Bridget Miranda's Blog

Dear New York,

bridgetmiranda — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:47:43 +0000

I come to you humbly with a desire to learn and grow. New York, I have known you since I was a child, and this is the first time I’ve made the real attempt of making a home in you. You have always been the city with the biggest place in my heart, and although I have lived in others, I always knew I would come home to you. I have heard plenty of stories of girls (and boys) that have tried to live in you, only to be cast away, their personalities not ready for the kind of commitment it takes for the long haul.

New York, I refuse to back down. You may try to scare me off at first, but eventually you will find that you are as fond of me as I am of you, and if I ever try to leave I suspect you will beg me to stay… and the chances are I will. Because New York, I love you. Always have, always will. And I am willing to put in the time and effort it takes to make this work out between us.

Love,

Bridget

Where my phone is, nobody knows.

bridgetmiranda — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:28:57 +0000

Dear Paris

Just in time for my departure, in a few weeks, I have lost my phone and all the phone numbers that were stored inside of it. How this happened or where it could be is a mystery, mais c’est la vie. So! If you haven’t already, you can email me your contact info at: BridgetMiranda@live.com so that I can keep in touch with you and all of your lovely inhabitants.

Love,

Bridget

So I make garments sometimes.

bridgetmiranda — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:17:34 +0000

These are a few pieces I have made recently for school/for fun/for me to wear/for all of the above.

(Note: Apologies for the terrible, “take it yourself in the mirror,” photography. I am technologically behind when it comes to digital cameras. Someday I will get around to finding a real model and photographer. Until then..)

1: Les Culottes: a pair of leather panties/skort, all hand sewn for lack of a machine capable of getting through thick leather. The side is made by strips of two different kinds of leather that were smocked for the pleating effect, and then embroidered with metallic thread to make the V shapes. The method is the same as that in the previous accessories collection (they were made around the same time).

2: My cotton springtime dress! I made this dress specifically for going to the park and having a picnic. It’s simple, but it has a classically girly silhouette, a sweet floral print, and a super thick zipper that runs the length of the center back.

3: Shibori. This is another simple spring dress, made of a very lightweight denim. The original color of the denim was that of the solid blue panels. For the other panels I used shibori (a hand dying technique) except instead of dye I dipped the wrapped fabric in bleach.

And last!

4: A knit scarf using plating and hand stitching. The goal was to make it look like a paint covered artist’s palette.

Two Quotes

bridgetmiranda — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:38:18 +0000

“The eye, which is the window of the soul, is the chief organ whereby the understanding can have the most complete and magnificent view of the infinite works of nature.

Now do you see that the eye embraces the beauty of the whole world?… It counsels and corrects all the arts of mankind… It is the prince of mathematics, and the sciences founded on it are absolutely certain. It has measured the distances and sizes of the stars; it has discovered the elements and their location… It has given birth to architecture and to perspective and the divine art of painting.

Oh, excellent thing, superior to all other created by God! What praises can do justice to your nobility? What peoples, what tongues will fully describe your function? The eye is the window of the human body through which it feels its way and enjoys the beauty of the world. Owing to the eye the soul is content to stay in its bodily prison, for without it such bodily prison is torture.

O marvelous, O stupendous necessity, thou with supreme reason compellest all effects to be the direct result of their causes; and by supreme and irrevocable law every natural action obeys thee by the shortest process possible. Who would believe that so small a space could contain all the images of the universe…”

Leonardo da Vinci, taken from Art and Physics by Leonard Shlain.

“He saw an evening when he sat slumped across his desk in that office. It was late and his staff had left; so he could lie there alone unwitnessed. He was tired. It was as if he had run a race against his own body, and all the exhaustion of years, which he had refused to acknowledge, had caught him at once and flattened him against the desk top. He felt nothing, except the desire to not move. He did not have the strength to feel-not even to suffer. He had burned everything there was to burn within him; he had scattered so many sparks to start so many things-and he wondered whether someone could give him now the spark he needed, now when he felt unable ever to rise again. He asked himself who had started him and kept him going. Then he raised his head. Slowly, with the greatest effort of his life, he made his body rise until he was able to sit upright with only one hand pressed to the desk and a trembling arm to support him. He never asked that question again.”

From Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand.

Bags, Belts, Gloves, Glasses, Lunettes, Gaunts, Ceintures, Sacs

bridgetmiranda — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:19:00 +0000

An accessories collection inspired by artist’s cases and 1950s women. Made from smocked and embroidered leather, with metal and wood detailing.

Collection

bridgetmiranda — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:18:06 +0000

Here are some images from my senior collection at The Academy of Art in San Francisco, 2009 (photos by Randy Brooke):

bridgetmiranda — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 13:07:08 +0000

resume, finally

bridgetmiranda — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:45:26 +0000

My resume. Completed. Finally. For the moment.

Here I am, hopefully legitimized as a human being, on one piece of A4 paper. I hope it is easily understandable, I hope it represents me the best, I hope that with one glance I will be everything everyone could ever want for the job at hand. I hope I have done enough, I hope it doesn’t sound like I am trying to make it sound like I have done more. I hope it is honest (it is), straightforward, respectable. I hope it seems like I want growth and to learn more (I do). I hope it represents my strengths. I hope it shows…. I hope. I work. I love what I do.(I hope it’s a good first impression.)

Insect Sketch

bridgetmiranda — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:15:40 +0000

Last weekend I took a trip to Bibliothèque d’art Forney and picked up a book called Passion Jungle by Thomas Marent. Throughout this book are images of exotic plants, insects, reptiles, birds, etc., from jungles throughout the world. The book is written in french, I am not sure if there is an english version, but many of the images speak for themselves and I would suggest it to anyone who wants to be shocked by the beauty and perfect design of nature. In a way to satisfy my own desire to see these creatures in person and the pure amazement I had in looking at every image, thinking, “This exists???” I thought I should begin a series of sketches and interpretations. Here are two of the first, and I hope to build upon this. As a designer the majority of my inspiration comes from the design that occurs naturally in the world, and the best way for me to understand this is to study it deeply through drawing and then, from these observations, reinvent it using the principles I have learned.

2010

bridgetmiranda — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:48:43 +0000

2010. A new year, a new decade, holding the expectation of great change.

Currently living in Paris studying fashion design at Studio Bercot, after four years in San Francisco at The Academy of Art University. It is my final year of school, my last 5 months actually, and I’m looking out my 12 story window, wondering what to do. It is time for work, I know that much. What should I work on? Resume, portfolio, bijoux design competition, business cards, lookbook, press book, should I call the loan deferment people, should I make a sample for the dress for the show at the end of march, maybe I should go buy fabric samples, make accessories to sell online for supplemental income, look for a job, study my french, go for a run (which I’ve never done but keep saying I will start doing). Or. Should I maybe just stare off into space, out the window, on one of the first sunny somewhat warm days that hint at the beginning of spring..

I will start a blog.

When reading various versions of the top 100 tips for beginning runners (for the fiftieth time without having gone on a run yet) I keep coming across the tip of finding a running partner. Having a running partner and obligation to meet them will motivate you to not skip runs. With so much to do to wrap myself and work up into a tight little presentable package to gift to the world at the end of these 5 months, I thought a blog could serve as my “running partner.” If not for me, then I must finish these business cards for the millions of online readers that are anxiously awaiting their unveiling, right? Something like that.

Alors: Bonjour Monde, je m’appele Bridget Miranda Sidden. This blog will serve as my work diary, my online sketchbook, and my documentation of the successes and failures, fears and excitements of pre and eventually post collegiate life as one of the many young aspiring fashion designers.