Model: Christi Duncan Photographer: George Pitts
my busiest August ever…..finishing the Spring 2010 Collection and working on 2 very big and exciting projects that I can’t reveal yet and doing the clothes for Ask Your Mama
I am honored to be dressing Jesse Norman, Nnenna Freelon, De’Adre Aziza and The Roots for this historic concert at The Hollywood Bowl on August 30th….
….2 very different photos of the same 2 pieces from my fall collection…the red irridescent coat is a limited edition piece that’s only available on trunk shows and the black jacket is “Carrie”, in silk taffeta, a recent edition to classics….
….Shawn Reinoehl shot the first image and Jonathan Ystad the second….I love them both….
in a funny way it’s great to be designing a spring collection in the dead of summer….the languid heat outside and over airconditioned cold inside are a definite source of inspiration….fashion’s “seasons” may be dead and out of date but weather remains crucial to how we dress….
soft raw linens in in plant based colors….vintage fans….shiny cool toned metallic colors for evening….anything that floats….paper fabrics that will decompose quickly and neon fabrics that will probably last forever…..
Just finished my contribution for the World’s Largest Pastie Collection @ Gosney & Kallman’s “CHINATOWN”……..Shanghai’s first burlesque & cabaret club…….these weren’t exactly in the fall collection, but maybe we should think about including them in spring 2010?………..
first look at what’s on my mind for spring 2010….layers, knots, drapes, sashes, tailoring, origami in fabric and a pocket to hold an iPhone….the future looks brighter….
My friend, Adriana Kaegi, took to the stage in one of my looks at Joe’s Pub the other night to perform her newest material and debut her new documentary about Kid Creole and the Coconuts.
Finally getting pictures up from the fashion show with Ballet West at Salt Lake City….ballerinas make fantastic models….something to think about for future projects.
Collection Resort 2010…………
Opened today in the showroom….these clothes will ship to stores in November……….think beach and a few special places for holiday parties…….I was inspired by: pajama parties, The Great Gatsby, the color of sand, and what to wear in a fountain……….
My interns Jonathan and Caroline went on a photo shoot to get some pictures of the clothes in action……they found out that sand, sleepy palm trees, and parrots are hard to come by here in New York…….
Ballet West and Loya’s are featuring my collection at the Fusion Fashion Show in Salt Lake City….we are really excited! The models are ballet dancers, so this wont be your average runway show.
Stay tuned to see behind the scenes photos and video of the show, fittings, and more!
Just in time for Memorial Day….our fall look book is online at……. sylviaheisel.com/collection…..relax in the summer heat thats on the way and think about what to wear for fall…..
In Asia, it’s considered very polite to wear a face mask if you are ill….
Here is a mask I embellished in light of all the swine flu news…just because you’re be wearing a mask to protect yourself from getting ill doesn’t mean you can’t look great….
Back at the blog…..my new intern, Jonathan Ystad, started work this week and is already bringing in amazing new ideas….first up is the QR code and many great ways to use it.
QR codes are small diagrams filled with little squares that contain information that can be read on your iPhone, Blackberry, or other smartphone. When you take a picture of a QR code, the information links your phone to whatever website, photo, or video is encoded in the diagram….try it with this one to get back to my website from your phone….just download BeeTagg Reader or the UpCode app on your iPhone from the app store and shoot a picture of the code.
Jonathan’s ideas about applying this technology to the clothes are too good to share as information….pay close attention as we put them into action……………..
crazy busy with a lot of great and stuff and no time to post….follow me on twitter …. blogging to return soon….
to a new showroom that’s bigger and better than the one we were in…..the move has been hell but the results are wonderful…..
the lighting isn’t set up yet so I tool this picture in black and white
there’s enough empty rack space to indulge my very minimal aesthetic….
if you come to see the line you’ll sit here….
fashion designers are notoriously vain….a self-portrait in my new space….
…..never want to see a winter coat again (or not until next winter)….it’s finally spring in NYC and my wardrobe is (sort of) ready)….from my collection: lots of easy everyday dresses, long cotton shirts to wear with leggings, little cotton shirts to wear with trousers and skirts and a long jacket to wear over everything….I have bought: cotton sweaters, leggings (lots of them) and new shoes….I still need to make: a great suit (or two) and something really opulet for evening (if I have the clothes the occasion will find me)….
the fall collections are taking place in Paris and I’m glued to the runway coverage ….many beautiful clothes on beautiful girls and incredibly creative ideas and memorable images….I’m also thinking about how fashion is connecting to the rest of the creative world….there’s lots of discussion about how designers are responding to the recession and how it’s reflected on the runway but I’ve seen nothing about how fashion fits in with the rest of the design world….
when I see a great piece of furniture I think about how I might use it and how it will look in a room…..looking at great architecture I imagine people in it…..great product design makes me want to use the product…it’s all about me and I’m in the building with the furniture playing with the gadgets….. the design is good because it’s beautiful and because I can feel some kind of personal connection to it….fashion runway photos are just pretty…..I can’t imagine myself wearing the clothes and it’s rare that I can imagine the furniture, architecture and small products that match them….fashion is somehow in it’s own little bubble, detached from all the other designer products…..
the work and wisdom of my brilliant friend Tobie Giddio is featured in Diane Pernet’s blog this week. I’ve known Tobie for many years and the simple beauty of her work has always been an inspiration.
As photos and video take over our world with their ability to communicate lots of information, illustration has become a rarity. Like a visual haiku of fashion Tobie’s work convey’s the spirit of a dress rather than the technical information about it.
The simplicity and purity of her lines are what I try to achieve in my designs…..
a photo of Cristi by Michael Moreno from my pre-fall collection that is about to start shipping….this dress and about a third of the other pieces in the line are made from organic cotton and hemp….I am not and probably never will be a “green” fashion label but I’m trying to incorporate as much sustainability into my designs and lifestyle as possible without in any way changing or compromising the designs….eco-friendly is a way of acting not a way of looking…..
proving once again that it’s impossible to blog two weeks before a major collection has to be finished….the evite is done but the collection isn’t quite there yet….I am still searching my brain for a new skirt shape and a few more great blouse and dress styles…..three of the sample fabrics have still not arrived, one of them is stuck in a snowstorm that has closed the factory…..aside from all this I’m very excited about the season ahead….it’s clean, sharp, easy, smart, linear and bright…..the color combinations are high-contrast with lots of pop….nothing tonal or softly graded….there are a lot of layers but everything is still very straightforward…..simple….
I’m as obsessed as everyone else….and totally excited for American fashion….for better or worse design USA has always been more casual and sporty and a little tackier and less glamorous, sophisticated and elegant than design Europe….we created denim and turned tailored menswear into the polyester leisure suit….we’re moving towards a global fashion standard and aesthetic but you can still see the differences….
anyhow, Michelle’s style makes strong, smart, athletic and in control into the new glamorous….less classically chic, mysterious and sexy than Carla Bruni but more energized, modern and cool (I hate that word but she is very cool…). I can’t wait to see her on the job with her sleeves rolled up taking care of business….my fashion designer day-dream is the sleeves are from my studio….
we photographed a few outfits from my pre-fall collection yesterday, I’ll post photos as soon as they’re edited…..the clothes are all very simple and less formal than many past collections and the styling was very futuristic-cosmic-retro….all of the accessories we used are vintage including these amazing Vivienne Westwood platforms….I love these shoes….they remind me of gorgeous little abstract sculptures (yes, they’re totally impossible to walk in but sometimes that’s okay….). They are a style that Westwood has beed doing on and off since at least 1990 in different colors and finishes…..to my mind anything that looks as great now as it did when it was new 17 years ago is a fashion classic….clearly classic no longer needs to mean conservative….
my direction for 2009….thanks to my great friend Mary Kay for identifying and verbalizing this great and perfect for right now trend….it’s what this year is going to be about (what it has to be about)…..change is good (already a cliche but it’s true right now)….my designs are changing as our lifestyles, mindsets and wardrobes are changing….lot’s of things have been pretty bleak recently but the future looks brighter….it also looks (in fashion) more like fun and less like elegance….we’re wearing evening clothes less often but going out as much as ever….maybe we just need to reinvent the definition of evening wear…..more freedom in what’s appropriate to wear can mean more boring, casual and not-so-attractive cheap trend chasing dressing or it can mean more freedom to be creative and dress to express yourself and have fun getting dressed….reinvention is about making positive changes……
goodbye 2008 and on to a better world in 2009….change is good….beyond peace, prosperity, health, happiness and all the other obvious stuff I am hoping that the next year will bring a new creativity and sense of play to fashion and our lives….I’m resolved to experiment and maintain an open mind to different clothes and notions of beauty and to remember that choosing what to wear is a priviledge not a task and that I should be taking full advantage of it…..mis-matched pairs, everything worn backwards and too many layers here I come….happy new year!!!!!
maybe it’s a year-end thing….I started imagining where fashion could go with the help of technology and where technology could go with the help of fashion….
we will wear our gadgets: no more searching pockets or bags for the gizmo….it is part of our adornment not an obstacle to our image…..
spray on clothing: I’m not sure how this will look (hopefully not too much like the picture) but I love the idea of clothes that morph to the body of wearer….we could eliminate fit problems and concentrate on the look…..
create more good energy: the technology is already there to put these little solar panels into clothes and create clean power for all the electronic stuff we carry around….maybe we could also use fashion to drive our electric cars and heat our homes…..
hard at work finishing the pre-fall collection and finally focussing on fall 09…..in the last few years many of my designs have been about modern classic shapes in very amazing and oppulent european textiles or equally rich but different hand dyed or brightly colored fabrics….suddenly the designs (along with many other things) are very differently inspired….the rich fabrics are reminding me of very sweet pastries or gilded antiques I’m afraid to touch….the fabrics I’m choosing to work with are very simple and sort of classic (organic wool and cotton are forever…..) but many of the shapes are very different….I spent part of the day with a sharp pair of scissors – cutting off sleeves and carving out new necklines and then trying to put things back together with different proportions…..my first fashion experiences were with doll and teddy bear clothes that were cut apart and pasted together in much the same way…..very satisfying then and very satisfying now….
The email below arrived yesterday from my brilliant friend Glenn Belverio and gave me much pause for thought…..
It’s suddenly hip and chic to pretend you’re poor—especially if you’re not! I love how people like Simon Doonan are all like “Hide your fashion purchases, it’s bad taste to flaunt them now!”
Okay, like it has never been bad taste to flaunt expensive things while we’ve been surrounded by poor and homeless people all our lives?? Now that thousands of yuppies are out of jobs we’re supposed to worry about THEIR feelings Give me a fucking break.
www.confessionsfromthevelvetropes.com (Glenn’s great blog)
I started to sketch hostess dresses and wound up thinking more about dresses and what makes a dress a dress….essentially it’s any one piece outfit without legs….then I started to think about all the types of dresses…..there are: tank dresses, tee-shirt dresses, quipao dresses, patio dresses, coat dresses, flapper dresses, shirt dresses, jumper dresses, tunic dresses, sweater dresses, evening dresses, cocktail dresses, shift dresses, party dresses, baby-doll dresses, smock dresses, peasant dresses, apron dresses, wedding dresses, prom dresses, bridesmaid dresses, pagent dresses, sun dresses, little black dresses, mini dresses, slip dresses, maxi dresses, halter dresses, sheath dresses, hostess dresses and……
party like it’s 1973….at home entertaining is the party of the moment and I’m wondering what to wear….in my mind the hostess dress is something from mid-century modern Southern California….the architecture still looks great but the clothes and food are all wrong…..
I’ll start posting sketches as soon as the ideas gel but a little of what I’m thinking about: aprons….remaking the house dress….luxurious washable fabrics….styles that look great without heels….what makes our at home comfort clothes so comfortable and why can’t we feel that good in something that looks better…..who are the icons of at home entertaining….
