HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Friday, February 15, 2013

IT CAN ONLY BE FROM GLORY TO GLORY & ALL I CAN SAY IS THANK YOU LORD. 

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STYLE FILE // SEEING RED

Thursday, February 14, 2013

HAVE A LOVELY VALENTINE'S DAY

Seeing red on the S/S and A/W runways for 2013
Layout Inspirations:
Yes Heart, Three Lives Left, Illustration by  Red Dot, Ruffle Sleeve by Julia Bobbin,
Couture Fashion Paolo Roversi, and Georgio Armani SS13

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COLORS // PANTONE COLOR REPORT . A/W 2013

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Here is Pantone's Fashion Color Report for Fall 2013. This is based on their observation of the New York Fashion Week - Feb 7-14,  to bring you the season's most important color trends. Their recent report previews the key colors for Fall 2013. To read the descriptive of their key colors, go here and to view the rest of the designer's inspiration, sketches, colors and must-have items for Fall 2013, go here.

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STYLE FILE // VIRGINIE PENY . STYLE RELOAD - S/S '13 SKETCHES

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Virginie Peny is the curator and DIY, Fashion & Lifestyle blogger of STYLE RELOAD. I'm a big fan of her blog and I'm always inspired by her DIY and fashion styles, go here to check it out. She is quite a talent having never studied fashion design.  She does an amazing job including everything from inspirational photos, design sketches, outfit shots and most of all her "DIY" tutorials on her site. 

She has recently given FV the permission to repost one of her recent February post on Spring/Summer '13 Sketches..... One of her new resolutions this year was to draw again and it's great to see her sketch and inspire us. Her post, gives you a glimpse of her sketch book of  her favorite Spring/Summer collections.  

Remember one of my new resolution this year was drawing again, and this might be the best activity I’ve found while train traveling. So here a glimpse into my sketch book with a small mix of my favorite trends and stuffs from the next Spring Summer collections.

I’ve always been a fan of Kenzo, but to me the last two seasons have been really stunning. Also like the Givenchy shoes made of plexi, wood and leather -just outta space, don’t you find?!

Kenzo sunglasses, Proenza Schouler sleeveless jacket. Givenchy spaceship shoes, Balenciaga rings. Kenzo Diane von Fürstenberg two toned bag, Chloe look. All sketches by Virginie Peny.

©Virginie Peny - all rights reserved.   Layout may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior written permission. 

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TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A DISADVANTAGE... Cobhams Asuquo

Monday, February 11, 2013

The first time I saw his face was on a blog; it was the entertainment stories as usual so I just played through the blog and read nothing about him. The second time was that same blog...this time it was his wedding pictures. Yet again, I did not bother to read anything about him so I just satisfied my sense of sight and enjoyed the beautiful wedding pictures. The third time I saw him was also on the internet; this time it was the arrival of his baby. I just muttered "congrats to them" in my mind and went onto the next post. I knew he was well recognized, I knew the name and I also knew he was passionate about what he was doing but one thing I never knew until yesterday was that Cobhams Asuquo was.....BLIND. 

My very close friends know I usually don't go to bed early (like today again); I search the web for more knowledge and to keep abreast with what's going on in the world. Yesterday was not an exception. While browsing through the internet, I noticed a TEDx video and scrolled past it without even blinking. It was like a disease that had gone viral because almost every site I visit regularly had the same video uploaded; what was this video? The Gift of Blindness by Cobhams Asuquo. I was wondering what he will be saying about blindness so finally I decided to watch the video (1st time I opened a post about him after ignoring him so many times). How glad I was that I watched that video because it stirred up something in me, I just couldn't stop saying "WOW". It was one of such videos that you have a re-think about yourself, such times when you ask yourself "so what is limiting me"? What is the challenge? Why can't I achieve this goal? Infact so many where, what, how, when and why questions just sprang up in my head. And next thing I thought about YOU, yes you reading this article now. I thought someone would benefit from this video as I did. For Cobhams, he saw an ability in a disability; he took advantage of a disadvantage; he turned an excuse into a determination to succeed. He chose to break the limitations of blindness, He chose to Maximise His Potentials, He chose to succeed. See the video below.

From the topic to the composure, to the sense of humour, to the vocal eloquency with which Cobhams spoke; everything was just superb. I was so impressed by the title he chose "The Gift of Blindness", he saw it as a gift. AH!!! Some people have their five senses functioning well with both hands and legs very strong and yet have chosen to tag themselves as beggars on the streets. But here is someone who had every reason to give an excuse for failure but chose not to. Life throws so many challenges at us at different stages in our life; but I can imagine being born blind and how he started facing his own challenge right from birth. If you ever find a path in life without challenges, it probably means that the path leads nowhere; only paths leading somewhere has challenges. Cobhams found that path and conquered every limitation that stood in his way; he is a proof that it is not about what happens to you but what matters is how you see it and what you do after that. These challenges appear to be limitations (notice I used the word appear, which means they're there to shake you up/to put fear in you/to discourage you; but in reality they're stepping stones to your success) in your path; your determination to break these limitations is what propels you closer to achieving your goal. Every time you rise above a limitation, you're taking giant strides, climbing up, riding on eagles wings and soaring higher. In our society, the blind, lame, deaf, are usually objects of sympathy; people have pity on them because it looks like they cannot function to maximum potentiality because of the impairment of one of the five senses. There is an "eh ya" or "sorry" when you hear he/she is blind; literally meaning he cannot function normal but with Cobhams, the story is different (in his words "pesin wey we dey feel sorry for no dey feel sorry for himself"). He never for once felt he was disadvantaged, he saw it as an advantage and today he is s an award-winning musician, producer, and songwriter. So today, be encouraged; be inspired, be motivated, let something stir up in you, be challenged, break every limitation in your way, NEVER make excuses (read my article on Excuses Are Life's Predators HERE) cos they rob you of your vision and focus. DON'T loose focus, set your eyes on the goal, be blind to every distraction, be determined to keep pressing on irrespective of anything that stands in your way. Choose to be a LIMIT BREAKER, Conquer your world and Succeed aaaaaaalllllllll the way :)

XX
Lynn

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TRENDS // LENZING FIBERS - FALL/WINTER 2014-15

Lenzing fibers can be used for many applications in the fashion industry. It creates features in textiles and fabrics that end consumers - but also fashion designers - appreciate: brilliant colors, high wearing comfort, breathability, and a smooth flow. Lenzing also commisions fashion experts and trend researchers worldwide to identifty the fashion trends of future seasons and to present them to you as quickly as possible. 

Here is their latest information on Fall/Winter 2014-15, go here to read the entire editorial and view additional images.

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TRENDS // MUNICHFABRICSTART . SPRING/SUMMER 2014

Friday, February 8, 2013

The MunichFabricStart is an international fabric trade fair that holds two fair trades a year features a wide range of textiles, accessories and trims at this exhibition. They wrapped up their S/S 2014 fair yesterday and if you missed it, here is MunichFabricStart's Spring/Summer 2014 trends for the season:

BEAUTY FULL... we position the unbelievably complex beauty of fashion and the fabrics it is made from. Textiles and styles reveal a lot of technique and know-how as well as an artistic extravaganza in the haute-couture manner. What's most exciting is that all this is realized sotto voce. It is not about showing off. It's all about joy, finesse and intelligent realization. A game between high-tech and naturalness, approach and distance, anonymity and decoration offers so much space for staging, art, and surprise.

Below are just a few samples of some of their trends and to view more, go here.  You can also order their very reasonable Spring/Summer 2014 trend catalog and color card online, go here.

EDITORIAL VIA MUNICHFABRICSTART

SWEET FICTION
The clear yet soft style of the 50's and 60's, with a whiff of the high-tech, dictates this theme. Nostalgic, touristic images of these by-gone days inspire a new photo-realism. Technical influences such as see-through surfaces with tenderly changing colours or the direct reflections of sunbeams diffuse a soft, spheric atmosphere. A mixture of coolness and softness is created.

BUENOS DIAS MESSIAS
Gold – pomp and circumstance, folklore and culture, belief and superstition form the frame for a rich theme of elaborate refinement and patterning with styles and designs inspired by the Hispanic tradition. Everything is reduced, whether in colour, form or pattern. This forms an exciting combination of the tight fitting matador-style and the wide wraps of Zorro.

L.A. CODE
American coolness in clear forms appears with a mysterious anonymity. This leads to sex-appeal galore via perfectly figure-hugging shapes, transparencies and high varnish styles. Super-chic styles atomize Hollywood finesse. Clean agent-looks show pure elegance. 3-D perspectives and optical illusions are applied both in prints as well as in inserted cut-constructions.

ENGINEERED JUNGLE
Digital exotic as art: the calculated chaos of graphics, cuttings and pattern mixtures forms this theme. Nature is the main source of inspiration – whether utopian, free and painterly or realistic: the limits of art and fashion melt together. With the help of intelligent transformations of pixel-art and micro- or macro-zooming, this jungle of different worlds becomes modern.

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