Art Begins and Inspiration

As of tomorrow I will FINALLY begin an artistic project at CSM. I've felt so bored with my courses until now. I haven't been able to get excited by any of our projects. But now we finally get to begin our first fashion oriented project!

For the next three days we will be doing life drawing from a model(my favorite!) to bring about ideas that will eventually become our first printed design on fabric. And in two weeks, we begin our all white garment design project that results in a fashion show at the end of term. WOOT!

I went out and bought some art supplies just now (I opted for supplies instead of food today. Funny that I am finally in a position where I need to make that decision.) Yesterday I researched some incredible books in our library that have helped me get an idea of the sorts of designs I like on fabric. I also visited some vintage shops over the weekend in an attempt to to train my eye to ONLY look at prints.

I rarely wear prints or patterns so it's been an interesting switch in my aesthetic being in the Fashion and Print program. I LOVE prints, but I've never felt comfortable wearing them... until now. I just made the decision to focus on prints and figure out what I like. So with all this new visual information in my head, I plan to go to class tomorrow and explore all sorts of ideas on paper.

My Amazon.com wishlist now consists of a waffle iron, a frying pan, and these fantastic fashion and print books that inspire me. Take a look if you have any interest in print or fashion design:

Structure and Surface: Contemporary Japanese Textile Design- I LOVE this book. It gave me so many ideas.
Fashioning Fabrics- Again, very cool ideas.
Pattern- Tricial Guild's style is one facet of pattern that I really enjoy- graphic, colorful, ridiculously drag queeny, and ostentacious.
Print in Fashion- I really want this book because it gave me a nice sort of introduction to the idea of pattern in fashion. Which seems silly, but it eased me into the idea.
Adorned in Dreams- I really want to read this book on Fashion Theory. I think the role of fashion in a modern world is fascinating. I'm roughing out an essay on the topic to share with you all sometime soon.

Go forth, look at pretty books and be inspired like I was!