Latest CAbi Show: My Realization

Hi everyone!

I have lots to update on, but I've been really bad about posting all of my new information on this blog. First, I'll start with my discovery at the latest CAbi show from earlier this week (and I will be sure to update on my success with marbling very soon!).

This show was pretty typical; Kris did her presentation, we recommended styling ideas, women would try on clothes and complain about their bodies (in regards to their heights, etc.), I would help the women to try on the clothes and try to keep things organized on the rack. As I was helping Kris set up the show and put the clothes on the rack, I realized that after all the time that I've been working with her, I actually still don't know exactly how the clothes are supposed to be organized. Within this "Spring 2015 Collection," the clothing is organized into different sections, all of which have titles. Not only that, but each of the individual pieces have names, and while this is pretty cool, it's really hard to keep up with. Each article also has a "control number" that is used when a consumer wishes to buy a piece, and while this isn't necessary to memorize, it would definitely be helpful to do so. It's strange how even some of the costumers will know the name of an item and I will be clueless as to what they are talking about because there are so many names to keep up with.

While I was reflecting on the difficulties that I have with keeping up with all of the information and on the times that I struggle with the clothing oranization, I realized that this is actually something very common in the manufacturing industry. Having to deal with a bunch of tedious information is not something specific to CAbi; every clothing industry deals with this, especially those that utilize mass production techniques. All of this can make working in the fashion industry more difficult since each company will have certain things done or organized in a specific way, leaving very little room for freedom. With this realization, it also makes a good point for why one may reconsider the "handmade/DIY industry." By self production of goods or materials, one can have more freedom in what they wish wish to produce and work with, making the process much more stress free. Self creation of products also allows for more individuality instead of creating things based on the rules of a system that one would have to go by otherwise if dealing with a manufactured industry. All of this just provides more support for why it's important to maintain the ability, willingness and value to self create art.

Now that I've finished with that, I will soon update on my latest marbling tryout and I'll continue to go over the CAbi catalogue to keep all of my information organized. I'll also be working with Nikki again this week to try out batik on rice paper, and hopefully I can show some of her work as well.

Larissa :)