The role of the epic fail in creativity

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Evening dress (clipped to polyvore.com) by Callot Soeur  1918-19.

Yesterday I set out to create what has to be the easiest costume ever – really – the Greek Chiton.  I intended for this to be a re-purpose project and tried several different and interesting materials, none of which would do what I wanted.  Finally, I went to be last night in utter frustration and when I woke up this morning and began the business of my day, I realized I had actually draped a beautiful costume from a completely different era in time.  Instead of the simplistic Chiton I was trying to achieve I had somehow created a gown reminiscent of Callot Soeur in the mid-1920s. 

I’d been watching season three of Downton Abby and I think the time period was just stuck in my head and that anything I tried to create might have come out looking like something from season three of the show.  This experience has taught me something about the nature of inspiration and influence and that the “do-over” sometimes becomes the “do-instead”.

Nothing Ancient Greek about this drape, but it will be a beautiful prototype for a Downton Abby inspired tea party. 

So what is your favorite epic fail story that turned out OK for you as an artist or designer?

Ancient Greek Fashion History Week

We are following the Egyptians with the Greeks, this week, for Ancient Greek Fashion History Week.

For our research trend board we are once again juxtaposing primary source images of the era we are studying, in this case, Greek fashion history, with current images of fashion either blatantly, influenced by the ancient Greeks, as in the case of the white gown pictured, or subtlety influenced, as in the pink dress, or boldly inspired, as with the red one-shouldered dress.

This intent here is to show that the classics are called classic for a reason.  In this case, we literally mean, their inspirations are from the classic eras of Western European history. 

http://www.polyvore.com/ancient_greek_trend_board_fh1/template?id=510408

Simple Ancient Egyptian Woman's Sheath Dress

It was quite fun, trying to figure out how Ancient Egyptian women might have produced form fitting linen sheaths with the technology they had a the time.  Clothing that would be cool and comfortable and easy to move in, despite a body hugging fit.

I took a length of white plain weave one and a halt times the width of the body and put ties on each top end one vertical and one horizontal.

The end result, is simple, elegant and appropriate for the hot weather and active culture of the Ancient Egyptians.

Ancient Egyptian Necklace inspires a new generation of jewelry designers

(above) Eternal Egypt (clipped to polyvore.com)

Today while I was meandering the Aventura Mall looking for jewelry inspired by the jewels of ancient Egypt I found some great pieces at Claire's that hint of an artistic partnership between jewels of the past and accessories of today.

The necklace below appears inspired by the collar above and the decorative detail of India.  In, my humble opinion, this is a romantic and versatile piece to wear with everything from Egyptian costumes to modern jeans.

Egyptian Jewelry Resources

Here are two favorite books for research on Egyptian Jewelry.

This one is a particular favorite.

Ancient Egyptian Jewelry by Carol Andrews

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810926776
• ISBN-13: 978-0810926776 

Jewels of the Pharaohs: Egyptian Jewelry of the Dynastic Period by Cyril Aldred

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st Ballantine Books ed edition (1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345278194
• ISBN-13: 978-0345278197

As you can see from the publication dates of these books, we're due for an new book on the subject.

Welcome to Ancient Egyptian costume week!

Welcome to Ancient Egyptian costume week!

This week in my Fashion History I class, we are studying ancient Egyptian fashion.  One of our weekly assignments for this course is a trend board that visually illustrates how modern fashions have been influenced by previous eras.

Here I have used Polyvore to clip museum images and modern images creating a “user friendly” way for those of you who are not yet proficient with Photoshop (though you should learn to be competitive in the workplace) to be able to create boards for your own research and for class research.

What’s great about Polyvore is it keeps track of your source images and where they have come from, which is a big help for  researchers and students because it allows us to keep track of source citations and find the images and garments again when, and if, necessary.

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/template?id=502733

Can re-creating an 18th Century Stomacher help me lose weight?

I’ve had an issue I’m sure many of us have, I tend to wander around the kitchen and eat at night before bed.  I eat way too much at night before bed.  This is a weird habit that came on me when I was very stressed at work a few years ago.  I’d eat a big lunch then work late and not get home from my long commute until seven or eight at night.  I’d be starving, Id eat too much and then spend the rest of the night wired from stress and exhaustion aimlessly looking for something else to eat.  I’d flounder around changing stations too tired and with too much in my head to settle on any one show.  There I was too scattered be a good couch potato.  Eventually it got so that I couldn't sleep unless I felt overfull.  I've always been a terrible sleeper and I convinced myself the food, usually some form of fatty carbohydrate was helping me get to sleep. 

A few years ago I made some drastic changes in my life and work style and am now very happy and a lot less stressed but I found myself entrenched in the bad night eating food habit.  This past year I've been working with a health coach courtesy of my health benefits, a plus in the taking a lower paying job with a larger company sweepstakes.  My coach encouraged me to find something to do in the evening that occupied my concentration and kept me physically busy, but that wasn't too active to keep me from falling asleep.  That’s actually a pretty tall order, not many activities and hobbies fit that bill.  However, I was reminded that I had once been really fascinated with embroidery and while I had never practiced it fully it was something that I wanted to learn that would be perfect for the challenge presented by Cory, my health coach.

Of course, I didn't want to start with simple steps and work my way up I wanted to jump right in and create a costume inspired project and what came to mind was to create an 18^th Century Stomacher that I could finish and frame in a shadow box and possibly exhibit someday.  Not too ambitious … LOL

Actually, I want to do a whole series … but I guess I should just start with one, right?

This is why I posted the 18^th Century stomacher yesterday.  I wanted to show you the inspirations and concept for this ongoing project.  Today I’m posting how I’ve accomplished, so far.  This is a great way for me to follow my own progress in an objective way and to encourage myself to continue until this is completed.

Of course, I have to point out that this project is inspired by an 18th Century Stomacher, but that the fabric, and content and colors of floss are modern and not historically correct.  Just saying ...

What about you, what activities have you tried or do you want to try to keep the evening munchies at bay?

Stomacher Italian, early 18th century | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Stomacher Italian, early 18th century | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (clipped to polyvore.com)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Armor Garniture of George Clifford,...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Armor Garniture of George Clifford,... (clipped to polyvore.com)

One of the most stunning examples of 16th century armor available to view in the United States is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) in New York. Made in approximately 1585 for George Clifford, Third Earl of Cumberland, it’s of steel, etched, blued and gilded and according to the MMA website “ is the best preserved, most extensive armor garniture from the Royal Workshops at Greenwich,”. (Koehly, Examiner)

Why I Love Costume Construction

When I was eighteen years old, I was in a used bookstore in Los Angeles when I came across my first book of costume patterns made to scale designed to be used to create historic costumes.  The name of the book was Costume Design and Making: A Practical Handbook and was originally written by Mary Fernald & E. Shenton in 1937 the version I was holding was printed in 1967 by Theatre Art Books in New York.  It was quite old, but still in great shape. 

I had learned to sew as a little girl and was very familiar with commercial patterns but for some reason until this moment it had not occurred to me that I could make my own patterns to create costumes and it had not occurred to me that I could analyze a painting or a drawing or photograph and create what I wanted to make without altering an existing commercial modern fashion pattern.  I bought that book that day and I still have it on my bookshelf.  In fact, it spurred a life-long obsession with collecting books on costume design and construction.  I can open the book and still see the pencil lines and calculations from scaling up the patterns from the 1/8 inch scale.  I still have photos of some of the costumes I created this way. 

Two years after I purchased this book I took pattern drafting and draping classes which cemented my love of construction and how costumes are made.  Eventually, I would pursue a graduate degree in Costume and Textile Conservation and in the course of those studies I confess I paid little attention to anything other than how historic fashion was constructed.  I don’t know what it is about clothing construction past and present that so captivates my mind since in actuality no other construction enthralls me in the same way.  I do know that I've spent hours and hours thinking about, analyzing and drawing how costumes and fashions are made and I will spend countless more doing so. 

Lately, I've been amazingly lucky to be spending my professional time teaching fashion history and construction and though I've taken detours good and bad in my career I always come back to this one true love. 

Below are some pages from my Costume Journal showing an analysis of an Early Middle Ages (460-1065) woman’s costume. 

Italian Renaissance Costume Research using Polyvore

This week in my Fashion History class we’re studying the Italian Renaissance and I've reviewed some projects with some perplexing information included.  For example, several students seem to believe that the Italian Renaissance took place in 1968.  Not a typo a genuine answer repeated several time over the last several semesters. I believe this has to do with the Franco Zeferelli film of Romeo and Juliet produced in 1968.  For those of you joining the story late, the Italian Renaissance is generally dated between 1420 and 1600.  So for today’s project I wanted to explore some resources that might help my students to gather information and submit their reports.  Specifically, I wanted to know if the online clipping and shopping tool, Polyvore, would work for historic image research projects.

What I did to test Polyvore for research viability was to reference the Metropolitan Museum of Art website to gather painting resources of women’s costumes from the Italian Renaissance period.  I downloaded the Polyvore clipping tool and I made a collage of painting images.  Not liking the original outcome – it was missing an appropriate background for the time period - I added a search for Italian Renaissance textiles and used a period proper textile image to set as the foundation on which to build the collage.  Though, not as robust as Photoshop the speed and ease of use make this a great informational gathering and display tool.

The Polyvore site keeps the proper attribution of where the pictures were found online, however, I lost those when I downloaded the collage to save on my computer.  Anyone using the collages for class research will have to find a way to print the attributions separately to hand in with collage projects.

Overall, though, I found this a great way to gather images for inspiration and illustrating research.  

http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/template?id=495180

A former handbag and an old pair of jeans become a pirate style corset

Today the last part of the hobo handbag and an old pair of black jeans become an 18^th century inspired pirate style corset top.

Starting with this ....

Using a best as the basis of a pattern ....

Trimming with strips cut from this fabric ...

I enjoy the way this turned out and this project was a satisfying end to a very busy day, but looking at this objectively I would like to finish the edges of the front section and add some detail and interest in the front.

What do you suggest?

Make a Victorian Steampunk corselette from an old handbag

This was one of those days that surprise you, one of those days when you set off to create one thing and wind up with something entirely different.

It started like this …

I had the other half, well, more like three quarters, of the handbag made into a Renaissance change purse on Saturday January 26, 2013.   I thought it would be great to make a medieval/renaissance wench corset.  The way this piece is patched together from smaller pieces and the way it curves up at the top edge, there just had to be a prime corset in the bones of this particular remnant.

So I cut the old hobo bag apart by separating the front, sides and bottom of the remainder of the bag.  I was shifting the front section this way and that when I actually saw the bottom for the first time.

What I saw wan’t the bottom of an old handbag.  What I saw was a no sew/ low sew Victorian/Steampunk corselette!

The shape was perfect and already reinforced, originally for the bottom of the bag but now for the front of the corselette. 

Every thing was there… I even had a button at one end that could be looped or tied for the closure. 

What could I make into a belt loop?

I tried part of the handle but it was just too thick to sit right with the button.

I dug through the scrap ribbon and found the perfect length of black grosgrain.

The only sewing I did on this project was a single small row of stitches that attached the ribbon to the seam of the corselette.

To put it on all I did was tie the ribbon around the button and finish with a little bow.

At this point, I have a little confession to make. .. there were some raw white edges from where the bottom section by the button was cut from the original handbag, and I, … well, I …. OK.  I covered the raw edges by drawing over the white with a black sharpie. 

This was really so much fun and I’m delighted with this “green” project!