A Fashion journal of an aspiring Fashion Designer

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Hey everyone! I am back from Srilanka or ‘Serendip’ as the  Arabs call it. I hope to tell you guys more about the experience but I have to sign off now as I have some pending work. I just created my twitter account (so excited about it) !! So follow me on twitter too as I tweetterrrrr around

http://twitter.com/famushutalk

bonne journée

Bonjour all you fashionable lovely dhoonees!

I am off to Colombo, am attending an environmental conference for 4 days in Piliyandala a small suburban area.Well I won’t be blogging for about a week at least so I hope to see you guys soon with new posts

Au revoir

et Abien tot!

Bronze black and silver chains mix up to make this recent necklace of mine. I have been getting tired of seeing and wearing the same kind of simple jewellery and I wanted something quirky, different and stylish. So, it was back to hunting down my box of glittery shiny beads, cords and laces . I was inspired by Kelly’s  (the Glamourai) accessory designs, especially her lovely necklaces. This blogger has created a world of her own with her jewellery and it’s her necklaces especially; that i love the most.  The use of vintage chains in bronze and gold entwined with black grosgrain ribbons are a total heart breaker! They look so chic and elegant and we are talking about vintage material everyone! whoever said old is trash – it’s awsomely trendy here!!! Kelly was also called to style Rachel Roy’s clothes. Well,  bloggers today influence the trends of fashion.  So getting back to the necklace I made; it’s a combination of three chains: silver, bronze and black. Some fat black ribbon and transclucent beads. My tools to make this necklace was a pair of scissors, a needle and thread.

some bronze, silver and black chains with black ribbon and a pair of scissors

I was having this imaginative fairy tale story as an inspiration to the  whole creation of this piece: a princess living in this grand castle and she cries for her prince who is at war, wishing he was back with her. The tears that fell down her cheeks froze on the chains of the enchanted necklace that has tied her to the castle chamber. ( sounds a bit too over dramatic here)

After having sewn the chains onto the ribbon a knot is tied using the ends of the ribbon.And the transclucent beads (which can also be the tear drops of the princess ) are attached. And voila my necklace is done.

the tear drops froze on the bronze chains...

I have always loved jewellery and making them has always been a passion for me, besides designing clothes and illustrating that is. Although, I haven’t done any professional jewellery designing as yet,  it is a small scale/ home made thing for me at the moment (you must have already seen by now, the accessories I made posted on Famushu). I remember, my dad making small bracelets with beads and leather strings and I would sit beside him watching him carefully arrange each bead. I suppose that is how I really got inspired and got into making little ornaments on my own. Today, I manage to  get some time off and do research on what is hip in the accessory world. And as I was googling I spotted the works of jewellery designer Rachel Roy, she is quite a celebrity and was re-known as the wife of Damon Dash the hip hop businessman (they are now  divorced after a 4 year marriage). Her designs are worn by many celebrities and featured on magazines like Harpers Bazaar and Marie Clair.

rachel roy's jewellery inspired me this sketch

Her site  Rachel Roy has some really lovely accessories along with her clothing line. The necklaces and earrings shown  had this look of modern coolness, I loved the spiked earring and necklace especially. Her collection definitely had a punk twist in it. I’ve posted some pics below for you to see.

Necklaces by Rachel Roy. I have a big crush on that dark silver spiked one – it’s coolness is at nirvana.

These are so funky and lovely-spread the peace and love eh?

Her earrings are so cool and elegant. I am sure that any girl would want a piece from her collection.

Rachel Roy is and looks like she will be the queen of jewellery designing for the many fashionable years to come. Her ever youthful collection is an inspiration to me and for other fashion students too.  To work with her would be a dream opportunity for sure

I have been updating you guys about the trends ruling the fashion scene. Here is yet another one of the current trends, which is actually one of the most feminine of  all the trends of 2009 : The use of sheer and lace fabric. It is a trend that might look a bit revealing and too overtly sexy, but here’s the thing; you can always make it look modest. I believe that anyone can make any trend, whether it be clothing or an accessory work for one’s self. It is very simple. Alors, getting back to the “sheers and laces”; I have picked out some designs from the runway of spring summer 2010 from style.com. My small collage below exhibits the designs of  Iceberg, Dolce and Gabbana and Antonio Berradi.

Iceberg, Dolce and Gabbana and Antonio Berradi spring summer 2010

The sheers and lace trend is a hit in the fashion scene and it’s a must-have at the moment. One of the most reknown fashion bloggers today : Karla of Karla’s closet had posted a picture of her lace top paired with a jacket. A really sleek and sophisticated look. 

karlas closet

Inspired by the lace and sheer look I sew up a top in dark blue lace. It is very simple and this is a way of using lace in a modest and simple way too. You could try this. It is quite  similar to the lace top that model Anja Rubik was wearing – as posted on Knight cat. For the photo I paired my top with a necklace I made using ribbons and vintage chains ( I will post be posting some detail pics of the necklace soon )

I'm wearing my sewn blue lace top and the necklace I made

Here is Anja Rubik on Knight cat wearing the current trend of lace.

Anja Rubik wearing lace

Have a wonderful day ahead everyone

Bonjour everyone

I was going through my box of beads and strings today and found a single peacock feather – i collect a variety of things to make accessories and the feather happened to be one of the things I had put in my collection long time ago.

image by jpgmag.com

Ah the colours on it, they were just amazing. I sat there admiring the feather and imagining peacocks dancing under the  rain. I was feeling slightly moody and dull the whole day (maybe it’s the gloomy rainy weather outside that’s ruining my mood) so making accessories, sketching or reading is the best way to make myself feel better. After rummaging through my box, I gathered some leather strings, translucent beads and made a simple  necklace; or should i say : a ‘peacock feather necklace’   here’s a pic below

the necklace i made with a peacock feather and some beads

A few weeks back while I was going through edressme site  I came across some lovely earrings made of peacock feathers. They were very long and elegant unlike the pair of peacock earrings I already had. Wearing earrings made of feathers is quite hippy-like and there is this certain funky look to it too.  You could most certainly wear such earrings with soft chiffon tunics or kurrthas, or if you want to wear it to a dinner then pair it with a solid black dress or another dark colour and look sophisticated and elegant.

peacock feather earrings from edressme.com

One of my favourite accessories is this peacock earring, which I bought from India. Although, it’s slightly shorter than the one on edressme, it is still quite impressive when worn and gets a lot of admiration from other people. 

the lovely peacock earrings from India

Bonne journée et bon soiree everyone. 

image by artsonearth.com

Some months ago I was working on a  set of wedding dresses, which included the bride and groom and that of the bride’s maids and the rest of the family (which means the moms and dads of both families too).  It was one really memorable experience for me because it was the first time I was designing a wedding set of clothes for both men and the ladies. With just one month to do the planning, designing and managing of the wedding we were running around finishing each task as if our backs were on fire. My dad took the task of creating the backdrop for the place where the newly wed couple stands. Dad’s professional artistic background made him quite confident with what he had to pull off.

dad working on his wonderful concept of japanese screens for the backdrop in the wedding reception

But I was far away from it, believe me, it was almost a nervous breakdown for me. It had to be perfectly executed for the two families, and  to me the biggest achievement was a big grand smile on their faces ultimately.  The two families decided that the theme for the wedding would be a Japanese/ Oriental concept. It is common for Maldivian weddings to be themed today; some weddings are even themed as  a Bollywood movie with the families of the marié et mariée wearing colorful modern saris and embroidered silks.  Within 4 days time I came up with the designs for the bride, groom, the bridesmaids, the boys in the family and the parents of the two families.

the final set of sketches i prepared to show them - they were finalised after sketching hundreds more!

While I was designing I had to keep in mind the cherry blossoms and use of purple tones in the designs, ‘cos they were the main elements that they want to see throughout the wedding reception. I used these in the designs and they all just loved it There were some ups and downs during the preparation for the wedding and things did not go according to plan sometimes – it became a huge learning experience for me; a reality-check into the world of designing for ‘real’ people. It’s not about dressing a mannequin or the standard 6 ft model wear a designed latex creation but about making real people with curves and people who are just around 5 ft look stunning. The final outcome was amazing (considering it was  my first time designing wedding outfits), the two families had a big smile on the night of reception and looked satisfied with their outfits and most of all the bride; the queen of the night was looking cheerful and comfortable.

the newly weds standing against the fine japanese screens dad made for the wedding. The tailor did a splendid job and the embroidery was delivered to our expectations of the pattern we created

the screens were beautifully lit for the night's reception and look at those lovely flower girls and boys, they all look so cute in the designed outfits. this picture is a memorable one for me

I am most certainly looking for such opportunities to design for weddings and for many more occasions in the future, ‘cos every experience is a challenge I most happily welcome

Brighten up your wardrobe with a yellow element, be it a dress or pair of pants.  The yellow garment was found on every runway show this spring summer, and honestly it did brighten up the collection with those ‘y’ numbers popping up from  the parade of light creams, greys and whites. Designers who used ‘y’ were ; Emilio Pucci, Salvator Ferragamo, Jean Paul Gaultier and Bottega Veneta to name a few. And the best part is that this color suits any skin color and we could either look formal or casual in the ‘y’.

Below are some pictures from the runway of this summer. All images sourced from style.com

Salvatore Ferragamo spring summer 2010

salvatore ferragamo 2010

Emilio Pucci spring summer 2010

yellow pulled off in a different and quirky way on jean paul gaultier 2010 (so 'gaultier' to twist the trends in creative ways)

bottega veneta spring summer 2010

Yellow is also the color that is warming up the red carpets and wardrobes of celebrities.

eva mendez in yellow

Image by splendicity.com

misha barton and freida pinto wearing yellow Dior dress

image by profashionelle.com

Anne Hathaway wearing Lela Rose spring 2010

image by Glamour.com

bonne journée everyone and wear some yellow

Salut everyone, I  recently bought this lovely pair of nude coloured shoes and they are absolutely lovely. The nude / pale colour trend is very popular this season and I have already written a post on it with some pics of designers collections from the fashion weeks.  This time I’m posting about the shoes which are following the same palette. Interesting isn’t it?

here’s a picture of my new pair

new shoes in pale skin tone

Donc, I have been hunting down some samples of shoes from the runway of this spring summer 2010, to show you guys. All in pales and cream tones and georgeous designs that one cannot resist. They are lovely to wear and one fact that actually goes along with the colour is that they give the impression of a ‘long leg’ (now, who could resist this?! )  Wear those shoes with denim jeans or jet black pencil skirts and you will look longer ‘cos there is no black full stop ( i mean a black shoe ) chopping off the length of your legs. In other words, the nude shoes brings the effect of legs that are going on and on..

Alors,  feast your eyes to these yummy shoes. All images sourced from style.com

Bottega Veneta spring 2010

Donna Karan spring 2010

Jonathan Saunders spring 2010

Missoni spring 2010

Karl Lagerfeld spring 2010

a pale turned to white and looks like an inspiration of the indian sandal - Marc Jacobs spring 2010

Skin coloured shoes from Emilio Pucci spring 2010

Jean Paul Gaultier spring 2010

Narciso Rodriguez spring 2010

Now, boys did you think I would leave you out?  Marc Jacobs and Michael Kors had showed the trend on men’s shoes too

Michael Kors spring 2010

Marc by Marc Jacobs spring 2010

Marc by Marc Jacobs spring 2010

Girls here are some more from the nude/pale trend

Versace spring 2010

Christopher Kane spring 2010

Nina Ricci spring 2010

Nina Ricci spring 2010

Classic wedge shoes with a pale colour cordination - Ralph Lauren spring 2010

Ralph Lauren spring 2010

a little bit quirky on - Jean Paul Gaultier spring 2010

Carolina Herrera spring 2010

Christian Dior spring 2010

bonne journée everyone and i hope you will try this trend

1:   It’s the skin tone

Nudes and pale shades dominate the colour palette of the spring summer 2010 runways . Designers like Bottega Veneta went for a complete nude/pale palette for their spring collection though giving shocks of bright colors on the garments creating a sophisticated and simple look. In fact, a number of collections in this season has been seen playing the same pattern of using bright coloured pieces embosed on a pale colour.

all images sourced from style.com

Fendi spring summer 2010

Gabriele Colangelo spring summer 2010 - the one shoulder trend is a little too old now, but this one by Colangelo is a refreshingly soft take on the trend

Fendi spring summer 2010

Bottega Veneta 2010 - the complete collection was based on pale colours and this piece is especially very elegant and feminine with a hint of a masculine wrap around karate style belt

Nude colours on Dolce and Gabbana spring summer 2010

Bruno Pieters 2010 - pure loveliness

Bottega Veneta spring summer 2010 - shocks of bright colours combined with pale skin tones gives a modern sophistication

Emilio Pucci spring summer 2010

Etro spring summer 2010 - play of colours on pale skin tone