Motorcycle Style

Marlon Brando in "The Wild One" (1953)

Paul Teutul Sr., Founder of OCC

Bikers. Beautiful, tough. Disturbing yet intriguing.  Their edge drives us crazy. Do you dare approach or will you admire from afar? Whatever you decide you can definitely draw inspiration from motorcycle biker style if you so choose! You will also earn points for learning to work with leather as your fabric. Start your biker inspired designs by making a simple doo rag. Then go from there.
While we are on the topic of motorcycles - Become a fan on Orange County Choppers Facebook page and submit your application to become the Creative Director on Paul Teutul's new TV series on CMT. Don't be shy! You have nothing to lose. Not even the cost of postage since you will submit your resume to the Orange County Choppers email address. Imagine having your resume read by the head honcho of the number one producer of custom motorcycles in the world! If you are in the Newburgh, NY area in the U.S.A. be sure to stop by the OCC Cafe for delicious food and good fun. Don't miss Karaoke Thurdsay!

January 2012 motorcycle calendar babe Jessica / Kawasaki Z1000

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*You must be a legal U.S. resident to apply
**Potential employment through Orange County Choppers, Inc.

If you are in the Newburgh, NY area in the U.S.A. be sure to stop by the OCC Cafe for delicious food and good fun. Don't miss Karaoke Thurdsay!

Elizabeth Taylor Auction at Christies through Friday

Gingham is in for Spring 2012!

Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry grossed an incredible $115,000,000 yesterday at Christie's Auction House - and the sale is not over yet! Although the necklace known as "La Peregrina" given to her by twice husband Richard Burton sold for 11.8 million - setting a world record - you will find that some of the items at the online only auction are quite reasonable.  Taylor's 1970s gingham skirt by Valentino for example is only 300 dollars at the time of this post. Until Friday you have a chance to obtain items once owned by Elizabeth Taylor either by attending the live auctions at Christies or by bidding on items through the online auction.  Don't delay; view her designer jewelry, clothing, accessories, interior decor and memorabilia. Perhaps you will venture to make a bid to own a piece of American movie star history, or at least some of Liz' belongings that didn't quite make it to the big tag sale. A portion of the proceeds from the Auction will be donated to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

Liz' style was hit or miss. 

Earning a Living with What you Love

A dilemma you will face as you start to sell your designs is pleasing yourself vs. pleasing your customers.  When you began you delved into your work.  Maybe you didn't consider the economics of your production process. You paid too much for fabric because you "just loved it" or spent hours intuitively sewing stuff together, creating and enjoying yourself.  Maybe sometimes you even flubbed up bigtime, a yard or two of fabric wasted. With a sigh you chalked it up to experience and moved on. You didn't have to answer to anyone. Then maybe you decided to open a little online Etsy shop -- "Just to see what happens."  You got a sale or two -- your confidence surged and why not?  Someone thought your design was nice and was willing to pay for it!  Some of us stop here.  We sell something occasionally to supplement our incomes.  But even at this level the dilemma starts. You still don't have to answer to anyone but yourself, you still only design when inspired. But as you turn what you love into a business you must start to consider your target market, what will sell, your marketing approach, analyze the response to your ads , customer service, customer complaints, etc... While the internet has certainly leveled the playing field in most industries earning a living with your art is hard work. At the point where a designer begins to consider the financial feasibility of his work artistic compromise is necessary and will be from now on until you reach the ranks of Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen or Gianni Versace.

The Sociology of Fashion

Masai Warrior  istockphoto.com/DenGuy

In a fashion school one of the core courses is, or should be, sociology. There should at least be a course that touches upon the sociology of fashion addressing the issue of, "Why do people dress?" To jump from that and how it applies to a career in fashion design is simple. Why would people want to dress in YOUR clothes? The space in between is merely marketing. To sell clothes you market to the socio-psychological reasons why people dress in the first place.

Why do people dress?

One answer might be: "Because they are cold."  That´s a good answer. Long ago, man learned to stay warm on chilly prehistoric nights by crawling under a leftover animal hide. Perhaps at some point he realized that by tying strips of skin together his fur blanket stayed on better. But that does not explain why he began to carve bone, antlers and ivory into adornments. Why at some point did primitive peoples divide into a diversity of cultures with tattoos (a form of dress within the skin), scarring rituals (a form of dress from within to the outside), hairstyles, piercing or other body modifications, body and face painting, nail designs, traditional clothing and perfume? Yes, even perfume is considered a non-visual "form of dress".  Fashion is the more recent phenomena of cultural dress. Occasionally a classic will emerge, such as bluejeans or the little black dress.  For the most part fashion is everchanging, sometimes at ridiculous rates, not static as is the case of traditional cultural dress. 
There are several established focuses in fashion theory as to what creates fashion. These are based in the social sciences - anthropology, sociology, psychology - as well as cultural studies and history. 

• Modern Anthropological: Man posesses an innate instinctual propensity for adornment and dress.
• Protection:  Clothing choices change based on extremes in weather conditions.
• Modesty: To cover sexual organs. To avoid sexual attention from the opposite sex.
• Sexual Attraction, Seduction:  People dress to seduce a mate.
• Zeitgeist : Fashion responds to social and political change. The miniskirt for example or the bra burning protests of the 1960s.
• Trickle-Down: Fashion develops in the upper classes and the lower classes aspire to it.
• Trickle-Across: Fashion develops in any of the social classes and transports to the others.
• Anti-fashion: Dress which is indifferent to or explicitly contrary to the popular fashion. This often cancels itself out when a rebellious style of dress becomes popular and thus becomes "fashionable".
• Symbolic Communication:  Dress to send a message about how you feel or who you are.
• Postmodern: Man defines and redefines himself through dress in order to survive in a metropolis.

The Harvard University paper, Why the Devil Wears Prada:  The Fashion Formation Process talks about some of these. My personal view is that first theory, the modern anthropological theory is the precursor to all the others. And that these are all true. Fashion is merely a western world term for an industry which is created out of man´s most innate instincts to "fill in blanks". At some point in the evolution of man from ape a desire to fill in blank spaces developed. They drew on cave walls (home decor?), they covered themselves, they pierced and adorned and tattooed. Psychological and biological spaces needed filling as well as physical ones and all these were expressed in their form of dress  All forms of art and engineering and rituals spring from there.

 Interesting Resources:

The Berg Fashion Library
Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion

The Berg Companion to Fashion
Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body and Culture

"I love fashion. I just don´t like the way it´s presented."

This is a quotation by Wendy Hicks artist/photographer. I wish I had thought of such a poignant thing to say. Fashion is an industry that is full of creativity, fun, excitement, beauty as well as a wonderful platform for psychological, sociological and anthropological observation throughout the world and throughout history. But we can do our part to make the industry better by being ethical designers.

Hear Wendy´s podcast at the "Endangered Species" conference that took place in London. In her work "Fashioning Inspirations" she took average people and airbrushed them to look like they would in a fashion advertisement.

Here is an article in newspaper from her hometown of Suffolk England  East Anglian Daily Times;  Fashion´s Altered Images.  And her Fashioning Inspirations exhibit.

Entry Level Jobs in the Fashion Industry

See section Fashion Careers on this blog.

Designing clothing is only one of many careers in fashion.

One thing I´ve observed about the fashion industry is that there are really no "rules" to getting in.  Obviously going to fashion school is one place to start and will offer opportunities for getting a foot in.  Marketing and social sciences such as sociology, anthropology and psychology are excellent base courses and are actually required courses in the serious design schools. A basic grasp of Euclidean and of projective geometry is of great assistance for transferring design ideas into clothing through patternmaking. You can also get some insight into the fashion industry from reality shows like "Project Runway," "Running In Heels," "America´s Next Top Model". "The Devil Wears Prada" is a must-see movie as is Isaac Mizrahi's 1995 movie "Unzipped." In fact, a look into Mr. Mizrahi's career over the past 20 years or so is something to be admired.  Not because he chooses to pander to an often cruel and supercilious industry but because he chooses to "take it or leave it" and does so with such dignity.

Backstage at a fashion runway show.

Here are some tips:

• Before deciding on any school, fashion or otherwise, make sure it is accredited by an agency recognized by U.S. Department of Education (ED).  Also do a search on the internet for how to avoid post-secondary school scams, university scams and online school scams.  There are a LOT of scams, especially now that the internet has made it so easy. Just because a school claims to be accredited means absolutely nothing unless the accrediting agency is recognized by ED.  If the school is in a country other than the U.S.A. do your research. There must be similar agencies to the ED there as well.
•  Try to work at a clothing store, a big department store is best.  Entry level jobs are usually as a sales attendant. The pay is low, perhaps commission-based; and the hours can be grueling.  You may also have to deal with demanding, sometimes downright rude, customers.  (Remain professional, this is a taste of what is to come in a "dog-eat-dog" industry). But this is a great job for someone who wants to see a bit of everything.  Fashion merchandising, marketing, publicity, trends.  If you are able to stick it out you might eventually get promoted to managerial or buyer´s position. 
• Check out websites of various designers and fashion magazines, many have an "Apply for Internship" link. Requirements to be accepted into an internship program vary but most ask that you either have a college degree or be currently enrolled in a college or university. 
• Many clothing or department stores hire extra sales help before Thanksgiving on temporary contracts to work through the high sales season.  Nice way to try it out and see if you would eventually be interested in long term work.
• No matter what job in fashion you end up in, knowing the basics of patternmaking, sewing, knitting, crochet, weaving, how textiles are produced and all those other "crafty" things will make you better at your job.  To write a fashion column for example, you should know what goes into making a garment. Then you will know how "good" or "bad" it truly is.
• Take a few classes in sewing or fashion design at a local community center or college before diving head first into a big investment.  If you are still in high school this is the perfect way to see if it is just a passing interest or if you will be in for the long haul.  People are sometimes disillusioned when they enroll in an expensive fashion school and then realize it is a lot different than they thought it would be.
• See more information on Clothing Design, Fashion School and Fashion Careers for links and resources about the fashion industry.

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Photos:
Fashion Model Fitting Clothes by Professional Designer Woman; istockphoto.com/CandyBoxPhoto

Model Taking a Break; istockphoto.com/Dr Bubbles

The Importance of Darts

Now that we have learned a bit about darts and the slash and spread method of transfering them from one place to another. You can begin experimenting and rotating them around on your own! There will be future videos on Fettuccinetube with tutorials on dart transfers; but don´t wait for me to get around to uploading them. Forge ahead on your own if you feel like!  There is wonderful free information on the internet on this topic.  Here is a series of short explanations on the different dart configurations that give some great insight.  Fashion Dart Variations by Laurel Armstrong. 

The main concept in creating dart variations is to transfer or convert them. What you remove from one part of the garment needs to be made up for in another part. You can divide one dart into two little ones for example or you can lump two darts together into one, convert a dart into a seam etc... Newspaper is my favorite paper to use for experimenting and creating new designs.

How to Transfer a Shoulder Dart

See  "how-to" videos:

  Draft a Basic Bodice,  Convert Bodice into Blouse,  Rotate a Shoulder Dart

History of Fashion

To be a clothing designer it is VERY useful to understand the history of fashion and how new trends and styles develop.  Here is a link to the BBC archives to see videos of how fashions developed from the  . Watch these videos to gain insight and understanding on how to predict what will be "in" and what will be "out".  Fashion, is a sign of the times, often reflected in what is going on politically, and esthetically in the culture.  Only occasionally is a new style developed based on what a particular celebrity although many times they are the first to use a new style. 

"This unusual collection of programmes reveals what it took to be stylish through over 250 years of British history as it explores fashion from 1720 to 1982."  View Videos

Be a Part of the First Annual Fettuccinetube Fashion Show!

This is an invitation to all of my viewers on my YouTube channel Fettuccinetube to take part in my 1st "Fettuccinetube Annual Fashion Show". Simply send a 10 to 20 second video of yourself (or a friend) modeling one of your own creations. I will create a montage of all the videos and set it to some hip music. If you already are a member of YouTube you can simply respond to my latest video with your video clip. Otherwise send the video clip to me at my email address: fabianna@msn.com (be careful when spelling "fabianna", there are TWO "n"s).

1. If you don´t know how to sew yet then there is still time! The deadline to get your videos in is October 31st, 2009. Enough time to watch my tutorial videos and time leftover to create your entry! This is NOT a contest. Your creaton will be shown regardless of you level of expertise.

2. In the interest of keeping the video to under 10 minutes, please limit your entry to ONE video per designer. You MAY model several creations in the one clip.

3. Make sure your creation stands out from the items that are NOT made by you. For example if you make a blouse, pair it with a plain, basic, unassuming pair of pants. If you make a pant, use a plain, blouse or t-shirt so that it does not detract from YOUR item.

4. In my video fashion show, you will be given full credit for your design. Please include your name when you send your video, either said verbally in the video itself, or in an email along with your video. If I don´t receive your name I will use your YouTube Channel name or your email address in the credits.

5. If you have an Etsy Shop or other shop on the internet please include that. I will post the name of your shop as well. However, in the interest of keeping the final montage video streamlined DO NOT post your own text into your video clip.

6. Please merely film your model walking to the camera twirling around and walking away. You may use any style of walk you would like based on the "message" your creation is trying to send.

7. For now the creations are limited only to SEWN creations, however, if response is low I will open up the requests for knit and crochet items as well. Jewelry will be considered ONLY as an accessory to one of the clothing designs. Not as a main item.

8. Please do not be intimidated if you see exquisitely made items in my video response section. I have advertised the Fettuccinetube Fashion Show on other sewing sites and craft sites so there may be some entries by professional designers as well. If there are extreme differences as far as level of expertise in the entries I will probably do a Part 1 for beginners and a part 2 for more advanced sewers. You will not look "bad".

9. My intention is to leave the "comments" section open for the Fashion Show. Unfortunately that will also leave the participants open to the "YouTube Hecklers". I will, of course monitor the comments as closely as I can to try to keep them under control, however, please be prepared for mean comments just in case. It is practice for when you get into the sometimes cruel fashion industry, where a 5´10, 120 pound model is SOMETIMES considered "too fat".

10. If you yourself are one of the "YouTube Hecklers" please refrain from nasty comments at the show. Constructive criticism will not be frowned upon, but comments about anything OTHER than the clothing, such as weight, race, physical attractiveness, physical or mental challenges, gender identification or the like will NOT be tolerated.