New Fashion Designs

This past weekend I went down to Southern California to stay with my best friend who is a statuesque model and industrial designer. I was inspired by the dry and other-worldly landscapes that we drove past and so we did a little shoot with these latest dresses. As a result I wanted to create the fantasy space world that I had in my mind, with the driest hot deserts, steaming moon rocks and starry skies.

Red Mars Dress

This dress is a casually elegant custom printed Organic cotton "easy wear" long dress. It is incredibly soft and comfortable. The print is a NASA image of the surface of Mars. Jacqueline made a Mars rover + tribal-inspired necklace to match.

Space Traveler Dress (with Space Traveler hoodie and Astronaut belt)

This dress is the counterpart to the hoodie as I posted before and I love the complete look, especially on Jac since she embodies the powerful + strong woman that I had in mind when designing this collection. It is a short tee shirt dress style with organic cotton custom reverse space print that I designed. The belt is stretch black rib knit with astronaut applique.

I also made the necklace which is inspired by the swirls of the galaxy mixed with a tribal feel.

Reverse Space Organic Cotton Custom Print, Polar Space Traveler Coat and T  Dress

Flight Suit Dress with Astronaut Belt

For the past several months I've been completely buried and obsessed with inspiration, designing and sewing. Back in March I started doing a lot of visual digging for images that

inspire me.

I am largely inspired by many things, especially powerful women, women astronauts, traditional elegance, British, Russian, Asian, Italian, Japanese fashions, vintage 60's space, and old world style. However I always start with the female body and work from there- first off thinking of what is flattering.

The fabrics I've used are mostly cottons, custom designed prints on organic knits- because modern life often demands comfort. I absolutely adore high fashion but I have to say I am more a fan of soft and wearable.

Experimentation with custom fabric digital printing and that whole process has been a blast.

These are some of my favorite shots of the clothes. I was so lucky to have found Laura Bee as a model who is quite stunning. Thanks to Jacqueline for making me the cute necklace from old computer parts!

Return of Saturn Dress

Custom organic cotton knit applique on black jersey knit. The print is of Saturn and its rings and I loved how it graced the contours of the body creating this very graphic, geometric  look.

                                                The Final Frontier Supernova Dress

                                    Cotton print mix, fitted beachy style casual yet dressy.

The PhilosoFur coat and handmade pillbox style hat made from eco-felt

Every girl who has seen or tried this coat on loves it- seems to be a favorite. I wanted to make a coat that could be worn out to dinner or to an evening event that would be super stylish and cozy warm.

Mixed printed Cottons, teal nylon lining with faux fur trim

Sleek Space Chic

Parallel Universe Dress- Organic black cotton knit with side applique

The Space Traveler hooded zip up sweater. This one is heavily inspired by pictures I saw of the Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. Organic custom printed cotton knit with faux fur trim and patch applique. Worn with astronaut jumpsuit.

Tibetan Tuxedo Bolero Coat faux fur and satin Chinese brocade trim

Astronaut Jumpsuit comfort + stylish urban look. Black cotton knit with applique

Shoe Design Result!

This is SO exciting! The shoes turned out great. And they are pretty comfortable too. I like the overall casual sporty look of them and spacey cuteness. I'll call them " Cheers in Space" shoes. Seeing them has made me want to blast back into illustration mode and make more awesome images to turn into shoes. I played around with the saturn logo to put on the back. I've always loved satellites and the idea of them- the transmission of information. That's what being a creative is all about anyway isn't it? :)

I love that I can now wear my dorky space art around town ;) I will definitely be designing more of these from one of my illustrations on Tinker Doodle. Probably pigdog...

Hawaiian Eye Path to Serenity

Being a rather dreary February day, I am finding myself drifting to a a tropical place....

I'm thankful I have great memories and pics from a trip we took to Oahu in July.

I wandered around the shore and found some very inviting little paths and I loved the colors and how the little spot of seaspace poked through. I can still smell the sea. I hope these pics bring you as much calm as they do for me.

Enjoy!

Nerdy Girl/Quirky Chic Mood Boards

Some more eye candy! Behold the 21st century young gal.

Woman vs. Machine

In a discussion with my significant other the idea of the modern day and "wanting to be a machine" came up. For some reason this stuck in my mind, I guess because it has always been a pervasive theme in my work- the contrast between the mechanical and the natural, the chaos and the structure.

Not a particularly mathematically oriented person, I am forever fascinated by machines and our human abilities to make new ones.

This is a stylized version of a very large 8' by 4' drawing/painting many years ago but I still love it today. The theme is human vs the machine inside us, and how they have a mutual need for each others' existence. We need just the right amount of order to keep us stabilized and secure, and the right amount of sensitivity and compassion to be in harmony with others and our surroundings.

Tektite Rock Ring

I recently found this little shop near Lake Merritt that had healing stones and rock jewelery, and was very drawn to this ring. The shop owner was so helpful and knowledgeable- he told me about the origins and nature of Tektite. Apparently it is melted sand (glass) created from the heat by the friction of impact from a meteorite. This one came from Libya.

He said that Tektite - with the energy from space but being formed from earth, has the effect of keeping your energy grounded with your head chakra always open to the stars. Makes sense to me since according to wiki, the "precursor material is mainly terrestrial in origin (mixed with small traces of extraterrestrial material, perhaps that of the impactor" (wiki)

Now that sounds really good to me! That's the kind of energy that can really keep a person in balance- which is so much needed in today's crazy fast paced world. I have always found that the most valuable messages have come to me in a state similar to that one- head "open", yet feet firmly on the ground. You might call this clarity :)

In the Mood For Space

Space inspiration boards