The Vagadu Man Emerges...

In just the last couple months I have surprisingly gotten very inspired by menswear. This is a very unexpected development, yet it has come about so naturally that somehow it just feels right!

A little back end tidbit....besides creating clothing I have branched out into image consulting and my primary clients have been men. Through the research and development of how to create great style for men, my creative juices started to expand as I got more and more requests for custom clothing. Given my flair for the unusual , it has been a fun journey to find the sweet spot between striking and over-the-top. Granted my idea of striking is probably much bolder than most, but still, I am find that avant-guard men's clothing is a very up-and-coming market and men are just plain AWESOME clients.

The other day I got a commission for a special b-day shirt. The man was an artist and so I wanted to tie the shirt in with his artwork. My client's art is photography where he essentially collages different bits of the image so that it has depth and texture and has you rethink the entire image. I wanted to apply that same concept to his shirt...which you see--in the image to the left--is a reconstruction or a collage of several shirts in one garment.

Another concept I conceived for a shirt is using my "scrap technology" (as seen in the scrap tech vests in previous post) and applied to a masculine design. In the end, it became more of what I consider to be a new take on the tuxedo shirt... or in other words, a reinterpretation of the classic ruffle. In the image pictured here, the gentleman is also sporting one of my custom ascots...a great variation on the classic tie.

Flowering Scraptec Vest...how the idea was born!

I love my 'Flowering Scraptec Vests' made from the remnants of the 'Varda's Women Gowns'.

I never blogged about how the idea was created. So I thought I would finally do it!

As a woman with a small bosom, I was noticing that I wanted some attention to the chest region--an area on me that often goes unnoticed. I have always been a fan of designs that exploit this area creatively. Starting back when Jean Paul Gautier was doing cone-breasts.

The flowering idea came with the fact I had a million scraps left over from the gown collection and I couldn't stand to throw them away...they were too beautiful! So the flowering effect was a perfect way to utilize the scraps.

Before I decided to make the idea into a vest, it was first part of a dress that I reworked from the Rex Floodstrom collection (as seen below).

Since the Rex dresses were very long, I hacked them in two pieces and used the bottom as the skirt part of the dress and created the flowering part for the top (as seen in the image below left).





I am wearing the dress to an art show at Gray Area Gallery. It was the perfect dress to wear to an art show. In my mind, one must wear art when viewing it!

Latest Brainstorm for the leftover Sleeves....

I have created another idea of how to use the sleeves that are discarded from the Blazer Vests.

If you haven't seen the Sleeve Vests here is picture to show you how one of them looks. I love using sleeves as a vest, but the idea hasn't caught on as fast as I would like.
Therefore, I thought in the meantime I would find some other concepts for those fun little sleeves..

Thus....the Sleeve Dress #1!
I love this dress for many reasons. Soon I will show it on an actual human, but for the meantime you will just have to imagine. I love the way the sleeves make easy bulk in the skirt...no need for a bustle, the sleeve just keeps its fluff! I also having the sleeves enter on different sections of the upper part of the dress, which keeps it a bit unexpected.

I also had to throw in a bit of plaid...which according to the top designers is going to be the next thing for fall, although for me, plaid is always in.
Just ask Vivienne Westwood.

The only drawback for the dress is it requires a heck of a lot more sleeves....I think around 10 were used for this piece.

Inspiration for the next collection of Blazer Vests!

This will be the first collection of Blazer Vests where I am trying to create color ways that are in-step with the current fashion trends. In the past, I hadn't really thought about what colors are "in" when making the vests and--moving forward-- I see it much making the vests more marketable without loosing the special VAGADU touch! Actually, having strict colors restrictions has allowed for a resurgence of creative growth...fun!!!!

Here are a couple of tears from magazines that show the current color trends I will be playing with and next to them is a simple photoshop mock-up of how they might look on my darling vests. I already have four of them finished .... but they will be released
at a special date TBA. *Note* the pictures of the vests are not real...it is just to give you a taste of how it all will translate.

Dark Blue
Navy Blue and Red! This is from Vogue and I am warning you that you will be seeing this combo around all this Fall. Tans
Also in Tans and Neutrals mixed together! As you know I love bold colors so it has been a fun challenge to work in softer shades, but I have been loving it none the less.
Bold Accent: Green
Every collection needs its stand out pieces. I pulled a tear from a Lanvin ad, and I am having fun mixing beads and other textures into bright green fabric.

Good Straps: An easy way to improve your dress!

I recently bought a dress from Free People. I love the brand for their fun fabrics and unique way of creating garments. Even still, as a designer, almost nothing I buy is perfect as is. In this case the dress was great--besides the straps.
In my opinion, because the straps were this cheap shoe-lace material it down graded the overall feel.
Solution! Change the straps! So, I cut them off and made thicker straps from a really nice black Tar Poly (like lycra).
As you can see from the picture below the simple adjustment makes all the difference. It raises the quality on the dress noticeably.

Shoulder Pad Skirt

Just thought I would share one of my latest little projects. This is my Shoulder Pad Skirt. A combination of at least 30 shoulder pads from all the Blazer Vests I have been making. I would definitely call this a deconstructionist look. That is why I paired it with one the sleeve vests on my intern and model-du-jour Celia.

One thing for sure about this skirt is it would be perfect for going to the ball-park. You wouldn't need to bring a seat cushion!!!!

Wedding Bells

What is pictured here is an ascot/neck wrap that I made for friends celebrating their 1 year anniversary. It is a gift that validates my pack rat mentality....because I had these two bride and groom little dingy things that used to be filled with breath mints, that I had been keeping forever! I loved them because they were so kitsch, and I knew...one day I would be able to use them for something, and when I did use them it would be absolutely perfect. And it was!!!! What better way to celebrate both people in a relationship than with a neck wrap that brings a little white dress and a tuxedo together?

And then, if they get sick of the little symbols of matrimony then they can always remove them and they still have a stylish scarf.