Mini Muff's Memorabilia - Second Year College

Year two! I can hardly believe I made it through year two. I had decided to live in Barrie, rather than Toronto, and commute......with no car. This, my friends, was before the lovely GoTrain went all the way North. I had to grab a bus at 4:30am, transfer at Yorkdale Mall and take the Subway the rest of the way just to be able to make it on time for an 8am class. But alas, I did it.

Second year was much more intense. Besides the crazy commute, to which I do not recommend to anyone, the work load was heavy. Fun! But heavy. The whole year was leading up to the big finale where you got to showcase your collection to people from the industry. I really wanted to create something spectacular, something crazy, something so artistic! But it was supposed to be wearable and sellable. So I made up every excuse that my collection was sellable, just not to a large market. No, my market was for punk/rock stars who could wear whatever they want, whenever they wanted. Did this makes sense? Nope. Did the judges question me and raise a questionable eyebrow when I tried to defend myself? You bet your ass they did. But technically I did supply them with a fictitious customer so I got the point. High fives self.

I was adamant about including a men's outfit in my line. Nearly all our classes were based on womenswear and I felt like I was missing out by only focusing on one. Sadly, not many others agreed and so the men's class was cancelled. Luckily, I had an amazing teacher who agreed to continue the class for me on the side if I really wanted to learn. And I did. So after and between classes they would sit with me one on one and taught me how to design, pattern and construct a men's suit jacket, pants and dress shirt. I tell you, I've only made a few men's suit jackets in my time and hooooly are they a lot of work. So many layers that have to be laid just right in order to get the jacket to hold its shape. Its really quite something. If you ever get the chance, have yourself a custom made jacket, there's nothing quite like it. But don't ask me! Noooo thank you, three times was more than enough.

My female pretend rock star customer was set to wear a black and white checker dress with a neon orange and yellow accent. I thought it was so punk and bad ass until I had to stare at that fabric for hours on end. Going from black and white to neon orange, flipping to sew another seam and blinding myself with neon orange and getting dizzy in the checkers again....oh my god...not fun. In the end, it turned out great! I actually only have this one photo of it as I sold this to someone who wore it to their prom. Such a proud moment.

Now, for the fun part. We got to present our collection to people form the industry. We had to have an entire line sketched out with out 3 pieces on live models. All our patterns posted to foamboard and a little speech ready to present and "sell" to these fine people. I have no idea what I said but I'm sure it was incredibly fast and inaudible. To make this collection present like a real one, we had to name it. Any guesses as to what it was called?! That's right, Monster Muffin. My final collection in school was my first collection of what would become the rest of my fashion career.

Special shoutout to my male model and friend Emanuel. He came with me all the way to Toronto to wear my collection in front of the judges. Because we had no actual menswear class, and very few men in the entire course, doing fittings was almost impossible. Thank you Eman!