Trends and Thoughts on Spring Ready to Wear 2012

I've always had an appreciation for the sequential composition of the international fashion weeks which, appear periodically to show the world what hundreds of thousands of dedicated designers, artists, seamstresses have come up with in six months.  I like that New York's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week comes first in the presentations of the really big fashion centers of the world.  It starts it with a bang and reminds everyone in the world that it is indeed fashion week.  Following them are London and Milan, both absolutely unique and fantastic in their own ways.  They feature some of the biggest names in the industry from Burberry Prorsum to Georio Armani and all the while, the spectators know that the best is only yet to come.  Paris, the undisputed fashion capital of the world is the last of the giants.  Anyone who's anyone in the industry is in Paris at this point.  It's like, maybe you can only get away from your fancy job in LA for one week so you have to choose which of the heavyweights to attend.  Paris is always the one.  Nothing beats Parisian fashion and everyone knows it.
     This season thus far has had significantly less drama than those of the recent past.  No major deaths this season or firings of highly respected and then disgraced fashion icons.  Just beautiful clothes reflecting a few major trends that seem to be dominating the runways on an international scale.


Back to Basics
Women these days in North America find themselves in a peculiar setting in which economic times are hard, budgeting is key and frivolity is limited.  These major designers have identified this key aspect in the way women are dressing themselves and have both figuratively and literally weaved it into their collections.  One identifiable aspect of this trend is the use of knitting and crocheting, an ancient handy craft which, until recently, has been seen as something only your grandmother spent her time doing.  Thanks to the creative, resourceful new generation of young twenty-somethings, it's actually become all the rage.
Examples of this trend can be seen throughout the collections of Burberry Prorsum, Prada and in Vivienne Westwood's Red Label.

Defining Ostentation 
On the opposing end of the above theory, is the overly decorative and highly luxurious clothes being produced mainly in Italy.  These two trends usually coincide as a result of two types of reactions to the same situation.  Some women want to get back to hand crafted, earth friendly clothing, while others want to prove that the state of the economy and the world itself could not touch their high social standing and indeed, their pocket books.  Why not wear a dress completely covered in jewels or strips of gold like in the Dolce and Gabbana or Roberto Cavalli shows?  That'll show 'em how fancy we are.


Classic Femininity vs. Androgyny
Every season has its own version of this dichotomy of clothing styles which, occur throughout every collection in some form or another.  After Alexander McQueen brought back the big pointy shoulders for women, the power suit look has come back and women are now in some cases wearing clothes that were specifically designed and cut for men.  On the antithesis is the typical Christian Dior Woman, hourglass shape which is still quite prominent across the fashion board.  Flared skirt, fitted dresses with over-sized prints and feminine shoulder and necklines, the likes of which could be found in Betty Draper's closet, are still quite present and relevant.

Overall, it's obvious that duality of style, tone and overall concepts in fashion are the real theme this season.
By this point, Paris Fashion Week is underway and the collections are coming out every day this week.  Once they're all done (and I've settled in my new fab apartment!!) I'll be posting a summary of the most influential Paris shows and my thoughts on the overall season.

Thanks for reading!!

     

Moving Along...

I just sat down here with this laptop to scribble out an update blog about Petey the Troll Apparel and my solo work as a costume maker/ wedding stylist / tortured, over-worked-under-paid seamstress.  When I logged into the blog site I use, it looked completely different than the last time I posted something.  New features, new design and the stats of all of my previous blog posts right there on the front page.  Genius.  So after I get over the initial "shit, it must have been a while since I posed anything if the entire interface is completely different" shock... and then take a look and the stats for my last post with this particular blog.  I was ashamed and sad to realize that my last post was almost two months ago. :( 
     I have several excuses, most of which have to do with work and searching endlessly for the perfect apartment to fit myself, my boyfriend, Meaghan, and our three unruly, yet lovable cats.  Not to mention an industrial sewing machine, a closet full of fabric and an unfortunate amount of shoes between the three of us sad fashion victims.  The search has not been easy and has admittedly taken up the majority of my time over the past few weeks.   
     Additionally, I've spent almost the entire summer working on dress commissions from a variety of clients (some absolutely delightful, others...not so much...) which I've found less than likable and have decided to stop doing altogether.  I have one remaining client to whom I promised bridesmaid dresses a while ago... so I'm doing this one last project, but will no longer be taking dress commissions hence forth, unless it is a personal favor for a friend or another exception as such. 
    What I've decided to do instead is look deeply into the study of the creation, construction and design of jackets and coats.  Over the next couple of months (among a plethora of fashion show review posts ;) I will start writing more often about the goings on with Petey the Troll Apparel as we crawl out of our woes and start working again.  Specifically, I'm going to start blogging about the history of some styles of jackets and coats as we know them today, and discuss my thoughts about jacket design in both mens and womensware in fashion.  I'm pretty excited. :)


So there it is, my apology and my update all in one go, hoping desperately that you'll still read what I have to say, 
Yours always, 


Vanessa Petey Hughes

The Difference Between Art and Imitation in Fashion as Presented by the House of Christian Dior

Alright so straight up I might say some bold things right now so agree with me or don't agree with me, whatever. I recently had the pleasure of viewing the latest Christian Dior Haute Couture collection by Bill

Gaytten. For those of you who are unaware of the current situation at the House of Dior.... a few months ago there was a disastrous occurance involving the House's Creative Director and most valuable creative asset to the company - the now infamous John Galliano. Everyone remembers his horrible racist rant which effectively ended his career and caused irreparable humiliation for the Galliano and the House of Dior alike. His rather public dismissal from his position with the company was devastating mainly because of the undeniable and highly enviable talent of John Galliano as a fashion designer. He has since been involved in countless trials and hassels as a result of his blatantly despicable behavior, and his position at the House of Dior has of course,

been filled.

Bill Gaytten, the newly appointed Creative Director worked under the master himself for

more than a decade prior to the incidents which occurred this past February. He was one of his

most intimate confidants and facilitators and he understood the way that Galliano worked better than anyone else. He was

the clear choice for the position. Think back to when Leigh McQueen died in 2010 and he was replaced by his assistant, Sarah Burton, whose collection ended up being so staggeringly good that she was envied for her ability to continue the McQueen tradition with her own personal spin on it. Gaytten was I think meant to try and replicate this situation, but has unfortunately come

off much less than adequate in comparison to either Galliano or Sarah Burton herself.

Part of the reason I went into fashion design and became so enamored with the fashion industry was John Galliano. I can still identify key features in many of his most eye popping collections with Christian Dior as well as with his own self-titled label. I was such an enormously huge fan of his. Very few other designers have had the ability to actually make me cry while witnessing the absolute beauty he was able to accomplish with clothing. His dismissal from Diorand the whole scandall in general hit me pretty hard. Every collection Petey the Troll has ever done has been influenced by his techniques and contributions to the ongoing dialogue about fashion and glamour. The collection is presented in three parts. First we have the cocktail dresses and skirt-top combos, all presented with a clear attempt at high drama in the manner of John Galliano. The silhouettes were almost exactly the same as in some of the most recent Dior collections, featuring that famous "Dior Woman" look from the late 40s that John used so frequently. The patterned fabrics were just way too bold and over the top and the colour choices were frankly somewhat lack luster. The second section was horrifying. The models wearing theflowy full length chiffon dresses with the wild hair were just outrageous. Who said that was okay for them to look like that out on stage?? As they walk by they swoosh their arms about in a manner not uncommon to that of Morticia Addams or Lily Munster. Weird. The last bit with the ball gowns is where the real Couture comes out. I personally would have been much happier if the show consisted of nothing but these types of dresses and drop all the other garbage.

Not to say that most of these dresses aren't unnecessarily over the top. They come off more

as amateur art pieces than Christian Dior Couture gowns. The last one however, did have my

eye glued to the screen for the duration of her walk from thew beginning to the end of the runway. The choice of fabric and colour makes her look like an architectural masterpiece - perhaps the only win in the collection. Butttttt then the end comes and this suggestion is promptly ruined by the director's choice to have her standing at the back of the stage like a weird statue of liberty or something while the designers come out and wave their little hands. It

looked forced, it looked like they were trying to do something epic with something that just wasn't going to be epic.

He had the key elements. He had the drama and the high contrast and the variety of fabrics and the typical Galliano style show going on with the beginning, middle and end, but in my humble opinion Gaytten was lacking one main thing in his collection. Where is the beauty?? Where is the elegance and grace of the Dior woman?? The Dior woman is supposed to have class and be the most beautiful woman in the room wearing the most beautifully constructed and

created clothing. Gaytten missed the boat on that one I think.

Thanks that was my rant about Christian Dior. See you soon!!

Solved Mysteries of Dressmaking by Vanessa Petey

Holla!

It's been amazing not being in school anymore. I've had time to spend on small details of my commissions and have started thinking about a lot of new endeavours regarding Petey and where we should pick up after that horrifying 6 month hiatus. I watched Coco Avant Chanel today to try and get some inspiration, and I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing.

I recently posted a bunch of photographs of the progression of a prom dress I'm working on on

Facebook for interested parties to see. I got a lot of positive responses because I have fantastic friends, but truly, this dress has gone from being something I had to rush through because I

was i

n school and short on time - to one of the best pieces I've ever made and something I'm really proud of (and hallelujah if it fits...)

One of my friends, a fantastic woman I met when I worked at Fabricland years ago, and also a wonderful seamstress and artist herself, comments regularly on my work. Although every comment I

ever get on anything are so greatly appreciated, it's different when the comment is coming from

someone who knows the trade and could see the flaws that the untrained eye would likely miss. I

thanked her on Facebook, with a little wall post, and added that I continued to use her zipper trick on all zippers I'm installing, with the exception of the invisible zipper. Her response was lovely and on the end she

attached that even she was perplexed by the installation of an invisible zipper.

First I just was going to message her with a step by step guide to installing one from my own experience, but then I thought - WAIT. I have a blog for this kind of thing.

So here we are.

How to Install an Invisible

Zipper - By Vanessa Petey

1) from the hem of the fabric up to the zipper notch, stitch. backstitch.

2) open the zipper and match the top closure of the zipper to the top edge of the fabric. the outside edge of the zipper should be level with the edge of the fabric to the notch with the teeth of the zipper facing inward.

3) baste stitch near the edge of the zipper with regular sewing machine foot. sew the entire length of the zipper down to just past the zipper notch where the two fabrics meet.

-when the foot reaches the slider of the zipper, leave the needle down in the machine and raise the foot. slide the zipper closed and continue

4) do the same to the other side, making sure to match the tops of the zipper sides.

5) switch

to a zipper foot on the machine (an invisible zipper foot is good too... and some seamstresses will swear they never use anything else for an invisible

zipper, but I much prefer my method, so take your pick.)

6) press apart the teeth from the tape of the zipper and lower the zipper foot as close as possible to the teeth. sew down from the top repeating the method of moving the slider with the machine stopped and the needle down.

7) when the machine reaches the bottom of the zipper, simply veer the stitch off of the edge of the fabric leaving a tail.

8) repeat for the other side of the zipper

Done!

I actually find it more simple than any other sort of zipper in dresses, to be honest.

So anyways that's what i thought I'd explain today, so if you're a sewer, you might have found it interesting... if not... well... see ya next time with something less painfully boring.

LOVE!

- V

Solved Mysteries of Dressmaking and Caffienated Beverages

Holla!

It's been amazing not being in school anymore. I've had time to spend on small details of my commissions and have started thinking about a lot of new endeavours regarding Petey and where we should pick up after that horrifying 6 month hiatus. I watched Coco Avant Chanel today to try and get some inspiration, and I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing.

I recently posted a bunch of photographs of the progression of a prom dress I'm working on on

Facebook for interested parties to see. I got a lot of positive responses because I have fantastic friends, but truly, this dress has gone from being something I had to rush through because I

was i

n school and short on time - to one of the best pieces I've ever made and something I'm really proud of (and hallelujah if it fits...)

One of my friends, a fantastic woman I met when I worked at Fabricland years ago, and also a wonderful seamstress and artist herself, comments regularly on my work. Although every comment I

ever get on anything are so greatly appreciated, it's different when the comment is coming from

someone who knows the trade and could see the flaws that the untrained eye would likely miss. I

thanked her on Facebook, with a little wall post, and added that I continued to use her zipper trick on all zippers I'm installing, with the exception of the invisible zipper. Her response was lovely and on the end she

attached that even she was perplexed by the installation of an invisible zipper.

First I just was going to message her with a step by step guide to installing one from my own experience, but then I thought - WAIT. I have a blog for this kind of thing.

So here we are.

How to Install an Invisible

Zipper - By Vanessa Petey

1) from the hem of the fabric up to the zipper notch, stitch. backstitch.

2) open the zipper and match the top closure of the zipper to the top edge of the fabric. the outside edge of the zipper should be level with the edge of the fabric to the notch with the teeth of the zipper facing inward.

3) baste stitch near the edge of the zipper with regular sewing machine foot. sew the entire length of the zipper down to just past the zipper notch where the two fabrics meet.

-when the foot reaches the slider of the zipper, leave the needle down in the machine and raise the foot. slide the zipper closed and continue

4) do the same to the other side, making sure to match the tops of the zipper sides.

5) switch

to a zipper foot on the machine (an invisible zipper foot is good too... and some seamstresses will swear they never use anything else for an invisible

zipper, but I much prefer my method, so take your pick.)

6) press apart the teeth from the tape of the zipper and lower the zipper foot as close as possible to the teeth. sew down from the top repeating the method of moving the slider with the machine stopped and the needle down.

7) when the machine reaches the bottom of the zipper, simply veer the stitch off of the edge of the fabric leaving a tail.

8) repeat for the other side of the zipper

Done!

I actually find it more simple than any other sort of zipper in dresses, to be honest.

So anyways that's what i thought I'd explain today, so if you're a sewer, you might have found it interesting... if not... well... see ya next time with something less painfully boring.

LOVE!

- V

Confessions of a Design School Drop-Out

“I don’t design clothes, I design dreams,” says Ralph Lauren, millionaire fashion business mogul and founder of the design label by the same name. Ralph Lauren started from nothing. He was the son of Jewish immigrants, growing up in the Bronx in New York and the only thing he knew he wanted to be when he grew up was a millionaire. In the 70s he enrolled in a local college for business with a specific interest in fashion design and after 2 years dropped out of school. As a result of his own lines, Ralph Lauren Polo and Club Monaco as well as his countless investments in a long list of other American labels, the man is now worth $8.5 billion.

I came to a decision after much thought

and consideration to leave design school, yesterday while I was sitting in class. The truth is, I lost interest in the program some time ago and have since been struggling to keep my attention on anything school related for any length of time. I knew it was time to leave. For months now my physical health, social obligations and overall creativity have

suffered in a seemingly irreparable way, which was something I could handle, if I felt that I truly needed the program or that it would benefit me to stay in it.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was when I realized how much I missed working on Petey the Troll. Meaghan and I had serious plans when we arrived in Toronto this past January – none of which have even begun to come to fruition. For me this is a problem that I can’t not fix.

So now I have a few directions I can take and things I can do in order to more directly achieve the goals I wanted to achieve 5 months ago. Over the next few months I’m going to be moving very quickly, releasing new info and items and photographs all the time.

My next project is a sea foam green prom dress for a lovely young girl by the name of Thyra. Tomorrow I’ll post a few pictures of the progression of a dress such as this (it’s chiffon!!) with

some comments on why I chose to use certain techniques or methods.

Oh ps. my fabulous friends and I are having a Mad Men costume party and I'm working on a few vintage dresses that i'm so friggen excited about I can't contain myself. There will be photos soon.

And o m g! We'll be getting an industrial sewing machine for our apartment really soon so production is about to go through the roof. You know what that means gurrrrls ;

Until next time, I’m Vanessa Petey, and I’m glad to be back.

Confessions of a Design School Student

Petey fans, friends, admirers etc,

This is a bit of a confession note/ a piece of writing inspired by my context and surrounded by

the current decisions I'm making in my life and more importantly, in my career. I felt like everyone should know, so here it is.

Firstly, when I write my blogs, they're directed (generally!) to people either living in Windsor,

my home town, or Toronto, my new home. In Windsor reside the people I miss, who have the most fantastic little art scene going on that no one else in the country knows anything about. These people are awesome, and it's for them that I started doing my work. In TO reside both my Windsor friends and my newest Toronto friends. These are by far some of the most interesting and unique people I've ever known and I count my blessings that they think I'm cool enough to be in

their beautiful lives. It's for all of the afore mentioned people and for those I have yet to meet

that I make these decisions today.

If you know me, you'd probably say I made the decision to move to Toronto so I could go to

Design School. That is indeed what it has seemed for the past 6+ months. But realistically, My choice was actually to go to Design School as an excuse and a reason to move to Toronto. I've been looking for one my whole life, that seemed perfect.

Now that I'm here I don't regret my decision for a second. My life has changed in ways I could never have imagined and I love every day. But I am beginning to feel those pesky feelings I felt throughout the entirety of my sad University career - that I was bored with it, that I wished I

was working on my own art and that the likelihood of it coming to nothing in the end was a depressing eventuality to face. Here I am again in a post-secondary education system feeling the same feelings and thinking the same thoughts and

wondering if the choice was best or not.

Follow?

I miss working on Petey the Troll more than I can say. I try to work my creativity into some of our projects at school, but it can sometimes feel very lack lustre. Meaghan and I spend everyday during the week getting no sleep, rushing to get to work or school or anywhere all the time and

falling behind every step of the way. As for those fabulous friends I mentioned above, they are but a dream in my life, as I co

nsistently become a worse friend who is less reliable and more likely to blow them off due to my insane hectic schedule.

The question now has become, How important is Design School to the development of Petey the Troll Apparel and its future as a fashion design company? How do we get away from the thought

of becoming Joe Fresh and back to the thought of becoming Coco Chanel? And the biggest one of all is, Is it worth not having worked on Petey for almost 6 months and not seeing any time to work on it for the next year to finish a diploma that I'm not even sure will help get me anywhere I want to be?

Time will tell.

Until then,

V