Alex Statham, 21, knew she found the dress as she awed at the mirror. This dress is on sale, fits her theme and makes her feel special.
"It has a beige flower belt and some champagne colored leaf-shaped threading," Statham said. "I picked it because it really embodied my fall theme with the warm colors and, let’s be honest, I looked pretty darn good in it."
Color wedding dresses have recently become a trend in wedding fashion. It is not so unheard of to see pictures of brides in dresses that are colors like blush or red. However, despite the innovativeness, brides are not flocking to this new idea.
According to the owner of Encore Bridal, 39-year-old Jessica Brostron, only a certain type of bride will go for the color wedding dress.
"They’re very nontraditional, older and it’s their second or third marriage," Brostron said. "They’re going to be in Vegas or they’re not getting married in a church." .
Younger brides who opt for a color wedding dress often have a gothic type style, according to Brostron.
This is a drastically different idea from a white wedding dress.
"I think some people wear white dresses on their wedding [day] as a symbol of their faith and the purity they bring to the marriage," Aften Woodard, a 22-year-old bride-to-be, said.
For Woodard, this representation is very important.
"That symbol alone could talk me into never wearing a colored dress," Woodard said.
According to Jennie Ma, the fashion and beauty editor of The Knot Magazine, 99 percent of brides wear white on their wedding day. The idea came from Queen Victoria's wedding in 1840 when she wore an inspiring white dress.
Before this wedding, brides just wore fancy and beautiful dresses.
Encore Bridal has sold three color wedding dresses in the past five years. Brostron does not have a stock of them because not enough customers are interested. If a bride wants to order one, she treats it as a custom order.
Statham is part of that one percent of nontraditional. When she shopped for her wedding dress, she kept an open mind.
"All I knew was that I wanted [my dress] to be unique, but I was open to all sorts of shapes and colors and details," Statham said.
Her openness to color came from the love of vintage looks that certain colors, like blush and ivory, gave.
"I was open to all ideas except for pure white," Statham said. "To me white seemed so sterile."
Brostron and Woodard both do not see brides straying much from the whites or ivories.
"Brides will stick with white and ivory for tradition and [so they can] stand out as the bride," Brostron said.
Statham sees this trend differently though.
"I think our generation as a whole is moving away from the traditional wedding expectations in favor of a more customized, personal event," Statham said. "I think that the wedding dress can play a big part in that."
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
John Galliano: From fashion designer to teacher
Over the past couple years, John Galliano has become famous for his actions. He exhibited racism and, regardless of his talent, was fired from Christian Dior. What he is planning to do now may surprise you.
Galliano is going to teach.
Parsons The New School for Design has hired him to teach a three-day master class. They say they chose Galliano because of his talents, and think the students will be able to learn a lot from him.
Parsons recognizes the controversy that follows him. However, they realize he has worked to make amends for his mistakes.
Since his racist comments, Galliano has apologized to the public and attended rehab for alcohol and drugs.
Undoubtedly, the students at Parsons have heard more about his comments then what he has done to amend it. Students could choose to enroll to his class because of that news coverage. It would be interesting to see the interactions between him and his students for those three days.
Galliano is going to teach.
Parsons The New School for Design has hired him to teach a three-day master class. They say they chose Galliano because of his talents, and think the students will be able to learn a lot from him.
Parsons recognizes the controversy that follows him. However, they realize he has worked to make amends for his mistakes.
Since his racist comments, Galliano has apologized to the public and attended rehab for alcohol and drugs.
Undoubtedly, the students at Parsons have heard more about his comments then what he has done to amend it. Students could choose to enroll to his class because of that news coverage. It would be interesting to see the interactions between him and his students for those three days.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
A wedding dress made from bread tags
Wedding dress fashion is getting out of its box these days. Instead of white, brides can now buy dresses in an assortment of colors with designs unique to their personality. This idea of uniqueness is important. Brides want their dress to be completely their own and not see it in someone else's wedding pictures down the line.
Australian bride Stephanie Watson took this idea to a whole new level. In January 2013, she walked down the aisle in a dress made completely from the tags at the end of every loaf of bread. To construct her entire dress, it took 10,000 of these little things.
The idea first started when she met her husband. They started collecting the bread tags and decided they would get married when they had enough tags to make a wedding dress. This goal took 10 years, but would have taken longer if friends and family had not donated all the tags they saved.
Watson had studied fashion design, but mainly decided to make her wedding dress this way because she liked the idea of a design challenge.
It took a year to make the dress and only cost $38! However, Watson said the dress was heavy, difficult to move in and made noise.
She made a blog about making the dress. Take a look to get more of the technical side and see how much work an idea like this would really take!
Design challenges like these are becoming more popular. While I haven't seen an idea as unique as this before, I have seen many intricate and awesome designs made out of duct tape. The Stuck at Prom Duck Brand Duct Tape Contest even gets winners college scholarships!
Australian bride Stephanie Watson took this idea to a whole new level. In January 2013, she walked down the aisle in a dress made completely from the tags at the end of every loaf of bread. To construct her entire dress, it took 10,000 of these little things.
The idea first started when she met her husband. They started collecting the bread tags and decided they would get married when they had enough tags to make a wedding dress. This goal took 10 years, but would have taken longer if friends and family had not donated all the tags they saved.
Watson had studied fashion design, but mainly decided to make her wedding dress this way because she liked the idea of a design challenge.
It took a year to make the dress and only cost $38! However, Watson said the dress was heavy, difficult to move in and made noise.
She made a blog about making the dress. Take a look to get more of the technical side and see how much work an idea like this would really take!
Design challenges like these are becoming more popular. While I haven't seen an idea as unique as this before, I have seen many intricate and awesome designs made out of duct tape. The Stuck at Prom Duck Brand Duct Tape Contest even gets winners college scholarships!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Get colorful with these earrings!
Carefully look at these earrings. At first glance you may think the two separated are two different earrings. However, they are really the same earring.
This jewelry, created by Japanese design studio Daisuke Motogi, is made with multiple layers of acrylic. When they move you see two different colors, but when they are still you see only one! Take a look at this video from Vimeo:
You can buy these at Mass Item. I definitely want a pair! If a circle is too plain for you, there are other options as well.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
JCPenney: Bankrupt by Labor Day?
For a while now JCPenney has been revamping itself. The idea of affordable cost for fashion forward clothing has been what everyone is hearing about. Ellen DeGeneres even got behind the campaign with advertisements that appeal to younger generations.
According to Yahoo! Finance, the now-resigned CEO in charge of this revamp, Ron Johnson, got the company in trouble. JCPenney announced on April 8, 2013 that Johnson would be leaving, effective immediately.
Now the company is at a really important crossroads. Johnson's new target market completely disengaged JCPenney's previous customers. About 500 of the the companies stores were revamped to support this new target market while the rest got remodeled. Johnson also let go 19,000 employees during his time with the company.
On top of all of this, second-quarter sales of 2012 dropped 21.7percent in stores that have been open over a year.
To complete all of these tasks, Johnson was spending a lot of money. JCPenney already wasn't in great condition and he was spending what they had. Now he has left and the job is half done, with the actual target market of the company unknown and no real solid direction to go in.
Myron Ullman is taking over as CEO, but if he can't get an idea that can create some revenue, the company could be bankrupt by Labor Day.
Future Plans
It sounds like the company would ideally like to go back to before the revamp. However, half of the work has already been into the new idea so re-remodeling the stores would cost as much money as what they spent before.
JCPenney could fully devote itself to this new idea and do what they can do to make it work, but sales have already proven this isn't working as well as they hoped.
Overall Effects
Being a big department store, JCPenney has had big impact in the clothing world over the years. I know when they put in a JCPenney store by our movie theater in Colorado Springs everyone was ecstatic. It will be interesting to see what the company does to pull out of this.
If they do have to close, the niche will be readily available for whoever has ideas and the drive to pick it up.
According to Yahoo! Finance, the now-resigned CEO in charge of this revamp, Ron Johnson, got the company in trouble. JCPenney announced on April 8, 2013 that Johnson would be leaving, effective immediately.
Now the company is at a really important crossroads. Johnson's new target market completely disengaged JCPenney's previous customers. About 500 of the the companies stores were revamped to support this new target market while the rest got remodeled. Johnson also let go 19,000 employees during his time with the company.
On top of all of this, second-quarter sales of 2012 dropped 21.7percent in stores that have been open over a year.
To complete all of these tasks, Johnson was spending a lot of money. JCPenney already wasn't in great condition and he was spending what they had. Now he has left and the job is half done, with the actual target market of the company unknown and no real solid direction to go in.
Myron Ullman is taking over as CEO, but if he can't get an idea that can create some revenue, the company could be bankrupt by Labor Day.
Future Plans
It sounds like the company would ideally like to go back to before the revamp. However, half of the work has already been into the new idea so re-remodeling the stores would cost as much money as what they spent before.
JCPenney could fully devote itself to this new idea and do what they can do to make it work, but sales have already proven this isn't working as well as they hoped.
Overall Effects
Being a big department store, JCPenney has had big impact in the clothing world over the years. I know when they put in a JCPenney store by our movie theater in Colorado Springs everyone was ecstatic. It will be interesting to see what the company does to pull out of this.
If they do have to close, the niche will be readily available for whoever has ideas and the drive to pick it up.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
From slime to sweater
Textiles are starting to become more technologically savvy. Computers are being put in dresses and elements like "sweat proof" are big selling points. However, Atsuko Negeshi, and others from the University of Guelph, are taking a different approach.
These researchers are trying to make hagfish slime into clothing textiles. A hagfish is a bottom-dwelling, eel-like creature. When threatened, they produce a slime that contains mucous and tens of thousands of protein threads.
According to John Roach at NBC News, the protein threads rival that of spider silk, which can create a very strong thread. Hagfish slime could be more efficient because it is likely they can be "farmed". Spiders do not have this capability.
To see more about this, watch this video. An article was also published about the idea of creating fibers and films out of this slime.
So what do you think? Would you wear something that was made out of slime?
These researchers are trying to make hagfish slime into clothing textiles. A hagfish is a bottom-dwelling, eel-like creature. When threatened, they produce a slime that contains mucous and tens of thousands of protein threads.
According to John Roach at NBC News, the protein threads rival that of spider silk, which can create a very strong thread. Hagfish slime could be more efficient because it is likely they can be "farmed". Spiders do not have this capability.
To see more about this, watch this video. An article was also published about the idea of creating fibers and films out of this slime.
So what do you think? Would you wear something that was made out of slime?
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
AnnaFesta: Breaking the mold in fashion
When you hear the words "sample size", you think small. Small, skinny and petite. For me a picture of a model will almost instantly pop in my head. Logically this makes sense because models are the first to wear styles at fashion week. However, for the actual sizes of women in society this makes no sense at all. Women are all kinds of shapes and sizes, but the fashion world has uniformed the idea that skinnier is better. So what happens? Plus size women are left with limited choices.
AnnaFesta is starting to change this. This is a clothing company solely devoted to offering fashion to plus size women. Like the picture below, these outfits are flattering and on trend.
Anne Fanganello, the designer behind Annafesta, started the company when she gained weight from breast cancer treatments and could no longer wear her designer clothes. She found that her fashion choices had become very limited because not many stores catered to the plus size figure.
Other plus size women have felt this way for some time. According to NPD, 62% of plus size women report having trouble finding women's plus-sized clothing in styles they want. Over half of the women also said their clothing was not as good of quality as regular sized clothing.
One of the main lessons my fashion classes have taught me is to look for niche. A niche market that has been craving fashion will bring in customers, loyalty and a large profit. Having said that, I am very surprised this area of the population has gone so unnoticed by the fashion world. I am interested to see what this changes!
AnnaFesta is starting to change this. This is a clothing company solely devoted to offering fashion to plus size women. Like the picture below, these outfits are flattering and on trend.
Anne Fanganello, the designer behind Annafesta, started the company when she gained weight from breast cancer treatments and could no longer wear her designer clothes. She found that her fashion choices had become very limited because not many stores catered to the plus size figure.
Other plus size women have felt this way for some time. According to NPD, 62% of plus size women report having trouble finding women's plus-sized clothing in styles they want. Over half of the women also said their clothing was not as good of quality as regular sized clothing.
One of the main lessons my fashion classes have taught me is to look for niche. A niche market that has been craving fashion will bring in customers, loyalty and a large profit. Having said that, I am very surprised this area of the population has gone so unnoticed by the fashion world. I am interested to see what this changes!
Sunday, April 7, 2013
"The Vogue Factor" by Kirstie Clements: A look at the backstage of the fashion world
Anorexic models, eclectic designers and Meryl Streep from "The Devil Wears Prada" have all done their job to cause society to give assumptions to the fashion world. There have been minor looks into what this world is really like. However, none as accountable as what just came out.
The Vogue Factor by Kirstie Clements is a book written by the previous editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia. Clements gives an inside look into everything she saw while working at Vogue Australia. And she has seen a lot.
Clements started out as a receptionist in 1985 and then soared to editor-in-chief, where she stayed until 2012. The magazine, somewhat randomly, fired her from her position in 2012, when she was very quickly offered a book deal.
According to Yahoo, this book discusses things such as model eating habits and how they would Photoshop pictures. I thought what she said about altering photos was very eye-opening. Clements said they would do more alterations to make a model look less emaciated than to make her look skinny. That is certainly a scary thought!
The Vogue Factor by Kirstie Clements is a book written by the previous editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia. Clements gives an inside look into everything she saw while working at Vogue Australia. And she has seen a lot.
Clements started out as a receptionist in 1985 and then soared to editor-in-chief, where she stayed until 2012. The magazine, somewhat randomly, fired her from her position in 2012, when she was very quickly offered a book deal.
According to Yahoo, this book discusses things such as model eating habits and how they would Photoshop pictures. I thought what she said about altering photos was very eye-opening. Clements said they would do more alterations to make a model look less emaciated than to make her look skinny. That is certainly a scary thought!
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
A new kind of wedding ring: Recorded "I Do" wedding band by Sakurako Shimizu
When someone says wedding ring, most people will picture some kind of diamond set in the center of a expensive band. In fact, it is common for a wedding ring to have multiple diamonds.
Japanese artist and designer, Sakurako Shimizu, has created a wedding band idea that breaks this stereotype.
Shimizu's wedding bands are a plain band with the recording of the words, "I Do", in the center. The recordings are of the couple's own voices. So instead of something shiny, you are quite literally wearing the commitment said at the alter.
These rings are for sale and are available in silver; 18 karat and 14 karat white gold, yellow gold and red gold; and platinum.
The artsy side of me loves this idea. It is something different that not everyone will have and it can solidly remind you of the commitment you made every day. This also is a less expensive alternative for a woman's wedding band and can also broaden your choice of metal. Wedding bands are often the same kind of metal for husband and wife. However, since this records your voice commitment, it is possible for a husband to have a different metal than his wife and still be united by the rings.
On the other hand, I am a girl and have been dreaming about the diamond ring I will forever wear for some time now. So I am a little hesitant to completely get rid of my diamond ideas.
These rings can be turned into generic rings as well. You can record any few words you would like and have it placed on a ring.
Shimizu has other jewelry related projects that mainly deal with HTML code and art pieces exhibiting what he has done with jewelry.
Japanese artist and designer, Sakurako Shimizu, has created a wedding band idea that breaks this stereotype.
Shimizu's wedding bands are a plain band with the recording of the words, "I Do", in the center. The recordings are of the couple's own voices. So instead of something shiny, you are quite literally wearing the commitment said at the alter.
These rings are for sale and are available in silver; 18 karat and 14 karat white gold, yellow gold and red gold; and platinum.
The artsy side of me loves this idea. It is something different that not everyone will have and it can solidly remind you of the commitment you made every day. This also is a less expensive alternative for a woman's wedding band and can also broaden your choice of metal. Wedding bands are often the same kind of metal for husband and wife. However, since this records your voice commitment, it is possible for a husband to have a different metal than his wife and still be united by the rings.
On the other hand, I am a girl and have been dreaming about the diamond ring I will forever wear for some time now. So I am a little hesitant to completely get rid of my diamond ideas.
These rings can be turned into generic rings as well. You can record any few words you would like and have it placed on a ring.
Shimizu has other jewelry related projects that mainly deal with HTML code and art pieces exhibiting what he has done with jewelry.
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