Trips to NY for me are usually a one day trip or for market, so to have an overnight with some down time was a real treat.  On Sat. March 8^th my cohort in fashion crime, Dawn Gearhart (who I teach with at Milton Hershey School on Tuesday afternoons) and I jumped the train in Lancaster like two gypsies’s and were off to the Big Apple for a two day shopping, snooping and snacking retreat.

The drizzle and misting all Sat didn’t dampen our spirits only my hair, now looking like Orphan Annie rather than the trendy bob I started the day with, we combed 10 fabric stores. Our mission: find as many fabrics to meet the needs of MHS’s spring musical “Sound of Music”. Oh! the drapery dresses, lederhosen, nightgowns, dirndls, navy uniforms, attendants dresses and that’s just the 7 children! I felt like we were shopping by the pound and not by the yard by the time we were done. Thank goodness for UPS!

 Fabric Shopping 

For those of you who wonder where to shop for fun fabric in NY, try roaming 39^th street between 7^th and 8^th Ave. This block has the largest selection of “thrifty” fabric stores in the city. You can find deals, make deals and ship them if you went way over board and can’t carry it with you! This is not for the faint of heart. It could be very overwhelming, the amount of “stuff” you will see. 

For those of you who are looking for some stretch in your life! Try 38^th St between 7^th and 8^th Ave. You will find Spandex World and Spandex House. If you do dancewear, ice skating, yoga, whatever you want to stretch, they have it in every texture, color and bling you can imagine! 

 For those of you looking for “Fabulous” fabric with price tags to match. Go to Mood, on 37^th, B& J on 7^th at 38^th, Formal Fabrics on 39^th, Lace Star on 40^th, Beckenstein on 39^th, or Paron Fabric on 40^th St most are located between 7^th and 8^th Ave.  Just know that Saturdays are “iffy days” for opening and closing times at any of these stores. So call or check on times if you have a specific need. None are open on a Sunday.

 Fashion Exhibits 

Next we visited five museum exhibits focused on fashion and costume. They were awe inspiring. The galleries were busy with loads of students.

FIT (www.fitnyc.edu) usually has at least one, up to three exhibits running at the same time. Valerie Steele, the director, and her staff do an amazing job featuring designers, accessories and periods in a very small space. I have never been disappointed and always leave wanting to see more.

I always go to the FIT museum, even on my day trips because of it’s convenience to Penn Station.

Madame Grès’ display was WOW! Her Grecian draped gowns and “lounging” pantsuits of the 80’s were just F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S.

Martini any one!

MET (www.metmuseum.org) has a show that is about “Blogging”. You can see it on line or at the museum and write about your theory on fashion. Or just give your opinion! They have everything from the absolute beautiful to silly. Some of course could never be worn, they were just for making a statement, fashion as art or political.  You will find a few of my favorites. Mostly older pieces.

In the first photo #1, the gold embroidery work on the men’s coat and vest for this 1760’s piece was spectacular.  I had to show you this lovely #2 white dress (but not a wedding gown) from the bustle period.  Wonder how women sat, maneuvered into carriages, thru homes? Something to think about. Life is so much more comfortable now.  The last photo #3 has two amazingly elegant gowns. On the right is one from the late 1800’s (a Charles Worth!), the other from about 1915. Those I can imagine wearing. Very glamorous and chic even today.

I will say Vivian Westwood, who I have never been a fan, surprised me with a beautiful pink ball gown that was luscious and lovely. I never thought I would compliment her work.  I could go on, however you can log on to the MET”S site and explore if you can’t get to NYC in time to see it.

The Museum of NYC (www.mcny.org) up at 103^rd St is a real gem and has a permanent exhibit on theater that is really great and very interactive. I loved the costume that Mrs. Pots wore in “Beauty and the Beast”. The history of the Gypsy Robe was a very interesting tribute to superstitions of actors. Since doing work for theater in the last three years it has been so interesting to me to see how many actors have superstitions about dressing and preparing to go on stage.  Until you are behind the scenes you just don’t know what it takes to go on stage!

The Museum also had a display of Scenic drawing. One was from “My Sister Eileen” which later became “Wonderful Town”. Since costuming this show for EPAC, it brought back special memories of how Victor Capecce did our set design. 

Of course there was food and time for a Broadway Show. We went and saw “The Lion King”, (my 4^th time). Yes, there is more to Broadway than the “King” but Dawn hadn’t seen it yet. Now that I’m doing costumes, I saw it with a different set of eyes.

Real Fashion Shopping 

Sunday was left for fashion shopping.  Our time was tight so we picked two stores, Bergdorf Goodman’s (www.bergdorfgoodman.com) and Zara’s (www.zara.com).  This was a comparison shopping experience. I love purchasing at both stores for different reasons.

Bergdorf’s for me is the opitimy of fashion. I have purchased most of my couture suits there, if not directly from the design house. They never go out of style, yet always make a statement. It is always worth the investment. BG has recently renovated several of their floors and added new twists to their brand. The music café 5th floor is catering to a new younger BG customer. It was fun to peruse. I of course found things on the second and third floors.

Next it was off to Zara’s, the Spanish version of H& M. I think they are leaps and bounds ahead of other knock of company’s. Yes, some hate them for that reason. But get real. Every company copies. That is what fashion is all about. What I like about Zara is how they present their merchandise, their staff is helpful and always keeping the merchandise attractive, along with the quality of the merchandise for the price. I like to get some thing there to spice up my closet for the season. I know it won’t last, but it brings compliments at an inexpensive price. Dawn purchased a great white cotton swing jacket for spring. It will look very sassy with our “uniform” black! 

By 5pm we were back on the train heading to Lancaster with our last purchase,two Black & White cookies that didn’t make it to Newark’s stop!

That is the A to Z of it.

Spring is almost here!  Between groundhogs’ shadow and bulbs peeping their way out from the ground we have been getting excited about our Art of Love event  coming up on the First friday of April. Friday April 4th, 5pm to 9pm to be exact! At the corner of Chestnut & Queen in downtown Lancaster in the old Brunswick building. So, of course, we had a “very creative” photo shoot in collaboration with Amanda Kraft who will be our feature photographer at the Art of Love this month.  We were bouncing ideas off each other coming up with a Springy concept and what’d ya know I thought of a bouncing bride on a pogo stick, in a wheel barrow and popping bubblegum.  We’ve used our new favorite local model Stephanie who is almost officially attached to the Art of Love postcards now.  She’s a joy to work with.  So here’s what we came up with:

Theater is my “after-work” passion as many of you know. This past month we built close to 50 costumes for Lancaster Country Day’s Winter Musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie”. We had a great time working with the students.They were passionate about their rehearsals but when Sunday Dress came, Wow! did they make those costumes come alive!

The show played to 4 packed houses. Director Dr Daphna Ben-Chaim and Producer Dr Rudolph Sharpe contracted me at the first of the year with a 6 week window to build LCD an amazing costume extravaganza for their first full length musical. I was thrilled because “Millie” is one of my favorites.With LCD’s theater being intimate it was important that we kept the color palate simple as to not make to much noise on stage. So I choose sherbet colors for the daytime chorus and black and white for their evening look. The Leads I kept in primary colors.  Millie was tailored while Dorothy was wispy and of course Muzzy could be nothing but ALL show! The combination sung on stage. 

As you can see from the photos the students had a great time. We now have another fabulous group of costumes to rent out to high school or community theaters.Enjoy this Thoroughly Modern Cast!

The trunk show is heading to Naples Florida for the weekend of Feb 15-18 to “Tie the Knot” Bridal where Hillary and her fine staff will dress and help our brides find the perfect gown! The ladies have been working hard to spread the word and have a busy weekend, so call and get an appointment. It is a very exclusive salon!

Last weekends snow fall in CT stopped many of our brides in getting to Camilles but don’t worry we are making arrangements to have a spring show in April to make-up for the bad weather.

 Here’s to warm weather and shorts!

I had the honor and pleasure of being a guest at Albright College, PA on Thurs Jan 31 and Fri Feb 1 for a fantastic masters class on Elizabethan Corsets by Jeffrey Lieder, Costume Director at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. It was an inspired and rejuvenating 36 hours! (http://www.bard.org/)

Mr Lieder instructed 11 students from Albright on how to make an Elizabethan corset for the 21th century figure from start to finish. I had the thrill of making one right along side them. See photos! Although in class the project took about 16 hours, I figure a trained professional takes about 6 hours to make one of these “lifting devices.” Corsets were widely used by all classes of women ’till about 1920 when the roaring twenties came about and the fashion figure changed radically. Much of this was brought on by war and women entering the workforce. The use of elastic also brought about the early girdles and bras. Of course nowadays we have “Spanx!”

Early Corsets were constructed with whale bone, cane or willows. For our corsets for this class, we used steel strips and spirals along with a very pliable yet sturdy English plastic stay. There are about 22 stays in every corset! Each corset though sized as a standard 6, 8, or 14 etc had a cup adjustment with special bust “petals” of A,B,C, etc. Corset cup sizes are usually done one cup size smaller than what we would use in today’s bras. It takes 5 yards of lacing to lace up a back of the corset properly. Usually a 2″ gap is left in the back to insure proper fit and comfort. That sounds like an oxymoron “comfort”! How can something so stiff be comfortable? Actually as each of the students were laced into their corsets at the end, they were each surprised how they could breathe and move easily. They did mention how nice and upright they sat and stood, it even felt good!

All corsets of this type up until recent fashion were worn under “dress clothes”. How ever French fashion designer, Thierry Mugler in the 80’s was the designer that made corsets fashionable as outerwear! Who can ever forget seeing Madonna on stage for the first time in a “Bullet Corset”? Thanks Thierry!

Enough chat! Take a look at the photos. Jeffrey brought many of the corsets that he has constructed for examples along with costumes from the theater. This was a real treat watching not only a true professional doing what he loves but passing the knowledge to our next generation. Mr Lieder is a real credit to the industry.
I must say a special thanks to Paula Trimpey who is the Associate Professor of Costume at Albright, who allotted space for me to participate. Paula has been a long time colleague with Jeffrey. Paula is one of the Costume Designers for the Green stage at Utah’s Festival.

This is going to be an exciting weekend in Alexandria!  We’re going to be having a trunk show at our fantastic store Katherine’s.  I understand that we already have several brides coming in to see our new 2008 gowns, so if you need an appointment call them now, or you might miss the boat.  The telephone number is  (703) 370- 8922.  See you in Virginia!  if you want to find out location or contact information feel free to visit their website at www.katherinesbridalboutique.com.

Today I spent the day at The Wedding Shoppe in Wanye, PA seeing brides and mothers from Philadelphia to as far away as Italy!  One of my favorite brides was getting married for the second time and was soooo excited!  Yet she was dismayed at the shopping experience she had before coming to The Wedding Shoppe. 

Older brides are really my cup of tea… and we got on famously!  She left with a smile on her face, relief in her heart and a lighter wallet!  Obviously, we designed the perfect dress together.  Karen is going to look AMAZING.

The Wedding Shoppe’s owner, Pattie, is an old friend of my… although she’s the NEW owner of this salon, she was the manager of Suky Rosan for nearly 20 years.  Pattie has her heart and soul in the bridal business.  She truly loves what she does and it show in how she treats her brides and staff.  I always feel when I am with her at a trunk show, wether at Suky, or now at the Wedding Shoppe, that it feels like home.

Karen’s gown of Alencon lace and silk satin.  Wow!

After months of cajoling, nagging and otherwise providing “constructive critisisim” to my husband… the Janell Berté blog begins!