Yves Saint Laurent

Photo from the worldinacloset.blogspot.com

Photo from telegraph.co.uk

If I have to choose one designer who is dead, it has to be Yves Saint Laurent. 

Yves Saint Laurent was born in Oran, Algeria on August 1, 1936. At the age of seventeen, he received the first prize of the International Wool Secretariat for a sketch of a cocktail dress and after a year, he was offered a position by Christian Dior. Yves worked as an assistant to Dior until the death of Dior in 1957. After the death, Yves was promoted to chief designer at the house of Dior and he remained in the position creating collections of artistic designs. Unfortunately, he was drafted for military service in Algeria and Marc Bohan, a former assistant of Dior, became the artistic director. Yves once went through a hard time with anxieties with medications, alcohol and drugs. 

In 1962, he established the fashion house of Yves Saint Laurent Couture together with Pierre Bergé, and presented his first collection which was a major success. Later on in 1966, he opened a ready-to-wear- fashion boutique and that was a revolution in the world of fashion.

When I watched a movie/documentary,Yves Saint Laurent: the life story of the man who re-imagined women's fashion, I found sincerity and originality in his eyes. I like the way he spoke, dealt with people, and engrossed in design.

A woman in a suit with a cigarette will always evoke the Yves Saint Laurent look and his work will remain as a legacy.


"Fashion is like a party.
Gettinig dressed is preparing to play a role. 
I'm not a couturier,
I'm a craftsman, a maker of happiness"
(Teboul 2002).

Werle, Simone. "Yves Saint Laurent." 50 fashion designers you should know. Munich: Prestel, 2010. 64,65,66,67. Print.

"Home : Berg Fashion Library." Home : Berg Fashion Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 June 2013. <http://bergfashionlibrary.com/>.

Alexander McQueen Resort 2014

Photos from: Style.com

These are my picks from Alexander McQueen Resort 2014 collection. I love everything in this collection but one of my favourites has to be the full-on denim look. Different wash denim patches are what drew my attention and it's the denim on denim look. Details are the pocket accents and short sleeves on both the trousers and the jacket and finishing the look with a belt. 

Details that stand out are pop-up pockets, belts, and feminine shoulder sleeves. Main colours are brown, cream, white, camel and blue. Layering look can be seen throughout the collection: a white dress underneath a wide blue dress shirt and a white dress underneath a cream coloured coat showing only the end of the dress. Big clutch bags are another key items being shown throughout the Resort collection. 

TWISIX

This is a trend board that I did for Colour Theory class in April 2013. The theme of the trend board is the 1960's fashion and zeitgeist. TWISIX is a combination word of Twiggy and the Sixties. The main theme of the 1960's was boyish silhouette, PVC fabric, mini skirts and A-line dresses. TWISIX has two 'I's that confines a letter S for S body figure. Therefore, TWISIX represents freedom, and youth. 

I played with the shape of the Pantone colour chips and came up with triangles instead of squares or rectangles. Together with the pictures, the entire board has a balance and the shapes draw attention. 

As much as I love putting pictures together on a board manually, I have been into using Pinterest lately. It allows me to post pictures, and videos and sort them into different categories. It takes much less time than printing out pictures, cutting and pasting them. The only thing that needs to be fixed or updated is a function to switch pins(pictures) on a board so it looks more organized and polished. 

Not Brand New but Still Good Old Items

About a month ago, I visited Value Village to find a vintage denim piece for my Trend Analysis and Product Development class. Before coming to Canada, I had no idea that I had to pay money for "old clothes". For me, if I had to wear "old clothes", they were either from my brother that were unisex enough that I could wear or clothes from my relatives. They were free ! It was no question for me that I go shopping, purchase new clothes, wear them and hand them down or donate them to someone in need until I went to Value Village and picked out two clothing pieces: a long-sleeve denim dress shirt and a knitted dress.

I went through each aisle and checked every single clothes in my size and picked out almost 15 clothing pieces that I thought I could wear. I narrowed them down to 4 and had a hard time choosing only 2 out of them. The reason why I chose 2 was because they were pretty expensive considering that they were not new. I did not want to spend close to $50 on 4 pieces of clothes. However, now I think about it, I want to go back and just buy them. It's for a good cause anyway.

The surprising thing that I learned from this visit was I can find good quality clothing from Value Village and still make them look good on me. It is okay to wear something that somebody else wore. One more thing that I value is that when I wear clothes from Value Village, I'm wearing people's stories and histories.

The most important thing that matters is not how much money you paid for your clothes but how can you pull them off and make them look great.

Model Comp Card