Exhibit Ambush Phase 2: Specimen

This year’s Exhibit Ambush Phase 2 at the Port Pavilion was a success! After months of hard work from the team, we were all able to pull together and present amazing art, performances, and design to the public. This year, I presented my collection titled Specimen made with white plastic trash bags.  My outline of the process for this collection is below. 

Photo by David Del Valle

To begin, the creative process starts with brainstorming, direction, and what I like to call inspirational hoarding. The initial direction and the the finished designs are almost never consistent. The creative evolution that takes place along the way is usually a means of finding common ground between what you intend to create and what you are actually creating. Believe it or not, there is a big difference between both.

The direction for this particular collection began with moods.  I wanted to convey a sense of unease and discomfort in my collection while having it aesthetically pleasing and refined. I began writing up a character profile as a starting point. As I continued drawing upon concepts and ideas, the incorporation of literature and art was inevitable.  I began to draw ideas from Mannerist paintings, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and John Fowles’ The Collector.  I was inspired by moths, minimal colors, and linear textures.  Ultimately, what most influenced the designs of this this collection were moths, The Collector, and Kimbra’s song, Good Intent. 

After refining the designs, the initial work process is all experimentation.  The challenge of working with unconventional materials is the fact that one has to get used to the medium and see how it works.  It is very much akin to getting to know a person, the individual in this case being trash bags.  Processes and work methods are then developed in order to manipulate this medium into what you want.  So, after a long period of trial and error, we learned to get along.

The upside of working with plastic is that it behaves similar to leather and vinyl fabrics. The only difference of course is the thin and fragile texture.  Because of this, I was able to utilize many methods used in leather and vinyl textiles and those I learned constructing my first Ambush collection, Recurrence. In addition, I was also able to apply much of the priceless hand sewing, fitting, and crafting techniques I picked up working at the theatre during the spring.

The downside to working with thin plastic is the careful methods required during construction. Sewing machines are usually too rough to use with single sheets of the trash bags because the speed of the machine rips through the stitch lines. Because of this, a lot of hand stitching is involved meaning, slow and meticulous work.  Admittedly, hand sewing is utilized in much of the finishing processes for conventional garments as well, mostly in high fashion, costuming, and couture pieces. 

Behind the Scenes Photos by Jon Medel

The day of the show, I was still working on polishing up these garments with hand sewing.  Without the help of such an incredible collaborative team backstage, my garments, though they may have looked finished, would not be as “on point” as it ultimately was.  Special thanks to my fellow designers, amazing volunteers and dressers, my backstage support team, and my incredible models.  This inter-dependency and the collaboration involved in executing a well-produced show never fails to develop within me an immense amount of gratitude towards everyone involved and it is truly what I love most about this industry and these events.

Links to runway and event photos, reviews, and articles:
Discover SD
Ejje Photos
FG Photography
Jon Medel
N2 Design
Sergio Leon Lau Photography
Wade Courtney Photography

Dot Magazine

Models in my collection:
Cynthia Adams
I-Wen Anne Lei
Elizabeth Morrell
Anali Saiz
Maya Sawyer
Tiffany Williams

Stylist: Erica Ashley
Jewelry from: Sweet1985

Live, breathe, and create art.

Exhibit Ambush Pop Up Event

The Exhibit Ambush team had a great Pop Up event at Oliver's Hair Design on September 13th to give San Diego a peek of what they're going to see during the main event on October 19th. Great turn out, great talent, and all in all amazing time.

Here's the promotional video:

And photos!

ALSO, we are having another free promo event at Oliver's Hair Design this coming Saturday September 05 from 6pm-10pm. Anyone who attends will be able to purchase Ambush tickets for $10 off (you'll get if for $30 instead of $40). All ticket sales will be donated to Susan G. Komen. Please come support us!


xoxo,

Exhibit Ambush 2011

Following the Alterna "IT" Fashion Show, I was contacted by Antoinette Ransom to participate in an event she was producing called Exhibit Ambush.  The event promised to be an art show like no other, combining performances, fine art galleries, and a fashion show into one.  

As it was, she did not want me to over stress about the show due to the fact that I am a late recruit and, therefore, lack the time to fully execute an entire 10+ piece collection. Instead, I could show garments from my previous collections and add a piece or two to those to fit the number.  During this time, I was also wrapping up my last two quarters at school and interning at Lamb’s Players Theatre costume shop.  Taking this project on seemed to be quite the load.  After some thought, there was no other option but to go all in.  When would something like this come up again? It was a great way to test my potential and everything I learned.  The show was scheduled one month after my graduation, and I had roughly three months to get things done.  Not only was it a great way to meet local designers and artists, but it would also be my first fashion show outside of educational boundaries, in other words, with professionals currently in the field. 

A few weeks after signing the contract and looking through my previous collections, I deemed them unqualified for the show and decided to pull some nonexistent superpowers to revamp some concepts and hash out a new collection.  With my experiences in the previous school shows, the process from concept, design, and production (of five looks) lasted about eight to nine months. For Exhibit Ambush, I had to condense nine months worth of work into three and double my garment count....

Men's Prêt-à-Porter: Vintage Vignettes

Vintage Vignettes is a men's ready-to-wear line inspired by vineyards and traveling.  I wanted the silhouettes to be simple with the differences lying in the subtle details.  The entire concept started with an imagining of what someone would wear if they were to take a quick weekend outing by train to enjoy the vineyards. Maybe he would go with friends, maybe go alone and meet new people simply to have a change of scenery and experience something different.  I wanted it the collection to be casual and comfortable but at the same time to carry a professional quality to the look and the lines.  

xoxo,

Women's Prêt-à-Porter: Me, I'm a Thief

Me, I'm a thief,

I'm a falling star,

I'm a photograph taken,

From where you are.

So shed your tears

That's what they're there for

I don't expect you to understand this war

       -Sarah Slean "Me, I'm a Thief" Nightbugs (2002)

As I was going through my collections, I realized that I had not yet done an oriental inspired line. It was also at this time I was reading various mystery novels one of which was Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke, set in the late 19th century involving oriental trade and the opium wars. Around this time, I was also listening to The Painted Veil audiobook, set mostly in Hong Kong, and watching noir films.

This blend of Occidental and Oriental styles and ideas gave way to the following collection. It just seemed perfectly fitting to create a women's prêt-à-porter line based on this theme.  Even before this collection came together, Sarah Slean's song, Me, I'm a Thief, attached itself to this idea and saturated it with its essence. Despite its unrelated theme when put under full analysis, something about it brought whole new levels of meaning to this collection.  Ultimately, there was no other name for it, the song itself, the lyrics, and the mood it created brought the whole collection together.

I imagined the women wearing these garments to be, like the ones in 1940's Hollywood Noir Films, mysterious, devious, glamorous, and graceful. Can they be trusted? What will they do next? Looks can indeed kill (how cliche of me!)

Enjoy!

Applied Product Development: Affinity Bridal Jewelry for Collette Dinnigan

This past quarter I worked on a group project for my Applied Product Development class. We were required to create a diffusion line for a brand and create samples of each piece along with marketing material and technical packages. I was incredibly lucky to have worked with three amazing Fashion Marketing and Management members to pull all of this together.

Our group decided to create bridal jewelry for Collette Dinnigan's bridal line. The idea is to create statement pieces for bridalwear in which the center pieces and pendants may be taken out and kept or exchanged as heirlooms.

The theme for the Spring/Summer 2012 line is called Garden of Faerie Tales consisting, of course, of floral and enchanting motifs. The design echos the brambles, thickets, and faerie dust from these magical tales we grew up with. 

The design consisted of wire wrapping techniques strung with Swarovski Crystals.  We had the good fortune of sitting down with my group member's mother, jewelry maker, Vana Lynn, and getting some advice and tips on how to get started on basic techniques.  We met up at her place for about three weeks in the quarter to work and plan our presentation for our final.

(Click to enlarge!)

While the samples incorporated lots of color, we've also made it an option to keep the designs monochromatic for the brides who want a more traditional feel of simply white crystals on silver wire.

We had a photoshoot session with photographer Dan Novakovich to create editorials for the pieces. Here are a few examples:

Looking back, I have never done jewelry of this caliber before. Of course, I have dabbled in the art for a little while without much progress but this was quite an experience.  I really enjoyed making the jewelry and seeing it progress from concept to completion.  Like a lot of detail work, it produced numerous broken nails and sore fingers, but it was well worth it in the end. It was also somewhat relaxing wrapping wire, kind of like the feeling one would get when knitting.  There was a certain sculpting aspect which I enjoyed very much as I learned to manipulate each gauge of wire into the desired shapes.  Overall, it was a rewarding experience. The class itself was very open and left us to manage our own time, progress, and overall product.  We all worked extremely well together and was able to meet various times outside of class throughout the quarter to get things done.

Here is our display table for our final presentation:

Xoxo,