Fort Worth Show and Parts & Labour

I have been so busy getting the S/S 2009 collection ready that I have forgot to update my blog.

What's happened in the past month
-Was featured in a collage for Etsy on CBS morning news.
-New Spring/Summer 2009 collection premiered
-We went to a show in Fort Worth and did well
-You can now find us at Parts & Labour (1117 S. Congress Ave.) in Austin
- The website has been updated
-I am in the process of making a video with interviews and footage of the new styles for this Summer.
-I will also update my Etsy store with the new styles.
I will go into more detail soon about everything that has been going on.


CHeers

'80s and '60s Clash Fashion Sketches

Here's some of my Spring/Summer 2009 sketches. It's 1980s meets 1960s.
Take at look at my Spring/Summer Fashions blog entry for more details.

Ten Sewing Tips

I thought I would share some basic sewing tips.

1. Scissors
Have a nice pair of scissors for fabric cutting and one for paper cutting; you may even want one for thread cutting while sewing. I use Gingher 8" Spring-loaded Dressmaker shears. They are fantastic and run about $50 a pair. However, you can find them for as little as $25 on eBay. Another trick is to keep them sharp with scissor sharpeners which you can find at craft stores.





2. Iron, iron, iron!
Have an iron ready and one that is preferably powerful and can press steam through quickly. I bought mine for around $30. It works great and speeds up the ironing process. I also keep a spray bottle with water in it and a pressing cloth. Another nice thing to have on hand is a sleeve ironing board. It can also double as a tailor's ham and facilitates ironing sleeves and darts.

3. Serger
Finish all seams with a serger. You don't need a fancy one just a three thread will do. This will make sure that the fabric will not fray.

4. No stress hems and sleeves.
Have a sewing machine where you can take off its arm for sleeves and hems.

Perfection
5. Perfection is the golden rule. If it is not something you are proud of then don't wear it.

Newspaper
6. Use newspaper print paper when making patterns.

The "Golden Book"
7. Have a sewing book on hand so you can refer to it often. I also use burdastyle.com

8. Needle
Make sure you are using the right needle for your machine and project. Also change your needle often, as they dull very quickly.

9. Clean machine
Keep your machines clean and make sure that they are turned off and unlugged after each use.

10. Don't stress the small stuff and throw your machine out the window. Make sure the needle is correct, the threading has been done properly and the tension has been set correctly.

Summer Shoes For Men

There is always the question of what shoe to
 wear for men during the summer. Flipflops, orginally used as shower shoes and for use on the beach are too casual. 

I suggest wearing a white-colored loafer($75 at asos.com) or light brown boat shoes ($135 at asos.com)

Another shoe I like and own are Toms (gray canvas), an upcoming shoemaker will donate a pair of shoes to a child in need with every purchase. 

Visit their website. 

Things to note:

• I like the idea of sandals but keep it simple and leather with not too wide of straps. 
  
• No flip-flops
• No Birkenstocks, leave them for the hippies
• Wear tennis shoes only when doing sports, such as jogging and playing tennis. 
• Don't be afraid to dress up during the summer. 

Spring/ Summer Fashions

This is going to be a good post. 

What is your Spring/Summer 2009 collection going to look like?

Emphasis is on fit and color. It's like the 1960s collide with the 1980s. I love the fit from the 1960s. It's form-fitting to the body however, I love the pastel and bright colors of the 1980s. Houndstooth,stripes bright colors ( blue, yellow, pink), black, royal blue and white. 

What inspired you to do this?

I have always loved the 1960s but it's not exactly what is in fashion right now, on the other hand, the 1980s are. That is why I drew my influence from both.

What kind of clothes shall we expect?

I am mostly going to focus on women this season. 

• Little black dresses, 
• Houndstooth Chamray Shorts (Which you catch a preview at my etsy shop.) 
  
• Jumpers
• Mini Pencil Skirts
• Faux Jackets with Peter Pan Collar similar to the Jackie O Jacket
• Black Leggings
• Long T-shirt dress with Preist collar
• Long, Over sized Hoodies
• Boat Neck Dresses in Aqua and Blue
• 1960's Inspired Casual Dresses

Any big things opening up for you?

Well we have a huge handmade show in Fort Worth in April (mor details later) and the best news is that we will start offering our clothes in handmade boutiques in New York City, Austin and possibly London. 

Cheers!

Serger

Sorry It's been a while. I have been so busy with school, work and looking for a new serger. 

Mine has been acting funny latlely, so I decided to take in to have it serviced. The only thing is that the shop is so backed up that it will take about a month to fix it. I decided that with the fashion business expanding, I did not want to be left hanging, so I did the best thing I could do, I bought a new one. It's a little fancier the old Bernina one I have. It's a Pfaff Coverlock 4852. That's right it has a coverlock feature so I can do that now. A coverlock stitch is generally  used in garments and it is marked by a tight overlock stitch on the back and a straight stich on the front. It is seen a lot in t-shirts and jeans. It's taking a lot of time to get used to the threading, adjusting the tension, stitch length, stitch width, changing the needles etc. But it is produces a more professional stitch compared to my old serger. 

So that is what I have been up to for the past week. I also redesigned the website. I will try not to wait so long for the next post. Here's the new Diana Ross dress. 

Outfit Blur and New Shoes

I thought I would show you some outfits of mine.

Pea coat: Boutique in Paris

Trousers: Asos.com

Sweater: Ralph Lauren

Shirt: Custom-Made Vintage

Leather Ankle boots: Vintage

Sweater: Dior

Jeans: Diesel (Mexico City)

Shoes: Massimo Dutti (Mexico City)

Shirt:

I bought these last night online. The

brand is Schmoove. It is based out of Paris and

are the ones

that introduced the casual wing-tips

(brogues in England and

les chaussures richelieus in French.)

I bought a pair in France a little over
a year ago but they unfortunately

are worn out and I have been looking for a new pair.

Featurette

Yay! I got featured twice on the frontpage of Etsy. There's my dress on the bottom. I was really excited because this was the first time.  I have been in a few treasuries but they have never gotten to the front.  Treasuries are handpicked items from Etsy that if appealing enough to the administrators, they will choose and the treasury will make it to the front for one hour.  I was lucky enough to be in one that did. My views jumped tremendously from it and I even got my first sale. I sold a vinyl carry-all. The dress that was featured was made from a pattern dating back to 1969. I shortened it quite a bit and took it on the sides. It looks great on Melissa. You can take a look at the store here.

Well, the purple dress that was in the works will be featured next time. It came out great and I love the feel of the material I chose.  

Cheers

 

The Egality of Fashion

Topic: 18th Century Men's Fashion 

Oh, the opulence of 18th century fashion! I do have to say that since I was a child, the 1700s have always intrigued me. I think it has to do with my parents taking me to Colonial Williamsburg. The largest museum in the United States, where actors dawn colonial garb and reenact various trades such as 

blacksmithing, shoemaking, wig-making and the like. The museum is situated on 301 acres and is home to many prominent buildings such as the Governor's Palace, the Raleigh Tavern, Capital and many more. It's definitely worth a visit, even just to see the costumes. 

Men of the time typically wore silk or woolen stockings, breeches that reached the knee and tied in the back, shirts that were gathered at the cuff and a nice waistcoat and topcoat. Most of the time, people could only afford 2-3 ensembles. No prêt-à-porter in these days. 

To purchase a jacket for example, one

 would go to his tailor not to the department store, who would painstakingly make the garment by hand as the sewing machine had yet to be invented. The garment would take days to make and usually required the help of his apprentice. 

In conclusion, the style is cut cleanly and embellished well.  The detail of each coat is something we lack today. The lace and embroidery a forgotten thing of the past.

I wish that one day men's fashion will be equal to that of women's as it once was in this gilded age.    

Trop de Chats à Fouetter Mais Pas Assez de Temps

Today's Topic: The Business

Ah oh! Did I hear promoting?

As you may know or do not know, I have a small clothing label under the name of none so ever than Démodé Fashion. For those of you who don't what Etsy is, I will explain. Basically Etsy is like eBay except that you are only allowed to sell handmade, vintage older than twenty years old or supplies. It is a great site started by a NYU grad a few years ago. My girlfriend and I started selling vintage on eBay back in July. However, the profit was marginal and we decided to make the switch to Etsy around September. During the same time, I began my clothing line under Radioactive Threads which can be found here. During my winter break I broke away from the vintage store and launched Démodé Fashion.

Some pictures of the studio and the dress pattern that has been transforming

itself into an actual garment.

Well, this little adventure has kept me very busy. I spend around 4-5 hours a day on it. My two most recent projects have been a men's cardigan and a fitted button down shirt. They are both for sale on Etsy. However, the men's shirt is custom ordered to fit. There will be much more to post this weekend, so keep your eyes open.

http://demodefashion.etsy.com/

About me

So, I decided to take one of those surveys to let you know a little more about me. I added and deleted some of the questions  

Name: Aaron Brown

Age: 22

Birthday: 10/20

Hair color: Sandy blond/brown

Eye color: brown

Languages spoken: English, French and Spanish

Favorites

Season: Autumn

Candy: Swedish Fish

Color: Yellow

Sport: Soccer

Designer: Givenchy

Decade: 1960s

Singer: Sufjan Stevens

Cologne: Dior Homme 

Food: Italian or French  

What I'm wearing (picture above):

Vest: Dior

Shirt: Blue striped oxford, vintage

Pants: Asos

Shoes: Patent leather, vintage

Questions

Have you ever been in love?: Yes and I am now

What is your clothing style?: It's like if France were to meet Sweden and have a baby and then that baby gets with England and has a baby. Then that that baby goes to the States and has a few kids. 

Where have you lived?: Lubbock, TX;

Lyon, France; Fontainebleau, France; Austin, TX

What makes you happy?: A good cup of coffee

What do you do for a living?: Student at the University of Texas

Next post will feature some of my work...

Julian Casablancas

The Strokes.

An American rockband who hail from New York City of mixed origins. Their style is simple and unique. They wear vintage clothing and tattered jeans. They enjoy cropped jackets and v-neck t-shirts and fuse modern-day rock with blasts from the earlier days.
Julian Casablancas, the lead singer, ( second to the right)
can be marked by European influences, possibly from the days when he lived in Switzerland to attend boarding school. His father is also Spanish and his mother a former Danish supermodel.

His style is probably my favorite of all the members.

It's always very classic but edgy. Casablancas always finishes
off his look with a nice jacket. His shoes of choice of definitely
Converse's.


Where do you get this look?
Jacket
Asos (pictured below) $403



Where do you get this look?


The real deal
Bergdorf Goodman: $1,440 (Jacket)
Won't burn a hole in your pocket
Asos: $54.00 (Shirt)
On the cheap
Hot Topic: $4.98 (Tie)

Bienvenue

Hello! 

Well, first things first. I should probably tell you a little about what this blog will be about. I would like to blog about men's fashions and some women's. I have a small clothing label named Démodé which specializes in street style and tailored looks.

www.demodefashion.com

 I will occasionally post some of my creations 

on here but for the majority of the posts I will feature fashion websites, the latest trends and other things. 

For my first blog I will tell you what I like for men right now. 

1. Slim Trousers (asos.com)

2. Pea coats

3. Pointy Shoes (Schmoove)

4. Hi-Tops