Client Photo

It's so exciting to see my work up in a clients home! A while back Heather from College Station, TX, sent me this picture of her bedroom. She ordered Lily, Global Girl, and Audrey from my etsy shop. They coordinate so nicely with her bedding. Thank you Heather! I love seeing the different ways people display my girls! 

Amazing Talent {Part 2}

When interviewing for a Designer job, prospective employers often ask that the candidate to do a project for them. Below is a "project" that my talented friend Renaldo Barnette recently did. They're so "downtown chic", I just love it! Especially the fantastic shoes, matte sequin fabric, and long necks!

Renaldo once worked for a company that has since folded, called Garfield Marks. Below is a mini collection that he designed for them. The girls are much more classic and conservative but still so chic! I could drool over his drawings all day, don't you just love them! I learned from the best.

Amazing Talent {Part 1}

Tonight I had dinner with Renaldo Barnette, a great friend of mine who happens to be an incredible Fashion Designer and Illustrator. Renaldo has designed for Tuleh, Anne Klein, Kai Milla, Ralph Lauren, and Badgley Mischka in addition to creating his own collection that won rave reviews in WWD.

Renaldo was my very first fashion professor at FIT, ten years ago (omg time fly's!) We became fast friends when fifteen minute class breaks turned into hour long dinners because we'd run out to grab a bite and end up getting lost in conversation. Needless to say being teachers pet did not make me popular among my classmates in that class.

Renaldo always has a sketchbook on hand and tonight was no exception. I love seeing what he's working on, and I'm sure you will too. He let me take photo's of his sketchbook to share here with you!

Stay tuned, I'll share more of his beautiful work tomorrow.

Bookmark it

I've been trying to come up with new products for my shop. This weekend while brunching with friends we were comparing book-club horror stories. (Surprisingly enough we had many!) It got me thinking about book related products like book plates and bookmarks. I love cute little paper goods, especially nice bookmarks. They're like the perfect accessory to a good book, and you look at it every time you pick up the book. I never understood people who used post-its or paper scraps, and don't even get me started on people who fold the corners of the pages to hold their spot! I decided to make some tonight and am selling them in sets of three. The last time I was in a book-club I gave a personalized bookmark to each member of the club. That was my thinking here, that they would be great to give as gifts, so I'm selling them in sets. One set is shown above and there is another one you can view in my shop. 

Book Time

Every now and then I receive emails through my etsy shop from aspiring illustrators and students asking for advice on fashion illustration. I've been asked everything from what my favorite marker brand is to what kind of classes I'd suggest taking to what books I'd recommend. Here are some great books from my collection:

The first book here was written by Steven Stipelman, Fashion Design Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. I was lucky enough to be taught by this amazing talent for four consecutive semesters. (It took a lot of schedule rearranging!) His book is an invaluable reference. The cover shown here is from the first edition, but more have been published since and each one with additional drawings. (A little birdie told me he's currently working on sketches for the next edition!)

20,000 Years of Fashion The History of Fashion and Personal Adornment is a great overview of the history of fashion from prehistoric costume to modern day fashion. It has hundreds of full color images of primary and secondary sources; photographs, paintings, sculptures and artifacts. It served as a text book for a Costume History course I took in college but I've continued to reference it through the years.

For unique examples of fashion illustrations of men, women and children created using a wide variety of media, The Big Book of Fashion Illustration is great. I bit the bullet and bought this book after sitting on the floor of the book store analyzing it page by page for over an hour!

Fashion Illustration Next is another book featuring really creative and artsy fashion illustrations in a multitude of mediums by 40 international illustrators.

My other books shown in the top photo of this post are:

• Ralph Rucci: The Art of Weightlessness, Seeing this exhibition at the FIT museum was one of two museum experiences I've had were the beauty and genius of the artwork took my breath away. His work is simply breathtaking.
• Luxury Houses Country, 22 beautiful homes that blend modern luxury with country charm. This book is stunning!
• Richard Avedon: Photographs from 1946- 2004, A collection of the famous fashion photographer's life's work.

Busy bee

I've had such a productive day, it's such a great feeling. I was able to cross things off my "to do list", which I have to admit gives me such a natural high! Is that normal? I finished my freelance project (part of which is above, but more to come soon) and made new cards for my etsy shop. Cards and gift tags aren't really big sellers for me but I love making them. And if they don't sell they'll get used eventually because I'm big on sending cards. 

This is my favorite card of the day.  Here's how it came about, a few months ago on a trip home to see my dad I was walking up the street and an old neighbor stopped me saying she had something in her house for me. She gave me this adorable vintage stationary set with dress patterns on it. I absolutely loved it. It was one of those rare times when someone gives you something that's just so you. You know what I mean? This is one of the envelopes from that package. I made the illustration 2 years ago for the etsy love challenge. I came up with this little story behind the drawing; it's supposed to be Marie Antoinette. She's holding a needle, thread and pinking sheers because she just finished sewing her dress and is thinking about what she could create next. She coordinates so nicely with the clothing pattern printed envelope. 

And here's my most popular print, my "Vogue" girl, on a thank you card. She was my first etsy listing actually.  This fact, and that I happen to be a curly haired girl myself, make her one of my favorites.