real struggle. 

So I eventually got around to completing it. 

The assignment was to design two collections: one represents your ego as a designer, and the second as your alter ego. Don't get it confused - alter ego does not mean another side of you. It was actually meant to imply THE OPPOSITE of what you identified as your ego... which apparently was hard for everyone in my class to understand, including me. I immediately decided my ego was 1960's-mod which I fell in love with last semester during my fashion history class. Apparently people used to see that style in my own but I guess since moving to NYC and the whole "all black" thing... I've veered away from that.

My alter ego, which I believed to be the opposite, was punk/grunge, which I also learned about during fashion history. When I presented my winter assignment, my teachers (which are the same ones from last semester) told me their opinion - which was that I'm much more like my alter ego than my ego, if not a mixture of both. So... I'm not sure what image I've been giving off, but that's how they interpret my personal style. Maybe I'm just versatile and like experimenting, but I definitely was not expecting to be told I'm "punk". 

We needed to digitize our entire project. So that is what I have to share.

note: colours came out weird when the file was exported.

I'm here.

Well well well. Here we are again. I've now officially been back in NYC for one whole week after a long month and a half at home. I flew to Toronto in mid December and immediately started in on the friends and family. Lots of get togethers and nights with foggy details. It was awesome re-entering the world of legal drinking age. 7.5 months till I'm 21 baby.

So Christmas was fabulous. Though I couldn't help but notice it's become a lot less... Christmasy. Maybe it's the traveling, or the rush of the end of the semester, but it really took a lot for me to get into the Christmas spirit and apparently I'm not the only one who felt that way. It was December 24 and it still felt too early for Christmas carols. That's how bad it was. Nevertheless Christmas morning was so special. Santa paid close attention to my "gift guide for a fashion student" which was delightful. I love coming home to special times with my family. It makes coming home very exciting. This Christmas, however, was less one person. Sad face. My big brother is 'backpacking' through South America and thus couldn't be home for the holidays. My half size dress form filled his place but it really wasn't the same. 

New Years! 2K14 honey! 

Immediately after New Years I went back to work at the insurance company in Toronto that I've worked at for the past two summers. Not my ideal job but the pay is good, I know my way around and the people are great. Plus being home for a whole month and a half, you need somehing to fill you days especially after all your Canadian friends have gone back to school. The only down side to the longest break in history. 

So now I'm back in action. I had a feeling that as soon as I stepped foot in NYC my life was going to hit fast forward and that's exactly what happened. This past week I've pulled two all nighters, started work again at the department of athletics & recreation to get my fit on, but really just pumped out like 600 flyers for our upcoming winter events, fitness class and sports. Catching up with roommates and friends and molding back into the New York lifestyle. I guess you don't really realize how much you miss New York until you come back. It's like falling in love all over again. 

Boy it's good to be back.