HOROSCOPE? Believe or not to believe is a personal choice, but in looking at various angles in showcasing this body of work, I chose to examine a designer’s creative intent around the topic of astrological signs, which have social, cultural, and technical implications. Fashion is about conviction, Petzke unfolds fashion as a deeper conversation on […]
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INDIVIDUALISM, INDEPENDENCE, please, NO LABELS! When you are of mixed culture, how do you define and identify yourself without the input of society?
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ANSWER. A designer’s earnings are typically based on the number of years in the business, experience, expertise, region or location, size of the company, and job description. Because each person’s background and objectives are unique to them, we suggest to do your own research and due diligence. For example, compare salaries of local similar job […]
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The salary of a fashion designer depends on experience, responsibility, the company, and location. The easy answer, which is the annual mean wage from the May 2020 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], is $87,210. BLS breaks it down by annual mean wage by industry and number […]
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Question. What is costume design? Answer. Costume design is the creation of costumes for artists or characters of performance art – film, television, theatre, opera, music, and dance. It communicates the identity of a character to the audience and helps the actor communicate and “get into” the identity of the character. No other form of […]
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Question. I want to be in fashion. Can I get a broad sense of what career options there are? Answer. There are many paths to a career in fashion whether you work for a company or are independent. Broadly, there are 6 traditional commercially focused sectors of which are organizationally structured with numerous skilled jobs; […]
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If you look at fashion as a big corporate machine, well this is the report that comes out every year to forecast what the corporate industry will be up to in the coming year. The sixth report produced by BoF and McKinsey & Company’s The State of Fashion 2022 forecasts a year of recovery, challenge, and […]
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When we start to see how fashion serves a purpose in our culture and history, we begin to dismiss the frivolous segment of it and assimilate a more responsible and ecosystem-protective conduct. Fashion needs to be seen and not just a 20-minute catwalk or shopping spree. Museums are a cure for cultural curiosity. The old […]
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Curating the body, creating around bodies, is not a typical conversation or exploration in fashion.
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Must See Fashion Exhibit: San Francisco’s de Young Museum presents Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love, October 23, 2021 – April 24, 2022. First presented by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2014, the exhibition presents 80 fully accessorized ensembles, dating from 1984 to 1990, from the Philadelphia Museum archive of Kelly’s work.
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New Year’s Eve is always a time of reflection of the past year as we look forward to the new year. However, in today’s times, reflecting on the last two years seems more appropriate. The pandemic has changed each of us in some way on what (or whom) we value and appreciate, what we prioritize […]
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LIGHTS, CAMERA, COSTUMES! Welcome to the stage. That’s the feeling I got when I stepped into the exhibit Wearable Art/Costume Design. I didn’t know what to expect of an exhibit located at Chapel Theatre, a performance arts space near Portland, Oregon. Just like it sounds, Chapel Theatre, was a Chapel now converted as a performing […]
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My husband, Erik ReeL, just published a book; the book the art world has not been waiting for, maybe even dreading. And I’d say there are similar (or equally) strong messages for the fashion community that will ruffle some shirts.
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METAVERSE Curiosity? Watch out, what we know of Metaverse Fashion (MF) today may be considered fad or fringe, but looks compelling as a future business for the fashion industry? PLUS British Fashion Council launched the Fashion Awards experience on Roblox and the first ever Fashion Award category for Materverse Design. This new award recognizes a […]
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How often, when you are shopping or have purchased clothing or shoes, do you come across a chemical smell? Who’s keeping score? Green America. Green America published The “Toxic Textiles” report that tells what companies are doing to address the use of toxic chemicals in their supply chains. The report found that top U.S. clothing […]
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If the average life of clothes could be extended by just nine months it could reduce carbon, water and waste footprints by 20-30%. –Leigh Mapledoram , Program Area Manager, Wrap UK
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Fashion is an expansive narrative of the abstract because when we really look at it and talk about it, good or bad, it taps all segments of society, the net is wide. Recently, we ‘looked and talked about’ the political statement Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Tax the Rich” dress made at The Met Gala. Technological advances […]
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When it comes to composition, storytelling, or pure emotional grit, designer graduates are unhinged in their creativity. A “Look at EDGE” presents Neo.Fashion.’s showcase of emerging talent from Germany university graduates. They dream (and execute) the improbable, the impossible, feeding our desires of want, although more clothes we don’t need, the visual consumption of the […]
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When we start to see how fashion serves a purpose in our culture and history, we begin to dismiss the frivolous segment of it and assimilate a more responsible and protective conduct. Fashion needs to be seen and not just a 20-minute catwalk or shopping spree. Museums are a cure for cultural curiosity. The old […]
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Technology is built on data; innovation is built on imagination and cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence.
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It’s more brazen in brown and here’s why: The fashion industry is one of the largest polluters in the world. According to United Nations Climate Change, the industry contributes 10% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to its long supply chains and energy intensive production. Quantis reports that over 90% of emissions for apparel […]
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Exactly a year ago, within the first few months of the pandemic, I wrote a profound and comprehensive piece on what effect the COVID-19 virus would have on the fashion industry, Correction, Contraction, and Cessation. COVID-19 Calls to Action a Sustainable Fashion System. Here is what I had to say at that time and it still […]
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Over 90% of the emissions for apparel come from four activities: dyeing and finishing, fabric preparation, yarn preparation, and fiber production. – Quantis At the rate we consume fashion, we buy clothes to throw away! Today’s fashion industry is plagued by over-consumption, all driven by speed and disposability – fast fashion. In the last two […]
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Ignorance is a handicap. There is a shift towards buying more sustainable fashion, but on a small scale. Those that are educated, arm themselves with information on the industry’s negative impact on the environment and are asking the right questions, demanding transparency from brands. But there needs to be a massive campaign strategy to the […]
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Are development and production samples considered waste? Product development and pre-production samples are of multiple sets: a set for the designers, a set for a subgroup of the design team – the specification package team, a set for media photo shoots, and a set for the sales team. What should happen is at least one […]
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With over 2.5 million United States women veterans strong, women have been fighting and sacrificing for their country much longer than you may think — even going as far as disguising themselves as a man in order to serve.
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Ukraine’s BE SUSTAINABLE! Fashion Summit is in its third year of presenting an international event aimed at increasing the level of expertise of Ukrainian professionals working in the field of design and production of clothing. The Summit took place during Ukrainian Fashion Week No Season 2021 [UFWNS]. Did you notice “no season”? One of the […]
Read moreThese people give a shit about how things are made, and why they are made; and if things are going to be made, they need to be meaningful and beautiful.
Simon Doonan, Creative Ambassador, Barney’s New York; Selby, Todd, Fashionable Selby
A Study of Eight is a literary composition advancing the study of African Americans’ contribution to fashion history. Eight American stories cover people and events of cultural and historical significance occurring between 1880 and 1980 against the backdrop of the post Reconstruction era to beyond the Civil Rights Movement (CRM). These stories represent the voices […]
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Cotton, the most widely used textile fiber in the world, has a distinguishable, contentious history of oppressed, discriminatory labor practices in the United States. The use of cheap factory labor has its roots in an all too familiar story of oppression and segregation.
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In 1900 a transformation of Black identity and the world’s view of Blacks in America took center stage at the 1900’s World’s Fair in Paris. A perception of Blacks in America was manifested through photojournalism and visual data witnessed by the outside world looking in. Those in the Black community validated that perception by leveraging […]
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I love my clothes and I’m particular about whom I sew for. I’m an awful snob. I’m not interested in sewing for café society or for social climbers. I do not cater to Mary and Sue. I sew for the families of the social register. – Anne Lowe Gerri Major, Ebony Magazine, December 1966
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Mildred Blount became the first African American member of the Motion Pictures Costumers Union. Her hats are in the collections of California African American Museum and Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
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The Black community did not have model representation in mainstream fashion magazines until the tumultuous time of the 60’s when Donyale Luna, Naomi Ruth Sims, Beverly Johnson were the first Blacks to grace the covers. Black beauty had been denied to enter this space for so long, so finally, there was inclusion, respect, and recognition, […]
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From civil rights to the catwalk, Ebony Fashion Fair defied all odds and left an empowering effect on the African American community. The cumulative effect of years of presenting high fashion to African Americans, on African Americans, with African Americans taste-making in mind, enabled Mrs. Johnson to be a change-agent who harnessed the power of […]
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A passionate declaration from Bill Cunningham, American fashion photographer of the New York Times, who remembers that the Black fashion models at the Battle of Versailles fashion show brought together a cultural movement that not only marked a new era in fashion, but was a defining moment in racial equality.
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I don’t design clothes for the Queen; but for the people who wave at her as she goes by. – Willi Smith
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Gordon Parks accomplished many firsts, including the distinction of being the first black photographer at Vogue, Glamour, and Life magazines.
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