<-----Horrid
It's MoMo-vember and it's beginning to
get chilly underneath all of those horrid trucker moustaches here in
Toronto. Costume season is over and the holidays are on their way
and winter's mean-ice-pellets-to-face winds are causing the
widespread need for people to layer up their clothing and find this
year's winter coat to keep them warm and safe in the skyscraper-lined
wind tunnels we call downtown.
Winter can sometimes be quite the
interesting time for fashion, though, providing new challenges and
opportunities to be both stylish and trendy, but also functional and
warm at the same time. I can hear my father saying “What does it
matter whatcha look like so long as you're prepared for the weather!”
Oh, daddy.
I currently have two major projects
underway both heading in a fantastic direction, but both being a lot
of work ahead of me. The first is the wedding I may have mentioned
in this blog before, the very last wedding I will be taking on for
some time. She's been a client of mine for about 6 months now and
she's consistently been an avid admirer of my work with Petey the
Troll and Petey Couture, in such a flattering way that I hardly want
to charge her at all. At this time we're still in the design stage
of the four dresses (including the wedding gown, yes yes!) and I've
been making sketches and technical sketches and searching for fabric
swatches etc. The fact that this bride is so open to my ideas and
allowing me to use my own creativity to produce her dresses will
definitely produce a better result than previous work I've done under
Petey Couture where the bridesmaids were weirdly specific about the
styles, colours and fabrics I used in the construction. After all
*ahem* I am an artist.
The second
project is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum and is
something I've been working on getting going for months now: Petey
the Troll Menswear Spring 2012. I'm expecting to be finished this
February 2012 with the design, construction, photography and
accessibility of this line. Part of my plan for the presentation of
the line is an old school photo shoot like Meaghan and I used to do
in the old days with WetFresco and yes, I'll be looking for models.
(I've actually kind of been thinking about it for a while and have
like half the guys picked for who I want involved in this project...
it's not creepy, it's pro-active.
So now that the
updates are out of the way, let's talk men's jackets. Of the
previously mentioned collection, I've completed, thus far, only one
jacket for a friend of mine. This particular friend is a lot of fun
to dress, and we'd discussed elements of design on several occasions.
He inspired my design for a grey, fitted wool blazer with a
iridescent blue, brown and orange, paisley printed, polyester lining.
The key elements of the jacket include front flap pockets, two
bottons, with small detailing in black lace on the two front side
seams of the garment. This was an idea brought to me by the friend
in question, who challenged me to find a way to include lace on a
man's jacket which would still be tasteful and not too feminine. He
loved what I came up with and I decided that this would be the first
piece in this new collection. The theme is new ideas and new
beginnings.
I've just
finished the details on the pattern for the next jacket in the
collection: a pea coat for Josh, my favourite man in the whole world to dress. Black solid wool, cream, poly lining,
with 8 front buttons, an oversized tailored collar, two princess seam
insert pockets, epaulettes, and sleeve and mid back belts. It's
really well fitted and he's skinny as hell, so it looks pretty much
amazing. The buttons are small and brass and are not overstated.
The secret comes when he undoes his jacket to reveal the glowing
cream coloured interior with the inside breast pocket. It's fancy,
and I'm pretty excited.
My
challenge for myself with this collection is to create 6-10 jackets
of different staple jacket and coat styles with my own variations and
versions interjected throughout. Stay tuned to read more about the
construction of this pea coat I am working on as the second piece for
the final collection, as well as further information on the history
of the pea coat and the remaining styles I will choose for the
completion of the collection by this February, 2011.
