Finding OUR Brand Identity
Classy, Feminine, Elegant, Sophisticated, Memorable
Who is 1930by ChrisJackson as a brand?
That is the question that should easily come to me, however I am struggling with this. I know so many aspects of who my market is in extreme detail, but branding ones self is a bit more difficult.
I’m starting this off by trying to find images that best describes the brand without words. Creating the imagery is the first & most important thing in my opinion since we now live such a digital era where we mostly rely on the physical/visual.
Doing some market research has helped me in coming closer to defining who we are as a brand. WHERE WE FIT IN. Under the picture are the words that kept popping up from the group of girls we questioned. This entire time the biggest fear that I’ve had was to become another “repeat-a-brand” & therefore was terrified of being identified as a Diesel type brand that showcases the party lifestyle as part of the brand.
After all, it is the impression that you, the consumer, have in mind when you think of this brands total personality (real and imaginary qualities and shortcomings). Our brand image will be developed over time through advertising campaigns etc with a consistent theme, and will be authenticated through you, the consumers’, direct experience with 1930by ChrisJackson.
But for now, I’d like to get an idea of where to start and I can only get that with direct consumer interaction. YOUR OPINION DOES MATTER!!
What adjectives would best describe what we’ve shown you thus far?
Are the words under the collage accurate?
Are the image within the collage accurate? Do they relate to 1930 as a brand?
All help is appreciated!
**Don’t forget more pics can be found on our facebook page.**
❤ Chris J.
S/S 2012 Mini-Collection Coming soon!!
Here are a few of the looks I previewed at a concert in Brooklyn. The jewelry will be posted soon.
These are only a few of the pieces that premiered at the concert. All accessories worn were also made by 1930by ChrisJackson.
Please leave your feedback. It’s much needed & appreciated. 
Quote of the Day: 25 March ’11~Alexander Pope
“Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside.”~Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 – 30 May 1744) was an eighteenth-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson. Pope is famous for his use of the heroic couplet.
L’Histoire de Mode~Elizabeth Taylor, RIP 2/1932-3/2011
B. Feb. 27, 1932 & D. March 23 2011
Elizabeth Rosemond “Liz” Taylor, DBE, was an English-born
American actress. Beginning as a child star, as an adult she came to
be known for her acting talent and beauty, and had a much publicised private
life, including eight marriages and several near-death experiences. Taylor was
considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The
American Film Institute named Taylor seventh on its Female Legends list.
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in Hampstead, a wealthy district of
north west London, the second child of Francis Lenn Taylor and
Sara Viola Warmbrodt (1895–1994), who were Americans residing in England. Taylor’s
older brother, Howard Taylor, was born in 1929. Her parents were originally from Arkansas City, Kansas.
Francis Taylor was an art dealer, and Sara was a former actress whose stage name was
“Sara Sothern.” Sothern retired from the stage when she and Francis married in
1926 in New York City. Taylor’s two first names are in honor of her paternal
grandmother, Elizabeth Mary (Rosemond) Taylor.
A dual citizen of the United Kingdom
and the United States, she was born a British subject through her birth on British soil and
an American citizen through her parents. She reportedly sought,
in 1965, to renounce her United States citizenship, to wit: “Though never accepted
by the State Department, Liz renounced in 1965. Attempting to shield much of her
European income from U.S. taxes, Liz wished to become solely a British citizen.
According to news reports at the time, officials denied her request when she
failed to complete the renunciation oath, refusing to say that she
renounced ‘all allegiance to the United States of America.'”
At the age of three, Taylor began taking ballet lessons with Vaccani. Shortly
before the beginning of World War II, her parents decided to return to the United States
to avoid hostilities. Her mother took the children first, arriving in New York in April 1939,
while her father remained in London to wrap up matters in the art business, arriving in November.
They settled in Los Angeles, California, where Sara’s family, the Warmbrodts, were then living.
Through Hedda Hopper, the Taylors were introduced to Andrea Berens, a wealthy
English socialite and also fiancée of Cheever Cowden, chairman and major
stockholder of Universal Pictures in Hollywood. Berens insisted that
Sara bring Elizabeth to see Cowden who, she was adamant, would
be dazzled by Elizabeth’s breathtaking dark beauty; she was
born with a mutation that caused double rows of eyelashes,
which enhanced her appearance on camera.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer soon took interest in the
British youngster as well but she failed to secure
a contract with them after an informal audition
with producer John Considine had shown that she
couldn’t sing. However, on September 18, 1941,
Universal Pictures signed Elizabeth to a six-month
renewable contract at $100 a week.
Taylor appeared in her first motion picture at the age of nine in
There’s One Born Every Minute, her only film for Universal Pictures. Less than six
months after she signed with Universal, her contract was reviewed by Edward Muhl, the studio’s
production chief. Muhl met with Taylor’s agent, Myron Selznick (brother of David), and
Cheever Cowden. Muhl challenged Selznick’s and Cowden’s constant support of Taylor:
“She can’t sing, she can’t dance, she can’t perform. What’s more, her mother has to be
one of the most unbearable women it has been my displeasure to meet.”
Universal cancelled Taylor’s contract just short of her tenth birthday in February 1942.
Nevertheless on October 15, 1942, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed Taylor to $100 a week for up to
three months to appear as “Priscilla” in the film Lassie Come Home.
Lassie Come Home featured child star Roddy McDowall, with
whom Taylor would share a lifelong friendship. Upon its release in
1943, the film received favourable attention for both McDowall and Taylor.
On the basis of her performance in Lassie Come Home MGM signed Taylor
to a conventional seven-year contract at $100 a week but increasing at
regular intervals until it reached a hefty $750 during the seventh year.
Her first assignment under her new contract at MGM was a loan-out to
20th Century Fox for the character of Helen Burns in a film version of the
Charlotte Bronte novel Jane Eyre (1944). During this period she also
returned to England to appear in another Roddy McDowall picture for
MGM, The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). But it was Taylor’s persistence in
campaigning for the role of Velvet Brown in MGM’s National Velvet that
skyrocketed Taylor to stardom at the tender age of 12.
Taylor’s character, Velvet Brown, is a young girl who trains her beloved
horse to win the Grand National. National Velvet, which also costarred
beloved American favorite Mickey Rooney and English newcomer Angela Lansbury,
became an overwhelming success upon its release in December 1944. Many years later
Taylor called it “the most exciting film” she had ever made, and the film changed her
life forever. Although it vastly increased her star power, many of her back problems were
traced to when she hurt her body falling off a horse during its filming.
National Velvet grossed over US$4 million at the box office and
Taylor was signed to a new long-term contract that raised her salary
to $30,000 per year. To capitalize on the box office success of Velvet,
Taylor was shoved into another animal opus, Courage of Lassie, in which
a different dog named “Bill”, cast as an Allied combatant in World War II,
regularly outsmarts the Nazis, with Taylor going through another outdoors
role. The 1946 success of Courage of Lassie led to another contract
drawn up for Taylor earning her $750 per week, her mother $250,
as well as a $1,500 bonus. Her roles as Mary Skinner in a loan-out
to Warner Brothers’ Life With Father (1947), Cynthia Bishop in Cynthia (1947),
Carol Pringle in A Date with Judy (1948) and Susan Prackett in
Julia Misbehaves (1948) all proved to be successful.
Her reputation as a bankable adolescent star and nickname of “One-Shot Liz”
(referring to her ability to shoot a scene in one take) promised her a full and bright career
with Metro. Taylor’s portrayal as Amy, in the American classic Little Women (1949) would prove to
be her last adolescent role. In October 1948, she sailed aboard the RMS Queen Mary
travelling to England where she would begin filming on Conspirator, in
which she would play her first adult role.
Unlike other child actors, Taylor easily transitioned to adult roles. Before
Conspirator’s 1949 release, a Time cover article called her “a jewel of
great price, a true star sapphire”, and the leader among Hollywood’s
next generation of stars such as Montgomery Clift, Kirk Douglas, and
Ava Gardner. The film failed at the box office, but 16-year-old
Taylor’s portrayal of a 21-year-old debutante who unknowingly
marries a communist spy played by 38-year-old Robert Taylor,
was praised by critics for her first adult lead in a film. Taylor’s
first picture under her new salary of $2,000 per week was
The Big Hangover (1950), both a critical and box office failure,
that paired her with screen idol Van Johnson. The picture also
failed to present Taylor with an opportunity to exhibit
her newly realized sensuality.
Her first box office success in an adult role came as Kay Banks in the romantic
comedy Father of the Bride (1950), alongside Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett.
The film spawned a sequel, Father’s Little Dividend (1951), which Taylor’s costar
Spencer Tracy summarised with “boring… boring… boring”. The film did well at the
box office but it would be Taylor’s next picture that would set the course for her career
as a dramatic actress. In late 1949, Taylor had begun filming George Stevens’
A Place In The Sun. Upon its release in 1951, Taylor was hailed for her performance as
Angela Vickers, a spoiled socialite who comes between George Eastman (Clift) and
his poor, pregnant factory-working girlfriend Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters).
The film became the pivotal performance of Taylor’s career as critics acclaimed it as a
classic, a reputation it sustained throughout the next 50 years of cinema history.
The New York Times’ A.H. Weiler wrote, “Elizabeth’s delineation of the rich and
beauteous Angela is the top effort of her career”, and the Boxoffice reviewer
unequivocally stated “Miss Taylor deserves
an Academy Award”.
Taylor became increasingly unsatisfied with the roles being offered to her
at the time. While she wanted to play the lead roles in The Barefoot Contessa
and I’ll Cry Tomorrow, MGM continued to restrict her to mindless and
somewhat forgettable films such as: a cameo as herself in Callaway Went Thataway
(1951), Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), Ivanhoe (1952),
The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) and Beau Brummel (1954). She had
wanted to play the role of Lady Rowena in Ivanhoe, but the part was given to
Joan Fontaine. Taylor was given the role of Rebecca. When Taylor
became pregnant with her first child, MGM forced her through
The Girl Who Had Everything (even adding two hours to her daily
work schedule) so as to get one more film out of her before she
became too heavily pregnant.
Taylor lamented that she needed the money, as she had just bought
a new house with second husband Michael Wilding and with a child on the way things
would be pretty tight. Taylor had been forced by her pregnancy to turn down Elephant Walk
(1954), though the role had been designed for her. Vivien Leigh, almost two decades Taylor’s
senior, but to whom Taylor bore a striking resemblance, got the part and went to Ceylon to
shoot on location. Leigh suffered a nervous breakdown during filming, and Taylor reclaimed the role
after the birth of her child Michael Wilding, Jr. in January 1953.
portrayed Louise Durant, a beautiful rich girl in love with a
temperamental violinist (Vittorio Gassman) and an earnest young
pianist (John Ericson). A film critic for the New York Herald Tribune
wrote: “There is beauty in the picture all right, with Miss Taylor glowing
into the camera from every angle… but the dramatic pretenses are
weak, despite the lofty sentences and handsome manikin poses.”
Taylor’s fourth period picture, Beau Brummell, made just after
Elephant Walk and Rhapsody, cast her as the elaborately costumed Lady Patricia,
which many felt was only a screen prop—a ravishing beauty whose sole purpose was to
lend romantic support to the film’s title star, Stewart Granger. The Last Time I Saw Paris
(1954) fared only slightly better than her previous pictures, with Taylor being reunited
with The Big Hangover costar Van Johnson. The role of Helen Ellsworth Willis was based on
that of Zelda Fitzgerald and, although pregnant with her second child, Taylor went ahead with the
film, her fourth in twelve months. Although proving somewhat successful
at the box office, she still yearned for meatier roles.
Following a more substantial role opposite Rock Hudson and
James Dean in George Stevens’ epic Giant (1956), Taylor was
nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress four years in
a row for Raintree County (1957) opposite Montgomery Clift;
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) opposite Paul Newman;
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) with Montgomery Clift,
Katharine Hepburn and Mercedes McCambridge; and finally
winning for BUtterfield 8 (1960), which co-starred then husband Eddie Fisher.
In 1960, Taylor became the highest paid actress up to that time when she
signed a one million dollar contract to play the title role in 20th Century Fox’s
lavish production of Cleopatra,[14] which would eventually be released in 1963.
During the filming, she began a romance with her future husband Richard Burton, who
played Mark Antony in the film. The romance received much attention from the tabloid
press, as both were married to other spouses at the time. By working overtime,
Taylor received more than $2 million for her role.
Her second Academy Award, also for Best Actress in a Leading Role,
was for her performance as Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966),
playing opposite then husband Richard Burton. Taylor and Burton would
appear together in six other films during the decade –
The V.I.P.s (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), The Taming of the Shrew (1967),
Doctor Faustus (1967), The Comedians {1967} and Boom! (1968).
Taylor appeared in John Huston’s Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
opposite Marlon Brando (replacing Montgomery Clift who died before
production began) and Secret Ceremony (1968) opposite Mia Farrow.
However, by the end of the decade her box-office drawing power
had considerably diminished, as evidenced by the failure of
The Only Game in Town (1970), with Warren Beatty.
Taylor continued to star in numerous theatrical films throughout the 1970s, such
as Zee and Co. (1972) with Michael Caine, Ash Wednesday (1973), The Blue Bird (1976)
with Jane Fonda and Ava Gardner, and A Little Night Music (1977). With then-husband
Richard Burton, she co-starred in the 1972 films Under Milk Wood and Hammersmith Is Out,
and the 1973 made-for-TV movie Divorce His, Divorce Hers. A chain smoker from an early age,
Taylor feared she had lung cancer in October 1975 after an X-ray showed spots on her lungs;
however, she was later found not to have the disease.
Taylor starred in the 1980 mystery film The Mirror Crack’d, based
on an Agatha Christie novel. In 1985, she played movie gossip columnist
Louella Parsons in the TV film Malice in Wonderland opposite
Jane Alexander, who played Hedda Hopper. Taylor appeared in the
miniseries North and South. Her last theatrical film was 1994’s The Flintstones.
In 2001, she played an agent in the TV film These Old Broads. She appeared on a
number of television series, including the soap operas General Hospital and
All My Children, as well as the animated series The Simpsons—once as herself,
and once as the voice of Maggie Simpson, uttering one word “Daddy”.
Taylor also acted on the stage, making her Broadway and West End debuts in 1982
with a revival of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes. She was then in a production
of Noel Coward’s Private Lives (1983), in which she starred with her former husband,
Richard Burton. The student-run Burton Taylor Theatre in Oxford was named for the
famous couple after Burton appeared as Doctor Faustus in the Oxford University
Dramatic Society (OUDS) production of the Marlowe play. Taylor played the ghostly,
wordless Helen of Troy, who is entreated by Faustus to “make [him]
immortal with a kiss”. In the 1980s, she received
treatment for alcoholism.
In March 2003 Taylor declined to attend the 75th Annual Academy
Awards, due to her opposition to the Iraq war. She publicly condemned
then US President George W. Bush for calling on Saddam Hussein to leave
Iraq, and said she feared the conflict would lead to “World War III”.
Taylor is known to have smoked cigarettes into her mid-fifties.
In November 2004, she announced that she had been diagnosed with
congestive heart failure, a progressive condition in which the
heart is too weak to pump sufficient blood throughout the
body, particularly to the lower extremities: the ankles and feet.
She broke her back five times, had both her hips replaced, survived
a benign brain tumor operation and skin cancer, and faced life-
threatening bouts with pneumonia twice, one of which (1961),
resulted in an emergency tracheotomy. Towards the end of her
life she was reclusive and sometimes failed to make scheduled
appearances due to illness or other personal reasons. She used a
wheelchair and when asked about it stated that she had osteoporosis
and was born with scoliosis.
In 2005, Taylor was a vocal supporter of her friend Michael Jackson in his trial
in California on charges of sexually abusing a child.[26][27] He was eventually acquitted when
the prosecution collapsed due to a lack of concrete evidence. On 30 May 2006,
Taylor appeared on Larry King Live to refute the claims that she had been ill,
and denied the allegations that she was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease
and was close to death.
In late August 2006, Taylor decided to take a boating trip to
help prove that she was not close to death. She also decided to
make Christie’s auction house the primary place for selling her
jewelry, art, clothing, furniture and memorabilia.[29] Six months later,
the February 2007 issue of Interview magazine was devoted entirely
to Taylor. It celebrated her life, career and her upcoming 75th birthday.
On 5 December 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and California
First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Taylor into the California Hall of Fame,
located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.
Taylor was in the news in 2007 for a rumored ninth marriage to her companion
Jason Winters, which she dismissed as a rumour. However, she was quoted
as saying, “Jason Winters is one of the most wonderful men I’ve ever known and
that’s why I love him. He bought us the most beautiful house in Hawaii and we visit
it as often as possible,” to gossip columnist Liz Smith. Winters accompanied
Taylor to Macy’s Passport HIV/AIDS 2007 gala, where Taylor was honoured with
a humanitarian award. In 2008, Taylor and Winters were spotted celebrating the
4th of July on a yacht in Santa Monica, California. The couple attended the Macy’s
Passport HIV/AIDS gala again in 2008.
On December 1, 2007, Taylor acted on-stage again, appearing
opposite James Earl Jones in a benefit performance of the
A. R. Gurney play Love Letters. The event’s goal was to raise
$1 million for Taylor’s AIDS foundation. Tickets for the show
were priced at $2,500, and more than 500 people attended.
The event happened to coincide with the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike
and, rather than cross the picket line, Taylor requested a “one night dispensation.
” The Writers Guild agreed not to picket the Paramount Pictures lot
that night to allow for the performance.
Taylor had a passion for jewelry. She was a client of well-known jewelry
designer Shlomo Moussaieff. Over the years she owned a number of well-known
pieces, two of the most talked-about being the 33.19-carat (6.64 g) Krupp
Diamond and the 69.42-carat (13.88 g) pear-shaped Taylor-Burton Diamond, which
were among many gifts from husband Richard Burton. Taylor also owned the 50-carat (10 g)
La Peregrina Pearl, purchased by Burton as a Valentine’s Day present in 1969. The pearl
was formerly owned by Mary I of England, and Burton sought a portrait of Queen Mary
wearing the pearl. Upon the purchase of such a painting, the Burtons discovered that the
British National Portrait Gallery did not have an original painting of Mary, so they
donated the painting to the Gallery. Her enduring collection of jewelry has been
documented in her book My Love Affair with Jewelry (2002) with photographs by
the New York photographer John Bigelow Taylor (no relation).
Taylor started designing jewels for The Elizabeth Collection, creating
fine jewelry with elegance and flair. The Elizabeth Taylor collection by
Piranesi is sold at Christie’s. She also launched three perfumes, “Passion”,
“White Diamonds”, and “Black Pearls”, which, together, earn an estimated
US$200 million in annual sales. In fall 2006, Taylor celebrated the 15th
anniversary of her White Diamonds perfume, one of the top 10 best selling
fragrances for more than the past decade.
Taylor devoted much time and energy to AIDS-related charities and
fundraising. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR)
after the death of her former costar and friend, Rock Hudson. She also created
her own AIDS foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF). By 1999,
she had helped to raise an estimated US$50 million to fight the disease. In 2006,
Taylor commissioned a 37-foot (11 m) “Care Van” equipped with examination tables
and X Ray equipment and also donated US$40,000 to the New Orleans Aids task force, a
charity designed for the New Orleans population with AIDS and HIV. The donation of the
van was made by the Elizabeth Taylor HIV/AIDS Foundation and Macy’s.
In the early 1980s, Taylor moved to Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, which was her
residence until her death. She also owned homes in Palm
Springs, London and Hawaii.
Taylor was a supporter of Kabbalah and member of the
Kabbalah Centre. She encouraged long-time friend Michael Jackson
to wear a red string as protection from the evil-eye during his 2005
trial for molestation, where he was eventually cleared of all charges. On
6 October 1991, Taylor had married construction worker Larry Fortensky
at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.[38] In 1997, Jackson presented Taylor
with the exclusively written-for-her epic song “Elizabeth, I Love
You”, performed on the day of her 65th birthday celebration.
In October 2007, Taylor won a legal battle, over a Van Gogh painting
in her possession, View of the Asylum and Chapel at Saint Remy. The
United States Supreme Court refused to reconsider a legal suit filed by four persons
claiming that the artwork belonged to one of their Jewish ancestors,
regardless of any statute of limitations. Taylor attended Michael Jackson’s
-private funeral on 3 September 2009.
Marriages
Taylor was married eight times to seven husbands:
- Conrad “Nicky” Hilton (May 6, 1950 – January 29, 1951) (divorced)
- Michael Wilding (February 21, 1952 – January 26, 1957) (divorced)
- Michael Todd (February 2, 1957 – March 22, 1958) (widowed)
- Eddie Fisher (May 12, 1959 – March 6, 1964) (divorced)
- Richard Burton (March 15, 1964 – June 26, 1974) (divorced)
- Richard Burton (October 10, 1975 – July 29, 1976) (divorced)
- John Warner (December 4, 1976 – November 7, 1982) (divorced)
- Larry Fortensky (October 6, 1991 – October 31, 1996) (divorced)
Burton and Taylor remarried 16 months after their first divorce, in a mud hut in Botswana. He disagreed with others about her’s famed beauty, saying that calling Taylor “the most beautiful woman in the world is absolute nonsense. She has wonderful eyes, but she has a double chin and an overdeveloped chest, and she’s rather short in the leg.
Taylor converted from Christian Science to Judaism, between her marriages to Todd and Fisher.
Children
With Wilding (two sons):
- Michael Howard Wilding (born 1953)
- Christopher Edward Wilding (born 1955)
With Todd (one daughter):
- Elizabeth Frances “Liza” Todd (born 1957)
With Burton (one daughter):
- Maria Burton (born 1961; adopted 1964)
In 1971, Taylor became a grandmother at the age of 39. At the time of her death she was survived by her four children, ten grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Taylor dealt with many serious health problems during her life, and many
times newspaper headlines announced that she was close to death. In 2004 it
was announced that she was suffering from congestive heart failure, and in 2009 she
underwent cardiac surgery to replace a leaky valve. In February 2011, new
symptoms related to congestive heart failure caused her to be admitted into
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for treatment.
Taylor won two Academy Awards for Best Actress (for her
performance in Butterfield 8 in 1960, and for Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf in 1966). She joined a select list of two-time Academy
Award winning Best Actress winners which includes Luise Rainer,
Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh, Ingrid Bergman, Glenda
Jackson, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Jodie Foster, and Hillary Swank.
Additionally, she was awarded the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian
Academy Award in 1992 for her work fighting AIDS. In 1999, Taylor
was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Taylor died on March 23, 2011, surrounded by her four
children at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles,
California, at the age of 79.
Quote of the Day: 22 March ’11~Nina Garcia via Twitter
“Style is about identifying who you want to be. To do this, you have to seek out your inspirations. Anything can be a source of inspiration”~Nina Garcia
Nina García de Castellanos, (born May 3, 1965) commonly known as Nina Garcia, is a Colombian fashion journalist and critic who has held the post of Fashion Director at Elle and Marie Claire magazines, and is currently a judge on the Lifetime reality television program Project Runway.
Quote of the Day: 21 March ’11~George Bernard Shaw
“The novelties of one generation are only the resuscitated fashions of the generation before last.”~George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays.
Quote of the Day: 19 March ’11~Mark Twain
“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. “~Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).
Visit the Shop Page….New Things will be up soon!!
Click the Photo to Shop
Awesome new pictures every Thursdays featuring my
jewelry…..Don’t forget to visit the SHOP Page.
New things are in the works people!! Bigger & better
things are coming.
Lets Get excited!!
There will be more wonderful things coming for you guys. Keep the dream alive!!
Quote of the Day: 17 March ’11~Anatole France
“Only men who are not interested in women are interested in women’s clothes. Men who like women never notice what they wear.”~Anatole France
Anatole France (16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924), born François-Anatole Thibault, was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie française, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Quote of the Day: 16 March ’11~Bruce Oldfield
“Fashion is more usually a gentle progression of revisited ideas.”~Bruce Oldfield
Bruce Oldfield OBE (born 14 July 1950) is a British fashion designer, best known for his couture occasionwear. He dresses Hollywood actresses, British and International royalty and European aristocracy; famous clients have included Sienna Miller, Barbra Streisand, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Diana Ross, Emmanuelle Seigner, Rihanna, Kelly Brook, Taylor Swift, Elizabeth McGovern, Rosamund Pike, Anjelica Huston, Faye Dunaway, Melanie Griffith, Charlotte Rampling, Jerry Hall, Joan Collins, Queen Noor of Jordan and Queen Rania of Jordan and Diana, Princess of Wales.
L’Histiore de Mode: Nouvelle Mode~Fabrican
In 2000 Fabrican patented an instant, sprayable, non-woven fabric.
Developed through a collaboration between Imperial College London and the
Royal College of Art, Fabrican technology has captured the imagination of designers,
industry and the public around the world. The technology has been developed for use
in household, industrial, personal and healthcare, decorative and fashion applications
using aerosol cans or spray-guns, and will soon be found in
products available everywhere.
The original idea of spray-on fabric came from Manel Torres’
work in the fashion industry. These photos capture the essence
of science and fashion in collaboration. Fabrican spray-on fabric
will liberate designers to create new and unique garments, offer a
carrier technology for delivery of fragrance or even medical active
substances, and allow the wearer to personalise their wardrobe
in infinite combinations. New textures and material characteristics are
a matter of adjusting chemistry. In addition to fashion, the technology is
opening new vistas, offering sprayable material for any application requiring a
fabric coating. The technology opens new vistas for personalised fashion,
allowing individual touches to be added to manufactured garments, or even impromptu
alterations. Garments could incorporate fragrances, active substances,
or conductive materials to interface with information technolgy.
After a decade of research, this futuristic
vision is taking shape.
Fabrican is a rare achievement in transforming a dream to practical realisation.
Through combination of clever exploitation of people’s immediate fascination with
the spray-on fabric, and Manel’s extraordinary ability to motivate multi-disciplinary
collaboration, Fabrican has brought interest and worldwide
media coverage.
Company History
- 1995 – 1997 Manel Torres conceives the idea for Spray-on Fabric whilst studying for his MA in Fashion Women’s Wear, Royal College of Art, London.
- 1998 – 2001 Manel Torres obtains his PhD for Spray-on Fabric at the Royal College of Art and has a patent filed for this technology. During his PhD research, his work was supervised by Dr Susannah Handley (Royal College of Art) and Professor Paul Luckham (Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London).
- 2003 Manel Torres establishes Fabrican Ltd. with Professor Paul Luckham.
Aware of the slow process of constructing garments, Manel investigated novel ways to speed up this process. Manel’s foresight and vision led him to think of developing a material that would almost magically fit the body like a second skin and at the same time have the appearance of clothing.
The original concept was to utilise Spray-on Fabric in the fashion industry. However, the technology has the potential to revolutionise and enhance numerous market areas.
Fabrican is focused on the research and development of Spray-on Fabric which can then be used across a number of market sectors. Fabrican’s mission is to develop prototype products, in collaboration with leading industrial partners, leading to commercial exploitation by the partner.
Fabrican
Our technology can be used across many industries, positively impacting the lives of millions of people as well as the environment.
Fabrican Ltd. is a company exploiting inter-disciplinary research which links the subjects of science and design.
Our team is dedicated to meeting the needs of consumers with creative ideas and innovative products, through the development of new applications for Spray-on Fabric technology.
Our novel concepts are enlightening major worldwide manufacturers as to the huge potential which exists, through the successful branding of a product range.
Our underlying ethos is to produce concept products which are market leaders, through scientific research and development for future markets.
Fabrican in Action
In the science lab
On the Runway
Couture in a Can
I still can’t tell yet if it would be a good investment as a designer or a huge waste of money, time, & effort. LoL Who wears that out? Gaga? That’s it?!?
Quote of the Day:15 March ’11~Manolo Blahnik
“About half my designs are controlled fantasy, 15 percent are total madness and the rest are bread-and-butter designs.”~Manolo Blahnik
Manuel "Manolo" Blahnik Rodríguez CBE, (pronounced /məˈnoʊloʊ ˈblɑːnɨk/; born 28 November 1942), is a Spanish fashion designer and founder of the self-named, high-end shoe brand.
Don’t Forget the Shop page. The only way to keep the line going.
Navajo Bracelet,#SS11-53MHA-0SFH,$26
These are all my sample pieces. If you need something made in a specific size. Feel free to e-mail us, even if we’re sold out of one style we are more than happy to replicate another piece in the same likeness.** The Picture will take you to our shop page.
Don’t do your homework off my blog. Shop!! Thanks!
**All pieces are handmade, therefore not guaranteeing the same product each time. **
L’Histoire de Mode~Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on
March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the
history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest
loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. The fire
caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, who either died
from the fire or jumped to their deaths. Most of the victims were
recent immigrant Jewish women aged sixteen to twenty-three.
Many of the workers could not escape the burning building because the
managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits. People jumped from
the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors. The fire led to legislation requiring improved
factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union,
which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was
located in the Asch Building, now known as the Brown Building of Science, a New York University facility.
It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and
a New York City landmark.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory occupied the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors
of the Asch Building. Under the ownership of Max Blanck and Isaac Harris,
the factory produced women’s blouses, known as “shirtwaists.” The factory normally
employed about 500 workers, mostly young immigrant women, who worked nine
hours a day on weekdays plus seven hours on Saturdays.
On the afternoon of Saturday, March 25, 1911, as the workday was ending, a fire
flared up in a scrap bin under one of the cutters’ tables on the eighth floor.Both owners of the
factory were in attendance and had invited their children to the factory on that afternoon.
The Fire Marshal concluded that the likely cause of the fire was the disposal of an
unextinguished match or cigarette butt in the scrap bin. Although smoking was banned in the
factory, cutters were known to sneak cigarettes, exhaling the smoke through their lapels
to avoid detection. A New York Times article suggested that the fire may have been
started by the engines running the sewing machines, while The Insurance Monitor, a leading
industry journal, suggested that the epidemic of fires among shirtwaist manufacturers
was “fairly saturated with moral hazard.” No one suggested arson.
A bookkeeper on the eighth floor was able to warn employees on the
tenth floor via telephone, but there was no audible alarm and no way
to contact staff on the ninth floor. According to survivor
Yetta Lubitz, the first warning of the fire on the ninth
floor arrived at the same time as the fire itself.
The floor had a number of exits – two freight elevators, a
fire escape, and stairways down to Greene Street and
Washington Square – but flames prevented workers from
descending the Greene Street stairway and the door to the Washington Square
stairway was locked to prevent theft and the foreman who held the
key had escaped by another route.
Dozens of employees escaped the fire by going up the Greene Street
stairway to the roof. Other survivors were able to jam themselves into the elevators
while they continued to operate. Within three minutes, the Greene Street stairway
became unusable in both directions. Terrified employees crowded
onto the single exterior fire escape, a flimsy and poorly-anchored iron structure
which may have been broken before the fire. It soon twisted and collapsed from the
heat and overload, spilling victims to their deaths onto the concrete pavement
nearly a hundred feet below. Elevator operators Joseph Zito
and Gaspar Mortillalo saved many lives by traveling three times up
to the ninth floor for passengers, but Mortillalo was eventually forced
to give up when the rails of his elevator buckled under the heat. Some victims pried
the elevator doors open and jumped down the empty shaft. The weight of these
bodies made it impossible for Zito to make another attempt.
As a large crowd of bystanders gathered on the street, sixty-two people
died by jumping or falling from the ninth floor. Louis Waldman, later a
New York Socialist state assemblyman, described the scene years later:
One Saturday afternoon in March of that year — March 25, to be precise — I was sitting at one of the reading tables in the old Astor Library… It was a raw, unpleasant day and the comfortable reading room seemed a delightful place to spend the remaining few hours until the library closed. I was deeply engrossed in my book when I became aware of fire engines racing past the building. By this time I was sufficiently Americanized to be fascinated by the sound of fire engines. Along with several others in the library, I ran out to see what was happening, and followed crowds of people to the scene of the fire. A few blocks away, the Asch Building at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street was ablaze. When we arrived at the scene, the police had thrown up a cordon around the area and the firemen were helplessly fighting the blaze. The eighth, ninth, and tenth stories of the building were now an enormous roaring cornice of flames.Word had spread through the East Side, by some magic of terror, that the plant of the Triangle Waist Company was on fire and that several hundred workers were trapped. Horrified and helpless, the crowds — I among them — looked up at the burning building, saw girl after girl appear at the reddened windows, pause for a terrified moment, and then leap to the pavement below, to land as mangled, bloody pulp. This went on for what seemed a ghastly eternity. Occasionally a girl who had hesitated too long was licked by pursuing flames and, screaming with clothing and hair ablaze, plunged like a living torch to the street. Life nets held by the firemen were torn by the impact of the falling bodies.
The emotions of the crowd were indescribable. Women were hysterical, scores fainted; men wept as, in paroxysms of frenzy, they hurled themselves against the police lines.
The remainder waited until smoke and fire overcame them. The fire
department arrived quickly but was unable to stop the flames,
as there were no ladders available that could reach beyond
the sixth floor. The fallen bodies and falling victims also
made it difficult for the fire department
to reach the building. Bodies of the
victims being placed in coffins
on the sidewalk.
Although early references of the death toll ranged from 141 to 148, almost all modern
references agree that 146 people died as a result of the fire. Six victims remained
unidentified until 2011. Most victims died of burns, asphyxiation,
blunt impact injuries, or a combination of the three. Almost thirty
of the victims were men. The first person to jump was a man, and another man
was seen kissing a young woman at the window before they
both jumped to their deaths.
Twenty-two victims of the fire were buried by the
Hebrew Free Burial Association in a special section at Mount
Richmond Cemetery. In some instances, their tombstones refer to the fire.
Another six victims were buried in the Cemetery of the Evergreens in
Brooklyn. Originally interred elsewhere on the grounds, their
remains now lie underneath a monument to the tragedy,
a large marble slab featuring a kneeling woman.
Six of those victims were identified in February 2011.
The company’s owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, had fled to the building’s roof
when the fire began and survived. They were later put on trial, at which Max Steuer, counsel for
the defendants, managed to destroy the credibility of one of the survivors, Kate Alterman,
by asking her to repeat her testimony a number of times — which she did without altering
key phrases that Steuer believed were perfected before trial. Steuer argued to the jury that
Alterman and probably other witnesses had memorized their statements and might even
have been told what to say by the prosecutors. The defense also stressed that the
prosecution had failed to prove that the owners knew the exit doors were locked at the
time in question. The jury acquitted the owners. However, they lost a subsequent
civil suit in 1913 and plaintiffs won compensation in the amount of $75 per
deceased victim. The insurance company paid Blanck and Harris about
$60,000 more than the reported losses, or about $400 per casualty. In 1913, Blanck
was once again arrested for locking the door in his factory
during working hours. He was fined $20.
Films
- American Experience: Triangle Fire (2011), documentary produced and directed by Jamila Wignot, narrated by Michael Murphy
- The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal (1979), directed by Mel Stuart, produced by Mel Brez and Ethel Brez
- Those Who Know Don’t Tell: The Ongoing Battle for Workers’ Health (1990), produced by Abby Ginzberg, narrated by Studs Terkel
- With These Hands (1950), directed by Jack Arnold
Quote of the Day: 10 March ’11~Donna Karan
“Today, fashion is really about sensuality—how a woman feels on the inside. In the ’80s women used suits with exaggerated shoulders and waists to make a strong impression. Women are now more comfortable with themselves and their bodies—they no longer feel the need to hide behind their clothes.”~Donna Karan
Born Donna Ivy Faske, Karan is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels
L’Histoire de Mode~Silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fibre, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance of silk is due to the triangular prism-like structure of the silk fibre, which allows silk cloth to refract incoming light at different angles, thus producing different colors.
Silks are produced by several other insects, but only the silk of moth caterpillars has been used for textile manufacturing. There has been some research into other silks, which differ at the molecular level. Silks are mainly produced by the larvae of insects undergoing complete metamorphosis, but also by some adult insects such as webspinners. Silk production is especially common in the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), and is sometimes used in nest construction. Other types of arthropod produce silk, most notably various arachnids such as spiders (spider silk).
Wild silk
A variety of wild silks, produced by caterpillars other than the
mulberry silkworm have been known and used in China, South Asia,
and Europe since ancient times. However, the scale of production
was always far smaller than that of cultivated silks. They differ
from the domesticated varieties in color and texture, and cocoons
gathered in the wild usually have been damaged by the emerging moth
before the cocoons are gathered, so the silk thread that makes up the cocoon
has been torn into shorter lengths. Commercially reared silkworm pupae are
killed by dipping them in boiling water before the adult moths emerge, or by
piercing them with a needle, allowing the whole cocoon to be unraveled as one
continuous thread. This permits a much stronger cloth to be woven from
the silk. Wild silks also tend to be more difficult to dye
than silk from the cultivated silkworm.
China
Silk fabric was first developed in ancient China, with some of the earliest examples
found as early as 3500 BC. Legend gives credit for developing silk to a Chinese empress,
Lei Zu (Hsi-Ling-Shih, Lei-Tzu). Silks were originally reserved for the Kings of China for their own use
and gifts to others, but spread gradually through Chinese culture and trade both geographically
and socially, and then to many regions of Asia. Silk rapidly became a popular luxury fabric in the
many areas accessible to Chinese merchants because of its texture and luster. Silk was in
great demand, and became a staple of pre-industrial international trade. In July 2007, archeologists
discovered intricately woven and dyed silk textiles in a tomb in Jiangxi province, dated to
the Eastern Zhou Dynasty roughly 2,500 years ago. Although historians have suspected a
long history of a formative textile industry in ancient China, this find of silk textiles
employing “complicated techniques” of weaving and dyeing provides direct
and concrete evidence for silks dating before the Mawangdui-discovery and other
silks dating to the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD).
The first evidence of the silk trade is the finding of silk in the
hair of an Egyptian mummy of the 21st dynasty, c.1070 BC. Ultimately
the silk trade reached as far as the Indian subcontinent,
the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa. This trade
was so extensive that the major set of trade routes
between Europe and Asia has become known as
the Silk Road. The highest development
was in China.
The Emperors of China strove to keep knowledge of sericulture secret to maintain
the Chinese monopoly. Nonetheless sericulture reached Korea around 200 BC, about
the first half of the 1st century AD had reached ancient Khotan, and by AD 300
the practice had been established in India.
Thailand
Silk is produced, year round, in Thailand by two types of silkworms,
the cultured Bombycidae and wild Saturniidae. Most production
is after the rice harvest in the southern and northeast parts
of the country. Women traditionally weave silk on hand looms,
and pass the skill on to their daughters as weaving is considered
to be a sign of maturity and eligibility for marriage.
Thai silk textiles often use complicated patterns in various
colours and styles. Most regions of Thailand have their own
typical silks. A single thread filament is too thin to use on its
own so women combine many threads to produce a thicker,
usable fibre. They do this by hand-reeling the threads
onto a wooden spindle to produce a uniform strand of
raw silk. The process takes around 40 hours to
produce a half kilogram of Thai silk.
Many local operations use a reeling machine for this task, but some silk threads
are still hand-reeled. The difference is that hand-reeled threads produce three grades of silk: two
fine grades that are ideal for lightweight fabrics, and a thick
grade for heavier material. The silk fabric is soaked in extremely cold water and bleached
before dyeing to remove the natural yellow coloring of Thai silk yarn. To do this, skeins
of silk thread are immersed in large tubs of hydrogen peroxide. Once washed and dried,
the silk is woven on a traditional hand operated loom.[
India
Silk, known as “Paat” in Eastern India, Pattu in southern parts of India
and Resham in Hindi/Urdu, has a long history in India. Recent
archaeological discoveries in Harappa and Chanhu-daro suggest
that sericulture, employing wild silk threads from native silkworm
species, existed in South Asia during the time of the
Indus Valley Civilization, roughly contemporaneous
with the earliest known silk use in China. Silk is widely
produced today. India is the second largest producer of silk
after China. A majority of the silk in India is produced in Karnataka
State, particularly in Mysore and the North Bangalore regions of
Muddenahalli, Kanivenarayanapura, and Doddaballapur.
India is also the largest consumer of silk in the world. The
tradition of wearing silk sarees in marriages by the brides
is followed in southern parts of India. Silk is worn by people as a symbol
of royalty while attending functions and during festivals. Historically silk
was used by the upper classes, while cotton was used by the poorer classes.
Today silk is mainly produced in Bhoodhan Pochampally (also known as Silk City),
Kanchipuram, Dharmavaram, Mysore, etc. in South India and Banaras in the
North for manufacturing garments and sarees. “Murshidabad silk”, famous from
historical times, is mainly produced in Malda and Murshidabad district of West
Bengal and woven with hand looms in Birbhum
and Murshidabad district.
Another place famous for production of silk is Bhagalpur. The silk from Pochampally
is particularly well-known for its classic designs and enduring quality. The silk is
traditionally hand-woven and hand-dyed and usually also has silver threads woven into
the cloth. Most of this silk is used to make sarees. The sarees usually are very expensive and
vibrant in color. Garments made from silk form an integral part of Indian weddings and other
celebrations. In the northeastern state of Assam, three different types of silk are produced,
collectively called Assam silk: Muga, Eri and Pat silk. Muga, the golden silk, and Eri are
produced by silkworms that are native only to Assam. The heritage of silk rearing
and weaving is very old and continues today especially with the production of Muga and
Pat riha and mekhela chador, the three-piece silk sarees woven with traditional motifs.
Mysore Silk Sarees, which are known for their soft texture,
last many years if carefully maintained.
Ancient Mediterranean
In the Odyssey, 19.233, when Odysseus, while pretending to be someone
else, is questioned by Penelope about her husband’s clothing, he says
that he wore a shirt “gleaming like the skin of a dried onion” (varies with
translations, literal translation here) which could refer to the
lustrous quality of silk fabric. The Roman Empire knew of and traded
in silk. During the reign of emperor Tiberius, sumptuary laws were passed
that forbade men from wearing silk garments, but these proved ineffectual. Despite the
popularity of silk, the secret of silk-making only reached Europe around AD 550,
via the Byzantine Empire. Legend has it that monks working for the emperor
Justinian I smuggled silkworm eggs to Constantinople in hollow canes from
China. All top-quality looms and weavers were located inside the
Palace complex in Constantinople and the cloth produced was used
in imperial robes or in diplomacy, as gifts to foreign dignitaries.
The remainder was sold at very high prices.
Chemical properties
Silk emitted by the silkworm consists of two main proteins, sericin and fibroin, fibroin
being the structural center of the silk, and serecin being the sticky material surrounding it.
Fibroin is made up of the amino acids Gly-Ser-Gly-Ala-Gly-Ala and forms
beta pleated sheets. Hydrogen bonds form between chains, and side chains form above
and below the plane of the hydrogen bond network. The high proportion
(50%) of glycine, which is a small amino acid, allows tight packing and the
fibers are strong and resistant to breaking. The tensile strength is due to the many
interseeded hydrogen bonds, and when stretched the force is applied to these
numerous bonds and they do not break. Silk is resistant to most mineral acids, except
for sulfuric acid, which dissolves it.
It is yellowed by perspiration.
Uses
Silk’s absorbency makes it comfortable to wear in warm
weather and while active. Its low conductivity keeps
warm air close to the skin during cold weather. It is often
used for clothing such as shirts, ties, blouses, formal dresses,
high fashion clothes, lingerie, pyjamas, robes, dress suits,
sun dresses and kimonos. Silk’s attractive luster and drape
makes it suitable for many furnishing applications. It is
used for upholstery, wall coverings, window treatments
(if blended with another fiber), rugs, bedding and wall hangings.
While on the decline now, due to artificial fibers, silk has had many industrial
and commercial uses; parachutes, bicycle tires, comforter filling and artillery
gunpowder bags. A special manufacturing process removes the outer
irritant sericin coating of the silk, which makes it suitable as non-absorbable
surgical sutures. This process has also recently led to the
introduction of specialist silk underclothing for children and adults
with eczema where it can significantly
reduce itch.
Cultivation
Silk moths lay eggs on specially prepared paper. The eggs hatch and the caterpillars
(silkworms) are fed fresh mulberry leaves. After about 35 days and 4 moltings, the caterpillars
are 10,000 times heavier than when hatched and are ready to begin spinning a cocoon.
A straw frame is placed over the tray of caterpillars, and each caterpillar begins spinning a
cocoon by moving its head in a “figure 8” pattern. Two glands produce liquid silk and force
it through openings in the head called spinnerets. Liquid silk is coated in sericin, a water-soluble
protective gum, and solidifies on contact with the air. Within 2–3 days, the
caterpillar spins about 1 mile of filament and is completely encased in a cocoon.
The silk farmers then kill most caterpillars by heat, leaving some to
metamorphose into moths to breed the next generation of caterpillars.
Harvested cocoons are then soaked in boiling water to soften the sericin
holding the silk fibers together in a cocoon shape. The fibers are then
unwound to produce a continuous thread. Since a single thread is too fine and
fragile for commercial use, anywhere from three to ten
strands are spun together to form
a single thread of silk.
Animal rights
As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the
larvae, sericulture has been criticized in the early 21st century by
animal rights activists, especially since artificial silks are available.
Mohandas Gandhi was also critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa
philosophy “not to hurt any living thing.” This led to Gandhi’s promotion
of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at
the Gandhi Institute. He also promoted Ahimsa silk, wild silk
made from the cocoons of wild and semi-wild silk moths.
Ahimsa silk is promoted in parts of Southern India for those
who prefer not to wear silk produced by
killing silkworms.
L’Histoire de Mode~Crochet
Crochet
Crochet (pronounced /kroʊˈʃeɪ/) is a process of creating fabric from yarn using a crochet hook. The word is derived from the French word “crochet”, meaning hook. Crocheting, similar to knitting, consists of pulling loops of yarn through other loops. Crochet differs from knitting in that only one loop is active at one time (the sole exception being Tunisian crochet), and that a single crochet hook is used instead of two knitting needles.
Lis Paludan theorizes that crochet evolved from traditional practices
in Arabia, South America, or China, but there is no decisive evidence of the
craft being performed before its popularity in Europe during the 19th century
The earliest written reference to crochet refers to shepherd’s knitting from
The Memoirs of a Highland Lady by Elizabeth Grant in the 19th century.
The first published crochet patterns appeared in the Dutch magazine Pénélopé in
1824. Other indicators that crochet was new in the 19th century include the
1847 publication A Winter’s Gift, which provides detailed instructions for
performing crochet stitches, although it presumes that readers
understand the basics of other needlecrafts. Early references to
the craft in Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1846 and 1847
refer to crotchet before the
spelling standardized
in 1848.
Knit and knotted textiles survive from very early periods,
but there are no surviving samples of crocheted fabric in
any ethnological collection, or archeological source prior to
1800. These writers point to the tambour hooks used in
tambour embroidery in France in the 18th century, and
contend that the hooking of loops through fine fabric in tambour
work evolved into “crochet in the air.” Most samples of early work
claimed to be crochet turn out to actually be samples of nålebinding.
Donna Kooler identifies a problem with the tambour hypothesis:
period tambour hooks that survive in modern collections cannot
produce crochet because the integral wing nut necessary for tambour
work interferes with attempts at crochet. Kooler proposes that early
industrialization is key to the development of crochet. Machine spun
cotton thread became widely available and inexpensive in Europe and
North America after the invention of the cotton gin and the spinning jenny,
displacing hand spun linen for many uses. Crochet technique consumes
more thread than comparable textile production methods
and cotton is well suited to crochet.
Early crochet hooks ranged from primitive bent needles in a
cork handle, used by poor Irish lace workers, to expensively crafted
silver, brass, steel, ivory and bone hooks set into a variety of handles, some of which
were better designed to show off a lady’s hands than they were to work with thread.
By the early 1840s, instructions for crochet were being published
in England, particularly by Eleanor Riego de la Blanchardiere and Frances Lambert.
These early patterns called for cotton and linen thread for lace,
and wool yarn for clothing,
often in vivid color combinations.
In the 19th century, as Ireland was facing the Great Irish Famine (1845-1849),
crochet lace work was introduced as a form of famine relief (the production of crocheted
lace being an alternative way of making money for impoverished Irish workers).
Mademoiselle Riego de la Blanchardiere is generally credited with the
invention of Irish Crochet, publishing the first book of patterns in 1846.
Irish lace became popular in Europe and America, and was
made in quantity until the first World War.
Fashions in crochet changed with the end of the Victorian era in the 1890s.
Crocheted laces in the new Edwardian era, peaking between 1910 and 1920, became
even more elaborate in texture and complicated stitching.The strong Victorian
colours disappeared, though, and new publications called for white or pale threads,
except for fancy purses, which were often crocheted of brightly colored silk
and elaborately beaded. After World War I, far fewer crochet patterns were published,
and most of them were simplified versions of the early 20th century patterns.
After World War II, from the late 40s until the early 60s, there was a resurgence in
interest in home crafts, particularly in the United States, with many new
and imaginative crochet designs published for colorful doilies, potholders,
and other home items, along with updates of earlier publications. These patterns
called for thicker threads and yarns than in earlier patterns and included
wonderful variegated colors. The craft remained primarily a homemaker’s art
until the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the new generation picked up on crochet
and popularized granny squares, a motif worked in the round and incorporating
bright colors. Although crochet underwent a subsequent decline in popularity,
the early 21st century has seen a revival of interest in handcrafts and DIY, as well
as great strides in improvement of the quality and varieties of yarn. There are many
more new pattern books with modern patterns being printed, and most yarn
stores now offer crochet lessons in addition to the traditional knitting lessons.
Filet crochet, Tunisian crochet, broomstick lace, hairpin lace, cro-hooking, and
Irish crochet are all variants of the basic crochet method.
Crochet patterns have an underlying mathematical
structure and have been used to illustrate shapes
in hyperbolic geometry that are difficult to reproduce
using other media or are difficult to understand
when viewed two-dimensionally.
Materials:
Hook
The Crochet hook comes in many sizes and materials,
such as bone, bamboo, aluminum, plastic and steel.
Steel crochet hooks range from 0.4 to
3.5 millimeters in the size of the hook,
or from 00 to 16 in American sizing.
These hooks are used for fine crochet work.
Aluminum, bamboo, and plastic crochet
hooks are available from 2.5 to 19 millimeters
in hook size, or from B to S in American sizing.
There are also many artisan-made hooks,
most of hand-turned wood, sometimes
decorated with semi-precious stones or beads.
Crochet hooks used for Tunisian crochet are elongated and have a stopper at
the end of the handle, while double-ended crochet hooks have a hook on both ends
of the handle. There is also a double hooked apparatus called a Cro-hook that has become
popular. Also, a Hair-Pin Crochet Hook is often used to create lacey and long stitches.
For crocheting you will also need some type of material that will be crocheted,
which is most commonly yarn or thread.
Other equipment includes cardboard cut-outs, which can be
used to make tassels, fringe, and many other items; a pom-pom circle,
used to make pom-poms; a tape measure, a gauge measure, both
used for measuring crocheted work and counting stitches; a row counter;
and occasionally plastic rings, which are used for special projects.
Yarn
Yarn for crochet is usually sold as balls or skeins (hanks), although it may also be
wound on spools or cones. Skeins and balls are generally sold with a yarn-band, a label that describes
the yarn’s weight, length, dye lot, fiber content, washing instructions, suggested
needle size, likely gauge, etc. It is common practice to save the yarn band for future reference,
especially if additional skeins must be purchased. Crocheters generally ensure that the yarn
for a project comes from a single dye lot. The dye lot specifies a group of skeins that were
dyed together and thus have precisely the same color; skeins from different dye-lots,
even if very similar in color, are usually slightly different and may produce a
visible stripe when crocheted together. If insufficient yarn of a single dye lot
is bought to complete a project, additional skeins of the same dye lot can
sometimes be obtained from other yarn stores or online.
The thickness or weight of the yarn is a significant factor in
determining the gauge, i.e., how many stitches and rows are
required to cover a given area for a given stitch pattern. Thicker
yarns generally require thicker crocheting hooks, whereas thinner
yarns may be knit with thick or thin needles. Hence, thicker yarns
generally require fewer stitches, and therefore less time, to knit
up a given garment. Patterns and motifs are coarser with thicker
yarns; thicker yarns produce bold visual effects, whereas thinner
yarns are best for refined patterns. Yarns are grouped by thickness
into six categories: superfine, fine, light, medium, bulky and
superbulky; quantitatively, thickness is measured by the
number of wraps per inch (WPI). The related weight
per unit length is usually measured in tex or dernier.
Before use, one would typically transform a hank into a ball where the yarn
emerges from the center of the ball; this making the work easier by preventing the
yarn from becoming easily tangled. This transformation may be done
by hand, or with a device known as a ballwinder.
A yarn’s usefulness is judged by several factors, such as its loft (its ability to trap air),
its resilience (elasticity under tension), its washability and colorfastness,
its hand (its feel, particularly softness vs. scratchiness), its durability against abrasion,
its resistance to pilling, its hairiness (fuzziness), its tendency to twist or untwist, its overall
weight and drape, its blocking and felting qualities, its comfort (breathability,
moisture absorption, wicking properties) and of course its look, which includes its
color, sheen, smoothness and ornamental features. Other factors include allergenicity;
speed of drying; resistance to chemicals, moths, and mildew; melting point and
flammability; retention of static electricity; and the propensity to become stained and to
accept dyes. Different factors may be more significant than others for different projects, so
there is no one “best” yarn. The resilience and propensity to (un)twist are general
properties that affect the ease to work with.
Although crochet may be done with ribbons, metal wire or more exotic
filaments, most yarns are made by spinning fibers. In spinning,
the fibers are twisted so that the yarn resists breaking under tension;
the twisting may be done in either direction, resulting in an Z-twist
or S-twist yarn. If the fibers are first aligned by combing them, the
yarn is smoother and called a worsted; by contrast, if the fibers are
carded but not combed, the yarn is fuzzier and called woolen-spun. The
fibers making up a yarn may be continuous filament fibers such as silk and
many synthetics, or they may be staples (fibers of an average length, typically
a few inches); naturally filament fibers are sometimes cut up into staples before
spinning. The strength of the spun yarn against breaking is determined
by the amount of twist, the length of the fibers and the thickness of the
yarn. In general, yarns become stronger with more twist (also called worst),
longer fibers and thicker yarns (more fibers); for example, thinner
yarns require more twist than do thicker yarns to resist breaking
under tension. The thickness of the yarn may vary along its l
ength; a slub is a much thicker section in which a mass
of fibers is incorporated into the yarn.
The spun fibers are generally divided into animal fibers, plant and synthetic fibers.
These fiber types are chemically different, corresponding to proteins, carbohydrates and
synthetic polymers, respectively. Animal fibers include silk, but generally are l
ong hairs of animals such as sheep (wool), goat (angora, or cashmere goat), rabbit
(angora), llama, alpaca, dog, cat, camel, yak, and muskox (qiviut). Plants used for
fibers include cotton, flax (for linen), bamboo, ramie, hemp, jute, nettle, raffia, yucca,
coconut husk, banana trees, soy and corn. Rayon and acetate fibers are also produced from
cellulose mainly derived from trees. Common synthetic fibers include acrylics,[10] polyesters such
as dacron and ingeo, nylon and other polyamides, and olefins such as polypropylene. Of these types,
wool is generally favored for crochet, chiefly owing to its superior elasticity, warmth and
(sometimes) felting; however, wool is generally less convenient to clean and some people are
allergic to it. It is also common to blend different fibers in the yarn, e.g., 85% alpaca and 15%
silk. Even within a type of fiber, there can be great variety in the length and thickness of the
fibers; for example, Merino wool and Egyptian cotton are favored because they produce
exceptionally long, thin (fine) fibers for their type.
A single spun yarn may be crochet as is, or braided or plied with another.
In plying, two or more yarns are spun together, almost always in the
opposite sense from which they were spun individually; for example,
two Z-twist yarns are usually plied with an S-twist. The opposing
twist relieves some of the yarns’ tendency to curl up and produces
a thicker, balanced yarn. Plied yarns may themselves be plied together,
producing cabled yarns or multi-stranded yarns. Sometimes, the
yarns being plied are fed at different rates, so that one yarn loops
around the other, as in bouclé. The single yarns may be dyed
separately before plying, or afterwords to give the
yarn a uniform look.
The dyeing of yarns is a complex art. Yarns need not be dyed; or they may be
dyed one color, or a great variety of colors. Dyeing may be done industrially, by hand
or even hand-painted onto the yarn. A great variety of synthetic dyes have been developed
since the synthesis of indigo dye in the mid-19th century; however, natural dyes are also possible,
although they are generally less brilliant. The color-scheme of a yarn is sometimes called its colorway.
Variegated yarns can produce interesting visual effects,
such as diagonal stripes; conversely.
How it’s Done
Crocheted fabric is begun by placing a slip-knot loop on the hook,
pulling another loop through the first loop, and repeating this process
to create a chain of a suitable length. The chain is either turned and worked
in rows, or joined to the beginning of the row with a slip stitch and worked in
rounds. Rounds can also be created by working many stitches into a single loop.
Stitches are made by pulling one or more loops through each loop of the chain.
At any one time at the end of a stitch, there is only one loop left on the hook.
Tunisian crochet, however, draws all of the loops for an entire row onto a long
hook before working them off one at a time.
Samples:
Free Crochet Lace Pattern, click the photo below. Something to start us off with….
Quote of the Day: 24 Feb. ’11~Mark Twain
“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”~Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).
MORENA PEREZ, has been announced WINNER!!
Congratulations to Morena Perez!! You won the first ever 1930giveaway jewelry contest! E-mail us at 1930bychrisjackson@gmail.com to claim your gifts.
Thank you ALL for participating in our first ever contest. Keep coming back for more contest where we giveaway jewelry, clothes, bags, & possibly SHOES!!
~Thanks~
Chris J.
Quote of the Day: 22 Feb. ’11~Sophia Loren
“A woman’s dress should be like a barbedwire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.”~Sophia Loren
In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance. Loren has won 50 international awards, including two Oscars, seven Golden Globe Awards, a Grammy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Laurel Award.
First piece of FAN ART?
This is my first “fan” made art & I totally am so happy that someone
took the time out of their life to do this showing support!!
Thanks.
ALMOST THERE!! 1930 VIEWS CONTEST CLOSING SOON!!
CLICK PHOTO FOR DETAILS.
ONCE THE SITE VIEW IS AT 1930 CONTEST IS OVER!
ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN FREE JEWELRY DESIGNED BY US UNDER OUR SHOP PAGE.
**More contests coming soon!**
SHOP PAGE Handmade jewelry
Visit the SHOP PAGE. All jewelry is handmade. Everything is under $30 for the mini collection. Take a part while items still last. Click the picture to begin shopping.
Quote of the Day: 20 Feb. ’11~Jane Austen
“Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim.”~Jane Austen
Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.
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