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!