March 13,
2002, #10
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In This Issue:
Fashion Biz:
How To Design Accessories
Fashion
Trivia: The First Runway Show
Fashion
Profile: Catherine Malandrino
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FASHION BIZ
How
To Design Accessories
Question: "Which
is easier to design: clothing or accessories?"
- Lilly
It all depends
on your skill level. Creating shoes,
handbags,
hats, and jewelry is every bit as
challenging as
assembling apparel. All require
training,
patience, and many hours of practice to
become
proficient.
If you have an
interest in one of these accessory
areas but
don't know much about it, start by visiting
your local
library or bookstore to find books about
the subject.
Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com)
and
Barnes and
Noble (http://www.bn.com)
also have several
titles to
choose from.
If you find a
topic that grabs your interest, see if
you can find
classes on the subject that are being
offered in
your area. They might be presented by a
college or
through one of those continuing education
workshops that
are offered in many towns. Or, look in
the phone book
for local designers or fabric shops and
call and ask
them if they offer classes or know of
someone who
does. A little persistence in tracking
down resources
can yield very good results.
Often, people
who succeed in accessory design have
been
"tinkering" with their passion for some time as a
hobby. I know
many jewelry and hairgoods designers
who fall into
this category. They started designing
their own
stuff when they were in grade school or high
school, and
never really thought about making money
with it until
someone pointed out that they could. By
the time they
launched their businesses, they had all
the necessary
experience they needed.
So is there an
"easy" way of showcasing your
creativity
without spending years honing your skills?
Absolutely!
Just go online
and find a wholesale supplier (like
Baseline
Clothing, http://www.baseline-clothing.com)
that offers
"plain Jane" T-shirts, sweatshirts,
shorts,
baseball caps, tennis shoes, totes, or
whichever
medium strikes your fancy.
Then pull out
your paint kit, sewing kit, or glue gun
and embellish
your blank canvas to your heart's
content.
Tie-dye t-shirts or baseball caps, for
example. Paint
different breeds of dogs or cats on
totes. Glue
rhinestones or sequins on tennis shoes.
Draw local
attractions on sweatshirts or kids'
clothes. Do
whatever suits your fancy.
You can sell
them at flea markets, to specialty shops,
by mail or on
the Internet. If you just look around,
wherever you
live, you'll see plenty of people already
doing this
quite successfully.
As you can
see, there's plenty of room for people of
all skill
levels to succeed in apparel and accessory
design.
Whether you're looking for a fun, part-time
source of
income, or a full-fledged design career, you
can use your
creativity in different ways to leave
your mark on
fashion.
Want to learn
more way to get started in fashion
design?
Download a copy of
How To Get
Started In Fashion Design at:
http://www.FashionJobReview.com
Good luck!
Have a
question you'd like answered in "Fashion Biz?" Send it to [email protected] .
FASHION TRIVIA
QUESTION:
When was the first runway show?
ANSWER:
In the late 1850's, in Paris. Charles Frederick
Worth,
"The Father of Haute Couture," was the first
designer to
both create a collection of clothes AND
show them on
live models. It was instant sensation.
Up until then,
designers usually had their clients
select
garments from sketches or from doll-sized
miniature
samples.
FASHION PROFILE:
Catherine Malandrino
If you follow
celebrity fashion at all, you've no
doubt seen her
clothes on Julia Roberts, Sarah Jessica
Parker, and
Madonna, to name a few. But who is
Catherine
Malandrino? And why are her stylish clothes
so popular?
Born in
France, Catherine grew up in Paris and
relocated to
New York early in her career. After
spending
several years designing for Diane Von
Furstenburg,
she branched out on her own in 1996 and
within a short
time had quite a following.
With boutiques
in New York's Soho district and in
Beverly Hills,
Malandrino's look is French chic, with
an
all-American twist of cool: vibrant colors,
patriotic
motifs, feminine chiffon and lace, and
well-cut pants
and jeans.
Her Spring
2001 collection, which included
hand-painted
flag T-shirts, star-studded dresses and
sweaters, and
"I Love New York" belts, became
bestsellers
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She
called the
timing a "total coincidence," claiming she
had designed
the collection more than a year earlier
as
"&ldots;a celebration of how much I love living in
America."
While she
doesn't yet have her own website, you can
find photos of
her current collection at:
http://www.fashionshowroom.com/spring2002/
catherinemalandrino/photos.htm
Until Next Time,
Diana Pemberton-Sikes
http://www.FashionJobReview.com
[email protected]
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