The Importance of Being

At the beginning of the year I made the decision that I want to live. I want to LIVE as fully as possible and do all that I am meant to during this Earth time. It was this decision that catapulted the show. Also training, therapy, and becoming more selective with what I spend my energy on... Our time is precious and so we have to make it true.

I think the Age of Aquarius is not so much about the ending of the world... but I do believe it's the end of the world as we know it and we are embarking upon a technological and artistic renaissance and it is all over the planet. It makes the imperative to do what you have to do that much more from the base insides of your core and permeates every thought and action. Thus  'the work consumes you.'

Love Matters is an example. 

Another example is BAZZUL. A new denim line that is launching by my friend Felicia Burke. She's an incredible human being and her sense of design is above and beyond what we've seen before... and she needs your help this month. With the INDIEGOGO Fundraising platform we're helping her raise $$ to produce final samples & to show at the Capsule Trade Show this January! So you can get your hands on some first edition BAZZUL this fall! $1 is worth it. $5 $10, $15, whatever is available on your visa mastercard amex discover pick one and support an artist following her path.

GO HERE:   http://www.indiegogo.com/bazzulstudios

And here:   bazzul.com

Again- you want this.

The other thing that's happening next weekend is a fundraiser for the Provincetown Library. It's going to be a super fun little jazzy party from 4-7pm @ the library. Tix are $25. Remember you never pay to rent videos from there. Come see the show and get a cocktail. Zoe Lewis is going to be performing on the boat! Need I say more?

Well I will... Libraries are not just for fashion shows and reading. They also provide public washrooms to the customers of our town. They provide Internet and printing. A cool place for kids to play that is safe and educational. It's also a place to go and work on your laptop with your headphones or not and enjoy some silence and peace. It's so good for the creative spirit to be in that space. That top floor window that looks out onto the water makes reading a magazine or book or researching with kinetic information a spiritual experience! Kindle won't replace pages and itunes can't replace a vinyl record. No matter how environmentally friendly it is there is a connection you create with your environment, the book in your hand, and the journey it's taking you on. And OUR library has the capacity to be a really cool space for everyone. This fundraiser goes towards operations and cooler programming. Hope to see you there for this good time!

Now let me transition into another topic... for all Regina readers... my Mom is Marian Donnelly and she's running for Mayor. And can I say- she kicks ass. She works hard, cares so much for the whole city and everyone she meets and would be an outstanding leader. She deserves your vote. For more info go to mariandonnelly.com and check out her platform.

Ok more on design and my own fashion soon... but this is what's happening and I hope you're able to support any of these in whatever way you can. I love you all :)

'How My Heart Behaves'

First- Title of blog- directly from Feist. Last track on her brilliant album 'The Reminder.'

Next- It's been a while since a blog has been posted and I'm sorry there was no immediate post-fashion show blog, or major thank you or other news about what has been happening here at the end of the world... because A LOT HAS HAPPENED!

So this one is going to be big!

Let's start with the magic video that Tony Thai of www.southofangels.com made. This is an edit of the show and it really beautifully depicts the magic and the mood of that night (almost 3 months ago?)

http://vimeo.com/45677725


Love Matters INSIDE:OUT (South Of Angels Style) from Tony Thai on Vimeo.

And for the full show, please view the work of the wonderful Tim Mcarthy


Love Matters Inside + Out - A Fashion Show & Performance at the Provincetown Library! from LIPTV 5 on Vimeo.

This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. And I can't actually express enough gratitude for what all the contributions of the artists, models, leaders that were involved in the making and executing of a night that made everyone happy.

So we have these amazing videos but there were also a roster of incredible photos taken by Elyssa Cohen, Bobby Miller & Kevin Cotter. More to come from their visions.

It's important to me that proper documentation of this magic be made....

However the magic did not stop after this! It was the summer! In Provincetown! Summer has always represented epic opportunities to learn and grow. The time off, the sun, the tan, the swimming somehow equals the requirement to start the fall as a whole new person. Growing up- as in high school & college summers- they were definitely changing. The big 'ah ha' moments usually happened at some dawn-walk home after being out all night doing whatever, a search for the beat, a lover, inspiration, an answer that is just 'out of reach, down the block, on a beach, under a tree...' 

Anyway- definitely had a few of those too this season. My gears shifted after the show into retail, and doing my best to sell the products at Silk & Feathers and Kidstuff. Being in the store where your work is on the wall, on the hanger for people to pick at, try on, enjoy, compliment, make fun of, lust over, find absolutely amazing, consider terrible or brilliant design based on whatever is kind of like putting yourself on a dart board. Sometimes comments come at you with arrows of love and sometimes not, and sometimes they hit and sometimes they miss but you always hear it and feel it. Like anyone on stage always knows when anyone is looking at their watch. 

But these metaphors melt away to note that the key to retail for me is not about selling $$ but finding the thing that's right. Be it a sale t-shirt, emergency thong, fierce $10 sunglasses or a lace-cut-out dress... And it has been a joy and honor this season to find the right thing for some of the most beautiful and talented women on the planet; and that they were garments that I made with my hands and with the help of my friends. It has also been a joy to meet the women that are taking my work home and knowing they are going to cherish it the way I cherish the experience of making these pieces. And the cumulative amount of joy and inner sex appeal that was able to be brought out for these people and myself has been nothing but amazing. 

So thanks for that too! 

I did edit some tanks and change some other things around. Mermaids and unicorns found new life as dresses and sleeved garments. And some patterns were made for Loveland- the coolest new store in the West end. 

Also this was a project for the Outer Cape Health Benefit. Outer Cape is a great facility in Provincetown that cares for everyone! The assignment was to take these Peace flags made by townie Tracey Primavera to make something... 5 artists were invited to participate and it was an honor to be asked. And I loved making this. I used about 4 flags and a hoolahoop :)

 I also was invited to be a part of a WOMR fundraiser altering one of Scott Coffey's jackets. Both of these fundraiser pieces sold to some beautiful ladies that know very well how to rock it :)

This is Michelle- who bought it... one denim jacket into long vest. Serious. Sassy. Fab. I'm in love!

The other major wonderful project that helped wrap up the summer is a wedding- which I did both bride's outfits. They were some of my most beautiful work- technically and esthetically. Pictures are coming with some proper editing and descriptions of what they were about.

And boom. Labor Day came and went. The summer came and went. This fall has felt like a puzzle pieces finding their place, but they are new places. Fall is death and birth at the same time. The persons we were at the beginning of the summer and who we are now are different. And perfect.

I'm going to post some other entries that are more specific to some important causes and events coming up. So start checking this again!

It's a very creative time when everything dies.
The Wind is here with all of Her colors and I'm gonna paint with all of them!

Love
Matters.

And so does patience :) Thank you.

INSIDE:OUT JUNE 28 @ the LIBRARY 730PM DETAILS

10 Days til the show!


Here's a basic text of everything you need to know- that I know about it so far. It's going to be a great great party.


The show, titled and themed INSIDE:OUT. 
Because our Insides are as important as our Outsides. Just as the seams are as important as the pressing! 


It's THURSDAY JUNE 28 @ 730PM.


It's probably going to actually begin around 7:40pm. It will be a max 30 minute show followed by a reception on the second floor of the library with wine and champagne and:


 ICE CREAM provided by PTOWN SCOOP.




The looks of my models (make up) will be crafted by the artists of Kiss & Make Up.




The HAIR will be by the magicians at Snip Salon.




There will be an Opening dance performance by the Faerie Madison Orange. This link is her facebook but she's one talented lady.




Live music will be brought to you by Cape Cod African Dance & Drum.




The beauty of Light and Sound will be created by MJAUDIO.




Some filming will be done by Tony Thai. Check out his work at Southofangels.




Also a major shout out to a friend, artist, and my graphic designer extraordinaire: Elyssa Cohen. She is fabulous.




I also want to say this collection would not be what it is without the mentorship of Josh Patner. Check out his store which opens the same day! Loveland!




The show is on a Thursday night which means afterward you should go to Abrakadabra. Because I did the costumes and it's a fantastic show. And David Flower and Tristan DiVencenzo are amazing.




And if you haven't done so yet, please see B.Xclusive. This is where I was sewing all winter. And see Mary DeAngelis & Silk & Feathers which is where I will be all summer. These women are the loves of my life.

There are many more credits to come.  See you in 10 days with more pictures! Check facebook for in process shots :)

The Jungle

The last few weeks have been insane.


Planetary shifts have caused much aggression in attitude, energy, and efforts.


I've been wanting to write about a few things here for a while but have been focused on designing and building the costumes for ABRAKADABRA.


IF YOU ARE IN PROVINCETOWN THIS SUMMER YOU MUST GO TO THIS AMAZING SHOW!!!!!!! IT'S AN OUT OF THIS WORLD EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!!!!
WWW.DAVIDFLOWER.COM/ABRAKADABRA

Get your tix at that link. Do it now.  The show is at Velvet Lounge, beneath Saki, next to Town Hall.


The show is a multimedia experience. The cast is fantastic and they look amazing. Mona Mour, Shady Pines & the wonderful starlet Molly Hayman= stunning brilliance. It was an honor to be a part of this show, which for me has been in the forging since the beginning of March. It's quite amazing actually how these seeds start with an enthusiastic conversation, then every meeting becomes more serious. Setbacks are thrown. Miracles occur. Breakdowns. Shutdowns. Pushups. Push forwards. And boom! Opening Night! Show Night! And boom! Done. Thanks.


Leading up to & during this project, I was feeling a lot of gratitude- like I was accomplishing a dream of a multi-tasking designer. One of my idols is the great Gianni Versace for his humor and craftsmanship but also for the example of his career: his ability to do in a year a number of collections for his own line, costumes for an opera and or ballet, and release an art book... and here I am doing costumes for a somewhat revolutionary for Provincetown production, producing & building my own show & collection, and working retail. Still feeling blessed actually :)


It was so nice to take a break from thinking in size runs and be able to couture out a little and make some absolutely ridiculous things, thong onesie corsets abundant... However- just because it's clothing doesn't mean costume is the same. It's a completely different mode of thinking. Example- Jean Paul Gaultier's costumes for Madonna's Blonde Ambition tour all had initially invisible zippers, couture treatments, and total gorgeousness but even Madge needs to get in and out of that shizzam in seconds so those big zippers gotta go in... and Mona Mour's dress is gonna just get shorter every performance. And for drama, Molly's bodysuit just needed more and more sparkles and beads! Luckily a master bead queen came in and put his magical touch to this piece. (You better go to this show now)


Actually I had a small and wonderful team come in this final week to help get everything done, lots of snaps, lots of hand-stitching, hemming and just general finishing but with a loving attitude and care that brought the esthetic together in the magical way that these endeavors do.


Now I am redirecting my energy into retail and my own show. It's been an absolute joy to see my favorites at Kidstuff (381 Commercial) and Silk & Feathers (377 Commercial). Looking forward to seeing more friends from the past 3 years. Working at Kidstuff is so rewarding because the kids that come in every year are a little bigger, their personality a little more developed and so is their capacity to express themselves and the kids of our world that come to Provincetown starting at 3 months or 2 years or 6 are really bright. Totally gives me hope for the future. 


One more topic:


I wanted to talk about the magic of getting into an exciting project and falling in love. Joni Mitchell once said (the only reference i can give is a muchmusic bio special) 'Falling in love is so much fun!' It's inspiring and motivating and competitive in a good way.


It's also exhausting, nerve-racking, nausea-inducing,  faint-provoking, shit-your-pants-potentializing, the list goes on. It's gross and it's messy and every insecurity you've ever had about yourself, from your hair to your breath to your ability to perform is at full volume. 'He loves me he loves me not' on rotation, with the intonations of Disney film and Tennessee Williams proportions. But it can make you do some of the best work of your career. Making something has a very similar process.  You get the idea, it's exciting, you start working on it, the idea is coming to life, but you're not sure, what ifs float around your head just as much as roses and twinkling stars. Then of course something fucks up and it's the most discouraging fuck up possible and you have to take a break and question your whole purpose in life to discover you just needed a nap. Fresh eyes and some coffee and a new discovery is made that snaps the project into formation and into something greater and more exciting than ever thought before- with a lot more meaning. And just as the lines on your lover's face can tell the history of rejections til this moment and this one person's smile wipes out the hurt you've had welled up for so long, every detail on your project is the story of how you built it- and what it took. 


My process is this rigorous. And intense projects and new relationships somehow trigger at the same time to make sure that I'm operating at full intensity. Right now- as I'm building most of what I make myself, or it's still quite close to me when it's delegated, the technical building of the pieces is a relationship. It's as much me listening to the fabric and the sewing machine and the faeries as it is me directing the motions. In this way, I'm in constant collaboration. Though sometimes the collaboration is just me in my studio, by myself. That time feeds me to bring out the love I create in private for the world to see. Which it will see June 28 @ the Library.


Art time = friend time = lover's time = family time. Whatever your art is, whoever your friends are, wherever your lover is, however the family may be the quadrants feed us to provide to our obligations and for all the sickness that may flare up at the thought of making the call to that person it's worth it because it is living. And it's worth it to throw in that extra color, bead, kiss or whatever that makes it wild and risky. Easier said than done, but I figure if I say it- it will get me one step closer to practicing it daily.

Boxes

Spring is here.
New playlists are in effect. Sales on the rise... we hope. 
Monetary artistic success we are hoping for.


There are so many feelings which lead to a season in Provincetown,  to the events, the social stigmas. Romance and sex permeate the air; and the tension and excitement of every shop owner. The possibilities are endless and vast and they place themselves on the front of my mind all day long. The feeling of joy in the sale of a toothbrush holder at Kidstuff, the anxiety of not selling the dress to someone, the relief in the next person that buys it, watching the polka-dot bags from Silk & Feathers go by, wondering if it's a piece that I spent 4 hours sweating over in the winter, debating what color of thread to use when and why. Or if it's a bra.


Working in retail, as a somewhat anonymous designer (only because I don't wear a name tag and when someone enters a shop it's generally assumed the people are simply sales associates- though I must take this moment to say very rarely are sales associates simply just there especially in Ptown I think there is so much more weight and importance in the working relationships), I try to keep the focus on the customer. Whatever their needs may be, and however simple. Sometimes you just need that bra, or that toothbrush holder or just the t-shirt in the $5 bucket and I am thrilled to provide that in whatever capacity I can. It is the same amount of love for that person- the same effort in making the decision, writing the slip, re-stocking as for one of my own pieces, or an expensive anything. 


When someone purchases one of my things though it is such a great honor that someone wants something that I did spend 2, 4, 7, 10, 15 hours making, in fuzzy slippers on a Saturday night at 1am or a Thursday morning at 6, or had Rachel sew, with gloves, pins poking her hands piecing the denim collages. It's sort of like Sally Field winning her Oscar crying 'You really love me!' That is how it feels.


And seconds after the person walks out the store the reminder to vacuum or a call comes with some great sorrow... or you look at your phone and the one you love just didn't text you back yet, and it's been all fucking day.


Back to the joy.
Back to the anxiety.
Back to the sad.
Back to the sales & the books.
Back to the business man within me.
Back to the pride and the joy in making someone happy, giving them the dress they will wear to their best friend's wedding.
Back to the sketchbook for the next idea.
Back to the ocean.
Back to the music.

Library shot...


Also, most of you may have seen this from my facebook, but there is a Love Matters facebook page. It's here:


www.facebook.com/lovemattersclothing




And also like (while you're at it if you want) where I'm selling most of my clothes:


Mary DeAngelis Silk & Feathers on facebook


And if you live in Regina you want to go to Seed Shoppe. :)


I love all of you who read this. Thank you for spreading the love and taking some of what I'm putting out there. Call me a quack but I totally believe that these little thoughts towards each other, and the effort in making clothing from a place of love to put on our backs to send it out  in our daily actions does make the world better in some kind of microscopic but significant way.  Keep up the good WORK.


More on the show soon too :) xx

Buoyed by Love

Good morning
beautiful sunshine
cool morning
quiet- buzzer gone- shop not yet open- preparing an upheaval of movement and creation.


It's amazing how compliments can sometimes be overwhelming and instigate feelings of sadness... but they are also motivating. It's like my being is unsure of what to do with all that love. I'm not exactly sure why but this experience is like a mirage of tidal waves not clashing with each other but riding over one another. The wave of creativity in making things, the wave of the business growing, the wave of the event planning, the wave of understanding hearts and how they operate, how mine operates and then staying true to that element as everything rises and falls in a syncopation that leaves me washed ashore.


Hence Provincetown; one of the most beautiful places on this planet with so much to offer if you let it...


This past week has been insane. But awesome!


Here's an interview by the one and only Madge of Honor, a blogger from blogue.com. She came into BXclusive a couple weeks ago and I loved her in the first minute. Check it out. The questions are awesome and she's a fantastic writer.
 http://blogue.us/2012/05/08/label-of-love/


We finished gold jeans with leather collages... pix of that soon.
Reversible leggings, a few more lace/ponti collage dresses. Awoke the house dress again. Starting posters for the show JUNE 28 @ THE LIBRARY. Also started the journey of the show of the season that will be taking place at the Velvet nightclub this summer. If you're able to come to Ptown not for June 28 make sure you're here for a Thursday-Sunday to take in this experience....


Like this:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abrakadabra

These have been done for a little while but wanted to post pictures... They are arriving at Silk & Feathers today... The unicorns and dragons... next we get into Lobsters!


Happy Friday!

Humanic Implifications

There is never just one thing. 


Even in the act of isolating one's self from (example) the world- the self is with his or her friends named Isolation, Loneliness, Fear, Addiction, Silence, Peace. And ALSO ALL THE OTHER VOICES OF THE SELF THAT LIVE IN A PERSON'S HEAD. 'We' all have them. And as long as they all have a board meeting to make sure when to get to work on time- it's generally okay to have the multitude of selves.


There's also the reasons for isolating the self that are present: whom or what we might be escaping or trying to get. Regrouping the selves from all the craziness of daily life. 


After the isolation there's the re-entering into the world, which can mean going to work, going for coffee, going out, the gym, sending the email, writing the blog... doing. making. The fear that holds the breath up before the exhale and the lift is extinguished, even if just for the lift.


On the other side of this idea, is the connectedness of everything. One project segways into another project into another. It's enchanting to look at the way an artist can use an overall theme and separate it and unify it. Like in fashion, when houses diffuse their brand into multiple brands for different price points and different stories however they do relate. You can identify a designer's touch in each collection even though they stand alone. The collections are separate but ultimately come from the same brain so they are not really. I'm thinking about these things because so many different projects are happening right now and the effects can be sometimes electrifying and sometimes paralyzing.


Quick notes on what is happening:


INSIDE OUT: A 'Love Matters' Fashion Show @ the Provincetown Library. THURSDAY JUNE 28, 2012 @ 7:30PM. More to come very soon :)


Photoshoot = Website soon for real = more branding treatments like twitter, logos, business cards etc


Also a VERY EXCITING COSTUME PROJECT THAT I'M THRILLED TO START.


Silk & Feathers Collection vests and more still coming... This collaboration I haven't written about, but it's a big part of my life. Silk & Feathers is the shop in Provincetown that I sell my clothes from, and the owner, Jamie and myself collaborate on pieces that are the store brand. We make pieces on some of her favorites from past seasons and then with color and fabric combinations that inspire us. Mostly skirts and vests, but we've done some pants, tanks and will have jackets for fall. Items are a little more sophisticated (but that should not suggest they are less fun). There are cross-overs and the line is beautifully blurry as most Ptown relationships in their intensity are because discoveries are made in one moment that benefit the next.


Like when I figure out a way of finishing something fast and easy and beautifully on a Love Matters piece why not use that technique and apply it to a Silk & Feathers piece? Or a recognition or a story told with a best friend on the beach makes the relationship just as strong if recognized or told at work together while creating. Every seam counts towards that greater good which is what we are all stitching for.


Making connections is the way to peace. Connect the selves, the dots of our history to the present moment to each other to the projects we do to the world we live in to the planet we want to keep. See this as beautiful and not as duty (though it is a responsibility). The synchronicity of our events, the ones we produce (shows) the ones that happen (heartbreaks) is the magic, and trust that magic stays with us also, even through the darknesses and the company of our isolations.

Tetris Vest in final progress... Alice working on her brilliance.

Connected.

A detail of one of the vests... I just kinda like this shot.

And a snippet of todays photo shoot. More to come :)

Preventional Production

Hello Good Morning
Are you ready?
Hit the ground running.
Sit STITCHING.
Start Stitching.
Keep Selling.
Call your mother.


Thoughts in head. 3 weeks since last post? Sorry. Been sewing. I said that to my judges in fourth year. I had referenced a store in Toronto that had since declared bankruptcy after a short run. Information I had no clue about... because I was sewing.


Some things never change. Yet everything is changing and it's exhilarating. Anyway. Finished fantasy tanks. Finished a new dress, named ISIS. Finished skirts that were based on the linings of the West Side Story Dress, therefore named 'The Maria Skirt.' I made 4 out of this really incredible gold denim with some red organza zigzagging and grey leather hem and 5 out of my purple camo corduroy with a silk pink hem. They are gonna be at Silk & Feathers tomorrow!!! Pictures will be coming of these things in the near future.


The house dress is taking a rest because she just got really big and a touch overwhelming before completing. A healthy rest will make her stronger.


Rest and creativity kind of go hand in hand but somewhat reluctantly. The creative spirit needs its rest, but is the last to admit it because the whole point is to do something or be proactive in some kind of way. However even the creative spirit needs to stop and re-energize. That time is spent researching, experiencing. The best metaphor would be rain. The Evaporation is that rest and the soaking up into the brain all the moisture possible. Then the condensation is that collecting of the ideas into the tangible, the product, the song, the building ... and then the outpouring- precipitation the work and the marketing of said ideas. 


Then that's all of course a process once your shit's on a table. You show your friends, your design confidents and the leaves grow. The harvests. 


Ok too many metaphors. Back to dresses. I'm focusing on breaking down the elements of the bigger dresses and making the little pieces of artwork for more everyday wear. We have relationships with our clothes, and they are developed by experience and history. You can't have your favorite blank if you don't wear it. If it's not with you when you break up with your boyfriend or get engaged or go see your new favorite musical. You rely on those pieces. The shitty day can turn around when you're comforted by the top that makes you feel like a princess (or any character role that allows you to assume your power).


Point made: I want my clothes to help you assume the power within you, use it and push it and tell the world because it IS glorious!

Cheesy but true. You read it here. 


I love you all.

'Watch for the Illusion of this bliss'

Listening to Alice's 'Losing My Mind' mix. Features Sondheim and Sarah McLachlan. See Bernadette Peters' version 'Losing My Mind.' Youtube it now. And try to get hold of Sarah's Illusions of Bliss track from her latest album. It was beautiful. There's a full band version and then the piano solo one which is genius. Really. 


That's actually my most played song on my itunes. 

This is the atmosphere I sometimes create for myself while working, sewing, or hibernating and stewing the next stitch. At closing the shop last night- I though this moment was beautiful: 

I had sewn my medium back to my small front of my apron dress and left the shop like this:

What this will be is 3 of these:

Like the little technical overlay? I did that very fast... (again blurry phone pictures) Actually this mock up came out last Monday night after doing a mermaid (pictured below). I was up until 4am adjusting the pattern, then cutting and sewing this cotton sheet. The daytime was spent outside on my bike and featured my first double-dip (not just one run in & out, but two) of 2012 in the Atlantic Ocean. 


So this is the Apron Dress. I think her name is 'Buttercup' which I hope inspires a Robin Wright Penn aka Princess Bride reference. Last year I made a really lovely orange house dress and I wanted to evolve the idea. Mary had bought these amazing books, Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi. Her concept is all about thinking about patterns in different ways, connecting or disappearing pieces, creating dramatic shapes through the building of fabric. The architecture is fascinating and alluring. I was really taken with the Vanishing Collar, which I thought only fitting to connect to the modern day-dress, and to challenge myself further it is balanced with a vanishing apron. So it flows from collar to bodice to apron, buttoning down the back, with a back bow from the apron (pro-adjustability & yes there are pockets beneath the apron). It has square and trapezoid shaped godets (that makes the points at the hem) and when you hold the skirt out it looks like a 5-point table. The fabric is a yellow on white check sheer-ish nylon, lined in a white stretch silk, with trim in green and turquoise. I'm using the same 3-color top stitching from the WSS dress, and we will be rocking out a border and some tough flowers. Steel Magnolias anybody? I could go deeper...


But I'll save that for when they really are done :)


Here's the mermaid! I made 5 of these ladies. One is in Regina available at Seed Shoppe on 13th ave. That and 2 other watery gems were in the GLIDE Fashion show. It was a fundraiser for Shark Truth, Vancouver based non-profit organization raising awareness on ocean matters, especially shark finning. Was very glad to be part of this event. It caused some really great dresses to be made, but more than that, living on the ocean which gives so much to me, it was wonderful to give a bit of my art to this cause :)

Ok.
There's so much more to come! :)

Happy Sunday

I really like wishing people 'Happy Sunday.'


It's a day that everyone takes off. If you live in a big city you can feel the pace slow down. An edge of forgiving patience infiltrating the movement, the pedestrians, the drivers, the subways... Here in Ptown people walk their dogs. It's sunny and delicious. In the summers here, Sunday's usually equal for me a 12 hour shift at Kidstuff (381 Commercial come visit). It's a fast paced fun day for which I usually arrive just in time to grab a coffee, turn on the lights and set up the music. The day usually starts with Joni Mitchell and goes from there.


Anyway... The point of this entry is how the West Side Story Dress is done. And she is beautiful. There's only 2 of them- so please come see! Try on. The details that are missed by my phone are really beautiful. We worked hard on them. Here's some pics... remember you saw the mock-up and the table already... this is the real thang...

Here's the organza layer... We actually built the lining first (a stretch cotton), and then this. The seams are sewn by just overlapping the edges and three rows of topstitching in purple, orange and pink. Some bias zigzag details were added with purple and pink. 

Here's Rachel trying it on half way through. We put a piece of organza at the shoulders, and tested the twirl. The hem is done with a strip of 2.5" bias folded and topstitched in the three colors. The hem alone probably took an hour each dress because it's so full. Aka Delicious. From here I finished the neckline and armhole with some salmon silk charmeuse I dyed in 2010 for a client, saving the strip of bias I had left for this specific project. That's right. I'm admitting to never throwing anything out.

After cleaning things up I pinned up these pockets which is what gives the twirl it's kick-ass quality. These photos are teasers. There will be a proper shoot soon that displays these clothes and their movement properly.


If you want to talk about movement and 3D vs. 2D check out Comme des Garcons Fall Collection. Those paper dolls are beautiful and hilarious. 


And back to the theme- West Side Story. The mock-up earned the name though I had been imagining this for a while. Maria's little red shop dress... But this in real life looks like a war has been going on. There's an element of Phoenix in her; the raw edges on the seams, and the hem looks like a burst of flames that one could fly from towards a new and better land. Which is what Maria does: she rises from her dead lover and walks on- perhaps to devote her life to ending racism in her community. It's that lived-to-tell romance that we all carry. The best love that comes from hurt and the power to survive. 


Side-note: When people ask me my target market, I always find it difficult to answer this question because the answer is not so much 25-60 making X/annually as it just a group of people that have enough sense of self to rock and be proud of their experiences- good, bad, and heart-breaking, -wrenching, -warming.
They are my inspiration.


So thanks! :)

Sweats Monday, Sew Tuesday, Absinthe Wednesday, Think Thursday

Sweats Monday: Wearing sweats for absolute comfort. Sewing faeries, cleaning house, West Side Story Dress (looking so good).
Who knew the Stop & Shop closed at 8pm in the offseason?


Sew Tuesday: Sewing, Rachel's son's birthday, coffee celebration for side seams... more house cleaning, logo development, and a good sleep.


Absinthe Wednesday: Full production: zippers in WSS, Astro tanks sewn, Silk & Feathers crop-pants hemmed, Absinthe and apple games at night...


Think Thursday: Full day of sewing... Astro tanks being pressed... linings and wonders on WSS, Faeries completed...


I've been meaning write a new entry for the whole week and let the world know about my lunar faeries. 

They start as this drawing... which originated in Mexico, first as a sketch of my aunt at the pool. It was developed into a figurative drawing and then the outline is formed and mounted. 

An organza tracing is based to the tank and then I go to town with my machine, selecting a color story. After the sprite is completed I make little wings and we sew the tank.

Due to my new phone not having the best camera quality (I live on flip)... this is where it's at for faerie photos but you can see some close-ups of the face. I don't want to give it all away! Come to the store and see them! They are beautiful. The total height of the image is about 12".  These are like paintings for me. It's a pretty intense and concentrated process. All the steps are broken up but when I'm in it, I'm in it. It's unabashed creativity and absolute freedom. There's no pressure in sewing them (the embroidery I mean, the cutting and cover-locking is another story). They are feminine, but ultimately gender-neutral. They are a part of a fantasy series with Unicorns, Mermaids and Dragons... I started with the faeries because they have an omniscient view, being up in the moon. And I love the moon. It's a very comfortable starting point. I also understand drawing moons and bodies the best, as opposed to horses and dragons, and in order to accurately get a glimpse of their secrets, I need to be able paint/sew them well technically... so I just don't have to think about it. That's sort of how it works. If you can understand a technical process enough so you don't have to think about it, so you can break it, then you can just be your creative process. 

And on that note, it's not really me, or the artist, that is being  the creator, it's totally those creative spirits that bless us humans with Its presence long enough for us to bring some beauty into the world... 

Love Matters. :)

The Keeping On

The week has gone by incredibly fast.


Alice (my roommate & inspiration) went to Costa Rica on Monday for most of the month. I'm beyond jealous and excited for her journey- but the time alone for me equals an opportunity of absolute focused work. And of course when those come up I go through an initial period of utter distractions. Be they in technology or walks or lamenting about whatever I don't have.


However that said, Rachel, my seamstress goddess and owner of B.Xclusive- the shop which is housing Love Matters Creations at the moment, has been rocking it out with me. We made some sick shorts under Silk & Feathers brand. Black knit. Sweet Pockets. Elastic waistband. And we've started the much anticipated 'West Side Story Dress.'
The mock up:

 The Table at present with real fabric:

Yesterday we constructed the lining. I'm just trimming some bits before starting into the self. Details to come. Limited pictures because my phone is currently not working so I took these with my computer. 


This dress is called the West Side Story Dress because it inspires a pretty whimsical and optimistic feeling. (I really needed that this week) The color of the organza is pretty dead-on to Natalie Wood's dress in the 'I Feel Pretty' scene. The pick-ups throughout the bottom came from an idea based on Mary DeAngelis' bucket pocket vest (Spring 2011), a pattern I worked on with her. The pocket comes from turning up the front forward enough to make a pocket, but in a square tailored way. I wanted to try that idea with a wider hem and let those folds create some drama. Hope that made sense, the point is this dress has the best fucking twirl on the planet! When I have more pics of it I'll tell you more about the construction of it because there's a reason for everything.
Anyway.
Work time.
Love Matters :)

The long time coming....

Ok it's been quite some time since the last/first posting.


It's been a busy year. Everything you see below sold. We're on to new and better things.


A full website is in development and will be coming soon! So this page is going to take an actual direction showing the creative process that the clothes take.  Everything is exciting.


Constantly on a precipice of a new lesson and it is beyond wonderful :)


Just got back from NYC for Atelier Trade Show, and some fun shopping at Coterie and meeting the most wonderful beautiful people.


The starts of many wonderful relationships in all formats.


Will be sharing more soon :)
Love always,
Matty