Signs Say Yes

This semester I've been interning with Charlotte Brody, a small company out of NYC. I love it. The people are great, and since it's so small I've been learning a lot. What's different about this company is that it's based almost entirely on trunk shows and sells directly to clients. And mind you, this isn't your typical client. Think Upper Eastside, totally GG, if ya get what I'm saying.

Starting this internship was a little scary, because I always pictured myself working with a smaller business like this one. So I thought to myself, "Man, I better love this." Because if I didn't, was I gonna have to go soul searching.. AGAIN??? Well, good news. If you missed it, it's at the second sentence of this post: I love it.

I started a joke.

So I watched Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop, and yanno what I said about this Mr. Brainwash guy I mentioned, well, I re-tract my statement. I've been doing research for this project that I'm doing, and while I still think his stuff pretty to look at, there is not much else past that. I don't know that he was really a videographer, or that I'd consider him a real street artist, or artist. Period. Anyways. My opinion is still forming.

Not sure. But I think a joke is being played on someone.

Chasing Carrots

So I spent the better part of last weekend doing homework and felt great going into this week. Mondays and Tuesdays are pretty chill, but when Wednesday hits.. BAM! Any illusions of having a weekend disappear. Such is the life of a design student.

Like a hamster on a wheel, you think you're moving, but honey, you ain't goin' nowhere.

"Life is Beautiful"

I had less than two weeks to come up with a concept.

In my CAD class, we have the option of coming up with a mini-collection for a designer and design according to their aesthetic, or deciding on a theme and developing our own little line. I've chosen the latter.

Fashion Week, a visit to the MET, and a couple of September issues later, I still had nothin. It was the Sunday before the mood board was due, and I told myself I'd take a trip to MoMa in the hopes of being inspired. But on a whim, I decided to meet some friends at Highline Park instead.

On my way to meet them, I wanted to take a little detour to the Catherine Malandrino store since I was already in Meatpacking. (She is one of my faves.) En route, I stumbled upon the greatest little pop up gallery. "Icons" by Mr. Brainwash. I was in heaven.

Neo-pop the size of the walls, I was engulfed in each work on art, getting lost in each piece.

I found my concept.

I guess it's true what they say about inspiration. You can't look for it. Ya gotta let it find you. Because it will. And like most wonderful things in life, it'll happen when you least expect it.

Mr. Brainwash Icons NYC Exhibition, Opera Gallery, Chelsea

#*#(Ffnes*@#

I just wrote a huge chunk of this entry, then Safari quit unexpectedly. F. I'll try again tomorrow.

Back in Session

It's the first day back in school, but I've decided that my summer isn't quite over yet. My vacation home may be over, but who said the fun has to end now?

As I was saying, I had my first couple of classes today. And my fashion history class in particular left me quite inspired. It chronicles fashion through time, of course, but also fuses art, culture, and really everything. My teacher is this sweet German woman, an artist, with the whit and wisdom that makes you wish you were that clever. So if you ever randomly see posts with "-Catherina", that's her. And I'm thinking I'll have several to share with you throughout the semester. Here are some from today:

"I want you to get rid of your latest lover: Fear. Dont let him in again."

"I could never treat you as badly as you treat yourself. " (Fear personified)

"Fashion isn't dressing someone. Fashion is dressing someone with a hidden agenda."

"This is America. You open your big mouth. Whoever says it first gets it."

Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby

Coney Island. We got off the subway and there sat Nathan's, with an oversized billboard counting down to this year's 4th of July hot dog eating contest, and photos of past winners, including Takeru Kobayashi, the Japanese competitive eater who held the hot dog eating record for 6 years! (53.75 in 12 minutes! Bet his parents are so proud!) We wandered to the last of the amusement parks, Astroland, and headed straight for the Wonder Wheel, where I was able to finally check "Ride a ferris wheel" off my Life's To-Do list. I debated getting a funnel cake to munch on while we walked the pier, but decided against it, and we headed to the sand to catch some rays.

I'm gonna be honest. Coney Island is a bit lackluster, but it isn't the rides, and def not the beach that attracts people here every summer. It's the history. Granted, I am the biggest nerd at heart, but all I could do was imagine Coney Island at its prime, with all the glitz and glamour of the early 20th century, when it was THE place to be. Lights flashing, amusement parks lining the shore; ferris wheels turning, rollercoasters and other rides doing the unthinkable. I could see the women in their dainty little bathing suits with bottoms so high that they might as well have been a one piece. And all I wanted was a barber shop quartet to walk by in their pinstripes and straw hats and sing "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby."

But that's probably just me romanticizing the era.