BodySuit Project

Wednesday our bodysuit project for our body contour draping class was due.  I was beyond impressed with everyone's amazing job in completing these garments so beautifully from both a design and technical standpoint. 

the inspiration for my bodysuit

quick sketch of my bodysuit

final result! I dip dyed the stirrups, sleeve cuffs, and fringe with black dye to create a subtle ombre effect (it is difficult to see in these photos). 

back of the bodysuit

Sydney scuba diving inspired bodysuit (left) and mine (right)

The sportier bodysuits. 

JinJoo's incredible tailored bodysuit inspired by an actual suit.

Detail of JinJoo's

Yoshi's bodysuit inspired by the catching uniform in baseball

Christmas cookie given from our wonderful professor

Just a little something beautiful to share...

A friend of mine showed me this video of Milan and I wanted to share it with all of you.  It is a beautiful representation of Milan.  

http://vimeo.com/33976434

Field Trip to Turin

I am currently at Malpensa airport at 5 am waiting to board my flight home to Milwaukee for Christmas!!! I finally have some downtime to catch up on my blog.  A week or so ago  my class took a trip to the beautiful city of Turin to visit the incredible exhibition Fashion in Italy, 150 years of Elegance at La Veneria Reale, the famous restored ancient palace of the Savoy.  It was the largest resteration project in Europe and was completed in 2007.  Since it was opened it has become one of Italy's five most visited cultural sites.  And it certainly was.  We took a private bus 3 hours north to the city of Turin with my incredibly knowledgeable  History of Textiles instructor.  In the morning we toured the restored castle while my teacher filled us with all of the stories and history of the complex.  And after a nice lunch break where we wandered around the town, we went through the incredibly inspiring fashion exhibition.  It was so well done and gave us a wonderful understanding of what fashion really means to Italy from the beginning of the country until the present.  All in all it was a wonderful day:)

The outside of the palace

The beautiful snow tipped mountains

The palace was walled with portraits of the royal family.

A small part of the royal family tree.

A breathtaking hall in the palace.

My friend Kourtney looking fabulous in the grand hall.

One of the many quaint Italian streets in Turin.

Behind the palace on the walk to the famous gardens, 

A snapshot of my favorite decade int he exhibition, the 1920's. I cant even fathom how long it took to hand bead all of these beautiful dresses. 

Amsterdam

This past week Sydney and I took a trip to Amsterdam.  We had off of school on Wednesday because it is the feast of Saint Ambrogio, the patron saint of Milan.  On top of that, we had off on Thursday and Friday for the feast of the Immaculate Conception.  We decided to take advantage of this long weekend by taking a trip!  It was the best decision we could have  ever made.  The city of Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful and quaint cities I have ever been too.  The people of Holland are extremely nice and tourism seems to blend right into their culture rather than interrupting it.  They are so welcoming and eager to show you around their city.  We stayed at an amazing youth hostel called the Flying Pig Uptown.  Walking into the hostel felt like walking into summer camp.  There was a lounge/bar/common area downstairs where everyone would hang out.  The hostel was clean, organized, and filled completely with students like us from around the world.  Because it was about 6 degrees Celsius and rainy outside, we spent a bit of our time drinking hot chocolate and hanging out at the hostel.  It was a much needed relaxing 4 days where I was able to escape from school and stress and just enjoy myself and explore a new culture.  Get ready, there are a lot of pictures in this post...

Wandering around the beautiful streets of Amsterdam

We got stuck in the middle of a hail storm! It was so cold the entire time we were there.

One of the walls of the Flying Pig lounge area. All of the walls are decorated in art done by people who have stayed at the Flying Pig.

Standing on the street that our hostel was on. It reminded me a lot of the streets of New York

All of Amsterdam looked like a scene out of a Disney fairy tale.

Christmas Square!

Most amazing waffle EVER!  Amsterdam is famous for them.

Starbucks for the first time in 4 months!!

Night time was even more beautiful than day.  Amsterdam is filled with canals, a local told me that it sits on more water than Venice....

Outside the Van Gogh Museum, my favorite part of the trip! Unfortunately you could not take pictures inside the museum,  but click above and check out the website!  It was an incredibly inspiring museum. 

The Christmas decorations were incredible throughout the entire city. 

There is one canal in the Red Light District where tons of swans gather.  They can only be found in this one canal in Amsterdam. 

So many Bikes!!!!

They were beginning to decorate at the hostel for Christmas!

Art Nouveau Theater from the 1920's

Il Fine Settimana!

This weekend was so much fun I thought I would do a little post about it.  Friday, we took a field trip to Como for our History of Textiles class where we were able to see and learn about beautiful silks woven in Como from the 17th and 18h centuries.  It was a wonderful trip, and Lake Como is one of the most beautiful lakes in Italy.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera on the trip.  We arrived back from Como around 8 at night exhausted from the long day.  Sydney and I were tired, cold, and lethargic, until we walked up from the subway stop at Porta Genova to see that they turned on all of the hundreds of Christmas lights on over the canal!  It is the most magical thing.  Now i feel like Christmas time is really here!

The lights on our street, Via Pasquale Paoli

Christmas lights on the canal!

Roommate Christmas card potential?

Me and Jacki in Corso Como

Saturday we woke up and meet all of our friends from the program at the American style bagel shop down the road from us.  After eating a delicious bagel and cream cheese and slurping down a large hot American style coffee, we all headed to this amazing thrift store that Michael has been raving about for weeks.  It was such a blast.  This thrift store is in the basement of some random building but it is filled with hundreds of treasures.  Each of the 12 of us managed to do a bit of damage, but with prices from 5-10 euros we thought it was worth it! I will definitely be returning soon for more vintage sweaters and coats. 

Having a little fun dressing up at the thrift store.

Beautiful embroidered pillows we got for the apartment for only 3 euro a piece:)