I got to meet Cynthia Rowley!

She was our "guest professor" last week. Click here to see her designs.

Our teacher, William Eadon, has worked with Cynthia for over 10 years and so he asked her to come and teach us! She was really cool and so tiny. We had to present our collections to her and she gave us advice on how to clean it up and make it better. Talk about intimidation! But, it was a good experience in really learning how to believe in your designs and “sell” yourself. It’s all a learning process. She said that my layout was a little bit cluttered (which was true, I always tend to put too much because I get excited). She also told me to limit my fabric choices because there were too many different types and the color palette was too broad. Which, again was true. I go to the fabric store and there are sooo many beautiful choices and you just want to be able to use them all. Unfortunately you can’t. But, she did say that she some of my designs and there was one aspect of the collection that did work very nicely. It was really great to get her perspective and feel her energy. She has amazing ideas and I really respect her work through the years.

Coterie

Today I got to go to the Coterie show for a school assignment. Not only did I get to peruse all the Fall fashion for 2007, but I got to meet some interesting people. The show was held at the Javits center which is a huge convention center here in New York. There were tons (probably 1000 or more) booths of different designers who were selling orders to boutiques. It was
somewhat intimidating being there, yet exciting. There was an undeniable energy there that was really cool.
One day I will have a KGrace Design booth and I will be the one selling to boutique owners!

Out of touch...

I should be put into my own non-bloggers with blogs list! Who do I think I am? The reasons for my non-blogging you ask? Well, one word: Parsons. I've started up a new semester and it may prove to be my most time-consuming and challenging yet. I am taking 3 classes once again. They are:

1. Fashion Design Studio - This class I am starting from the beginning and creating a full collection. For the past 2 weeks, we've been creating mood boards, sketching our looks (30), and collecting fabric swatches. This portion is due tomorrow. My teacher, bless his heart, has been busy with Fashion Week, so we've been working on our own the past two weeks and tomorrow we have to present what we have been working on. Once our designs are approved the remainder of the semester will be filled with making 4-6 of our looks. This class will be great because at the end of it, I will have an actual collection for my portfolio.

2. Business/Entrepreneurship - This is a really interesting, scary class, but by the end I will have a tangible business plan that I can woo my investors with. My teacher started her own line 5 years ago and has tons of practical knowledge to share. If I can make it through the budget portion, then I think that my life will be happier. Anyone have an extra $50K that they want to invest into KGrace Designs?!? :)

3. Technical Drawing - This is mostly using Illustrator to create flat sketches. This would be what we would send to a factory who would create our designs. Still learning Illustrator, so it's not my favorite class. It's not super interesting, but definitely important to learn...

So there's an updated to what I have been doing. I say this every semester, but I will try and post my project when I finish.

On a happier note, our couches finally arrived! Dereck volunteered to stay home today to receive them and so he is currently lounging as I work and head to class...what a nice husband...he was so willing to break them in! We got the couch and the chair - no ottoman.

Finally, we don't have to sit on the bed and pretend it's the couch!

I hope everyone is having a great day. It's a really snowy, blistery day here in New York City.