The switch to the city

When I found out I was going to NYC for the summer, I promised myself I’d make a blog to keep in touch with everyone, and to look back on after I left. Two weeks later, I’m getting around to it!

For those who don’t know me, I’m a fashion addict. I’m a senior fashion design student at Kent State University. I love shoes. I grew up in Jamestown NY, a smallish town outside of Buffalo, where art and fashion are just not a high priority.

This summer I’m in NYC interning at BurdaStyle (you can find them at http://www.burdastyle.com). It’s my first time ever staying in the big apple, and its definitely worth all the fuss. Thank you, Coat’s and Clark, for giving me this experience!

I bet you were wondering how I scored this sweet opportunity (whether you were or not, I’m going to tell you). KSU has a lot of great competitions and clubs that students are encouraged to participate in. One of them was sponsored by Coat’s and Clark and various others companies. The challenge was to take 3 yards of mismatched fabric and trim and make a beautiful outfit from it. The catch: you have 16 hours. GO!

Now you can imagine what I thought when I got handed 3 yards of naked girls, mermaids, squids, and fish fabric, and studded leather trim. After talking with my mom, who always has some creative genius, I was able to come up with a simple baby doll style dress. I started patternmaking and realized that my dress was entirely too short for anyone except a very, very short person to wear. So I did what I do best- fudged it a little. I added a band under the bust to give it more length. But what to do with the trim… I decided to cut it from 3 studs wide, to 1, leaving extra leather strips. Then it came to me! How could I not do something AWESOME with leather. I cut it into small pieces, wide enough to cover the band under the bust. Voila! Cool leather detail (even if it had to be hot glued on for lack of leather needles and time) Here’s how it turned out-

The prize (obviously) was my internship this summer!!

Even though I’m excited to be here, it is a BIG change from Kent, or Jamestown. At school, I know I can come home whenever I want (yay for having a car!), whereas here, I know I can’t here. I’m already pretty homesick. I talk to my mom at least once a day, and my boyfriend, Nick, at least 3 or 4 times. To add to it, I missed my dad’s birthday, my sister Ashley’s dance recital, and father’s day, and I’m missing my brother, Spencer’s high school graduation and grad party. All these exciting things are happening without me, but I guess its worth this amzing, (hopefully) life changing opportunity.

Anyhow, enough rambling for one night. Us grown ups have to go to work in the morning!! 😉