Documentaries!

Thanks to Netflix, I've been watching some documentaries over the past few weeks.  I thought I'd give a little review of each of them (because I know you care).  Three were fashion-related, the other two were not.


Lagerfeld Confidential


This movie is about getting to know Karl Lagerfeld -- his iPod collection, his crazy soundbites, his casual attitude about work and his prolificness.  It's less about fashion, and for me, it was less interesting than watching the Chanel documentary I mentioned in a previous post, which had more of an insight into the creative process.  However, he is definitely an interesting personality.  His blase attitude about fashion and life in general has always intrigued me.

Valentino: The Last Emperor

This movie follows Valentino around in the last few years before his eventual retirement.  The movie revolved around the big retrospective they did.  What I liked about the movie was that it prominently featured his longtime partner Giancarlo Giammetti, who has quietly worked behind the scenes to build Valentino's empire.  There wasn't much about the creative process, and Valentino comes across as a brat, but the moments that highlighted their relationship, like when Valentino thanked Giammetti in his acceptance speech for the Legion d'Honneur, were poignant.

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

I'm no Belieber, although I can't help liking the song "Baby," (which was written by the guy who produced Beyonce's Single Ladies, and Rihanna's Umbrella) but I wanted to watch this movie.  Firstly, Justin Bieber's fans are notoriously loyal and rabid, and I was intrigued by how this kid became a success through YouTube.  It was interesting to watch his development, starting as a toddler who sang on home videos, to recording covers on YouTube, to singing at local venues and festivals, to finally becoming one of the biggest pop stars today.  They showed him playing drums as an 8-year-old, and I have to admit, the kid is really talented.  I was also impressed by how much he loves his fans and doesn't want to let them down (like when he was sick and had to reschedule a couple of concerts), and how hard the kid works.  He is probably going to be around for a while.

Viktor & Rolf: Because We're Worth It!

I actually found this movie pretty boring, maybe because I'm not that big a fan of Viktor & Rolf to begin with, but probably also because they're not that interesting on camera.  The movie centers on the launch of their fragrance Flowerbomb, and follows them around as they work on getting things ready and doing other projects, like designing eyewear for a Japanese company.  Their work is avant garde so it was interesting to see them get some of their outfits ready for their show, but otherwise blah.

Good Hair

This movie was entertaining and informative.  Chris Rock is a good host, and it was interesting to see the lengths black women will go to to get "good" hair.  Rock also touches on issues of race and how black women view themselves through interviews of black celebrities.  The movie revolves around an annual hair competition and follows a few different stylists and their preparations for this crazy competition.

A night (or three) at the Roxbury

photo from the Roxbury Motel Facebook page

Today I returned from a little family vacation to the Catskills.  My parents didn't want to venture far, which is why we chose this as our destination.  After some browsing on TripAdvisor, I managed to find The Roxbury Motel, which is a recently completed motel in Roxbury, NY.  It got great reviews and when I looked at the site, I saw beautiful photos of immaculately clean and modern looking lodgings.  My mom and brother are a little high maintenance, so I knew this would be much better than the typically musty B&Bs you find in rural areas. The owners had a background in theatre set design, and each room/suite has its own wonderful and unique character.

We stayed in George's Spacepad, which had a Jetson's feel to it (photos from the Roxbury Motel website): 

Took a couple baths in this tub!

Our suite was at the left side on the balcony.

The view from our room.

The grass area you see in the picture above has a gazebo where we saw a couple get married, some lawn chairs and a black steel table with umbrella, and a fire pit which we gathered around with other guests at night.  There's also this nifty fire pit near the office, which was close to our suite:

The attention to detail was amazing, and the service was great too.  My mom, who is often difficult to please, was very happy, and we all had a great time there.  I had brought my Diana mini but managed to mess up loading the film, so was unable to take pictures with that camera, but tried to take some snaps with my iPhone.

When we got in, we spent the afternoon hiking.  I was given a map but somehow I must have taken a wrong turn because what was supposed to be a two-hour hike ended up being three.  They don't have cell towers where we were staying, so we were unable to use Google maps.  Additionally, we were there mid-week so there weren't a lot of people who were actually in the houses, which were very sparse in the area.  At one point, we finally got the courage to ask directions and managed to scare the guy, because there just aren't a lot of people around generally.

We checked out Mine Kill falls, which is near the motel.  Here is my dad, practicing kendo from one of the vistas.

We walked down to the bottom of the falls, where there was a little pool.  I dipped my feet in, and it felt very cool.

Then we went on a walking tour of the town of Roxbury, which looks like a ghost town.  There are a lot of abandoned storefronts and homes, and the woman who was our guide, the former town historian, said she hoped that the Roxbury motel was part of a rebirth.  The town was the birthplace of Jay Gould, and his daughter Helen helped develop it.  Apparently, she would walk up to people's houses and inform them they needed a new paint job, and would have a bucket of paint delivered the next day.

Tiffany stained glass windows inside Gould church.

Cool bridge in Kirkside park.

This might be why it went out of business.

It was a little weird being up there -- besides the fact that our cell phones didn't work and a lot of the town seemed deserted (we wondered how people made a living around there), there weren't a ton of businesses around, and most of the restaurants were only open at certain days and times, so we had to consult a chart in the binder in our room to figure out which places we could go to.

Our favorite part of the trip was the kayaking tour, led by Allan and Jo Hinckley.  They met us at the motel and we drove a short while to an entrance to the Delaware River.  We kayaked about a mile down to a resting spot, where we had a wine and cheese break that they had packed for us.

View of the Delaware

I got the blue kayak!

My mom started feeling tired and nauseated at one point, so my dad told her to hold onto his and my brother's kayaks, and they ferried her down the rest of the way, although in this photo she is breaking free since we had reached our break stop destination.

Our lovely guides!

The weather was perfect, and the water was very calm so we were able to paddle without a problem.  Towards the end, my brother and I started racing.  He beat me at the end, but only because I got stuck in some weeds!  We saw a bald eagle, a blue heron, and other little creatures.

The next day it rained so we mainly relaxed and watched movies.  The Roxbury has tons of DVDs you can borrow.  We also rented bikes from Casey Joe's in Arkville.  Joe the owner kindly brought the bikes over to us, and my brother and I rode down Rte 30 while my dad tried to teach my mom how to ride.

It was a great short trip so if you're ever looking for a quick getaway from New York City, this is definitely one to try.  To learn more about The Roxbury Motel, visit their website or Facebook page.

And a final word from our sponsor:

Seriously.

My friends' blogs

My friend Mike recently started a guitar blog -- he writes about different sounds he achieves through his guitar, using different pedals.  If you're interested in guitars, check it out here.

Another friend has started a blog profiling talented twenty-year-olds.  You can check it out here.

The first photos from my Diana Mini camera

As the Lomography people suggested, I did a test roll.  Here are some of my favorite shots.

This is a painting I did in college.

I'm not sure how it happened, but this photo has two images in one.

My attic studio.

Hartsdale train station.

I'm not sure how this happened, but a little peep hole self portrait.

Oncoming train.

Inspired by Geoffrey Beene

As promised, here is my Geoffrey Beene project.

The first page is the mood board, with an images of Geoffrey Beene along with his work:

Next is the fabric board -- from left to right, top to bottom -- a blue fur, a red/navy check plaid, a red/navy/cream tweed with gold thread, a cream solid wool, a navy solid wool, a gold panne velvet, a red chiffon with gold thread, a white/gold sheer fabric, red silk charmeuse, and a blue embroidered laser cut satin.

These are the day looks -- the coat in the check plaid with fur trim, and suits.  Beene did some cool asymmetrical jacket shaped, which I used here.  I tried to modernize the looks with the shoes.

These looks transition from the day to evening, although they are probably more evening.  Beene liked using sheer insets and back details, and sometimes incorporated wools into his evening looks.  His designs have a three-dimensional aspect to them.

These are the evening looks.

My figures are a little tight but I'm working on getting them looser.  I enjoyed doing this project.

On an unrelated note, tops and dresses on my online shop are 75% off until tomorrow, so check it out here.

Say hi to my new Diana mini camera

A friend of mine works at the company Lomography, which has brought back novelty analog cameras -- Diana, Holga, Fisheye, etc.  For Fashion's Night Out in September, they've invited a few designers, including me, to document our creative process using one of their cameras.  I was given the Diana mini.

Here is a sample of a shot taken by a Diana mini (not by me), from the Lomography site:

The photos are a little more saturated in color, and sometimes come out a little vignetted.  

The Diana mini (unlike the Diana) uses regular 35mm film, (with which the Lomography people generously provided me, in addition to the camera), but the images come out square, like this one.  There is also the possibility of doing split shots like this one: 

I've spent the past few days getting acquainted with the camera.  The detachable flash runs on a single AA battery; the camera itself runs on magic (no batteries).  It's been a while since I've used an analog camera, so it's been fun going back to winding the film by hand and turning the flash on manually.  The Lomography people gave me a refresher on loading and unloading the film.  With the camera, there is a knob to choose between indoor and daylight, a know to choose between natural and B (which means long exposure but in my head I think of as blurry), and another knob on the lens for adjusting the focus.  There are four settings for the focus, which are actually just distances from the camera to the subject -- 0.6m, 1-2m, 2-4m, and 4+ m.

I just shot a test roll to get acquainted with the camera, which I need to drop off to see how I did.  I'll be posting a couple of photos on the blog as I progress through the process of documenting and developing my collection, so check back!

The Diana mini is available for purchase here or at one of the Lomography stores.

Graey reverse auction sale - happening now!

Today we kicked off our reverse auction sale -- basically that just means that we're going to lower the prices gradually starting from 25% off to a maximum of 75% off over the next week or so.  You can check it out here: http://graeyny.com/shop

I'll be announcing price drops as they happen on Twitter and Facebook, so if you want to stay updated, follow us on one of those outlets.

My hair is short again!

It's that time again.  Time when I get bored with my hair and chop it all off.  As you may recall from my previous post, after my trip to Miami, my hair looked like this:

Long, but buzzed on the side.  My hair was quite long, a few inches past my shoulder blades.  Although it was pretty, it's been hot in NY this summer, and in general, my hair feels like more of a nuisance, especially when I go rock climbing and my hair is so long it doesn't stay in a bun so well any more.

I've always admired Kate Lanphear's style, especially her hair, which looks like this:

I'd been looking at images of women with short hair for inspiration for the project I'm working on, and came across an article online about salons that specialized in short haircuts.  One salon was Crops for Girls, in the East Village (437 E 9th street between 1st and A).  Reviews on Yelp were positive and I read that he gave free hair cuts for people planning to donate their hair, so I called and made an appointment.

Michael, the proprietor, was very nice.  I got there a bit later than planned after hitting up a friend's BBQ, but he didn't get angry.  He is a little shy but knows his shit.  I showed him pictures of what I wanted, and after snipping off my ponytail (which I will be donating to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths after a friend mentioned this NYT article that says most of the hair donated to Locks of Love are trashed), he got down to business.  We listened to jazz singer Peggy Lee croon as he snipped my hair, and talked about the stars from the 40s whose portraits adorn his salon.  His salon has a retro feel, and was very clean and nicely decorated.  About an hour later, I had a beautiful new haircut.  He touched up the buzzing that was growing out on the side (and fixed some mistakes I had made while trying to touch it up myself) and created a sleek bob on the other side.

I've gotten lots of compliments and even my parents like it, so I know that he did a good job.  I am hoping to shave my head at some point though, or bleaching my hair so I can be more like Kate, who is such a badass.

Beene-mania

It's hot, and I've been having a hard time sleeping these days.  I'll surely feel the repercussions of my insomnia in the morning, but for now I have decided to do a post on Geoffrey Beene.  I had heard this designer's name before, but had always associated it with the dull licensed menswear that the brand has become.  

However, lately I'm taking a class at FIT (to brush up on my sketching skills) with the amazing fashion illustrator Steven Stipelman, and for our final project, he suggested I choose Beene as my inspiration (we were given a bunch of deceased designers to choose from).  He showed me a book of Beene's work and I was amazed at how current it felt, though the clothes were from decades ago.  So I borrowed a couple of books on Beene from the library and have been researching him, and have been surprised at how relatively little I've heard about him over the past decade or so I have been obsessing about fashion.  Apparently he didn't really pander to the press or pay too much attention to other designers.

His work has a playful spirit to it, and apparently due to his abandoned medical training, his clothes reflect an appreciation for the female form.  I love the shapes and cutouts he uses in his designs, and how his garments cling to the figure.  Here are some images, but you should really try to look at a book of his work to see the scope of it.  

One of the details I liked was his overlay of bras and harnesses over dresses. 

I love this cutout detail over the bust.

This dress is one of my favorites of his.

Towards the end of his career, when supermodels were becoming celebrities in their own right, he started using dancers as models instead.

There is a cool little video that follows a Parsons student who had recently won the CFDA Geoffrey Beene award, with cameos from Doo-ri Chung and Anna Sui on the Geoffrey Beene site:
http://www.geoffreybeene.com/history.html

Chung worked under Beene for several years before starting her own line, and her work reflects the time spent.  Although Chung's signature draping is uniquely her own, there is an appreciation for the three-dimensionality of the figure that comes across in her work, as shown in the images below.  Her work is quite beautiful, and until I studied Beene's, I had no idea how he influenced her.

When my project is finished I will try to scan the images and upload them.  I'm really enjoying my class. Stipelman is a great teacher and I have been learning a lot.  Many of my classmates are college students but there are also others who are my age or even much older, which goes to show that you can always learn something new.

Another great site to look at Beene's clothes is Beenemania, a blog where a woman took photos of many different Beene outfits she wore over the course of a year.