Onward and Upward...

Thane and I just put down a lease on a beautiful townhome in Urbandale. I won't lie, I'm probably most excited to finally have a porch and a yard! I'm already planning my herb garden, haha. Our landlord is the kindest, most wonderful woman ever (she's a foster mother and a grade-school teacher in the area), and she's allowing us to really make the space our own. We're even allowed to paint if we want! Oh my goodness, I'm already planning the color schemes... We're both searching for jobs, and I had my third interview for a full-time position at J. Crew last week. I called on Friday, and they said that they were just waiting for the background check to come through at this point and hope to make me an offer early this week! I'm so excited. I would be in charge of operations for the store, as well as some selling and visuals/merchandising for the men's and Crew Cuts departments. Thane is looking for positions in PR and social media, and has had some luck with interviews this past month. Our townhome has two bedrooms, one of which we'll be turning into an office space for our personal projects. Personally, I'll finally be starting my own line! My concept is higher-end women's plus-size day and evening wear for a younger, trend-ready customer. Think J. Crew or Anthropologie (in quality and, to a certain extent, aesthetic), but for sizes 12 to 22. In the coming months, I'll post more about my process and hopefully get some work up on Etsy. For now, feel free to browse my website, Amanda Lynne Designs , for estimates on freelance opportunities in apparel and advertising.

An exterior view of our new home!

My mood board for my Fall 2014 line!

More to come soon!

Yours,

Amanda

What a Year!: Senior Line and Graduation

For my senior line, I was inspired by the contrast of hard and soft, masculine and feminine, and the juxtaposition of purple and yellow flowers on the side of the freeway. I was so incredibly inspired by the texture of clover flowers that I dreamed up this line about 7 months before I even started the class! I spent the semester balancing 16 credit hours with 30 hour work weeks at Justice as an assistant manager. It was truly one of the hardest semesters of my life... But I am so proud of the work I accomplished through it. I graduated in May with amazing friends, memories, and work, and I am so excited to start the next chapter of my life!

My initial illustrations, MONTHS before I started the line! 

Hard at work over spring break...

Read on for more photos of my senior line and year!

What A Year!: Design Internship in New York City!

One of the most amazing things I had the opportunity to take part in last year was, hands down, my internship in New York City. I worked as a Creative Design intern at Nanette Lepore (www.nanettelepore.com), a New York based company that does 90% of its production in New York. I made amazing friends and learned SO MUCH. On a day-to-day basis, I did everything from hand-beading and dyeing fabrics to sourcing materials (beads, elastic, trims) and picking up fabric samples from local vendors. Nanette was always on the design floor and I worked and spoke with her a few times, but the majority of my work occurred with the other designers. My first week out in New York was during Fashion Week, so I even worked at the show! It was so fun to go backstage again in another city!

One of my jobs included hand-sewing silk appliques onto tops for the show-room.

I also worked on beading this hand-bag for the CFDA Auction my last week in New York.

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Most of the time, I worked on hand-beading 13 tops for the showrooms all over the world.

Read on for more amazing New York photos!

What a Year!: Summer 2012 in Iowa

Last summer, I was so grateful to be home for a short period of time! I spent most of the summer working at Gap, but I did have vacation in St. Louis with Mr. Himes, where he got down on one knee and proposed! In case you were wondering, it happened at the Missouri Botanical gardens... He'd been faking me out all day, stopping me in beautiful places to "take a minute," and we were about to leave when we stopped by the Ottoman Garden exhibit. It was 99 degrees outside and I, exhausted from a full day of wandering/sight-seeing in the heat, slumped down in the throne in front of this fountain:

At that point, I didn't think he was EVER going to pop the question! But, lo and behold, he got down on one knee and gave me the most beautiful speech ever (I may have teared up a bit), pulled a box out of his pocket, and put a ring on my finger while I said "yes" a few dozen times.

Read on to see more photos from our awesome St. Louis vacation!

What a Year!: A European Wrap-Up

Well, as you probably could tell, I'm awful at keeping up with a blog. But in the year and a half since my last post, SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED! I returned, safe and sound, from Paris, spent a summer in Iowa (where I got engaged to my awesome long-time beau, Thane) before jetting off to New York City for an internship at Nanette Lepore, and then spent my last semester at ISU slaving over my senior line and portfolio before graduating in May. Now I'm career hunting (hoping to hear back this week!), moving to a beautiful townhome in Urbandale with the boy, planning a wedding for next fall, and hoping to start my new line soon! That's the short version, but I'll provide pictures to make up for my lack of words. Here we go!

First, my spring break in Europe was amazing. Not only did Thane fly out for a week in Nice, but I got to travel to Scotland and London on my own and experience some of the most amazing history!

Thane and I in Nice... Please excuse the anime hair, it was SO WINDY!

Next, Edinburgh and London...