Final Fittings for Show

Maybe I'm biased, but the show's going to be amazing this year and actually better than last year's. Or I'd like to think that. From childrenswear to menswear, to womenswear, and to eveningwear, there's so much of freshness and creativity. Watching almost all the presentations made me feel so proud to be a part of this school.

We had final fittings on Tuesday and today. It was fun working with models with different looks and personalities. I had this one model who was too big for my clothes and made any of my clothes look really bad though. I tried every look on her and was really unhappy with any of them. They happen to have another model available, who I haven't seen yet and will see on Monday. They say that she's so skinny that she looks like she hasn't eaten, but I believe she couldn't be worse than the other one. I hope I like her.

This is going to be my very first show ever and it dazzles me looking back where I started researching and sketching. I'm a fashion designer!! There had been moments that I was weak and had doubt, but I learned to be more patient and to believe in myself. I learned more about life, people, and myself through school and it's been an incredible year. I've been waiting for this time, for graduation, but saying good-bye is always hard for me. I'll miss my classmates, teachers, classrooms, and everything about Parsons. Anyhoo I'm looking forward to our senior show. It's going to be AWESOME.

Annalyce the Model before Photo Shoot

Bad News and More

So many things happened last week. My concepts teacher Morris, who had been struggling with cancer for one and a half years, passed away last Sunday morning. It made us sadder that we didn't even get a chance to say bye or to thank him. I've felt worse because I often argued with him in class forgetting about his sickness. He also made sure to encourage me when he noticed that I was depressed in the beginning of the semester. All these things make me feel so regretful that I could have been nicer to him. We were going to visit him after our presentations never knowing what was about to happen so soon. On Thursday there was a memorial service in a house in Jersey where he died, and one of my classmates and I went to attend it. We got to meet his sister, who looks exactly like him, his nieces, and many friends of his. After the service was over, we ran to the train station to catch the earliest train in order to be at school on time for our rehearsal. Thanks to my heels that got me blisters and hurt my feet even more as I was running down the hill. Luckily we got on the train, which arrived as soon as we got on the track.

We were late for the rehearsal and had to move to the other side of the auditorium and go on because of other classes using the spot. I thought it should have been easier for me to rehearse there than right on the spot where we actually present because of the lighting, but I got extremely nervous at my turn somehow. I'm worried because the actual presentation would be more nerve-wracking than the rehearsal.

So everything was due on Friday and we brought our clothes in the auditorium from 11am to 1pm. We had irons and steamers set up for us and put the clothes on the rack. People from Solstiss/Bucol were coming for the last time at 2pm to pick their winner for the competition. I don't exactly know who was there for the meeting but we students weren't allowed to be there. I got an email later that day with a title "Solstiss/Bucol Winner", and my heart began to pound. I opened the email and saw the other girl's name. It's disappointing that they must have thought that she deserved it more than I did but I know she also worked hard. I've been just telling myself that I was lucky to have the chance to use their beautiful fabrics.

I used all my print credit and almost all of my friend's to print pages for my look book. I printed 25 copies of the book and went to East Side Copier by our downtown campus for binding. The pages were printed with white space around the edges, which I did not want. I especially didn't like how the space on the bottom of the page is bigger than the others, but I had no choice.

I'm broke! I don't know how much I've spent for Thesis but I know it's a lot. Just to keep up the energy, I've been eating like a pig whenever I had a chance, and that costs. Nevertheless, I'm happy I did my best and got things this far. I didn't think I could do it.

Photo Shoot and More

Four of my classmates and I had a photo shoot with two professional photographers in their SoHo studio from 10am to 9pm. It was awesome that we got to choose types of hair and make-up our own. Since my inspiration is Beethoven, I wanted some messy but tamed hairdos and natural but severe make-up for my models. The hair and make-up looked great except that I wanted the bottom lashes to be fuller and more exaggerated. But everything worked out great! The models, photographers, hair stylist, make-up artist, studio, everything was amazing. We're going back tomorrow to pick up our CD's. The shoot looked great and I hope the photos are too. Everyone seemed exhausted after their shoot. I was tired and starving so I ran out to a restaurant as soon as I dropped my garments off. Now I'm full and feel all happy and ALIVE.

My room is looking like a garbage dump of a sample room. It's been this way for a while I think...I don't even remember since when it started to look like this...with patterns flying all over the place and pieces of fabrics and threads everywhere. Oh and PINS!! Like all other Koreans from Korea, I take my shoes off in the house and from time to time I get a pin stuck in my foot. It didn't happen so often but it did several times. Poking in the finger is nothing now. My feet and especially fingers are so damaged since Thesis. I've also had a few minor iron burns because I get retarded when it comes to ironing. Anyways back to the mess story, it's been annoying that I can't find anything right away and that there's really no room on the floor for me to walk in and out the room. I've been wanting so much to clean this mess and I'm so happy that I have time to clean now! I can't believe I'm not even tired anymore. I barely slept the past two days finishing up things for the photo shoot. I still have so many other things to take care of. I'm going to get my labels done tomorrow. I don't know if I should get hang tags though...I need to get some documents ready for OPT before April 25th, which offers another year to stay in the states and gives foreign students a chance to get a job. I also have to file my tax return by April 15th because I had a paid internship with the Gap during last summer. I want to get a haircut this week too. Looking at the models today made me kind of sad that I don't want to look at myself in the mirror. haha

I'm so proud of myself to get things this far, though I have some small things to do like putting hooks & eyes and closing lining by hand...and working on the line sheet. I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thank God!

My Top 20 for NYC

Places to Shop
1. Century 21 (Discount department store in Financial District)
2. Opening Ceremony (Cool hip boutique in SoHo)
3. Barneys New York (Upper East Side)
4. Comme des Garcons/Balenciaga in Chelsea
5. INA Nolita (Vintage store in NoLita)

Places to Eat
6. Red Mango (Frozen Yogurt in Greenwich Village)
7. Shake Shack (Burgers & Hot Dogs in Madison Square Park)
8. Hummus Place (Israeli at St. Mark’s Place)
9. Cho Dang Gol (Tofu/Korean in Midtown)
10. Matsuri (Sushi bar in Chelsea)
11. Max Brenner (Chocolate shop near Union Square)
12. Oh Taisho (Yakitori bar/Japanese at St. Mark’s Place)
13. The Park (Mediterranean in Meatpacking District)
14. Veniero’s (Cheesecakes in East Side)

Clubs/Bars
15. Home/Guesthouse (Clubs in Chelsea)

Miscellaneous
16. Sheep Meadow in Central Park
17. South Street Seaport
18. Battery Park
19. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
20. The Museum at FIT

Enjoy!

Seventh Look

I decided to include the seventh look with the coat. I cut the fabrics and started to sew the coat last week. It looks better than I thought it would so far. Hopefully I'll finish it before our last fitting on April 3rd. I still need to finish up the jacket for my sixth look and have several little things to do such as hemming and getting button holes. I feel like I didn't get as much done as I could have this week. I also need to get my labels and hang tags done hopefully by this week..oh and shoes!! Ah I can't believe it's almost over!

The night after I wrote about my insomnia last week I passed out and didn't wake for 15 hours. It was good but somehow it made me feel more tired.

Spring Break's Over

So I worked my butt off during the break being at school everyday and continuing to work at home. My nose bled last night!! Thank God it didn't happen when I was sewing. In spite of my still ongoing insomnia I had to wake up early because of the spring break hours - 8am-6:45pm Mon through Thur, 8am-5:45pm Fri, 9am-5:45pm Sat and closed on Sunday!!! It was hard but I managed to nearly finish four pieces for my 5th and 6th looks. The only piece I haven't cut fabrics for is a jacket for the 6th look. So proud!! Though, I've been feeling bad about dropping the 7th look ever since I'd decided not to do it and I still think adding the look would compliment the whole collection. I'd only have to make a long coat if I were to add it because I'd moved the other pieces underneath the coat to other looks and I could just move them back to the original. I don't know if I should take the risk though because there's not much time left. There's a ruffle in the coat and I was not happy with how it looked in muslin and I don't know how long it'd take me to make it look good enough to be happy with it. Ahh It would have been really nice if we had one more week..just one more...

Ms. Peters finally finished the knit coat for me before break. We had to change some details while she was working on it, but it looks pretty close to my drawing. So yay!

Freaking Out....

OMG I couldn't sleep last night feeling so anxious and thinking about pieces I need to work on. I have five pieces left and am working on two right now..School's closing earlier this week and that means I need to get up early. AHHHHH I'm going to try to finish four during the break and one the following week. I need to complete the whole collection at least by the end of March, so that I could have everything photographed and work on my line sheet. I need to find a photographer too..I think I emailed the photography major people to RSVP too late. They never responded. eh I'll figure something out..



Wait..I think I misunderstood about the collaboration with photography major people. I thought it was for line sheet but someone just told me it's for portfolio.

Second Look

Leather jacket in progress.


The leather jacket goes with the dress and pants.

First Look at Photoshoot

First Look in Muslin

Making corrections.

Actually this is my last look. I'm working on things I feel like first..not in the order.

London

There are definitely more designers that are avant-garde in London than there are in New York, and it seems to me that the kind of style is more acceptible in London than it is here. I was looking at Central Saint Martins MA fashion show online and could see that the way they design is very conceptual and artistic. I admire and somewhat envy how they do it. I once designed a conceptual collection for my portfolio in Concepts class where I used "Tsunami in Sri Lanka" as an inspiration, and I was pretty happy with how it turned out. But I was criticized about weariblity and practicality when presenting the finishes in class. Some classmates were saying that if I wanted to get a job in New York, stuff has to be what they're looking for, which is accordingly well merchandised, straight forward "everyday wear" with mix and matchable items. I mean I consider wearibility important too but sometimes I want to go crazy.

What intrigues me the most about London is its culture and history. When I think of London, I always think of the Guard Mounting ceremony at Buckingham Palace..and London Bridge..Maybe it's because of some images in some sort of history book that I saw when I was little. Unfortunately I've never been to the city but I'm sure I'd love it. I'd love to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum. Oh and I hear guys in London dress very nicely too.

Solstiss/Bucol Meeting

The sponsorship I happened to receive from french lace (Solstiss) and silk (Bucol) companies has given me this incredible opportunity to use the most beautiful laces and silk fabrics I could have never seen in my life! I feel so grateful for that. So what happened was that they picked two students to sponsor with laces and fabrics in the beginning of fall semester. Each of us got to pick and order fabrics we want for our projects and had them delivered all the way from France. I got my laces and fabrics about a week before school started in January. And finally Ms. Sandrine Bernard from Solstiss/Bucol, who has helped me and the other girl with the whole sponsorship from the beginning, is coming to see our progress this Tuesday. Francesca, who organized the sponsorship, is going to be there, our Director Mr. Faerm will be there, and her studio methods instructor Mr. Cruz and my stduio methods instructor Kevin also will be there. I think the meeting will give Ms. Bernard some idea of whom to choose as a "winner" and send to the actual factories in France as a prize. I'm still working on a pant with lace, which is a part of my 5th look, to show at the meeting. I got so mad surging the edges of panels for the pants in Children's wear classroom yeseterday. Somebody messed up with tensions in the machine and the surging looked really bad. It drove me nuts because I couldn't fix it!! Anyhoo I've got to go attach the waistband now. Ciao.

New York

New York’s fashion industry understands the balance that people seek 
between uniformity and individuality. It provides what is wearable but 
at the same time creative. It is not easy to be creative while "restricted", but there are many designers in this 
industry that are surprisingly good at it. The scale of market with 
enormous resources also keeps the price affordable with great quality,
 so it sells.


About HJ Lee


My name is HJ Lee a.k.a. Hyun Joo Lee or Hyun-Joo Lee. I'm from Seoul,
 Korea and came to the U.S. when I was 15 as an exchange student. After
 the year of my exchange student program in California I decided to stay
in the U.S. to continue with my education and moved to Minnesota for 
boarding school.

 As a child I had serious training in music and always thought I'd become
 a pianist when I grow up, but it came to an end as I realized that I
 didn't have as much passion about me playing piano as other people 
around me did. After my quitting piano my mom thought that sending me 
abroad would help me broaden my point of view and open my mind to more 
great opportunities. The change at such a young age was harsh from time 
to time, and I had to find something I could enjoy doing that would help 
me forget about all the hardships that I was going through with the 
language barrier, cultural differences, and homesickness. Luckily there 
was art studio where I could draw, paint, or create whatever whenever I
 wanted. I've always loved being creative and been interested in clothes.
 So here I am. Though studying to be a fashion designer is one of the 
greatest choices that I've made, I feel this indescribable sadness deep 
inside towards my “failed dream” of becoming a successful pianist.

Choosing an inspiration for my thesis project, I wanted to work with
something that's personal, and I thought I should dedicate it to the 
dream I once had. It is very meaningful to me that I designed my 
collection inspired by Ludwig Van Beethoven not only because he's been 
my favorite composer in history, but also because I played one of his
 piano sonatas on the stage for my last recital.

I believe that creating fashion inspired by Beethoven accomplish the 
unachieved goal and prove that the quitting happened for a reason. The 
collection is to bring out the boldness as well as romantic notes that
 Beethoven has in his music, and it studies men's wear and architecture 
of his time period. It's not merely about making beautiful clothes but 
about turning my sorrow into joy.

Fourth Look

It's supposed to go up to 55 degrees out today if I heard it right..I think that's about 12 degrees in celsius. Wait..do the British use celsius or fahrenheit?? Anyhoot..it's all sunny again and I can't wait to go out!

So I've been working on my coat for fourth look this week and looks good so far. The only thing that bothers me is the top collar and lapel. The coat has 4 different layers of collars and lapels and the very top layer looks awkward to me. I don't know what happened because I must have thought that it looked fine in muslin. I think I'm going to get rid of it and hopefully it's going to be ok. I still have so much work to do and it's March already. I'm getting a little freaked out and extremely tired..I've been working all week and notice how fast time flies. I don't know if I'll be able to do everything I wanted.

I haven't had time to work on my new croquis for concepts class and I'm going to go to the NY public library to look up some prints. If I don't find anything there, I'll have to develop one myself. Oh by the way it's good to see Hussein Chalayan back. I was wondering what happened to him past seasons.

Second and Third Looks

I've been having trouble sleeping since the winter break and have been trying to overcome it for the longest time. Thank God, for the first time I went to bed before midnight and woke up before noon. Since I only have evening classes, it hasn't been much of a problem for attendence, but not being able to have a good night sleep makes me way too tired during the day and makes the day way too short. I can't believe that going to bed and waking 3-4 hours earlier makes me feel so happy. Maybe it's the sunny sky I see out the window.

I'm so close to be done with my second look, which includes an asymmetrical leather jacket, a black and white square dot corset dress with two-tier circle skirt, and trousers. It took me a while to figure out some lining patterns for the leather jacket, but the self's sewn and lining's sewn, all I need to do is to connect the two now. For my third look I have a bulky wool sweater coat with ruffles and a bow on the top, a short-sleeved cotton/chiffon shirt with lace sponsored by Solstiss and a wool jersey skirt. Mrs. Peters, our handknitting course instructor, is knitting the coat for me right now, and I'm going to try to finish up the shirt tonight if time allows me.

I have finishes due for Concepts class on Wednesday and should probably sketch and color them now so that I would have time to work on the shirt and do flats for Conecpts tomorrow night. Wish me luck!

Photo Shoot

So I'm pretty satisfied with my choice of leather for the first look. It looks great with the silk fabric. And YAY for finally completing the dress (the damn blindstitching and hemming took longer than I thought) for the photo shoot that we had last Monday, which contain the first looks of the whole class. They rented a studio near SoHo and had each one of us sign up for it ahead of time. It was nerve-racking because I had no idea what it'd be like. As I entered the room, I saw 4-5 models dressing up with help from students at one side of the room and a photo shoot set at the other side of the room. We had Seniors from Photography department help us with the whole thing. Everything seemed so hectic and that made me more nervous, but after all it went quick and was a great experience. It was exciting just to be there with a "professional" photographer taking pictures of the model in my dress. Hopefully they look through all the pictures carefully and choose the right ones for the book. I can't wait to see it!

Choosing the right leather

Working on the dress I've chosen for the photo shoot that'll be in February, I still need to find the right leather that'd match perfectly with the matte silk fabric. I don't know if I should use the same leather with texture that I used for the jacket I'm also working on for the next look. I'm afraid that it'll make the dress look too busy.

Other E/P Project Members' Blogs

Please note:
The below blog sites - that you can click to access - are arranged with first names in alphabetical order.

Tutors
http://EP-Project-DeborahLampitt.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-RobertdeNiet.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-StevenFaerm.blogspot.com

Support
http://EP-Project-SergioSantos.blogspot.com

NY – Students
http://EP-Project-ClaraYoo.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-HyunJooLee.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-JaneShon.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-LindseyRussell.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-Marie-ChristineStatz.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-MelissaLuning.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-NikkiDemoneris.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-SylviaKwan.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-WenShi.blogspot.com

UK – Students
http://EP-Project-AmyWhiting.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-DanOliver.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-ElizabethRogerson.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-HannahShakir.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-JenniferWiebking.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-KathrynMacKonochie.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-LinseyBholah.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-MattHambly.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-NatalieMesser.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-NickyAshwell.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-RosaBertoli.blogspot.com
http://EP-Project-SophiaHunt.blogspot.com