Nina Ricci RTW Fall 2010 -Raw and Vintage

Anything that involves pencil skirts, high waists, or beautiful coats, I am smitten with it all! Nina Ricci's RTW (ready-to-wear) Fall 2010 line is a product of my desires and I hope yours as well!

I love the idea that many of the outfits are elongated and narrow.  The fabrics are nonetheless luxurious, yet the silhouettes are a reflection of the economic environment where designers use less materials in hopes to cut cost. During the 1930's-1940's, many silhouettes were the same, narrow, less layers, and a shorter hem line.
Here are my favorites out of the collection!

Blair Crimmins & the Hookers featuring Davina and the Harlots! (late posting!)

   September 29th was an epic night. Loading in at 6pm with suitcases of costumes, props, and champagne the night had begun.  Four amazing ladies pulled their resources, talents and good looks to embarke the most AMAZING night at Star Bar (Atlanta Ga).

   Blair Crimmins and the Hookers were playing the last day of their month residency at Star Bar and the  theme was Cabaret! With a gorgeous MC Davi D'lish introducing, Mona VaVOOM, Savvy Gold, and yours truly Lucy Lipstick we kicked off the night!

   There were Huge boobs! Small boobs! Diamonds, Garters, Gloves, Big Spenders, Utters, Demons, Hula girls, Flappers, Drunk sexy Russian dancer, Coin Operated Boy, oh and a good lookin' audience!!!!
The place was over capacity on a Wednesday! Star Bar employees were astounded, the band was blown away and the crowd LOVED us! 

For those who missed the show here are some pictures from the night and here are the links to some of the numbers! Opening!     Boobs!    Coin operated Boy Number    Bee Sting Number

 

Feel the softness!

I had the privilege to work with Jason Maris on a photography shoot for a Kleenex promotional campiagn.
Along with Jason, I worked with two stylist Anita Jan Temple and Fawn Ortega. These ladies were AmaZing! I had such a great time working with them.  : - D

This was a fantastic two days! We had an assortment of models different ages and demographic groups and dressing them in warm winter clothes was such fun. There was plenty to keep myself busy. Dressing models, confirm their outfits with Studiocom folks, and help keeping them Gorgeous on set, keeping the wardrobe selection tidy and Repeat! 

I also had some great meals cooked by Chef Brett and had my first Banana Fosters! Yum.

Be sure to lookout on Kleenex.com for these great pictures in the winter!

europe trip

Happily overwhelmed

I have so much to write about it is insane.
 I will soon catch up on my blog once I am back from Europe and Settled in Atlanta.

 All I have to say right now is hard work pays off and I am so excited for what is next.

More Coming Soon!

-Morgan Lee

Tights are the new pants right?

Lately I have been experiencing the sight of tights, knit tights,  and spandex replacing where pants once had dominated...... Your legs!

 Tights are great for just about any outfit you wear. I myself like put on tights when wearing a short hemmed skirt or dress. You can still look sexy without feeling over exposed.

Now I maybe preaching to the choir, but here are a few things that you shouldn't do with tights:

1. If they are see through when you stretch the tights out, they WILL not cover you bum. Yes ladies,  I always know color of underwear you have on when you wear tights as pants. 
2. If you are wanting to slim your silhouette, tights ALONE does not do the trick. I can see all that jiggles in tights. 
• Alternative: Match tights with a flirty skirt, dress, or a pair of shorts to direct the attention to your waistline, long legs, or your amazing booty, (just not see through clothes, leave it for pj parties). 
• Alternative: get some Spanx, or any slimming tights. These aren't usually see through and keeps your "jiggles" in place.
3. If you are going to wear a long t- shirt with tights, stick with knit tights! Nylon tights are more translucent then knit tights.

Now there are some blurred lines when it comes to dance events, performances in the Lindy Hop/Jazz world, but here is my solution... BLOOMERS! Honestly, they are perfect with any short, flying, crazy, oh my gosh what is she wearing skirt/dress. If your bum is relatively covered you are in the green.
Burlesque performances are in another realm and hopefully will write a blog about that soon!

Lastly, if you are unsure, ask your friend,

" Hey, can you see my underwear through these tights?" 

Utterly Excited and Slightly Scared

I am on the road for graduation! In 4 months I will be a graduate with a complete portfolio, an even better resume, AND have the chance to study abroad for two weeks!
  I never thought college would be so time consuming and difficult to finish, but now that it is almost over I feel that I have been educated and equipped with most of the tools I need for a world outside of school. Though I have plenty of opportunities ahead of me, I can't help but worry.
"Am I going to get a job I like?" 
"Am I going to get a job at all? "
I find myself everyday looking at jobs, seeing if some company is still offering what I am searching for.
"I constantly ask myself am I doing enough?"
"Have I called enough people?"
"Can I make my resume any better?"
"Who do I need to know to get the job I want?"

I am a planner. Not always an organized planner, but in most cases I like having a plan. There is only so much you can do when looking for a career. You can't "plan" that a company will hire you. This drives me crazy, but that is something I can't control so what should I do?
apply, network, apply, network...... Finding the time to do so? Not to mention that I do not have a completed portfolio right now, nor is my resume updated at all.... (Panic!)

With all of this, I try to keep one thing in mind:
Anytime that I have worked hard for a goal, I eventually achieve that goal.

Then I take a deep breathe and write it down. Getting your thoughts out really helps. :)

Here is my TO DO LIST for Morgan Kestner's career steps

1. Get a website
2. Create a Theme for Morgan Kestner as a brand 
1. What can morgan do for you?
2. pattern making, illustrations, costume design, fashion design, styling,etc
3. PUT THIS TOGETHER IN A cohesive manner
3. Work on my portfolio.
1. Make time for this EVERY WEEK.
2. Borrow a good Camera, set up a photo shoot for my designs
3. FINISH any Designs that are incomplete, make time for this.
4. Work on my Resume
1. Develop a new theme for my resume
2. Update on Fashion Experience
5. Make connections with people
1. Talk to friends who are or know someone in the fashion industry.
1. Send friends your resume to pass it on
6. Make Business Cards
1. Develop a theme that says "Morgan Kestner
7. Develop a market
1. Costume Designer for Productions, Dance Troupes, Entertainment businesses.
8. Get CS4 on her computer. 
9. Apply for jobs, send out resumes to any theater production in Atlanta, follow up.
10. BE CONFIDENT. 
11. Oh and graduate. That part is very important. :)

This has been in my mind for a bit. Now I have to follow it!


 If anyone has advice to offer or even if you know any company looking for a fashion design and merchandising graduate, please let me know!

Personal Mission Statement

I am a tad late posting this. Recently, I had to write a personal mission statement. Something I haven't quite considered before, but I love goals and list so I was ready for the opportunity (and the awesome grade I got in class).
Now, it took me a few days to come up what I wanted to write. Here are some links that helped me out. Quintessential Careers had some great ideas. I highly advise going through these statement questionnaires because it helps you write about who you are and what you want from yourself. The idea is simple but the process is a bit hard.

So here is mine! I wrote this with the short term scheme of 1-3 years. As time goes I will evaluate myself with this statement to see if I am following according to my statement or do I need to adjust since life always changes.

My Statement

To achieve great things, you must put out the best effort.
I will not complain about having no opportunities instead I will search for them and strive to do my best once given a door to open. I will have faith in myself that I can only lose opportunities, not fail.

In order to take, you must give.
I will contribute my skills and talents to build a good social community where ever I live. I wil show compassion and be present for my family and friends.

My actions will speck for who I am. I will be cautious with my words and my actions.
By example, I will demonstrate my dedication , determination, and creativity with any company that I work for. I will encourage others around me to keep a healthy attitude by leaving my "baggage" at the door. I will speak with honesty and integrity.

I will uphold a leadership role.
In any role that I may possess whether it is a designer, family member, mother, wife, friend, or co-worker, I will continue to uphold my responsibilities and be aware of my performance. I will live by my actions and display standard morals and ethics.

Lindy Focus 2009

Lindy Focus, an event that is one of the finest, at least in my experience. This dance camp runs about 5 days and ends on New Year's Eve. I have made some amazing friends at this event. Here is where your acquaintances turn into friends, and your local group of dancers turns into a large network of friends across the states.
By the time LF rolls around I am ready for new inspirations, quality dancing, and pure fun. This year Lindy Focus had over 500 people attend in a small town called Asheville, NC. I would like to first congratulate the organizers, Jaya & Micheal Gamble and Sosh Howell, for putting on another year of this great event. For the amount of people came and what was offered at this event, I believe these three have done a fantastic job. I have some some Highlights for the week.

The Good Things:
When I arrived I felt like I was at my dance home. Here I can be comfortable as a dancer and just say hi to anyone. The opening dance was fun. Friends arrived, we hugged and danced.
I must say that Sunday, Monday and Tuesday late night were my favorites.
Sunday I felt that I got so settle in, Monday I taught a hair piece class that went very well (at the same time actually meeting other follows at the dance camp), and just having some spectacular dances to the Loose Marbles made the beginning of the week awesome.My Favorite band was the Loose Marbles. Their energy made me want to dance all night.
There were so many people who attended there was not enough time to dance with everyone. As much as I wanted to be at all the dances, my body was too tired to stay up past 2am to keep dancing.
Competitions were great to watch. I was impressed how the J&J crossovers turned out to be. All the performances throughout the week were amazing . I felt that I got to experience some high quality entertainment.
The variety of classes was good too. I felt that I learned more this year than the past two years at Lindy Focus.
The Jam Session room was great. There was musicians in there almost all the time! I stopped in when I could and sang a few songs. This was a big highlight for me. I actually felt comfortable singing in front of others.

Some not so good things:
How I missed late night counts! It was hard to motivate myself to attend to late night when I there was no emphasis to attend. I know I missed tons of great dances and music for being practical and going to bed early.
The Expo. This was a great place to host this many people but I felt that people had too many corners to hide. The Crowne room was crowded but you could see everyone and spend most of your time dancing instead of spending a whole song searching for someone you said you danced with. I miss the "squished" feeling honestly. Spontaneous things happened when we were all together! I feel that I really missed a lot of the "social magic" this year because we were all spread out.
Classes. The variety of classes were amazing! I did feel a little overwhelmed though. It was hard to find friends to take classes because so many things were happening. I know many people were jumping around from different tracks sometimes people in other levels would be in the wrong class. Not because they wanted to "sneak in and take Adv. classes, but because they people did not know that certain classes were only for adv. levels.
It is hard to keep classes leveled when 500 + people are running around. It is a a two way effort that is needed though. People who are not supposed to be in certain classes, look at the schedule and make sure you are going to the right one. Door watchers check the bands. You have an important job so do it. We should understand to have respect for others during workshop weekends. For Example: Adv. dancers want to learn and not have to teach a lead or follow what he or she needs to do because a) the adv. dancer might be teaching it wrong b) that dancer wants to learn but can't go further because the other lead/follow is not at the same level.
If you know that a class is not for you then leave. No one is going to make you look bad. You will still get great dances on the social floor.

Bands. I am sad to say that I missed Stephanie Morgan. I was so excited to here them but I fell asleep. (boo.) I wasn't a great fan of the Boilermaker Jazz band. I thought that they were better last year (2008). The Russ Wilson band only played one song I really liked which was when everyone did the Big Apple. That was Amazing! Other then that, I felt like just sitting around, the music was not inspiring for me to dance. This opinion was nothing to so with the bands talents, just the music choice could have been better.

As a closing note, I loved this event, it was not my favorite year, but it was a well run event. There were a few people that I never got to dance with! I am sad that we did not dance and I hope to see you at another event (or LF) to make up for those lost dances. I am glad that I can still see many of my friends is one place and get to know more people.

Ten fun cool things:
1. New Year's Eve dinner was great!
2. Catan at 3 in the morning was sooo much fun.
3. Spending time with friends I normally do not get to see was a big plus.
4. Performing at Lindy Focus again was a big step. Performing by myself was even bigger.
5. Using my sewing skills to help with others with costume stuff !
6. Dressing up every night
7. Teaching vintage craft classes
8. Not being sick this year!
9. Learning new techniques to work on
10. Watching the Red Hot Review.