another show

I ushered at the Alexis Mabille spring/summer 2009 show, and I enjoyed speaking French to some very important fashion people. Alexis Mabille is a guest member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.
http://www.alexismabille.com/impasse13_sum_en.html

shows

To see shows I dressed in Paris --

Veronique Branquinho men Spring Summer 2009
http://www.veroniquebranquinho.com/
collections --> men --> spring summer 2009
see looks 2, 18, 33

Damir Doma spring/summer 2009
http://www.damirdoma.com/home.html
collections --> s/s 2009
see looks 11, 12
video of the show:
http://www.damirdoma.com/videos/SS09/index.html

books

Some books I read while traveling...

What a Girl Wants and She's Out of Control by Kristin Billerbeck
These books are the first 2 in the Ashley Wilkes Stockingdale trilogy. My dear friend Sarah Elizabeth Wright (the First) let me borrow them because she thought I would like them, and she was right! Normally I'm not a huge fan of chick lit, but Kristin Billerbeck writes Christian chick-lit, an interesting combination. The narrator is less like a 14-year-old than I expected. I recommend these books to anyone in a church singles group and/or any female around my age. Males could benefit from reading it, but they probably wouldn't love it.

The Other Woman's Shoes by Adele Parks
This is another chick-lit book that Canaday found at a book cart in Rome. I was desperate for anything English while in Europe, so I read some books I wouldn't have normally picked up at home. I read The Other Woman's Shoes during and after my trip to London, so it was interesting to read about places I had been. This book was really sad for a really long time, but it does end happily. It's also kind of explicit, and super long. It has a lot to say about marriage, divorce, and family.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
This novel is kind of between short story and novel length and is written by a Pulitzer prize winner. I found it in the back corner of a bookstore in Paris. It is based in New England in the 19th century, and begins when a man moves to the town of Starkfield and wonders about the life of mysterious Ethan Frome. The novel goes back to earlier in Ethan Frome's life and follows it up to the present. Not a lot happens, but I really enjoyed Edith Wharton's style. I would recommend this book to English majors, or people who like to analyze literature.

The Fall by Albert Camus
I also found this book in a Paris bookstore. I'm in the process of reading it - in English translation. It is written like one side of a conversation, exactly how a person would say it. It takes place in Paris, so I enjoy knowing the locations that the speaker mentions. I started reading it in Paris, but I haven't picked it up again since I got off the plane. I recommend it to anyone who has read The Stranger and wants to read more of Albert Camus.

July 13-15

I am finally home! The last few days have been crazy between finishing up our notebooks, a firemen's ball, Bastille day and a cruise on the Seine, and flying home.

A few things I will miss about Paris:
Coca light (better than Diet Coke or even regular Coke)
convenient public transportation
croissants
speaking French
meeting random people
walking a lot
Le Violin Dingue
adventures

And some things I missed about NC:
my family and friends!
the dollar
laptop
cell phone
having a car and driving
no language barrier
TV/movies
CHAPEL HILL and its people
my own room
whole wheat pasta/bread

July 12

This morning we met and took the bus a long way to le marche aux puces (flea market). After looking around a little, we ate lunch and set out to work on our international retailing notebooks. We still have so much work to do before we get on the plane Tuesday! I enjoy living in Paris, but I'm also looking forward to going home. Soon to follow: list of what I have missed/will be glad to experience again in 3 days!!!

July 11

We had our second shibori class in the morning. Atiya and I nuno felted a scarf. We turned in all of our art projects - embroidery sampler, embroidery project, and 15-drawing collection.

July 10

So we went to Belgium for the day. We met at Luxembourg metro station at 6am and took the metro to the train station, then a train to Brussels, then another train to Antwerp. Our tour guide in Antwerp, Karen, took us to a diamond factory/museum and a fashion museum. The diamond factory was just a few people using strange looking tools to cut facets in a diamond - a brilliant cut has 57 facets - and polishing the diamonds. We learned about the 4 C's of diamonds: cut, color, clarity, and carat. The fashion museum was really cool because the exhibit we saw was on Veronique Branquinho, the designer whose show I dressed at the beginning of menswear shows. There were outfits from each of her ten collections on display. One room had two paintings of Eve - one very old and one recent - with a mirror in between. Another room had shoes on a platform that walked around in a circle on their own. There were silver birch trees around and shoes hanging from the ceiling that were all very fairytale looking. Veronique even had her own jukebox made, and all the song titles were made up by her, based on what she associated them with or what she felt about them. Meredith chose a song called "Abuse Me" and it was "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics.

We had to meet at school at 7pm to hear a speaker. Madame Marion Dufour has been a fashion and beauty editor with Marie Claire for 20 years. She helped launch Marie Claire in several European and Asian countries. Madame Dufour taught us about the history of fashion and fashion magazines.

July 9

This morning, we met at school at 7:50am to get on a bus to Giverny. In Giverny, we saw Monet's home, walked around the gardens, and ate lunch. We got back on the bus and went to Versailles. I have been anxious to go to Versailles this whole trip, so I was very glad to finally get there! My favorite part was the hall of mirrors. Dr. Ellis told us that each mirror cost 7 years' salary to make, so that's where the superstition comes from that if you break a mirror, you'll have 7 years of bad luck. Agnes gave us a history lesson about Louis XIIV, XIV, XV, and XVI; it was interesting to learn how Versailles became the pride of France. Louis XIV was the one who decided to move to Versailles; before then, the monarchs lived in the Louvre.

July 8

First order of business, we went to the Musee d'Orsay with Agnes as our tour guide. We focused the tour on the impressionists and post-impressioninsts. Mostly, I saw a lot of paintings by Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh. We also looked at pointalism paintings, made up entirely of dots, which were cool.

We had some free time after the museum, so Lindsay, Amy, and I went to the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. The modern art is so completely different from everything before 1900. Agnes was telling us how the Orsay is a continuation of the Louvre, and then we saw the art continue past that in the modern art museums. A few of the paintings were pretty, and there was some fabric art that I had to really examine to figure out how it was done. Some weird exhibits, though - like a room full of piles of old clothes, and a room full of phone books from all over the world. After our second museum of the day, we went shopping and took a lot of notes for international retailing. We finally made it to the Herve Chapelier store.

Last event of the day was seeing a ballet at the Opera house. The costumes and dancing were beautiful. The part I actually saw (between an occluded view and fighting to stay awake) was great. Afterwards, we went the wrong way on the metro, then Lindsay realized that she left her nalgene at the opera house. We had to go back that way, so we went to look, but no one was there anymore. When we got back to the apartment, we worked on our sketches again. I can't wait for these projects to be over!

July 7

Happy Birthday, A.G.!!!

This morning we started with drawing class at 10am. We worked on our sketches, learned about color theory, and completed our first page of our collection. I found lots of pages from an Elle magazine from 1994 that I can use as collage on my designs.

We thought we were going to have class again in the afternoon, but Dr. Ellis switched it up on us and we went to Napoleon's Tomb. It had marble sculptures in the walls, painted ceiling, etc. - it kind of looked like everything else we see all the time. The actual box he was in was pretty huge; you could look at it from one floor above. While we were there, Lindsay and I went ahead to the Musee de L'Armee. We looked at a bunch of stuff from the World Wars. There was this one American flag on display, so I said the pledge of allegiance. They had the Uncle Sam "I Want You" poster and some other American adverts, too.

Since we were on a museum roll, Lindsay and I took the metro to Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. It is closed on Mondays, so we got right back on the metro to Musee National d'Art Moderne at Centre Georges Pompidou. The modern art was a welcome change after quite a bit of ancient history (Vatican still lingering in my memory). We are almost done with our museums now, but there are lots of international retailing pages left in our notebooks... So much to get done before Friday! We took notes on a flower shop and a bookstore on the way to the internet cafe, and I actually got some more English books! I had to ask the man in (bad) French and climb over boxes to the very back corner of the store, but I'm satisfied with what I found - Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton and The Fall by Albert Camus.

July 6

This morning, we slept in a little, got some breakfast/lunch at a patisserie near our hotel, and headed back to Paris. Since getting back to our apartment, we haven't done much except laundry, eating, and working on sketches. I read almost the whole time on the chunnel, and I'm about to be in need of another English bookstore. Even though we do have a lot of homework, we got our reading done (International Retailing textbook) before the trip. I love school breaks when the only reading I do is pleasure reading.

So far, I have started 4 sketches. They are just pencil drawings - I will have to add background, facial features, detail the hands and feet, and paint. My ideas for a theme started with calligraphy, and expanded to fonts, then to words, books, the writer's lifestyle. I drew 3 outfits that take their shapes from letters (A, H, and of course, V), and one outfit that is supposed to be the ideal dress to wear when writing all day. If anyone has ideas of how I can turn my inspiration into clothes, please comment!

July 5

Yesterday's goals were heartily accomplished. We got some sleep this morning and started the day with lunch at Garfunkel's. Then, we headed off to Harrod's. It was way crowded and everything was very expensive, but the clothes were great (if I had a million dollars...). We checked out some stores in the area and then took the tube to Leicester Square. That's where I really did my shopping - Mango, American Apparel, and a cute little boutique called Apple Tree.

After shopping, we rushed back on the tube to our hotel to eat quickly and change clothes. We came right back to Leicester Square and walked to the Prince of Wales Theatre to see Mamma Mia. We bought tickets last night at the half-price booth, and we were surprised that we could get 3 seats together. Lindsay, Canaday, and I all really enjoyed the show. I usually don't like musicals, but I liked the ABBA songs and the story.

I wish we had a few more days in London. I don't want to leave tomorrow, and I would love to come back here again! Canaday says she might move here after graduation, so I guess I'll have to visit.

July 3/4

Happy Independence Day! Only 232 years old, and still so much better than these European countries.

Yesterday morning, we went to our real last show, Jean-Paul Knott. I loved the colors of the clothes - black, gray, a little bit of white, and a dark blue/purple. The models all looked really young. They had unique make-up - thick dark gray eyeliner, drawn out a little past the eyes, and PINK lipstick. Their hair was in low side twisted ponytails. The clothes were very drape-y on top and slim on the bottom, and they wore high heeled boots.

In the afternoon, we had embroidery class, which wasn't quite as bad as usual. I like stitches that use two lines (cross-stitch, chevron stitch, etc.)... and they were much easier since I ironed lines on my muslin.

After class, we ran to our apartment and packed really quickly before meeting the group to go to the train station. We took the chunnel to London, which was a quick and easy ride. We didn't do much last night except check into our hotel, eat, and go to bed.

This morning, we got up way too early (about 8am). Lindsay, Canaday, Amy, and I went to a patisserie for breakfast. Canaday and I had fabulous (!) chocolate croissants. Our whole group of 13 got on a bus to tour around London. We have 24 hour passes for the tour, so we've gotten on and off a few times. We went to a wax museum and had lunch by the tower of London. We also saw the fashion exhibit at the Victoria and Albert museum. I typically don't care for gift shops, but the V&A shop was really unique. They had a lot of jewelry and other random, pretty things that I feel like I wouldn't see anywhere else. We have seen most of the sights around London by now, from the bus tours, so we're moving on to some more goals: seeing Mamma Mia and shopping.

July 2

Today was a bit of a return to normalcy. I had embroidery class from 10-12 and draping class from 1-3. In embroidery, we just worked on our samplers. I learned about 3 new stitches. I'm not really sure if our samplers will be graded, but if they are, I'm going to say mine's about D level. When we finish those, we have to do some designs on a 7cm square of muslin, then create a design on a t-shirt or something else we choose. In draping class, we cut strips of cardstock and taped them together into parts of dresses in the 16th/17th century styles. I did a bustle, which turned out about as good as my embroidery.

During class, Peter (owner of PAA) came in to ask us if we'd like to go to another show tomorrow. Now, we are going to have the show in the morning and class in the afternoon. Dr. Ellis called to see if Meredith (our roommate) wanted to dress, and she said yes, so she has to go at 8am. She called again to see if I wanted to dress, and I said no. I am going at 10am, much better than 8am, and I don't have to stress. I have already dressed two shows, but I haven't done a womenswear show yet, so maybe I should have done it. Oh well, more sleep.

July 1

Another 3-show day...

We got to sleep in this morning and met at 11 to go to a noon show. It was Georges Chakra, and the show was in a buildng right by the Seine river. The show was wonderful, continuing with the glitz we keep seeing. All of the sparkle was Swarovski crystal. The looks were cocktail dresses and evening gowns, and this show also ended with a wedding dress. This one was off the shoulder, with a beige and cream floral lacy bodice. From the waist, it was a big bubble, brought in at the knee, where loops of fabric were on the back and it flared from there. The veil was plain, long, and the model carried fake silver and cream flowers. There were several red dresses and a few printed dresses, with dark purples and blues. The designer showed 42 (!) looks. All of the clothes were beautiful.

Our second show at 2pm was maRia aRistidou. The only looks I really liked were evening looks, with black and gold metallic racer-back vests on top and long, black skirts - one was chiffon and the other was tiny-pleated silk. The models couldn't walk; they kept nearly running into each other (partially just because of the walking pattern they had to do), a couple tripped, and they were watching the person before them to see when to go and kind of fidgeting. The clothes didn't fit the models well, and the zipper had broken in one of the dresses and it was safety-pinned together at the top. One of the models had stuffing showing out the back of her shoe. You could tell where the designer was trying to go with the collection, but the show was unprofessional.

Ten of our girls dressed the Dominique Sirop show at 6pm, and the rest of us watched. The models snaked back and forth down the runway; the show was kind of animal-themed. Each model's hair had about a 2-inch section french braided all the way down, with the rest of it loose and wavy. One of the dresses had a snake-print chiffon inset in the double v. Another was leopard-print on the back. There were a few evening gowns, but most of the collection was very wearable, with a lot of black and beige. Wikipedia on Dominique Sirop:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominique_Sirop

We are done with shows now, and it's back to classes tomorrow. We have embroidery and draping the next two days. Our final projects, an embroidered piece and 15 illustrations, are due in about 10 days.

June 30

We started early and went late today, but we had a nice break in the middle. We met at 7am to go to Musee de la mode et du costume au Palais Galliera to usher at the Alexis Mabille show. The models walked down a runway and back halfway, then around a semi-circle and into the other side of the backstage area. That sounds confusing; I wish I could draw a picture. People were seated lining the entire runway. There were people from every big publication invited - Vogue, Elle, Womens Wear Daily, etc. I was excited to see Anna Wintour and Scott Schuman on the list, but neither had confirmed that they were coming. Sophia Coppola confirmed, but she didn't come. Several of the girls stood at the front table, looking up the names. They would write the person's seat number on the invitation then pass them off to one of us that showed them to their seat. Since we are in France, I spoke to everyone that I seated in French. One lady said "thank you" and then corrected herself, saying "merci" then she said, "parlez-vous anglais?" (do you speak English?). I may be wrong, but I think she mistook me for a French person. Score. The Alexis Mabille show was wonderful. His theme was bows, which were everywhere. The girls wore heels with bows all over them. They were subtle in some looks, like on the cuff on a man's shirt, which was just barely peeking out of his jacket. My favorite look was a black long sheath dress with white bows in a row down the back. The designer was really nice to us, and so was his mom. She was so cute, telling us to promote his line. Everyone was very appreciative that we came to help (for free).

Our next show was at 6:30pm, Georges Hobeika fall-winter 2008/2009. I thought menswear was cool, but womenswear has definitely blown me away today. This show was the most amazing; I can't imagine anything else topping it. The collection was all evening gowns, with lots of crystals and sparkle. The same song was playing the whole time and it was getting really repetitive, then all of a sudden there was a loud noise and the music stopped. All the lights went out, but the camera flashes lit up the room enough to see dressers pulling out a train and a model in a huge white dress. When the lights came back on, it was a wedding dress with a train and a super long and wide veil. The model walked to "My Love" by Justin Timberlake, but a slower and different version. The dress was v in the front, off the shoulder a little, white tulle with crystals concentrated at the top but all over. I don't even know how to describe the other dresses; they were fabulous, very detailed.

Our last show of the day at 8:30pm was Eymeric Francois, Atlantes, fall-winter 2008/2009. It was also evening gowns and also ended with a wedding dress. Some of the dresses looked like they were made from vertical rows of zippers, unzipped a few inches at the top and to just about the knee from the bottom. Most of the dresses were white with brushes of light pink, purple, and green. The wedding dress in this show was strapless, with floral lace. The model wore a huge white belted trench with a big collar before showing the dress.

I can't believe that we have had a chance to go to so many awesome shows!

June 29

Today was packed with four fashion shows that we were invited to - two that we all went to and two that we chose from. Our first show was Antonio Miro at 10am. It was in a hotel, and the crowd was small. Their collection was inspired by Latin America. One of my favorite looks was a hot pink shirt, light pink jacket, and gray and white striped trousers. The pants were all cropped and rolled at the bottom. The colors in this show were much different than the others we've seen because they were bright and there was lots of color.

I skipped the Masatomo show at 3pm in favor of the Juun J show at 4pm. I really enjoyed this show. It was in the same parking garage where the show I dressed for Veronique was, but this time the set was plain, without the pretty bushes and flowers. The models wore pretty conventional looking suits, jackets, cardigans, and trenches, but the looks were undone. A jacket would have one arm in and the other sleeve hanging, with the front buttoned. Or a cardigan would be completely off the arms and just hanging from the waistband of the pants. Some of the outfits were made that way and some were just styled to be that way. There were cropped pants again in this show.

At 8pm, we went to Songzio show called Blackout, which was in a gallery. The models mostly just wore black (a few white) shorts and vests, or sleeveless jackets, with a couple of printed t-shirts mixed in. The gallery was really small and some of the photographers were actually getting in the way of the models. The set-up was terrible, but the clothes were okay.

Today concludes the menswear shows, so it's on to womenswear tomorrow! We are going at 8am to usher for the Yves Saint Laurent show, so hopefully that will be exciting.

June 28

Long day...

We started with class this morning, working with Sharon. We dyed silk gauze scarves. I used the easiest technique - scrunching. The other girls did bottle wrapping and fold and clamp techniques.

Our first show today was Kazuyuki Kumagai Attachment menswear, which we were just watching. Six of us missed the bus - our class crossed the street when the crosswalk was changing and we couldn't cross. When it turned green, we ran across the street to the bus stop right as it pulled away. Then we had to figure out the buses, which was especially difficult because there is a strike going on. The show was supposed to start at 12 (they're always late), and we got there at about 12:30 or 12:45. They let us in and the ushers seated us (we usually stand behind the seats), and the show started immediately. This collection was the most wearable of those we've seen so far. Most of the models wore suits or suit separates, and all of the trousers were cropped. They were made out of unusual fabric, with tiny triangle print in beiges, or textures - some that kind of looked like boucle. The colors were pretty muted. I can see how the Attachment collection could translate into something wearable, much more than the other shows we've seen.

Two of the menswear shows we've seen were in parking garages, and one was in a room with mirrors all over the wall. Our second show today, Damir Doma, had a beautiful location. It was next to the Romanian embassy, kind of in a courtyard. There was grass and trees, with gravel walkways down each side and down the middle. The building at one end of the courtyard looked like it was built out of white marble, very regal. We thought we were all going to dress models, but after waiting around for about 2 hours (standard), they asked for 12 experienced dressers. Since only 8 of us dressed the other day, she sent all of us and 4 others. Luckily, we only had to dress the models ONE time - far less rush. The clothing, however, was interesting to dress. The man who gave us directions at first told us to put on sweaters as pants and t-shirts as head wraps. So we may have had a rack that held 2 t-shirts, a cardigan, a sweater, a vest, a string, and a coat, but it was one outfit. We had to put the shirts as pants on with the back of the shirt in their front and tie around their waists to hold them up. The neck of the t-shirts went on the back of their heads, up to around their faces. We had to tie their boots so that the laces criss-crossed, went around the ankle, and then tied on the outside of the leg with a one-loop bow. So confusing. I wonder if people in the audience could tell what they were wearing. There were white, gray, and black outfits - each outfit was monochromatic. Another odd thing about this show is that there was one woman in the show. She told her dresser that she was a friend of the designer, and our theory is that the designers wanted to show that their menswear is easily adaptable for women. One of the two models I dressed is from London, and he was very nice.

June 27

Today we went to help out with feeding homeless at an American cathedral. We got there really late and had to leave early for a fashion show, so we probably weren't too big of a help. These people make and serve lunch to 64 homeless people every Friday. They always make a 3 course meal - entree; salad, bread, and cheese course; and dessert and coffee. The homeless people came in a few at a time, and once they were all seated, one of the men said a blessing. Then, we served plates, one table at a time, for each course and picked up their plates afterward. It was cool to see what these churches do every week.

We went straight to another menswear show (Kimori Morishita) from feeding the homeless. We were looking pretty rough, but we got to go in and watch the show. The collection was definitely aviation-inspired and maybe also inspired by the time period of the 20's, which is also kind of tied in with the aviation theme. A few of the models wore caps that looked like pilots would have worn then, and some wore sunglasses with an elastic strap, kind of like pilots' goggles. One of my favorite pieces was a pair of seersucker shorts, blue and white striped, that laced up the sides. With all the shorts, the models wore socks/tights and lace up boots or shoes. A couple of the looks were almost normal suits, but mostly the clothes were very unique.

After the fashion show, we took the metro to a mall just outside the city. It was a regular mall inside, with outlets outside. We found some good deals on Longchamp bags. They were one of the first things I've seen that are actually cheaper here than at home.

June 26

Morning class today was an introduction to Shibori dyeing of silk and nuno felting with Sharon Kilfoyle. She showed us lots of samples of her work and started showing us how to dye and felt. Her work can be found at sharonkilfoyle.com.

In the afternoon, we went to a showing of a summer 2009 collection with both menswear and womenswear. The clothes were made from organic materials and were meant to last a long time so they don't go to waste. The showing was in a room with stacks of clothes on the floor that represented 1% of the clothes that Belgium sends to Africa every day.

After the showing, we went to another show where 8 of us dressed models and the rest of the class watched the show. It was Veronique menswear. Kanye West came to the show, but I was backstage so I didn't see him. I helped dress a model who had to wear 3 different looks. The changes went so much quicker than I thought - and we even had to lace up shoes each time. Our model is from Holland, and he said he used to have a roommate from Charlotte, NC. Dressing was fun but really stressful! After the show, the rest of the girls came backstage and we took pictures with the designer and models.