Made in Brooklyn

Over the past few years I have been honing my craft for creativity in visual arts, merchandising and curation.  More specifically, for the past year or so I've been working more on tailoring and garment making.  My projects have taken me from dressmaking, to denim repair, repurposing leather, and accessories creation.

My latest work has been with handmade accessory pieces using different fabrics, including, denim, wool, leather and silk.  Though I will be creating items for sale soon, the main goal is to create quality items that I am proud to display and/or add to my wardrobe.  I find the experience of seeing your thoughts and ideas coming to fruition in the form of a product or good to be quite rewarding; even more so when you can be directly involved in every step of the creation from inception to conceptualization to the finished product.

For my latest endeavor, I decided to seek out fabrics to make the perfect scarf for a perfect winter day.  I thought of what feels good? looks good? and still keeps you warm.  That led me to marrying silk with wool.  Neither of these two fabrics was perfect on their own for the weather, but when combined together they are perfect.  Feel the silk against your skin and leave the wool fight the element.  The bordering edges that reveal the two fabrics in harmony creates beautiful luxe aesthetic.  The silk against your skin not only feels soothing but it insulates and regulates, to a certain extent, your body temperature allowing you to stay warm while not overheating.  The suiting wool that I sourced gives a very premium look to garment without losing the strength of the fabric to fend off the cold.  It's not much more to say about it, besides it is truly perfect for the season.

Have a look at a bit of the creative cut'n'sew process:

A good pair of scissors is clutch

steady hands are a plus...

...but not a necessity as long as you can sew cleanly.

always be sure to find the front-side of your silk before sewing

Classic Plaid

Understated Grey

Fin.

A Night with Jeff Koons!

The Whitney Museum of American Art is pretty popular on a Friday night! And rightly so, seeing as the policy of “pay-what-you-wish” is in effect. This particular evening, I went to see the JEFF KOONS: A RETROSPECTIVE 1978-NOW.

Going in, I didn’t know too much about the artist and I wasn’t prepared for a few things I saw. It’s not all shiny dogs and blow-up flowers! There are some cute, family friendly things to see and also a few adult-only pieces (you’ve been warned!)

There’s so much stuff, I don’t even know where to begin. So I’ll just highlight a few of my favorite pieces. From the Antiquity collection I fell in love with the Balloon Venus and the Pluto and Proserpina sculptures. Seeing these historical sculptures brought up to date in a modern medium and vibrant colors lends fresh perspective to a younger generation and also if replicated at about half the size would be welcomed additions to my room.

Balloon Venus (front)

Balloon Venus (back)

I also enjoyed the Made in Heaven collection; 1. for its openness, (the is the exhibit that isn’t for the kids) showing lovers in sexually explicit situations, literally and metaphorically. Reason 2. for the different mediums that were used there are large screen printed photographs, glass sculptures with splashes of color and polychromed wood. Oh! I can’t forget the random shaggy dogs, cats, butterflies and sparkly marble self-portrait busts.

In any case, when visiting this exhibit there is never a dull moment! You’ll see images that remind you of your childhood (superheroes and play-doh) and things that may remind you of summertime fun or your own mortality (inflatable bunnies and flowers). So, if you are in the NYC area or have plans to visit before October 19, 2014, I strongly encourage you to take some time to check it out.

If you'd like even more info on the artist, check out this fantastic link: Artsy.net - Jeff Koons

Pluto and Proserpina

-Amanda

Urban Exploration Day: Lower Manhattan to Staten

The day started with a trip to the National 9/11 Museum to see how the city and country has "respectfully" memorialized those who were lost during the tragic events on September 11, 2001. This was a free day sponsored by Conde Nast.  However, as in the spirit of all things free in New York City, it was first come, first served.  Upon arrival, Amanda and I were greeted to the news that the free tickets for admission were all spent and then that purchase tickets were sold out through Saturday; this was a Wednesday (typical in NYC for all things new and shiny).  After a few choice photo ops, we figured that  we'd try our luck at some other cultural explorations.

After a twisting and winding walk through the Financial District, we stopped to take in the site of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Customs House.  Housed inside of this National Historic structure is also the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of the American Indian (why they're called Indians is still bewildering to me and will be apart of a later rant). I personally did not enjoy much about this museum nor its location.  This is not to take a jab at the Native American culture; however, to me, the museum felt to be in very poor taste from the exhibits, to the historical location, and to a number of architectural details of the building.  I personally did not enjoy the visit, but check out my high/low-lights:

Beautiful symmetry in the main hall

Amanda taking it all in

Peering around corners

I didn't care for...

The exhibition's language..."beasts that talk"

Architectural details

Asia is contemplative...America is alert...Europe is majestic...Africa is asleep.

Moving along though...to mid-afternoon...

Still in lower Manhattan, and finding that we still had an entire day of beautiful weather ahead of us, I decided that we should really be tourists and hop on the Staten Island Ferry.  The ferry service runs 24 hours and day and is completely free.  It's a hit with tourists for that reason and because it offers some truly unparalleled views of lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, Jersey City and the New York Harbour in general.  The trip is about 15 to 20 minutes and is a perfect way to beat the heat--the breeze is nice and so are the libations that are available for the after work crowd or just the casual day drinkers parched from waiting every half hour to board.

Check out a few shots from aboard the John F. Kennedy ferry:

New York vs. New Jersey (so close but yet so far)

Amanda enjoying the breeze

Lower Manhattan

The obligatory tourist shot (first time seeing the front of the Statue of Liberty)

Upon arriving on Staten Island, we were faced with the question of, "what do we do now?"  In our typical urban exploration we hit the pavement to take in the sights, sounds, and diverse terrains of the borough.  Visually Staten Island looks like a conglomeration of working class neighborhoods with differing levels of diversity and affluence.  It does not have that central downtown area that you find in Brooklyn and Manhattan or even Flushing, Queens to a certain extent.  The terrain is harsh and unforgiving, with very steep hills not fit for biking up (I learned that the hard way later) and hills not safe for riding down without adequate braking mechanisms dotting the interior of the landscape.  Despite the density as is the case in all boroughs of New York City, Staten Island offers a much more "suburbanized" lifestyle, especially on the far side of the island than any other borough.

After a stop in a Stapleton neighborhood public park we decided to venture to the other side of the island via the (mostly) free Staten Island Railroad, a subway styled partially elevated heavy rail line that cuts clear across the island from one waterfront to the other at Totenville station.

Less crowded streets in Staten

Catching a breather in the park

 

Skies over Stapleton

Pause to change trains...

Upon arrival at our final destination...

Totenville Station

We met the sunset over New Jersey

Had to do it for the 'gram

Something like picture perfect

Sailing seashells by the seashore...

As the sun made it's departure, so did we...a day well done.  Until next time...Adieu!

Free Weekend Things To Do in NYC courtesy of Complex Magazine

Every week (I believe) Complex Magazine (do they still do the actual print magazine?? *shrugs*) online releases a guide to "The Coolest Free Things to Do in NYC This Weekend"

Albeit one day after payday and rent was due this past week as suggested by the preface of the Complex list, I paid rent two weeks early so funds for leisure are disposable at this time (pardon me while I pat myself on the back). I peeped this list Saturday morning around 10:30am so with Friday lost I challenged Amanda to help me fill up our weekend schedule and tackle remainder the list of things to do that were available for Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday @ 2pm: Union Square Walking Tour

First things first with any tour in a big city, it's important to stay together.  To facilitate that, we thought it'd be easy to stay together if we rocked matching t-shirts (don't judge us!)

The shirts were especially designed by Amanda herself.  I'm a fan of her work.

The tour itself was surprising. I thought with a scheduled 90 minute tour we'd be scouring the surrounding neighborhood, but it was literally a tour around the park grounds themselves, but it was very informative and entertaining thanks in part to our guide, Gregory.

Check out my list of most interesting facts learned:

- Although America won the American Revolutionary War, the battle of New York City was actually lost to the British in 1783 and the city was not freed until awhile later.

- Evacuation Day (look it up)

- The first ever statue of Lincoln was placed in Union Square Park

- "Ladie's Mile"[double entendre] (look it up) is an interesting study in gentrification, socioeconomics, and urban studies; if you're interested in that kind of thing. 

- Finally learned why the Frenchman, Lafayette's name is plastered all across America. (Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette)

- 

Selected images from the tour:

Approximately 4pm: The Museum at F.I.T.

After a short subway ride up Broadway and a stop in the only stateside Maison Kitsuné boutique (which I had no idea was on 28th street), which is my latest obsession in all many things French, we made our way to our next destination on the New York campus of the Fashion Institute to check out one of their museum's latest exhibits entitled "Beyond Rebellion: Fashioning the Biker Jacket?

Photography was not allowed in the exhibit, of course I didn't care and it rows it anyway but I couldn't cleverly hit the shutter button my phone before the security personnel noticed my not so stealthy mannerisms.

Sorry, best I could do...

Sunday @ 10:15ish am: A Brooklyn Area Subway Station

After a night of partying into the morning, it's always nice to wake up early and take a one hour train ride that I thought would be closer to 35 minutes uptown to 59th Street and Columbus Circle. Nevertheless we made the journey arriving fashionably late.

11:15ish am: Cooking with Spring Produce at Williams-Sonoma

Long story short, we got some valuable recipes and I actually have a new found slight admiration for green peas, but only when they're fresh and blanched (I learned how to Blanche vegetable...quite bourgeois). I also learned how to properly butcher a chicken...no more buying boneless breasts at the grocery store for me...whole birds only!

they even provided a nice dessert option

After this session of standing and then browsing for cookware that we honestly didn't need, but would be fun to have, we decided to break away from our Complex schedule and pick up a nice Belgium brunch at BXL East.

Bottomless mimosas on a Sunday, don't mind if I do....

Despite missing a few things on the list that we really did plan to do, star-gazing in Central Park (celestial stars, not people with their heads in the clouds due to celebrity) and the Pratt Institute's feature exhibition, "Black Dress..." Highlighting underrepresented African-American fashion designers.  

At the end of the day, it was a fun weekend and you really can't beat free. Complex's weekend guides will definitely keep me checking my emails on time.