Urban Style, New York City Fashion

My current cruise ship is out of NYC and while running errands and wandering around I get the chance to see some interesting stuff. Here are a few photos I took while on a walk a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to share.



Macy's has some of the best window displays I've ever seen. Often they have displays in tribute the Broadway shows, but on this day they had Glee windows! The Nationals display above was my fave but I also liked how they were promoting regular clothing by showing it as the costumes from the show below:



After Macy's I went to Mood fabrics, my favourite fabric store in NYC. It's quite hard to find but well worth it if you're in the city. On the way I found this painting on the side of a building and thought it apt:



I like finding old signage particularly in cities like New York. I was having a costume and fashion filled day when finally I stumbled upon this display along Broadway:



Sidewalk Catwalk is an exhibition of fashion all the way along Broadway for all to see. Some pieces are more sculptural:



While others show actual clothing:



And others are just plain interesting:



I had three stand-out favourites of the pieces I came across. The first was a combination of natural fibres and traditional African style:



I like the odd use of materials and the exposure of the understructure. Though not necessarily actual fashion, Kenneth Cole's contribution is my second favourite:



Profound statement in the traditional black! Finally, my favourite of them all was this piece by Naeem Khan:



It is made from chain mail style metal links juxtaposed with an intricately embroidered body. The simple silver contrasts with the brightly coloured stitching on fine net:



I found the combination of soft and hard working together in this piece very interesting and was particularly taken with the pattern embroidered on the body. The colours are bright but not overpowering and work well with the silver of the metal.

I ♥ NYC!

Super Busy.... here's some embroidery!

So I've been super busy at work changing over casts and revamping shows.... I'll tell you more about that soon. But for now, here's some embroidery for you...

My Peacock shirt was inspired by the decorations around my current ship. The stage curtain in the theatre has a huge peacock appliquéd on to it and there are many paintings of peacocks dotted around the ship. There is one outside on the promenade deck that has it’s feathers shaped like hearts, which I really liked and decided to incorporate into my own design.

The blue shirt that I hand embroidered on to was given to me by one of my dancers, so I have given it a new lease of life with my design. I hand drew the design first, then marked the outline on the shirt using dressmakers carbon paper. I chose my colour scheme based on the colours you see on peacocks and that I thought brought out the blue of the shirt. Once I had finished the embroidery I added a few sequins to bring a little sparkle to the piece.

I think this is a simple but elegant piece that could be worn during the day with jeans, or dressed up with some accessories.

Beer Adventures...

Until about two years ago I didn't drink beer. I didn't like the stuff, you couldn't make me! Then, as with many things in life, I met a guy and that changed! He refused to buy me fruity drinks in the crew bar of our ship and introduced me to San Adams... and my love affair with beer began!

On my travels I have had the chance to try a lit of good and not so good beers. The New England/Canada run is the best for this, having been dubbed the Beer Adventure Run by my friends and I. To commemorate my achievements in beer drinking I wanted to make something that showed off all the beers I had tried.... and so the Beer Cap Belt was born!

I've been collecting beer caps since last October and I think I still need some more. This is going to be a continual work in progress as I find more beers that I like and want to show off the caps!

I started by laying out the caps in the order that I wanted to sew them. I cut out a strip of black denim, rescued from a pair of jeans I had used for another project.

Once I had an order I liked I used pliers to fold out the edges of the caps so I had something to Shisha around to attach them to the belt... yes, I shisha stitched every one!

Shisha stitching however pulled the fabric in more than I had planned so I may have to add another section... but that just means I have room for more caps!

The fastening is a button and a piece of chain currently, but I'm on the look out for something different... I just haven't found what I like yet...

And so, here it is! My beer cap belt! I love it!!!

American Woman

While I was in New York I made a visit to the Metroplitan Museum of Art. I went to see their latest exhibition - American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity. If you are in the area I urge you to go see this exhibition. It celebrates the addition of the costume collection, formerly housed at the Brooklyn Museum, to the Met. There are some beautiful pieces on display including my favourite - a rare sweater from 1895 with mutton sleeves!

The exhibition shows clothing from the 1890s to the 1940s displaying them in 'character' groups It begins with the heiress which consists of evening gowns made by French designers, the most famous and prominent being the House of Worth. I took the time to sketch my favourite gown from 1900 - lavender silk satin with lace and tulle sporting a wheat-ear embroidery decorated with beads sequins and rhinestones.

Next came the Gibson Girls with their leg of mutton sleeves and practical linens. I particularly liked a bathing suit in this section that was very nautical in style. Next came the Bohemians with their floating gowns and art deco patterns. One dress dated 1909-11 from France used strands of beads in sections for decoration.

The Suffragists and Patriots were next. I want to research further the buttons and ribbons worn by the Suffragists. Their united colours of gold, purple, white and green and later purple, white and gold interest me and I would like to incorporate it into my work some how. There were several gorgeous beaded flapper dresses to follow. Those dresses are so intricate but so delicate that I hope my $20 donation will go towards properly storing them when the exhibition is over. The final section of the exhibition was dedicated to screen sirens. This section was full of what I consider true American style. Slinky satin dresses cut in the bias with twists and pleats to emphasis the figure. My favourite was by a costume designer called Travis Banton from the movie Limehouse Blues. The gown is a combination of a Chinese cheongsam with a high collar and side opening and a Belle Epoque era dress with a train. It features a huge dragon motif made of gold and silver sequins that sweeps from the neck all the way down to the train.

My only complaint about this exhibition was the wigs used on the mannequins. I am used to displays that have period correct wigs or representations of such. These were not period correct, nor did I think they were even well executed. I expected more of the Met in this department but for the most part it didn't distract from the gorgeous costumes on display.

Go see it - find out more at the Met website here

Busy Busy Busy!!

I know, I know, I missed Share the Handmade Love on Wednesday! It's been madness around here. Ever since I got back to my ship it's been non-stop! I've been learning the ropes of working with the Nickelodeon costume characters and doing their slimy laundry (don't ask!) and after only 48 hours on the ship I had my hand up SpongeBob's butt!! I had to fix a snap, ok?!

The Nickelodeon stuff is a lot of fun actually. We have Meet & Greets and breakfasts and live shows. One (with the slime) is a full gameshow in our theatre which the kids love. There's a lot of laundry, but not more than I can handle and it's interesting to look after a different type of costume. That's a new special skill on my resume!!

In other news this week I got my first custom order! I'm very excited to be making a belt for the daughter of my new friend Deezie. They liked the belts in my Etsy store but they were all too big for her daughter, so I'm making her a custom one based on my Rock Belt (see it here). In honour of the occasion, here's one of my other belts!

I wanted to create another belt like my Rock Belt and originally wanted to make something a bit more feminine and floral. I used an old pair of jeans that one of my dancers had left for me and was thinking I would embroider on the denim outside with flowers, vines and butterflies. I tried sketching out some ideas but nothing looked right to me. I then discovered as I cut the waistband off the jeans, that the inside of this pair was lined with a white fabric printed with a floral pattern! I decided to follow this pattern and let the design develop organically, excuse the pun!! I started by hand embroidering over the flower shapes in the print with colours I consider to be floral – more pretty and subdued than vibrant, but bright nonetheless. I considered sewing butterflies and other gardeny items on to the belt but it didn’t feel right. I went for the simple approach and just used the original flowers as the focus. I added green vines to anchor the flowers to something, instead of leaving them floating on the belt. I added green beads to represent leaves and green buttons to continue the natural theme.

This a very feminine piece and will look good with outfits in pastel or pale colours – maybe for a wedding or a garden party?!

This belt is currently available in my Etsy Store here