Home Fashions and the Housing Crisis

As many people know, there is a current deflation in the housing market. In the past few years, the United States experienced a housing boom. But like most trends, we are now experiencing the aftermath which causes many Americans to be unsure about the value of their homes. The United States was accustomed to house hold wealth but now spending is a bad habit that many Americans are trying to get rid of.

The US has been aware of the fact that a Financial Crisis was approaching so immediate panic was inevitable. Therefore consumers did not go to department stores or home fashion stores to decorate their homes. Instead consumers are only purchasing things that are needed. Stores like Wal mart are able to sell more home fashions items then a specialty store such as Pier One. This is due the need for Americans to tighten their financial belts in order to not dig a hole for themselves they cannot get out of.

Of course there was a point in time when the wealthy and middle class could afford to splurge a few extra dollars on cute accessories and furniture for their homes. Now many people fear the financial back lash and do not want to spend the money on their homes in the case that they are not worth much when they are sold. In all reality this is a very smart way to look at your financial situation but the home fashions industry has taken huge hits because of it and some are even going bankrupt.

Research found at this website;
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1210/p01s01-usgn.html

Guest Speaker

On November 14 2008, our CRS class has had the pleasure of hearing a guest speaker. Her name is Elyse Mullis and she works for a quilting company associated with Westminster Fibers. Her job is involved with creating the graphics associated with the sales of quilting fabrics. She is in charge of the website and advertisements used in this and other companies contracted with Westminster. She is a recent UNCG graduate who majored in English and minored in the Consumer Apparel and Retail Studies department. She got her start in the job she is in now by serving an internship at the Greensboro Coliseum where she got her start with graphic design. Elyse really emphasized the importance of where you serve internships and the networking you can develop.

The father of the roommate she had in college is the president of the company she now works for which really shows the importance of who you know. It was really helpful to hear from a recent graduate doing something that she really enjoys and listening to the interesting aspects of her current job. It was also very informative to hear about her experience on the CRS trip to New York and how she passed out her resume while she was at the market and she actually heard back from one of the companies that were in attendance.

One of my biggest fears about after graduating is the amount of competition involved in the apparel and textile industry. It was nice to hear about a different type of textile corporation that is interesting and does not seem too competitive and actually enjoyable. Elyse started from the very bottom and said that in the beginning of her work at the company she is with she had to make a lot of coffee and pretty much had to do many errands. It was the importance of proving herself and showing the potential that she had which got her the position she has now. Elyse was an excellent speaker and I feel I learned a lot from her presentation that and has made me very excited about working in the fashion or textile industry.

Sweatshops

When most people hear the term sweatshops, most likely the first things that come to mind involve horror, forced child labor, and law breaking. Many people tell of horrible things they have read or seen on you tube that involve terrible stories with sad endings. When asked if you are for or against sweatshops there is not much thought that goes into the reaction of "I am totally against sweatshops, they are bad." However, in my personal opinion, I am not 100% against sweatshops.

In American culture, we are taught that forced child labor is wrong and pristine working conditions are a requirement. the American way is the right way and no others suffice. But when comparing America to other countries, we all know that we are not nearly the same. The term sweatshop refers to a manufacturing workplace that treats its workers inhumanely, paying low wages, imposing harsh and unsafe working conditions, and demanding levels according to www-personal.umich.edu/~alandear/glossary/s.html. But what about the child who is the sole provider for an 8 person family? It is that child who needs the job to provide the resources for the family to survive. Granted, it is unfair but a 13 year old child does not have much of a choice when it comes to looking for a job that will allow their family to survive but it still their livelihood.

According to Andy Peterson's article, Third World Countries Need Sweatshops, "No person can claim that the increase in production that came with sweatshops didn't contribute to the evolution of [many] countries, because the change can be seen today: there are now minimum wages, age limits, and safety procedures that must be followed in the entire industrial world." His article goes onto support the idea that development in many third world countries is a long and difficult process that America has very close to achieved. In fact in some countries, sweatshops offer higher wages than in the domestic market.

There are unfortunately sweatshops that do not treat their workers with any kind of respect and sexually harass workers. But some of the alternatives in these countries for children involve child prostitution. I believe that sweatshops should not be completely wiped out but the supervision of humane conduct needs to become more important and practiced. It will never be possible to know for sure if all factories in the world are treating their employees right but with enough of a force and consequences the world can get closer to the elimination of these problems.

Below is a video of Penn and Teller and their defense of Sweatshops.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjsshqyAFh8

Milan Fashion Week

The typical Milan Fashion Week involves very inventive, unique, artsy and all around unwearable clothing. However, this year, that has changed. Milan Fashion Week actually included very wearable, understated clothing. One of the trends in Milan seemed to be transparency combined with different elements so that it was not overbearing or trashy. Instead it turned out to be very classy and sophisticated. An example of the transparency is located in the picture on the right which comes from the Roberto Cavalli Collection for Milan Fashion Week.

When dealing with art over usability, this year is very usable but there are still elements of sculptured art. According to the "Fashion Directory" some of the themes for Milan Fashion Week included bejewled, bouffant, one-shoulder, folds, fringe, gold and intricate just to name a few. The bouffant style seems to show some of the sculpture looking pieces. The picture on the left is taken from the "fashion directory" website and gives an example of the sculptured clothing.

Another interesting aspect of the Milan Fashion Week was the use of plus size clothing that emphasizes the usability aspect of the Milan Fashion Week. According to Fashion Director Hillary Alexander, "Milan Fashion Week opened yesterday with a delightful surprise for all those women bored with the seemingly endless parade of lean, lithe teenagers that tends to dominate the catwalks." Elena Miro's entire collection was designed for women of average size. On the right is a picture of one of her pieces. All in all I feel that Milan Fashion Week was extremely successful in that many of the pieces were extremely usable with a hint of sculpted art adding an extra unique element.

Inspiration

When most people hear that I am a fashion major, they assume that I want to work in the design field. However, I am focused more on the business. I have never thought of myself as someone with much of a creative mind but like all fashion majors, I would say that I definitely know what I like. I thought about maybe describing my ideal outfit in words but realized quickly that it was harder that it seemed. I would rather just illustrate and explain my inspirations and influences of my ideal pieces of apparel.

The color pallet that I would use would remind most of spring and summer. I am a huge fan of bright flashy colors such as hot pink, lime green and bright yellow. In my mind these colors relate to thoughts about the warm and fun months in the year and are related to the beach and vacation. As far as prints, I love the flowey type of flower prints such as Cherry Blossoms and Hibiscus however I do not think that many of my ideal clothes would involve prints.

I love bohemian flowey skirts that give a faint but classy silhouette of the waist and legs. I love these skirts because it does not matter what your body type is, they can look good on anyone. The most important aspect of fashion is to be comfortable and feel beautiful and confident. The clothing that I love incorporates those aspects. The pictures I have posted are different peices I would model an outfit after.: Ketsa.com and H&M.com.

One of my favorite stores is H&M and I feel that the styles that are portrayed there can be twisted and teased into something all your own. They have the basic pants and shirts but there are many elements that can be added to them to make them original. In conclusion, when I think of designing a piece of clothing, comfort and beauty would be my main components and inspirations. Also, multifaceted sillouettes that would look great on any woman would be very important as well.

Ethnic Influences on Apparel Design

Creating new and innovative lines of clothing is a very grueling and time consuming process. What colors to use, what styles to create, what trims to incorporate are just a few examples of what questions must be answered. There are many different factors that go into answering these questions. After all, it cannot be easy to create a completely new line of clothing without inspirations. In my personal opinion, ethnic influences play a very large role in the creation of different lines of clothing. Everything we wear and purchase in some way shape or form has been created with some sort of ethnic influence.

In this season of Project Runway, the designers went to Diane Von Furstenburg's company and they were able to pick fabrics out of her personal collection. In her collection of beautiful fabrics, there were tons of the ethnic inspired bright colored fabric. A lot of ethnic influences are most apparent in the fabrics. According to http://www.feministing.com/archives/010929.html, African inspired jungle prints are back. Kente cloth is a traditional fabric used to make clothing in Africa and has also had an influence on American apparel for many years.

Ethnic influences have always been a main part of apparel design. It can be seen in every runway show with examples such as head wraps to kimonos. Many of these ethnic influences can be seen in this years New York Fashion Week. According to Booth Moore a Times Fashion Critic in his article about New York Fashion Week, .."the American answer to the more streamlined looks coming out of Europe for fall." This is an example of European styles working their way into American Apparel. Ethnic Influences will always play a major role on Apparel Design because without them, Fashion would not be what it is today.

This picture is an example of ethnically influenced head wraps coming out of Diane Von Furstenburg's line...

New York Fashion Week

Tim Blanks says "Its an Election Year and most of the styles are based around optimism." In my opinion, that is the best way to sum up New York Fashion Week. Many of the designers took very splashy colors, prints and shapes and added them in their lines. For example, Poppy von Villeneuve defined Zac Posen's line as an "Easter egg hunt of color." Some designers stepped out of there norm and did somethings you wouldn't have expected. For example, Micheal Kors has never used polkadots before until this year, according to Tim Banks, style.com's correspondent. Many of the designers appeared to have fun with their collections.

So far, my favorite collection I have seen from New York Fashion Week is Diane von Furstenburg's. She always uses very interesting and different patterns and colors that add so much life to her collections. Most of her pieces have a natural flow to them that are very proprioceptive. Her collection is called Rock Goddess and she is trying to pull from a very inventive and free era. Her collection I feel was very original, different and beautiful and her clothes could be worn by women of all ages.

The most interesting collection from New York Fashion Week is hands down Calvin Klein. It was a totally different feel than typical Calvin Klein and it showcased styles that could be viewed almost as sculptures. Cathy Horyn from her New York Times Article New York Finale says it best: "There were moments of awkwardness but in the main the collection worked, and maybe was clearest and best in the finale dresses—strapless works of geometry in luscious shades of lavender, periwinkle and deep blue silk."