DC Photohappening at Franklin School future site of ICE DC

On Saturday, November 8th ICE DC opened the doors of Franklin School located on 13th and K Street in NW Washington, DC. Over 300 photographers and photo enthusiasts took to their phones, tablets, DLSRs, Holgas and good old fashion film cameras to document the empty building, which has been a school, homeless shelter and site of the Occupy movement.

The massive brick building, designed by Adolf Cluss, was built in 1865 and in 1880 Alexander Graham Bell transmitted speech through beams of light from the roof to his lab 700 feet away creating the photophone, which is the precursor to modern-day fiber-optic technology. ICE DC invited the public to come and take photographs of the empty building before they transform the space into a Kunsthalle.

We arrived around 1pm for one of the last sessions in which we were allowed to roam throughout the entire 50,000 square foot building. Paint was peeling from the walls and bulletin notices hung by old push pins forgotten and frozen in time--reminders left to be forgotten. We made friends with other photographers and instagram lovers. We learned about the building structure from our friend's parents, whom she had brought along for the experience. I thought about other abandoned buildings I'd explored in Berlin and even though this required no shimming through a wire gate, no climbing up a narrow tower, no watching out for broken glass bottles from late-night raves that happened decades ago, I still felt that adrenaline rush that only comes from doing something you aren't supposed to do. Something that is (for reasons unbeknownst to you) not allowed, but that no one will ever know about unless you tell them.

I joked that everyone was taking photos of the same thing. Shortly after I shot the light coming in from the first room to the right, I saw a friend's post of the same exact thing on Instagram.

I posted while I framed, observed while I crouched down and took some photos of other people taking photos. There was very little chatter, but an energy was certainly felt. Like a collective agreement that an important task was at hand and time was ticking. We were kicked out right as we found the 'someone forgot to close the trap door' sign on the top floor. We did not sneak onto the roof or hide out in the basement. But, something tells me there will be time for that, in some other building, some other time, or at the opening of ICE DC when they display the winners of the photo contest from this very event.

The whole experience can be seen below in a tagboard that pulls in anything from Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Google+ and Vine.

leather, moda + revistas

**warning: do not read this if animal skins freak you out**

My last trip to New York was for a garment tour with Bits of Thread, the studio where I do design work, sewing, etc. They hold various sewing and fashion design classes and hosted a trip for some fabric shopping.

I started the day at The Blind Barber in Williamsburg. They have Blue Bottle coffee and internet, which is all you ever need from a cafe.

We met at Mood. I got lost in the aisles searching for fabrics. Many stores in NY, including Mood, carry the remnants of fabrics ordered by designers. For example, if Theory orders thousands of yards of a cotton twill, but doesn't use all of it, it could end up at Mood where someone else can buy the very same fabric they use. At Mood they usually label the lot if it was made for a designer. The bummer is there is only a certain amount and you can't order more.

For lunch we stopped at Schnippers and I had a huge cobb salad. Yum.

Then we had a class at Global Leathers and learned about the different types and qualities of leather. We touched a lot of skins and discussed properties, treatments and uses. We also got to feel some exotic skins like stingray, zebra and python. It was pretty amazing to learn from an expert everything there is to know about leather (well, not everything!).

After I stopped at some other fabric stores, then Fashion Design Books for some art supplies and Around the World Fashion to browse through fashion magazines from around the world. To end the day I stopped at Moda Espresso Bar for a cappuccino and some down time with my swatches and new colored pencils.

Never fear, Brooklyn is here

Last weekend I went to New York for some fabric shopping. I hung out in Brooklyn with my friend and on Saturday we walked across the Williamsburg bridge on the way to Mood. I took some photos of the stunning bridge which has all forms of transportation in one: pedestrian path, bike path, 8 car lines and 3 subway lines. They are all running at once. It reminded me of schools of fish crossing each other in the ocean. Or blood cells. Or spaceships. You could feel the energy come up from the floor through your feet.

The bridge has been around for over 100 years and is one of 5 suspension bridges going into NY. At 7,308 feet long, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it first opened in 1903. The Williamsburg bridge connects my two favorite neighborhoods--Williamsburg and the Lower East Side--over the East River. If you've never walked across it, you definitely should next time you are in New York!

Here are my favorite shots:

First look: Flor Silvestre SS15 collection

We just finished up our spring/summer collection and even though it's time to make mulled wine and pull out the sweaters, we want to share our recent work with you. And because fashion is weird, that means spring.

Imagine, you're a 1930s movie star from Mexico that just crossed over to the Hollywood scene. You're a trail blazer, a bombshell, a force to be reckoned with. Yet you are also tied to the movie studios, and the stereotypes, and possibly the men.

But what if you wake up one day and you find yourself in an international city in 2014. You blend in. You can go where you want, be where you want and love who you want. You are truly independent. While only a lucky few can enjoy this, and even so we still have a long way go (sick of catcalls anyone?) the Flor Silvestre collection celebrates how far we've come.

As a Mexican-American woman living in DC I'm living proof that things have changed. My great-grandmas may not have been movies stars, but they were each most certainly a trail blazer, bombshell and force to be reckoned with.

Flor Silvestre means wildflower. It's a celebration of beauty and independence, style and adventure.

View our Flor Silvestre collection...

behind the scenes: photoshoot

Ever wonder why there are so many people on set at a photoshoot? Because it's a lot of work. Most people only ever see the end result - the photos - but there's so much planning that goes into it. And then the day of the shoot you cross your fingers that it doesn't rain or that you can catch the sun in that perfect spot.

I love planning photo and video shoots (here's an oldie but goodie). For this one I had an idea in mind and looked for images that would help explain the overall vision and some individual shots. I went over all of these with Betsy, a friend and photographer, and Val, my sister and model. We met and had a brainstorm session and scouted locations. It just so happened that Betsy's apartment in NOMA was perfect. I created a shot list, location list and then tried to organize everything so we knew which look to photograph where and when according to shots, time, look, etc. The night before we made the floral hair pins while watching model videos on youtube so Val could practice. Some of the videos were totally ridiculous--but it was fun to be silly and I do think they helped. Modeling is hard and annoying. You have to really just be in it. We talked through the character for each look and how it would work out.

Day of we got up super early to be ready for the sunrise. We ironed everything, did Val's hair and makeup, and got our equipment ready. Val did awesome. Betsy did awesome. I am so lucky to have such amazing friends and sister!

Throughout the day we just kind of talked and me or Betsy or give her a little direction. We tried different shots that I wanted to get and made up games to get a certain look. I've been on super casual shoots before, so it felt natural. After a while Val felt comfortable in front of the camera and we all were just in it together! I tried to follow my shot list and keep us on schedule. We found some new locations when we were out and about, like this awesome brick wall Val spotted.

Or this awesome parking garage...

We shot everything in one day and then Betsy edited a selection of photos for the lookbook. All these photos in this post were ones I took during the day just as backup and for this post ;)--except the brick wall one that was Betsy! We narrowed down the images to tell one story and that's what is posted up in the collections page. Edit, edit, edit -- a pretty common theme in all of this. That was probably the hardest part, picking the photos that make the clothes look best AND tell the story.

Thanks DC for having such an awesome skyline! And great weather on our shoot day!

Have you ever done a photoshoot? Let us know your tips!

create: floral hair pins

For our first photoshoot we created floral hair pins to put in my sister's hair. We had a different hairstyles for each look and created various sizes and types of floral hair pins to make each one unique.

Materials: bobby pins giant bobby pins hair clips fabric confetti (we made this out of remnants of the fabric used in the Flor Silvestre collection) various dried flowers (we got ours on etsy) glue gun glue sticks (we used a lot of these -- definitely get an extra pack) cardstock or thick magazine paper

First, we cut some ovals out of the cardstock and glued them to the large bobby pins. Then we glued on fabric confetti and various dried flowers. We would also made little piles of the dried flowers and fabric confetti, put small amounts of glue on the hair combs and then just dipped them in the pile over and over again until we covered the whole edge. Be careful--the glue will be very hot so don't touch it. Would have helped if we had some kind of stick, like those small wooden ones used for nail care, to push down the pieces, but we managed without one.

We let them all dry overnight. And voilà, gorgeous one-of-a-kind floral hair pins!

I love how they turned out! They look amazing in the photos and definitely helped to create the atmosphere I wanted for our first photoshoot.

Let us know if you tried to make them. And don't forget to check out our Flor Silvestre lookbook!

floral hair pins - etxe - flor silvestre photoshoot

floral hair pins - etxe - flor silvestre photoshoot

floral hair pins - etxe - flor silvestre photoshoot

floral hair pins - etxe - flor silvestre photoshoot

floral hair pins - etxe - floral crown