Zac Posen's 09/10 f/w, Karl Lagerfeld's and Armani's new 2010/2011 collections

I'll be adding the links to each of these shows at the bottom of their reviews, enjoy reading and watching and feel free to leave me a comment,

Zac Posen's New Fall/Winter 09/10 Collection

Zac Posen's new Fall/Winter 2011 collection can be described as Luxurious Victorian Futurism. The rich metallic hues with just the right amount of dressy frills along with lovely bias cut numbers make for an elegant collection embodying a Victorian nearly turned minimalist feel.

Each look has a skillful absence of anything overdone and yet contains all the decadence of one of histories most romantic eras. The best Couture way to step into the future.
Zac Posen's 2009/2010 fall/winter collection slideshow

Chanel Fall/Winter 2010 Couture Collection

Karl Lagerfeld as always, has managed to project us into his luxurious well lit otherworldly lair of dreams by producing another collection from his sheer genius of design. Nearly everything in his fall/winter 2010 couture collection is a bolero silhouette but somehow, with all the elements he's used he's managed to make the very repetition of the silhouette itself consistently exciting and a delight for the visual palette.

Look after look, they're all gorgeously exotic designs without easily being culturally placeable with the exception of a few subtly Indian embellishment inspired garments that brilliantly stand far apart from even the remotest associations with Bollywood. Leaving you overwhelmed from the beauty like one that's just woken from a dream you'd rather not have left. We want more Karl Lagerfeld!


Armani's Collection fall/winter 2010

Armani has yet again exhibited his ability to masterfully produce the ultimate feminin easy to wear business suite without using any of the usual fashion additives to do so , no frills, no pink, no lace and none of the usual low cut exposure cheats.

Added, this collection has included a unique and interesting signature medallion size button/clasp type accent reminiscent of tribal style deco yet too sophisticated to be labeled as such adorning the necks and waists of those refined articles of luxury apparel.





You can find more info and resources at:
Budget Online Fashion Design Schools and Resources

Why Watch Current (and past) Fashion Videos

I've heard and read that the reason to watch fashion shows are to keep up with the latest trends,  and when it comes to collections of the past,  to gain insight and inspiration from what designers have done before.  And this is just one of the ways to get ideas for a new "original" collection of your own.  Other ways of course are to look at the different clothing styles from other cultures and periods,  looking at art and artifacts,  nature,  architecture even just checking out the new textiles, prints and fabric innovations can be a source of inspiration.

However these are designer's reasons to watch fashion videos,  Patternmakers have completely different reasons and approach to watching both new and old fashion videos. For example I was watching  Donna Karan's winter 2012/2013 collection a while ago and as a patternmaker I was inspired,  challenged and intrigued by the cut of the garments.  I found myself automatically wondering "how was that done?" and then challenging myself with the question of how and if I could do that myself for my own designs.  Take a look for yourself:

This was actually quite a wonderful experience for me and I look forward to it every time I watch a new fashion video now (or a retro one for that matter).

Designers come up with new design challenges and adventures all the time that work out to be a great way to keep a patternmaker's mind on it's tip toes.  It's actually made me head in the direction of looking into more speciallty patternmaking books as well,  right now I've got my eyes on Pattern Making Portfolio Skills and the Pattern Magic series.

If you'd like to see more great quality fashion videos subscribe to fatalfashion's channel on Youtube.com
just visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/FatalefashionII?feature=watch


If you'd like to read more about fashion, information on the industry and online schools check out my site at:
Budget Online Fashion Design Schools and Resources

If you're a designer or home sewer and you'd like to find some cool eco-friendly fabrics and more check out my resource page at:
The Eco-Friendly Fashion Designer's Resource Page

Only The Buttons Left To Do On My Lemon Tulip Pattern

Okay,  I've got to fess up,  this post is a week late as I did all this work last weekend and simply wasn't able to write a post for the life of me due to housework.   It's a shame,  but here are the photos of my finished look. My only complaints about the finished design,  is that I think I should have made the waist and midriff band half the width (I just had to say that),  I wish there was at least an extra 1/2" of ease in the waistband and the sleeves,  although every bit as beautiful as I wanted them to be,  should have been a bit shorter by at least 2".  I'll be sure to put in all these tweaks when I re-work the pattern.

Other than that,  there are only the buttons left to put in and those are going to be the metal ball buttons.  I still liked them after I had the garments sewn up,  they're a little quirky for the design,  I know,  but I like them,  it fits anyway.  I'm not so sure about the lingerie part though actually,  lol,  after watching a few Tinkerbell movies,  great 3D movies there,  I think my design is more of a fairy costume,  so funny.  I'll have to do some serious lingerie another time, Oh hold it,  I had an idea for a piece a few months back,  I should work it out for my portfolio...!  Awesome idea there.  I think I want to do my jacket design anyway though.  Now to decide which one I'm going to work on first.   

It might have to wait till next weekend though because I've got a pile of dishes sitting in the kitchen (note,  I didn't restrict it to 'sink'  eeeck!)  and unfortunately my article writing suffered this week so I've got to make that up too.

I've got another confession to make as well,  out of all the "how to" fashion books I've read,  pattern making,  sewing secrets,  couture sewing,  designer details,  pattern grading and even various book on the fashion industry but .... after all is said and done,  I realized last week that I've never actually read a book on Fashion Design.  Isn't that crazy?   I've got to get another book on pattern making,  either dealing with women's suites,  specialty patternmaking or patternmaking for lingerie,  but my next book purchase will have to also include a book on Fashion Design,  as in the design process that goes into collection development.  I've already got a list of books I'm going to be picking from.

I'll have to choose between a book that focuses on the process itself from the perspective of a fashion school professor or another that focuses on the history of fashion design and the process.  (I'm a sucker for history so this is a tough choice).   Soon as I get my web cam up and running, or get a real camera,  I'll start making book reviews of all the cool books I've been reading,  or rather have read on fashion and patternmaking.

Any way,  I didn't eat anything yet since early this morning either so I better get busy with my non-fashion work for now :(

If you'd like to read more about fashion, information on the industry and online schools check out my site at:

Budget Online Fashion Design Schools and Resources

If you're a designer or home sewer and you'd like to find some cool eco-friendly fabrics and more check out my resource page at:

The Eco-Friendly Fashion Designer's Resource Page