A Pairing for Style Champions

It's amazing the kinds of things you discover as you slowly finish finals and have this weird thing called free time. Like today I had time to go to Style.com and check out more Resort 2011 and fell in love with Proenza Schouler's collection. Later, my browsing brought me to Osborn, a company that makes shoes out of recycled materials. And in a wacky and crazy turn of events, the two go together perfectly! Both include ethnic inspired prints (something included in my senior collection) and remind me of something you could buy in Tijuana... and I mean that in the best way possible.

Gorgeous Givenchy

One of my first looks at the Resort 2011 collections brought me to Givenchy. The limited color palette of black, red, white and leopard really drew me in and I actually think it made the interesting designs stand out more with those few colors. I especially loved the jodphur pants and sheer skirts.

Photos via Style.com

Doc Kitty

The search for adorable can stop here. Doc Martens and Sanrio are collaborating to create boots and mary janes with a Hello Kitty theme for Sanrio's 50th anniversary. Below is my favorite pair on the far left (and the ones I hope to get for my birthday) and the other two to the right of those:
Update: According to Fred Flare, they debut in September!

Nautical! Wu!

Hello all 7 of my readers! My posts have been few and far between and I apologize. But for those of you who love pretty nautical inspired clothing here is a treat for you! Jason Wu (you know, THAT GUY I MET LAST POST) designed an ADORABLE Resort 2011 collection and while some of it was part Mississippi riverboat inspired, my favorite was the sailor, red-white-and-blue garments. Here are my favorites for your viewing pleasure:

Nordstrom in April

Apparently, April is a big fashion month for the Nordstrom headquarters in Seattle. Not just on one occasion but on TWO occasions, Nordstrom hosted trunks shows and meet and greets with the designers. Here are the pictures below of who I met:

Above: Me giving Jason Wu my business card.... "Workin' it!"

Above: Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, me and Olivia.

Art Institute of Seattle "Wear in the World" Fashion Show 2010

It wasn't until today that I a) had time to write a blog post and b) got the pictures from my school's "Wear in the World" fashion show. On March 11, students from our Fashion Department participated in the Art Institute of Seattle's annual student fashion show. Last year, all I entered were purses, but this year I entered the best garments I've made yet: two menswear outfits and a dress I like to call "the Circus Tent." Here are the photos below:

All pictures by J. Andrew Towell

Boy by Band of Outsiders Goodness!

Dear Readers,
My apologies for not writing sooner, things like moving, finals and traveling overseas for the first time got in the way! I am writing to you from the Madrid Barajas airport (but I won’t be posting this until I’m back in Seattle because 5 euros is far too much to pay for half an hour of internet). I decided to take this time to write about one of my favorite collections from the Fall 2010 Fashion Week(s) and one of my favorite lines in general, Boy by Band of Outsiders. It seems to be that anything Band of Outsiders puts out be that Boy or otherwise, is always the most whimsical, wearable clothing. I also appreciate the fact that men and women’s outfits are oftentimes designed together and included in the same collection and that everything is very cohesive. In my opinion, cohesiveness in a line is one of the harder things for a designer to achieve. Two hours into an eight-hour layover would make you think about these things too!

The Fall 2010 line is very campy... As in this line seems to be inspired by the great outdoors and things you’d wear if you were at a very glamorous and fashion-conscious campsite. The skinny cut jeans have kneepads, the vests have cargo pockets and hoods and the fingerless gloves have tufts of fur on the knuckles. And while the designs are semi-utilitarian there is clearly an über-feminine feel. The heels and the colorful piece-dyed fur vest alone illustrate that well. The long sleeve tops resemble thermal underwear and the slacks remind me of men’s khakis and skinny hammer pants (a trend I now know the Spaniards love).

Anyway, here are the photos of my favorites, via Style.com as usual: