Out with the old in with the new

One of the lovely perks of working in fashion is the the sample sales. I can verify that they are as amazing as everyone makes them out to be. At COS lately we have had a sample sale almost every fortnight. Yes I said fortnight... I have always wanted to say that and now that I am in the UK I can.

Every two weeks I somehow manage to buy at least 10-12 items from the sample sale and well my PAX wardrobe just can't take it anymore and is overflowing with COS goodies. As a result of this massive amount of new clothes, I now have to part ways with some of the old clothes. Most people would just haul a bin bag to Oxfam and be done with it but I want my clothes to go to a nice home, to another vintage lover who will appreciate it. That's where Brick Lane comes in.

Brick Lane is probably one of my favorite places in East London. It has everything: Curry, vintage clothes, lovely bars and restaurants. One of the best things about Brick Lane is the market on Sunday. All of the locals set up shop and sell all of their various and sundry things. You can find used clothing, bikes, phone chargers, benefit make up, fruit, whatever your little heart desires. So off I went with a suitcase of my vintage clothes to sell to all of the East End hipsters for the low, low price of two pounds an item (sequins items were 5 pounds and extremely hard to part with)

I have been to Brick Lane every other Sunday for the last two months now and it has been a success every time, I even have some repeat customers that seek me out. I always manage to coerce one of my friends or the BF to come selling with me and have made 50-80 pounds each time I go. If you have anything to sell I would recommend taking a Sunday and going to Brick Lane, I know it might seem off putting sitting on the ground selling your lowly possessions but one man's trash is a another man's treasure. It's a great way to spend your day as you get to sit in the sun, enjoy a Red stripe, chat with some nice people and make money while you are at it.

Undercover

As you know I just started this new pattern cutting job at COS. I am currently the pattern cutter for 4 departments: Childrenswear, lingerie, accessories and ladies classic.

My cousin recently informed me about "Undercover: The Evolution of Underwear" exhibit at The Fashion and Textiles Museum. I decided since I am now doing lingerie it would be nice to see how it has evolved over the years in a design and pattern cutting perspective. So my friend Theresa and I headed off to do some research and learn about our knickers.

The exhibit was short and sweet it covered how underwear started off as a health garment and has now transformed into a fashion 'must have' item. It featured designs from La Perla, M&S, Wonderbra, Elle McPhearson and Dior. Theresa and I discovered that Wonderbra is a Canadian company, hooray for Canada paving the way for well fitted lingerie. The exhibit was very informative for me as I got to practice using my bra terminology like: balconette, push up bra etc. Furthermore, they deconstructed a bra at the very end of the exhibit and wrote a detailed description of the name of each part of the bra and how it is sewn up.

My favorite pieces in the exhibit were the bodysuits, and a cage undergarment. I also loved all of the pieces that involved mesh, lace and fringe. I don't know why but my lovely photoshop document has turned all green and grainy when I put it into blogger.. sigh... one day I will master this whole blogging thing.

Beyonce's new video

My new found love for Textiles

Last Thursday I swung by Gareth's studio on my way home from work to drop off a jacket for one of Gareth's assistants to fix for my bf (I was far too lazy to do it myself and I don't have a sewing machine, which is a whole other blog post).

Anyway it turns out Gareth was out of town and the gang were on a mission to get some inspiration with Gareth's invite to Chameleon '09, Loughborough Uni's BA degree show. I, of course tagged along cause well I miss the gang and there was free drinks, lovely textiles and who could turn down an inspiration mission?

As soon as we arrived we grabbed a glass of Rose and made the rounds. It seemed like the area that grabbed our attention was the multimedia textiles. I think mainly because it combines many mediums which create more texture and structure than printed textiles.

The first person that caught our eye was Charlotte Smith. Her textiles were black, shiny and either pyramids or triangles. They screamed being inspired by Gareth Pugh. Turns out one of her peers did recommend she look at Gareth's stuff for inspiration and she interpreted it very well into textiles. These pictures don't do her work justice, we were not allowed to take pictures so these are shots from the exhibit website http://www.chameleon09.co.uk/.

The next person that caught my eye was Hannah Gilbert. She somehow managed to knit what looked like giant chains. This baffled my mind as I can barely knit one, purl two or whatever is it to make a scarf, let alone figure out how to knit yarn to look chains.

Lastly, Heather Turnbull impressed with her use of leather and triangular shapes. Her inspiration was from science fiction films and the vision of the future from the 1920's. Futuristic designs are always a treat for the eye as were her textiles. I can just picture them on the shoulder of a jacket or the hips of a dress.

It was very inspiring to see how each student took normal, two dimensional fabrics and molded them into these amazing new textiles. It has motivated me to look into how to mold leather, cast resin and experiment with my own textiles for my mini collection. Yes, the mini collection is still in the mix, just on the back burner till I get used to the new job, make some monies and well get some sketches done.

Martha Stewart

I think I have this strange urge to be like Martha Stewart. Yes, I will admit it when I owned a TV from time to time I would watch Martha Stewart Living, I would also read the Martha mags that consumed my gramma's coffee table.

Anyway last weekend I made pizza from scratch. Yep I kneaded the dough let it rise and then waited for the bf to come home and do the rest. I must say it was very domestic of me. This weekend I was on my way to Brick Lane and got side tracked by the Columbia Flower market. Flowers?? I have never had an interest in growing a plant, having a garden, or anything that involves me keeping a living thing alive. I once killed bamboo. Maybe it was my recent visit to the nursery with my grandma or the fact that I have a lot more time on my hands but I really wanted to go home with some pretty flowers for my flat.

Columbia market gets it name from the road it occupies every Sunday morning, it is located in the East End about 8 minutes (biking) from my flat. Between 8am-2pm you can find a wide range of plants, bedding plants, shurbs, bulbs and freshly cut flowers. The best part about Columbia Market is the later you go the better the deals are. By 1:30am all of the traders want to get rid of their goods and sell them at low, low prices. When you walk through the market all you here is "flowers for a fiver", "2 for a fiver" everything is "something for a fiver".

The domestic Martha Stewart in me could not resist buying some flowers... especially at such a cheap price. I still had to restrain myself as I am low on funds and couldn't buy anything over a "fiver". I ended up with three cute little plants that only cost 3 pounds. One is a yellow daisy and I have no clue what the other one's are called but I love them.

Oh let me introduce you, this is my bike Waldo, baskets make it very easy to transport flowers.

Finally here is the final product. When I have more money I am going back for an olive tree.

love, love love.

Anna on 60 minutes

So I promise not to make this a fashiony blog because there are just too many of those to compete with. However, I love Morley Safer of 60 minutes and I also love Anna Wintour, combine the two and you have one of the best interviews on 60 minutes by far.

Side note: Every Sunday my mom watches 60 minutes and I would always try and watch it with her but usually died of boredom... sigh... I miss those days.

Royal College MA show

On Thursday I was lucky enough to get an invite to the Royal College MA press show. The ladieswear patterncutting team at COS set out at 10:30am on an adventure to the Royal College. We walked 45 minutes to The Henry Moore Gallery and the sore legs and swollen feet were well worth the trek as the show was quite impressive.

36 students showcased their collections to the press, they were strong, well constructed and innovative. Highlights included:

Racheal Barett's silicone dresses that exaggerated the hourglass shape, and combined lace with rubber to expose the negative shapes on the body.

Dulcie Wanless' sculptural collection showed many different textures combining knit, matt and shiny to produce a feast for the eyes.

Matthew Miller's skeleton bibs and cable knit skulls were amazing combining masculinity with a little bit of humor.

Lastly, Kim Choong-Wilkins' deconstructed "bodybound" men had a certain gareth pughesque feel which included stud's, exaggerated shoulders and an armour like silhouette.

All in all the RCA MA show was a nice escape from a day of patterncutting. As someone who is planning to do a MA in design (within the next two years, hopefully) I think, I will highly consider the Royal College as one of my choices.

Selling out

So as you know I work for the retail store COS. The only reason I took on a part-time position with them was to pay my rent and eat as working for Gareth just didn't give me enough funds to survive. One day when I was working at COS I happened to serve the brand executive of the store. Whilst serving her I decided to take some initiative (one of the COS values) and ask her if they had any vacancies at head office. Low and behold they did in pattern cutting and I just happen to be a pattern cutter. I sent my CV to her that night and got an interview for a jr. pattern cutter position on the menswear, accessories and childrenswear team.

I went to my interview and today they called me in for a trial run. This involved me taking two flat sketches and making the complete patterns for them based on the designers notes. Once I had finished we had a little chat and they offered me the job.

Now I am pondering why I am taking this job in the first place? I have never worked in the head office of a large corporation... I have never had a real life job for that matter. This position involves me drafting on a computer all day and liaising with factories in China. It is indeed a stepping stone in my career but not really in the direction I intended. Am I selling out for money, stability and the possibility of a work visa? I also have a job offer for two designers in the east end, Meadham Kirchhoff and might choose COS over them.

I blame London, it is way to hard to follow your dream here, it is much too costly. I would love to work for two upcoming designers in the east end but have put it on the back burner to draft tiny little children's and menswear clothes. How things change...

Anyway I still haven't heard back about my salary negotiation so we shall see which path I will be taking.

Here are some pics of the COS SS'09 collection. I must admit the childrenswear is quite cute and well of course I have always loved the mens and womenswear collections.

Just to avoid any confusion this is not a blog about the British show EastEnders, I just happen to live in the east end of London and due to my lack of creativity I could not think of another name for said blog.

Anyway, I have been in London for just over a year now and have been hesitant to blog about my wily adventures because I was afraid no one would read my blog. Similar to the way that I will never throw a house party in fear that no one will show up. After spending most of my free time following the blogs of my fellow friends and strangers thedeadlynightshades, jakandjill, crazyforshanghai,kanye west and suzy bubbles, etc. I thought it was about time I start my own. Also I found myself copying and pasting the same story in my emails to my friends and family so I thought having a blog would maybe save me some time... or as I have discovered today do the opposite and consume all of my time.

In london I currently live in Dalston and have moved here to "persue my career in fashion" lame, I know but alas that is my life. Since moving here I have worked for the likes of Gareth Pugh and Giles Deacon and I am now currently working part-time at the upscale H&M store called COS. I am spending my days looking for a new full-time job in design and trying to make a mini collection so the next couple of posts will be my adventures in doing the latter. Enjoy. xx