Time to Wrap it Up!!

It's my last day in China! Yippee!! Well, until I come back on the 15th anyway. ;)

Ana (Jill Stuart designer) and I stayed late last night finishing details and correcting samples while the other designers went and had a lovely Italian dinner.

...oh well.

OMG! Funny story... So Ana and I got to the hotel late last night and I had the key in my back pocket. Well, I guess I had sat on it at some point and it broke in half. So my dumb ass tries to stick in the half with the microchip in the slot anyway. Bad idea.

So the key half is stuck inside the key slot but a piece is sticking out. So Ana goes for her tweezers to pull the piece out but NoooOOoOO... I have to go and stick the other half in to jam the thing up. Why?? I don't know.

Now we're screwed. We go to the information desk and we try to tell the girl what happened, but I don't speak Chinese and she, of course, doesn't speak English so I sort of gesture to her- KEY...BREAK... BREAK (as if I speak slow and loud she'll get it)

"prease waitamoment"

Ok... so I go sit down on the floor in front of our room with Ana.

The lady comes back, stares at the door and then "prease waitamoment" again.

It was WAY more than a moment.

We're just sitting there waiting... la la la.... when Ana gets a brilliant idea!

"Vat if vee had superrrrglue!" (Russian accent)

"Ohmigod! Brilliant! Do you have any??"

"... vell, no"

"oh."

But then another brilliant idea...

"I do have zis wax stuff for my teef. Vee can stickit on za card and zen pull out the other half!"

"YES! Ok, gimmie!"

Ok, so that didn't work so well. Back to sitting on the floor. That's when we decided that this would be a funny moment if we were doing a reality TV show about shoe designers in China. Ana's idea. I'm telling you, she's a genius. I mean if Dion Sanders can get a show...

Anyway, so finally a handyman came and took our door apart and looked pretty annoyed with us. We ordered room service and called it a night.

That is the most excitement I had in China. :)

Barack Obama Sneakers by Van Taylor

Together with his election campaign, Barack Obama's face has been featured on flags, t-shirts, and many other things.

Now, he's in red, white and blue custom Air Force One sneakers that features Obama's face along with inspiring campaign slogans such as “Yes We Can” and “Change.”. Van Taylor created the sneakers in support of Barack Obama’s race for the White House. Ten percent of proceeds from the sale of the shoes will benefit Obama’s campaign for president.

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Victoria's Secret Model Miranda Kerr in Gran Canaria Moda Calida 2008 show

Victoria's Secret Model and Orlando Bloom's girlfriend, Miranda Kerr, showed up in swimsuit after swimsuit on the runway during a fashion show in Gran Canaria, Spain last Sunday.

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Time to Detail...

Soooooooo, it's finally come down to my last few days in China which means its time to detail my line. That means I get these things called detail sheets with pictures of each shoe on them. I tell them what leather or fabric I want for each style. I detail the upper, the trims, the sock, the heel, the outsole... every little detail. It's super tedious and a little overwhelming, but it has to be done.

It's funny cause it's both my favorite and least favorite part of designing. It's where your shoe becomes something real. It goes from prototype to actual real shoe! ;)

US Vogue July 2008 Issue: Adult Education

The following photos were included in US Vogue's July 2008 Issue. This gallery was called Adult Education (photographed by David Sims) for it displays the freshest fashion trends from your favorite fashion designers. I think Daria Werbowy & Raquel Zimmermann poses in these pictures were funny.

Click here to view the rest of the gallery...

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This is a Last...

For those of you who don't know, this is called a last. It's the base for the shape of the shoe. Kind of like a mold of a foot. plus added room for shape. For every different shoe there is a different last, no matter how slight the difference may be.

Lasts are made one of two ways... expensive shoes have custom lasts made by last makers, or "modelistas". For those brands who can't afford custom designed lasts, or who are just not fashion forward enough to lead the way in shoe shapes- lasts are copied.

We as designers go out to the market and we shop for shapes that we love. If it's a wedge or a heel or a pump or whatever, we buy it and send it to China to have a mold made of it.

If its an entire shoe shape we want, they pour a sort of hardening liquid into the shoe and it makes the shape. Then, the last maker refines it and tries to make it as close to the original as he can. When we see it we'll sometimes tweak it a little to make it our own. It's all a crazy involved process. Same goes for copying heels. A heel maker will make a wooden carving to match the original shape and when we OK it, they will send it out to have plastic molds made for mass production.

After the last is to our liking, we start to make shoes on them. Pattern makers take the last and develop the upper patterns according to the shape and measurements of the last, along with standard measurements for footwear. Then, they cut the leather, send it to the sewers, then the sewers hand all the pieces to the lasters, and they "last" the shoe. Which means taking the upper and stretching and nailing/gluing the upper to the last. then the bottom is attached and the last is slipped out. Then your foot goes where the last was.

I hope this is all making sense?

They bring the shoe to me, usually in groups, and a fit model with standard measurements comes in and tries on the shoes. I then adjust the patterns to make the shoes look and fit the way they are supposed to. The shoe I posted yesterday was a "first proto" which is the roughest proto. You can see my notes on the shoe. I corrected the top line of the shoe with masking tape. You can see the new line I want cause it was too low before. Then you can see that I am making the two straps a little wider and curvier. I am also changing the last that this shoe is on to make the toe shape a little wider since this is for a junior brand. This shoe is cute the way it sits, but I think it's a little too sexy for our girl. I will probably see 3 or 4 protos of this shoe before approving it.

Crazy, right? This is what I do.

Let's Follow a Sample...

Ok... so this is what I'm doing in China.

First, you make a sketch...

Then you color it up and send it to China...

Then comes the first prototype...

Next come the corrections. I'll keep you posted :)

Torrential Downpour...

So as you've all heard, I'm sure... there's a big ol typhoon hitting Southern China (me) right now. It's pretty scary sometimes, but I think it's supposed to be on it's way out.

"From June 6 to 16, nine provinces in the country's east, south and southwest had experienced torrential rain, leaving 63 people dead, 13 missing and 1.6 million people displaced, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs." China News

The crappiest part about it is that we were in the middle of moving our office over the new office right in the middle of it. So basically, I've been here for 4 days and I've been sitting on my ass... waiting. I have 55 shoes to see, correct, and detail before I leave. Yikes.

So... since I'm here with a whole lot of waiting to do- is there anything you guys wanna see or know about? Now's the time to ask...

Tokyo to China

Tokyo was awesome, although pretty hard to take in in only 2 days. I hoped to see more of those awesome "Harajuku girls" in costumes. You know, like in that Fruits magazine? The weather was pretty bad so maybe that was to blame? Anyway, the shopping in Harajuku was pretty amazing. Suuuuuuper expensive, but cute. It was weird though, it was like cheap looking American style clothing that cost $80 a t-shirt.

Something I didn't expect though was the terrible shoes! We noticed that about 95% of all the girls had ill-fitting or just plain ugly shoes. It was so weird. They were either too big or too small. Plus, it seemed that nobody knew how to walk in heels. So funny.

OMG! Get this- our first day we went to Starbucks and ran into two designers from Roxy that live in Huntington and totally know my hubby! Talk about small world, huh? So crazy.

Now I'm in China to really work. :( We're in a new office and it's like 5x bigger than the old one. Plus, no rats so far so thats good. Haha.

Julianne Moore and Michael Phelps in Disney's Year Of A Million Dreams "Fantasea"

Maybe you have already seen this recent photo which was released some time in April from Disney's Year of a Million Dreams portfolio.

This photo is called Fantasea and inspired by my favorite Disney character, Ariel of The Little Mermaid. Actress Julianne Moore portrayed the beloved heroine and World Champion swimmer Michael Phelps became a merman. Ariel sits on a rock under the sea while mermen and a mermaid swim by.

This photo was taken by Annie Leibovitz and captioned with “Where another world is just a wish away”.

P.S. I just can't resist the idea of posting this image in this blog.

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Nicole Kidman on Vogue's Cover for July 2008 Issue

Vogue's July issue features Nicole Kidman on the cover in lieu of her upcoming Luhrmann film "Australia". The said issue includes 8 large glossy images by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz.

The interview for the cover story was entitled "Days of Heaven" that candidly details an on set visit by Vogue reporter John Powers, as he had an intimate interview with, a heavily pregnant, Nicole Kidman discussing child baring, the Australian heat, her amazing co-star Hugh Jackman and crew visionary crew Baz Luhrmann.

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Off to Distant Lands...

Ok everyone... the time has come. I'm leaving for Japan in a couple of hours, and then it's China and making all my Harajuku Lovers and JLO samples. I'll be gone for a couple of weeks but I'll try to update as often as possible. :)

I wanna give you all the inside scoop of what it's like working in China. It's pretty crazy.

Anyway, Here I go. I'll talk to you guys soon! I can't wait to see how the Harajuku collection looks. I'll try to post pictures of the sketches, samples and finished product so you get a better idea of how shoes are made. Wish me luck!

Commons & Sense Fantasy Issue

According to Commons & Sense magazine, "Fantasy world of the bright colours, florals, graphics and prints represents the humour, the sweetness and innocence which every grown-up woman have within herself."

So for their latest issue, the magazine combined fictional and fantasy characters with the world’s known fashion designer's footwear and bags in dazzling illustrations.