Fizz and Fade: Recent Design Work

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While I was in college and afterwards when I was working in the fashion industry, I was constantly flexing my creative muscles and artistic skills. Whether I was sketching, selecting fabrics, creating color and inspiration boards or sewing, there was always a project to channel my creative energy towards. Now that I work for a financial services company, the daily creative requirements are quite different and I find myself needing another outlet to channel my creative interest. That is where this blog started from, my desire to create a place to channel my fashion interest and document my creative work.

I took a break from sewing for awhile when I was in business school. I would of course still hem my jeans (the most useful skill when you’re as short as me) and tweak the occasional store-bought item, but I was not creating new pieces of my own. Recently however, I have gotten inspired to bring my fashion design background back out of hiding. I dusted off my sewing machines (yes, I somehow fit two in my NYC apartment), bought a new dress form and hit up Mood Fabrics. Creating clothing again has reminded me of why I decided to major in such a precarious field such as Fashion Design in the first place – I love formulating ideas that I can bring to reality, that can be worn in everyday life. It's more than fine arts, like painting or drawing, fashion design let's me make a tangible, useful product. Taking something amorphous from my mind and bringing it to fruition all on my own is amazing. I get so much satisfaction from taking a sketch, a piece of fabric and a few hours of time and winding up with a completely new one-of-a-kind garment hanging in my closet - and usually for a fraction of the cost! For any fashion-lover it is the ultimate sense of freedom – if you can dream it, you can make it.

Lately I have been focusing on designing and creating pieces I can use in my day to day life. I am always looking for items that I can wear to work but also dress up for dinner or drinks at night. I hate the idea of having a separate work wardrobe and weekend wardrobe, these garments should be one in the same. To this end, most of the pieces I have created as of late have been functional ones. I pay attention to my wardrobe wants in the morning when I am getting dressed for work, asking myself "what do I wish I had to wear right now?". This lead me to the idea of a simple but unique silk tank that I could easily layer under blazers and cardigans. So then I made exactly that – a cream v-neck shell with a lightly ruffled hem. I've worn this cream top one so much I made another one in navy.

While I have tons of ideas for everyday basics I know I would get a lot of personal use out of, I am looking to push myself further and begin creating some more unique pieces. Follow me on Instagram (emilykfarina) to check out all my projects!