Maury as a Costume Designer at 16 yrs old!

So today I was like breaking my head on what to blog about and I can't think of anything as I haven't taken pics of Gisela and I since we went out to brunch a couple weeks ago. I tell you, this NYC weather is not helping me in any way.  I was then looking through our blog and was thinking "I have never shared anything about my HS" so let me show you and share with you.  I went to the High School of Fashion Industries (HSFI) in NYC which is the only vocational school in NYC that focuses in fashion, fashion merchandising and arts.  It was one of my best experiences till this day.  All my  fashion teachers were professionals in the industry and they all went to FIT, Parsons or Pratt.  I was extremely competitive and would be enroll in every program that allowed me to design and expand my creativity and design skills.  Here are some pics of a program that I did for a whole year called " The Buskers Fair." I am not sure if they still have this program but it was such an amazing and enriching experience for the 13 HS juniors that participated in it.  We had to design costumes and do a research paper on Medieval times. It was a parnership with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Center which was in the Twin Towers.  They funded the program and provided us with money for all the fabrics and notions we needed. We worked with one of our fashion teachers and a global teacher since it was a fashion/history program.

I remember having an extremely tight schedule with fashion internships and this program all to be done after school. This was like working in one of the couture houses in Paris, NO JOKE!  My teacher, Mrs. James who is still an amazing teacher at HSFI  is still there! WHOA.  This was in 1997 and I was just 16 year's old and making a couture costume gown. 

We had to dedicate about 15-20 hours per week after school on this Buskers Fair Program, which was tremendously hard since we had a lot of other school responsabilities throughout the year. For my design, I wanted something extremely glamorous! I wish I had the sketches or upclose pics of this project, but I guess I would have to dig in my house. For now, look at what I did.  It was this gorgeous silk georgette gown that was lined because my teacher didn't want any kind of transparency...we dyed about 20-30 yards of silk and we had to match it with this amazing french lace we found that was also to be dyed to match the dress.  I had padded shoulders on the dress and it had a wired frame crinoline that I had to make as well with bloomers in the bottom since the skirt part of the dress was opened in the middle.  I also made my headpiece of Swarovski crystals and antique lace, an arm bracelet that was really heavy, and the crystal mask too!  I had some old shoes that I took apart and deconstructed them and started doing my own with a leather that I hand painted in silver and covered in the antique lace.  It was so much work as the program lasted the whole year, so you imagine the sweat we went through!  

Here I am in the middle with the pinkish/nude dress with my best friends from HS- Ana, Annabella, and Yadira and our friend Luis who is a costume designer right now.
The best closeup in my computer that I could find.  My eyes were close...geez.  I was a shy little girl. 
 Here are all my friends parading in Lower Manhattan the day of the fair.  We were so proud of this accomplishment despite all the crazy hours we spent together where we wanted to kill one another.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures. If I find more in the house and sketches, I will sure share them with you all!

Have a wonderful friday,

Maury and Gisela