Hurricane Weather 2012

Hmm, what to do on a windy day stuck at home with nowhere to go? Sipping on a nice cup of coffee and spooning peanut butter straight from the jar and simultaneously flipping through the latest glossy while some sort of Carla Bruni is humming in the back?

Nope. Truth be told, was just working in the basement but having hard time focusing. And then amused myself with this scribble and thought, "Wow, haven't done any drawing in two years. Wow, it's been two years since the last blog entry! Wow, who the hell still blogs anyway?"

Oh yes, a lot and nothing happened in two years. For example, I'm suddenly approaching middle-age (shockingly, where did my 20s go???). Looking back, I realize I need to focus on the future. Do things I want to do and go places I want to go, and there are lots on the list. Maybe I'll even put in a few more entries on this little blog so when I'm senile there will be things to laugh at.

***By the way I should also clarify that, this lovely creature in the drawing is pure fabrication straight from my head. It is not raining today yet and the only trip I made outside of the house was to the market for some milk and bread. Organic, mind you.

And it's not even in New York New York. Honey, it's Flushing Queens, a good place to raise children!

Timing is Everything

Went to Philadelphia for the first time recently (a shame considering how close it is to New York) and loved it!

And found a lovely graffiti by Penn's Landing.

Looking Forward...

... to the next season.

Starting a little collection of my own . Simple idea - to make clothes that you can literally wear to travel or to sleep.

Hence the title here, Wander - voyages of body and dreams.

New Job and New Collection

Recently started a new job as a pattern-maker/designer at Donna Karan's Urban Zen collection. Urban Zen is a non-profit organization, and the collection is a means to financially support the foundation to carry out its missions. Long story short, it's fabulous clothes, and for a good cause.

www.urbanzen.org

Here is the new fall/winter collection. I made the patterns and samples for looks #2, 4, 5, and 9. Especially love look 5, it's a padded deer-skin leather jacket!

I mean, air, water, a padded leather jacket, what else do you need?

Inspired by Charlotte Gainsbourg

I went to see Charlotte Gainsbourg perform live a few months ago in New York, she was touring to promote the new album, IRM. To say it was a dream come true was a bit of an understatement! She wore a phenomenal cut-away Balenciaga (it has to be!) little jacket that fit her like a glove, along with a rock tee and some skinny jeans that might as well have been painted on.

What can I say, she is so, so, so elegant, delicate, but bad-ass at the same time! Imagine her frolicking in the field and swinging her baby around in a Balenciaga leather jacket while puffing away on a Gauloise (not when the baby is around, of course, that would be unthinkable) ?!?! That's right!

Anyway, here is a little collection inspired by the very beautiful Charlotte Gainsbourg. What's all the Liberty prints got to do with rock & roll?! You wonder. Well, she is half British!

Jacket w/ Paillettes

Here is a very rough sketch of the idea.

I found a dress from Mango (a Spanish clothing chain), with some great metal paillettes! A nice start. Now I need to find the perfect navy jacquard.

Again, life really does take you by surprise. Who would've guessed that Mango would make such a dress? It looked Balmain!

New Directions

Life takes you (me, at least, anyway) unexpectedly. It's always been busy busy - going to work during the day, coming home to work on jobs all night long, then going back to day job the next morning, and planning the weekend by the hour to keep up with the deadlines. Now suddenly I am out of freelance work and unemployed, for the first time in a long time.

Full stop.

Woah.

Well, now that I have all the time on my hands, I am starting on a very ambitious personal project. The picture here is a dress from Dries van Noten's fall 2010 women's collection - fully covered with different metal paillettes and hardware. I mean, "amazing" is an understatement. The amount of handwork on it is just incredible; and it has to be done by hand and not by machine.

And why should women have all the fun? That dress needs a man of matching status. I set out to look for similar metal hardware and beads, some sort of wool/silk navy/black jacquard fabric, to make a men's jacket of the same spirit.

And oh yes, with chains of course.

A sketch and samples to come soon.

Just went to Barcelona in Spain, and have to say, it was quite a wonderful experience. There were just so much texture, richness, and brilliant colors everywhere.

Little details, as seen in the photo above, make me smile. (Yes, I did a lot of smiling there.)

Monkey Boy

What a cool van!

"Monkey Boy Construction" - Hit them up! They must do a good job.

Light (Artificial)

I just thought this image was quite beautiful. (The source, I'm afraid to admit, is quite embarrassing.)

Photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Gymnastics in a refugee camp in Kurukshetra, Punjab, India, 1948

Just went to see his show at MoMA, and it was overwhelmingly beautiful (the crowd at the museum were simply overwhelming).

Some Happy Animal

Just went to Cologne, Germany, for the second time. As I remember, there was a wonderful postcard shop that has literally thousands of postcards! Needless to say, it was a destination, and I found some really great ones.

Here is one happy cat, by Santoro Design in London.

Boy in Striped Pajamas

After working in retail for 4+ years, I finally caved in and got a Rick Owens leather jacket. What to wear it with? Say, a pair of yarn-dyed stripe drawstring pants (a sample for H & L that I just made, and will be available come next spring). ***Note the perfectly matching stripes! Didn't even notice there were patch pockets, did you?!?!***

Despite the jacket, I will NOT become one of those stereotypical Rick Owens caricatures, and will never be caught dead in a drapey cardigan!

By the way, the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is very good, highly recommend.

Dynamic

Because of certain upcoming "events", I have been drawing quite a lot this week. I've never been so productive, not even in senior year at Parsons?!?!

Ohhhhhhh... pressure always work wonders.

Now, I wish my fingers can fly like this!

Recycled Military Jacket

So, here is a photo of the jacket finally!!

Made from 3 pairs of GAP cargo pants and 2 swatches of sequins for the sleeve lining. (Reduce! Reuse!! Recycle!!!)

What to wear it with? Say... a silk camp shirt by Dries van Noten and a pair of skin-tight leather leggings?

This is project 1 of three for a certain fabulous lady with the initials "CG"!


More to come soon...

Fleeting...

The only thing more fleeting than summer is ...

childhood
beauty
encounters
....

How You Handle It...

"It's not what happens. It's how you handle it."

Artist Formula

Artist (formula):

art = life (+ - money) x passion >>>
experience // years ÷ love
(≅ inspiration/ work).

Military Jacket - Work in Progress

So, the idea is to recycle five pairs of GAP cargo pants and some swatches of sequins to compose a military-style jacket. (Other ingredients include lots of coffee, cookies and cake.)

It is commissioned by the same fabulous lady who got the chain-scarf previously. This is the second project for her, hopefully it would be an on-going relationship.

Petals and Shadows

Went to see the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (finally, after two previous failed attempts). It was quite pretty, especially when all these fluffy petals fall off the trees, like rain drops.