New York Fashion Week: Day 1

Let me be the first one to apologize to you all for not keeping up with the blog entries. It's not like we have a huge subscribed readers or anything but I have been feeling really guilty lately for not posting anything in awhile. It took me quite a long time to get motivated to finish some drafts but I needed the perfect balance between juggling school, work, and some private stuff that always seems to go on. I am really serious about this blog and I truly enjoy blogging, meeting new people, and the feeling of constant connect with the fashion world as well as inspiring new things in life for me. The saying, "Learn Something New Everyday", sometimes come off redundant when it's like everyone's favorite quote but sometimes, you do learn new things everyday subconsciously, unnoticed and when you recollect your memories and list the things you learned everyday, it's like the most satisfied feeling ever and that itself is inspiring.

I've been staying here in the East Village in New York with one of my friends, Bri, who attends Parson's Fashion Design School. Everywhere I looked and turned, it was like a picture or out of a movie. Bri said to me,

"Sometimes, I walk down the streets of New York and I'm like, wow... I'm in New York."

Everyday for her is a new excitement. She loves not sleeping at all and chilling with her fellow Parson's artist-in-training's. She loves walking to her school buildings miles away in her 6 inch heels every morning. She loves being surrounded by artistically talented and intellectual people that share the same interests. She loves going vintage shopping and going to central park. It was very apparent that she's in love with the city.

New York is so personal to me. It's personal and subjective. It carries different meanings for everyone. It smells different to everyone. It might reek of dumpsters and sewage. It might reek of rats and their shit. It might stink of piss and it might stink of cigarettes or it might carry a sweet scent. Scent of fashion. Scent of happiness. Scent of success, opportunities, or even love.

It might be weird to declare this now, but for the first time... I witnessed a "love at first sight".

I remember landing in New York in awe. Speechless. Empire state building, the brooklyn bridge, was I dreaming? I told the couple sitting next to me to pinch me. They just laughed. I belonged here.

Meet Stefant.

Name: Stefant Phonthephasone

School: University of Texas at Austin

Major: Textiles and Apparel Design

Wearing: Forever 21 Shirt, Buffalo Exchange Pants, Buffalo Exchange Jewelry, Shoes from Guess, Bag from Calvin Klein

Hi!

Wearing: Hat from Buffalo Exchange, GAP Denim Jacket, J. Crew Shirt, American Apparel Leggings, Boots from friend's deceased dad, Bag from Forever 21, Target scarf, and Emporio Armani watch.

View from Bri's dorm room!

Fashionable Parson's Kids

Bri, Stefant and I!

We would end up here...

GustOrganics

Rojitos and a pack of cigarettes that costed us $13! to end the night.

The organic pizza was AMAZING and to die for.

Day 1 was a success.

-Kaidon

Day 14, Person 14

Sorry for the delay in posts! Life gets busy sometimes with the advent of fall festivities, but I promise to be more on top of my blogging in the upcoming months.

I know we have a post for Austin Fashion Week, but why not feature one of those people as part of my project? It's true. Everyone I talked to had a really successful story to tell me, but one person in particular caught my attention.

Meet Lori Humphrey.



Wearing: F21 shirt; Joe's jeans; Shanghai bracelet

In all honesty, Lori was one of the first people I noticed at the mixer. There was something about her that drew me in. I didn't talk to her until near the end because I was too intimidated. Much to my surprise, she was anything but intimating. Confident? Yes. But intimidating? No. You know one of those people you meet who are so down-to-earth that you can't help but wonder why he/she is talking to you? Well, she's one of those. And you know what's even weirder? I felt a strange familiarity when talking to her. A big part of who she is as a person is who I want to be when I am older and more self-aware.

So what's her story? She makes designer aprons and has a website called Apring Allure . One day, her grandmother brought out aprons, and Lori knew that she wanted to design aprons. Essentially, her aprons are like "lingerie for the kitchen." In fact, her apron collection reminds me of the Dinner Party by Judy Chicago. My art teacher and mentor in high school told me about the plate collection when I used to design clothing in high school. Like each of Judy's plates, each of Lori's aprons represents something different. While Judy's plates represent important women in history, Lori's aprons are a little more personal. I think it's really cool when ordinary people take ordinary things and turn them into extraordinary art. I used to want to make a collection of pillows - each representing a different designer. Who knows. Maybe one day it will happen for me too?

What makes me admire Lori so much more is the fact that she used to work for the Chris Cole School in Austin. Before she could help blind people, she was blindfolded for several weeks. Lori was dropped off somewhere downtown Austin and had to find her way to specific places using the Austin bus system. Personally, I don't think I could do something like this. Even though I want to help people, I think it takes a less selfish me to do what Lori did. At times, Lori experienced sad days and sometimes experienced happy days. One time, everyone had to sit around in a circle and share their stories. Lori remembers one story in particular. A golfer lost his sight after taking a medication that burned his retina. To Lori, life is about buidling relationships. And ... you know what? I can't put it any better. I guess that's why I do this whole blog project with my two partners. I want to meet different people and learn different stories. Most of all, I think it's really cool when people from different backgrounds pursue art.

-Mary

Austin Fashion Week Mixer

I'm the type of a person who doesn't have any knowledge of business or concept of money, and yes I had a hard time adjusting to this so called college life. If I have a 20 dollar bill in my pocket, it would definitely be gone in matter of an hour on useless things. According to a personality test that i was forced to take by my management professor, I'm just an impulsive person who genuinely enjoys life and appreciates the meaning of life altogether, which I agree one hundred percent, but it comes with consequences. If i were to own a brand, don't I at least need to a little bit of knowledge about this dog-eat-dog world?

University of Texas at Austin allows non-McComb's students to minor in business with a certificate program called Business Foundations.

( Isn't our business school like pretty up there in ranking?)

WHAT AN AMAZING OPPORTUNITY.

I mean, it only helps the fact that my Fashion Design degree plan has 4 out of 5 classes we need to take in order for me to receive the certificate but I am learning so much about the business world that I was never even interested in. One thing both of my marketing and management professors emphasized on is net working. During the Austin Fashion Week Mixer, Mary and I met so many local people that were into different businesses and it was quite nice talking to them about the fashion industry and share each other's ideas and about their lives in general. What else would you call this than net working?

I'm excited what other people we're going to run into in the future.

Meet Shristi Devu,

CLASSY. OVERSIZED. RAVE.

Name: Shristi Devu

School: University of Texas at Austin

Major: Biology Pre-Med

Wearing: Rompers from Wish ( Local Austin Boutique ), OVer the Shoulder from BCBG Generation and Shoes from Urban Outfitters

Current Obsession: Stereo Love by Edward Maya and Thai Tea from Coco's Cafe

Shristi's ultimate goal in life is to figure out what her goal is.

Meet Martha,

SASSY. POLISH. COLORFUL.

Name: Martha Lynn Barnes

Occupation: Hairstylist/Make-up Artist at Luxe Apothetique

Wearing: Dress from Urban Outfitters, Shoes from Nordstrom, sunglasses from Raybans

Current Obsession: scarves, Blue toe nail polish, People

Martha wants to own a salon in Austin to make the fashion industry more inclusive. Check out her website! marthalynnbarnes.com.

Meet Nicole,

SPUNKY. FUNNY. LOVING.

Name: Nicole

Occupation: GSDM Advertising Agency

Alma Mater: Vanderbilt University in Advertising

Wearing: Dress from Urban Outfitters ($10), Boots from Suculence.

Current Obsession: Tim Delger

Meet Tim,

A. REAL. MAN.

Name: Tim Delger

Occupation: Art Director at GSDM

Alma Mater: University of North Texas in Communication Design

Current Obsession: Beer (I always have a beer in my hand).

Wearing: Shirt from Club Monacco, Belt from Dillard's, Jeans from Imogen and Nelly (Custom Made), Shoes from Gilt Groupe.

Meet Ivy and Jonathan (left to right),

Name: Ivy Kim

Occupation: Hairstylist

Website: www.redhairsalonaustin.com

Wearing: Dress from Forever 21, Bag from BEBE.

Name: Jonathan Reyes

Occupation: Photographer

Website: www.flickr.com/lustrephotography

Meet Kellie,

QUIET. FUN. INDEPENDENT.

Name: Kellie, Lewis

Occupation: Fashion Designer

Website: www.material-clothing.com

Current Obsession: high waisted shorts, Vintage, whatever fabric she's working with (pattern/colors)

leopard

I've never been too into animal print, but this leopard is just really catching my eye lately. I went to the mall today with Kaidon and we saw so many leopard things from belts to jackets to shirts. I feel like leopard has always been around, but it's just now getting noticed. Leopard is definitely going to be one of the hottest trends for this fall.