BCBG/MAXAZRIA is looking for a new face for their Spring 2013 campaign and you can help choose! I did! I voted for Julia Kravets, the stunning creature in the photos below. I had the pleasure of working with Julia while shooting my spring 2012 lookbook for my "Biohazard Collection" and she couldn't have been more cooperative, though we hardly had to give her any direction at all -- she is a natural.
Julia poses for my Spring 2012 lookbook
All photos: Shane LaVancher
Click this link and cast your vote for Julia today!! Voting closes in just three days, so don't wait... do it now, it will take just two minutes of your time, but it can make a world of difference!
Julia is killing it in this photo! Wearing a camel wool/mohair cape from my Fall 2011 "Les Femmes de la Resistance" collection
Pedro may promise that all of your wildest dreams will come true if you vote for him, but just this one time I'm asking you to vote for Julia instead to make HER wildest dreams come true!
sorry Pedro, not this time
Julia wears the WendyB dress from my evening/holiday collection
the versatile model in a bronze cashmere strapless dress from my Fall 2011 collection
Left: original sketch / Right: on the runway (photo: Randy Brooke)
Lots of people have asked me about my design process and how I get from concept to runway. Well, it's a long and often challenging road with bumps (and sometimes giant pot holes) along the way. But, in facing challenges and solving problems, designers come up with some pretty great stuff. What happens at 3.30 am when you realize you've underestimated the yardage you had left of a certain fabric? Get creative. Think outside the box and work with what you have because buying more fabric at 3.30 in the morning is not an option and finishing the piece tomorrow, when stores are open, would be too late.
original sketch
Left: houndstooth trench on the runway (model: Danielle, photo: Randy Brooke) / Right: coat on WendyB
So, quite often, we (designers) change our original ideas, if only just slightly, to either solve a problem or just because we thought of something a little bit cooler along the way. For me, I find one of the advantages to doing all of my own fabric research, draping and sewing is that I have total control over the entire design process. Absolute freedom -- such is not the case when working under another company's corporate structure.
original sketch
bouclé cape on the runway (model: Que / photo: Randy Brooke)
backstage... (model: Que / photo: Randy Brooke)
I am an extremely visual person, but I tend to work better three dimensionally rather than through a sketch, so some of the creativity happens on the figure during the draping process. Draping is dimensional, it's "hands on," tangible. Things can happen on the form that can't always happen in a sketch. Proportion becomes more distinguishable, volume is gauged better, shape is more discernible. Therefore, adjustments, additions and enhancements take place and I deviate from the original sketch a little bit.
original sketch
Left: long coat, houndstooth shorts and handknit scarf on the runway (model: Alexandra, photo: Randy Brooke)
Right: back view of same coat in lookbook shoot (model: Caitlin Sloat, photo: Shane LaVancher)
Sometimes,
I don't bother to give much detail or color to a sketch at all. I just have a
general idea of what I want, in my mind's eye, and I wait until I can
refine the piece -- psychically, on the mannequin. I've whipped up fabulous ideas on airport napkins, receipts or the back of a business card just to quickly get a concept recorded before I forget. I guess it's kind of like being a comedian who quickly jots down a 'bit' before it escapes their mind. Even when they wake up in the middle of the night...
Please accept my apologies for my absence as of late. I have been struggling with so many different Internet and computer issues it would make your head spin. Google Chrome refueses to download properly, so until I can solve that problem, they have control of my blog and I am hostage to the impossible mess it's made with my formatting, etc. None of the content is highlightable, therefore, I can not italicize, underline or even change font color (or size or type). The cursor doesn't work and there is no scrolling. Infuriating. This is how my page looks (below) as I try to type a new post...
I've been wanting to share some more photos from my show/collection, but it's so hard to post photos on this thing right now. Be patient and check back often. Meanwhile, I will leave you with this...
STACY LOMMAN : NEW YORK / Fall 2012
Royal blue wool gabardine racer back dress with red trim
I like long walks on the beach, Mediterranean food and foreign films. But seriously, I've been a designer for 18 years and I started this blog to discuss art, fashion and pop culture. When I'm not writing or designing, you can find me in downward dog (on a yoga mat :-) or running in Central Park listening to some super fast, pop punk tunes from the late 70's/early 80's.
