Young designers after my own heart entered a recycling contest  this Tuesday against professional designers twice their age. They had one week to fully construct these wearable art creations and 
we couldn't be more proud!

Narathip Maya, and 17 year old aspiring designer from my Mattyom 6/1 class used numerous materials to creatively give birth to this masterpiece above.  

Here the students are putting the final touches on their gowns in the school's art room. You can see CDs waterfalling down the mermaid-like tail of this dress. 

Narathip's Design from the Recycling contest last year.

A University in Phetchabun, Thailand hosted the event and gave out hefty cash rewards to the winners.
Narathip made not one, but two outfits! 
Modeled by the lovely 
Atittayaporn Vongsandsri 
& Sandy Bakkemo. 

Behold the incredible winged warriors above.   

Other noteworthy garments. 
These candy wrapper cuties look great!

Narathip designed the two looks on the left.
 My students Dammie and Lew designed the two gowns on the right using feathers, leaves, recycled paper, vinyl, future board, fruits, and corn. The finished product is stunning!

(Scroll to the bottom to read in Thai) 
When asked about the time constraints Narathip said, 
"This series took all 1 week. Don't panic! 
We make in a just week by working really hard."

 When did you start designing? "I design whenever I hear about a contest. I was excited to design at first, but now it's difficult because the material we use has encountered problems and
  we must change it almost every day."

Why do you want to become an Apparel Designer?  
"Why am I into designing?  Honestly speaking, I don't know why I want to become a fashion designer I'm really not sure, but one thing I can answer is that I want to do what I love. 
and I love love love designing clothes. 
I love everything about design, I don't know how to describe, but I adore it. Designing has become a part of of my life. 
I'd drop it didn't, of course."
Which of the other designers' work did you like the best?
"The set I like best is Young, who won the first series (in three) because his dress has exquisite resolution. This took him a lot of patience to create, and the details of his work are the best."

Did you win?
"I came in third place. 
I feel very happy and very proud of the works I designed. 
I consider it a success. 
It was a good experience that I learned from. 
Competing teaches everything on its own, 
like working with others,  problem solving, and new design techniques."

Was there a prize? "The 1st prize is a gift card with a cash prize of 
1,500, 2nd place gets 1000 and third, 500. I got 500, but
  the prize is the friendship with everyone 
working on set and the friendship of the contestants together."

For the gowns above, Narathip used paper, cardboard, stretcher bound, rice, water bottles, coconut leaves, coconut tree bark, wood, spray paint, tubing and beer cans.

On the left! You can see the green water bottle bottoms below her banana leaf peplum. Flowers are fastened into the netting and her wings are so mighty but light weight. 

On the right, she is wrapped in a dragon whose scales are made from hundreds of neatly cut pieces of aluminum, Leo brand beer cans. Her head dress consists of beer cans and soda can tabs. 

Anyone who knows me from middle school, knows that 
soda can tab decoration 
is right up my alley. I was the soda can tab queen, THE QUEEN! Collecting thousands and wearing them swinging from my pants as a tail. 

In closing, I asked...
What are your design plans for the future? 
"Now I'm planning to send the gowns to a national dress design contest for the stage of Miss Thailand 2015. I will enter the university next year, so right now I'm looking for a Design University and researching what I need in order to pass the proper tests in class, and to build a portfolio that shows my design's creativity."
We are incredibly proud of you, Narathip
 and wish you good luck in your future career!

Americas Next Top Model,my favorite "Reality" TV show  launched their 22nd season this week :D

 It's quite possible that I may be the last ANTM fan left in the world. 
 I console myself by declaring that everyone has a guilty TV treasure of their own. Mine just happens to be a house full of beautiful people fighting over who is the most puurdy.
 This last year I binge watched through all 21 seasons. And through this research I've gathered up 
ANTM's BEST PHOTO SHOOTS OF ALL TIME. 

I recreated the photo because sometimes I like to pretend I'm a model. Just the other night I had a dream I walked in a Marc Jacob's show, I was late and didn't get my chance but the dress I wore was insane! 

This was one of ANTM's most successful 
cross dressing shoots. 
They bring in professional Drag Queens and 
style the model contestants up to look like men. 
In the photo above, the bombshell, Natasha 
(who is yes, a Russian mail order bride living in America. Don't judge! Her husband is hella cute) rocks this look. Grabbing her crotch, rolling up one pant leg, finding a toothpick and creating her own grill from a gum wrapper, this woman's dedication surpasses them all.
 Fun fact Natasha didn't win but came in second place to ANTM's only Latina winner, Jazlene Gonzales.
 Natasha is my favorite of all the contestants so far. 
See more photos of her by clicking the button below!

Now we gaze upon a steamy eye makeup shoot where the models could only expose the top half of their face. It's of course inspired from selfies Tyra took on her vacation in Jamaica, as most of the episodes consist of Tyra Banks (The creator and head judge) talking about herself.. I love the contortion and symmetry of this one. It's like she's a blonde siamese demon emerging from the goop. Few other models even came close to matching her grace here.

The Sheep Shoot!!
Meet Alexandra, the plus sized model from cycle 14 
lusting in the grass blades.
 Tyra called this one of the best photos of ANTM history. 
The top 6 flew to New Zealand, had to wear couture black gowns, outshine the stunning background,
 and find a creative way to incorporate a lil sheep friend. 
She gets good and cuddly with her fluffy male sheep model in a feat of editorial excellence. 
Alexandra doesn't care that he probably  smells awful, 
she's going for it and this determination won her the Title of America's Next Top Model. The only plus sized thus far.

The Bald Shoot! 
I love bald caps especially on models that are just starting out. It takes true confidence to model bald when you are used to hiding behind your hair or relying on your locks to enhance your beauty. Many models struggled, but here we have April, one of the few Asian American models from the show and she makes it look easy. They actually used this shoot as motivation to shave one of their models bald during their makeover episode. 

Leopard Shoot
Who doesn't want to pose with a sweet baby animal? This is one of my favorite shots of the entire series. Like, wow! Whats-Her-Face was seriously so charismatic that the judges considered it a flaw. "Don't just vote for her because you like her" I'm sure she's wildly successful now. Her personality didn't outshine her modeling finness in this shot. She commands her cub baby and clenches her jaw while somehow balancing and modeling from her fro to her fingertips. Excellence!

Angel Angelica Fall 2013 shot in San Francisco's Lake Merced

Meet Don!!!
Not as hot as Natasha but sweet jesus 
do I love when dark skinned men have light eyes. ^_^ 
(Spoiler alter you'll find plenty of those in season 22)