NYC Ballet

     It is coming to the end of our trip here in New York City, with our farewell event being the Nutcracker, being able to see the New York City Ballet and how they construct the costumes was perfect timing! Mark, the director of the whole studio shared how intricately made all of the costumes are. They start off with the bottom first where they eventually add all the tulle to create the tutu. I found the dyeing process very interesting. Most all of the costumes made, they try and keep them as long as they can, or till the tutu starts to not have as much life in it. With the dyeing process the challenge is to keep the bodes the same color as the skirt, because they are made of two different fabrics. The reason that they can end up different colors is because of the stage lights and depending on the fabric they could fade differently, so the person who dye's the fabric has to make sure all the pieces are the same color. Mark had also stressed that now a days with HD and during a ballet all the pictures that are taken that show everything, he has to make sure the piece is flawless and more intricate than ever! Overall the entire process of creating these costumes requires so much detail, design, and talent. All the ballet's in NYC have such a great company to help them with all the costumes and it is a truly amazing art.

    I cannot believe that there is only one more week left here in New York. I have learned so much about the city and all of the opportunities that it offers. I have truly enjoyed each and every study tour that we have done. I can remember thinking for our first class that I couldn't even believe that we went to Madison Avenue and Barneys, since then I have seen so much more! Each and every study tour was so different and I loved that. Seeing the art galleries in chelsea, the tenement museum, were all things that I would have never seen on my own, and I am so glad that I got to! This class has really helped add to my wonderful experience in New York and I am so thankful we could do! I hope to come back to NYC and tell my friends and family to go the the places we went in study tour!

Bard Graduate Center

 I really enjoy experiencing museums in the city that I probably would not find on my own. As a hat wearer, I have never really thought about the history behind hats. The tour guide was very passionate about hats and shared some very interesting facts and history on the certain hats. In the first display we saw, my favorite hat was the "Kiss of Death" hat, it was so different and had a shape that I have never seen before. Even though I had favorite hats that I would wear, the traditional hats from different cultures were the most interesting to me. In the US we wear hats mostly for either warmth or fashion, but in other countries depending on which side of the hat sticks out more can mean you are married, or single. There was so much that I had learned from the tour about hats, what hat makers are called, how their showrooms are called Salons, and most interestingly how they are made. The video we watch on how the designers create these one of a kind hats was not what i was expecting it to be. Each hat is carefully molded on wood shapers and then steamed on them to keep the shape, each piece is also hand sewn. Watching the process which only took about a day to make the hat made me wonder about mass produced hats and how they are all probably machine made and I would love to see what that process looks like. Stephan Jones is an amazing hat designer, he has designed for so many different fashion houses, and has created history and one of a kind hats that are so unique. I truly appreciated the art and now I appreciate the process of it more being that they are all hand done and can take almost an entire day to finish just one!