Saturday, November 13, 2010

TREND ALERT #002: The Undercut

Hate it or love it. THE UNDERCUT.

Variation 1: Sides of head (Kate Lanphear, style editor of ELLE)
Variation 3: All Under = Connecting Sides + Back of Head (Kate Lanphear, style editor of ELLE)
Blurring the lines between feminine and masculine. Beautiful and ugly. An extreme cut that looks good on both boys and girls, curly or straight, medium, short, or long hair! It also is a commitment and a b**** to grow out.  The undercut trend has been around originally and again more modernly among the streetwear styles in places like London, Germany, Stolkholm, Japan, NYC's most edgy for a while and now is becoming more prevalent in the midwestern states thanks to celebrities rocking this 'do.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

TREND ALERT #001: Pastel and Ombre Hair

This ain't your manic-panic 'do from high school.  I'm talking about the colored hair trends that have been prevalent on the runways, style blogs, and fashion mags of Spring/Fall 2010.
Turquoise and platinum ombre hair.
Ombré, from the French ombrer meaning "to shade," is a dip-dye effect given to fabric (or hair!) in which the color is graduated from light to dark.  In the past months I myself made a leap of faith and jumped aboard the grunge/pastel hair color train.  In fact, I am currently redying my hair a shade of Manic Panic's Bad Boy Blue as I type this post.  I had been coveting the girls of the Proenza Schouler S/S 2010, Scalpture.com, or the I<3Fake Magazine's #17 Grunge Issue.

Monday, October 18, 2010

LISA LOOK #001 TOXIC TEETH

Hey girls and guys! Lisa LOOK outfit post #001!

One of current contest Lookbook.nu is running is Sony PIIQ Music Inspires Fashion contest.  A neat contest where you can post your music inspired look along with your own 8tracks.com mix to enter.
So on top of making custom mixes, you can show off your awesome fashion style.  So if your stylish and love making playlists, give it a whirl!  You can also have more than one entry.

I'll be posting my looks in the future. For now, check out my first entry and themed playlist titled: TOXIC TEETH!
Make sure to click the "HYPE" button to give me lots of Hype. More Hype gets me more attention!
Listen to my specially crafted playlist for this look too!: TOXIC TEETH 8track Playlist: http://8tracks.com/llvlss/toxic-teeth

BLOG #007: Lisa Malanij on LOOKBOOK.NU

For those of you familiar with the fashion style collective, LOOKBOOK.NU, you know it's one of the best open access style sites on the web.  As a designer and trend hunter, I check Lookbook.nu often to assess the current pulse of streetwear and it's style movements.  Many Lookbook posters wear and display new trends and styles that haven't reached the dreaded common mainstream yet, and display new ways to layer, wear garments and show off their individuality.  Chictopia.com is also a similar open access fashion site.

I use my Lookbook.nu page as a personal catalog of daily outfits.  My way of sharing my personal style back to the style community.  I'm certainly no professional model, but it is fun to showcase my own interesting, cute outfits and ideas with others.  I will even post some of my favorite looks here on my blog.  Though I strongly encourage every fashionista to start their own LB page :]

So fellow fans, friends, and fashionistas, I please encourage you to "Fan" me and PLEASE "HYPE" ME a lot!
SHOW YOUR LISA LOVE! :D
My Lookbook.nu page: http://lookbook.nu/user/147231-Lisa-M

BLOG #006: Pledge on Kickstart for Buzz & Growl - Cleveland Fashion Incubator on Kickstarter

Pledge $1-2000+ to Buzz & Growl on their Kickstarter page!

I just got off the phone with Valerie and found out about another fabulous way besides the Pepsi Refresh contest mentioned in my previous post that you can support Buzz & Growl, Valerie, and local CLE designers!!!

You can pledge any amount of money to Buzz & Growl's Kickstarterer page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yellowcake/buzz-and-growl-clevelands-new-fashion-incubator

And as an expression of thanks, gifts will be given to each price level donation, such as $1 will get you eternal thanks, $10 donation will get you listed as a supporter on the B&G website, $20 will get you website cred and a limited edition Buzz & Growl book, $40 will get you a signed one of a kind sketch, so on and so forth.

I personally will be donating in the $20-$40 range.

For more info on the Cleveland Sewing Co-op Buzz & Growl, check out their official website: http://www.buzzandgrowl.com/

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

BLOG #005: Klaxons @ 9.28.2010 The Basement, Columbus OH

In case you didn't know, the Klaxons are my favorite modern band.  Their breakout album, Myths of the Near Future, won many prestigious awards and earned them many loyal fans alike.  Their magic-realist lyrics and ethereal science fiction subject matter make for all kinds of intellectual cool. Not to mention they are all extremely talented and handsome English gentlemen.

I was fortunate enough to see them play in Chicago during the 2007 Pitchfork Festival.  This time around they were promoting their second album, Surfing the Void.  I was lucky enough to see them in Columbus with my dear friend Miss Megan Anne.  Opening band, Baby Monster brought the lo-fi synthy shoegaze goodness. As for the Klaxons? Oh they were incredible.  I rarely mosh or jump around in pits anymore but I totally let myself go during my favorite song Magick, and Gravity's Rainbow.

Because this is a fashion blog and my work is most inspired by music, I thought it would be cool to post recaps of concerts and bands I like to celebrate the fashion/music/pop culture I so strongly believe in.

All photos in this post are copyright to Miss Megan Anne.  I left all the photo taking to her since she has a fancy Nikon which trumps my Casio Exlim camera.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

BLOG #004: Florence & The Machine Design Contest

Hello everyone!
I recently entered a neat little fashion design contest to design an outfit for the musical artist, Florence & the Machine to wear at her Terminal 5 concert in NYC.  I didn't win (due to me not having a humongous internet fanbase... yet) however I wanted to share my design for Florence with everyone since it turned out quite nice for something I whipped up in an hour.

Color illustration of Florence & the Machine costume. Copic markers, micron, colored pencils, gel pens.

As you know, I like avant garde fashion, and my dream job would be styling and creating looks for musicians, rock stars, stage artists, etc.
Here is the Talenthouse contest link: http://www.talenthouse.com/creativeinvites/preview/a367b8a22a951c4f47fc2eba8b0474bb/120
 

Rough sketch of initial design, pencil and micron.

Finished design entry - color and b+w illustration, garment flats.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

BLOG #003: Lisa Malanij and 3xHearts Official labels!

I received my official sew-in labels I made and ordered in the mail a few weeks ago, finally just got around to posting pix of them on my blog.  My labels were designed myself through Illustrator and contracted out.  I'm Pretty proud of myself, starting to get for real official!

One label is for my exclusive Lisa Malanij original clothing.  The front is my name logo, and on the reverse is my CIRCLE.SQUARE logo with website. Clever, no?

My 3xHearts label is for my reconstructed, up-cycled garments with a certain Lisa-twist.  (Also a word play on retro video games where a player starts with three lives, usually represented as three heart icons).  More on that later.
Aren't the awesome??? <3

Thursday, August 26, 2010

BLOG #002 FGI Cleveland and 20/30 Young Professional Club present: 4TH ANNUALDESIGNER SHOWCASE FASHION SHOW

It's been an exciting and busy week, and an even more busy weekend for me!
Myself, as well as designer friends Laurie Allen and Katie Wolfrum will be showing collections to support the fashion industry in Cleveland.  This will also be the LAST CHANCE to see my CIRCLE.SQUARE collection live on the runway. Don't miss out!
My favorite model who was killer in my CIRCLE.SQUARE photoshoot, Stephanie Giammarco, will be modeling some of my looks.

Come show your support for local fashion designers and Cleveland as the Fashion Group International Cleveland chapter and Cleveland's 20/30 Young Professionals Club come together to present their 4th Annual Designer Showcase Fashion Show!
For $10 Pre-sale tickets email  marlene@vmcf.org
Facebook event: FGI Cleveland  and 20/30 Club: 4th Annual Designer Showcase Fashion Show
PRESALE TICKETS: MEMBERS $10 | NON-MEMBERS $15
Friday August 27th
Doors open at 6PM - Meet the Designers
8PM - Runway Show

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

BLOG #001: Check out my Fashion Flash article featured in the PlainDealer, 8/25/2010!

I was fortunate enough to be featured in the Plain Dealer's Fashion Flash section!  Finally, my bucket list dream of having an article written about me in a major newspaper has come true.

Check out my Fashion Flash article featured in the Plain Dealer (8/25/2010)!  It is a excellent interview article written by Plain Dealer's own Cleveland's fashion and pop culture queen, Andrea Simakis.  The print version has more pictures which I scanned and added for your viewing pleasure below.  More below the cut.  The full article can be read below or on cleveland.com here.
I even ended up making Andrea Simakis a customized version of the asymmetrical slash skirt I wore to the shoot, making her my first official customer to own a Lisa Malanij original. :]




Fashion designer and Kent State University grad Lisa Malanij talks to Fashion Flash


By Andrea Simakis, The Plain Dealer
The Plain DealerPublished: Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 1:00 AM     Updated: Wednesday, August 25, 2010, 9:28 AM

Lisa Malanij, 24, Detroit Shoreway
Fashion designer

What have you been up to since graduating from Kent State University in 2009?

I'm a freelance fashion designer, and I'm also doing my own collection, which I showed for Cincinnati Fashion Week and Cleveland Fashion Week. The collection is called Circle.Square . . . I'm looking for investors!


Monday, August 23, 2010

BLOG #000: Welcome to the Official Blog of Lisa Malanij!

Hello all!  Thanks to my web/graphic designer and Wordpress wizard, Mike Stone, my official portfolio website and blog are in business!!! Some big things coming up in the near fashion future I can't wait to share with all of you!

I promise to update regularly with news, trends, and exciting fashion related events going on around Cleveland.

Stay tuned!

 





CHECK OUT MY NEW OFFICIAL WEBSITE V1.0!