It feels so odd looking at fashions for next fall when we are still in the throes of winter; in fact, our snowiest month here in Colorado (which is March) hasn't even hit yet. Stores and boutiques are stocking flouncy skirts, ruffled tanks, and brightly patterned bikinis; yet the fashion world is currently celebrating and showcasing the dark, layered, heavy trends for next fall.
And I feel like I have a raging hangover from trying to take it all in at once.
Jesus christ, what season is it?!!! If you see me wandering around sometime in the next few weeks in this getup with a bikini top layered over it, Wayfarers perched precariously on my face, and gladiator sandals instead of boots....well, you will know exactly what happened:
I'm inventing a new season yay! Fallring? Faringtime? Rachel Zoe if you read this call me!
Grieve for me, girls. I'm srsly confused. My brain has sucked it all in and barfed it back out in a mishmash of pretty peaches and preposterous plaids. I click on the links posted at nymag.com to see the runway shows and the brief sting of panic washes over me until I realize, oh yeah- these are fall runway shows. Not spring. No need to fear, Chloe; no need to be startled. Black isn't going to be the big trend this summer. These are fall runway shows.Faaaall.
And I perhaps feel a bit sorry for those in the fashion industry. Is there ever a moment to genuinely enjoy what they've done?
Probably not. But I don't feel that sorry for them, because they obviously get to wear awesome clothes (of their own awesome design) all the time. Which would be awesomely awesome. I'd love to wear awesome clothes of my own awesome design, but I lack those certain design skills needed to be anyone awesome in the Fashion Biz.
So! If I had to design and make my own clothes, I'd probably be running around wrapped in duct tape and toilet paper, adorned in Tulip puff paints with rhinestones stuck on with a glue gun. And it might be bananas, but probably in a way I wasn't exactly going for.
Good thing I have Nanette Lepore to make awesome clothes instead. She was up today:
Ms. Lepore can do no wrong in my eyes. I love her more than someone should be allowed to love a fashion designer they're obsessively stalking. I just want to put her in my pocket, okay? There's nothing wrong with wanting to put itsy bitsy fashion designers into your pocket. Or wanting to kidnap her and hold her against her will in your closet so she can only design clothes for YOU. Or wanting to also get a little bit of the hotness that is Marc Jacobs in on the action.
Beavis and Butthead laughing starts...now. Uhhh heh heh.
What's been your favorite from NY Fashion Week so far? The worst?
Excuse the self-promotion plug, but I wanted to let those who are interested know that my e-class website is up! More details are located there, but I will say that it will run for four weeks, from August 1st to August 27th. Hope to see you there!
Related Site - title="mens clothing online, cheap womens clothes, fashion tops">Clothes Shops -How Buy Cheap clothes Online
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Title: Color Me Rockstar!
Me and the Friends:) I don't own any of this music
Although I love putting together trios of beads every months for Bead Color Triads, I dont often have the time to put them to good use. Sometimes the beads I use to make a palette come together are reserved for something else - an idea for a project that may or may not be completed one distant day.
This month, I decided it was time show how a recent bead palette really would look in a finished piece. Luckily, Octobers subject was peacock feathers, and the bead choices were awesome.
I mixed together two of the palettes, starting with some brown grooved rectangles, Capri blue crystals, and matte black magatamas. I added golden amber seed beads with a beautiful warm glow, and light aqua fire polish rounds to add a little bulk.
These groovy rectangles have been waiting around a long time for me to get a little inspiration. I finally decided it was time to just use them, as is, and stop worrying about whether or not a better idea might suddenly jump out of the shadows. I strung them with a few crystals, then used my favorite quick stitch - reverse daisy chain - to make some straps and voila! A new necklace with lots of sparkle is done.
If youre trying to tackle an overflowing bead stash, youve just got to jump in and do it. What kinds of beads are you holding onto for lack of inspiration?
Related Site - title="mens clothing online, cheap womens clothes, fashion tops">Clothes Shops -How Buy Cheap clothes Online
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Title: Necklace
A short film in 2005, and the screenplay was recomposed from Necklace of Maupassant.
Title: DSK Swarovski Necklace Giveaway
http://www.twitter.com/bubzbeauty http://www.bubzbeauty.com Join the NEW Bubzbeauty Facebook fanpage! I connect with you guys one-to-one here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bubzbeauty-Official/181811348879 I'm all settled in HK guys. Thank you for the birthday/supportive messages. Mwah! I made this video a week ago. Was waiting to upload this! Very happy and excited to announce this DSK giveaway. Here's something I can give you back to wear close to your heart to show my gratitude. Enter the draw for the chance to win one of the three necklaces I'm giving away. Enter for yourself, a friend, girlfriend or family. Draw starts today 10th Dec till 18th December Midnight. All you need to enter is to post a comment under this video "Please enter me into this draw". You got nothing to lose, just enter and you might be a winner ^_^. Please don't be thanking me. Thank Steph for sending me these gorgeous necklaces. Big thanks and shout out to Steph once again for being so sweet and generous. She is awesome like my subbies. DSK Jewelry are currently transitioning to a new website but you can check out: http://www.dskjewelry.blogspot.com for now ^_^ Now that I'm in HK, I'll be picking up things here and there to give away each month. I've already picked up some things. Look forward to my next give away. Just my way of giving something back to you guys... Have a wonderful week everyone Much love, Bubz xx Have to wake up early to view material samples for my clothing range. Night night guys. Hope to catch up with you all soon ^_^ x
This week's blogging prompt is suppose to be about how we fell out of love with a particular technique. My problem is that I don't know that I have a specific technique that I've done over and over, then got tired of and never did again. So, with that in mind, I thought I'd turn this topic around a bit and talk about falling out of love with an idea, and share some lessons learned with something that didn't work for me: consignment.
What is consignment? For artisans, it's the act of placing your work in a retail store for that store to sell. You retain ownership of your work until it's sold, and the store will take a percentage of the sale (or mark-up/adjust the selling price to include their cut). It's different than wholesaling, because the store is not purchasing your work outright; instead, you are essentially renting space. The pros to consignment is that your work is being displayed in a new venue in front of a (potentially) new audience, an audience that gets to see and hold your work (a definite benefit over online shopping). The downside to consignment is your work may not sell, and if it does, you may have to wait for payment.
My first and only experience with consignment can be classified under "not good", and it has made me gun-shy. On the surface, it was a dream offer; the shop catered to local handmade goods of all types. The reality well, maybe the reality wasn't too far off from the dream, but I can honestly say I was too new and inexperienced. The offer came before I even established my business, and I felt pushed into having a meeting with the shop owner. So I went, even knowing this was happening too fast, and it was a truly awkward, horrible, dent-to-the-ego experience. The silver lining about it all is that I did learn a few things. Here's what I walked away with:
Lesson 1: Don't rush; it's okay to stay small for as long as possible. It's okay to take things slow, to build your stock up, to find your own personal voice, and to work on just having a business and building a customer base before branching out to other selling avenues.
Lesson 2: Experience and research are good. Take time to figure out your style, your branding, your prices, and your target audience. Take time to get your business set up, including legal and tax information. And take some time to visit stores ahead of time to see if your work would be a good match before you make an approach.
Lesson 3: Prepare, prepare, prepare. Be as prepared before meeting with the owner or manager as you can. Ask questions from fellow artist friends about what to expect when consigning, and do some research online. Go to the meeting with questions of your own, and have any paperwork ready.
Lesson 4: Trust your instincts. I was wildly uncomfortable through this whole experience, but I didn't trust my gut. To compound my anxiety, the attitude of the manager was very abrasive, very demanding, and it was a bit of a shock for my first experience. Was it her being tough or me being so green? I don't know, but now that I've had some experience selling, I feel like I'd be in a better position to approach consignment should that opportunity present itself again.
With all this being said, I also wanted to point out that just because my experience was a rough one doesn't mean other people have had a hard time consigning. My friend and fellow designer Vicki Potter from Orion Designs has been consigning for 10 years, and I asked her to share some tips for success.
Vicki's tips:
1. Make an appointment at the store with someone who is in a position to make a decision regarding whether or not they want to carry your products. This may seem obvious, but I highly recommend not doing cold calls. Without an appointment, you never know who will be on duty. It may be a sales clerk with no authority and you will have wasted your time. Some may ask you to leave samples. Because of the price points of my products and the one-of-a-kind nature of them, I will never do this and recommend against it.
2. Once the store owner has agreed to carry your product, there are some basic questions you need answers to. Who is responsible for lost inventory? In my experience, that is always the store. What percentage of your sales will the store keep? This can range from 30% - 50%. How often will they pay you? Most places will pay by check after the 15th of the following month. This seems to be pretty standard.
3. You can gather all of the items you plan to leave with the store and take a few pictures of the collection. This may come in handy not only to help identify missing items later, but if someone wants a pair of earrings to match a certain necklace, that photo will save you a trip to the store.
4. Now that youve left your product (you may want to start out with a small amount) at the store, create a file (I use a spreadsheet) identifying all of the items you left there. Use as much detail as you are comfortable with. You can start this with a copy of the consignment sheet you left at the store. I use an old fashioned 2-part receipt book and I make sure to get a signature on both copies before I leave. This signifies that they agree with the list of items youve left for them.
5. Each month, when you get your consignment report and sales check (hopefully), check the math and update your master list (spreadsheet). If possible, visit the store at least once a month to see how your work is displayed and to do a rough inventory check. If something looks awry, dont be afraid to ask questions about whether or not something has sold. It may be missing or it may be caught in a timing situation your visit may occur before the latest checks are written. Remember, you still own this inventory and will keep much better track of it than any store ever will, even those with computerized inventory systems.
6. What to do when a piece (or more!) is missing? Being able to produce all of your paperwork will give you a great advantage. If you can prove that you actually left the piece at the store (your signed consignment sheet), that you have not been paid for it (your consignment report from the store) and that it is not physically in the store (visual inspection), you have a good case for them to pay you for that piece.
7. Some people may say that wholesaling your work is a preferable arrangement - I say, yes and no. With wholesale, you get paid either immediately or within 30 days, whether the items have sold or not. But, the payoff may be much less, as wholesale pricing is generally 50% of retail. Many small art galleries are not in a position to make purchases of artwork. I like having my work displayed in those types of stores and am willing to go through the trouble of consignment to do so. One other never discussed part of wholesaling is this what if your items dont sell? With consignment, you can always trade-out one piece for another. When your items are owned outright by the store, they may end up in a sale basket in the back corner after a few months. Ask me how I know. It doesnt feel very good.
BIG thanks to Vicki for taking the time to share her knowledge! If you're thinking about consignment, I hope this helps give a well-rounded view of what to expect. Not all experiences are as bad as mine was, and consignment can be a steady revenue source. If you currently consign with a shop or two, I'd love to hear your own stories!
Related Site - title="mens clothing online, cheap womens clothes, fashion tops">Clothes Shops -How Buy Cheap clothes Online
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Title: Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox - Falling SLowly Studio Version American Idol 9 Top 4
download link: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?o4ylumnm2tm Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox studio recording of falling slowly on American Idol 9 Top 4 Songs from the Movies Week ( full i tunes version) STUDIO VERSIONS: Lee DeWyze Kiss From A Rose Michael Lynche Will You Be There Lee DeWyze & Crystal Bowersox Falling Slowly Casey James Mrs. Robinson Crystal Bowersox Im Alright Casey James & Michael Lynche Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman credits to: http://jonwire.blogspot.com/
Title: UL Study Week, Time spent well
Busy College Court students on the way to study, Limerick. Song: John Lennon, slippin and sliddin................. Taken: 30/11/10