kitty: happy fiber travels

Wow, what a jam packed fiber weekend in NYC! The entire family ended up in NYC this past weekends since my brother-in-law was graduating from Columbia MBA school. B and S, were such great sports for putting up with all the places that M and I wanted to go. I truly thank them for playing tour guide and being so patient.

We started out the Metropolitan on Friday, M and I hadn't been there in years. It was awesome since there were special exhibits that captured both of our interest, Anglo Mania and Queen Hatshepsut. M has a minor in archeology and his area of expertise is Egyptian and Chinese art. I also have a great weakness for Egyptian art so it really couldn't have been more perfect. Unfortunately though the textile area of the museum was closed. Anglo Mania was amazing, it focuses on British fashion from 1976 - 2006. The first garment in the collection starts out with David Bowie's distressed Union Jack frock coat design by McQueen. It is shown like many of the items in the exhibit as a portrait in a frame. Special note has to go to the British milliners Treacy and Jones, who offer a raven's feather headdress worn with a Gallion's Dior gown. In the background you here a soundtrack of crows calling out. Here again the exhibit is framed by a door frame. The exhibit is filled with a lot of perverse irony, English Period rooms filled with Jacobean furniture and Elizabethan portraits with a Vivienne Westwood gown and a necklace filled with sperm. Or you have a portrait of Queen Elizabeth on a t-shirt with a safety pin through her nose. Definitely, "Traditional and Transgression in British Fashion" Article with images from FWD - Photos from Style.com

Wow!!!! What can I say other than, wow. Habu is absolutely an amazing yarn store. I found myself so overwhelmed that I hardly bought anything. There were several things that I wanted they were out of stock, but even with that it was just so amazing to actually make it to the store. The colours, the fibers, the textures, and the beauty.

Waist Down Skirts by Miuccia Prada and Exhibition by Amo This exhibition was a bit of a surprise, a couple of weeks ago I ran across a blog that was giving instructions on how to make a Circle Skirt and talking about the exhibition. So, I added it to my list of things I wanted to do. Prada is Just right up the store from the Apple Soho store so it wasn't hard to convince M that he wanted to go. If you haven't checked out Making things, I would certainly drop by sometime. I really agree a lot with her philosophy of what is going on with the fashion industry right now. For example her recent post about "At Least Go Light Green" dealing with eco friendly style and the lack of waste with knit garments.

The exhibition showcases more than 200 variations of skirts from the designer Miuccia Prada. Prada has always stated her love is the versatility of the skirt and she always felt that skirts would be a beautiful exhibition from the start of inspiration to materialization. The exhibit had just closed in Japan this winter after it had been there a year to move to NYC as part of the reopening after the 5 alarm fire in January. As you enter the store you are greeted by skirts hanging from the ceiling over blob shaped mirrors so that you can see the elements of movements. Skirts hanging on walls with electronic arms to lift kick pleats. Large silhouettes of bodies with skirts hanging on them depicting motion. The exhibition is surely an example of where a skirt is no longer a simple alternative to pants.

doesn't =

So, MG and I had often heard B say that he had seen "Pearl" bags around town. Well, of course MG and I didn't clarify that he had see "Purl" bags around town. Unfortunately, by the time we fought the crowds of people to get here it was about 5:45 and I couldn't remember when Purl closed. Hopefully next time I will make it to Purl soho. :) Don't get me wrong, B was a very patient and great tour guide, but we did end up in some odd places. A building that was condemned and under construction for Habu because he couldn't read his writing. Pearl Paint instead of Purl Soho, admittedly they were both in Soho. And the infamous mochi place that we had heard so much about that we were just around the corner from when were at Kinokuniya. He couldn't remember the name of the store or what part of town it was located. Thanks so much B and S for a great fiber weekend. I really do appreciate your kindness and time. PS. Yes, we did make it to Kinokuniya. I was a little disapointed in the craft area. It was definately more geared to sewing than to knitting and fiber arts. The JPop CD's were also limited compared to the San Fran Store.