Judy Cooper Lyle’s Phyllis Designs: Turning t-shirts into wedding dresses

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From now until the end of November I will be profiling three three local fashion designers with three very different career paths. These images and interviews are meant to showcase the talents of these three incredibly skilled women and to provide you with more information on their individual brands.This week I’m showcasing Judy Cooper Lyle of Phyllis Designs. I interned under Judy for a while back in 2010 and received an understanding and appreciation for flowing fabrics and vibrant textiles. Her classic fits are combined with an elegant and ethnic flare and take inspiration from many cultures around the world, channeling Greek Goddesses and African queens.What is your favorite creation; a piece you’ve made that you’re really proud of? I would say the gown with the cape. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Minn. fashion taking a rise

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For many people the sparkle of New York fashion week beckons them from around the world to see. The high fashion designers and press all around capturing the sewn fabric in photos for people to swoon over and spend thousands to wear. For the average lover of fashion actually attending the shows or buying the clothes are not feasible and not possible. Luckily for people here in the cities fashion is rising and obtaining more popularity in Minnesota.   Just weeks ago MNfashion put on shows that showcased many local Minn. designers like Christopher Straub, Lisa Hackwith, Idle Child, Emily Trevor, and many more according to the MNfashion website. Continue Reading

Why arts journalism matters

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From October 23-November 2, I’ll be in Los Angeles as a fellow in the 2013 USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program. In the fellowship application, I was asked to write an essay answering the question, “When everyone’s a critic with an opinion, why should artists care about arts journalists?” As I transition into a new job at American Public Media, I thought it would be apt to share this essay as my final column post at the Twin Cities Daily Planet.My father works in housing finance, and when we drive around Minneapolis and St. Paul, he can point to specific buildings that he helped to secure funding for. A homeless shelter; an apartment building containing affordable units for single mothers; a recovery center for chronic inebriates.When I began a career in arts journalism, I realized that I wouldn’t be creating such tangible products. Continue Reading

Girls who wear glasses

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I rode home in the back of the two-toned faux wood-paneled station wagon with my face pressed against the window as I marveled at all I could see. I never realized how much I was missing walking the earth as a mere two-eyed girl. Continue Reading

Sold-out Fresh Traditions Hmong fashion show has a successful seventh year

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Expectations for the seventh annual Fresh Traditions fashion show were high on October 5 at the DS Event Center in St. Paul. Sold-out tickets showed in advance the great interest in this unique show. Once again, emerging Hmong designers were given an opportunity to present their collections to an audience. This year’s designers were Chong Her, Nou Her, Malika Lor, Nhia Xiong, Sanida Xiong, Yuri Xiong, and Kahoua XiongPachay. Continue Reading

Trylon Microcinema to host movie poster sale, spotlighting Twin Cities artists

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If I said that when I was a child, watching movies became an obsession for me, that could be considered an understatement. In some cases, I would throw tantrums around my parents because I was nine years old and wanted to see the new Michael Douglas R-rated flick that they were going to go see. They would not drag me with them—and thank goodness.Well, I must have figured, if I could not see the movies that I wanted to, the next best obsession that I started to develop was collecting movie posters, especially the home video releases. I remember riding my bike up to the local video store, Video Vision, and looking at the walls and seeing all the different images, colors, actors, and critic quotes on all these posters. It got to the point that I was riding my bike up to Video Vision weekly, not even to rent VHS tapes, but to check out the new posters that hung on the walls or were displayed in the illuminated marquee case spotlighting the newest release.I got to know the manager of the video store and I asked her one time what happened to the posters once they come off the walls. Continue Reading

What passes for beauty

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Riding the subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan a few weeks ago I became fascinated by the variety of the human form. There were the usual clean cut men in well fitting suits reading the paper on their iPads. There were young men in tee shirts, their arms and necks mapped with tattoos, who jumped off the car at Jay Street, skate boards under their arms. Continue Reading

‘It’s still me’: Cancer survivor Jan Strassburg opens her own wig shop to help women deal with hair loss

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Jan Strassburg knew she was going to lose her curly, auburn hair. It was April of 2006, and despite being a physically fit marathon runner with no family history of cancer, Strassburg had been diagnosed with breast cancer.Her treatment regimen of chemotherapy, a lumpectomy and radiation lasted about a year, and Strassburg’s hair fell out along the way.”I knew I didn’t want to be seen as the cancer person,” she said. “A bald head says cancer [to people], it just does.”Her solution was a wig, and the experience shopping for one inspired her to open her own shop in 2009.Her twin 6-year-old stepdaughters inspired the St. Louis Park salon’s name: It’s Still Me Wig Studio.When she came home wearing her new wig for the first time, the twins wanted to see what was underneath. “For the first time I had to take the wig off and saw myself without hair,” Strassburg recalled. Continue Reading

Boutique offers Simply Fabulous designs and accessories

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Simply Fabulous One Accessory Boutique (www.facebook.com/simplyfabulousone) began, well, simply enough. Owner-proprietor Teresa Rogers recalls, “I used to go into stores like Macy’s and Target. I would see the jewelry, look at the price tag and go, ‘I could probably make it myself.’” And she did exactly that.After all, if you don’t have to, why put money in someone else’s pocket in order to place something nice around your own neck. After awhile, Rogers began coming up with original designs. Once she got in the habit of creating and wearing her own accessories, friends started to take notice and wanted to know, “‘Where’d you get that?’ Eventually, they asked me to make [pieces] for them, which I did. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Rename the Target Commons

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The corner builiding on the Nicollet Mall says outside “Commons”. But it is not a commons because it’s for Target employees. This “commons” is closed to the general public. Target needs to find a new name for the place. The word Commons means that it is accessible by our whole society.I will try to send a copy of this note to a real person at Target Corporation. Continue Reading