Walk a mile in those shoes, and then we can talk.
Accessories
11/22/2011
10/17/2011
Those Amazing Shoes
I fell in love with Minna Parikka's sense of femininity and capability to throw a mean edgy hint of S&M from the moment I laid eyes on her shoes. Actually I met the designer first, but I spotted her shoes as soon as I met her. I liked her and her designs so much I did a full profile on her in my Accessory Design book. So I was very excited to see that she was just featured in Italian Vogue with the following photos and who could resist a fun photoshoot with all of the above... Can you resist the frilliness, followed by... well... what you see right after that?!
10/05/2011
Glossy Box Feature
About a month ago I was asked to become a stylist adviser for a European shopping website called Glossy Box. What followed was a 3 day whirlwind of video and photoshoots and the final result is finally online at GlossyBox.de I am featured alongside the Italian photographer ... and the British ... The feature just went live today. You can see the collage of my favorite things {here} They certainly captured my love for bright colors and patterns. Most people assume that because I live in NYC I wear mostly black. I actually look for the opportunity to wear color and pattern any time I can and the last couple of seasons I have been very happy to see the bright palettes come to the runways in full force.
The written interview is in German, but the video is just subtitled so you can actually hear my voice. Here is the video with the interview on the website {here} and the youtube below:
09/23/2011
My Accessory Design Book is Finally Published
After almost three years of writing, editing, collecting art from designers around the world I am extremely happy to announce that my Accessory Design textbook is finally printed, bound and hitting the stores around the world!
Here is a sneak peak at the cover before it was bound. I received just a printout of the cover (front and back) on the actual paper before the book! I liked the open cover so much I sent it out to be framed in a simple black on black mat and frame.
Here is the finished and bound book.
And me proudly clutching the first copy in ecstatic disbelief that it's finally here. I couldn't wait to snap a photo with my newly published "baby"!
I cannot express enough gratitude to everybody at my publisher Fairchild Books for an amazing experience through this grueling process. I have tremendous appreciation for all the designers, who contributed with sketches, photographs and other artwork, and the people around me who helped with advice, support or were just patient with me while I worked on this endless project.
The book is now offered in the US at Amazon.com {here}, and BarnesandNoble.com {here} and around the world at the following links:
Waterstones.com in the UK
And last but not least I'll be selling autographed copies on this blog and AnetaGenova.com. I'll be setting that up in a few days.
06/16/2011
Indepenedent Handbag Designer Awards 2011
Last night was the Fifth Annual Independent Handbag Awards event organized by Emily Blumenthal. There were 1,200 applicants from around the world, narrowed down to 40 finalists vying for the top awards in nine categories. See all the winners at HBD101.com
I, of course, had my own favorites that didn't always agree with the judges choices, so instead of showing you all the winners I'd rather show you my own favorites.
Hands down, apart from winning the Best Handbag in Overall Style & Design Fabiola Pedrazzini's bag (although too conservative for me) was really one of the most elegant, beautiful and truly functional bags.
My other favorite bag was Olivia Yoo Kyung Sohn's python/lamb skin bag, which won for best handmade handbag.
And of course Aimee Kestenbegr's python bag and cuff with gorgeous hardware! {which did not win, but should have!}
Now for the fun and ridiculous!
I completely agree with the Red-Carpet Ready winner, made by Clara Casavina and Micha Berger from Russia. It really is a sparkler, ready for the paparazzi!
And I totally disagree with the winner for Best Use of Swarovski elements, made by Lorna Nixon.
I think Angela Hao-CHun Yang should have won that one. The shape is incredible and the bag is significantly more tasteful!
Another bag in that category that didn't win but certainly deserves an award for being either the most fun {or the most ridiculous} is the banana adorned bag by Yanique Moore
All photos by Aneta Genova
06/09/2011
Acupressure Jewelry by Bobae Moon
Bobae Moon just graduated from the Product Design program at Parsons. She took my Accessory Design class last year and I witnessed the beginning stages of this project, but the final results are amazing!
Project Qupre proposes a collection of jewelry that the wearer uses to perform acupressure. Acupressure is an Asian technique for clearing the natural flow of energy inside the body when this flow is blocked by physical or psychological conditions. This functional jewelry stimulates the acupressure points on hands and helps users directly take action on any symptoms of stressful city life. The rings are beautifully made and serve as an attractive and functional accessory you can use any time while looking stylish!
For questions or to order a ring Bobae at: bulbae {at} hotmail {dot} com
06/07/2011
Hear Me Roar
I never wear animal prints, but the one time I did, I noticed lots of fun variations around me! Here I'm posing with illustrator Steven Broadway at the Parsons thesis collection static show opening. How could you not love a touch of leopard with an LV monigram bag and a dangling cute puppy toy. Needless to say I wanted to steal his pink beads! {Notice the leopard skirt right behind Steven!}
05/23/2011
Kyle Kreitman Fashion Thesis Collection
Kyle Kreitman's collection was one of the most pure fun collections of this Parsons graduating class. She was inspired by the way children draw clothing and attracted to this concept because children have no knowledge of construction or seams and don't recognize any restrictions. They are so inherently curious about the world around them, that she felt that was something to be explored.
photos: Aneta Genova
Kyle Kreitman: "I started by going through old children's book that always inspired me as a child and still inspire me today and noticed that many of the drawings were simplified either through line or pattern for the viewer to understand. I then asked my younger cousins to draw certain articles of clothing for me, and since children don't understand construction, I received some very interesting work! I was looking to see what they were drawing, how they were drawing it, and where they were pulling their own inspiration from. And looking through all of the images I had compiled, I started to pull what I thought was the most interesting or strange from a design perspective. I noticed that children have this wonderful, uninhibited creativity, but are practical in their thinking at the same time. And this practical, yet uninfluenced origin was what I wanted to reflect on in my thesis.
A huge part of my concept was based on the purity of a child's creativity and how their mind was spontaneous, so it was essential that this be the theme that connected all the individual pieces together. The cohesiveness of the collection was dependent on the fact that I created a visual representation of my creative process just like my cousins did in their drawings. I chose screen printing as a way to translate the pages from my sketchbook into actual garments. And by printing elements of the garments on I was able to translate the 2 Dimensional world as seen in the illustrations. The black animated lines were what tied all of the pieces together. Also, to get the garments to actually look like the illustrations, I had to take my knowledge of formal pattern cutting and apply it to the drawings to create the unusual and very asymmetrical shapes. But the physical translation of the garments is what represented my journey through the imaginative process."
After reading through Kyle's inspiration words and looking at her look book photos I fell in love with her child-like drawings as part of her presentation!
Photos: David Wang
The Clothing:
All of the pieces have a special touch to them, or a nod to the process itself. The long pleated skirt is hand painted and then drawn on with fabric crayon because children don't just paint on paper, they prefer to draw on walls and furniture really anything but paper, so why not draw on my clothing. And it's signed because every drawing that I received had the child's name on it because we are told to sign everything we do, and I felt that was something that needed to be included as well. Most of the other garments have screened elements like cuffs, buttons, stripes, ribs, pleats, bows, etc.
A Note on Accessories:
For the jewelry, I looked through books and magazines pulling out images of stones and jewels and mixing them together. Later turning those original images into a screen and printing them on art board, and going back in and adding real stones and more images to create this game of 2D vs 3D, whats real and what's not. I customized the shoes by painting on them and making bows out of paper and wire ribbon and sewing those back onto the front. The handbags were laser cut out of mirrored plexi glass from one of my illustrated bags and then I screen printed the hardware back onto it.
05/02/2011
Joanna Akkaoui Thesis Collection 2011
Parson's fashion design graduate Joanna Akkaoui's collection is called "Sail". Joanna put a part of herself and her emotional journey in this collection. This is what Joanna shared with me: "I started in Paris where my internships were more Haute Couture oriented when I came to New York I realized how important ready-to-wear was to me as well. So my collection revolves around key haute couture pieces that are completed by and edgy girl everyday wear. I usually design by focusing on one element and exploring it as much as I can and in this case it was was rope.
Why rope? Two summers ago I took a road-trip in the north of France in Normandy. We went from one harbor to the other and I found myself taking pictures of the rope and the roughness of the surroundings, the rust but also the softness of all those elements combined together.
In my collection I tried to achieve the roughness through the use of raw untreated rope that I let unravel, the use of rough distressed and natural leathers. I wanted to mix all those elements with soft fabrics such as silk, charmeuse, really fine jerseys and knit. I really experimented with the rope by placing first on the body as wrap around rope armor, and then then used only the rope to create this rope vest, moreover I glued firmly under a leather so that you can feel the texture of the rope without directly touching it. This was a very interesting and never ending process I could have worked forever playing with the rope and draping it around the body.
As for the shoes they have rope on them as well as metal rusted parts to accentuate all the rough elements I saw along the trip."
Photos by Aneta Genova
And here are some photos from Joanna's lookbook.
Rachel McCleary on the left is wearing a natural cow leather dress with more than 250 Rivets (i lost count at the end) positioned on the side. You can see the rope going through from Front to Back and you can play with it as you want. The second dress worn by Mararhyta is a wool knot with rusted rope sleeves that wrap around the shoulder and then continue around the body.
Zoom on biker leather pants with leather knit inserts that go around the body. the biker pants are worn with a very light silk top with an opening on the side with rivets and rope going through.
Heel with rusted nickel plaques on the sole platform and on the heel.
Photos by Grave Van Holle (Joanna would like to express tremendous gratitude to Grave who is also a senior at Parsons and has been collaborating with Joanna since they met in Paris four years ago)
Paul Negron Thesis Collection 2011
Just because it's a drab rainy day I'll bring to you another fun and colorful collection. This one comes from fashion design graduate Paul Negron. Here is the inspiration in Paul's own words: "Over the summer, instead of designing my thesis collection, I was dreaming about the great outdoors: owning a Jeep and being able to live the lifestyle that sort of car inspires. I wanted to climb mountains, kayak down rivers, and breathe clean, real air. I wanted to feel free and experience life in a way I hadn't yet. Since I couldn't do that, I had to live out this fantasy of mine through pixels and screens. When all of this began to overwhelm me, I decided to channel all of this desire into the thing I love and know most in the world: my design work. As such, it became a complex re-imagining of all of these things I had been looking at; an amalgamation of images and references coming together, forming what I like to call my "Virtual Reality Simulator" of the outdoors, rendered in Technicolor and with the energy of Saturday morning cartoons."
Paul was also one of the winners who had their shoes made in the Italian Shoe Polytechnic school. I also like his personal touch. He painted a neon stripe on the back of the heel to add that extra umph!
And last but not least where would we be without the love and support of our parents? Here is Paul's mom beaming with pride right after Paul's presentation!
All photos by Aneta Genova for BobbinTalk
Bobbin Talk
A fashion blogstress, covering emerging fashion and accessory designers, style, trends, fashion ecourses and personal musings.
Recent Comments