Started from the bottom now we're here...

Sneak Peek...come see the real thing during New Orleans Fashion Week, March 15-22nd

In honor of Marcella's FAVORITE Drake song (referring to the title of this post)...just kidding, she despises it, but seriously, she's come such a long way...Is it really possible that this will be Marci's first runway show ever?!  She seems like a seasoned designer to us at this point; she was so ambitious during this whole journey, and it has really paid off! Everyone is going to be so impressed once her designs hit the runway.

She started with such little experience in pattern-making and construction, and her skill set has evolved exponentially!  We know she's talented, but we're still shocked and amazed everytime we see her pieces come to life on the dress forms...we're so excited and proud of her and we cannot WAIT for her to show 3 of her custom designed and executed pieces in the Design Lab Sacre Coeur Collection during New Orleans Fashion Week, March 15-22nd!  (details on specific show date and time TBA)

We also love that we have somewhat documented the journey, so enjoy our homage to Marcella below :)

First Torso Drape 

Converted torso drape into custom design

choosing fabrics for her custom designs

editing her torso pattern

Flat patterning her trouser foundation...

It's in the details...

Started with inspiration, created custom embroidery designs through Embird Software, and we watch our pieces come to life

Each garment that's in our upcoming collection has something unique to offer that you really cannot find anywhere else.  We've talked a lot about our custom printed fabrics (which can be seen in our previous posts), but we're also adding details through custom embroidery.  The 2014 Fall Sacre Coeur Collection by the Design Lab is heavily influenced by the religious iconography that is infused throughout our city's culture, history, art, architecture, and overall presence here in New Orleans.  Images and inspirations of Mary and the Sacred Heart are found throughout the collection through many different details, and we cannot wait to share each and every detail with you during Fashion Week in New Orleans March 15th - 22nd, 2014.  Stay tuned, we'll be fitting models all this week, so we should have some great posts and images very soon!

Forward Progress...and more SNEAK PEEKS

a little background/behind the scenes work...

 

work in progress...but things are moving right along...

More custom fabric detailing combined with our custom prints here at the Design Lab.  We're hoping things can keep progressing (on the design side, not on the baby delivery side!) as we get closer to Fashion Week which starts March 15th here in New Orleans.  We also have some great promotional video additions in the works courtesy of Luminetic Media, so stay tuned for big updates...hopefully not big embarrassments...talking is harder than it looks ;) !

 

                         

Art Show Exhibit

Had so much fun displaying a piece at the N.O.N. Gallery Design Art Showcase.  The garment isn't 100% finished...but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to display next to some very talented artists and an eager audience.  The showcase was intended to display different genres of art and each design process from start to finish of production.  I tried my best to give a glimpse into what goes into each garment design process...inspiration, rough sketches, patternmaking, fabric design, pattern placement, construction, and finishing...to name a few of the key components - the last image is how Ayo Scott displayed all the different pieces at the Gallery; couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

inspiration: religious iconography - this print is found hidden in the fabric

 

inspiration: religious iconography - this print is found hidden in the fabric

Fabric manipulation: creating a perforated vegan leather for the panels

Fabric manipulation: creating a perforated vegan leather for the panels

pattern/print placement: figuring out what part of the textile to feature within the pattern pieces

embroidered details

embroidered details for accent

"final" product!

On display at the N.O.N. Gallery - loved how Ayo Scott curated the entire event!

Custom Fabrics...more than just prints...

Expanding on our custom prints, we also have several other unique fabric traits going on in the upcoming Sacre Coeur Collection here at the Design Lab...custom embroidered pieces will be seen throughout the collection as well...check out our design process using this AMA-ZA-ZING Brother 6-needle embroidery machine (Marcella is one lucky lady, and we're so thankful/lucky to be able to use her machine throughout this collection!)

Check out some sneak peeks of preliminary fabrications...HOPING (fingers crossed) to be showing off our custom prints and embroidery at the upcoming Art Show this Saturday, February 8th (see our previous blog for deets about the art show)...just the tip of our embroidery iceberg...get ready to see MUCH more about this amazing machine and our crazy experiments...

a little troubleshooting in action...setting up embroidery hoops in an experimental way...

"it's alive!" testing out our experiment...

just the tip of the experimental iceberg...

 

print placement for each specific pattern piece is crucial!

 

Come check us out on Saturday, February 8th!

Upcoming Art Show

Have the privilege of calling New Orleans artist, Ayo Scott, a great friend.  He has an upcoming show, and he asked if I'd be interested in showing a garment.  I told him I'd be crazy to say yes right now, so of course, I said YES...

This exhibit will show the relationships between ART and DESIGN. Its focus is centered around demystifying the processes of art / design creation and highlighting the work of Design Media (a fresh young design firm based in New Orleans). The show will display graphic design, product design, furniture design, fashion design, painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, and an installation curated by Carl Joe Williams and Ayo Scott, and a spoken word performances curated by Gian Francisco Smith.

I'm busting it even harder in the studio to try and get a new piece together to show this Saturday, February 8th at 6pm at the Joan Mitchell Center (1000 N. Rampart, NOLA).  Link to the event on Facebook and more about the artists involved can be found here.

Still TBD what piece I'll be showing...but hoping to show a piece from the upcoming "Sacre Coeur" Collection by the Design Lab (which will be officially unveiled during New Orleans Fashion Week in March)...fingers crossed...I'll attempt to post progress/updates before the show...