Inspiration

I'm a Huge fan of Flickr, and this is why.  This is a sampling of my favorite photos from other crafty folks.  It's what's inspiring me for the 2011 collection.  Some of these are projects I'd like to try, some of it is just eye candy.

Recently I've been especially inspired by photo#4.  As I'm here in Bangladesh checking on our production I've been using my evenings to crochet.  Any time I have and any where I am I will crochet.. It's my little bliss moment.

 1. Tulle dress, 2. Untitled, 3. Milk Butter & Eggs, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. Linen bundle, 7.brick_quilt, 8. The Guardian, 9. IceMilk Aprons - Whisked Whipping Cream (Front), 10. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!, 11. Hip hippos baby booties, 12. Desk, 13. liberty-lined baby kimono, 14.Untitled, 15. 300, 16. Linen covered buttons, 17. adele, 18. embroidered elephant pull toy , 19. Sleepy sheep, 20. My favorite quilt, 21. Untitled, 22. preparing..., 23. placemat, 24. My collection of Vintage wallpaper, 25. a small miracle...

To Tokyo, With Love

Japan began to emulate Western fashion during the middle of the 19th century. Tokyo is considered to be the most costly city in the world. 

But it’s sooooooo worth it!

Ever since I was in grade school and learned about Geisha, I’ve been obsessed with Japanese culture. I'm totally in love with Japan, from cooking to furniture and interior design, from the latest fashion design to traditional crafts, textiles and art.   Everything fascinates me!

For me Japanese women are the most beautiful women in the world not to mention they are insanely fashionable too.  I’ve seen in numerous blogs them wearing unique and trendy outfits and photographers taking full advantage of combining them in the decorative streets of Tokyo.  But to see the intermingling of the two trends happen in front of your own eyes is priceless.

Japanese people are absolutely amazing in their sense of style. Their art culture, type of figure and dark hair allows them to mix styles as far as their fantasy can be and it looks stunning. 

They take European design or fashion and bring it up to perfection in each detail -that's what I think the Japanese fashion is.
  This is also why I’ve decided to make the theme for our Fall/winter collection to be Tokyo through my eyes. I say my eyes because my approach is in no way to take pictures of street style and be inspired, I’ve decided to focus more on the little things.

Learning Japanese would be very interesting indeed, the script itself has a sort of illustrative charm to me. I find it graphically a masterpiece. 

One of my Professors when I was in school help me grow my obsession with Japanese culture even further when she introduced me to Japanese craft books.  I find craft books to be the most inspiring for Creative insight.  Japanese books especially are so simple that the fine detailing always shows through.  It's almost refreshing to flip through the books.  

So one of the first things I did when I arrived to Tokyo was hunt down every craft book shop I could find.  

I found a Book of masking tape.  It has the usual Japanese care for graphic details, colors and size. It contains a series of wonderful delicate pictures of masking tape, used in different ways, a brief history, mentions of Japanese artists, a list of Japanese brands and shops carrying them, and a useful color chart at the end of the book.

I think a filled one luggage alone with books.  From the books I collected here's some of my favorites that I scanned just for you.

I am completely in love with every single pattern. It's the perfect mix of sweet, not too cute/not too serious, folksy, happy, and just plain ol' cool. These are all so amazing. And I also like this dark bloody color of red for the embroidery. What beautiful photography! It's so impossible to photograph these items. This way is perfect. Each of these photos not only show detail but also gives a sense of movement.

Coterie NYC 2010

We were accepted into Coterie!

As a new line it's very difficult to be accepted into Coterie and we were sure sweating this one.  Especially because we showed them our collection at the very last second.  GREAT success because they LOVED the line!

 Coterie is a trade show for fashion and, being a brand new line, we want all the Majors (department stores) and boutiques to see/buy our collection. We were perfectly  put with our New York reps and soooo we sold sold sold!  

Coterie is a well respected venue - it’s a juried acceptance to the show - so I’m thrilled that we not only made it in but we also made excellent sales. After all, making the clothing is fun but it's even more fun to sell them!

Coterie is different than Project show because this time you have the freedom to decorate and design your own booth.  The booth's are small but I wanted to design to give the perfect feeling of this collection.  I worked for 4 hours creating stripe borders out of vintage gift wrapping paper and put our logo in a giant frame I found that looks like drift wood.  I am definitely a crafter at heart!

Directives West (Directives West is the West Coast merchandising consulting division of The Doneger Group.) just came by and picked 8 outfits for their fashion show! The Show will happen in Mid October so stay tuned!

oh mon dieu!

I’m finally getting around to posting a trip report about one of the best fabric shows in the world, Première Vision, annnnd I added a little something above for Paris. The main show, the one I attended was in Paris but satellite shows are held in NY, Moscow, Shanghai and Tokyo.

The show is comprised of six different areas, described as “events”. These were Première Vision (fabrics), Expofil (fibers), Le Cuir à Paris (leathers and furs), Indigo (textile design and production), ModAmont (trims and hardware) and Zoom (production sourcing). If you’re interested in sourcing the show from here, you can access the exhibitor’s list for any show here. Most of the show guides are here (click for other guides: ModAmont & Zoom). However, if you go to each individual site, you may get a better exhibitor’s list. For example, the leather show site offers a pop up window option that includes exhibitor’s website information, saving you the bother of searching for those exquisite Italian leathers you’ve been dying to find. Keep in mind that information is always in rotation and links will expire. As the exhibitor’s list fills out for upcoming shows, information from this last show will be removed and you’ll have to wait until after whichever next show to get complete information.

Obviously the array of products and services to see is dizzying. Thankfully, the ambience was not. No no. Unlike any tradeshow I’ve attended in the US, the atmosphere was sublime. I linked to the definition so you know I mean exactly that. The floor was quiet and comfortably covered in padded carpet. The lighting was not harsh, most booths were surrounded on all sides with five foot partitions so any competing garishness they may have had, was contained within. There was no music blaring. It was -in my opinion- a tasteful environment designed to conduct serious business, not a wild party with competing signage, noise and smells which can overwhelm oculary, olfactory and auditory senses. Succinctly, the polar opposite of something like Project. Heh.

I obviously can’t tell you about everything I found (did I mention I found some French pattern making books?) but I did find this very cool zipper company I wanted to mention. Most zipper suppliers knock each other off and spice things up with some colors and trims and call it good but this firm -KCC Zipper- is zipper crazy; they’ve done a lot of innovation in engineering, applications and styling. I don’t even know where to start but you can by looking under special. How about zipper tape in lace trim patterns designed to be sewn to the outside of a garment rather than being hidden in a seam? How about a built in hook and eye at the top of the tape? Or a “double teethed” zipper with zipper teeth on the edges of the tape (fun applications)? Zippers with multiple sliders? No problem. Are you looking for unusual tapes such as transparent or invisible tape, velvet, 100% cotton, stretch or tapes designed for sweaters you can get knitting needles or a crochet hook into? How about tiny doll sized zippers? It’s all there and I’m totally inspired.

In particular, I was impressed by the French vendors for their prints.  I saw one that was Dutch which I didn’t even know Holland did textiles!

For quality fabrics at a good price by far the Turkish vendors won that race.  They have the most amazing qualities for pants and jackets.  As For knits Japan has beautiful designs and simple melange knits.  I was attracted the most to the low GSM single jerseys that are to die for, buuuut the prices are so high that a tear left my eyes as I walked out of the booth.  Another great little fact about Premiere vision is that China is not permitted to show, so you really get to see fabrics that are not so saturated in the market.  There is another show that goes on in a separate venue that is mostly china and lower-end fabrics which is called Texworld.

Above all, I loved the antique zipper. I’ve never seen anything like this. They gave me one but it disappeared. Personally I think someone took it from my luggage, although everyone that knows me would attest. I coveted that thing and minded it closely. This zipper is recreated from a 100 year old zipper. It is quite beautiful and distinctive. I believe this class of zipper is largely unknown, even on the internet. Which is why I’m determined to get some sent to our office so I can make samples with it! I can't wait till all the headers arrive to the office!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.. or not

Jeff Candido & Jason Hoff... You probably have no idea who these guys are but I'm sure you've heard the title of this blog post a million times.  These words above are what defines Las Vegas, but I have to disagree!

Las Vegas is where R.P.S went from being 130 samples to an actual collection. 

For those of you not in the Contemporary Market this is called the "MAGIC trade show." Which is a bit of a misstatement; usually one mean’s they're attending a range of shows not all held under the same roof.  R.P.S Addict falls into the "Project Show" category in which is located in Mandalay Bay Hotel.

This show is ideally suited for a trendier crowd with denim lines, leather jackets, premium tees, accessories or other products selling to a younger crowd. It’s set up in such a way that all booths (other than the really huge lines like GSTAR, Superdry, Vivienne Westwood etc) are facing out on the aisle. 

The set up for Project is to give off the “cool”, hip Vibe.  Compared to the other shows we have throughout the year this one is definitely the most active. It is a beautiful show, open, spacious, lovely decor with amenities such as free internet access from laptops set up on islands complete with seating and free water. This year they had a black Modern look mixed with forest animals and farming equipment (no idea why).  

RPS fit perfectly in the Sea of Denim and Tee shirt lines.  We really stood out in a good way to a point where buyers walked in without being lured.  It was such a feeling of relief to see that our hard work paid off and that buyers shared the same love for our brand as we do. Thank you to everyone who came by our Booth!

This is right after Fred Segal wrote an order! Here's a little preview of what you will be seeing in their stores in February 2011!

Full view of the Booth looking from the men's side.

RPS has arrived...

This is the official RPS blog, an eye-candy showcase devoted to the pursuit of brilliance in every aspect.   RPS blog spotlights our daily delights, illustrious inspiration and present-day projects.  RPS team is here to applaud creativity, adore visual drama and delight in the good life.