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Fiber Cognizance

In a world where quality materials are being outnumbered by manmade plastic lookalikes, Molly Johnson relished the idea that what she purchased with the money she earned hunting the newest trends for San-tec Industries was “one-of-a kind,” “made by hand,” or “100% (insert high quality fiber of her choosing).” No longer could her organism support the cheap synthetics that had inundated the ready-to-wear market, breaking out in hives that suffocated her well-being every time she entered your average high street store. Living on the Florida/Georgia line, she couldn’t help but question how her fellow Tallahassee natives and fashion forward friends didn’t feel the same overwhelming aversion to the synthetics that filled their cheap, fast-fashion clothing.

Scouring the local markets, interweb, and her trusty Fiber Fanatics Forum, Molly was finding the hunt for the quality fibers her body demanded falling short with little hope for discovery of something that met her needs. Inhabiting a climate where the weather is as volatile as the internet connection in an ancient city, meeting Molly’s requirements seemed a one-sided battle with a clear winner. Finding silk too cool for those absent chilly days in winter and cashmere far too delicate for her lifestyle that required more of a throw and wash cleaning tactic, Molly was hard cut for clothing choices.

After voicing her issues to the Fiber Victims Anonymous board on FFF, Molly made fast friends with an evitable character, FibaBoy. FibaBoy was more of a shadow figure that inhabited the depths of the fyberworld, posing his, at times, acidic opinions to the board on an almost daily basis. Molly didn’t know much about FibaBoy, only that he was from a small burrow in Boston and shared the same hatred as Molly for all fibers that reigned from the manmade world.

Chapter Two:

Opening her gmail account one evening after a day of slaving for San-tec Ind, Molly had three unread messages: two Spam and one an urgent message from FibaBoy. Expecting another one of his rants on the “dangerous nature of Polyester,” Molly opened the email with trepidation, not wanting to be further annoyed on a day like this one. Much to Molly’s surprise, FibaBoy had good news for the likes of both of them: he had come across a selection of anonymous textile samples that hosted a new fiber- one that maintained a brilliant shine, was durable (holding up after FibaBoy’s rigorous series of tests), able to regulate temperatures in all seasons, and seemed to be a close cousin to basic wool- an answer to all their fiber prayers. The only bit of information they didn’t have about this Diamond fiber (appropriately nicknamed by FibaBoy) was its name.

Chapter Three:

After months of chiseling away at the puzzle that surrounded Diamond fiber’s true nature, Molly and FibaBoy were beginning to give up hope for that moment of enlightenment they had both been waiting for. Until one day when Molly was ready to succumb to the unnatural, did she find a small demarcation woven within the fiber: WM. Recognizing the abbreviation as one from the international list of Textile Fiber Abbreviations, Molly plugged the code into her browser coming up with the answer she and FibaBoy had been looking for all along: Mohair.

#mohair #gibsonian #rickowens #vivienne westwood #cyberpunk

MO' Mohair

In case you missed my last post, here is some more inspiration to get you MOtivated for MOhair

If it's OK for Chanel, it's Perfect for me.

#chanel #mohair #warm #soft #cozy

MOhair MOperfect

In a world where quality materials are being outnumbered by manmade plastic lookalikes, we relish in the idea that what we purchase with our hard earned money is “one-of-a kind,” “made by hand,” or “100% (insert high quality fiber of choice).” So why is it that when we think of a deluxe material our top-of-mind answer isn’t mohair? Sure, Cashmere is great and soft and warm and everything you could ever dream of and Silk is smooth and lush and gives one a feeling of opulence, but my response is so is mohair! Mohair comes from the Arabic word for choice; as in, this is a choice material, why choose anything else?! It is durable, it is warm, it is lustrous, it is temperature regulating, it is all season, it is even nicknamed The Diamond Fiber for its sumptuously brilliant shine; all in all, it is PERFECT. What’s even better is the fact that it is so durable: basically when purchasing top-of-the line mohair you aren’t just buying a beautiful seasonal object; you are making an investment for a future of beautiful mohair ensconced happiness.

What sets mohair apart from normal plain-Jane wool is the fact that it is made of keratin just like wool, horns, and skin however, due to its different composition, it has less scales than normal wool. Therefore, mohair, unlike its simple, hillbilly cousin wool, has a much lower tendency towards felting- something I’m sure everyone can appreciate. Mohair also has a much easier collection process (can we see a pattern here towards its greatness?!) in that it grows in uniform locks that are shorn off the animal. This means that when mohair is shorn there is no need to separate the coarse hair from the down hair, making it a far less laborious process than its finicky friends cashmere and pygora.

Though its yarn may not be as soft as say cashmere or alpaca, mohair is incredibly warm and radiant and able to absorb colors like no other. Also, due to its durability, mohair is also surprisingly easy to take care of. According to MohairUSA.com, mohair can be hand washed with a “hand-wash” detergent and then laid out to dry, but here’s the kicker, you can even put it in the dryer inside of a pillowcase and tumble dried on low, now tell me, when was the last time you even dared to let your precious cashmere sweater even sit on top of a running dryer? That’s right, never.

As the world finally gains a consciousness for the changing environment, mohair is stepping up as a “green” product. Due to its long shelf life and resistant nature, mohair items are able to stick around for a loooong time. What does this mean? When buying mohair, we are creating a smaller carbon footprint in that at no time in the foreseeable future will we be tossing our mohair out because it wasn’t able to make the long stretch. Also, because of its fluffy nature, mohair can be used as a replacement for ever tabooed fur.

If you aren’t completely sold on mohair by now then I have done something wrong along the way. But let me leave you with this one, who wouldn’t want to be wrapped up in something as fleecy and sweet as this little guy?

Once you mohair, you don't go back...

#mohair #ied firenze #warm

Molly and Andrea's interview

Article for Fashion Magazine on MyStyle360 and its various functions.

Online Shopping for the Present Day

#e-retail #futuristic #Onlineshopping

MyStyle 360 Company Business Plan

Here is a New Look at E-retail

#eretail #onlineshopping #virtual #3-d

A New Look at E-retailers

After looking online at multiple e-retailers, I always find I have the desire to know how the item will look on me versus the hanger. Clothing changes with the shapes of our body and it is important to know how an item will reform to our figure. I found that on H&M.com there is the ability to style an outfit onto pre-photographed models and see how they look. However, what is missing is the personalization of the experience. Of course, Gisele Bundchen or any other top model is going to look good in my over-sized sweater, skinny jeans, biker boots combination, what I want to know is how it will look on ME.

This Summer, I was looking to buy new glasses and found that at my local optometrist I had to shell out a heft $350 for glasses that were just OK for me. So I did some research online and found a glasses e-retailer with extremely affordable prices. Here's the catch, how was I supposed to know how they looked on?? Well, I found a helpful little tab in the right hand corner that allowed me to upload an image of myself and virtually try on the glasses. $50 later and I have the most flattering and affordable glasses I've ever had.

What I want to get at with this story is that e-retail needs to include that personal touch of trying the clothes on before you buy them. If we can have a 3-D vision of ourselves, with our exact proportions, we could potentially lose that dismaying feeling of finding that perfect summer dress that ends up being a shirt that constricts my broad shoulders.

Here is my Floor Plan for a Showroom!

lamorbidezza

Make-up at Christian Dior Spring 2014

When planning an event, there is much to consider. Beyond the music, models, food, there lies a HUGE amount of resources that need to be paid for. Every minute detail needs to be considered unless you want a bunch of angry unpaid workers and a disastrous show. Here is my attempt at creating a Fashion Event Budget. Let's see how far off I was!

#IEDFirenze fashion fashionevents