It's still pretty chilly in Chicago right now, but I am already in spring mode. Right now I'm in the process of shipping out spring pieces to my accounts, and day dreaming of the lovely light-weight organic cotton batiste dress that I got from my friend Kee. Her collection, loup charmant has the most beautiful pieces of whisper weight organic bits that embody carefree summer days. Well, dreams are free- and even though it is still so gray here- I know that spring is just around the corner and I cannot wait to wear this dress!
I feel like getting in the springtime mood requires the right kind of soundtrack. In the winter I prefer really depressing music, preferably from the 90's- or some good old leonard cohen.
Right now I am listening to pandora.com a lot- the david bowie station rocks.
I am somewhat obsessed with the song, "starman" - so much so, that I asked my friend to create a special star motif on my face for my karaoke birthday last month! I love karaoke- wish i had more time to do it. This great place called Fogata Village right in Pilsen has bilingual karaoke (Spanish and English) and it is BYOB- so it was a delightful spot to ring in year 28 for me. The first entire page in the English karaoke list was ABBA songs, so you know I was sold! I can rock out any song by ABBA but "supertrooper" ended up being the show stopper.
I also must mention that they have out-of-this-world tortilla soup....
Exciting News: some clothing pieces from the frei spring 2009 collection will be featured in the new movie Katie Holmes is currently filming in New York called "The Extra Man."
Katie was captured by some paparazzi wearing the cotton and hemp blend indigo stripe "new K pant" (named after the lovely Katherine Hepburn and her love of a good tailored trouser)- check out this pic I pulled off a gossip site! There are other photos out in blog land of her in these same trousers, but unfortunately she is wearing ugg boots with the pant legs stuffed into the boots and it is difficult to see the cut! These trousers are being shipped to all kinds of amazing shops across the country as we speak. Hooray- do what Katie does.... ethical and stylin!
Nothing quite says spring like getting your hands dirty in a dye project....
Today my interns and I dyed the vibrant Tibetan orange pieces from the spring 2009 collection in the gorgeous natural madder root bath. This dried root can be boiled and a deep scarlet dye extracted. I went for a rich orange for this collection, and I achieved this color by adding vinegar as the acid, and used tin salts to mordant the fabric prior to dipping it into the dye bath. This dying process is a completely natural one. The tin mineral salts act as a binding agent between cloth and dye, and the small amount of tin (which can be recycled and re-used over and over)- is not harmful but naturally occurring- to see images of the hand-dyed madder root pieces in the spring collection click here.
well, that's all for now, I must sleep, tomorrow the ever thrilling meeting with my accountant because tax season is upon us....
good night**
The hepburn pant has been my favorite piece of yours (besides the amazing costume institute quality gowns you do) for a long time. That is a pant you could wear to the grave, it will never be unflattering or unstylish. BRaVo Annie!
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