PinkyShears

What Do You Think About Our New Business Cards?

Card front. No sticker.

We just got them back last week and wanted to show you guys.  Our good friends over at the artofsayinghello.com, a company branding service, helped us design and print our card. We wanted a card that was fun, minimal, and made a statement.

Info Sticker (bottom left). Card front. No sticker (top left). Card back (top right). Card front w/ sticker (bottom right).

One of our issues was not having the ability to supply future contributors with cards as they would need their own set.  The “Hello People,” as I call them, suggested a contact information sticker in order to customize each card.  They thought this might be to our advantage instead of creating customized cards for every individual we work with.

Anyway, just wanted to share this with you guys as I am very pleased with how the cards came out.  I was passing them out like crazy at the garment center rally.  Elizabeth Willse, editor here at PinkyShears, said “I love the way the cards look, using Brandon’s logo and a design that really speaks for the site.”

Maybe next time I’ll upgrade to the plastic version they mentioned.

-Brandon

How A Shoe is Made.  6 Part Video

Seeing how something is made makes you a better designer.

There’s no commentary, just watch and see the beauty of craftsmanship up close.

Stretch Your Shoes With Ice

What It’s Like Designing Your Own Line.  Lara Bly, Designer and Illustrator Explains.  Part 2

Lara sourcing fabrics for a client at Mood Fabrics in NYC's garment district

Her experience working for others as well as starting her own line makes Lara Bly a great resource for beginning designers.  Beginning to work on her own line, she remembers, called on skills she hadn’t used in a while.  “It was a big change after having patternmakers and machinists working for me at Sacrosanct. It took a while to remember what I knew about sewing. I was rusty, but it came back quickly. It took me a while to transition away from Sacrosanct’s way of doing things,” she remembers. “I would call them up, and ask ‘could you get me in touch with those people who did the beading?’ or try to track down my old favorite machinist.  It was like I was teaching myself all over again to do patterns.”

She remembers it took her a while to trust her design instinct as well. “I didn’t know who I was anymore as a designer, because I had gotten so used to designing for other people for so long. I didn’t like the first few pieces I was doing. They weren’t bad sewing, it was just that I didn’t like them.

But, in drawing and launching her own line, Lara Bly reawakened the instincts and eye for color that inspired her to pursue her career in fashion.  “I remember I did one dress, and I thought ‘God, I love this dress. It’s so beautiful, and so me.’ After that, other dresses and designs, just followed naturally.”

Lara says she is thriving in the artistic community at the Banana Factory, a studio space run by Arts Quest.  “I have a place to show my work and an audience because we have First Fridays so you open your studio up.  So, you get people coming in on a regular basis looking at your clothes, looking at other people’s work.  The artists and photographers and I are like one big family, helping each other.  I’m the only fashion designer there, practically one of the only fashion designers in Lehigh Valley.”

She loves the search for the right fabrics and colors. “A lot of the time, I know what I want, what I’m planning when I see it.” Being able to work for herself gives her the freedom, she says, to “sit down and sketch, and see what comes,” and then find fabric to realize that vision.

Seascape. by Lara Bly

She prefers not to outsource design and manufacture at all, unless she’s crunched for time. “As long as I have time to do it, I do everything myself, I design it, make patterns and sew it. Having some skill as a patternmaker or a machinist, not just a designer, a great way to save money, if you want to start your own business. If you’re doing samples yourself, and something goes wrong, you don’t have to pay for mistakes, the same way. It’s part of your own learning.”

As much as she enjoys having creative control and autonomy, she acknowledges that there are limitations and compromises she has to make. “I have a beautiful design- and then I have to find a way for it to fit perfectly, little things like maybe I’ll use linen instead of satin, and oh my god, I have to sew those pockets!

“Being on your own and hiring a patternmaker, someone you don’t have a relationship with on a daily basis, that’s very difficult. It’s difficult to make a beautiful sample.  Not impossible, just difficult.

“On your own, it’s hard to be great at all three things. It’s hard to be a great patternmaker, a great machinist and a great designer all at the same time. So, I’m glad that I have the skills to do all of those things, but it’s so much better when you have someone you trust, or someone in-house, and an ongoing relationship. What I’d love to have is a working relationship with a great patternmaker, who can just totally get it on the bulls-eye for me, and get the exact fit that I want, get the trouser to fit exactly the way I want, because that’s what they’re good at.

“If everybody plays their role, you’re going to be able to create something amazing.”

Introducing Lara Bly, Designer and Illustrator.  Part 1

See more of Lara’s work and pictures of our day with her shopping for fabric in NYC’s garment district on PinkyShears’ Facebook Page.  Click Here.

Introducing Lara Bly, Designer and Illustrator.  Part 1

Designer and Illustrator, Lara Bly

Studying fashion design and marketing at the American Intercontinental University in London, then living and working in cities like Beirut and Los Angeles as well as New York gives Lara Bly a uniquely cosmopolitan perspective on the business of fashion. She has held a supervisory position at Sacrosanct, a company based in London and Beirut. She is developing her own fashion line for women. Lara Bly and her husband share a studio in the Banana Factory, a Pennsylvania art space supporting local creativity. She shared some of her thoughts with PinkyShears about the fashion industry, aesthetics, and getting a business started, as well as her insights fabric sourcing.

About Lara

Lara Bly Collection

Lara is developing her own line of women’s clothing, in addition to doing fashion design and fashion illustration on a freelance basis. Currently based in Pennsylvania, where she’s from, she has worked in a number of places, including London, where she studied fashion, and Beirut.

She loves color, and envisions her line as “feminine and flirtatious, pretty, floaty, and kind of whimsical,” geared toward women from ages 25 to 45 or so. She likes to add a little sparkle to pieces like evening wear. The next phase would be to have a wholesale collection become more widely available.

Whimsicle. by Lara Bly

Having her own line has been the realization of a dream Lara had nurtured since she was in seventh grade. Laughing, she remembers “I thought I had the best hair in the world, and I thought I had really good taste in clothes to match my beautiful hair. But, looking back, I didn’t really have good taste until I moved to London. And my friends will vouch for me on that one.”

Flat sketches from the Lara Bly Collection

The American Intercontinental University in London was where Lara Bly began her fashion studies in earnest, and formed close, key friendships that continue to this day. Although fashion was her greatest love, she also had an interest in astronomy and history, which she continues to find fascinating. She and her fellow students plunged into hands on classes, like basic sewing. But, like many other designers and industry professionals, Bly says that her professional work experience taught her even more than her studies. Remembering her first job, she is grateful for the guidance they gave “a hardworking young kid, who was trying to learn. So they were willing to let me make a few mistakes, and I got so much practical experience, doing cost sheets and the technical side. I learned flats from Lucinda Lee, my first boss in London. She was very very tough but she was good at what she did, and she was a wonderful teacher.”

Lara Bly Collection

The fashion marketplace was different in Beirut as well. Sacrosanct’s business served a wealthy clientele, both for prêt-a-porter (ready-to-wear) and couture custom gowns. Conventional wisdom in the fashion industry says that it is almost impossible to make money off couture gowns, but Bly found that Sacrosanct’s gowns, the product of several weeks of hands-on labor, could cost $16,000 to make, and, marked up, would still turn a profit. “I mean, you could buy a dress at retail for $5000 to $10,000.  You’re making good money. It was really beautiful, really expensive clothes, but it was in Beirut, and the market didn’t really translate to New York. You’ve got to understand where you are.  You’re in the Middle East.  You’re in Lebanon.  You’re at a place where not just Lebanese people are coming.  You have people from Kuwait, Saudi, all these women with major money, and they’re coming to Lebanon to shop.  They’re coming to get gowns. So, they’re coming to us.  They’re going to Abed Mahfouz.  They’re going to Elie Saab.  They’re not just going to one couturier.  They’re going to all the couturiers.  You see what I mean?”

Check out one of PinkyShears’ favorite fashion illustrators Anand Duncan.

We stumbled on her sites a couple months ago and have been a fan ever since.

Have a look!

http://flashbunny.blogspot.com/

http://www.hulabunny.com/

A Shoulder Slope To Cry On

Last week I had lunch with a former co-worker who is also a designer.  Obviously the conversation touched on the industry and we got into a conversation about how easy it is to forget the fundamentals like draping and filling out a spec sheet.  Funny thing, we both forgot how to measure shoulder slope. We knew the term, but couldn’t remember how to take the measurement.  After talking about it and sketching it out on a napkin we figured it out.  So just in case you too forgot, I re-sketched it for your reference.    -Brandon

What terms, measurements, or skills have you forgotten or need to brush up on?

PinkyShears’ publisher, Brandon Graham, Speaks with Marketplace.publicradio.org

He talks about what the consumer can do to help save New York’s Garment District.

The clip begins at 16:30

Listen Here

Article Link

Happy Halloween from PinkyShears.com!

We here at PinkyShears.com wish you a happy, safe, and above all, fabulous Halloween!

Enjoy strutting your stuff in a great costume, whether you’re going for ghoulish or glam.

Hope your night provides a sweet feast for the eyes, and of course, all the candy you want.

Got pictures of great, elaborate, fashionable costumes? Share them on our Facebook Page!

Japanese Ink Painting Inspiration.  by Brandon Graham

Pinky Shears Attends Meeting of the New York/New Jersey Designers Club

Earlier this week I was invited by Steve Steinberg of QST Industries to attend the New York and New Jersey Designers Club meeting at Arno’s Ristorante. Arno’s Ristorante is a popular meeting spot for people in the NY garment district.  You guys would have loved hanging out with this group, everyone was welcoming and full of industry stories and jokes.

I met people from JCPenney, Alvanon (makers of dress forms), Utica Thread, and Direct Textile (maker of linings and interlinings.) The New York and New Jersey Designers Club is a spin-off of the International Association of Clothing Designers and Executives.  One of the members mentioned that you used to have to take tests in order to join.  Part of the test consisted of patterning, but that was phased out.

Most of the people who attended were salespersons with many years of experience.  They began the meeting downstairs in a private room where they discussed old business.  As we entered the room, one salesmen from a thread company jokingly said he didn’t appreciate his competitors product front and center in a picture frame on the wall where we were to eat.

After old business they gave me the opportunity to talk about PinkyShears.com.  I gave a brief talk and offered PinkyShears.com as a way to get the word out about events they had planned,  such as a forthcoming Actor’s Studio-like interview with designer Joseph Abboud.  As I sat down, I knew there was more I wanted to say, but I did manage to keep my enthusiasm in check. There’s always next time, I hope.
They briefly talked about the HBO documentary Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags and how it wasn’t true to form.  One guy mentioned he thought they left out an important part of the fabric of the garment district which was the happenings outside of 530 7th Ave a building that housed a lot of fashion houses and manufacturers back in the day.

The club’s new business was to figure out how to bring in more members. The club is especially focusing on a new generation of members to get their perspective, outlook, and suggestions.  During the main course and dessert members debated how to encourage and increase membership. I was trying to keep from jumping up and down and saying “hey! my website does exactly that!”

And finally to my relief someone said, “Well let’s ask Brandon.”  I reiterated who our readers were, what stories we’ve done, and the value NY/NJ Designers Club could be to the PinkyShears audience.  For example, a presentation about jacket construction would be fascinating to young people just entering the field, especially if it came from someone as experienced as the members of the Designers’ Club.  Just getting the opinions and suggestions of the current members and to be part of a club of like minded individuals would be a reason to join.  Most people in the industry don’t actively go out looking for fashion groups to join; mainly because they already have a full schedule. I think, if we present the club the right way people would see the benefit and make time.

I’m interested in joining the group and will keep you updated on the next meeting.  Hopefully PinkyShears, our readers, and the New York and New Jersey Designers Club can work together to make even more information available to designers and others in the fashion industry.

-Brandon Graham, publisher

Dress Form.  How It’s Made.

Nanette Lepore and Joe Raico Interview.  [Full Length]

Elizabeth Willse and Brandon Graham from PinkyShears.com interview designer Nanette Lepore and Joe Raico from the HBO documentary “Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags.” See editor, Elizabeth Willse’s, “Save the Garment District” recap at http://pinkyshears.com/2009/10/save-t…

Special thanks to Dorelle McPherson from fothmedia.com for the video footage.

Video:  How To Attach A Pant Zipper

Don’t forget a women’s pant zipper is unzipped with the left hand and men’s zipper is unzipped with the right hand.