Introducing a new segment of the blog, the Bow Jacket Round Up. At the end of each production week I am going to give a round up of the Bow jackets from that week and the inspo behind them! Here are the jackets from production week 1
Bow Jacket No. 92
With the new administration's goals and executive orders since they have been in office I have been thinking a lot about gender. The inspiration behind this color story is the black and white thinking about gender from this government. But it is not just the government it is our culture. It is interesting all the things we have put in place to make sure gender stays in distinct categories. To place colors against genders is a wild concept to me. I wanted the first colorway back to come out with a bang and this combination came to me the morning I woke up to make the next jacket. I think it will set the tone for many things that will come out of my work this year. Blue + Pink, I love them in combination together. Bow Jacket No. 92
Bow Jacket No. 93
This jacket I actually designed and pinned out in the end of January. My hands were hurting and I couldn't sew again yet but I had just come back from NYC with all this stripe ribbon and I couldn't wait to start playing with it. When I was in NYC I went back to the garment district which I hadn't been since I lived there, 7 years ago. I was planning to go trim shopping while I was there because that was one of my favorite parts of fashion school. I went to Parsons School of Design and the fashion campus was located right in the garment district so you shopped for all of your supplies the same places the 7th avenue designers were shopping too. It was always a treasure hunt because the stores were hidden in plain sight, very iykyk, that is my fav way to shop. When I was there in Jan I saw on tik tok one of the bigger trim stores was going out of business and having crazy ribbon sales. I went there and was reminded of the quality of goods, such nice gros grains. I also love to touch and feel to decide to purchase. My solid ribbons I order online but it took me lots of sample ordering to find the right supplier and they also are an apparel trim supplier but in New Jersey, lots of supplies there too. I stocked up on especially different stripe ribbon, I love how vintage varsity it feels against the bold solids. They have a special sheen as well. The garment district is definitely dwindling and this trim store closure very much showed that, the way clothes are made is always changing. I really like making everything myself and one of the reasons is the closer to home I make things the faster I can drop them, every step of the manufacturing process that is farther from home adds time and travel. Bow Jacket No. 93
Bow Jacket No. 94
I use color to express myself in many ways. One of the inspirations behind the Bow Jacket in general is how important color is to wear. It can brighten your mood, it can signal things, you can stand out in a crowd, especially in a one of a kind colorway. I like putting the color on top of a jacket that is meant to blend in and stay in order. Being part of the queer community color is very important. This is a take on the lesbian flag colors. I like that this is a cool colorway you could wear if you want to use those colors to signal that in a bold way, but hidden in plain sight to those that do not speak the same language. But it is also just a lovely colorway so you can also just like those colors together and wear it because of that. Color is what you want it to mean. Bow Jacket No. 94