Fashion Workshops 2010 Week 4

Week 4 of Fashion Workshops today was an absolute blast.  The 6 girls today we had today were all so incredibly talented in my crash course.  Again Fiona, Alva, Diana, Fiona, Sophie and Molly were given mood boards to work with in design teams of 3.

Fiona, Diana and Fiona were given a colourful surfer beach mood board with prominent colours of blue, pink and orange.  Alva, Sophie and Molly had a rope, sea and sand inspired image.  Both groups got tucked into the design and production of the jewellery while I made sure that they got all their creative and design juices flowing.  There was a few mishaps of beads bouncing from the tables but it went very smoothly and the girls enjoyed the challenge of the miniature materials they had to work with.

Necklace, headpiece, earrings, bracelet and eyeglass chain

Bracelet, necklace, bracelet and earrings

I was really surprised by the amount of thought that went into their presentations and the ability to work so well in a team.  They told us that they'd like to stock in H&M and Next "because its for late teens and adults", "it's beachwear but can't be worn in the sea" and "its for the surfer girl who likes to be stylish with accessories".

Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures

So I think I told you that I was exhibiting my latest limited edition collection with Re-Dress at Dun Laoghaire.  It was such a success that we will be seeing Castle Palooza too!

The girls at Re-Dress, Rosie and Kellie created a great area for people to come walk-about the tent, learn about artists and designers working with ethical and recycling methods and to participate in a workshop.  It was a design-at-the-moment type of workshop where children and adults could come, sit and use the free materials to make accessories by up- and re-cycling existing clothes.

While I was there I got to volunteer my time and teach some children how to make bracelets, necklaces and rings from trims and fabric.  A great festival for everyone and I couldn't believe how pretty Dun Laoghaire is!

Re-Dress

Inside the tent

Crowds gather at the mini workshop

Rosie and a Re-Dress student

West 129 at Re-Dress

One of my fav opticians

Is Silver Lining Opticians in New York for their imagination in eyewear.

Their newest blog entry features Mistaken Perfections favourite model Anja Rubik in some vintage frames.  Sure, a face like Anjas is easily beautiful with or without specs but no one can contend that these vintage frames from Playboy are ah-maz-zing!

Anja Rublik for Silver Lining.

Cannot wait until I'm back in NYC again to visit the boys in Silver Lining and get my very own pair to go with my West 129s!

To have a look at why I'm raving about Silver Lining, click here.

I totally forgot

With all my social events of the week before that I was photographed at The Curragh with my great friend Dee Farrell from Style Wars.

It was an amazingly fun day of style, horses and drinks.  I was mostly wearing TopShop (sheer blouse from eons ago and skirt from this past season), West 129 jewellery and my personally created hairpiece.  I wish you can see my feet.  I was wearing little pointelle socks from Pennys and my favourite gold t-bar shoes (I wore them for the Style Wars photoshoot too, I love them that much).  Dee is classically beautiful of course in her mothers vintage dress that got her shortlisted for Miele Stylish Lady of the Races!  So proud!

I am not one bit embarrassed to proclaim that the highlight of my day was meeting George Hook.  Yes I know, he comments on sport and sport is not my forte but I love his voice at the end of a rugby game.  I may not even know what he's ranting about but it sure is an intoxicating voice!  And yes, I look like a total geek.

I had a moment to indulge

in the things that I love today on a quick walk to clear my head.

Today I was terrified, I mean I was really really scared.  Scared in a way that I thought in a moment of panic 'what if this is it?'.  In fact I don't even remember ever being so scared in my lifetime.  In one day, as human beings we can experience so many emotions.  From complete fear, relief, gratitude, pity, bravado, pride and back to happiness.

As I walked along the canal near my apartment I thought of all the little things that make me smile and feel happiness.  I have a habit of looking up as I walk under a tree- I look at all the branches, the leaves and the light coming through and I realised it always makes me smile.  Its foolish and dangerous (I once nearly collided with an oncoming cyclist) but I love it.

So here is the list of things that make me smile and feel happiness:
1.   Wiggling my toes in sand.
2.   Wiggling my toes in mud.
3.   Letting grainy substances like sand, rices, dry beans such as coffee beans or lentils run through my fingers as I lift them out of their container.  I also like sinking my fingers vertically into the aforementioned.
4.   Walking around in my bare feet.
5.   Holding hands.
6.   A wave from a stranger (I got one today from a man on a bike on my way back from my walk and I reciprocated with finger wiggle wave and a big smile [I like to do different waves, makes me feel creative]).
7.   A smile from a stranger (because I believe that a smile is the best form of infection).
8.   Watching someone open a present.
9.   Hearing a man laugh like a boy.
10.  Pretending you aren't crying at the movie.
11.  Cleaning the house top to bottom and having a shower after (for a brief moment, everything is clean and as it should be).
12.  Knowing that I drank a healthy amount of water in one day.
13.  Getting handwritten letters.
14.  When a human being surprises you with an act of kindness.
15.  When I know I've been brave.
16.  When someone keeps a promise.
17.  Defuzzing.
18.  Waking up to clear skin.
19.  Knowing what to wear with little effort in the decision.
20.  Seeing my mum dressed up and thinking her amazing style maybe genetic.
21.  Seeing a beautiful car with an equally beautiful man driving.

Some of these I think are gay, girlie and emotion related, actually they're all emotion related, hence making me happy.  Reading back on them I wonder if it they tell you the kind of person I am.

When did wearing glasses become cool?

Because I'm glad they did.

When I was in Manhattan and shopping with my brother I came across a pair of red clear lens sunglasses.  I instantly fell in love with them.

This is me in those red glasses.  As you can see, I may love them but they don't like me back all that much.  They make me look evidently goofy but what I love about them is their colour, the hint of nerdiness that it injects into my projected personality and their element of laid back cool.  

Let's talk about people who wear glasses.  When I was growing up in rural Ireland, phrases like "four-eyes" and "goggly eyes" were abundant teases on the school yard.  For some reason it wasn't cool to have poor eyesight.  As I grew older, saw more of the world, met more people, I realised that glasses ARE cool.

Case in point, see the above.  Buddy Holly, Andy Warhol and John Lennon all needed glasses and I don't think anyone out there worth their grain of salt would dispute their coolness.  How about Sophia Loren? Brigitte Bardot?  ... Dame Edna?

All demure beautiful ladies who were not any less beautiful but actually channelled an intellectual sex minx look (please feel free to omit Dame Edna from this train of thought).  Glasses officially became nothing to be frowned upon or laughed at.   I've pretty much mentioned people in the past who give wearing glasses a boost up, but how about our current celebrities that channel "four-eyed" cool?

Kirsten Dunst, Alexa Chung and Leona Lewis are not the same genre of female style.  Yet they have that sense of cool when they were their specs.

The people that I have mentioned thus far have more than glasses in common.  These individuals are just that, they have the self confidence and a personal cool that radiates beyond the spectacles.  They are the same person with glasses on or off.  When my mother reached a certain age (and through genetics, my day will also come) she required glasses for reading.  She felt a sense of disappointment, age was finally an issue that she had to deal with.  For me, seeing my mother get glasses meant that she got to indulge in another accessory.  Glasses to suit her face and her personality.  These days I relish when I have a great outfit that I know will suit any of the pairs of glasses that I own.  There are even days that I want to wear my glasses and dress accordingly.  Sure, people who wear glasses wear them for sight and it is not even part of their wardrobe in a way but they should be.  They should be part of your style, your personality and your "cool".

West 129 was created to make wearing glasses fun and practical.  It dismisses the idea that spectacles are just for poor eyesight.  Think about it, glasses are worn on your face and so, should be spectacular.

West 129 Eyewear Accessories

West 129 & Fashion Workshops 2010 Collaboration, Week 1

So today saw the first visit to Sallynoggin to give my very first crash course in jewellery design.  I gave the children mood boards and explained the complexities of the hierarchy in corporate design houses.  This did not impress the children but they reassured me that they understood.  While explaining the reasons behind the mood boards (art, architecture, interior design, landscape as inspiration) one girl looked at the Gary Fernandez illustration and proclaimed "I think it looks really sad".  The joy that I sensed to see a child feel emotion through art was beyond description.  The class progressed very smoothly with the children working together as a team and only spilling the beads all over the floor every... 12 minutes.

There was certainly budding talent in the classes and while some struggled with the finicky pieces in their jewellery materials kit, many took to it really easily.  I was surprised at the level of design that 8 to 12 year olds can produce.  In my last entry I posted the mood boards that I gave them.  Here are the mood boards with the jewellery that they designed and handmade.  Incredible.  

What Caitriona Anglim and Katie Fitzgerald, the founders of Fashion Workshops 2010, have created is invaluable.  I remember when I was a child and no such thing existed.  My parents were the ones who encouraged me to use my crayons, paints, pencils and when I wanted a new skirt, my mother would treat me to the remnant section of Hickeys fabric store, teach me how to use her sewing machine and tell me to work until I got what I wanted.  She gave me creative freedom and space to learn on my own.

The reason I came back to Ireland was to partake in the growing fashion industry in Ireland.  I never thought I would be part of educating children like my mother did with me.  Of that, I am very proud.

For more images from the classes, click here.

Its been a busy week.

Now that Style Wars is launched and in full swing, I can dedicate more time to my blogging!  I have been busy with press and tying ends with the show but its been an amazing experience.  I'm excited for you to watch it and meet my friends!

So full steam ahead for West 129.  Ever since the launch of the website and facebook, I've also added Twitter and a new Press and Photos section to the website.  Orders are being fulfilled and we've also a collaboration in the works (more about that later).

A new News section is going to be added to the website this weekend and I am proud to say that the main news for me to add is the fact that West 129 is collaborating with Fashion Workshops 2010.  The marriage of great minds of Caitriona and Katie who have education and fashion experience behind them has created an amazing programme for children aged 8 to 17.  Children get to learn about everything from sewing to designing to presentation and critical review.  

West 129 will be sponsoring time and supplies every Thursday to teach an accessories design crash course based on what I've learned in the fashion industry in New York.  The children will learn to work in a team with a brief, a mood board and supplies.  This reflects a real working environment where the creative director will decide the direction for the season and the design team are left with the responsibility to satisfy the mood and inspiration.  The children will then learn to delegate responsibility for the collection from design to production.  Each group will be given a collection to build; earrings, a necklace, a bracelet and an eyeglass chain.  The collection must reflect the mood board given and and be coherent and consistent as a collection.  This may seem like quiet a difficult endeavor for children so young but I think they will rise to the challenge and I will let you know Thursday evening how it unfolds!  This weeks mood boards are based on art, architecture, interior design, landscape and the traditional created mood board.   Fashion designers often get their inspiration from every nook and cranny of the globe.  It is always beyond the magazine and more based on what is in the world we live in so here are this weeks images.

Spanish illustrator Gary Fernandez

New York artist Tara Donovan

Sculptures created from styrofoam cups and glue

Israel-born architect Moshe Safdie

Saffire Freycinet Resort, Australia

Created by P.S I Made This

Images from The Coolhunter.

This weekend I really want to find the time to write another article.  The topic that interests me is the image of eyeglass wearers and their essence of "cool".  When I was little it wasn't cool to wear glasses but somehow somewhere it got cool.  I'm excited to explore but for now I have to do my research to write something decent.

Until then...

West 129

This week I launched the website of my eyewear jewellery company West 129.  It's the end product of a lot of hard work and rallying up the troops.

West 129

I also launched the facebook so come "like" us!

West 129 Facebook

A lookbook is in the design and production stages so I'l keep you updated.  Here are the photos from the shoot so far...

Thanks girls xxx

Falling Fairies in the Wicked World

My dear friend Juan Carlos Obando and his team has done it wonderfully again.  For the first time in 3 seasons I wasn't in New York to lend a hand during fashion week and for that I regret.  The one thing that I admire most about JC and his work is what his attire does to a womans body.  It's no secret that models have the same amount of curves as my Ikea kitchen table delightfully provided to Alison and I by our landlord.  Yet, JC has the endless power to give these figures the shape and elegance that all women (and men) adore.

The one thing that I really miss about not being able to support JC and the team this season is that I don't get to touch these garments.  Yes they look like a dream and yes, I want to sell my first born (if I had one) to have that centre jacket in my closet but the touch of the fabric that are chosen every season give me the same happiness as bare feet on sand, sheer and total happiness that is.

A standing round of applause to Juan Carlos Obando!

Anthony Furey & The Young Folk Single Launch

The single of Sad Day is being launched tonight in Whelans, Wexford Street, Dublin at 8.30pm.   The best thing about this is that its 10 euros in and you get a free single!  Mistaken-Perfection is a fan and I'll be wielding my polaroid camera for the event. Scroll down to an older post for a sneak preview of the single that was played in Tower Records, Dublin.  Stephen Branigan will be opening with Shiv Branigan and Conor Walsh so be on time, I know I will!

Love for Beauty, Beauty for Love

This morning I woke thinking about my beautiful Nana and how she at a very young age defied her mother by removing her foot binding. This ante meridiem thought process was a consequence of an article I had glanced upon on roadtickle.com called 'Most Painful Cultural Beauty Practices' last night.  It got me thinking, there may be beauty practices that we deem ancient and barbaric that exist in different cultures today and in the past but now in 2010 what are the practices that women indulge in?

Last night before I laid my head to rest I brushed my teeth with my electric toothbrush for exactly two minutes (this recommended time by dentists is a feature to the device and not another addition to my obsessive compulsive behaviours), rinsed with mouthwash (I don't always floss but who is perfect?), washed my face with a foam cleanser (the only kind I like because I hate when cream cleansers leave residue), ran a cotton ball of rose water toner across my face and finished off with moisturiser.  This morning, like every other, I jumped into the shower to wash my hair and body, repeated what I do in the night minus the toner (I don't know why I don't tone in the morning but I just don't), moisturised my body, added deodorant, a spritz of perfume, rubbed my favourite No.4 hair texturiser into my hair and finally got dressed from my many items in my wardrobe.  Now I must admit that I wear very little makeup, in fact because it's summer time I only really wear eyeliner, mascara and some tinted lip balm, and only when I feel so inclined.  Mostly I go bare faced.  This is my daily routine for beauty and hygiene.  There are others though if I really think about it harder.  Getting my haircut, going for runs (I maintain that this is for health and stress relief but I know deep down its partial vanity too), eating a little less than I'd like to and declining that piece of chocolate that's being passed around (rarely happens but you may catch me on 

an off day). There are much more I'm sure but its very early in the morning.

Amongst all the things Katharine Hamnett said, the one thing that will remain in my memory was the answer she gave when asked why is fashion important.  She simply replied that it was for sex and attraction, to be desired in the most primordial manner.  I agree, having been taught the facts to prove it from my short academic career in scientific study. 

Wait a cotton picking second. My memory serves me strangely. Male lions with the healthiest manes attract the best females of the pride, there's been animal social hierarchy documentation of this.  Male peacocks have the beautiful feathers not the peahen.  In fact my dictionary says:

Often in the animal kingdom, the male sex is in need of powerful physical attraction through outer beauty, not the female.  This is due to the simple fact of math; +20 million : 1, sperm to egg ratio even though the natural sex ratio at birth is estimated to be close to 1 : 1 males to female.  Ergo females are the precious cargo.  So how did human nature and society switch it the other way around?

Honestly, I don't have an answer and I don't have the time to research it though in a different lifetime I would get up, walk to Trinity and demand they give me a Postgraduate so I could dedicate my next years finding the answer.  Is it a human male conspiracy conjured up by the male population to profit from the beauty and fashion industries?  Did the male homosapien evolve to be smarter and more beautiful?  Personally, I don't think so (I'm sorry boys but I'm slightly biased).  I've thought about it and I'm going to take a wild guess and put my opinions out there.  Female practices are the result of male behaviour and change in their perception of beauty.  Here are some examples. The demand for botox (2,557,068 documented in America in 2009) procedures has perhaps escalated because of the growing desire of men to be attracted to increasingly younger women has prompted age insecurity.  The ancient culture of chinese foot binding was a painful of attraction that represented their freedom from manual labour that would have translated into sexual desirability among elite men.  The Channel 4 documentary 'The Perfect Vagina' shone light on the cosmetic industry and its growing supply in the demand for labiaplasty.  The programme attributed the growing desire for such a drastic measure to the pornographic industry.  

While doing research, I happen to mention this topic to my friend singer/songwriter Stephen Branigan and this was his response: "I actually had a discussion with a mate the other day about girls in all girls schools making more of an effort than those in mixed and we decided that it's cos they're competing with each other."  Stephen makes a good point.  Darwin proposed natural selection and survival of the fittest in his 1864 book Origins of Species.  So not only are we vying for male attention, we seek approval from our own sex and also at the same time compete against each other. Wow.

I am a young female.  I have insecurities like any other, I recognise my strengths and weaknesses in both my personality and physical appearance but is my personal view flawed?  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all.  I struggle with accepting my weight and my tummy, the asian lack of crease in my eyelids, the clarity of my skin, my bass (back ass), my triceps and their lack of tone, the list could go on and who do I blame?  Fashion magazines?  The opposite sex and their expectations?  I think from now on I will accept that I am not perfect and that that is what makes me who I am.  If I stopped going for my runs, looking at myself in the mirror and participating in my beauty regimes I would have time to rule the world and I know the world would not benefit from my iron fist.  I will continue to achieve physical acceptance but for myself and to make myself happy.  Not to fulfill any male or social expectation.  However, in the society of 2010 it seems hard to differentiate as it looks like personal happiness and acceptance comes in the form of social and economic success.

Stephen also said "I think women like to think they do it for themselves but it's all about attraction.  But then I think men are the same these days.  Just women are doing it longer."  Last year the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery reported that over 9 million American women had a cosmetic procedure compared to 900,000 men.  There is an inkling of change however, ASAPS also reported that male cosmetic procedures increased 8% while female procedures decreased 3% from 2008.  Maybe far in the future everything will be equal in love and beauty.