I don’t know why, but finding these illustrations came as a shock to me. These were created in the 1950’s or 60’s. I remember when Vogue did an article about racism in fashion. One thing that people pointed out (other than the fact there were no black Vogue Editors since the launch of the magazine) is that the occurrence of black models and designers are scarce in the industry.  Based on that and my own observations, I just didn’t expect to find illustrations in WWD archives of black models. Maybe I shouldn’t be that way. I just assumed because of the way things were back then, publications wouldn’t really permit black fashion images to be circulated. All I know is that no matter what obstacles minorities have faced in the past and present, somehow someone sees us for what we are……AMAZING ICONS OF FASHION!!!!! PEACE OUT!

Hello,

With fashion month upon us, I just had to start my trend book for 2014. Yes, I have a couple of books that I keep my own personal collection of trends in. I may cut pictures out and paste to pages, or just clip magazine pages of random clothes, and then I create a trend book. Sometimes I remember sometimes I don’t… this is why one of my new year’s resolutions was to be more consistent, but I digress. Let’s move along to my first prediction….THE PLASTIC PURSE.

YES LADIES AND GENTLEFOLK,

The plastic purse is definitely going to be trending either for this summer or summer 2015/16. The reason why I’ve chosen this item is because it’s been a while since I’ve seen it in the fashion cycle. I happened upon this trend while doing my research. Plastic purses with these structures and made of this tough plastic-like material, is spacious, versatile in design, and very well…NOW. They’re very vintage yet modern.  With the emergence of 3-D printers (oh, and I will be doing a report on those soon and how they will revolutionize the fashion industry), it’s bound to make a comeback and take center stage in the handbag market. Maybe these designs seem a bit old school, but that’s precisely why I chose them. I want you to see the originals.  Maybe someone out there will get inspired and recreate some models to usher in the new era of technology (which is the 3-D printer) *wink*. The material for the plastic purse can be manipulated into any shape, pattern, color and maybe even texture. I love it, and I look forward to posting more modern pics in the future. Some new era examples, because if in the 1960’s they produced this, then imagine what the designers of today can do! We Shall See ;)