Freelance job!

I interviewed for a freelance job a few weeks back and came back for a second interview and I was hired (yay!!). I am looking forward to this because the fashion show is taking so much out of me. I am down to the wire and I am tired and cranky and overwhelmed. I don't have toooo much left to do, but it is still stressful with the critic show less than two weeks away. Plus I also have to function (somewhat) normally. I wish this was just all done or someone would finish this for me! I'm so tired....
Enough complaining though. I am excited for this job because at the very least I will have some money coming in while I am looking for a fulltime position and if it takes a while, I will have this to fall back on.
I also "interviewed" for another position. I put that in quotations because every year the Liz Claiborne group comes to the school to interview us only they didn't tell us about the fact that it was for an INTERNSHIP. Everyone has already done one or more internships. We want to make money when we graduate, not schlep around for some corperate junkie. And the woman flipped through my portfolio like there was a cookie in the back she just couldn't wait to get to.

Anyways I am going to get back to work...

Leaving me love

I know I have been slacking, but I have been way busy and today I woke up sick. So...I did want to say that if you do read the blog, leave me a comment...it's nice to hear from you! Ok.

Also- why don't we have the cure for the flu yet??? It really sucks.


And I did have a job interview and I will post about that when I am feeling bettah.



Love
Jess

Back

Its been a while since my last post. I just came back from almost a week in Cape Cod, relaxing, doing work and all that stuff. I decided I needed to take a much needed break from the city and my surroundings to refresh and restore. But I had to come back to reality today (in snow too!). I actually have added a fun project to my portfolio and I put it in the middle of the portfolio to keep people interested. I started to write down all the companies that I would be interested in working for when I graduate. I am planning to basically cold call them and speak to them about jobs. The worst thing they can do is say no. And there are plenty of companies out there and I am sure I will find the right one for me (this is me being positive by the way). Ok. More about other things than being a grown up...
One of my dirty little pleasures is celeb gossip. So I am feeling like writing about that since I just read my Us Magazine. Britney shaved her head, went to rehab and now has less hair and makeup on than KFed. Oscars were last night. Long and boring. Some nice gowns, some beautiful gowns, and some straight up fugly (Kirsten Dunst anyone?). I watched the red carpet thing on E! and I cannot stand Ryan Seacrest. He is not funny or good looking and seems to make the stars feel awkward when they talk to him. They all look around him and don't laugh and some just end up walking away which is funny. And Angie and Brad weren't there because they are buying another kid. I care. Really. I do. I am just holding it in my happy place.
So thats all I got for now. Baci!

Fashion Week

I just got back from the tents in Bryant Park. This was my first time to attend and since it is the last time the tents will be up in Bryant Park, I am so happy to have been. I went to the Lacoste show and Chris Han. Lacoste was amazing. It was in the main tent and it was huge. Julianne Moore, Kevin Connelly, one of the queer eye people, and some R&B girl was there. I had seats so I also got a really cute umbrella that were for all the attendees. The runway was covered in leaves and there was fantastic music on. All the garments were beautiful and very well made as well as the models. My favorite model in existence was modeling so my heart just about stopped when I saw her walk out. Gemma Ward is amazing! And georgeous. Daria Werbowy and Caroline Weissburg (spelling?) were also working the runway. Shows are only fifteen minutes long but they are so exciting! I feel so inspired and ready to go get myself in those tents as a designer now. When I was in Italy I saw a menswear fashion show which was also really fun.
Also, I finalized my resume and it finally looks ready to go out. I just started a new project for my portfolio which is witty and fun. It really emulates my personality and my humor without being tacky or boring.
The fittings are on Monday and I am all done with my samples so I am ready to fit and start making the garments out of the actual fabrics. Once the fittings are complete, I can begin to correct the patterns and then finalize the patterns. After I do that I can start cutting out the fabrics. I am working with many seams and layers as well as lace which will be interesting. I am thinking about where I want to go after school. Do I want to stay in NY or go to LA or Miami? How will I know where and when? What are the things that will influence my decision? Obviously I want to find a place that I will be happy with and also be able to make enough money to pay rent and eat food and feed my cats, but what else will make the decision for me? Will it be the people at the company, the location, or something else? I am ready to find out.

Hi!

Hi. My name is Jessica and I am a senior at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. I am 21, originally from Maine, a fashion major, and I want to design lingerie and loungewear. I am lucky enough to live in an apartment near campus so I can do a lot of my studio work at home. I have five garments that I am creating for the Pratt Fashion Show in May.

Since I have come to Pratt, I have had a lot of fun experiences. I have made some great friends and had some amazing times and also I went on the first ever Fashion in Europe trip last January where I, along with 14 others traveled to Paris, Florence, and Milan to see clothing designs, textiles, production, and much much more. And of course there was a lot of shopping involved. One interesting thing is that I went back to France for an internship with a lace design company where I designed lace. It was in the north of France and it was over the summer. I was there for my 21st birthday and it was amazing. I would love to go back and work in France. I have also had two other internships, one during my sophmore year with Norma Kamali as her assistant and another that I completed at the end of fall semester with a textile company.

So now I just have my show to worry about as well as getting a job. My resume and portfolio are ready and I guess I should start putting them out there but I don't know if it is too soon. Something to figure out I guess.

The way that the fashion show works is that at the beginning of fall semester senior year, we select which category of design we would like to show. There is sportswear, childrenswear, costume, menswear, and eveningwear which is what I am doing. So we all make four garments that go together as a mini-collection. Then, our fifth garment is an eveningwear piece, or if you are doing eveningwear (me) then you do bridal (yes, me). So we come up with a lot of different designs, we draw them and narrow them down and eventually we work with a critic that helps us select what we will be designing. We have to know what colors and fabrics and trims we want to use as well as understanding the silhouettes, details, and design concepts we want to show through. THEN we start to make the garments, but not in the actual fabric. We use muslin (a basic fabric) to drape and make our samples/prototypes. At the end of fall semester, we are finished with 4 out of 5 of the samples. When we come back from a month of sleeping and presents and most likely drinking, we begin finish our last sample and then there are the fittings with the models. That is coming up. So this weekend I need to finish my bridal gown sample which I am almost done with.

SO this was a long first post but this should give you an idea of what I am doing and what I will write about later.

-Jess-