SMoCA Nights, my last fashion show in Phoenix!

The Herberger Theater show is tonight, and after that comes SMoCA!!! It will be my last fashion show in Phoenix before I get ready to move to NYC, so don't miss it! It may be your last chance to actually see me before I leave, cause I'm going to be crazy busy packing and cleaning after that. I don't think I could possibly word this better, so here's the scoop, as per the press release:

WHAT:

Summer SMoCA Nights

To Celebrate the Opening of the exhibition Branded and On Display

WHERE:

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art [SMoCA]

7374 East Second Street

Downtown Scottsdale

WHEN:

June 19, Thursday

9:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. midnight

ADVANCE TICKETS:

$15 ($10 for members)

$45 VIP runway seats
480-994-ARTS (2787)

SUMMER FASHION, MUSIC & CUTTING-EDGE VALLEY CULTURE @ SUMMER SMoCA NIGHTS

(Scottsdale, AZ) The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art [SMoCA] presents the 2008 Summer SMoCA Nights on Thursday, June 19, from 9:00 p.m. to midnight. SMoCA Nights is the exclusive tri-annual nightlife event where the Museum is transformed into the ultimate art party, complete with artists, fashion, DJs, bands and performers, for an eclectic evening of cutting-edge culture. This summer event launches the premiere of SMoCA's new exhibition Branded and On Display. To accompany this opening, SMoCA is tipping its hat to all things that revolve around how culture defines itself with marketing and advertising and the consumerism that colors our lives and leisure time. The Museum encourages those in attendance to embrace our media-infused world by flaunting favorite brands and logos during the event. The evening's fashion show will feature Phoenix-based designers Jes Switaj and Devani Weaver with wearable art by artist Bobby Castaneda and dynamic hair and make-up styling by Dolce Salon & DoCo Damask.

Among the event's highlights will be a live outdoor performance by Valley favorites, Peachcake-the band that takes costumed antics on the stage and happy indie-pop revelry to the next level. Peachcake will be followed by a mesmerizing fire dance by Mali, a former Cirque du Soleil performer and new transplant to the city, straight from Spain. Inside the Museum, DJ d'strick will hone his fusion of organic and tech elements to get the crowd charged up for the fashion show. d'strick, best known for spinning groovy blends of deep and funky house, will synthesize an eclectic mix to best communicate the pulse of the runway fashion show.

Guests can mingle and cool off in SMoCA's galleries while glimpsing into their future with expert tarot readings by the famed clairvoyant, OZMA and seeing all three new summer exhibitions: Branded and On Display, Pae White: "Lisa, Bright & Dark," and Pushing Paint Around: selections from the permanent collection. *[Lisa, Bright and Dark, a novel by John Neufeld, 1969 ©SG Phillips.]

As always, SMoCA Nights features free appetizers, a cash bar, prizes and other unexpected guests and happenings. Visitors can catch a satirical feature on consumerism and brand choices by Portland's own Modern Conditions of Production (MCOP), on view in the Museum lobby, along with other surprise artist appearances. And, for all those who love to shop, the event will also boast one-of-a-kind products in the Museum Store specially created by the evening's guest fashion designers and artists including silk-screened ties, bags and hand-painted, graffiti-inspired shoes.

Advance tickets are highly recommended to avoid long lines and a sold-out event: $10 members; $15 nonmembers. ($45 for VIP runway seating) Call 480-994-ARTS (2787).

SMoCA's LOCATION

The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art [SMoCA] is located at 7374 East Second Street in downtown Scottsdale, four blocks south of Indian School Road and just east of Scottsdale Road. Free parking is available in the public parking garage located to the west of Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and directly behind Los Olivos restaurant on Wells Fargo Avenue. Additional free parking is available at the Old Town Parking Corral at East Second Street and Brown Avenue and at the library parking garage located on Drinkwater Boulevard at East Second Street.

If you're still left with any questions after all that, just contact me! Hope to see you there. Feel free to bring flowers, chocolates, etc. ;-)

Herberger Theater Second Act Fashion Show

This is the next big event that I have coming up in my future! I already mentioned a little bit about the show and the other designers involved. Lots more information about the event can be found here. Also see the flyer below. (Double click it for a larger image you can actually read). The event Tuesday June 10th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Tickets are $10, $5 if you have a student ID, and you can see more info about purchasing them through that link. There will be food, music, art and also lots of goodies for sale! I even believe that we'll be able to sell a lot of the fashions and accessories we made for the show, so now is a good time to snag a one-of-a-kind Jes Switaj original at a great price! You know you want one to call your very own.

Starting to organize the pieces and color scheme of what I'll be showing at the Herberger on June 10th

If you're in Phoenix, definitely pencil this in to your calendar. If you know someone in Phoenix, be sure to pass this info along to them. If you can't make it out, don't fret. My next show will be June 19th at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. More info about that one really soon!

One Down, Two to Go

The 5th Annual Frock n Roll for charity event was this past Saturday night, and it was a big success! The location was changed at the last minute and although the venue was smaller than originally intended, I think it was actually better than the previous year at Alice Cooperstown.

Designers included myself, Angela Johnson, Jennyvi Dizon, Paul Hazlett, Sommer Christine and Rhonda Zayas. Here are a few photos of some of the pieces I showed.

Modeled by Amparo Elizabeth. Photo by Nick Moore

Photo by Nick Moore

There was also at least one professional photographer at the event, Christopher Cashak, who attends ALL of the local fashion events. He hasn't put photos up on his site yet from this show, but as soon as he does I'll post some here and post a link to the rest as well.

Red duchesse silk satin corset and matching skirt. Can you tell that corset works?!
Photo by Christine Johnson for azcentral.com Modeled by Bella.

So, now that Frock n Roll is over it's time to start thinking about the NEXT show! This will be the Second Act Fashion Show at the Herberger Theater on June 10th. I still don't know very much about the show at all, but some of the other designers who I know are participating are Angela Johnson, Arte Puro, Debra Davenport and Olga Ptashnyuk. My collection for this show is going to be pretty much entirely new things, or things that haven't been show before. It's going to be very dressy, but not TOO formal, with the color scheme being mostly brown, cream, orange and maybe a little deep red. Most photos of that to come as soon as I get some sewing done. Have to go design some new things now!

Frock 'n Roll Location Change!

Anyone in Phoenix who is planning on attending this year's Frock 'n Roll event or who has already purchased a ticket should know that the event is changing location! Currently Alice Cooperstown is having some big fight with the city and is not allowed to have any live music. That's about all I know. So, Frock 'n Roll 2008 will now be held at Club Mardi Gras in south Scottsdale. The address is 8040 East McDowell road and you can click HERE to view a map of the location.

A piece I hope to have ready in time for this show!
Dupioni silk, the top will have lots more zigzags.

Tickets will be available at the door for $12, and if you already purchased and printed tickets from the internet, those of course will still be valid. Keep an eye on the Frock 'n Roll website for more and probably better information than I'll have about the event, since I'm pretty much in the dark right now. Feel free to email me if you have any questions you think I can answer. Hope to see you there!!!

UPDATE!!!
Just got a digital flyer for this with more info. Here it is:

I'm graduating!!!

Tonight was my last night of class! Hooray! It's been a long time coming, and I am SO glad to be done, at least for the time being. Who knows if I'll be attending school again in the distant future. I can't even remember how long ago I began my college education. I got an associates in general studies from another community college several years ago, and started working on my AAS in Fashion Design at Phoenix College probably about 3 years ago. This is the first time in about a year and a half that I've even had a class. It was the only one I had left to take before I graduated, it was required and it hadn't been offered for 3 semesters. So I was just waiting and waiting and assistant teaching and waiting some more.

The class I just finished was Computer Assisted Design. It focused on using PhotoShop (a little) and Illustrator (mostly) to create fashion designs. I had a little bit of experience using Illustrator from my previous job at Antigua, but I hadn't used it in a while. I did actually learn a LOT from this class and I'm glad I took it at the end of my school career rather than the beginning because I probably would have forgotten it by now. Hopefully I'll actually be able to use it in a job in the near future so I get more practice and experience.

One of the designs I created in class

Graduation is tomorrow night, but I'm not walking or even going at all. It's HOT out and I am perfectly fine to just have them send me my diploma in the mail. Besides, I live literally across the street from the school and I can see the fireworks from there. That's the only fun part. So, that's all really. Time for me to go kick back and relax before I dive into a full day of work tomorrow and all weekend. It never REALLY ends, does it?

Fabric is My Heroin

I could shop for fabric 24 hours a day, just about every day. It is definitely an addiction. In fact, I think I nearly OD'd on fabric this week. My mom was just in town visiting and she's into quilting, so we hit up a bunch of fabric shops as well as a few awesome estate sales and rounded up quite a pile of lovely material.

A big pile of gorgeous dupioni silk! The brown, yellow and lilac purple came from a discount upholstery shop and were only $3 a yard!!! I bought whatever they had left. The bluish-purple iridescent piece on the far right my mom bought for me when she was in NYC recently.


This whole entire group only cost $1! I got all five of these pieces at the same estate sale. From left to right: 1. A LARGE piece of white faux fur. Not sure what I'll do with it, but for 20¢ I couldn't just leave it there! 2. A piece of nice red cotton, I'll use it to line some tote bags I'm working on. 3. An absolutely GORGEOUS piece of very old silk satin. It's pale steel blue in color and feels amazing! Still has a tiny tag on it with writing in Japanese, I'm guessing from when it was purchased originally. 4. An awesome black and white poly knit. Something fun waiting to happen, I know it! 5. Several yards of bright pink corduroy. Good for bags and an obvious addition to my massive corduroy collection.


All the above pieces came from a local discount fabric shop. They sell a lot of factory ends and older pieces. From left: 1. Two yards of a nice fuschia corduroy. 2. A funky paisley print for tote bags. 3. A fantastic floral print which I'll also use for making bags. 4. Really fun blue and brown floral, I've already started making a tote out of this and it should be ready and listed in my Etsy shop tomorrow! 5. Super cute ladybug print cotton. I'm going to make my boyfriend some boxers out of this. I LOVE getting cute prints and making him shorts.


Some really nice fabrics I can't wait to make some clothes with! These all came from the same discount place as the pieces above. From left: 1 & 2 - I don't usually use polyester, but these prints were so gorgeous, the price was right and the fabric so soft! I'm going to make up a basic halter pattern and then bust out a bunch of cute dresses to be for sale just in time for summer! 3. Beautiful maroon herringbone wool blend. If you look really really close the threads are 4 or 5 different colors of purple and red. It's awesome! I'm going to make some pants with this, someday... 4. Nice black and white wool tweed with little rainbow specs. It'll make a great coat. 5. I thought this one was wool when I bought it, and it was in the wool section at the store, but when I got it home and did a burn test it melted and dripped all over my finger. It STILL hurts. I'm guessing it's acrylic. It's still really nice looking and I'm thinking of using it for a cute matching skirt and jacket combo.


This last piece is my favorite one I got all week! It's a to-die-for silk chiffon, mostly black an printed as a repeat panel with the NYC skyline, including the WTC, so this one is obviously at least a few years old. I got everything that was left, which was about 8 yards, and it was only $2.99 a yard. CRAZY deal! They definitely didn't know what they had, which is usually the advantage at this place. Most of the people working there couldn't tell poly from silk with their eyes open. Anyway, I'm going to use it to make a floor length gown with the design as a border along the bottom and the rest of the dress in black, so you can only really see the image if you look close or if the dress is spread out.

I got one more piece of silk this week, a slate blue dupioni, and I haven't actually seen it since I got it home. I'm wondering if my mom accidentally took it home with her. No time to wonder! I need to dive right in and start turning all this fabric into its intended forms. Partially to sell some of the things I create and make back all the money we spent, but mostly so I can make room for more fabric!!! I'm off to the sewing machine!

Construction Zone!

My sewing room always looks like a tornado just rolled through, I find it difficult to allot time for designing AND cleaning. Of course making new clothing comes first! Cleaning can wait til it's absolutely necessary. Anyway, right now it no exception. Half finished garments, pattern pieces, thread, fabric and notions are EVERYWHERE! But at least it's a fun and constructive mess.

Part of my sewing room and its lovely mess

Here's a little bit of what I've been up to since I got back from Chicago. I started this black and white plaid dupioni silk dress yesterday. I've had this fabric for nearly as long as I have been designing. It's just been sitting around waiting and waiting for the right pattern to come its way, and I think I have finally found the thing that it was meant to be used for. Good thing I have about 10 more yards just in case! Yesterday I draped the pattern for the top and made a quick fit sample. Today I sewed all the body fabric together. Right now I'm working on cutting out and piecing the lining together. It will be lined with black silk satin. Tomorrow I need to get a zipper for it and sew in the lining and then voila, a cute dress ready in 3 days! I'm thinking of using a brightly colored petticoat underneath it and then making some kind of sash belt in the same color for contrast. Any color suggestions? I'm leaning towards daffodil yellow, mostly because I already have a petticoat and silk fabric in that color. That petticoat is on underneath it in the second photo and I definitely like the way it helps the dress poof.

On the left is a photo from earlier today of just the bodice sewn and being checked for fit.
On the right the dress is almost complete! Just needs lining and a zipper. Also, it will have
tiny black spaghetti straps when it's finished.

I actually started making this dress with a completely different fabric in mind. I can't afford to buy that fabric just yet, unless a mysterious large amount of money suddenly falls from the sky and lands in my paypal account, so I decided to make a test dress. The plaid one is actually a little different style-wise in the skirt than the forthcoming dress will be. Also, the 2nd dress will have a super cute cropped jacket with petal sleeves. I'm still working out the pattern right now cause it's going have some crazy details and style lines. It'll be lined with and have accent pieces of the fabric the dress will be made from. Here's a little illustration I've made of the jacket:

Soon-to-be real cropped jacket, my original design. The body will be silk noile
and the lining and accents will be printed silk charmeuse. Yummy!

Both of these outfits and many more will be shown at Frock n Roll, a fashion show featuring local designers being held on May 17th. See my past post about the event here.

So, I guess it's time to get back to work! Will post more photos and fun details when this dress is done and I start working on the jacket!