Old Fashion Girl

Archive for January, 2010

The Wind Inspires it All: The Driving Force Behind Chicago

The Wind Inspires it All: The Driving Force Behind Chicago Fashion Schools

Chicago, the “windy city” is known for its multicultural population as well as its dramatic architecture and love for the arts.

In detail, Chicago has:

1.at least 3 million people
2.harbors, parks, beaches, clubs, and ethnic restaurants
3.29 miles of lakefront, museums, neighborhood festivals, and cultural attractions

People visit the city as often as winds do. Also, tourists favor the mid-western hospitality of the people. They also share stories of their enjoyment in going to exhibits in museums like Degas, Monet, and the whimsical “Cows on Parade” of Summer 1999.

The businesses blended with the multicultural aspects of the city are said to be the driving “winds” that spur creativity among people who visit or study in Chicago. As always, it is inevitable to have fashion schools within a city that celebrate and support the arts and dynamism of culture.

The following are some featured fashion design schools in Illinois:

1.The International Academy of Design and Technology is located in Chicago.

The institute offers the following degree programs:

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Fashion Design and Marketing
Associate of Applied Science in Fashion Design and Marketing

The curriculum of Fashion and Design assimilates the study of new trends and innovations in the thriving international industry of fashion with the mastery of traditional skills, thus providing a holistic background to both fashion amateurs and masters alike when it comes to designing.

Bachelor of Arts, Major in Merchandising Management
Associate of Applied Science in Merchandising Management

The program of Merchandising Management provides students and professionals as well as with the opportunity to contend within the job market by integrating theoretical concepts with practical implementations. However, students can rest assured that after graduation their skills on developing suitable visual displays, and utilizing appropriate business practices and scales are honed to help them achieve profitability in the long run.

2.The Illinois Institute of Art is primarily situated in Schaumburg. The degree programs they offer vary by location.

The Illinois Institute of Art is, basically, an association of schools in different locations. Collectively, the Art Institute is considered as a leader in the area of applied science education.

Their courses such as Fashion Marketing and Fashion Design are restructured on a regular basis to reveal ideas garnered from industry advisors, leaders, and employers for relevance and practical applications in the marketplace.

The Art Institute also possesses seasoned faculty members who are also affiliated to the local community of functions. Thus, this provides students with plenty of occasions for consultation with industry professionals and practicing designers. As students’ knowledge and skills improve through the programs, they are required to plan an initial design and execute it into a finished product to cap their stay in the institution.

3. International Academy of Design and Technology

The school has campuses in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Orlando. They provide program areas and a variety of degree levels designed to fit your unique career track. In detail, they offer:

Diploma in Fashion Design
Diploma in Merchandising and Fashion Marketing

These are only three among the plenty list of schools in this city. The decision now lies in your hand. Within the “windy city” are competitions and strict trainings from various places in the job arena. Where do you think the “will of the wind inside you” will bring you and your high hopes of hitting it big in the fashion industry?

Celebrity Tattoos – The Latest Fashion Accessory

Celebrity tattoos are becoming more and more popular with every year that passes. These days it’s common to see well known celebrities from the world of films, sport and music displaying their tattoos and body art on screen or in magazines.

But there was a time when tattoos were looked upon with contempt especially among the leading celebrities of the moment. Anyone who had tattoos was generally regarded as being on the fringes of society. However, all that started to change in the 1960s when prominent stars such as Janis Joplin started the trend for celebrity tattoos. Over time they have become more socially acceptable.

Today, celebrity tattoos have gone mainstream and the culture of celebrity tattoos covers acting, sport, music, models and people who are famous for being famous. Just look at some of the celebrities who are known to have tattoos; 50 Cent, Christina Aguilera, Pamela Anderson, David Beckman, Kelly Clarkson, Johnny Depp, Vin Diesel, Eminem, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Natalie Imbruglia, Angelina Jolie, Anna Kournikova, Lindsay Lohan, Nelly, Kelly Osbourne, Pink, Nicole Richie, Wesley Snipes, Britney Spears, Usher, Holly Valance and Elijah Wood, And there may be many more that could be added to that list who have tattoos hidden in more intimate places.

At present, Angelina Jolie is probably the most famous tattooed celebrity in Hollywood. Her designs include tribal dragons, a tiger and various pieces of foreign writing on her shoulders and arms. And a recent poll that voted her the sexiest woman in the world is further evidence that celebrity tattoos are now widely accepted.

And despite the potential for problems with their work other leading actors also display a wide range of tattoo designs.

In fact Johnny Depp is so heavily tattooed that he routinely has to have his skin painted to cover up his body art before he films certain scenes. However, some of his tattoos remain uncovered during filming and are incorporated into the character he is playing. This is another stong indication that celebrity tattoos are well and truly part of mainstream culture.

Vin Diesel and Wesley Snipes both have a number of tattoos on their arms and chest. Pamela Anderson had a barbed wire design tattooed on her arm for her role in the movie Barb Wire. And when she separated from her husband Tommy Lee, she had the tattoo on her finger that read “Tommy” changed to read “Mommy” to represent her commitment to her children.

Celebrity tattoos are also extremely popular in the music business, especially with rock stars, R&B artists and hip hop stars, such as Eminem, 50 Cent and Justin Timberlake.

However, you don’t have to be a celebrity to get a celebrity tattoo. Anyone can get the hottest tattoo designs available regardless of their level of fame. It doesn’t matter who you are, whether it’s a movie star, rock star, shop assistant or factory worker, you can still enjoy having your own tattoo that makes a powerful statement about who you are and what you believe. And if you want the same type of tattoo as your favorite celebrity, there are many websites and magazines available that display great pictures of celebrity tattoos. So it’s possible to find the celebrity tattoo design that you want within minutes of going online.

Bruno Mathsson: Furniture Designer On The Cutting Edge

Swedish designer Bruno Mathsson was born in Varnamo in 1907 into a woodworking tradition. His father was a well known cabinetmaker producing well crafted wood furniture as had the four generations of Mathsson’s before him. He grew up learning the technical skills to make furniture, the feel and nature of wood and the tradition of excellence.

After Matsson became interested in the technical aspects of making furniture, he began to absorb all the information that he could about furniture making. He borrowed books from designers and museums, and contacted people who would become long-term associates and mentors. He became intrigued by functionalism as a result of his self-education in technical issues and design. He earned a scholarship with a functionalist chair design.

Matsson wasn’t content with building only the flat board furniture his family traditionally crafted. His furniture was designed with clean, elegant lines including some chairs with positional adjustments. Some of the chairs he worked on didn’t have springs or upholstery. His ideas were revolutionary for his time. Therefore, he put some of his early items into storage until he had become famous in the furniture-making world.

Mathsson was so interested in what he termed “the mechanics of sitting”, that he decide to attempt experiments to learn which pattern a human made when they sat down, even going to the extent of sitting in the snow to observe the result. Mathsson received a Grand Prix design award in 1937. By that time, his chairs were being displayed to the world again.

One of his classic designs is the Bruno Mathsson Pernilla chair. It is made in easy chair and lounge chair formats with bentwood and lamination techniques employed as part of the design. It can be upholstered or made with webbing. During war shortages of materials, Mathsson experimented with jute and hemp and anything else he could obtain, and this design can be adapted to nearly any wood or material. Bruno Mathsson Pernilla chairs typically have an attached pillow.

Another of Mathsson’s famous designs is the Bruno Mathsson Fllbord table, which was a modular table design allowing folding and reconfiguration in many different layouts. Designed in 1935, it remains to this day a strikingly modern piece of furniture. Its timelessness is similar to many of his other works, which are highly sought after even today.

One more table that deserves a mention here is the superellips. It comes in many different models and as with much of his furniture are still highly sought after and continue to increase in value. Mathsson passed away in 1988 after a long illness, passing a legacy of modern furniture design down to his family.

Swedish designer Bruno Mathsson was born in Varnamo in 1907 into a woodworking tradition. He grew up learning the technical skills to make classic designer furniture, the feel and nature of wood and the tradition of excellence. He taught himself by reading books from museums and design centers and networking with other designers. Functionalism was a design style that Bruno was very interested in. The bruno mathsson pernilla chair is one of his classic designs. A historical piece that captures a contemporary feel is his modular fllbord table. Mathsson passed away in 1988 leaving an amazing legacy of family heritage made great by his insight.