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-
