It was a great day for a Derby!

I love the Kentucky Derby. The first time I saw the race was a couple years ago and I was totally hooked. For such a fast race, it's so worth seeing. I had no idea how beautiful the horses were when they raced until I actually saw them. I love all the festivities, the mint juleps and of course I love the hats!

(please forgive the silly look I have.)

My favorite place to be for the race and the party is at the Bell House in Brooklyn. There is always a lot of people, most of them dressed up. This year there were more hats by far then the last couple of years. (People were inspired by the Royal Wedding, maybe?) It's been a crazy week for me in the studio, so many fun projects that I'm finishing up and starting, but late the other night I made sure to make up something for my head. Because honestly, when else can you wear a big messy nest of tulle on your head and call it a hat? Not nearly often enough I say.

There were all kinds of hats in attendance, formal hats, traditional hats, men in hats, hats shaped like horses. After the race, most of us stayed around to see the live band Karaoke band, Bunny England and the New Originals play. What could be more fun then horse races and playing rock stars on a beautiful spring day?!

All the photos above and more can be found here.

Something Old, Something New . . .

My friend My Phung asked me if I wanted to work on this project with her and of course I said yes, I always learn so much and have so much fun working with her on things.

So this is Jodi's dress before we started, it was her grandmother's wedding dress.

We all liked the bones of this dress, but we also agreed it could be a little more fun and maybe less modest. We immediately removed the sleeves and lowered the front and back neck line.

My Phung remade the actual dress, adding silk tulle to the front and back, while I worked on the part that isn't really so visible, I rebuilt the vintage slip that goes under the dress. In the end I think both pieces came together in a really lovely way.

We kept some of the vintage look for the original dress but made the whole thing look way more like Jodi.

And then I made her a fascinator using some grey bird cage tulle and feathers to tie in her grey belt. I wish I had a shot of her shoes, they were this amazing bright fascia, so fun!

It was so fun to work on this kind of project, watching something new emerge from something old. It's a brave bride that will pony up a vintage dress and let someone recreate it right in front of her eyes!

Thanks Jodi! It was so fun working with you and My Phung on your dress, I had a ball!

And congrats on your new marriage! xo

Trouble.

This is Trouble.

Trouble got her name because she seemed to invite trouble whenever she was worn. Because she is this bias cut little simple thing, she seems to fit women between about a size 0 and an 8, and she seems to look as worthy of trouble on every body that takes her on.

Then an odd thing happened, as my sisters and my friends seemed to evolve, people started wanting to borrow her because of her reputation.

This is how she ended up in my sister Briana's procession when we lived in different cities. Her friend had borrowed Trouble and returned her to Briana, thinking I'd get her back eventually.

And I did. But first, I got a call at about 3:30 in the morning on the first of september one year with Briana saying, "Sis, I'm wearing Trouble with blue panties .. . and I'm in Reno with Troy" (I so wish I had a photo to share of THAT trouble!) Yep, Trouble fills in when you need to elope!

Then, a few years later (but very recently) my sister Tara called late one December, "Sis, I'm turning 35 and I'm trying to get knocked up, can I borrow Trouble?" I sent her the dress.

Now I have a very handsome nephew!

It seems, that at this age, we want trouble. We want this trouble that leads to happy unions and beautiful babies. Both welcome and happy additions to the family.

What's funny, is Trouble got made in about 2 seconds, from a scarf that got left behind at the restaurant where I worked at the time. (oh if I found the person that left that scarf, I'd write her a thank you note!) I simply held one end up in front and pinched where I figured the "back" should meet and stitched her up, simplest, most successful dress I've ever made. I promise.

So now, it's my turn to have this birthday and it's given me pause. What kind of trouble am I trying to stir up? And what kind of dress wants to usher in this year?

I'm not sure. But I do think my older sisters have set some very good examples.

Alterations meets Reinvention

I used to say that I would rather make something from scratch then take something apart and alter it. but this has a very narrow definition of "alter". That alteration is like, replacing a zipper or making something a little bigger or smaller.

Lately I have been working on projects where "altering" the garment means recreating it. For these currant projects are taking older, vintage dresses and turning them into something new for new celebrations. It's really fun to see these kinds of family history be passed down and then updated for a new generation and new memories. Giving these dresses a new life. It reminds me of the pieces I made for last September's Fashion Night Out.

So with Oscar night and the party that went with it last weekend, I was inspired to revisit some old "reinvention projects" that have been neglected in my studio. (Going to a party is the best motivation.) This originally was a skirt sample that I got years ago when I freelanced at Jcrew, too pretty to decline even though it was 3 sizes too big. I opted to turn it into a dress, obviously...

(I'm not so photogenic these days...)

I did this once before with another skirt I got during the same time. This one I added the bodice to make the skirt into a dress. The beading and detail in this piece was too brilliant to turn down just because it was much too big. (The beading also made the idea of just fitting the skirt a very daunting task... much more fun to add a bodice and call it a dress!)

(You'd trust me at your wedding with a camera, wouldn't you?)

Brings the idea of recycling to a whole new level, yes?

More snow....

Yesterday it was about 8 degrees.

Weeks ago my sister and I were having this discussion, how do you dress to stay warm and still feel cute even when wearing long johns? I even read an article on the New York Times Fashion & Style page about how long johns are making a come back. But mostly it was talking about for men's wear. Doesn't really help me and my sister. I have a friend that designs long johns for women, from her stories, her sales people don't think people like us want well fitting, cute, long johns. I want to sign a petition that we do! She's a very talented designer, please let her design something awesome!

Dressing warm and feeling good is a pretty constant discussion in the winter (for me at least). And this winter in particular has been colder and snowing more then most of my New York life. Today it's a balmy 32 degrees and I'm watching big fluffy snow flakes falling outside my windows.

A couple of weeks ago, inspired by wearing something warm and not wearing pants, I made this heavy wool pencil skirt. I lined it in silk. So now my question is, where are the long johns that come just to my knees? What do you wear to stay warm?

(I promise I did not leave my house with bare legs.) (shoes by K* for Spring 11)

More Pants!

As I mentioned in November, my pants assignment is to make cute, warm winter pants. So here is the newest pair. (I have not yet mastered the art of photographing myself in clothes.) After finishing these, I was discussing the things I wanted to change with a couple of my design school friends and my friend Jenn suggested a correction that hit me like, "ohhh yeah!". Now I'm itching to make more, to see how these little tweaks will change the fit. (I love the experimenting part.)

Also, all these snow storms are a big inspiration for more winter clothes....

New year, new adventures...

(this image above is from the steam whistles at Pratt, it's a Brooklyn New Years tradition)

New years is my favorite holiday. Hands down. I like all of it, new years eve, new years day, new years resolutions.... What I love about it is it's so simple. It's just a celebration of time. One year is over and we're on to the next. It's the newness I love, like a new sketch book, the year and often in New York the city is all white and blank.

It makes me feel really optimistic. Also it's an excuse to make a new party dress.

So for this year, I'm making 2 sets of new years resolutions, 1 set for my life and 1 set for my studio. So far for my studio, my resolutions are to:

1) make more. and post more about what I'm making more of.

2) take on more projects that make me nervous, these projects always end up teaching me so much.

3) Try more of the "I'm not sure that will work" variety, just to see what will happen. (I think I started this one while working on my new years eve party dress. . .I'm still not sure what will happen with it.)

That's it. I like to keep the resolution list short, makes it all feel more achievable.

My parting thought, and maybe my mantra this year, is this:

I love this, I found it on pinterest, but it is actually from madebysean.com. It's right up there with my other favorite new poster, the "You will have your cake and eat it too" one my sister found on Esty.

I don't think these count as resolutions, maybe they are just reminders to do what I love and see what happens. I guess, in a nutshell, that is the resolution... to do more of what I love and see what happens...

Here's to a wonderful new year! cheers, xophae