So to complete my trip, I took myself to a Catholic Mass in the top end of Harlem. (It was an amazing 2 & 1/2 hour mass for Pentecost Sunday…so good & will tell you about that one when I get home.)
I travelled there by subway and this was the furthest north via public transport that I had been before. Initially I was feeling confident about making my way there because I thought I knew how to get there but after a while I was out of familiar territory and I started to feel a bit like it was my first day in New York… It was the cliched and stereotypical train ride you would expect when you are heading to a part of town that has a reputation for …well you don’t need me to spell that out to you.

I was warned by a guy, with an amazing weave that was nicely pulled back into a stocking/net, and who had been helping me with directions, not to pull out any ‘stuff’ like my I-Pad later on…which I replied, ‘No, of course not’, thinking he meant when I was in the church… But he meant on the rest of the subway journey. He said even sometimes he won’t even use his cell phone because its not safe…he qualified that he wasn’t one of those guys…thank God…And on departing the train, he shook my hand and then kissed it! … I could get used to living over here! I’ve certainly been getting a lot more attention than I’m used to!
I mustn’t have my usual, Sydney ….’get out of my way’ face! Although the tourist peddlers up around time square have stopped offering me tours and ‘stuff’ the last few times I’ve been traveling thru that part of town…so at least I must have lost a little bit of the ‘touristy’ look about me.
One lady in a little stall, on finding out that I wasn’t from the US, was quite surprised and said that I spoke very good English! And someone else mixed me up for a New Zealander, saying that ‘we’ were the best thing to happen to the states! Someone else thought I was an indigenous Australian. So my cultural identity must be a bit confusing for people.

Speaking of Indigenous…I

tried finding some Indigenous American Art whilst at the Art museum in Philadelphia, because of its sheer size and comprehensive nature to the exhibits I thought they may have some but I was directed to contemporary American art instead. So I then asked a few more of the guards and they had no clue what I was talking about. So I tried asking for native American, then in the end was asking for ‘Indian’ art … Still no luck! …I stopped short of making sound effects…was it my accent? Or did they really not have anything there?

…this was the closest I got to anything like it

I’m currently sitting and writing this whilst sitting in a garden amongst The Cloisters, which is a medieval replica building paid for by Rockefeller, back in his heyday, to house European medieval art, high on the banks of the Hudson, north of Harlem. it certainly feels authentic inside the walls of the building… Which I guess is helped by the amazing artifacts that fill the ‘castle’.
(I still can see a design brief using iconic religious imagery as inspiration sus!)

This is my setting, whilst writing this entry…the birds are chirping, the sun is out…perfect…

Here are some more images…

…later in the day…I got back from the Cloisters about 6pm and I’m bushed …so I am currently sitting down to my last supper, before returning to apartment, to pack.

So I will be seeing you all very soon on the other side…literally.
Can’t wait.

And the humidity! Wow. I thought Sydney’s humidity was high! I’ve been swvitzing all day…even in my summer frock.

… on the work front …did the stores thoroughly in the meat packing district today after trying to catch up on a little sleep this morning and starting to pack for home…well getting things sorted, so that I can pack.

But back to MEATPACKING District…I had been there a few times but really needed to do it thoroughly up and down and in and out all the little streets…I think it’s my favourite shopping distrct because it’s fairly compact, with a lot of the designers having their flagship stores down there. Including McQueen…yum. But disappointingly couldn’t spare the $5000 needed for a frock…so thats on the list for ‘next time’.

I know I’ve said this before …but it’s so good to see the elite designers’ garments up close and personal, so that you can see and understand the design detailing. Even got to see the royal ‘bridesmaids frock today, in black. Last time I was in the distinct Jeffrey and Diane Von Furstenburg were closed …so it was good to look through those properly today as well…Jeffrey being the most interesting with a selection of high end labels in stock but great to see the full collection at DVF …and to get a feel for what our Hayley Watkins is working on with her internship there. Hayley has been enjoying the friendly climate at the studio that she is in, which specializes in fabric embellishments and print at the midtown studio.

The ‘All Saints’ store was fun because the sales ‘associate’ offered for me to take photos…I didn’t even have to ask…directly!
See below…

I couldn’t resist going to the Jane Hotel, while I was down there. As it was the hotel I initially sourced, when I was originally planning this trip but it was booked out by the time I was able to book it…well let me say,

as cute as it was…I’m SSOooo glad I am in studio I’m in, rather than the TINY room I would’ve been in there …with absolutely no room to breath or a private bathroom. So lucky for me they were booked out! Admittedly if you could afford $250 a night … A cabin room was gorgeous.

Later in the afternoon, i headed further downtown to Century 21…I was warned to go there midweek and avoid the weekend crush…but my schedule hadn’t really allowed it.
Not a lot to report here because I was a bit numb by the time I got there and I didn’t feel much besides exhaustion as I fought my way through the crowds to look at the designer labels crammed onto a zillion racks.

This is the cafe across for my apartment when I got home tonight…people are loving this warmer weather and the public holiday weekend. (Memorial Day)
It doesn’t get dark here till about 8.30pm.

Not sure what will happen to it when all the design studios move downtown to cheaper real estate?

I had the great pleasure of meeting with Yvonne Watson, the director of Academic Affairs of the design school at Parsons, this morning. I was there for a few hours and she was most apologetic that we hadn’t met earlier on in my stay…but a few hours with her made up for it, well and truly.

A few things stand out that I will share here…the first thing being that Parsons brought Yvonne out from England to restructure/ develop the design courses offered here, and she basically has implemented changes that took it from being a manufacturing based training to a design course to one that now mirrors, very closely, a lot of our philosophy/techniques used at Sydney Institute to foster the creative without detriment to their technical learning …in fact, the opposite …allowing them to make their own designs that may be more advanced than their technical level in order to push and inspire them to actually learn the techniques required for them to achieve their desired look. Also, she adjusted the course work to be delivered more holistically, with more integrated delivery, predominantly to help cut down on an overburdened student work load.
I was really interested and happy to learn this.

There are lots of differences in other areas …but that’s for another time.

They are looking at a big restructure, in course delivery, starting next year which is based on an Australian model…namely because Australia’s reputation is renowned for our excellent pedagogy.
We had a laugh about me being here to learn and study best practices in teaching and here they are basing many of their changes on our methods and philosophies.

We had a little tour of the rooms, but the rooms where in disarray due to the production crew that were there setting up and getting ready to film Project Runway’…which takes place during the whole of the summer break. And the staff find this very disruptive to the college because they aren’t able to freely walk thru certain parts of the building or accessing areas…but I did manage to get a few photos, of course. And get a load of how many mannequins they have! I’m so jealous.

That’s something else she has encouraged here at Parsons…the use of fitting on and using the mannequins. when they have their marking and critiques, here and at F.I.T. they use the mannequins and line them all up around the room for the panel to view.

above: Yvonne Watson.

My next port of call was an innovative company, called Alvanon, that makes the most amazing mannequins you could possibly imagine. The shapes could be made to order for your labels specific demographic. They even have body scanners that use to do market research

of your target customers.
I met the creative director who, gave a demonstration of how he uses a specialized computer programme to sculpt the mannequins to the desired shape. They also had standard forms that were stunning with soft tummies …for firm fitting garments…soft shoulders, to allow pulling garments over top…so many amazing features. They are currently developing a specialized form for swimwear and intimate wear that will allow for better fitting so that the crotch doesn’t ‘scrunch’ up and so that the bras can be cupped more realistically.
Currently, they also have their marketing team over in Australia doing research for Target, to find out about the Aussy body. I suggested we might have to look at getting Target to sponsor us with some mannequins!

Next on the list was to check a couple New York fabric stores. And like everything over here…they are massive! So much fabric, so much choice, so fabulous. And online!

This is about one tenth of the wools choice

Have you ever seen fluro velvets before?

Above: This gorgeous charmuse printed panel was just over 1x1m large. Tempting!

My last port of call was the MoMA…Museum of Modern Art.

The galleries certainly didn’t disappoint … With both the Bejamin Franklin Science Museum and the Philadelphia art Museum.

I was enticed into science museum with a very ‘unsciency’ exhibit…the Dead Sea Scrolls…for those of you who know me…you know I couldn’t pass up this opportunity, literally staring me in the face!
As I have discovered on this trip…open yourself up to the unexpected … Sometimes it means your well laid plans don’t work out the way you thought they would …. But in the majority of times it means that the world opens up in unexpected and fabulous ways!…such as getting offered to have our students intern at Ralph Lauren and this!

It was a real treat…so students this means to you …that I’m trying to figure a way of incorporating the ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ this into the next design brief!
And suska I can here you groaning…but I will figure it out …ok!?

I wasn’t allowed to take photos of the actual scrolls but this was one of the earliest ‘alters’ known to mankind. Cool …no? My photo of the actual ‘Oldest’ alter was too dark…sorry.

These are the early symbols of the ‘spirit’ & fertility … symbols, that still remain today.

I wasn’t really expecting this giant looking art museum in Phily to be as impressive as the Metropolitan in NYC …BUT I was mistaken. I was in love , yet again. especially when I saw this picture below …and Kandinsky’s! Omg. So good…I was ok then about missing the Kandinsky exhibit, in the Guggenheim, which had been replaced by school children’s artworks.

(My husband has been asking for photos with me in it so this is for him!)

After literally walking miles and miles, from Philly 30th street station, to the galleries and back to down town Philly, I

joined up with an illustration classmate for lunch.

Then hit the shops!

I found that Philly’s ‘mark downs’ were better than NYC.
But the product was pretty much the same, only with less choice. The supposed jewel in the crown was to be Anthropologie … But my favorite store here was one that housed all the directional contemporary designers…it was like walking into Barney’s without having to do the big department store walk …all in one easy space. Still couldn’t afford any of it … but I can dream!

The whole contemporary shopping district was within two streets. ..so obviously not NY.
But the trends were still exactly the same…lots of color… bright color with floral prints , stripes, ethnic mixes and deconstructed denim and neutral colored leather to reduce the loudness. Or softer colors with brights or Flouro accessories to give it punch. Plus of course the essential addition of bold Broderie Anglaise style lace, in a short, dress or flounce skirt.
I managed to get a few windows … but not great images. Sorry.

The last one is just for you Vicky.

Tomorrow is a day of appointments, with the Parsons Director of Academic Affairs, and a specialized mannequin manufacturer and the MoMA (museum of modern art)… Should be another great day.

future in regards to exchanges.

The other main event for today was my last class at F.I.T. with the Great Designers class, where I had to make a presentation …which certainly opened up American students, not to mention the Lecturer, to a different perspective of Australian fashion and our culture (I ran a little over time….whoops) but now Professor Gary Osborne also now wants to come to Australia ….I think the Australian Tourism Commission may need to start paying me!

ABOVE is a Halston lame suit, classy! But the interesting thing was that the room our lessons have been held in is called the Halston Room because it houses the largest collection of Halston Garments anywhere…we did see some yummy tasteful pieces from Halston too. There is one other known collection somewhere but pales in comparison to this one that filled a wall full of draws and cupboards… They love Halston in the States.
They even had an actual pattern piece mounted on the wall in the room, of a halter neck dress front…see below.

Below was my favorite piece shown tonight was this one below… A stunning pink hammered silk quilted shift by Pierre Cardin from 1967.

But the most interesting pieces of the night came from a member of the class, when they presented few pieces from Martin Margiela… And there was one in the exhibition in the museum that we got to visit as well. So clever and creative…check this out and look closely at the construction

Did you see the velcroux? It was on the 1st layer and the top layer of sparkly neoprene stuck onto it using the velcroux tabs on shoulders and down the side and centre panels of the dress. So cool.

The really exciting news is that I was asked if I would be interested in our students coming over for their internship programme!!
After wiping the drool of my chin, I courteously accepted their extremely kind offer and have contact details, in order to set up some future plans. They have two programmes … One that is a few days a week during their ‘fall’. The other is a fully paid, full time programme in their summer! I met one of their first employees from this programme that only started about two years ago.
One of the projects, the interns get to do, is develop a concept and take it thru to a finished garment and present it to Ralph Lauren himself!!!! What an amazing opportunity…I’m still glowing from the excitement of it all.

I was pleased to hear that the company is design driven, which means the designers come up with the concepts and develop the designs before they head off to the technical designers to create specs and, like the majority of companies here in new York, their samples are sent out to be made by contractors. In their case this is overseas.

I got to visit a grading contractor today as well. Similar concept to makers…except purely grading. I saw some pattern spec sheets and actual patterns from Vera Wang and Thakoon, whilst there.

The other company I got to explore today was a niche market bra manufacturer, ‘Glamorise’, which specializes in larger sized brassieres …which has a $40 million turnover and they are classified as a small business over here…I kid you not.
The set up here was more familiar to me with its patterns being down by hand before they would be digitized, sample machinists in the same room as designer and scale just more

manageable. But 40 mill…wow.

So no photos today because everything was very secretive and behind the scenes. Our contact at Polo, even carried a 3 page document with her, whilst we were on our tour just in case she was stopped and asked who we were and what we were doing…so I’m sure you can get the picture.
I did ask if I could take a photo in lobby of the Polo building but was politely declined.

I’m hopefully, catching up with Our Miss Hayley Watkins tonight, depending on what time she finishes work at Diane Von Furstenburg. So will post again tomorrow and let you know of my days activities which include a meeting with the competition coordinator at F.I.T. Plus my last class of the Great designers where I will be making a presentation of my own of an iconic Australian designer to the class. (I have selected Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson of Flamingo Park.)

Hope all is well back home…not long now and I’ll be back home too…I’m so looking forward to seeing everyone.

I arrived at the Guggenheim expecting to be able to walk straight in, being a Monday and all…but there was a cue a mile long and they were only letting people in as people left the museum. So only got a

couple of hours in the actual museum. But as it turned out that was more than enough because none of the ramps, that usually exhibit work were opened. Also, the Kandinsky exhibit was replaced by an extensive children’s artwork that was a collaboration with practicing artists and the public schools in Manhattan…interesting but not quite Kandinsky!!!

I promised yesterday to include some images of my illustration attempts from my full day of drawing. The first few show my work from the end of the first session.
An old professor, partially retired from lecturing at parsons was working on an adjoining desk saw the first group of sketches and without knowing they were mine said they looked like drawings from 40 yrs ago!
And compared to the work he was doing and that of the other guys in the room he was right!

The next few are from when I was getting warmed up and stating to feel happier with the drawings.

H

I had quite a few treats today … I lined up to get cheap seats for a broadway show mid morning then headed up the 5th Avenue to see some more flagship stores that I still hadn’t managed to see either properly or at all, including Zara, Diesel, Prada, Abercrombie & Finch and another one that I’m not sure if I got the name right UT.? It was like an Ikea version of a fashion outlet! Quite interesting concept. Featuring various designers in separate little sections with high importance on price to appeal to customers but with a designer edge.

The Abercrombie & Finch store was a marketing experience on steroids!
I nearly didn’t walk into the store because it sounded and looked like a night club, with a big bouncer visible from the street, with loud club music and it was very dark. As I stepped into the store, I was greeted by a half NAKED man, absolutely rippling from the chest down!!! I nearly turned on my heels there and then, thinking I was definitely in the wrong place! …but then saw some clothes from the corner of my eye…so decided to keep heading in. Once inside, I was glad that I wasn’t an epileptic ….because I certainly would’ve had an episode, from the extremly loud music, dark lighting with only carefully selected spots and a crowd that was cloister-phobic …boy, am I getting old!

Later in the day, I got to see the musical on broadway, ‘Sister Act’ …loved it SO MUCH.

After leaving the theatre I headed west and ran into a massive street market on Ninth Avenue
That I’m guessing, ran about 20 blocks…of which I walked 10 heading south…finding a food stall with some yummy samosas for 50c each, along the way.

I continued heading south on 9th which lead me to some really interesting flea markets on 34th street heading down towards the Hudson …so I made my way thru those, wishing my suitcase was bigger & with no weight restrictions !

From here I made way to the water front of the Hudson River and found beautiful park running along the waterfront.

After wandering south through this waterfront park for a while, I crossed back to 10th Avenue to get onto the ‘high-line’, which is a reclaimed overhead railroad that has been turned into a gorgeous parkland with sculptures that leads all the way from midtown down to the meat packing district…I walked the whole thing and now I feel a bit tired!!!

I was going to meet up with Caroline Fuss (ex St George student again, later tonight but have had to postpone our date till tomorrow cause

I’m too old and tired to go out at 11pm… bit sad isn’t it?)

Hopefully the photos below will be self explanatory…following in the order of my days activities…

Ps. I also got to eat an amazing popsicle … Raspberry & Basil flavour!!! Really good !

I did get some work done today …I got to drop into the President of F.I.T. ,

Dr Joyce Brown’s office to deliver her ‘package’ and gift pen with a personal thank you note for all that she and her staff have been doing for me.
Then used the opportunity of being uptown after going to the consulate, to see the upscale department store Barney’s and some Madison avenue flagship stores.
So much yummy stuff…boy I just wish I had money! So many fabulous labels that I hadn’t seen in real life before …just think of all the labels that you can see on ‘Style.com’, they are here!
Suska….so much print with print combinations and fabric manipulations, with the more conservative labels relying on good cut the contemporary ones are being very playful with color and print and Asian inspired cutting.

Whilst I haven’t got any photos of the product on display at Barney’s …I do have a photo of the only thing I could afford to buy there…my first sweets since being here…I know you are in shock …but besides a sweet yogurt drink …This has been it! …Oh, hang on … I lie …the bar,an at the Spanish restaurant Ive eaten at a few times has given me a morsel of orange cake on the house, but honest that’s all ! The interesting thing at the Barney’s cafe is that you have to order your milk on the side? That and the fact that the table has a touch screen computer, set into it, as your placemat, menu and ordering system …probably have it Sydney somewhere but haven’t seen it.

I’m heading over to the east side of the island tonight to see Caroline Fuss and catch up with her story since coming to New York …so will sign off now and do it all again tomorrow.