new photos from the show

I have a ton of new pics from the show up on my facebook fan page, so check em out! Below are a few of my favorites, courtesy of Evelyn Miska. I think I managed to post one photo of every look. Whew, 21!

the launch of my fall 2010 collection.

Saturday night was epic. Everything went better than I could have ever imagined. Tons of pictures are up on my facebook fan page and we will have video up soon too, but there are a few teasers down below.

I need to thank first, my wonderful fiance Martin, who not only BUILT me a runway, but also made more time in his own life to do all the things I couldn't do because I had to dedicate the last 5 months of my life to this and only this. He also did an amazing job flyering, talking me up, and networking. None of this would have happened with out him. I also owe the success of this event to the struggle guys who throw recession (Stos, Mathew, Jon, Frankie, Aaron, Chris, Bryan) for not only letting me take over their venue completely, but also helping with promotion, setting up lights, making a hologram of my name to shine on the curtain(!!!)...thank you Mathew for that!! and just overall being really supportive. And of course all the lovely models and volunteers.

Without someone to look at them, wear them and make them come to life, clothes are just pieces of fabric sewn together. These models, many of whom were my friends, and some I'd only met when they modeled for me - were all just the most spirited, encouraging, beautiful individuals, inside and out. My Volunteers, Andrea..Sadie...Nicole... I would have never gotten through those quick changes without you there!! Mandi Nixx, my make up girl, was fast, and completely amazing. She created the exact make up look I had in my head. I heard she even works on the set of Burn Notice - how cool is that? Had I known, maybe I would have sent some head trauma down the runway. Maybe next time, for sure. (Bloody spring!) Alisha Fraser, did my hair - she was also just phenomenal. She did a mix of vintage pin up with rocker mohawk. It was absolutely perfect. And last but not least, my lovely parents - my sister allison and her husband dave...and all the wonderful friends I have who came out to support me! It was really overwhelming, really.

All in all, it was truly the best night of my life. The room was packed, the lights were flashing, everything went wonderful.



































Credit to Evelyn Miska on the above photos.












Hopefully I will have some full body shots of all the looks up soon. This collection will be available for pre-order in late June!

sunday fundays.

Im getting to the end of the road here. Just a zipper to put in, a few pairs of tights to dye, and some slight alterations in straps and things and then...voila, my Fall 2010 collection will be finished.

My final day of model fittings is today. So far all the girls have been so nice and excited, and look just amazing in the clothes. I'm really getting excited. I hope today goes just as well.

Because this collection has consumed my entire life, I've had little time to blog about anything else. The Fall shows, the Oscars, it's all just slipped by me too quickly. As I sit here waiting for my first fitting appointment on this glorious sunday of spring forward, I will leave you with my one favorite Oscar gown, brought to us by Prada and worn by the adorable Carey Mulligan.



Looks like a pretty dress. Then you get closer and see it's made of teeny tiny kitchen utensils and misc. charms. OMFG this is amazing.




You know what else I like today?



Legs



and the idea of wearing black lace gloves at my wedding.

Fall 2010 Collection

Well, I have finished my first collection. It feels pretty amazing and surreal, actually. I wanted to write about the inspiration behind it. People ask me about inspiration, and I have a pretty tough time I think, eloquently talking about my inspirations. I'm not good with words sometime when I'm speaking and get nervous. I can't even imagine if I was interviewed. I'd be like, "Well, it's...inspired by...stuff... and...."

The first piece of this collection was started while I was still in school at FIT. My senior piece was something I had worked very hard on, but also was the first time I had really worked with leather as a textile, and thus spawned my love affair. I somehow knew that this piece would be a part of a full collection. I could see the collection in my head already, and this was back in April of 09. Below is that piece. It was supposed to be "inspired by Versace" and I think I made it work, but overall it's my design and like I said before, really in my head, it was always more of one piece in a 20 piece collection of my own inspiration. It was only fitting that my first piece be one that I made while actually still in New York.



After I graduated and started preparing to move back to Detroit. I started to shop for my fabrics for this collection, and think about where I wanted to go with it. It had to be a fall collection, and it had to feature leather and deep rich dark colors and textiles. I included leathers - the metallics were bought in NYC, but all of the black leather I later scrounged up from entirely found and reused materials. Reclamed old jackets, discarded or donated; belts, pants; furniture coverings, etc. And cut it all up to make into jackets, dresses, belts and more. I have this weird theory that objects retain some part of their former life, deep inside them - not in the weirdo way that it sounds, but just, subtly. I liked using materials that had been used before for an entirely different purpose. Sometimes resale shops can seem so sad, all those discarded items. I wanted to give them another life, and make them beautiful in a new way. The other fabrics include silk taffeta, faux fur, tulle, crinoline, satin and lace, just to name a few. I also hand dyed and hand painted some of the fabrics. I made all the belts and the oversized neck pieces.





We drove from New York to Detroit in a van filled with the last two years of my life in New York, and I began to think about transitions from one place to another and leaving yourself here and there. And so it began.

This collection is about that feeling of holy Fing Sh*t when you experience something totally different than anything you've ever done or seen before. It was inspired by my time in New York and things I experienced there, as well as experiencing Theatre Bizarre for the first time, and all those nights throughout my life where I was led by the hand through an unmarked door, which opened up to something I've never seen before. LA, Paris, Switzerland, kind of a love story through my traveling pasts. These clothes tell a story about the people you find behind these doors, who look like no one you've ever seen in daylight. People you want to get to know, but are unsure you ever really can.

I hope to see you all on March 20th. I have worked very, very hard for this day.

we are rock and roll brides.

Our engagement photos were chosen to be featured on my favorite wedding blog, rockandrollbride.com! I'm so excited, mostly because this is an amazing site that I visit every day, so I am very honored and flattered. You can read the post here! Our wedding isn't exactly "halloween themed" as she wrote, I think i may have worded it wrong when I was telling her about it, but that's okay. :) Rock and Roll Bride is a wedding blog that features untraditional weddings, and those who go out of their way to really make their wedding theirs. . From our snake ssssssssssssave the date cards, to the black birdcage head piece, and (hopefully) victorian style suits the groomsmen will be wearing, I'm pretty sure our wedding will fall under unconventional - while still carrying a lot of deep tradition and romance, obvs. ;)