christine kolenda

Blog post 3/9/11

I am in the midst of a “Reinvention”. To some this looks exciting, daring and courageous, perhaps, but today I feel a bit like I have made a mess of my life.  There are so many things to do and I want to just go back to bed.

Here are some of my dilemmas(in no particular order).
Although I am very excited about bringing my career in a new direction that expresses who I am more than ever before, it is not exactly brining in a financial windstorm yet. I do actually have to make a living and bring in money. The way that I have been making a living up to now has been getting slower. In part because of the change in the economy, and in part because I am spending time on my new projects and I’m kind of over my old career. I’m good at, my clients love me, I’m just bored. And my new direction feels so exciting.

So what to do?
I really do need an income right now, and financing and funding for my new projects.
My life, as humble as it is, does cost something. My new projects are, well, expensive. I could put more effort into my former/current way of making a living (I have the background, experience etc. to make that happen) but, I really want to rev up my new direction. There are only a certain number of hours in the day so I have to choose.

Taking steps of faith. The arguments that I have with myself around this are amazing.
“Go ahead Christine take the next step in the new direction and the right (_) (fill in the blank will show up). “Yes I will” I think, and then I actually look at my bank account.
There are costs, actual money costs to creating a new product, especially one that is going through a patent process.  Yes, I know I could take on the patent process myself to save money and add one more project to my plate – but, that’s insane. I could buy a new car in a kit too. For me, the patent process is something I want done the right way and with expert knowledge and if I leave it up to me, it will not get done. I little bit of self awareness goes a long way.

That being said I will have to come up with funding for the process – around 10-20K plus. I’m not kidding. So how does one raise money without the actual product? I can’t tell you about it, show it to you or anyone else without signing a document and swearing you to secrecy.
Enter Crowd Funding. This is a process done online. You make a little video about your project and actually ask people to help you fund it. Sounds cool. It depends quite a bit on social networking. Hmmmm I guess I will have to add that to my to do list and start finding out what that is and how to do it, i.e. the reason for my blogging.
So now I find I need a website, a blog, a facebook account, Linkedin, twitter and I am suppose to “capture” names, align myself with organizations that will assist me(find organizations), …. Oh and yes make a few short videos… all the while as I am making a living.

You see where this is going. The idea of creating something new sounds so exciting and yes, it is when I see my creations(s) and they look great. (I recently saw the first prototype of one of my ideas, and quite frankly I am in love and cannot wait to show it to you and have one or two for myself). And I know it will really help a lot of people but, with that comes all of the other stuff too.
Maybe I just need a nap.

Signed Todazed

I used to be able to wear something that was fun and funky and look cool or hip – or so I thought.  This does not seem to work anymore, now I just look, well, frumpy. Like the sheer top I used to love is now just, sheer terror.

I know I have to stop and look at myself once in a while (once or twice a decade) just to make sure I’m dressing appropriately for my age. For instance, I once looked in the mirror and it told me it was time to give up bikinis. It was clearly time for a nice once piece, perhaps with a little built in skirt and sleeves and a turtle neck.  They have tankinis – that cracks me up. It’s really a loose fitting one piece they cut in half, to hide things.

It’s not that I want to relive my youth.  We have all seen women who late into their 60’s and 70’s are dressing from the juniors department.  It’s just not a pretty picture wearing micro mini’s and low cut tops over crinkly cleavage. Ugh.

I love the clothes from the from the 40’s and 50’s – they worked, They had style, structure and knew their way around a woman’s body. Those clothes could make even my Aunt Rose look shapely.

Even when I find clothes that fit in the dressing room the challenge is to get them to fit everyday. I find as I age I can wake up a different size everyday! Even from morning to night my size can change.  It makes getting dressed in the morning a nightmare. I recently designed a skirt that fits a shapely body, giving it curves and style. And best of all it has about 3 inches of ease in the waist and hips so you know it will fit day after day. And, no I did not use elastic. Really elastic around a waist – I can’t think of anything less flattering.  Anyway I have had a few made and I’m testing it out. I’ll let you know what happens.

Share your fashion sense and nonsense.

fashion

fashion + function

function + fashion = Fashion Fixed

In my twenties I really was all about fashion.  How something looked, when it was on the the hanger, off the hanger, on me, on my friends or in a magazine.  I loved the colors, the flow, the beads, the bangles, and the baubles.  It was fun. And in my teens and twenties if I could not afford a new fashion I saw, I made it. And that was cool. It was artisan. Skirts made from old jeans – not a skirt made from denim fabric, but actually from an old pair of my jeans. Fashion was queen. I sacrificed comfort, warmth (it was uncool to button my coat – let alone wear a hat) and practicality.

However, somewhere along the line I started adding a bit of function to my fashion – fashion + function.  I needed to actually walk in my shoes, and I had to admit on a cold winter’s day I felt better with my coat closed and a hat on.  However, the hat had to be fabulous and work with my coat to create a “look”.  Ok,  I thought, my fashion could have some function.

And then another funny thing happened, the function started to play an even bigger role. Hmmmm. I want to look good, but I am no longer willing to sacrifice – well anything for it. The shoes better damn well fit and fit well.  And I hate to admit that I have purchased from the comfort line.  Even though I swore – in my twenties- I would never step sore foot or bunion into a comfort fit shoe store.  So, I now find myself thinking function, but I still do not want to give up entirely on fashion. The function has become Queen and in a really good way. In a fabulously, creative way. In a way that makes life work easily and function smoothly – it’s like function with a French accent  – funkshion.

This is the thought the behind my Fashion Fixed products.  It’s not a fashion answer per-say. But it answers the function + fashion. I still love fashion I just want it to function, and I want it to do some of the work for me (like a self cleaning oven).  So if you are in the stage of your life that says function + fashion you will soon be able to check out my new products at www.FashionFixed.com.  Coming real soon.

Tell me your thoughts about fashion that no longer works for you.