A happy day to all you lovers out there
{it's also the 153rd anniversary of Oregon's statehood, if you'd like an alternative holiday to celebrate}

A dress, a dream, a designer:

When I first met her (8...9 years ago?) Phaedra was my server at a candlelit restaurant in Portland's Pearl District. But really she was (and is!) a budding bridal dress designer, with a penchant for gamine necklines and billows of tulle. She has long since flown to New York to try her fortunes there, but we keep in touch, as sisters in bridal design should (the dear girl has even rummaged through the Garment District for a very particular olive-gold velvet ribbon I needed). Now, after years of honing her skills with custom and one-of-a-kind design, she's preparing to produce her very own bridal gown collection! I couldn't be more excited, and I urge you to join me in supporting her venture on Kickstarter. If her backers' support amounts to $5000 by the time the pledge period ends, she'll receive matching funds to produce her line and lookbook. Special benefits are conferred at each pledge level (I can't wait to find out what dress is named after me).

As a secret gardener myself, I love–love–this romantic inspiration board on Style Me Pretty…featuring my Honeychurch gown.

Tx, NYC...

I just got back from a heavenly week in New York, bookended by my fall trunk show at Lovely (thanks, ladies!) and 2012 Bridal Market (lots of gorgeous new dresses coming for Spring). I walked and walked--sourcing, shopping, researching and just taking it all in. Although I'm a West Coast girl at heart, I'm always gobsmacked by the sights, spirits, tastes and textures of this amazing city.

Tulle of all colors in the Garment District

More silk flowers than you can shake a stick at

Steve Jobs memorial at the Soho Apple Store

Palimpsests on the High Line

Now, a bit footsore but dizzy with inspiration, it's time to get back to work. I have big (exciting!) plans in the works, which I'll announce later this week!

If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Valentino.

Thanks...

...for all your supportive comments re: BHLDN and their well-known "design" practices. As a former law student, I do know that there's very little legal protection for clothing designers. I've studied the arguments on both sides regarding whether fashion design deserves such protection, and there's merit to both arguments (although I'm sure you can guess where I stand). I don't usually get in a lather over copying incidents--designers (like all creative people) draw inspiration from many sources, and that inspiration flows in all directions. What bothers me is a very studied practice of ripping off smaller designers' work as a business model. Consumers need to know that Anthro's cute "designs" come straight from uncredited, uncompensated sources. That's how they roll.

Besides being unethical and exploitive, it's just so boring! Way to take the creativity out of fashion. So I did that post. For that reason, and to show solidarity with my good friend Myra, who is wearing herself out trying to protect her work.

Luckily, we small designers have what big companies can never fake, no matter how they try--the urge to create for its own sake, the honest joy of new ideas.

A paper bride.

 I've just learned about the work of Jum Nakao.

 The Brazilian artist makes these intricate gowns entirely out of paper.

 At the end of one of his runway shows, his models were instructed to tear up the dresses on their bodies, to remind the audience that fashion is a medium and not an end in itself.

 I've always thought of the wedding dress as a performance, a moment, as much as it can also be a garment for all time. So what about it, ladies? Anyone up for a paper wedding dress?