Fashion Rocks.

Fashion. Design. Music. These are a few of my favorite things. I have always wanted to incorporate music into Modern Material. I am not a musician unless you count my lousy attempts with the piano, cello, and flute in grade school. I admire the skill and creativity involved in writing music. As a designer, it's a continual struggle to create something new, fresh, yet still appealing to the crowd. I believe musicians have the same challenge to overcome. Just as there will always be songs criticized for sounding like another, there will always be fashion and design accused of being knock offs. Originality only goes so far. There are only so many beats and melodies in the musical universe. And there are only so many colors and styles in the design spectrum.
Modern Material is about what inspires me. It's what gives me light at the end of the tunnel. It's a goal. It's a dream. It's the feeling of waking up each day motivated and ready to discover something new.

So while my professional career is about the trends in fashion and design, my personal career has dedicated a lot of time to finding great new tunes to rock out to. I am a strong believer and promoter of indie music. I can relate to their struggle to survive in a world of major record labels and platinum albums. Only my world revolves around making a name for myself among the Gap's or Calvin Klein's of the industry.

Here's my most recent thought. Why not start a collaboration between designers and musicians? I've been slacking off on listening to new artists over the past year while developing Modern Material. I used to make it to several shows each month. I really want and need to be inspired by new music. We all get a dozen Myspace requests for bands each week. How many of us actually listen to the music player? My goal is to start listening. If I find the music exciting and inspiring, I would love to feature a blog review of their album and post a link on my website. In return, I would like for the band to feature a banner for Modern Material on their Myspace or Facebook page for at least 2 weeks. Indie artists unite.

To kick it off, I'd like to share some of my favorite songs from musicians including: The Bravery, Citizen Cope, Audioslave, The Kaiser Chiefs, Modest Mouse, Atmosphere, Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale, Your Vegas, Switches, Howie Day, Jack Johnson, Charlotte Sometimes, Jason Mraz, Mark Ronson, Snow Patrol, 30 Seconds to Mars, Aqualung, Radiohead, Mat Kearney, Pete Yorn, Hard-Fi, Bush, Incubus, Rock Kills Kid, The Shins, Cake, Pat Monahan, New Radicals, Big City Rock, Foo Fighters, and The Fray.


Rock On. - a n n i e -

Modern Day Inspiration

It's been a few months since I've really spent much time continuing to develop Modern Material. I've been extremely busy adjusting to a new full time job in which I am designing fashion accessories and graphics for numerous retail brands. I am really enjoying the exciting projects and creative atmosphere during my 8 to 5. At first I thought I might loose some of the creative motivation I had over the last year, but instead I'm finding it more inspiring as I am constantly surrounded by creativity and style. Time, is still however the hardest part to find.

I found this site while looking over my website analytics and thought you might enjoy it. It all started by someone adding some Modern Material products to their profile, and from there, many other users have branched on. The site is called Polyvore, and it's a fun place for inspiring fashion and style. I've spent the day building my own profile, and hopefully adding more items from Modern Material for other people to use in their style sets. Remember how as a teenager you would cut out your favorite things from your magazines and create a bulletin board on your wall? Well this is basically an online edition where you search the internet for anything cool and trendy, and create your own collage. So far I've seen dozens of users add Modern Material items to their collages. It's cool to see the inspired trends by potential customers.

Here are a few sets I pulled. If you ever have any free time, start your own profile and see what inspires you.


Click to view image.

Well my long weekend is nearing the end. I still have some freelance work to finish and it's finally time to watch the premiere of Gossip Girl! It's a great new show for inspiring trends in fashion, design, style, and music. It's the new O.C. replacement for today's fashionistas.

xoxo

annie

SCM Gwen Stefani Gift Basket Press Release

Hello-
I just wanted to share the official press release for the SMC Gwen Stefani Gift Basket. I will soon post photos of the entire gift basket, and detailed shots of what was featured from Modern Material.

thx-
annie

------



For Immediate Release

Oviedo, FL (May 22, 2008)

Contact: Kimberly Morales & Becky Ocasio / 407-687-1543 / info@stylecafemoms.com

Style Cafe Moms, an online “resource cafe for the trendy mom”, strives to be the top online support system for business owners and those who have developed their own product and need affordable advertising and exposure. In addition to advertising, Style Café Moms offers boutique and product reviews as well as a shopping guide, recipes, celebrity dish and of course,the Style CaféMoms Celebrity Basket.

Style Cafe Moms, offering an array of services for a businesses advertising and promotional needs, however they still looked for more unique opportunities to promote the businesses that they represent,and with that the Style Café Moms Celebrity Basket was born – a venue allowing several businesses to receive extraordinary distribution and publicity. Style Cafe Mom's celebrity baskets are the ideal setting
to launch a new product or create awareness of an existing product, by delving into the celebrity realm and offering businesses the opportunity to introduce their product(s) to some of the biggest celebrities.

The recipient for Style Café Moms most recent was Gwen Stefani. This basket included items not only for their new little rock star, but also for Gwen, Gavin and Kingston as well. The Gwen basket was a huge success for

Western Chief – Westernchief.com
Chooka – Chookaboot.com
Goosie Cards - Goosiecards.com
Baby Planet - Baby-planet.com
The Children’s Nest Boutique - Childrensnestboutique.com
Rockin Baby Sling - Rockinbabysling.com
Bella Materna - Bellamaterna.com
My Brest Friend - Mybrestfriend.com
Table Topper - Tabletopper.com
Tres Couture – Trescouture.com
Modern Material - Modern-material.com

Modern Material was chosen to be featured in a celebrity gift basket for style icon and musician, Gwen Stefani. Gwen is due to have her second child with rocker husband, Gavin Rossdale, former lead for the 90's grunge band Bush. Gavin's solo album, Wanderlust, hit the charts this month.

Style Cafe Moms, is a group of women business owners focused on promoting up and coming brands and designers. They specialize in celebrity baby baskets for A-List celebrities and media outlets. Several celebrity moms are selected each month to receive the lavish gifts. The most recent celebrity to receive the gift basket was Jessica Alba. She was very happy with her gifts and even sent a thank you letter to the group. Jessica was spotted wearing one of the necklaces from one of the designers.
Other celebrities chosen for the gift basket include Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie, Victoria Beckham, Kelly Rippa, Julia Roberts, and Reese Witherspoon just to name a few.

I chose to feature some of the core products from the Royalty Collection. I also designed a few new pieces for Gwen, Gavin, and Kingston. The Alison Wonderland Couture Tee, inspired by Gwen's Harajuku Lover's Tour, is now featured on my site as a limited edition piece. I also designed a few custom pieces including a hoodie track suit for Kingston and onesies for the new baby.

Here is a photo of the entire gift basket, along with a few detail shots of Kingston's gift.











Be bold. Be different. Be daring.

- a n n i e -

Moving Forward

It's been a few months since I launched my site and now I'm starting to reach the point where I need to determine where to take this brand. I've been doing everything possible to promote it online, with as little cost involved as possible. I want to keep my brand competitive with the current market, but I also have to remember that it isn't really possible to position myself in the big leagues. I am quickly realizing that I need to start small have my brand featured in as many specialty boutique stores as possible. I have been approached by several shop owners interested in carrying Modern Material in their stores. In order to do so, I have to sell my products to them at wholesale. After carefully analyzing the situation, I realized that I did not have my retail prices set accordingly for certain items, mostly apparel and accessories. The last thing I want to do is raise my prices, however, if I want to get my brand in stores, I have to raise them or else I will loose money and never be able to get this brand off the ground. Please keep in mind that I am the sole designer and owner of this brand. I'm not off in China developing products for pennies like the mass market brands you are able to buy in your local mall. And even some of those brands sell their products at ridiculous prices. Instead, I am only developing small quantities which cause production costs to be very high. I also do a lot of the assembly and production work on my own, so you can be sure that products are high quality and not manufactured in a sweat shop over seas.

My plan is to run as many sales and discounts as possible so I can allow lower prices for my products online. Hopefully this makes up for raising the retail prices. Please fill out the contact form if you would like to receive special discounts.

- a n n i e -

Queen Alexandria Reigns New Mexico

I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend. Ohio weather is actually coming through for us this year! I have so much work to do on Modern Material before I get started on a freelance project for Crabtree & Evelyn for the next few weeks. Steve and I moved our computers out to the patio so we can enjoy the crystal clear weather and watch the neighborhood garage sale bring lots of traffic to our quiet circle. So I probably look like the biggest dork with my 24" iMac desktop computer sitting on the patio table. But hey, it's much better sitting out here listening to Cake with the cool spring breeze as summertime approaches.

Speaking of Cake, I just checked out pictures from Cutie Pie Boutique, in Albuquerque, NM, who has been carrying Modern Material in their shop via Hey Pretty Cupcake, another cool boutique carrying my line. Here are some photos from some rockin girls in New Mexico.



Gabbie at Cutie Pie Boutique






Betty, owner of Cutie Pie Boutique knows how to look like a Rock Star wearing the Alexandria necklace.


Interior of Cutie Pie Boutique, Albuquerque, NM

Introducing Couture Tees...Pre-Order NOW

This idea came to mind late one night while I was watching Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers tour on HDnet. I had just received my spot in Gwen's celebrity baby gift basket and I wanted to be inspired to design some new products to send her. I started thinking about how much I enjoyed creating my Gwen Halloween costume a few years ago. It was a costume but I loved it so much it was hard to shove it in a box, never to be worn again. So I started thinking....how could I translate this costume into daily wear? The answer...Couture Tees.



I started designing a shirt based on an aqua American Apparel tee I had in my closet and some left over lace and ribbon from my costume. After a few days I felt I had runway material. The next step was order the materials. I ran into many roadblocks along the way. American Apparel had discontinued every style and color tee I felt could work for this design. There were limited sizes and quantities available, so I knew I would never be able to make this a permanent addition to the Modern Material line. But then I realized that would make this tee special. Once they are gone, they're gone.

As soon as I got my materials, I sat down at my sewing machine and let my imagination run. I have to admit, I was quite impressed when I was all finished. The next step was to see what everyone thought. I slipped on a black pencil skirt, black heels and accessorized the shirt with a wide black patent belt and chunky chain link necklace. I decided not to mention that it was one of my designs. I figured people would think it was either some weird crazy trend I was sporting that hasn't caught on yet...or they would love it. I was hoping it was the later. That day, I seriously received more complements in one day than I thought was possible. People I didn't even know very well were saying how much they loved my outfit. One of my friends realized I designed it, and couldn't shut up about it. I wore it out on the town that night, and my husband said he noticed a bunch of girls checking me out. I'm pretty modest, so it was hard for me to accept so much attention, but I knew I was on to something that could set me apart from the millions of other tee shirt designers.

So if you are looking for something amazing to add to your wardrobe or want a special gift for a friend, you'll know where to find it.

I am accepting pre-orders now, before this design is introduced to my web store. Keep in mind that sizes and quantities are extremely limited, so if you want one, please let me know. For more information, including price, please send an email to annie@modern-material.com.

Be Bold. Be Daring . Be Different.

- a n n i e -

http://www.modern-material.com

Blog Feature

Just wanted to share this with you. It's really cool when you discover someone out there has discovered you and decides to feature your site on their blog.

I found this blog after viewing my website visits this week.

http://aridesigns.blogspot.com

Keep Rockin.
- a n n i e -

Featured in Gwen Stefani SCM Celebrity Baby Basket

CELEBRITY BUZZ
Last week I received an invitation via my web site to take part in the SMC Celebrity Baby Baskets provided to celebrity mom’s such as Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie, Victoria Beckham, Jessica Alba, Tori Spelling, Kelly RIpa, and Gwen Stefani. A fee is required to secure slots in each basket which are available to approximately 15 independent designer brands. Modern Material™ will be featured in the upcoming gift basket for Gwen Stefani. I can include as much product as I want for Gwen, Gavin, Kingston, and their second child due later this year. For those of you who know me well, Gwen is my favorite female celebrity, musician, designer, and style icon. I even dressed up as her for Halloween! So to have the chance for my brand to grace her presence, even if she ends up giving everything away, is a huge honor for me. The potential buzz that could be generated might be the break I need as photos and a press release of the basket will be distributed to large media outlets such as Access Hollywood, E!, Oprah, and InStyle. Who knows what the future holds.
- I will update my blog once the basket is finished and photos are available.

RESERVE YOUR SPOT IN OUR CELEBRITY BABY BASKET

Upcoming Baskets...

Style Café Moms can help you with a unique marketing technique and some extraordinary distribution through our SCMs Celebrity Baby Baskets. This is the ideal venue to launch your products and services and can create just what you want, awareness and hype! Reserve a spot in our SCMs Celebrity Baby Basket! To learn more or to reserve your spot please email us at: info@stylecafemoms.com

Featured on Vintage Indie March 24.2008

The Daily Swank - Modern Material

There is a rockin' new indie shop on the block called Modern Material.

Mix UK Royalty with a little Rock and you've got Modern Material. They offer a line of paper, apparel and accessories to fully get your fashion fix. My favorite of the line, their Vintage Collection of course. It's full of retro chic illustrations and old school images. Check out Modern Material today and shop indie!

Featured on Style Cafe Moms March 21.2008

Modern Material™ launches a web based independent designer boutique featuring the latest trends in paper, apparel, and accessories. Discover rock & roll inspired apparel and bold accessories which will command attention from the rock gods. Why not save the snail mail and jazz up your sister’s refrigerator rather than her yahoo inbox? Colorful and decorative note cards are sure to leave a lasting impression.

Founder & designer, Annie Weihrauch, 28, launched Modern Material™ as an outlet to express her creativity and style. After graduating with honors from Columbus College of Art & Design in 2003 with a degree in Advertising & Graphic Design, Annie spent four years as a packaging and accessory designer for Bath & Body Works. Now she is beginning to establish herself as an up and coming designer, located in Columbus, Ohio. Ms. Weihrauch states, “The vision for this brand is to remain open to emerging ideas instead of focusing on a brand right approach. Trends are constantly evolving, as are my creative aspirations.”
Several collections are designed to represent an individual’s personal style. The Royalty Collection is inspired by the mixture of modern world rock & roll and medieval European royalty. This edgy rocker style is represented by iconic guitars and royal coat of arms, including the crowned eagle and rampant lion, decorated by banners and flourish details. The Vintage Collection brings forward the retro chic illustrations of travel posters and advertising
campaigns from the early part of the twentieth century. Unique distressing of designs lend to a weathered billboard look, revealing years of built up layers. Rich pigments and bold typography create a charming display of retro style.

The Monthly Limited Edition features a new design each month which will be packaged as a set of 10 postcards and included as a free gift with any purchase over $10.
Modern Material™ is beginning to be featured in specialty boutique stores in the U.S. and is also listed on several amazing online resources including Marmalade Pink, Indie Collective, Bust, Scoutie Girl, Indie Designer Labels, Indie Parade and Ultra Hip Boutiques.
Why only shop among the powerhouse retail stores like everyone else? Be bold. Be different. Be daring. So if you are looking for a memorable gift or a treat for yourself, visit online today to uncover something new.
If you would like more information about Modern Material™, or to schedule an interview with Annie Weihrauch, please call Annie at 614.583.9153 or email her at annie@modern-material.com.

Contact: Annie Weihrauch
Ph: 614.583.9153
www.myspace.com/modernmaterial

annie@modern-material.com