Wish you were there...

In case you missed it here’s what we did on March 24th…

Patria Lincoln, a FIT sophomore and designer, impressed us with her latest project: a 60’s themed coat. Patria, who originally hails from the Chicago area, walked attendees through the whole design and creation process; beginning with researching 60’s wear and ending with a killer yellow coat complete with a hood that resembles a ducks beak.

During her high school years Patria realized she had a talent for designing outfits. She would put together dresses for all the big school dances and play around with different designs on her father’s old t-shirts and thrift store sweatshirts. While working at her mother’s salon one of the customers offered to sell Patria’s products in a specialty clothing store she owned. From then on she was always designing.

Now in the midst of her second year here in New York City, she is astounded at the amount of things she knew nothing about when starting her design major. Every day she learns something new. This semester she is focusing on the creation of intimate apparel and says there is nothing better than creating something you can be proud of.

Next year Patria will take her design skills abroad through an FIT program in Milan. There she will hone her knitwear skills as well as take in the sights and sounds of the Italian city.

Stay tuned for pictures from the event and information about our April event.

It's So You

We’re always looking for good fashion books that offer helpful tips and solid advice for all fashion personalities and body types. If you’re interested in the same king of literature check out “It’s So You: Fitting Fashion to Your Life” by Mary Sheehan Warren. You can read more about the book here.

The book, which came out in January, is basically a how-to guide for creating your own style. According to the publisher, “It’s So You! offers a radical new approach to fashion that helps you discover and develop your personal style. You can put fashion in its place, making it a tool for your personal and professional growth—and save heaps of money at the same time.

With a light-hearted and easy tone, Mary Sheehan Warren guides you through key “Fashion Moments of Truth” and explains the elements of style—body type, palette, wardrobe planning, accessories—with well-organized explanations, helpful checklists, friendly anecdotes, witty quotations, answers to frequently-asked questions—and over 400 detailed illustrations.

Warren is available for personal consultations if you live in the Midwest region and she is currently working on her second fashion book that will have an even greater focus on the young adult audience. If you want to fill out a survey for her latest project there are more details on her site.

It’s So You! is so cool!

Mark Your Calendar: March 24

Fashion Forum friends... Get ready because we have a great line-up of speakers for the rest of the Spring!!!

Our next speaker will be Patria Lincoln. Patria is a sophomore at FIT and a designer. She specializes in creating coats and intimate apparel and has sold her designs at the Chicago boutique "All About Me". Her designs have been showcased at the Baruch College Fashion Show and for several years Patria has worked as a volunteer and assistant coordinator with Gregory Moore for such labels as John Bartlett, Sass, and Bide at Olympus Fashion Week
Before beginning to design her own lines, Patria was a design intern at SML Sport, a private label knitwear company.

She will walk us through the design process: illustrating how she takes an idea and turns it into reality.

Mark your calendar for Saturday, March 24!!! As usual the event will take place at Alderton House from 3-5 pm. Refreshments will be served.

Alderton House is located at 117 E. 70th St (b/t Park and Lexington avenues). Via subway it can be reached by taking the 6 train to 68th St, walking up two blocks and turning left onto 70th St.

What you missed this Feb...

If you didn’t make it to our February event you missed a great time. Our fashion panel of young women shared with our group the ins and outs of their professional work, the backgrounds that got them there and their aspirations for the future.

Isa told us about working for the New York City ballet repairing tutus and corsettes for the performers and how that led her to designing hats for Rod Kennan, a high-end hat designer. The hats Isa and the rest of Kennan’s team design are sold at Barney’s in New York and have been exclusively made for Justin Timberlake and Snoop Dogg, to name a few. Kennan was kind enough to lend Isa several hats from their latest collection for us to look at and try on.

Madeleine talked about getting a job at Opening Ceremony, a SoHo boutique, and how she has worked her way up since starting there to designing several of the pieces that are sold there. She said the most rewarding part of her job is when she is ringing up a customer who is happily purchasing one of the garments she has made.

Trish works at one of New York’s Anthropologie locations designing the window and inner store displays. She walked us through the process of getting the position from sending her portfolio, conducting phone interviews and making a box with only $10 worth of supplies. Now she has the task of creating interesting and eye catching displays on a tight budget and recycling as much as possible.

The passion and enthusiasm Isa, Madeleine and Trish have for their professions inspired many of the events attendees. Many walked away determined to work harder in school, stretch their creative comfort zones and shoot for internships in the companies our speakers work at.