M&J Blog

By Milton

Transform a plane baseball cap to something a little bolder with the addition of a bullion crest. The crest can transform a simple cap to something that carries a sense of bold maturity. Crests come in such a broad range of themes; it¹s easy to find one that suits you or your loved one best.

Materials:

• Bullion Crest
• Baseball cap (or any other kind of hat with a heavy weight fabric and sufficient surface area for a crest)
• Unique Stitch fabric glue
• Needle + thread to match crest
• Scissors
• Straight pins

Directions:

1. Apply some Unique Stitch fabric glue to the center of the crest, then center the crest onto the front of the hat.
2. Pin the edges of the crest down with straight-pins and set the hat aside to dry for about 30-45 minutes.
3. Thread your needle sew from the inside of the hat so that the knot at the end of your thread is hidden. 
4. Stitch around the edge of the crest, removing the pins as you go. Remember to be careful of the inner lining sweatband that most baseball hats have. You don¹t want to sew that down.
5. Finish off your stitches on the inside of the hat and you are done!

By Milton

Milan’s Menswear Spring 09 shows ended this week. 

Many top designers such as Gucci, Burberry and Calvin Klien displayed their collection for next spring.  Here are few a highlights from the shows.  Also, I’ll keep you posted on the show from Paris which started today.

Neil Barrett

Burberry Prorsum

Versace

Alessandro Dell’Acqua

Salvatore Ferragamo

Bottega Veneta

By Milton

Like people, fashion come in all shapes and sizes.  It’s no wonder that there are millions of fashion trends out there and inspiration seems to come in all forms.  Each year designers forcast the upcoming trend at least a year before the collection actually hits the runway. 

At M&J Trimming, we do the same thing and with us being in the fabric trimming and garment embellishment industry, we have a little bit of an advantage.  We know what designers are planning for their next collection because it’s us that they come to for exclusive trimmings.  Some inspirations actually comes from the trend boards we’ve created especially for our 5,000 sq ft showroom in NYC. Some of you may have seen these as you stroll along shopping at M&J Trimming.  Here’s a few photos of the trend boards.

The 2nd annual indepedent hangbag designer award was held last night at the New York Historial Society located on 170 Central Park West.  As soon as the door opened at 7pm, lines of fashionistas with trendy bags entered the room. 

The event was filled with designers from Judith Leiber to Debbie Stroller.  When first entering the room, besides the luring cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, Judith Leiber’s display of handbags was standing as the center of attention during the event.  The bags were encrusted with hundreds of rhinestones including the bag with the rhinestone handle as seen in the photo.

After an hour or so of socializing and networking, it was finally time for the awards.  Everyone hurried to their sits in excitement for the results as well as the goody-bags which included M&J’s measuring tape, gift certificates from Borrow Bag or Steal, lip balms from Smart Water and much more. 

Here is the result for the winners.

Best Student-Made Handbag - Clara Yoo: C L A R A Y O O 

Best Handmade Handbag - Darren Wallace: Darren Wallace

Most Socially Responsible Handbag - Bridget Reid: PFYH

Best Handbag in Overall Style and Design - Lui Antinous: Lui Antinous

Best Green Handbag - Helen Marcoschamer: Ecoist

 Audience Fan Favorite - Suzanna Scarola: Bellabags

Besides the finalist and and the winner’s handbags at the event, there was another special handbag that made it to the award.  Timmy Wood’s Eiffel Tower handbag which was featured in “Sex and the City”, the movie.  The bag was signed at the bottom and is going to be given away by Borrow Bag or Steal at the end of the month. 

By Milton

This blog is for all of you who follow Gossip Girl every week for wardrobe inspiration. If you’re not familiar with the TV series, it is based on the lives of some high school students from the Upper East Side of New York City. The show pretty much resembles a catwalk full of designer clothes. The main characters, Blair Waldrof, Serena van der Woodsen and Jen Humphrey wear brands such as Gucci, Balenciaga, Chanel and many more in every episode. I can’t promise you that I can teach you how to copy the pattern to a Chanel suit or how to reproduce the latest It-bag. However, I can give you tips of how to get a similar look and create accessories that match the ones Upper East Side socialites wear in this hit TV Series.

Let’s start with Blair Waldrof. Her signature style is preppy and classic. You can get her look by wearing school girl uniform inspirations, plaids, peter pan collars, pearl necklaces and knee-high socks. One of her signature accessories are headbands.

In the episode “All About My Brother” she wore a red and white striped ribbon headband with a double bow on the side. I recreated this headband and it was easier than you can imagine. The first step is to make ribbon loops; you can use fabric glue or your sewing machine. For this headband I did a 4″ and a 5″ loop and then I sew it in the center. Then put one on top of the other and wrap another loop around them and glue it (or sew it) at the bottom. For the headband I used a 17″ piece of ribbon, but I recommend you measure your head before you cut it, otherwise you take the risk of having a headband too tight or too loose. Attach a 3″ of elastic to the two ends and glue the bow you made before on the side of it. Just wear it with the right outfit and you’ll get the look of Blair Waldorf.

By Milton

Rhinestone encrusted shoes are still running strong, ladies. This season the trend has graduated from decorating the tips of simple flats and moved on to high heels. The real deal is off the charts in affordability for most of you and the less expensive versions of this fashion movement are likely to be stocked with plastic jewels. And yes, you can tell the difference.

If you want the look without the price tag, it¹s only a few steps away, no pun intended. All you need is a simple pair of heels and Swarovski sew-on or flat-back jewels in the color or colors of your choice.

I created an example using Swarovski Sew-on jewels from their new line of cosmic colors. You are sure to turn some heads when your heel-clad feet are reflecting the city lights at night.

Some other alternatives are glass sew-on jewels. They’ll also give your heels a little glamor.

By Milton

Louis Vuitton’s Spring ‘08 collection features shirts and skirts with

stripes of sequins circling the front and back. Like with all designer
clothing, I’m pretty confident that this collection’s price tag would
leave anyone stumped as to how such a simple design arrived at such an
inflated price.

It’s not always necessary to spend a large amount of money on a piece of
clothing you saw on the runway.  Some pieces can easily be recreated
using pieces of clothing you already own.  If you’d like you can also
purchase something similar and add little touches with embellishments to
make it look the same as the one you saw on the runway.

For example, I’ve easily recreated a piece from the Louis Vuitton Spring
collection.  You can purchase a regular solid shirt from any
department store.  Then with some sequin trims, sew it around the
shirt.  It can easily be done by hand or with a sewing machine.  It’s
just that simple!

THE INDEPENDENT HANDBAG DESIGNER AWARDS™

Handbag Designer 101 invites you to compete in the Second Annual Independent Handbag Designer Awards™, the only handbag competition of its kind in the world.To participate in the open call, you are required to upload one digital jpeg image any one or more of the following categories:

All finalists will be invited to participate in the Second Annual Independent Handbag Designer Awards™ that will take place on June 18, 2008, at the New York Historical Society in New York City. Over 500 members of the fashion industry, including press and retailers, will attend the Independent Handbag Designer Awards™.

Win the opportunity to have your bags:

• Be part of a full international marketing and press tour on Handbag Designer 101
• Sold in Henri Bendel, featured in their renowned window display and even get an apprenticeship with their design team
• Featured on Bag, Borrow or Steal
• Worn on a famous celebrity on ABC’s All My Children
• Showcased at WWDMAGIC with a free booth and display-Be the BEST in its category

To learn more check out:www.handbagdesigner101.com or www.hbd101.com.

The deadline for entry is Friday, April 18, 2008.

Sponsored by:

By Milton

Every time I go shopping for something new, it becomes my favorite piece of clothing and I want to wear it over and over. Of course that only last until I go shopping again and I find something else. Then they all end up piling up in my closet and I forget about them.

With time I have discovered that with simple changes I can bring those forgotten pieces back to life and make them my favorites again. I’m sure this happens to many of you, and that’s why every week I’ll give you ideas on how to transform pieces that you already have and make them new again.

For my first blog I’ll show you one of my favorite technique to adding iron-on appliqués to my clothes. They are so simple to apply; it takes less than 5 minutes to transform any piece of garment. The first one I did for myself was a studs eagle appliqué on top of a gray t-shirt. Everyone loved it and asked me where I bough it from. I always get compliments about it.

I’m not a rhinestone person, but recently we had a shipment of new styles of iron-on appliqués and one of them was an all crystal dragon. It is really hot and the first thing I thought was it would look perfect on my black blazer. So I added it to my blazer and I love the way it looks. With over 200 styles of rhinestone & studded iron-on appliqué on our website, I’ve been redesigning a lot of my clothes. If you have good drawing skills you could also make your own design and then fill it with rhinestones and studs.