The Spring and Summer 2010 runway shows have gone to Paris for their fashion week – the last of the “big four” fashion weeks.
I always find it incredibly inspiring to see what the best and brightest minds in fashion are doing to fabric.  How many ways can you be creative with a bolt of fabric?
Let’s see…
You can distress it, embroider, embellish, applique, fold, tuck, stitch and fray – just to start!
Check out some of the amazing ways the designers have altered fabric for their runway shows:

Lanvin covered every inch of their clothing with hand-stitched beads, sequins and embellishments.  I can’t …read more

Milan Fashion Week is just wrapping up the runway shows for the Spring & Summer 2010 collections.
I love browsing through photos from the shows and seeing the incredible mastery that the designers have with fabric.  They can take a humble bolt of fabric and turn it into a sculpture or a piece of art.
Not sure what I mean?
Check out these lush flowers from Colombian designer Leal Daccarett:

Aren’t those fabulous?  I can almost smell the peonies…
If you want to see some amazing embroidery, look at this outfit from Pakistani designer Deepak Perwani:

Unfortunately, I can’t post a high-res image, but trust me …read more

Things to use as door stops (other than “official” door stops): A chair. A pile of books. More piles of books. An umbrella holder. A cabinet. A really huge box. The end of a table. A folded newspaper. A folded magazine. An electric fan. The end of the couch. A flip-flop. Now how about a shoe?
This Foot in the Door Doorstop is perfect for shoe lovers! Simply slip the tip of the shoe under your door and ta-da! It comes in black or red and is made from rubber. What a stylish way to keep your door open. At least …read more

London Fashion Week is in full swing right now with designers showing their collections for the upcoming Spring and Summer 2010 season.
I’ve been browsing through some of the collections from the shows and a few pieces have really popped out at me.  There are some prints that seem to have been directly inspired by quilting patterns!  In fact, not just at one show, but several designers have created fabrics with strong geometric designs and patterns.
Nicole Farhi used a strong square print for some of her dresses:

I’ve seen some art quilts, made with batik prints that have a similar feel to …read more

Fall and Winter 2009/2010 are all about rich details and feminine accents – but why buy it if you can make it?
I’ve written about making your own beaded tights before (and I’d love to see some reader photos if you’ve tried making your own!) so the concept of DIY hosiery isn’t a new one…
For Fall 2009/Winter 2010, Miu Miu sent their models down the runway wearing gorgeous socks, accented with beads, buttons and sequins:
And here’s a close-up of the socks:
Are those not gorgeous?
Those socks got me thinking, and then rummaging through my beads and buttons…
It would be possible to create …read more

Dressing for a date (especially a first one!) is something that women everywhere stress about.  There is the classic scene where a woman changes her outfit a million times and ends up in her bra and panties when the date arrives to pick her up.  This Fall pick out a few sexy pieces and create some go-to outfits so you are completely prepared when you have a date or an outing that might involve meeting someone with dating potential.
Fall is sometimes a little difficult to dress for because it’s in-between summer dresses and coats and scarves.  Remember that you don’t …read more

Women can be their own worst enemy sometimes. The fashions that we put up with can cause pain and even disfigurement if we’re slaves to certain fads. We don’t have to look too far back to learn about women who were disfigured in the name of beauty. For hundreds of years, the practice of foot binding was common place in China. The idea was to bind the feet of young girls to form them into tiny, more desirable feet. The practice only ended in the early 1900s.
Although not as dramatic as foot binding, we can’t say that we don’t do …read more

With the lax dress styles of today, I often wonder what we’re teaching our daughters about dress?  Dress in the workplace?  Dress at church?  Dress simply to make a positive appearance?
In addition, what are we teaching them about themselves?  To make a statement by dressing sloppily with holes in the knees and butt, midrift showing, and deep cleavage?
What are we teaching them about modesty, professionalism,  and , yes, conforming to the dress code where they work?
It appears to me that women object more than men to having dress codes and complain, “That isn’t me.  They’re squashing my personality.”
I work parttime …read more

I admit, my first thought at hearing there’s a Pet Fashion Week was one of… well, amusement. Really, an entire fashion event just for pets?

It’s true, and it’s in its third year! Pet Fashion Week will be held in New York City at the Metropolitan Pavilion (Japan just wrapped up their second one) on August 22 and 23. They’re currently accepting applications for display inclusion, which can be downloaded online.
Pet Fashion Week was created “to provide a gallery setting for the refined pet lifestyle professional to both purchase and distribute the very best products in the industry.”
The product lines that …read more

Food and fabric are two of my favorites things, but Japanese clothing designer Ritsuko Shirahama went a step further and combined the two during her recent Tokyo fashion week show.
Ritsuko Shirahama created clothing that was inspired by the colors, texture and shape of vegetables and fruit.   Taking it one step further, she then created entire outfits entirely made of fruits and vegetables!

It’s definitely worth taking a look at her collection – what a great way to look at fashion…
You can see some great photos of her collection online here and here.
image: Stock.xchg