The Movie's Always Better with You

Happy Halloween Everyone!
Guess I'm a little early but where to start!? This year I'm not all that crazy for dressing up so I might as well just go as myself without make-up because I am a NIGHTMARE! Few that have see me without make-up have lived to tell the tale..
What are you going to dress up as???

Finally it's Mid-term break and I've the week off but I'm doing work experience so there's not that much lying around :( today has been my ass-on-couch day and it has been fab doing sweet feck all! As God intended haha! This past week at GTI we had to create a collection for a shop we would like to design for, and I picked one of my favourite online shops; Bitching and Junkfood (http://www.bitchingandjunkfood.com/index.php). If you haven't checked them out - DO! I love Bitching and Junkfood, not only for the name, but the clothes are amazing! Bright colours, spectacular patterns and so much more!

This week we have to watch some movies, not all of them, and create another collection inspired by these movies :) Here's a taste of what to watch for fashion lovers like uuz and the times in which they are set;
1900's: Titantic (1912)
My Fair Lady (costumes by Cecil Beaton)
1920's: The Great Gatsby (2013)
The Artist
Chicago
1930's: Atonement
1940's: The Great Man's Lady (1942)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
One Touch of Venus (1948)
1950's: Grease (made in 70's)
Breakfast at Tiffany's and A Roman Holiday (costumes by Givenchy)
The Bad and the Beautiful (One of my favs :) ) (1952)
1960's: Mad Men (TV Series)
Early Bond Movies
1970's: Almost Famous (1973) (hippy)
Saturday Night Fever (disco)
Sid and Nancy (punk)
Austin Powers
1980's: Flashdance
Desperately Seeking Susan
Pretty Woman
1990's: Clueless
2000's: Sex and the City (TV Series)

Last night I watched 'Almost Famous' and loved it! The fashion was good but I really liked the story-line, don't worry I won't spoil it. If you find the time to watch these (not all of them lol) please let me know what you think of them! I've seen a good nine of these so far :)

Well I'm going to go now and will keep in touch... Not doing so well for that lately :/
Have a good one!
XOXO
Freaky Smudge

Assignment #1

How's everyone doing today???

Well I'm very proud of myself because I finished my first assignment as a fashion student  I made a pin cushion :) And here's a pic of the front (right) and back (left) . First I had to make the pattern, get the fabric, cut out the pattern and pin it to the fabric, and cut. You do this twice for the front and back. Then I used the sewing machine (switched it from straight line setting to zig-zag - because I'm awkward like that) - I got the two fabrics and put them like a book, with the cover on the outside because you'll have to turn it inside out. Sew it on three sides. On the last side sew to a quarter way from top and quarter way from the bottom. Turn inside out and stuff with cotton or whatever, then  hand stitch it together - Happy Out!!!
                                                                                                                       
We also learned about our recycled project - it's for the finished piece we will be displaying to the world at the GTI Fashion Fiesta in April 2014, can't wait! For Friday we need to fill out a mind map with stuff that we like in relation to colour, garment shape, fabrics, inspiration, etc. So I'm here on the couch with the last three issues of Vogue (I honestly don't think I can put the scissors to them!), and ELLE's 2013 S/S Collection Book. Oh almost forgot the HUNGER issue 4. Let the inspiration flow! :)

I'll tell all on my views on London's Fashion Week tomorrow - oh wow patterns and prints go leor lads ;)

Night Night
XOXO
Freaky Smudge

LONDON CALLING - so cliche right?

So yeah it's London Fashion Week and there's a buzz around the town.

Irish fashion designer Orla Kiely shows off her preppiness! Gotta find out where I can get my hands on those cute berets and animal-face bags :) From looking at Preen and JW Anderson, there's a real futuristic vibe with the strong pale colours and umbrella like material - reminds me of the Prabal Gurung collection too. The Sister by Sibling pieces kind of remind me of Jeremy Scott with this whole 60/70's feel surrounding the collection. If there's one thing that Temperley and Pearce Fionda have in common it's the timeless classical image. Well done guys, very well done :) Mulberry and Holly Fulton have a few similarities in their pieces, seen in the pants to my view. But I do like them, they take the classical to a new level with playful patterns and mixed materials - mixed and flattering. That's important as it can go pretty wrong!

Loving London Fashion Week so far! I'm going to stick up this pic from Pearce Fionda - It's a velvet dress :) how lovely!

Well I'm super excited seeing as I'll be going to the Galway Blogger's Bash on Saturday!! Along with doing my driving theory test for the second time :) I only failed by 5 points the last time so I pray that this time I'll get it and I'll be walking out the door like "SUCK IT!!!" ... if I fail again... in the words of Hayden Panettiere in Nashville, I'll be "crying black mascara tears"!

Later
XOXO
Freaky Smudge

Oh God it feels like a migraine!

So if any of ye saw the pic I posted to Twitter this morning, you'll know that it was POURING this morning (like after 8am?!) but by 10am, thankfully, it went away. Though it was wet but humid, and dark but bright :P I love Galway but the weather is seriously bipolar...
I went to the National University of Ireland, Galway or NUIG this morning to visit some friends there and by God is that place huge! They only brought me into the Arts/Science Building and it felt like being in an airport terminal... Crazy stuff! It's such a pain that they have Starbucks when I'm too afraid to try the coffee in our cafeteria! I think they could smell the GTI off me, it felt like trespassing in the Garden of Eden (lol). But they don't have fashion....

So day two was great fun, and very long! My first class at 11am was Commercial Fashion Design! We were told about our assignments for the year, and also the things we would be studying in Fashion Appreciation. So we're going to be learning the History of Fashion from 1870 onwards (all I could think of was Marie Antoinette), and we'll be writing reports on Irish designers! We also have to do an assignment on a historical designer (between 1870 - 1960). Through the year we will be studying fashion, decade by decade, and keeping pics of all the stuff we like and come across throughout the week. At the end of the year we will gather all these pics up and create a book with captions of each decade :) Sounds pretty cool!

After this we had Embroidery and I have to say that using the sewing machine to create a straight line is not an easy task :P I've a pic here of my progress (if I can really call it that..), but it was loads of fun, until I realized that I'd three sheets of shapes to do and the class was two hours long... o.O

After what seemed like such a short break to me (and I was feeling so sick, pity please!), we went back for a whopping 3 hours of Pattern Drafting.... It sounds so boring but to be honest it wasn't that bad! Kinda like a class dedicated to joining the dots :)  We have assignments here as well that we'll be completing throughout the year, like making a pin cushion, a (tote?) bag, uhhhh a skirt... and an outfit with an accessory!! So today we made the patterns for the pin cushion and the back of the skirt. I gotta say it was pretty interesting and cool, and it makes the whole "make-your-own-crap" process easier when it's explained to you like that. Also we will most hopefully be going to London in February to look at fabrics! It sounds like such a granny getaway sort of thing but I think everyone just heard 'London' and was like "we NEED to go!".

Counting down the time until 6 was rough, and I'm so tired, but so far I'm loving college life. Meeting new people is great, and I'm lucky that there aren't any b-itches in my class! One thing that annoys me is that I don't have a uniform anymore and I have to wear something new everyday.... I'm like two weeks away from wearing my pjs in ><

Hitting the hay asap!
XOXO
Freaky Smudge

Day One Down

To quote the well known words of Asher Roth - "I Love College".

Such a fun day! Classy me, I was five minutes late this morning! Though I felt okay as myself and five other girls were the only people in the entire classroom... Only to discover that we were late and the teacher had moved the class to a different room, only to return to us a half an hour later :) 

My first class of the day was (guess what?) Fashion Design! There we were told the basic things we would be learning, like improving our drawing etc. And we did a "get-to-know-each-other" exercise. That went by pretty fast and then we had an hour break. The biggest change I'm going to have to get used to is that my friends in other courses at the college had different timetables!! 

(My most recent conversation via text)  -->
Me: when's your lunch tomorrow?
Short Friend: From one til two :) u?
Me (even shorter friend): UHHHH two til three!

Hard Life! :P

After lunch, I was late again by like 2 minutes, and to be fair I went to the bathroom! But the teacher didn't care so all good there. Then began Continued Materials in which we learned about all the different equipment we needed, that we would be creating a skirt during the year, creating a pin cushion, and what we would be doing in Pattern Drafting, Embroidery and Garment Construction (because it was the same teacher for those classes). Then, with the use of the buddy system (kidding!) our teacher brought all 24 of us out of the Claddagh House and into town. From there we went to Powell's on the Four Corners and bought a set square and two sheets for patterns. There was such a temptation to buy a colouring book but I fought the urge :) Next we went to Hickey's in the Eyre Square Shopping Centre to look at all the cobs, different things that we needed yet half of us didn't have the money to buy it, etc. 

In all it was a really good day! Anyone from Galway will know that, although it has the 3rd (I think) biggest city in Ireland, it's a pretty small place - met loads of girls from the ole secondary school, and met people that I didn't even know were going to G.T.I.! Had such a laugh and cannot wait to go back tomorrow :)

I have to say that I couldn't keep up with the stuff from Fashion Week today as well as I would have hoped so I'm just going to add these pics which I loved from Kate Spade and Thom Browne to the Facebook page. Guys really do check out Thom Browne's collection - speechless to say the least, and very.... Tim Burton, in my opinion! 

Later

XOXO

Freaky Smudge

The Week of "Designers I Love Displaying the Clothes I can Never Have!"

Also known as Fashion Week!

Yes I have been glued to my computer screen and TV for the majority of the day (Praise FashionTV!) because of all the lovely clothes :) I have to say I really do hate it when models have, as Elvis Duran called it, BRF or Bitchy Resting Face. I want to see a model who's happy to be there! I think the models and the clothes stand out more, and it's just nice to see a smile! I'm going to stick up this pic from the Opening Ceremony's line.

Look at her (above right)! She's happy :) and that's why I love this pic, and also this outfit. Lovely stuff from the Opening Ceremony; Reds, blues and blacks at this show, escorted by eye catching patterns! It's like when you catch that spirally metal in the sunlight, or some freaky 70's thing!


(Left) Milan based, Delpozo, is definitely turning my head :) The collection reminded me of an "Alice in Wonderland" sort of theme. Some outfits, in my opinion, icing-like. Other pieces were more bold, playful colours. Floral patterns spotted. Would keep an eye out for this one!






I was loving the collection from Prabal Gurung. (Right) Loads of colours and all up for the bright lipstick, always a big fan! Patterns are really something else, and I would love to know where they purchased the class sunglasses :) Make sure to check out the collection - so far my favourite stuff!


Trying to keep this short and sweet like me (corny strike#1). Other brands which I adored were ThreeAsFour (left), and Pamela Gonzales

Hey, please wish me well on my first official day at college tomorrow :) will report back with all the dets! Make sure to like Freaky Smudge on Facebook and Twitter!
Later!
xoxo
Freaky Smudge!