Sunday, October 25, 2009

ALL ORIGINAL KIMBO GARMENTS








All modeled by my beautiful girlfriend Florelisa De Jesus

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

UPDATE! ADVENTURES OF A 20YR OLD FASHION DESIGNER

Ok, it has been a long time since my last blog. I believe it has been many months. So much has changed since I last blogged. I am officially the Associate Designer for ANNE BOWEN (http://www.annebowen.com). This past Sunday, the 18th, at the Plaza Hotel we had the second ANNE BOWEN BRIDAL show. Let me just tell you what adventure I went through in order to make this show possible. From adventures at local factories to beaded pieces coming in and not coming in from India it has been a long educating road. For the show, which we put together in a matter of a month and a half, it came out pretty damn good. Running to factories, negotiating, being cursed at by crazy korean factory workers finally paid off and we got some amazing press from it. I spent my days putting together beaded patterns which I sent out, and of course the prime piece my pride and joy did not come in until the day after the show. On the bright side, the piece was shown to Mark Ingram, the man in Bridal sales, (http://bridalatelier.blogspot.com/) and the staff went gaga over it. It is hilarious to me what goes into these pieces and what one has to go through in order to show these pieces to the stores, and make them look flawless and effortless. When I look at each piece, all I see is the amount of work and headache and stress that went into each piece. for example, showing a piece that was completely encrusted with pearls for market appointments; they see a beautiful, glamourous piece, I see me yelling at a factory in India making sure they ship it on time, and staying up until about midnight. This is an inside look of what my job consists of.

While juggling this Bridal collection, we had to put together a ready-to-wear collection. I sent multiple techpacks to a what seemed to be a "reliable source" and they screwed us over. I don't know if I should be talking about this, but it is the raw truth. The amount of work and obstacles that one goes through is really an interesting learning experience. I completed the graphics for linings of coats and remade techpacks in order to have the spring 2010 collection actually be presentable. The man who took the techpacks to have them made in China, 5 weeks ago, kept stringing us along telling us they can do whatever we needed. About two weeks ago, when Spring market week came along and we did not have anything, I had to take action. I called and called and of course he did not answer my phone calls or emails. So what did I do? I called from a restricted number and he finally picked up. I yelled at him, and he finally admitted he could not do that kind of work. I called his superior he admitted he did not send anything when it was due. They apologized profusely and I almost made a 60 year old man who manufactures in China for big companies cry. What has my life become?

On another note, I am currently applying for admission into the Spring 2010 at the Fashion Institute of Technology. So my life will only get more hectic.

STAY TUNED