Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations

When I found I was coming to New York for the summer, the first thing I did was google the dates for the Schiaparelli and Prada exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Both designers have been huge influences on me and my work, and I was incredibly excited to see how their very distinct styles could be put together. So I got together a plan and a friend, and we made our way to the upper east side to partake in this once in a lifetime event.

Trompe L'oeil pleating in Prada (left) and Schiaparelli (right)

The exhibit focuses on the idea of the two women being able to sit down together for a drink, and discuss their views on women, politics, and of course, fashion. Prada explains her focus on the "waist down", explaining that there are "so many things happening from the waist down, sex... giving birth, being attached to the earth"; while Schiap (depicted here by actress Judy Davis) explains that dressing from the waist up was important in her time, as cafes were becoming popular, and most women would be seen sitting down.

I really enjoyed this idea of these two women bantering on about their very distinct views. The videos (which you can view here, at the Met's website), combined with the quotes on the walls and in the exhibits, made them seem like dear friends that are comfortable enough with each other to tear down the other's work. A quote from Prada explaining why she would never collaborate with a conventional artist hangs right next to Schiaparelli's Cousteau and Dali inspired gowns.

"Fashion is art." ~ Elsa Schiaparelli

"Fashion is not art. Fashion designers make clothes and they have to sell them. We have less creative freedom than artists.” ~ Miuccia Prada

Images via vogue.co.uk

metmuseum.org

Sleep No More- A Really Long Review From What Should Be a Fashion Blog

I was considering not doing a review of the widely-acclaimed production Sleep No More, considering how many others have done such thorough reviews, but it’s been over 3 weeks and my mind is still floating with images of murder, treason, and witchcraft.

Photo via the New York Times.

A short synopsis: Sleep No More, a creation of London based theatre group Punchdrunk Emursive, is an interactive performance piece that takes place in a series of abandoned warehouses in Chelsea. The audience are free to move about the sets as easily as the actors, and drawers, desks, even seemingly “off limits areas” are fair game for the audience to explore, infiltrate and discover.

At the suggestion of many reviews and blog posts, my friends and I arrived early, and not without a few strong drinks in our systems. Going down a long, dark hallway, we ambled into coat check (mandatory) and were given our hotel “room key”. From there we were led up a blindingly dark staircase. Once we finally made it to the lounge, we were greeted by a few flirty waitresses in a cabaret style lounge. The wait staff and performers were dressed in early 20^th century garb: flapper dresses for the women and stylish waistcoats for the men. Choosing a small table near the piano, my friends and I sat down to compare “room keys”. Which were in fact stylized playing cards. Of the three of us, there was a 5 and two 4’s. I switched my four of spades out for a five of hearts— my two friends didn’t look so keen on the idea of being split up, but with my inhibitions lowered, I was in the mood for adventure. We were offered a shot of Absinthe “for the nerves” from one of the roaming waitresses; no sooner did we oblige, and they were calling people in to the hotel. My friends made a hasty exit, downing their drinks with gusto. Waiting for my number to be up, I went back to enjoying the soulful voice of the smooth jazz singer.

“Would all guests bearing the 5 card please step this way.” I anxiously followed the porter into an adjacent room, along with 10 or so other audience members. The door locks behind us and a slender, ethereal woman, introducing herself as Celeste, explains the ground rules as she and her cohorts hand us the now- iconic white, Venetian masks. “No speaking, don’t take off your mask, and if you need guidance, the black-masked people are your angels”. Easy enough for my wandering, excited, and more-than-a-little-inebriated mind to grasp.  We’re led into a freight elevator, and whisked away to several destinations.

The mask and the hotel playing card. I kept mine as souvenirs.

The elevator stops on different floors, and you can more or less get out whenever you choose (unless you’re let out on the fabled “Sixth Floor”, in which case you’ll be the only one permitted and the first to experience one of 16 different “intimate moments” with the cast). I wait until the very end, and am let out on the fifth floor. The actual play won’t begin until all the guests arrive (there are staggered arrival times in order to keep the intimate and foreboding tone of the show), so I immediately begin rummaging through drawers. I find letters addressed from Lady Macbeth to Macduff, an entire floor that appears to be a mental hospital, and a particularly frightening nursery with headless dolls suspended from the roof. Just as I am wondering what to make of this, I stumble into a room in which Lady Macbeth herself is locked behind a glass window. After much banging, but little screaming (spoken word is not a huge factor in this production), she exits the room and most of the audience follow her. Not wanting to fight a crowd, I elect to stay in the room and examine the dirty bathtub, stained in fake blood. I am soon distracted by a noise in the distance, and now have another actor to follow.

Much of the next 3 hours went along like this, stories of one actor weaving into another, themes playing over and over again, the entire scene resetting itself after an elaborate dance in the ballroom. Most reviews recommend picking one character and sticking with them the night, but I found this to be next to impossible. I followed one woman (a witch) for a short period of time, and often found myself in a dead run just to keep up. I instead resigned myself to taking in as much of the scenes as I could, and examining the smaller details.

Eventually, the mind begins to piece together the dreaded tale. That room back there with the dismembered dolls floating above a baby crib? Symbolism for Lady Macbeth’s ruthless murder of the MacDuff children. That abandoned room with the elaborate tented bed? Soon to be the scene of the crime; the murder of Banquo takes place here among the decorative pillows. The acting was surreal, the costumes stained by the dancers movements through blood, whiskey and tears. As you piece together the story of Macbeth for yourself (or not: a knowledge of the Scottish play is not a prerequisite for enjoying the impeccable costumes, flawless dance moves, and attention to detail brought to the scenery), you are taken captive in a world that becomes as real as the dirt smeared across the bedding.

Memorable moments:

• The death of Banquo was incredibly chilling, and one of the few times words were uttered throughout the play. The scenes following were well performed, and the cast’s anguish was acutely felt.
• The Candy Room! I was very pleased to find a room full of sweets to munch on, particularly since I came across it two hours in and dinner was so far behind me.
• The Final Act. I couldn’t help but let out a short gasp, truly out of fright, once the final banquet was over. Most of the audience stood in complete silence for 5 or more minutes before the confused clapping started, and to me that is the mark of a truly touching theatre experience.

What I would change:

• I was less than thrilled that coat check was not only mandatory (I don’t trust coat checks, and my bag was really small), but at a cost. If you are charging $85 for an event, and insist on having guests leave their things behind, the very least you can do is offer to store them for free.
• The hotel was too dark to begin. I understand the atmosphere is necessary, but slowly lowering the lighting in each room leading up to the lounge would have prevented myself and others from spending five or more minutes trying to go through the wrong door because the path wasn’t clearly lit. This was all before the masks, so it wasn’t really necessary to the atmosphere.

I consider the experience to be one of my defining moments of my time in New York, and I am already itching to return. After the night’s events, I reunited with my friends in the hotel lounge, where we traded stories.  One of the girls was gifted a necklace from a Witch, the other was entreated to assist Macbeth in his ritualistic dressing. We walked home together, sharing our stories and realizing that though we had set out to see the same play, we each came back with a slightly different idea of how things had unfolded. These minor discrepancies, while physically placing us apart, brought us together in the end.

The charm from the necklace my friend was given. She added it to her bracelet.

VCAD Grad Show

It's a little late for this post, but the Vancouver College of Art and Design grad show was an amazing event that deserves a mention. Set against a beautiful Granville Island backdrop, the show is a great opportunity for graduating students to show off their hard work and connect with industry professionals from the Vancouver area. I showcased my final collection along with fellow fashion, marketing, graphic design, web design, and 3D animation students.

Putting together a great event like this isn't easy; thankfully we had a great team of event planners to help make things run smoothly.

The VCAD portfolio show happens once every 3 months, after each batch of students graduates. We've been lucky enough to have the Waterfall Building as the location for previous shows, you can see why! Such stunning architecture.

Follow VCAD on twitter for updates on the next show!
Photos of the Waterfall Building via kumlau.com

In Which I Get My Hands Dyed Red (Again).

I decided to make myself a pair of red jeans with the leftover dye from my final projects. I bought a bunch of colours that I never ended up using, and I've been trying to come up with a use for them. I used Jacquard dye bought from Maiwa on Granville Island. I like this dye because the colour is extremely vibrant; the dye itself is easy to use and relatively non-smelly. Here's a step-by-step to follow if you want to do something like this yourself.

You'll need:

1. One pair of white (or light coloured) jeans. 
2. If you're using light jeans, you'll also need about 2 cups of bleach.
3. Fabric Dye. I highly recommend the Jacquard dye, but I've also had good results from Tulip Dye as well. I'm not a big fan of Rit or Dylon products.
4. Gloves. And old/ dyeing clothes to wear.
5. Large pot or metal container, large enough to fill with water to completely cover the garment.
6. Metal spoon(s) for stirring the dye. 
7. Well ventilated kitchen/ prep area (you'll need to heat up the dye bath).

You might also want to put down some newspapers in your work area. My damage deposit is a thing of the past that disappeared the minute I decided to dye my hair blue in the bathroom, so I didn't bother. Suck it, landlords!

For best results, I would recommend starting with a pair of new white pants, but being the broke college grad that I am, I decided to make the best of a mediocre situation. The mediocre situation being my old jeans. I had acid-washed them last year, and while I enjoyed the outcome, they aren't as nice as some of my other pairs, and weren't getting much use.

The jeans were already pretty light from the bleaching process, but once I put them in the water to prep for dyeing, I noticed they could be a lot lighter. On to the bleaching!

It goes without saying, but make sure you change into something that you don't mind getting bleach on. I already ruined these pants with other dye projects.

I gave them a quick rinse in the sink with ~2 cups of bleach. I used the fancy Fibregard bleach, as these jeans have already been pretty beat up, and the fibres were already weak. Don't use colour safe! The point is to get all the dye out.

You should be using gloves. I didn't have any handy, so I avoided touching the bleach by using a metal spoon.

Soak the jeans in hot water and bleach for ~15 min. If the water looks like this, that means the bleach is working! Once most of the colour was out of the jeans, I washed the bleach out with a very small amount of soap. 

 Rinse until the water runs clean; no colour or soap left in the jeans.

At this point you can start preparing the dye bath. Bring a pot of water (enough to completely submerge your garment) to a boil, then lower the heat and add the dye. Make sure to follow the directions on the box of dye, every process is different! Mine had two portions; the dye itself and an intensifier.

Take the still-wet jeans and immerse them slowly in the dye bath.

Again, follow the instructions for your dye carefully! The dye I bought said to leave the garment immersed for an hour, so I went to go watch an episode of Buffy and wait. About every 15 min, go check on the dye and stir around the garment, to make sure the dye can get into every corner.

Give the jeans a good rinse in the sink after the dye bath is complete. Again, rinse until the water runs (reasonably) clear.

Time for the last step! Throw the jeans in the wash on warm/cold. If your washer has an "extra rinse" option, use that. 

*Ahem* Make sure you haven't accidentally left anything in the washing machine. I found this once-white sock at the bottom of the wash. It is now hilariously pink.

Either let the jeans hang dry, or if you are as impatient as me, put them in the dryer. This project turned out much better than I had hoped, considering these jeans are very old and very processed. I would definitely recommend using new, already white jeans for a more vibrant outcome.

Extra Points if you noticed that my bathroom sink got cleaner between photos!

The jeans are dyed! Now I just have to come up with a new closure for them, and they'll be ready to wear out. I'll be posting the DIY for acid washing some time next week, and you'll get to see just how much these jeans have been through.

Soft Rebellion

Click to enlarge!

These were the final pieces that I decided to make from my collection. Everything is hand dyed.

Well I have my final shots back from the photographer, and I am incredibly pleased with the results.
Many thanks to Deanna Palkowski, Negar Hooshmand, and Matthew Burditt for their immense help with making the shoot go smoothly.

Now, a little bit about the collection. I started off wanting to make something completely structured, based off gothic architecture and, more specifically, specific churches and the architecture of those. As you can see... I strayed pretty far from that. I guess the closest remnant of that initial inspiration you can see here is the use of lace, which I was originally going to use as stained glass panels, and the wine-dyeing methods. Eventually the collection took a turn towards surrealism, with artists such as Max Ernst providing the inspiration for the colour palette.

Max Ernst , "Ein Mond ist guter Dinge" , 1970

Once I discovered different dyeing methods, they quickly took over my inspiration and I was trying everything and anything I could get my hands on to dye fabric. It was a fascinating learning experience; I am looking forward to continuing experiments with natural dyes and seeing what else I can come up with! I did use some synthetic dyes as well (the blue in the last dress, and the yellow dye, as well as the print in the first dress), but given more time (and money for test fabric... yikes), it would be interesting to experiment some more.

Coffee dyeing process- note that these shots were taken to look pretty, I didn't actually try to dye fabric in fancy bowls 

Using Setasilk paints and kitchen sponges to create the yellow dress print.

-T

Finishing Touches

Well, my final collection for grad school is finally done. My portfolio is in, and now the only thing to do is start applying for internships and jobs. I've been putting everything off because I wanted some downtime, but really I know it's because I don't quite know what I want yet.

I'm torn between dreams right now. I wish I could have a "Remedial Chaos Theory" segment to my life, where I flip a coin and get to see both outcomes of my life. One where I stay here inVancouver, with its glorious free health care and clean mountain air; one where I move to New York with its incredible culture, exciting new adventures, and job opportunites in my field. Both options are quite viable at this point, but each has its own distinct benefits and sorting out which thing I'd like to do most is causing quite the internal conflict.

I know what I have to do, now the only thing really stopping me is myself.

Crossing the finish line!

With 2+ years of school finally finished (!) and not much else on my plate (yet), now seemed the right time to get back into the blogging cycle. Not entirely sure what will come of it, but hopefully something mildly entertaining to the masses (that's you.)

-T