lady gaga the new liberace?

To be honest with you I never thought about it, but when I heard that the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas is closing next month and the reasons given for it's demise, among others, were general loss of interest and the fact that Vegas has to keep up with the 21 year olds, comparisons were made to Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga is the new Liberace! Well, sort of I think. There are many similarities. The piano, the showmanship... they both know how to go to extremes and they love to shock, each within his/her generation. So it's only natural that when we are looking towards our own Liberace (Lady Gaga), the original one is slowly forgotten...

...Liberace and his Emmy's...

I remember the Liberace Museum in Vegas, it was one of my very first encounters with American Pop Culture. I surely was impressed by all the glitz and glamour and all at once it was clear to me that here in America, one can go this far, his/her own way and I thought that was simply amazing. Talk about inspiration! There it was right there.

Not only did Liberace have rhinestones on his wardrobe, he had cars covered with it!

For me Liberace has therefore a special place in my heart and nobody can take his place. The idea that Lady Gaga is the new Liberace is exiting, as she is showing new generations what is possible and continues the history of pop culture!

nyc fashion night out look

Ahhhh, it's been crazy lately in the NYC, especially with Fashion Week underway, it's bustling in the town and everybody is looking his/her best. So the recent Fashion Night Out event left us wishing that this way of celebrating style and fashion would happen more often. Once a year? It's a good start but certainly not enough to get folks back into the stores... Anyway, we had a blast (my favorite stop was Issey Miyake in Tribeca) and Carl is developing his images of that night and we'll be seeing more soon but here is one of myself and my outfit of the night that I really like.

...IdilVice Fashion Night Out NYC, photo by Carl Posey...

We'll also be seeing The Swiss Federal Design Price winner of 2010 Armando Forlin, who is currently in NYC enjoying his 6 months in the Big Apple. How exiting!

e-40 and björk?

I just was told about this E-40 video “Spend The Night” and was surprised and pleased to hear Björk's voice mixed in with all these male rap voices... can you believe this? Quiet a mix! Makes me wanna spend the night, right?

mother teresa or womans rights and how fashion saved a day

...Mother Teresa supporters in front of the Empire State building in New York City, August 26th...

It's pretty hard to imagine that one would have to decide between Mother Teresa or Womans Rights. What?! But that is exactly what happened on August 26th. New Yorkers had to decide weather the Empire State building should light up in red, white and blue (honoring the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of American womans right to vote from 90 years ago) or prefer the colors blue and white (Mother Teresa's missionary order colors seen on her gown) to celebrate another 26th of August, 100 years ago, when Mother Teresa was born.

Well New Yorkers did not literally have to decide (it's not like we can ever vote for which colors are lit), but they had to make up their minds on which side they would be on, in case someone asked. Mother Teresa's 100th birthday or the woman voting rights law anniversary. Sheer craziness!

It is safe to assume that Mother Teresa would not have wanted a controversy and I think woman in general rather make a compromise in place of arguments (maybe... or maybe not?) As a matter of fact, the Empire State was lit in red, white and blue that night. To add some balance, I pulled out my red & white Mother Teresa outfit. Have a look...

...IdilVice fashion show featuring the Mother Teresa outfit in red & white...

Mother Teresa comes to mind, even though the colors are not the original missionary order colors, so maybe colors do not matter that much after all anyways.

...IdilVice wearing her red & white Mother Teresa outfit on August 26th...

Wewh! Fashion saved this day!

a look back to summer 2010

Yes that's right although we still have high temperatures of 90 degrees, we all know that Summer is on it's way out, sooner rather than later... I don't know about you, but I really, sincerely enjoyed Summer 2010! It was warm and beautiful and it smelled so good! The many weekends at the beach, my birthday, swimming, biking, my summer wardrobe... I really loved it, maybe more than ever... I had a clear vision of style and it was easy... I can't think about not being able to wear my eggshell colored converse high top sneakers and my vanilla cotton shirt and it's gonna be hard to store my gradient printed sheer cotton pants and my wide rimmed sun hat... not to mention my red Woodstock Tunic Dress, which I wore over cropped pink tights with my silver Sketcher Tone-Ups (they might actually have caused my knee and ankle to be a bit sore, so don't wear them for extended periods of time, O.K.? They however sure add a nice bit of height for a flip flop!) I'll miss my soft pink shorts (I will look forward to wearing the matching sports blazer though, I never wore it because it was simply too warm) I will try to sneak my wooden bangles past labor day.
I'll be glad to skip sun lotion and mosquito spray, but I will miss my easy breezy summer style! Of course I am also looking ahead to Fall and Winter... I have so many new designs and I guess all I have to do is get into the mood and I am sure that will happen as soon as the temperatures drop... it'll be all good... but for now, I'll still enjoy to the fullest every day over 70 degrees and up!

my absolute fave leggings!

summer 2010

IdilVice summer 2010, wearing her own Sheer Cotton Gradient Slacks, photo by Carl Posey.

fourth of july style

I am currently at the pool and planning a day at the beach... In my bag are lots of sun lotion, a bottle of Moet, hair bands, pins and coconut cream (for my planned braided hairstyle), a ton (yes, too many) red, white and blue bangles and this Barack Obama Dress for the firework BBQ tonight... what are you wearing?

... Barack Obama Tribute Dress ...

reality check

And so here it is, the new Star Trek clothing category shop banner! It's been a long process and as always interesting to see what comes out after all the work. Post conception, make up, hair styling and shoot, pictures are cropped and graphics are added. And suddenly there it is, gracing the shop! It is a great experience for a designer to see their clothing on a real person, far away from the mannequin that it's been fitted on, not to mention the impression of an initial sketch. A picture teaches you a lot about a garment and its fit and purpose and a final photo shoot definitely belongs to the process of fashion making. To see your clothing on models moving over the runway is an equally satisfying and eye opening experience for a designer. One that makes you better in your craft over time. Because you'll start to design with the end picture in mind, you are concerning yourself with the 'big picture" early on. You may even already think about pairing it with other garments and all this preoccupation will undoubtedly lead to a better end result and concept, if you will.

...Jessica Calle wearing the Mr. Spock Peplum Skirt by IdilViceFashionRocks, photo by Carl Posey...

We have to keep in mind that photos communicate. Pictures can sell something for example, but not only that, they can be helpful to a designer in many other ways too. Once a piece of clothing is worn by a model it says a lot more about itself then if it would be on a hanger or laying flat. You can see proportions and fit and the visual even gives you ideas about how to wear a certain piece. So yeah, definitely go ahead and take lots of pictures... my advice is to have a professional photographer take them (you've got plenty of other things to worry about during a shoot), because they have an understanding of light and proportion as well as location and concept, trust me: you do want that taken care of. After all,these photos are also going to serve you as an incredible souvenir from the past.

hippie summer fashion

Yes, I said I was real busy lately and had no time to write... je m'excuse! Nowadays in this economy it's no joke and if one wants to survive he or she better invests a damn large amount of time and sweat into the business. This blog is part of that business, but I admit: it's not priority. I just really love to write and talk about my business so I do want to continue posting when the time allows...

So, right now 2 of my main Bernina sewing machines are in for a tune up (as always in Spring, but one of them has an issue most likely bigger than a regular service can take care of, so I am just hoping my mechanic can take care of it sooner rather than later :/ and weirdly still today, after all these years, I am shocked to see empty tables when I walk by the sewing work space. I am simply not complete without these incredible tools. Well, hopefully there won't be any pressing fashion matters before Memorial Day... But, it's not all bad, because I do have some time to blog now!

I wanted to show you some of the images from our new Spring photo shoot. You'll see, my hippie inspiration continues... Jimi Hendrix on a fringed kaftan and a super hippie Madonna on a woven jacket! O.K. here we go: a couple new pictures from our Spring campaign:

NYC model Jessica Calle in the Madonna (Celebration) Woven Jacket, photo by Carl Posey.

Jess with guitar rockin' out in our purple Jimi Hendrix Kaftan Dress, photo Carl Posey.

So all you really have to do is slip on one of these, turn on the music and relax. Enjoy Summer time! If you are more into skirts, you'll digg our One-Of-A-Kind pleated minis or our fabulous floor length hippie patch work skirts... their all in our New Arrivals category.
O.K. guys and girls, stay tuned for more hippie treats this Season!


And "pssst", I 'm not really supposed to tell you yet, but in one of the next posts, I'll put the spot light on Zimmermann & de Perrot, a Swiss theater troupe which is really good. They had their US premier here in NYC earlier this month. Because Zimi (Martin Zimmermann) and Dimi (Dimitri de Perrot) are both friends and we were roommates in Zürich more than 20 years ago, I was invited. So you'll get the inside scoop and you'll see some images (with ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov) from their NYC photo shoot with photographer Carl Posey.

What's happening?

Maybe you ask yourself why I have not posted in so long. It's because I've been crazy busy. There's not other reason. I am writing this at 2AM in the morning after a very long day and I am about to slip into bed... I just thought I'd say "hi" real quick and post an image. You may want to hang on, I've so much great stuff to blog about, once I get to it!

in new york city

In New York City one has plenty of opportunity to wonder where people are coming from, yeah right, most of them are of course just tourists wandering around the stores on Broadway taking advantage of the weak currency of that Dollar nowadays, well great, we can surely use that kind of influx here in the Big Apple. And NY is the biggest melting pot of cultures.

But I am talking about another stranger here. It's the souls you meet that seem like they are not part of the big movement, even though they are probably your neighbors, maybe have been living here longer than you, yet they are somehow left behind, at least that is what they seem to be, maybe they are just ahead of the rest. But these characters whom you encounter once in a while are standing out of the crowd because they are not like everybody else, there are plenty of them, thanks goodness!


The other day we were taking a bike ride in Battery Park, taking a few breaths of fresh air on a bench, discussing the days developments and this young woman in a red rose printed dress walks by - and made us smile - carrying a sign that read: "Stress Stops Here". She's just spreading a good vibe she says... reminding the people to take a deep breath and relax.

How cool is that? Heh? Only in NYC? Maybe not, but definitely in NYC.

...so stress stopped right here...

being a step ahead by taking a step back

For a fashion designer it is already 2011. Yes it can be weird to work on designs to be worn in a year from now. You're always hushed to the next thing before you can really enjoy that moment. As an independent I can control the design schedule a bit more, but let's be honest, you've got to think ahead and sometimes that means to just really be in the now. Because people who do not worry about fashion (they could be your customer), they have to catch up first.



As much as it is shameful to be catching up on an ongoing trend, it can be frustrating to be ahead all the time. And sometimes I just wanna make a piece of clothing for right now! That could mean I've got to take a step back. "What is she talking about? It's confusing!" you may say. So let me show you a situation like this on an example.

I am rediscovering a print from 2 years ago. It feels right to me now.

It just happened yesterday when I was on my usual sneak peek tour through the garment district. Those of you who have been following some of my work, know about the cool Sunglasses photo printed fabric. Well, when I chose it for a dress 2 years ago, there was another print from the same manufacturer, the Sandals photo print. I preferred the Sunglasses one over the Sandals one then and never looked back, but on my stroll yesterday this print looked like now to me, I wanted to make something with it to wear this Summer 2010. And that is what I mean when I say: "Sometimes I have to take a step back to be ahead", which could be what I am feeling right now.

It's intuition I believe. Anyway, now that I have picked the fabric, I've got to get inspired to come up with the type of garment it is going to be and that - you bet - is a whole another story! It may inspire you or you may have a suggestion... please feel free to comment on it :)