Collar

From today:

White polyester yarns double threaded in the knitting machine, short rowing technique. 

Super secret latex formula for the drip.

YAY for combining knits and latexxx!

Reminds me a lot of abstract drawings I was doing freshman year.

Plastiky

From today:

Hard to see - the detail gets lost - but it's black plastic with hand scrunched bulbous forms and 3 big pleats in the center. 

NOTE: I've found that using dinner plates as templates for circles is both convenient and useful.

Finishing up a collar tonight and (hopefully) a silver & black leather corset-style piece (can't call it a real corset because there is no boning). 

Shooting on Sunday, will have better images then!

Queer

Long time no see....

My holiday break was mostly unproductive. Did personal stuff and made gifts....I did modify an old pvc bodysuit into a jacket and make a dress out of plastic mesh and a thrifted velvet dress, but the shoot that they were meant for (as well as a latex shoot) were cancelled. Ah, well, c'est la vie.

B A C K  TO  S C H O O L

Taking a machine knitting class- IT'S AMAZING! I'm definitely in the wrong major. I wish that I'd even THOUGHT about textiles when I was a freshman. Now I just have to take what I can get and try not to be bitter. 

A piece I started today:

Two polyester yarns (I'm drawn to all the pretty synthetic fibers- surprise surprise!) knitted using a short rowing technique. The open areas will get filled in with big, sculptural pieces that will (hopefully) look like some kind of bulbous body parts.

It was a pretty freeform process...started out trying to make something totally different and when the yarns started fucking up I changed my direction and got this instead!

I've made a dozen 12" x 40" (thereabouts) samples and two collars, one of which I'm finishing now and will hopefully post about tomorrow!

F U R T H E R M O R E

I want to start doing short film vignettes...imagine my photographs come to life. No real narrative, just visual imagery. I suppose the closest comparison would be artsy commercials.

In light of such recent personal discoveries, I want this:

Canon 5D Mark II

It shoots HD VIDEO!!! and takes beautiful super high resolution still images!!! And it's (only) $3,000!!! Sounds like a worthwhile investment to me. 

Sooooo, my next big project is going to be a collaboration between myself and Thea, a model I've been working with who is also an incredible contortionist/airialist. She's very good on a lyra, which is basically a suspended hoop:

Thea at Circus Smirkus!

The collaboration will combine "Stroke of Luck" by Garbage, a performance that she choreographs based on the song, an outfit I'm designing that will also be inspired (somewhat) by the song, and then filming it all. It'll only be a couple minutes long, but it should be pretty epic. 

Tentative sketch:

Hard to see, and it's not colored, but it'll be a silver latex bodysuit, with black & purple latex straps on the side, and straight accents coming down from the neck and up from the ankles. I unfortunately can't add lots of extra stuff that I'd like (collar pieces, bulbous shoulders, etc.) because she needs to be able to move and not die because of the costume hindering her. 

L A S T L Y

Fangoria magazine interviewed me.

I'm not into gore and B-list slasher films (fans of which the mag is geared toward) but they wrote a very nice piece about me :)

Reliquary

From my shoot with Mosh over Thanksgiving break:

Red & gold latex poncho top & tri-tiered skirt.

Only photoshop is hue/saturation changes. Straight outta camera ftw!
More images and clothing construction details to come soon.

GAH FINALS!!!

Socialist Fashionist

This article was extremely interesting:
Luxury Prices Are Falling; the Sky, Too.

As I read I couldn't help but wonder: is it really a bad thing that stores are being forced to list designer clothes for less? Is it really a crime that now more than just the "fashionista elite" can afford luxury goods? Hardly. Fashion is art, and, like art, I think it should be made accessible to as large an audience as possible. For too long there has been an almost unbridgeable gap between those who can afford expensive items ($3,000 jackets and $50,000 artworks) and those who cannot. Letting everyone in on the game is not a problem- in fact, I think it will help commercial-ability for bigger brands as well as help equalize the buying status quo. Really, those who are affected negatively are the middle men, the stores who cultivate an aura of elitism, and cutting them out only simplifies the system.

I cannot be convinced that this economic crisis is an overall bad thing. I realize that the market plummeting greatly effected those who were tied into the stock system (my family is, to a small degree) but I can't help but think the the people who are really losing are big corporations. Although it is regrettable for workers employed in such companies to lose jobs, in the long run I think cut-backs on big money industries can only lead to good thing for the future.

Lastly, I would STRONGLY disagree with the idea that creativity will suffer because of the current situation. The opposite is true: this time BREEDS creative energy. Instead of being handed everything you want and consequently growing lazy, resourcefulness in design has become essential.
As a designer I welcome this challenge. Modified thrift store finds, do-it-yourself style, repurposing old (sometimes vintage) clothing , finding beautiful fabrics on sale is what it's all about.

Garments I'm currently working on that reflect this philosophy:
~ Shoulder piece made of an old pillow with a shirt that is a pair of reconstituted satin pants.
~ Old lace curtains transformed into a ruffled halter top.
~ Draped pantsuit made out of balloon latex. I actually found the material at Burning Man this summer. There was an INCREDIBLE installation there of huge white balloons that pulsed in time to music and by the time I saw them most had popped, leaving the remains in playa dust. Soooo I decided instead of being wasteful I would take the stuff home and make something from it. (I can't describe how beautiful the installation was, especially while watching the sun come up after a night of dancing with close friends. Gives a whole new meaning to "sun salutation." If anyone knows who did it, please tell them I was moved and extremely appreciative!)

FutureDesign FutureSex FutureFashion.

Be prepared for the next phase of your evolution.

Visualization

Too tired to write anything interesting...thanksgiving break cannot come soon enough. 

So enjoy some visuals!

Model: Anjali.

A rework of a shoot I did in September. Very, VERY pleased with it. 

Model: Marysia.

Shot in 28˚ weather...bleh.  We were FREEZING by the end of it. I'm decently happy with the photo though- straight outta camera! I think I have more editing to do on it but I'm going to leave that for another day. 

Boredom Does Nothing For Me

I am in a mildly manic mood at the moment, all of yesterday and today actually, so I've been producing lots. It's a nice change from my past weeks of lethargy/energy-blockage. 

Did I mention that I love gold? My room used to be painted a burnished but still shiny hue of it. Apparently I miss having the color in my life, as is evidenced by my latest pieces:

I told Natalie Addams ages ago that I would make her something and this idea has been sitting in my head for far too long. Her favorite color is purple so I made a halter dress in that shade and then I wanted it to look like a huge gold necklace had melted down the front so I poured a super-secret concoction down it. I haven't seen any other latex designers do this technique so I would proudly say that it is my personal invention. I also want to do a blood splattered idea on army green, but I really REALLY don't support violence or gore so that may not happen. I need to find a way to make the blood look natural in a bodily sense, and not like it's out of a horror film. 

For Mosh. I was supposed to shoot her in it today but schedule conflicts made it not happen. Which royally sucks because I have a crit on Wednesday that I need to show new work for. I'm going to have to shoot a friend of mine in a different piece tomorrow and then HOPEFULLY shoot with Moshy Mosh over thanksgiving break. 

I don't know if the outfit make sense lying down...it's a poncho-like top and then a tri-layer skirt. I was really focusing on working with the particular way that latex drapes. I think it needs some red accents on the bottom...either a red edging or make more red cut outs like the top. Thoughts? 

So I have a strong affection for dance-y music (raves are love...) and I stumbled across Lady Gaga recently. Not only is her music addictive and bouncy, what really makes her interesting is her outfits. Her whole persona is a performance, and she designs everything she wears with her creative team, Haus of Gaga.

Video still stolen from perezhilton.com

Honestly, how fucking cool are those shoulder pieces??? Love it. They look like crystals, cocaine, diamonds in the rough (she says their inspired by a Thierry Mugler dress, not surprised.) I'm a big fan of shoulder and neck pieces (obviously) so I think I'm going to work on some huge spiked ones. I would love to make her something in particular...if anyone knows her or knows how to get in contact with her, let me know! 

Bonus photo....

I heart cone-boobs & leopard!

Made this over the summer for Adrienne Anderson- not sure if she's used it yet, I should get it back so I can have it for my finals.