Costume Extravaganza: Into the Woods at Shakespeare in the Park

This past Wednesday evening my friends and I went to see Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. The Shakespeare in the Park production officially opened on August 9th. The musical intertwines a number of classic childhood fairytales including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Bean Stalk, Rapunzel, and The Baker and his Wife. I thought it was wonderful and I wanted to share a few of the costumes that I really loved.


Donna Murphy as the Old Witch

Donna Murphy as the Young Witch

I absolutely LOVED this green dress, Donna looked spectacular in it. The color and the way it moved on stage was gorgeous. 

Laura Shoop

Jesse Mueller as Cinderella and Ivan Hernandez as Cinderella's Price Charming

Jesse Mueller's blue dress is adorable and I really like the checkerboard-like effect in the fabric. Ivan's costume is luxurious in white with gold details. It looked stunning in the stage lighting.

I also loved Jesse's Cinderella ball gown, unfortunately I can't find a picture, but it was gorgeous.

Just an Update

Unfortunately, there will be no Sketchy Sunday this week. I've been super busy with work and other projects, that I haven't had the time this week to come up with something to share. Project Runway Recap & Review Week 5 will be posted some time on Monday. I will also be posting a Costume Extravaganza, after this post, for Into the Woods at Shakespeare in the Park. In the coming weeks ahead, there will be lots of Fall trend and (hopefully) Back to School haul posts.

Some news: I recently entered a contest to win 2 tickets to the J. Mendel runway show during Fashion Week on September 12. They are announcing the winner tomorrow on their Facebook Fan Page. Lord knows I would love to attend a show. We'll see what happens with that (fingers crossed).

I am also hoping to finish my first outfit, that I am still working on, before the Fall semester starts. The photoshoot will probably happen early september while its still warm out. I'll keep you all updated on more stuff to come. Have a great weekend and stay stylish!

Lady Gaga Sketch Submission

Recently, GaGa posted a video on her social media site, LittleMonsters.com, about a sketch submission contest asking fans to submit their own fashion sketches for her. She will choose and wear her favorite looks! She says she will work with the winners to actually create the garments. I think it's an amazing opportunity so I went for it, thanks to one of my friends. I, of course, wanted to share it with all of you.

About a week ago, GaGa also released the name of her upcoming album, ArtPop. The name is partially what gave me the inspiration. When I thought of the word ArtPop, my mind immediately went to Andy Warhol and the famous Marilyn Monroe picture. I began to look more into his works and found his Grevy's Zebra. The colors looked magnificent and I ran with it. So here you see a shell-like structure with the colors of Andy Warhol's Zebra artwork. I also knew I wanted to incorporate something like aluminum or metal, hence the hoop-like strapless dress. The heelless boots are also metalic with a red platform. She wears shoes similar to this so I figured I'd try to keep her style in this as well.

I hope you all enjoy and remember YOU WERE BORN THIS WAY!

Project Runway Recap & Review Week 4

Hello gang ... another week has passed and this time aroud the designers had their Girl On the Go Challenge from Michael Kors. They were asked to create a look for a client who is always traveling or in high demand from her busy lifestyle, whether it be a look from day to night or just versatile clothing. Tim Gunn stressed that it should keep wrinkle free throughout the day. Also on the go were TWO designers. Andrea left the competition in the middle of the night and Kooan made the decision to leave, making the announcement in the workroom

The challenge winner this week:

Sonjia! This dress looks so versatile and sexy on her model. She clearly followed the challenge rules and used a fabric that seems to be comfortable and doesn't wrinkle. Any woman can make this a day to night look effortlessly with a change of shoes and some accessories. She may even want to let her hair down. I also really love the color if the fabric. Yes, its grey, you might be asking "Who cares?" but something about it is interesting.

Out this week:

Buffi was out. I was actually really sad to see her go because I'm quite fond of her quirkiness. She's got spunk but this look honestly was terrible. I understood that she was trying to stay true to her aesthetic, which is all well and good, but she could have toned it down a bit. I wonder if she would have been safe if she had listened to Christopher, who honestly seemed like he was innocently trying to help. The construction was awful, particularly the hemline of the zebra print dress. If she had used the sheer pink garment over maybe a nude or black fabric and focused on construction a bit more she would have definitely continued on.

My other favorites:

Christopher's look was delicate with an edgy touch. I thought it was styled perfectly, my only wish is that his model would fill it out more because she is incredibly thin.

Suprisingly, I like Alicia's look. Typically I don't really like the looks she puts together. It's super crisp and clean and the construction of it looks awesome! If she keeps this up I might start to actually enjoy her designs.

I don't know what it is about it but I really love what Melissa did here. I think its the fabric she used, it looks so comfortable! I also LOVE the layering and the combination of the black and brown because it's typically what I'm into personally.

We all know Dmitry is a sewing machine wiz so I'm not surprised at how fabulous the construction is. I love it but I just wish it wasn't so boring. He needs to add a little bit more depth into his aesthetic and not be so monotone, then we'll have a winner.

And finally, Nathan .... but I only really like the vest-like garment over the dress. The rest of it (styling and colors) reminds me of Mardi Gras and it washes his model out. I know she's on the go and traveling, but it shouldn't be to New Orleans. I hope he chooses better color palettes in the future.

This week the designers are given Nina Garcia's Challenge, good luck to them on that one!

Sketchy Sunday

Technically, its already Sunday, and since I won't be home for most of the day I figured I'd post this now while I'm still up. This week's Sketchy Sunday was inspired by New York City. In order, I sketched Lady Liberty, a Traffic Light, the Empire State Building, the Subway Lines and Train Car, a Metro Card, and an Old School Taxi Cab. Of course, these are all my take on these iconic NYC landmarks and symbols. I hope you all enjoy!

Project Runway Recap & Review Week 3

Thank you for being ever so patient with my lack of posting and my tardiness. I hope you all watched tonight's episode and enjoyed it because it has been getting a bit dramatic.

On to last week...
The designers were paired up in teams and were given the Lexus Red Carpet Challenge where they had to design for a client (former Project Runway designers) for a night at the Emmy's while incorporating the color of the Lexus they were assigned.

A quick list of design teams and their clients:

Alicia and Raul - Mila
Andrea and Christopher - Anya
Buffi and Elena - Laura
Dmitry and Melissa - April
Gunnar and Kooan - Queen Irina
Nathan and Sonjia - Valerie
Fabio and Ven - Kenley

The designers met with their clients to come up with a sketch that fit the clients' needs and personal styles. The winner once again was (drum roll please).... Ven! I wasn't surprised, as his and Fabio's dress was my only favorite this time around. They were Team Blue. I commend them for this fabric choice. It looks rich and I found the construction of it to be stunning.

Out last week was Raul. First of all, I have to say, this dress looked terrible and the hair (even though its not the focus) made it even worse. He and Alicia didn't even bother to take the risk with the black and red printed fabric. Raul said himself, if it was up to him he would keep the print and he damn well should have! I honestly thought it was beautiful and might have saved him from going because it would have been daring.



Some other comments I'd like to add:

Despite the fact that its not my taste, Dmitry and Melissa's dress was well done and looked great in terms of the difficulty of the fabric. It was flawlessly done.

Gunnar needs to quit putting himself on a pedestal because his work isn't as great as he thinks it is in my opinion. Kooan seemed very humble and gave Gunnar the credit for the work he did (even if I think its horrible), I applaud Kooan for that.

Andrea drove me bonkers this episode and I felt Christopher's pain. He's generally good spirited and sweet, I felt bad for him having to be in the bottom because of his partner. I cried with him while he was on the runway because I can tell how badly he wants this. I hope to see more from him and off the record I hope he kicks everyone's ass and wins.

The other two designs were safe worthy. They did what the client asked for and pulled through. Congrats to those two teams as well.

Tonight's episode Recap and Review will be up on Tuesday. Until then, enjoy the rest of the week and be well.



Courageous Update

First I'll start off by saying that Sketchy Sunday was a bust this week. I haven't had a chance to think of a new collection, let alone create illustrations. I apologize for that because I really look forward to sharing that with all of you every week. This coming Sunday I should have something done to share and I hope you'll enjoy!

The real reason for this post ... I recently started working at a clothing store in Scarsdale, NY called Courage. b. It's temporary until my Fall semester begins but I'm glad to have the opportunity to familiarize myself with the retail aspect of the fashion industry. I've been in the store for three days this past week so far. Its pretty cool to interact with customers and sell items in the store, although it does get kind of boring when no one is around. Hopefully this experience teaches me much more about retail as I continue to work there and gives me an insight into what it will be like to own my own clothing stores for my dream line. I'll keep you all updated if anything interesting occurs during my time here. Until then be Courage. b!