Bad Things that Could Happen

Watch it, its worth it. Shows how you can put on a show or tell a narrative with performers but without traditional costumes or garments, plus just a lot of fun.

Bad Things That Could Happen from This Is It on Vimeo.

-Jacob

SCIENCE!

LIFE magazine has their photo archives online and this is from a collection of vintage laboratory photos dating back to the 50s. They are an amazing source of inspiration and relevant to a few people in class.

Rest of the photos and more here : LIFE in the Laboratory

-Jacob

Hairy Masks

A 1978 catalogue page featuring hairy masks



By means of Boing Boing

-Jacob

The Cirrate Octopus

A moment of insperation:



-Jacob

Nike Self Lacing Shoes

Nike has filed a patent of self lacing shoes exactly like those from Back to the Future II

The Nike Patent

The Back to the Future Shoe, which incidently is on sale

-Jacob

Funky Forest

Very much one of the oddest films ever made, Funky Forest is a serious of short stories which are connected and vaguely about aliens and as the movie progress the narrative and world begin to collapse in upon itself




-Jacob

Eco-Fashion at FIT

Hello folks!

I wanted to post a few websites and images based on the exhibitions we saw at FIT yesterday, since I found them to be very inspiring and relevant to our class. Ginny - since you were unable to join us, I hope these will be of interest and inspiration to you, too. 

Eco-Fashion

Alabama Chanin Natalie "Alabama" Chanin does good work(s). She compiles oral histories of Southern textile workers, salvages old quilts, and is striving to make her business zero-waste. All of the stitchers who create Chanin's (quite literally) homespun garments work from their own houses and live within an hour-and-a-half radius of her family and business base of Florence, Alabama. And they use organic materials grown and produced in the good ole U.S. of A.—a fact proudly announced on the Alabama Chanin label. (from Style Magazine website)

John Patrick Organic

His American Gothic collection (2009) was inspired by the 1930 Grant Wood painting and is a modern interpretation of what he calls "Dust Cowl creativity". Presented at the Desmond Tutu Center in Chelsea, the ORGANIC collection for Spring/Summer 2009 was not only an homage to the iconic painting by Grant Wood, but a reverse-the-consumption-trend art happening with models that stood fast and stood still. The entire collection was presented in diorama-like setting with fresh-faced, freckled youth exuding both the “hope” and the promise of good clean organics. (www.inhabitent.com) ”People don’t think about the ‘30s as an optimistic time,” the designer acknowledged. “But it’s when the chips are down that you really see the American character. Hope is on our DNA. We beat the Dust Bowl, we beat back the Great Depression, and today, facing challenges that seem as vast, if not vaster, what I see all around me are people working to create something new. They’re rebooting the system,” he continued, “and it’s that kind of crazy resourcefulness I want to celebrate.”

A few quotes I came across in the show:
"I really don't want to  wear clothes made from someone else's despair." - Ali Hewson, founder of EDUN


People now "want things that are made well, that are made in a conscious way, that have long-term values, that are beautiful." - Julie Gilhart, fashion director for Barneys, NY.

Mountain Artisans


Very little information can be found on this group of women  of West Virginia who formed a quilting cooperative and caught the attention of the fashion and decorating world. (They won a prestigious fashion award in 1972 and sold their wares in NY boutiques.) In the photo below, Sharon Rockefeller, then the first lady of West Virginia and a supporter of the Mountain Artisans, wears the patchwork "hostess" skirt that she helped to popularize.