Puppy, meet Coffee

lindseynoel — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:41:58 +0000

I need one to combat the other

Dyed and gone to Heaven

lindseynoel — Mon, 03 May 2010 04:34:50 +0000

Recently I’ve developed an interest in dyeing fabric. It’s not easy in a little college apartment. I can’t wait to not have to worry about staining the sink and carpet. It’s still in the works but I’m in love with the colorfulness of it. Thanks Americana and Gabbana ( my Beta fish ) for the inspiration!

Eco-Fashion and Suzy Amis

lindseynoel — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:39:15 +0000

Suzy Amis and James Cameron invited my sustainable design class to a fashion show and auction in Nashville Tennessee as a part of the city’s Earth Day celebration. It was a great experience meeting them and their guests who were very excited to meet us and hear about our designs. Suzy and James were so wonderful, making time to meet each designer and take pictures with each garment. The proceeds go to support Suzy’s MUSE elementary schools, which are sustainable and educated children on how to live an eco-friendly life-style.

Student Apparel Design Association Fashion Show

lindseynoel — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:27:14 +0000

Life has never been busier, or more exciting. The SADA show went flawlessly, 43 designers, 220 models and 1,200 guests. Here is a backstage snap shot of my collection. More photos are being touched up by the photographer, but shot captures how excited we all were.

Start to finish

lindseynoel — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:01:40 +0000

With one month till the SADA show, we’ve been spending our weekends in the sewing lab. I feel so lucky to have such amazing and talented friends and peers, this show is such a team effort even though we are all designing our own collections. This year it’s the biggest student show in the state of Michigan with 40+ designers. Here is a sneak peak.

A big thanks to Alissa Lane

http://alissalanephotography.weebly.com/

and Amuyla and Grace my models

New News

lindseynoel — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:28:18 +0000

Here is a follow up to my previous post. The local news came in and interviewed a few girls from my class, and luckily I made the article. I’m working on getting the video of it, but here is the web story:

Updated: 6:40 PM Jan 27, 2010

MSU Students Design for Red Carpet Green Dress Competition

Contest may have lasting significance for some of MSU’s apparel and textile design students.

Posted: 6:12 PM Jan 27, 2010
Reporter: Jennifer Dowling
Email Address: jennifer.dowling@wilx.com

As she looks over her dress design, MSU student, Lindsey Rank says, “It’s going to be about knee length, so it will kind of hit here.”
The excitement is building at MSU as fashion design students like Rank prepare dresses that the wife of James Cameron could wear on the red carpet through the Red Carpet Green Dress contest.

Rank began pinning a purple and pink colored fabric onto the shoulder area of the dress. She said, “This is ruched and gathered together to give a floral effect.”
Suzy Amis Cameron launched the contest online. She’s offering young designers the chance to make a dress that she will wear that focuses on sustainable design. Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Art History Theresa Winge says, “It seems like the competition was inspired by the movie Avatar to some degree. The movie Avatar kind of deals with issues of the environment.”

The fabrics will include earth-friendly fibers and other eco touches. MSU student Lauren Myers says, “I focused on using all natural materials. I chose a Rayon knit fabric. It’s supposed to be good for the environment and one thing I’m concentrating on with this design….after I get it done, I want to use all my scraps left over.”

Rank says,”I wanted to go very organic with all the material…without dye because dyes are the cause of a lot of harm to the environment. I want to go with tea…and beautiful coloring of organic tea.”

The students are part of Michigan State’s spring semester class called, “Special Topics: Innovative Approaches in Apparel Design”. About 18 students are entering their illustrations, but the competition is global. Lindsey says, “I hope she picks me.”

Even if they don’t win, the student’s green dresses bring attention to the real-world assignments the “green and white” designers are tackling right here in Mid-Michigan.

A winner in the global competition could be announced as early as Friday. The competition raised funds for Cameron’s MUSE elementary school project in California.

Organic Elegance

lindseynoel — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:10:56 +0000

Organic is a trend all it’s own, but what the sustainable trend really needs is to do simply that, sustain. It needs to break out of the “simple” style and go for bold, evening and business wear. It needs to follow the styles of the bigger design stars and open their minds to using more eco-friendly fabrics. One of my professors is pushing her classes to look to organic and recycled fabric to make their designs with. We participated in the Red Carpet Green Dress competition that Suzy Amis held.

We studied a variety of ways to design sustainable dresses: no waste pattern making, organic materials, transformable designs, and natural dye. I was particularly inspired by the natural dye idea since most people don’t realize the amount of harmful chemicals that are used in the process. I decided to design a dress out of organic silk satin, use the extra material for a flower like one shoulder strap. The dress is an evening dress but could easily be tailored after the red carpet event into a cute cocktail dress and jacket or shawl with the fabric from the bottom of the evening gown. The catch to this dress is to dye it with organic tea. Organic berry teas would be used to make the pinkish colored strap and citrus teas would be used to dye the cream color. I also used tea to paint my original illustration.

This was an exciting and challenging project, one that will stay with me through my design career. It is important to look beyond the stylish side of the garment and on to what makes up the fabric.

Being a Conscious Consumer

lindseynoel — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:53:30 +0000

I recently wrote an article on Rachel Roy, Wyclef Jean and the power of being a conscious consumer.

Please,

Read Here

Haute Coco

lindseynoel — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:43:59 +0000

The internet really is an amazing thing! I have always been inspired by the beautiful and talented Coco Rocha and had a moment every designer hopes for as they search for inspiration from their muses. I’ve recently been inspired by muted pastels, the ones with just a touch of grey to them, as well as old English country side and equestrian attire. My search for the perfect title came to an end when I saw this picture of Coco in WWD.

The quote was “Don’t book me if you want plain jane.” and it just clicked. Jane Austen wrote beautiful stories of love and adventure, of strong women and romance. It was perfect. So here’s to you Coco and Jane, may you always inspire for generations to come!

baby it’s cold out there

lindseynoel — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:17:30 +0000

Today the first snow of the season fell, and to start winter off right I spent the day in the knitting lab. I still need to sew the seams, but I am pretty excited about learning how to use the knitting machines!