…changing gears, staying in neutral...
I have been having really interesting conversations with women about clothing lately…I have loved clothing, fashion, the craft of making and being a maker all my life. I don't remember a time when I wasn't making something; clothing, art, shoes, gardens, interiors, photographs…pretty much that has been the common thread, no pun intended, throughout my life…and it continues.
For years I loved making very special, beautiful, pretty, clothing..there was always a twist but at the core of the garment was that it was good…on all levels; good fabric, design, color, fit etc. etc. etc. I still love making those same types of garments however the landscape has changed, I have changed, women have changed. These days I am much more interested in exploring how women get dressed in the morning and for what reasons. What is their uniform, is it of their own choice or is it chosen for them due to job, position, expectations?
I have been making a wardrobe for an executive lately, and at a moment when we finished she said, "You design clothing for women, not young girls." I took that as a supreme compliment. That is who I am designing for…women. There isn't really an age put on that word, it is more of an attitude and a standing in life. Women of all ages wear my things, however it is doubly important to be making things that not just young women can pull off.
So I am still into making those pretty designer dresses, and I am also currently in love with making things which are pretty everyday clothing..clothing that sets you apart from the crowd but in the best way. Not too loud, but certainly worthy of a look, finding that edge but not so edgy that it makes you unapproachable…on the contrary..it invites approach…the best kind.
Stay tuned...
….IDRS 2014
I just got home from my big night out with the Independent Designer Runway Show at the Bellevue Collection. It was another chapter in my ongoing quest to create clothing with an eye toward design, function, and beauty. it helped push me to define the essence of my vision.
What was so encouraging tonight was, I had interactions with women from all walks of life and the demographic spectrum. These interactions were an affirmation of what I'm striving for in my professional career.
Stay tuned...
..the mill skirt
I am officially introducing my Mill skirt. Read all about it on my website.
This skirt has been the cornerstone of what I have been working around for the past year or so. I am offering it in a denim twill, wool of various weights and colors and eventually Japanese Selvage Denim. It comes in three lengths: mini, mid-thigh and long (mid-calf).
Following are a few new pics and there are more to come….
enjoy and stay tuned...
Here comes the bride….
I love making wedding dresses. I would love to cultivate this business because it is so much fun to collaborate and create something interesting, sensational, forever loved and potentially a usable garment for the future.
Now that Elizabeth is married, I feel I can post the pics of her wedding dress I just finished last week. What I love about this dress is that it is three pieces each great on their own and fab together.
Enjoy…and stay tuned.
…on connecting the dots
Tonight I was watching the movie, "Under the Tuscan Sun"…not the greatest movie but I wanted to be transported to another landscape and language and this movie is really beautifully shot. Anyway, there was a line at the end where Señor Martine reminds Francesca that she told him when she bought Bramasole what she wanted to happen in her home in Cortona, and she got everything she asked for. She had forgotten….
If we are paying attention, we can look back and in doing so, connect the dots.. Each moment is another dot in the long chain of dots that becomes our life story. So this post is about being grateful for one's life - connecting the dots from one thought to its manifestation - and how what is manifested is yet another dot.
The studio/store front I just created is one of the big dots on my chain.
Come and visit…I have a nice chair for you to relax in, read magazines and chat with me. Maybe we will come up with something wonderful to make!
Stay tuned...
..Beacon Hill Art Walk
…Beacon Hill is having their first art walk tomorrow from 4 to 8 pm. If you are out and about and want to come check out this part of town, this might be a great time to do that. I will be open and although I am in the infancy stage of my store evolution, I am there and the doors are open and you are welcome to come in..
See you there and stay tuned...
…and the address is...
3320 Beacon Ave. S
Seattle, WA 98144
Stop by, I am keeping pretty regular hours…noon to 6 and sometimes 8. haven't figured out my days off yet… it is all so new..
…..After six years of thinking about it
….I have been living on Beacon Hill in Seattle for about eight years. I have also been walking by a particular building on Beacon Ave. that is so special and so perfect that every time I walked by I would say to myself, 'I wish I could have a studio in that space.'
That wish is finally coming true. I have moved my cutting table, sewing machine, ironing board, notions and some clothing in and I actually turned on my machine today….it was a defining moment for me. This idea and desire has been a long time coming. I am very pleased….
Feel free to come by when you find yourself on this hill. I will start keeping regular hours in about a week…noon to 8.
Stay tuned...
..here's to Beacon Hill
I can hardly keep this news under my new linen hat, but I just have to tell the world. I am opening a brick and mortar shop on Beacon Hill in Seattle. What is so exciting is that it is going to be a shared space with one of the most iconic letterpress print shops in Seattle, Day Moon Press. Maura who owns and operates the press, is opening space up in her fantastic shop that is part press shop, part letterpress museum. You feel like you are in the midst of the Industrial Revolution. We (Maura and I), feel our crafts are so well suited for each other. Our philosophy and point of view are similar and what we do individually is all about the artistry, what is essential and functional with a little bit of impracticality thrown in to keep things light. So we are building a room within a room, opaque and yet transparent, highly visible from the street and now, no appointments necessary. I will house my studio there, mostly, and have a retail space in front. It is what I have wanted for so long. My big step out…in July!
Stay tuned...
..on relevance and beauty
...last week I did a presentation in front of a panel of people to hopefully be chosen to participate in a show this fall. You might know how it feels to speak in front of large groups and when you are done there is a feeling of having just done a little dog and pony show. Selling yourself is easy for some and very nerve wracking for others. I am sort of in the middle. I have had to speak in front of large groups and while doing so, be evaluated on every move; voice quality, gestures, eye contact... and if that isn't crazy….anyway at the end of this sell…I realized that the two qualities that I want to 'sell' are to remain relevant, and to create beautiful things to make women feel beautiful. That I am so not interested in "fashion" for fashions sake…or trends that come and go in a minute. I love the idea of morphing…that there is a change but the change is slow and thoughtful. Something changes because that piece has gone beyond being relevant. Rick Owens is a little like that…his basic philosophy is that if you are looking for radical change every season, then he is not the designer to follow. He pretty much does a variation on the theme. He is so sane...
Sanity, Relevance, Beauty..
Stay tuned...
Iceland...
I have been on a vacation/inspiration seeking adventure for the past three weeks. I have been in London, Devon, all around England and now I'm in Iceland… this is the land of mystery. A place so remote and untouched it is otherworldly. The landscape is giant, snowy, icy, rocky, muddy, full of heat, and spewing steam from everywhere. The textures are a mix of hard and soft, lichen crusted rock and green so green I can't believe it is real. The beaches are pitch black and the water the whitest white. The rivers are an icy blue and there is so much water that you can't believe there could be so much. Some of the rivers run hot, laying in hot water running over you is something out of a dream. This place is absolutely full of inspiration…from the new architecture of their music hall, the Harpa, to the ancient Viking culture, it has been a delight in making sense of it, and just letting it run over me like the hot river water...
Stay tuned...
The story told through fabric….
I spent many hours today at a fabric show. There are two or three vendors that never fail to help inspire a new conversation within myself that challenges what I think about who and what I am in relation to this work. Each of the vendors sells a different quality of goods; one is more straight forward, not too expensive, regular silk, once in a while something unique and wonderful pops up. The second one is a bit more special and the third the most special. At one point I had four or five fabrics put together and they really looked so fabulous together. They were layers of color, pattern, texture…and that is the challenge for me. My color palette never really changes much. It goes from black to grey to white to creme and back to black with a little texture variation thrown in for shine and impracticality.
When those five fabrics where layered together, Matthew, who is one of the vendors said, "With this group of fabrics you can tell a story." He was right, and the question since his comment has been, "Who's story will it tell?
One of the things I love doing most is creating wardrobes for people. Can you imagine having a collection of six or seven pieces designed just for you in a palette specific to what works with your skin tone, with colors, textures, patterns and shapes that work best on your body, with a sensitivity to your sensibilities? This is how clothing used to be made. It takes time, patience and a vision. It takes getting out of our comfort zones and allowing our stories to be revealed in the way we present ourselves.
This idea is emerging as a new mission….
Stay tuned...
…on the Italians
As some of you know fashion week(s) around the world are in full swing these days; New York, Paris, London, and currently Milan is on stage. I can get so sucked in and in doing so, it is a mix of feeling completely lacking in talent, to true inspiration. To be better because the work is so incredible, so beautiful, so well crafted and so well funded. Aside from all that, in the end I take away the true art that I see in this work. I just finished looking at a few designers that I am not as familiar with. They are all Italian and I'm so blown away that I have to share their names….maybe you will agree…maybe not..
- Antonio Marras
- Ermanno Scervino
- Gabriele Colangelo
to name just three.
It is like the apprentice and the master. Each one of these designers was at one time the apprentice, and in some ways remain the apprentice. In our lives if we take an interest in our continuous development around our craft and/or in our lives; always learning, discovering and hopefully applying that new found knowledge, we can let go of the stories that we create that hold us back. We are able to create new stories for ourselves and which might even inspire someone else to look a little deeper, let go of a little more, rise to something bigger or better or newer, richer, more true.
That is what happens when I study the work of others…..I am still the apprentice...
Stay tuned.
…circles of support
Today as I was putting my house back in order after devoting so much energy to putting on last weekends show, I was thinking about our individual circles of support. I was pretty amazed and slightly taken aback as to how many people came out in that wretched weather on Saturday night to see my collection. It was heart warming and incredible.
Each of us has a circle of people around us who will support us over and over again, because they see us/you doing something that you're/we're passionate about. I saw that not only directed toward me, but to the musicians ( DJ Bobcatt, Luke Williams) who came to be a part of this show, the people who are promoting the venue (Love City Love), the bartender (Matthew), models (Julia, Wysdom, Nan, Ann, Ayako, Alexa, Tia and Jennifer), hair stylist (Jennifer Coats), the friends who helped me hang lights and introduced me to Love City Love (Flaco) and greeted the guests (Joy Fortuny) and all the mini circles within the bigger circle. When our circles overlap it is a beautiful thing. Then it isn't just about you/us, it is about the group, the project, the collaboration. That is in the end what it is all about…collaboration. When we give our time and energy to others only good can come from that on so many deep, deep levels.
So what I realized is that it is important to support each other so that circle of support can grow.
On the evolution of a garment...
I am in the midst of getting ready for a very important presentation on Feb. 8th. If you read this and are interested in coming , please let me know…or not..there is magic in numbers so it is great to have many, and hopefully those many are the many that should be there in the first place…I digress.
What is amazing to me is when you ( the collective you) think you've got it; It is all there, the thing that is being done is perfect, and then….it is put to the test. In my case it is when I have a real person step into the garment I am making, and at that moment it's either perfect or it needs work. Usually things need work of some sort. The basic structure is there, the idea is clear but it is not perfect and then the real problem solving begins. A tuck here, a pleat there, taking in, letting out, how to make it close properly, how is this person going to get in and out with ease. How is it going to move when she walks, sits… the conversation with that garment is endless and so interesting. If one listens it will tell you what you need to know.
See you at the show!
Help needed...
I am currently in search of someone to help me sew in my studio. The person needs to know how to sew on a walking foot heavy duty industrial machine, better known as the "claw"..pretty intense but certainly doable.
I have other work,on a regular industrial machine, and can keep someone busy a couple of days per week. I would like to pay per piece. I am also willing to bring this work to you if you have the proper equipment.
Please pass this on if you are not interested but know someone(s) who is(are).
PS - feels so good to be able to advertise for help...
Stay tuned...
Through the Seasons Presentation...
Please join us
For the presentation of current work by
F I O R A V A N T I
FEBRUARY 8, 2014
LOVE CITY LOVE
1430 SUMMIT AVE.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
DOORS OPEN AT 7 PM - PRESENTATION AT 8 PM
RSVP VERY WELCOMED....
SEE YOU THERE!
Grazie...
Arrivederci to 2013 and Ciao to 2014! This year has been a pivotal one for me, so many good changes and forward motion. 2013 propelled me to examine my life, figure out what was really important, and gave me room to focus on how to move in that direction. I am so grateful for all the amazing people I met, those who bought my clothing, the fine store owners who carry my designs ( Juniper, Momo and Clementines), and the wonderful women for whom I was fortunate to make beautiful things. It was a pleasure.
I am busy in the studio working on next year's designs and am excited to present them early in 2014.
Stay tuned...
