Holly’s Blog
The Core Group
We are a core group of designers that have shown together in a sale/trunk show format for many years now. The reason for each designer to show varies. For Susan it is to rid herself of last season’s samples. The same is true for Xiaoyan. Both of those...
Hunger…
I am feeling hungry for something. Of course food is delicious, but right now I am hankering for something that is not tangible. A feeling that I need to let something in that expresses my deepest creativity. Many things stand in the way: Grandsons...
Palo Alto Style does it up!
It has been 3 years since the last Style show. There is always excitement and anticipation before any show. But what stays in my mind with this group is the camaraderie and creative energy between us, designers and artists from around the country, all together again....
Showtime: Palo Alto Style 2014
The process of preparing for a show is as follows: Months and months before the show there is the perception of having endless amounts of time…I work diligently, but life of course is ever present, nipping at my heels. Midway through, say a month before the show, I am...
Re-dos Redux: Miguel Adrover
I buy used shirts to embellish and re-figure. I call them re-dos. There is a satisfaction in the recycling-reuse nature of this work. (Plus, I don’t have to make a shirt from scratch). I sent my friend Annie a couple of pictures from the black and white series...
At My Feet…Treasures
Between my cutting table and my sewing machine (the space of about 2 feet), threads and small snippets fall. Swept up in the gyre, they form random compositions ready to be pasted between Solvy sheets. The task is to figure out how to preserve the spontaneity of that...
Saks 5th Avenue—If you need help ask…
for Carolyn Gobert! My daughter Tamara was looking for the perfect dress to wear for her wedding ceremony. She looked online for days and pinpointed several that she wanted to go see at Saks. And they were having a sale! Though I design clothing, it must be...
Covering Pearl
I wanted to talk about my dress form. I got her from a woman named Pearl. She was from the Phillipines and did some sewing for me back in the 80s. She was a feisty woman who knew how to put me in my place! She had an extra dress form and gave it to me. It was a size...
Measurements
Doing a special order for a larger-than-me client, I decided to research actual size charts. To find one I could use to standardize my own sizing. The first site I looked at seemed to be a standard from the 50s: size 8--bust 34 ½ , waist-26 ½ , hips- 37, versus the...