My winter break...

I’ll be spending 5 days in London and 5 days in Paris :) I’m beyond myself with excitement, not only to be visiting these two cities, but I have the most amazing itinerary. The trip I am going on is a “Fashion Study Tour” through my University, and I will have the opportunity to meet and network with designers and industry professionals in both cities.

In London, we will be visiting Liberty, the department store, we will meet Arantza Vilas, designer for Pinaki Studios, visit the Vivienne Westwood shop and see the current collection for men and women red label of the most inspirational English designer, followed by a visit of Stella McCartney’s & Matthew Williamson’s shops, and we will tour the Rei Kawakaba Dover Street market.

While in Paris, we will meet Prudence, hat designer for Vivienne Westwood, Yves Saint Laurent, Julian MacDonald, and Biba, we will visit the Zandra Rhodes shop, we will visit and tour Versailles, we will visit L’Eclaireur an exclusive, top-of-the-range store and show room for new designers marrying fashion, decoration and design. L’Eclaireur is a real stepping stone for stylists and designers, showcasing a range of international designers such as Ann Demeulemeester, Comme des Garçons, Giorgio Brato, Martin Margiela, Dries van Noten… We will also have a private guided tour of the Louis Vuitton Museum as well as Musée de la Mode et du Textile, and what I am most excited for, we will tour the Yves Saint Laurent archives

I can't wait! I will be sure to take an abundance of pictures :)

A.W. SS2011

T by Alexander Wang SS2011

Another fabulous example of minimalism. Wang incorporates draping, neutrals, and varied hemlines to create another wonderful collection. T is a diffusion line from Wang's main brand, however does not try to "cheapen" itself from its high-end counterpart. T is simple, comfortable, street wear with a touch of luxury.

throwback of the day

Cristobal Balenciaga, House of Balenciaga, evening dress circa 1957

Sasha Pivovarova/Miles Aldridge/ 2005

looking for...

...inspiration for my line

while it's still fall...

I MUST make these!

(via http://gimmesomeoven.com/apple-cider-cups/)

I love apple cider and these just look so adorable!

Not to mention you can eat the apple when you're done :)

this and that

My favorite class of the semester has been my apparel design class, as that is ultimately what I’d like to do with my life. I find the class challenging in that the purpose of the class is to be able to translate design ideas through sketching. I prefer illustration and always seem to find myself behind because I take so much time on my sketches.

For my most recent project, I decided to design a line of non-traditional wedding gowns and bridal wear. My design motifs will include romanticism and femininity, using lace, beading, sheer flowy fabrics, draping, and touches of pinks, peach, and muted turquoise. Rather than designing veils for my brides, I decided to design a line of floral headpieces, accented with beading and feathers. (Sketches will be up soon)

This is drastically different than the direction I chose for my first design project of the semester, where I used military uniforms as my inspiration and used a fusion of women’s wear and men’s wear pieces.

AND IN OTHER REALLY EXCITING NEWS: I’m going to Europe this January! I will be spending five days in London and five days in Paris as part of a Fashion Study Tour through my University. While in London, we will visit Prudence, a millinery designer for couture houses, Harvey Nichols Department store, we will participate in a workshop with Zandra Rhodes, Visit Kensington Palace to see Princess Diana's gowns, as well take a walking tour of the city

While in Paris, we will visit the Yves St. Laurent Archives, view the Alain LaLou bridal collection, Musee de la Mode et du Textile (Vionnet exhibit), Louvre Museum, Orsay Museum, Edelkoort fashion forecasting, and take a day trip to Versailles Palace and Grounds.

It will definitely be the trip of a lifetime and an amazing opportunity to meet people in the industry over seas.

CFDA Fashion Fund Awards

Favorites from the night:

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

Kim Kardashian in Zac Posen with the Man himself

Carey Mulligan in Chanel

Leighton Meester in runner-up Prabal Gurung's design

covet

those shoes.

a few more from olivia gird

I previewed some shots from my most recent photoshoot with Olivia Gird in a recent post, however I received the rest of them in the mail the other day! Olivia was a joy to work with, and conveyed so well the mood I was hoping for when I chose Black Point as our location, and as I selected the wardrobe. She was so laid back and encouraging in her direction.

Working with photographers like Olivia is always a pleasure, because she involved me in the creative process of choosing a location and wardrobe, and basically let me tell her the types of shots I wanted out of our shoot.

Lanivn for H&M

What a wonderful thing for fashionistas on a budget! The beauty and luxury of Lanvin designs at a lower and much more affordable price point. The collaboration was announced in September and the line recently revealed last week. The line will be in stores on November 20th.

The line is decadent, colorful, and whimsical. Every dress is a statement piece, and the men's pieces are classic and sharp.

Paris Spring 2011

My favorite trends seen on the Paris runways for Spring 2011 are minimalism, and androgynous styles a la Balenciaga. It is obvious that Nicolas Ghesquiere was very diligent in choosing models that represented the aesthetic he hoped to achieve. He opened the show with models all dawning short, boyish pixie cuts to compliment the menswear inspired pieces he put down the runway. Style.com described the line as "teddy boy-meets-punk masculinity". I was also captivated by the large, plasticized houndstooth graphics, which are not characteristic of a spring line. It was thrilling to see a full range of flats and boots down the runway, especially those reminiscent of Doc Martins.

My second favorite line was the Lanvin Spring 2011, where designer Alber Elbaz employs an aesthetic of minimalism. He uses colors such as charcoal, browns, greens, nudes, and muted blues, however added pops of bright jewel tones mid-show. You also saw long, ankle-length hems which seem to be big this season. Elbaz made this minimalistic approach work for him through sleek tailoring, mixing textures, hard, edgy metallic accessories, and tiny pleats which addes dimension and flow to the fabrics a la Fortuny.

Back to the blogging world

Hello there! I'm back to the blogging world with a quick outfit post. I recently styled a photoshoot I did with local RI photographer Olivia Gird. We venture out onto the rocks of Black Point, located right next to Scarborough Beach. The look we were going for was rustic with a 60's vibe.

Dress: H&M, Denim shirt: American Eagle, Scarf: Vintage, Thrifted, Boots: Vintage, Purchased from Static Vintage, San Francisco

Ring: Forever 21, Turquoise Bracelet: Vintage, Other Two Bracelets: Express

It's been quite some time since I've updated Rock Paper Fashion, however I plan to be updating frequently from now on, cheers

oh hello, blog

So sorry I've been neglecting you :( My work schedule this summer has been taking a serious toll on my blogging time, but I'm back! And hope to keep it this way!

In recent news, I've been working as a sales associate at Express! The job is actually really fun, and I get to be around beautiful clothes all day :) With my new employment, came a great discount!

My favorite new purchase was this short sleeved military shirt dress:

V

It fits wonderfully and the buttons and details are beautiful.

In other news, I had the opportunity to work with another great photographer by the name of Todd Arena. My wardrobe was super simple, just a black short sleeved dress from target and some black and gold gladiators. Here are some of my favorite pics from the shoot:

chung at the cfda's

Totally diggin' Alexa in this Marc Jacobs dress at the CFDA's...Not a lot of people can pull off this nude color but just something about the combination of her hair color and skin tone and eye color and overall coolness just make it oh so right

modern day snow white

The Disney princess and my own personal childhood icon was my inspiration for this latest sketch.  I was inspired by her color palette, using blue as the bodice and yellow for the skirt.  I deviated away from red to avoid using all the primary colors, using a vibrant magenta to create a sort of inverted peplum at her waist.  I envisioned the skirt being very light yet voluminous, and would probably make it in some type of tulle.

I'm thinking about doing a series of sketches inspired by the Disney princesses, so if you have any requests you'd like to see feel free to leave a comment :)

brian reyes f2010rtw

Love this suit in Brian Reyes Fall 2010 Ready To Wear collection.

It's so sleek and chic, and I love the large rounded shoulders.

Alexander McQueen Kimono Jacket

Finished at last! The whole jacket took me about 30 hours in total.  It was definitely a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be and the directions were no help at all.  They were totally ambiguous and didn't even tell you how many pieces of each pattern piece were needed!  This project required extensive internet research and I gathered a lot from the trials and errors of other internet bloggers who have attempted this project.  You can find the pattern here and if anyone if up to the challenge I'd gladly answer any questions you may have :)

Ruthie Davis Shoe Exhibit

I had the wonderful opportunity to go see the Ruthie Davis Shoe Exhibit, currently being shown in the Museum of American Art in New Britain, Connecticut.  The shoes were out of this world amazing.  Davis grew up here in Connecticut, and returned home to showcase many of her high-fashion heels, that warrant the title of wearable art in themselves.  Her designs have graced the feet of celebrity clients such as Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Katy Pery, Hilary Duff, Penelope Cruz, Rihanna, Michelle Williams, Avril Lavigne, Maria Bello, Lauren Conrad, Whitney Port, and Kim Kardashian.

Davis began her career in footwear at Reebok, where she became the Director of the Reebok Classic Division.  Her experience in sportswear has had an evident influence on her shoe designs today.  Many of her designs use bright vibrant blocks of color, and one pair entitled "Skipper" from the Spring/Summer 2010 collection, use laces as an aesthetic element. After Reebok, Davis moved on to become the Vice President of Design and Marketing at UGG Australia in California.

She launched her Ruthie Davis brand in 2006 to great success.  Davis' shoes use an alluring combination of color, futurism, embellishment, architecture, and height; many heels being 6 inches or greater.  Davis uses a platform in many of her shoes which decreases the pitch of the shoe and making them much easier and more comfortable to wear because your foot is at less of an angle.

You can check out Ruthie Davis' website here and her blog here :) And don't forget to check out the exhibit while you can!  It will be in New Britain's Museum of American Art until the middle of June.

out for lunch

I went out to lunch today with my grandmother, mom, and sister, to Apricots, my all time favorite restaurant.  We sat outside under a large white tent right on the Farmington River

Floral tunic: Forever 21, Leggings: Target, Boots: Old Navy