Ring the Bells....first blog dedicated to Designing my Wedding

The dust has (mainly) settled. Since moving out of my studio, there has been non-stop work to reorganize our home so that my stuff fits! Luckily all things have found a place, and now I get to focus on the fun things in life like .... planning my wedding!
Today I will be meeting with a friend Alex who is going to help me create the 'mood and look' of the wedding. Alex is a an interior designer extraordinaire, especially in the sense that he knows how to create luxury on the cheap. This is my kind of man because I tell you, I never DREAMED I would spend this much on my wedding as we are having
to shell out. Yet, Andrew and I are dedicated to having a beautiful wedding and that seems to mean spending some decent $$$.

Now time for visuals. In prepping for my design meeting with Alex I have been collecting images of things and places and other weddings that have incorporated elements that I like.
I decided for the overall themes what inspire me is the following: Moulin Rouge, Morocco, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Shabby Chic, mixed with a little Bollywood.
The Images I have shown here are all 'inspirational images that will guide us in the right direction. To give us the look and feel of the wedding.

The reason I chose this diverse set of themes is each of them have a emotional quality that I desire to have at the wedding.Moulin Rouge if you have ever seen the film, is a treat for the eyes. Such a visual experience that is breathtaking. I want my guests and myself to be totally moved by the beauty of the wedding. Also, MR is glamorous, and sexy. I know I want to feel sexy and my bridesmaids do too! Last, MR is about life a la bohemian. I come from bohemian roots, lots of artists and creators of expressive living. I want that element to be expressed in the wedding too. Old mixed with new, creative ways to create gorgeous aesthetic without being ostentatious.

I chose Morocco interiors because I just adore the sumptuous beauty in the architecture and home decor. The culture seems to put a priority on lounging and being comfortable physically and visually. The use of color and mixing textures is done exquisitely.

Art Nouveau has always been one of my favorite design eras. There was an appreciation for the organic, unfinished, and flow of art with nature we have yet to appreciate again. The craftsmanship too is remarkable. I know for my dress and my bridesmaids (not to forget the groom) will definitely have the attention to detail and quality that is so evident in AN.

Art Deco is included just because it is similar to AN but more people seem to relate to it. Art Deco came right after AN and incorporates harder lines and more symmetry while still maintaining high design concepts and quality.

Last, let's talk Bollywood. Andrew and I are totally fans of the films. The color, the music the unabashed celebration of life. Coming from India, the colors and vibrancy is similar to Morocco. However, I chose Bollywood for the idea that I want everyone at the wedding to fully enjoy themselves as if it were their last day on this earth; sing, dance and be merry like never before!






Looking at these images will help us come up with the most important first step of the wedding...our color palette. So far the colors I know for sure are; royal blue, cream, turquoise, gold/brown, pink and black.



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The next few images I will show are to illustrate different components that I would like to have incorporated in the wedding. These images are more literal and will give Alex some solid examples of what is possible for decor.

Streamers and more streamers! I love anything that hangs from above. I think these images show some great ways to play with the concept.























































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Table settings. I want something unique and comfortable. Here are some images that display aspects of beauty and creativity that I enjoy.

I love personalized elements in decoration. I know I will achieve this because my maid of honor Ahna, is the queen of little notes and signage that are quirky and fabulous.












































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Fun Details!
These are just some images of things that I like that create extra 'funness' to an event.

I haven't made a special section for flowers yet...but for now, I do appreciate the image to the left and the huge tree-like flowers framing the ceremony. I think it is a cool variation of the trellis altar.
Or for example, since we have a 'themed' wedding (sort of) it would be great to have a table that offered easy dress-up accessories to those who just couldn't find something festive in their wardrobe. The image with the cowboy hat table is a great example of how to set up an area for wardrobe help.

How To Wear Vagadu

Good afternoon everyone!

This post today is going to be a fun one! We've added images of Vagadu vests onto fashion spreads to show you all how you could possibly wear on the vests! Wouldn't it be wonderful if on a student living I could afford to dress myself in wonderful dresses made by Louis Vuitton!

I hope that everyone in enjoys this! The purple vest is on a Donna Karan outfit. The navy and red vest isplaced on a model

wearing J Brand jeans. The yellow Louis Vuitton dress has a scraptec flowering vest over it. And the purple slip dress has a sleeve vest over it. Don't they all look great?!

Also I wanted to wish everyone Happy Holiday for whatever holiday that you might celebrate! Keep your family close and have a great time! This is going to be my last blog for Vagadu but keep an eye out for "Love & Fashion" because I will always be around!

Love & Fashion,

Kelley signing off for Vagadu

Pillow Talk

Hello darlings!

I hope that everyone is having a great day and that everything is going how they hoped their day would go.

Things are going wonderfully here at Vagadu because we've been working on new ideas and the final product is here! We've been experimenting with making pillows out of older fabric pieces that were too small to use for any of our large projects like the blazer vests and dresses. And these pillows have turned out great!

They are Scraptec Pillows made using a base pillow cover and then we've added the Vagadu touch! Like the blazer vests these pillows have the most wonderful fabrics on them like Italian silks in very beautiful patterns.

I know how hard it can be to find accent pieces for new homes or maybe an older couch that you wanted to spice up. Instead of spending loads of money getting it reupholstered or trying to find a slip that doesn't make the couch look dumpy you can buy a Vagadu Scraptec Pillow!

This is a great option because through the practices that Vagadu upholds, you too can be green. At Vagadu our products are made from 90% recycled materials, and everything is made by hand so there isn't any environmental damage caused by all of our products!

Don't hesitate to participate in some pillow talk tonight because that is the green thing to do!

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu

Greenwashing: Beware!

Hello everyone.

I hope things are going well. And that everyone is having a good week and enjoyed their weekend.

Today I wanted to write about something kind of shocking that happens at some fashion events all over the world and that is "green washing". Green washing is when a company temporarily changes the way that they produce their product in order to gain good press from someone who honors green fashion.

Green washing isn't limited to the fashion world either, it happens in large corporations all over the world. An example of what a corporation could do is change all of the light bulbs in their corporate headquarters and then they call themselves "green".

Both fashion companies and other companies are then able to take advantage of tax reductions, good press and a new customer base. This is crazy that some people are doing this because they are taking advantage of people and also taking away

business from people who are truly green!

Fashion designers "green wash" their company through producing a new articles of clothing just for a certain event. After those clothes are donated or sold the company resorts back to how they were before.

Before investing your hard earned money in a new

company, even if you are just buying a "green" T-shirt, you should research the company! Make sure if they are saying that they are "green" that they truly are "green" all year round.

Don't making buying clothing a chore though, this should be an activity that you love to do! Just be aware that some companies are not 100% honest with who they are!

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu

Sleeve What's Up At Vagadu!

Hey!

I'm not sure if any of you have wondered what happened to all of the blazer sleeves from the blazer vests that we create but if you have then today I'll answer!

We reuse those sleeves!

And we do this through some of the newer pieces that we're currently creating! One of the pieces is going to become a blazer sleeve blazer/jacket. Isn't that cool? We're reusing old blazer sleeves from past blazers and turning them back into their original form only better!

This piece blends fabrics together through the use of the blazer sleeves. These sleeves flow through the garment, creating a touchable blend of neutrals and patterned fabric. The blazer/jacket has 3/4 length sleeves and falls at waist level making this look ideal for flattering any body type.

Another way that we reuse the blazer sleeves is to use them

in the creation of the blazer vest that the sleeves just came off of. The sleeves become an elaborate collar or a new waist line but they stay within the original garment, how great is that?

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu

Worker Bees at the Vagadu Hive

Hey! How is everyone's day so far?

This post is going to be all about the design interns here at Vagadu who work hard to make the wonderful items that you guys enjoy reading about! It is going to be a "Thank You" post and you'll get to learn a little about the behind the seams action.

Without the work that everyone at Vagadu puts in then things wouldn't get done nearly as fast which is always annoying! American culture is all about instant satisfaction and we know that, so we're working extra hard to make sure that can happen for all customers who are interested in Vagadu.

One thing that these women don't do is rush on the projects that they are working on. Each garment or accessory that they create, they work with until they completely understand the piece. They work with the garment making sure that everything lays correctly and that the colors all work together in a effortless way. The women make sure that they are putting their best work forward, so that you in turn get the best product.

It is great to work with these women because I know that

we all share a great passion for the clothing industry and for green fashion. The other women are all design interns at one of the design schools in San Francisco and some of them have already done their first fashion show (through their school)! Isn't that super cool? I am not a design intern, I am a marketing intern. I love seeing them work because I don't know very much about the behind-the-scenes part of the clothing industry but now I'm learning!

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu

Why Vagadu?!

Hello everyone!

Isn't is cold right now in San Francisco?! When I looked at the weather for this week it said that it was going to rain more, which means that it is nearing a San Francisco winter! San Francisco is finally starting to act like San Francisco, horray! I hope that you guys like this weather as well.

As I'm sure you guys all know, here at Vagadu we rework clothing items using older vintage already constructed clothing pieces. What we do is deconstruct the item, breaking it down to the very basics. Then we rebuild the piece creating a blazer, vest, dress, or Obi-Belt using other fabrics that have been previously donated to Vagadu from many different places. Sometimes the fabrics come all the way from France or Italy!

We believe that buying items that have been reworked or recreated from previous garments is the best thing to do!

This is because those prices have already gone through the entire (lengthy) fabric treatment process and aren't causing any further environmental damage. Instead of following in our culture's past habit of abandoning clothing that is out of season or has fallen out of style Vagadu takes those items and breaths a new life. We work to create new unique pieces that are designed so that it will continue to be current even after the

current trends pass.

Buying organic clothing is a great step that can be taken to "green" up your closet but even organic fabrics have to be sent through a treatment process. This process is long and uses a lot of coal burning energy thus making the organic fabrics very controversial. There are many people

within the clothing industry that believe that buying organic and buying nonorganic fabric is the same thing. This is because of the environmentally harmful steps that both fabric types go through before they are able to be turned into the garment that we buy.

Another thing that Vagadu does which helps make our clothing surpass the current trends is that we use vintage pieces as the

base for our blazer vests. Vintage pieces are constructed at a higher standard than what most mass production clothing company currently have today. This means that those vintage base items are going to last longer and look better longer

because of the work that was put into the item. Vagadu then steps in and rebirths the item making it current with detailing and wonderful other fabrics!

I believe that everyone should try and do their part to help counteract the damage that has been already caused to the environment! If you do this through buying green (clothing, food, anything!), through donating old clothing or recycling and composting then GREAT!

Keep up the good work! Your planet thanks you!

Love & Fashion,

Kelley for Vagadu