Hello, Autumn!

I may be a bit early here, but I'm really excited for the end of summer. This may be against the wishes of the rest of the blog world, but I am ready for cool weather, pretty layered clothes, gray drizzly days, comfort food, and the absolutely gorgeous displays of fall leaves. Growing up in New Mexico, fall lasted approximately one week and leaves generally skipped the bright colors going straight to brown and falling. But here in Eugene, Oregon, autumn lasts for months and is pretty much perfect. The winter rains are still interspersed with golden sunny days, and the foliage is beyond anything I had ever seen in my life. The colors!

Basically, I'm really excited for October already. But though the days are cooling off and the sun is lower in the sky, summer is still clinging to the Northwest. I am fine with this as it gives me more time for my current project, a wardrobe redesign. I am still in the early stages of this project, but will post much more as I go along, but wanted to establish the ground rules for myself and any who are curious.

I have some experience and training as a costume designer and ever since my first official project when I was about 15 I have applied what I know as a stage designer to my daily life and wardrobe. Currently I am attempting to streamline and beef up my wardrobe using the principles of costuming to create a slew of options that can be easily mixed and matched but always create a look that I define as characteristically me. I'm hoping this will eliminate the whole "I've got nothing to wear" problem, and finally force me to get rid of those items that live in the closet purge after purge because I might just wear it soon.

Anyways, all these ramblings are to say that I am in the first stage -- design and inspiration. Accordingly I am immersing myself in the clothes and people that I hope to emmulate. Step one: Rewatch Pushing Daisies, Penelope, Love Actually (specifically Laura Linney's character), Amelie, and so on with an eye to costumes. During viewing (with some fast-forwarding between costume changes), I'll make notes and sketches (and screen grabs) of those looks I really love, and determine basic shapes, silhouettes, and color palettes. I'll be sure to post more from this process as I have more tangible results...


Images originally found here and here