Horror Show: Nosferatu

Here’s another concept for the Horror Show line. This one is based on Nosferatu.

I love Nosferatu. I would probably do a whole line solely devoted to Nosferatu. It’s one of my most favorite films ever for a variety of reasons. And it’s also miraculously terrifying, even without modern special effects and all that crap. See, I love it because a) I’m a complete vampire nut and have been for my entire life (it’s pretty much an integral part of my identity at this point) and b) I love German expressionism. It’s one of my very most favorite aesthetics. Have you ever seen The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? It’s pretty amazing.

Here’s actually an astoundingly good representation of Dr. Caligari. Whoever worked the visuals on that music video for Queen of the Damned clearly knew what they were doing. Even the jerky movement is on par. But fair warning: if you’re not into slightly rougher, angry music, you might want to turn off the sound. (There is a Nosferatu themed Queen of the Damned video too, but for some reason they go really heavy on the vanishing effect, which was revolutionary and magical when it happened in 1922, and pretty much completely ignore the magnificent shadow-play.)

Nosferatu, while not quite as whimsical in look as Dr. Caligari, is definitely a more subdued expressionist work. There’s a ton of design going on in that movie, but subtly. Count Orlock (Max Schreck) is made up to look like an enormous rat, with his fangs close together in the front and his ears and talons pointed, in allusion to the plague (which is blamed for the sudden mysterious illness that begins killing people off in the movie). There’s also an archway theme, whereby Orlock is shown standing in various doorways that are meant to sort of hint at the fact that he’s coming out of a coffin. (That was legitimately the intent. It’s been verified.) Inside Orlock’s castle is a bit closer to the visual style of the more extreme Caligari, and Orlock himself, with his massive eyebrows, bizarre teeth, enormous shoulders and talon fingers, is definitely an expressionist creature. The unsuspecting, sleepy German town Orlock invades is slightly more realistic (though there are hints of stylization here and there, especially in Renfield, who is under Orlock’s spell). The design of the movie really manages to capture the idea of a stranger from a strange land coming to town and not belonging.

Hopefully you can see where each component is coming from via the research up top. The stripes in the skirt are meant to allude to the infamous staircase shadow. The coat is pretty much his coat, with rat-fur cuffs and collar. There’s a jagged edge in the back hem that’s fairly expressionist…and also meant to resemble Orlock’s two front teeth.

Strawberry Pinstripes

Here’s a piece I actually finished a few weeks ago. I only just got around to photographing it today. After I wore it to work all day, so it’s a bit rumpled from sitting in a desk chair. And the photography is terrible. I’m not going to deny that.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It’s a cuter dress in person, I promise. As soon as I’ve un-rumpled it and I find a model and maybe someone who can properly snap a photo, I’ll do a re-post. It would also help if the dress weren’t two sizes too big for me. But hey, it’s not like I had a say in the dress form size and I’ll take what I can get.

Originally I “designed” this dress for my ex-employer. I was trying to drape one of her dresses and mistakenly gave it too much length (which could have easily been cut off), too much of a figure, and too much of a boat neck. (I did a mad shitty job on the neckline for this particular dress. Future versions will be corrected.) Since this mistake actually resulted in a really nice, classic dress, she decided we could use it as a bonus seventh dress. It actually instantly became the most commented-on, so I felt pretty good about that.

Needless to say, after our falling out, she is no longer offering this dress. Not like she really can…she doesn’t even have concept art for this one.

Horror Show: The Shining

I love horror movies. I don’t think I need to say much more than that.  So why not combine horror movies with a fashion line?

Here’s the first concept in the line.

The research for this one is pretty self explanatory:

The challenge here, I think, is to keep from stepping over the costume line.

So clearly the extremely distinctive carpet played a huge factor in the design here. And I decided to go for “flapper” because of the whole 1921 photo thing. The red mess down at the bottom there is supposed to be red dangling flapper beads that sort of echo the splatter effect of that blood tidal wave that roars out of the elevator in that one scene. (Pictures above.)

It might be pretty awesome if the trim had “redrum” embroidered in red on it, but I think that’s one of those things that’s great in theory, but then in person it’s not as awesome and kind of hokey. I’d have to see it first…do a swatching and compare “redrum” ribbons. If they don’t make redrum ribbons, they really ought to. I could see people enjoying the novelty…

On a more subtle note, part of the name of the game here is symmetry. There’s a whole lot of blocky symmetry in the design of the movie. You have the hedge maze, the omnipresent carpet pattern, the set up of the interior of the hotel, the twins…and it’s a great sort of symmetry, too, because it’s not completely perfect. The two girls are not completely identical. The furniture is not one hundred percent the same on the right side of the room as it is on the left in every single shot. You notice it without it becoming overly unrealistic. This isn’t quite a Wes Anderson movie where at times the symmetry can be obsessive, often with the character being the one to disrupt the perfect balance. Kubrick is definitely playing with balance and unbalance in the Shining, but it’s slightly more plausible and significantly more severe with the bold, defined shapes (things are rectangular, octagonal, etc.) and almost a strange sort of sterility in the lack of elaborate chintz.

So the dress design is certainly symmetrical, but I’d want whatever bored I end up going with to have detail in it that is not symmetrical. That’s where the repeating “redrum” embroidery idea would be helpful, to throw it off kilter a little bit.

If I were actually selling this dress, the copy would read, “Perfect for a stroll through the hedge maze!”

Studies in Scarlet

Here’s another experiment that went down after hours.  This time, in my defense, the colors were not ENTIRELY of my choosing (though having had the choice I would not have chosen differently). The bright red dupioni was actually a leftover chunk from a curtain-making project and the (extremely cheap) black silk was scraps leftover from a ballgown project I’d just completed for work. The white chiffon was also scrap from the ballgown project (which involved a white sash).  The two black roses are black ball gown silk and black china silk, which was used to line the gowns (and was probably better quality than the main black silk fabric).

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

So yeah. Figured out chiffon roses.

Also there’s one picture in there of an experiment with the white chiffon as sort of a collar/strap/detail thing that was supposed to be sort of a “spray of roses” effect, but to me looks a little more like a chiffon garlic necklace.

Pittering, Pattering, Beating and Splattering

Here’s an image search I did for the, uh, “fashion house” when asked to come up with an additional theme for Spring/Summer 2011.  Because the theme that had already been selected for Spring/Summer was “English garden tea party” (which was translated incredibly loosely) I decided to be a rebel and go for more of a rainy theme.

(Google Image)

What I was reverting to while selecting pictures was my love of what I call “color shock.” I’m really into vibrant, rich, grabbing color that pops.  One of the things I think of when I think “rain” is when you look out and see people with their umbrellas, some of which are brilliantly colored against the grey, damp, misty atmosphere. There’s also something magical about flowers in the rain.  Vibrant colors can really stand out against the dreary (yet hazily beautiful) background.  Stormy weather also leads to those delicate moments, where water droplets cling to blades of grass or the mists come out and soften the world.  Anyway, hopefully the collage can explain this better and give you more of an idea of the overarching theme.

I guess the color pallet would be kind of what Crayola used to deem “bold.”

In terms of fabrics, I’d go with chiffons (light, flowy, airy) in varying shades of grey and white, with hints of black (not too strong, though). I’d want no real hardly defined lines for the most part, though maybe there could be exceptions for the bursts of rich, brilliant color.  I want my silhouettes to flow, drip, or perhaps, in places, puff out a bit.  Again, no sharp construction, except for perhaps in the hints of color.  While the soft, grey tones of the weather are definitely misty, vibrantly colored umbrellas or rain boots or damp garden flowers have more of a definite construction, so I would like to juxtapose that. I’d also not be opposed to incorporating a few Swarovski crystals here and there to hint at water droplets.

Needless to say, this theme was completely rejected.  I actually did a few sketches for it, viewable here. I doubt my ex-boss would admit to rejecting it, as instead of dismissing it outright, she gave it the title “Rainy Day” and completely misinterpreted it (by entirely disregarding my reasoning and research) into a color pallet of essentially dreary tennis pastels.

Now, I’m sure that this color combination could be appropriate somewhere.  It’s not my style, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its place. What bothers me about it is that I’m totally confused as to how someone could thumb through that gallery up top and produce this as a pallet. What was the point of doing the visual research if you’re not going to incorporate it? How is this even remotely appropriate for that world? How can someone be so stuck in their little head-kingdom that they have to so militantly impose themselves on everything else around them to the point that the proposed theme is completely unrecognizable and unrelated? There’s a subtle art to adding your own flair. The challenge is adding your own signature while not detracting from the overall theme. Anyone who’s ever worked on design under a director for a theater production can tell you that.

Here’s where we can turn my utter and complete contempt for this individual into a productive learning experience. Simply put: if you’re not going to incorporate your research, don’t even bother. You’re not fooling anyone and you’re just going to look like a pretentious nitwit when you try to claim that your un-ironed potato sack was inspired by Joan of Arc.  (No, really.)  When you do your research, analyze each picture. Look for common themes, shapes, lines, colors…or if you know what you want your themes and colors to be, try to find pictures that work well together to really immerse yourself in that world. Plus, looking at all your research side by side might open you up to new ideas or reveal to you a new recurring trait.  No matter how much you think you know, you can always learn more or be proven wrong.  You can’t learn anything or make any progress if you’re rooted in one place and totally determined to never let anything else in.

Burlesque Circus

One of the exceedingly few positive things during my three month collaboration with that miserable excuse for a fashion house was that because my apartment had effectively been turned into a sweatshop, I had a dress form at my disposal 24-7.  So when I wasn’t sewing pastel potato sacks, I got to fiddle around with that. Here’s something that somewhat came from it.  Tragically the whole thing is held together with pins, as I never got the chance to stitch it together. Also, I was draping it in the actual fabric, so things are a little wonky based on my reluctance to cut anything…since I didn’t want to waste my plum dupioni. (It’s the plum dupioni that was intended for that January Plum dress I haven’t gotten to yet.)

Here she is:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In terms of the dress form: at this point legally I think it might be considered abandoned, but everything has to be held on to because of the whole…strong possibility of going to court thing. And there’s the matter of government settlement…it’s tricky.

Also the form is a 6, which is way too big for me.  I’d kind of prefer one in my size, so if it came down to me having to decide what to do in terms of disposal, I’d probably trade it in for a size down. Apparently the industry standard is to work on a 4, but when the people in the shop told my ex-boss this, she decided, for no reason, that she wanted a 6 anyway to “be different.” You know, disregarding the fact that these standards are set for a reason so that the dresses fit properly on mannequins and that sort of thing…

Photography Skillz

Making the dress look AWESOME. My sister’s dress was apparently a hit at the 2010 prom, and a friend of hers did a shoot with her in it.  I got to keep a couple of photos. Here’s one:

 

Nothing like photography to make you feel extra good about your work…