she looks like a sassy dinosaur to me...

-Ginny

iamamiwhoami

I hope this isn't horribly old hat, but I thought it might be relevant. The enigmatic music/performance/video collective that is 'iamamiwhoami' started posting mysterious music driven art films on Youtube in late 2009. After obsessive speculation from a cult following it was revealed that the artist in all most of the films is swedish songwriter Jonna Lee. I remember Feist and Gaga were both suspects.

Their use of performance and costume I find particularly interesting. Despite hipster-levels of cryptic imagery, plants and food and common themes (hi Maria & Jonathan).

xoxo, Matt

Victoria May for Rachel

For  more info, visit: Shu and Joe blog

Paula Abdul 'Barbie Dance'

I'm posting this for Sharela but everyone should watch for a good Holiday lolz.

In this video Paula Abdul teaches an audience of children an extraordinarily complicated dance called the "Barbie Dance". Apparently at some point in the 80s there was a show called "Barbie's Dance Club".
NOTHING COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG IN THIS SCENARIO, RIGHT?!?
Well, except for the few trained, rehearsed dancers no one gets it. Not even close. Then they cut to actual Barbie's dancing! The group of awkward teenage boys at 4:10 is my personal fav.



-Sarah

Silk Organza

"HOUSE OF ORGANZA"' - Extended Video Teaser from PRICKIMAGE on Vimeo.

Future Fashions

As the year comes to a close, I ran across this video from the 30s, predicting fashion in 2000. Some of them aren't too far off. Nolla should definitely take a look!

-Sarah

JJ McCracken

After talking to my roommate about my ideas for the show in the spring, she showed me the work of JJ McCracken (who spoke at MICA a month or so ago but I missed it due to class). A self-described "active installation", Stasis is 5 workstations that are staffed by anonymous, paid workers who remain internally-focused, completely occupied with the task at hand. Love it.

-Rachel

B'MORE HOLIDAY HOOP JAM: TONIGHT!

Peace & Greetings, Friends of the HOOP! This very evening, Thursday the 9th of December, HoopingPowers will be hosting a festivus Holiday Hoop Jam to celebrate all holidays everywhere, cultivate a more cohesive Baltimore hooping community, and spin our hearts into a flurry of feeling good. There's no quicker way to warm up & lift your spirits in the wintertime than shaking your hips and spinning in circles. : ) Please see below for more details- and do try to make it out tonight for the last Powers' hoop jam of 2010! Warm Regards, Noelle Powers

Our AMAZING Jam Space!

More deets for tonight's Holiday Hoop Jam, here: WHAT: A 'hoop jam' (or 'spin jam') is a gathering of folks for freestyle movement play, practice, and if the mood strikes us, sharing skills, as we dance & meditate in and out of our hoops, poi toys, or any other fun juggley-like objects of manipulation we may possess and want to bring along. : ) WHEN: Thursday December 9, 2010~ 7-10pm WHERE: 2640 St. Paul Street, Baltimore 21218- enter from 27th street side of building. We'll be in the Clark Room directly to the left as you enter the building. Street parking available in this residential neighborhood- leave yourself some time to find a spot! WHO: All are invited=> Young & old, rich & poor, able-bodied & differently-abled folks, hoopers & future hoopers alike! HOW: Come with your own hoop, borrow, or buy a hoop to keep and cherish for years to come. No experience necessary! Bring your own water bottle. HOW MUCH: The hoopjam is free! No one will be turned away for lack of funds, AND donations of $5 to $15 are encouraged & appreciated to offset rental fee for the space. WHAT ELSE: We will provide some light snackage & bevs but please feel free to bring your own or something to share if you fancy! Definitely bring water for yourself to drink. We'll also have a non-denominational hooper-spirit altar to decorate, so you are invited to bring a meaningful token or object to lend to the altar during the jam if you're so inclined. : ) WEBSITE FOR MORE: www.HoopingPowers.com

Alien Weeds (for Nolla, Rachel & Maria)

Check out this biology-craft project featured on the American Craft Magazine blog!

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Call to End Media Prejudice in the Arts

Here is a link to the Late Breaking Noose blog by Judith Schaechter I mentioned, shared with me by Susie Brandt:

http://judithschaechterglass.blogspot.com/

Experimental Fashion: Works in Progress (Show)

Tuesday, December 15

Room S101.

The schedule of performance presentations follows:

4:05 Molly Roberts

4:30 Jacob Dillow

4:55 Person

5:20 Kyle England

5:45 Jonathan Wille

6:30 Matthew Reading

7:05 Nolla Yuan

7:30 Sarah Ivancic

7:55 Rachel Christensen

8:20 Sharela Bonfield

8:45 Maria Chaverri

9:10 Ginny Duncan

9:35 Kate Wintraub

365 Days, 365 Items of Clothing. 365 Dollars

I thought this was interesting. This is a blog where each item of clothing was made from recycled garments, each costing $1.

Here is the link.

-maria

Open House

I uploaded the open house invite to the google docs site. If it needs to be edited in any way, I believe it can be done from there.-Sarah

Pet Me Poppa

Meow!


-Sarah

Worth couture

Charles Frederick Worth was the original couturier in 19th century Paris.

Recently the House of Worth was revived by Giovanni Bende. I thought Matt might especially find some of the recent designs interesting, A/W 2010 has a bit of a military/circus feeling to it, especially with the styling in Russian Vogue.

-Sarah

Evelyn Evelyn

Circus freaks in an upholstery dress playing an accordion.

Damn right this is from Matt

Keri Hilson Ft. Rick Ross – The Way You Love Me

http://www.hiphoplead.com/video/keri-hilson-ft-rick-ross-the-way-you-love-me-official-video/

OMG.. literal much? Sharela, this is for you!

XXX rated.

Das Racist

THIS IS THE BEST SONG OF THE YEAR.. bahaha... so true!

Permaculture

I went to a talk on permaculture today, and this organization was mentioned. It is a family owned environmental education center and eco lodge that has its own permaculture farm. Not so related to fashion, but it's super cool!

This is the link to the website.

Maria <3

YAY plastic clothes and food clothes and brand clothes.......Posted by jonathan



http://www.foundshit.com/novelty-hamburger-dress/

Naturally 7 beatboxes a whole band

One-of-a-kind R&B group Naturally 7 beatboxes an orchestra's worth of instruments to groove through their smooth single, "Fly Baby."

Sharela

The Tabloids’ Favorite Females Embroidered

Alicia Ross

Reappropriation of cross-stitching through a series of abstracted studies of female celebrities, among them Octomom, Miley Cyrus, and Lady Gaga.

Article:

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/10/alicia_ross.html#

Artist website:

http://www.aliciaross.com/home.htm

Sharela

Pilobolus perform "Symbiosis"

http://www.ted.com/speakers/pilobolus.html

"Your beliefs in the nature of strength, endurance and gravity will not hold. In fact, they will be defied. And every time you think, 'Whoa, how the hell did they do that?' they will take it further."

Dance InsiderSharela Bonfield

FOOODDDYUMMY!

http://rackkandruin.blogspot.com/2010/11/before-there-was-gaga.html


<3 u all
.....jonathan

Free Fabric

Please note: We will meet Wednesday, Dec 1 at 1:00 in the Station Parking Lot for the fabric pick-up from Bowlings Upholstery. Unloading around 2:30.

Robyn - Swedish singer

The Making of Robyn's 'Indestructible' Music Video with EXTRA FOOTAGE from Lucy McRae on Vimeo.

This 'Making Of' video showcases a project that started over two years ago generating dynamic textiles made from liquid, air and vapor. 1.2 kilometres of transparent plumbing tubing was knitted with fishing wire to skin Robyn's body. 40 litres of glycerol pumps through over a kilometre of tube, powered by drill pumps that connect to valves releasing air intermittently between the liquid. Gradient colors pulse through the tubes at different speeds, the effect is a living, breathing dynamic skin that traverses the landscape of the body.

CHECK OUT her new song!! http://www.robyn.com/killingme/

Raise Your Glass by Pink

Pink is a hippie vegan lefty. Aside from that, I can't get over that scene where the women were hooked on tubes to feed the baby cow.

Skin Machine

Peristaltic Skin Machine from Lucy McRae on Vimeo.

February 2010 A collaboration with digital fabricator Mike Pelletier, Peristaltic Skin Machine is an automated machine that explores dynamic, liquid skins that traverse the body made with liquid and air. The machine is the first sample of an on-going exploration selected for Dutch exhibition TransNatural exploring nature and technology

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

This is so freaken BEAUTIFUL.. it's kind of exactly what I wanted for the preview video clip before my collection...

Here is what he used to make it happen: Motion Time Lapse Dolly. The beta experimental rig was used to shoot the bideo of the Volcano in Iceland.

Dynamic Perception Timelapse Dolly Stage Zero from MILapse on Vimeo.

-Nolla

Dark Age

I ran across this from Marie Claire Turkey. I've never known Marie Claire to be the most "fashion forward" but this images are quite beautiful and I thought they might pertain to Jacob's interests in particular. If I spoke Turkish I would translate the article for you but... no such luck so here's some pretty to look at:

http://www.mcdergi.com/haberler/detay/44503/Dark-Age

-Sarah

Asher Levine

Here's another example of fashion combined with video art. Asher Levine's spring/summer 2011 collection wasn't that interesting to me until I went to the "video" section of his website. This video creates an interesting narrative around his garments.

Asher Levine Spring/Summer 2011 from Asher Levine on Vimeo.

http://www.asherlevine.com/

-Rachel

Gareth Pugh S/S 2011

It may be old news, but I just saw this video by Ruth Hogben for Gareth Pugh's spring/summer 2011 collection. It's an interesting display of garments that shows movement and silhouette in more ways than a traditional runway show. Enjoy!

Gareth Pugh S/S 2011 Collection - Director: Ruth Hogben from SHOWstudio on Vimeo.

-Rachel

Words

Words is an amazing visual poem by Everynone. It opens you to alternative ways of thinking and cognative justification and connections.

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

-Jacob

Dia de los Muertos

LA Weekly has some amazing photos from Day of the Dead in Hollywood









more at LA Weekly
Via Cakehead Loves Evil

-Jacob

Olek

Olek is a Polish-born artist who is a crochet fiend. She crochets everything in reach and does costumes, installations and sculpture

Olek's website

via Cakehead Loves Evil

-Jacob

Unisex, Transformable Fashion

I thought Kyle especially might find this designer interesting. Sorry about the caps, I took this off his website:

I STARTED IMAGINING CLOTHES THE SAME WAY I STARTED CREATING IMAGES: WITH A SENSE OF CURIOSITY AND INNOCENCE DRIVEN BY MY NO-BACKGROUND BACKGROUND. NO SCHOOL. NO TEACHERS. NO TELLY. NO BOUNDARIES. NO FORMATTING. I LIKE THE IDEA OF A WORLD THAT WE COULD LIVE AND SHAPE BY OURSELVES, ONLY BY OBSERVING. EACH OUR OWN. MY CLOTHES HAVE ERUPTED FROM THIS WORLD OF MINE. THEY ARE ASEXUAL, ASEASONAL, THEY COME FROM NO PLACE, NO TIME, NO TRADITION, YET THEY COULD BE HOME ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. THEY EXUDE A SENSE OF DISCREET CHIC, THE ESSENCE OF TIMELESS STYLE, DRAWN ON A MONOCHROMATIC AND GRAPHICAL CANVAS. PALETTE OF BLACKS, TOUCHES OF PURE WHITES AND INTENSE GRAYS. SOPHISTICATED UNISEX MODERN CLASSICS FOR ANTI-CONFORMIST INDIVIDUALS." - Rad Hourani

Rad Hourani reinvents fashion by transcending its conventions, creating a unisex luxury that is changing women’s and men’s wardrobes since he launched his namesake label in 2007 in Paris. Like all truly great visionnaires, Hourani not only depicts fashion, he defines it, and gives it cultural resonance. Gender-agnosticism is the driving conceptual direction in Rad Hourani's work, and growing up and living in such different parts of the world has certainly contributed to Hourani’s rather holistic design approach: self-tought and driven by a passion for modernity, Hourani creates a luxurious yet affordable lifestyle that has rid itself of any conventional restrictions : no gender, no season, no rules, epitomising the values of freedom and unisex elegance.

see the clothes in context here

-Sarah

Great Costumes, Good storyline

-Sarah

Sandra Backlund

Sandra Backlund's new collection is really playing with form and construction. I think it would be interesting to many people in the class (especially Nolla!)

Check out her website for more: Sandra Backlund

-Rachel

The Gilded Lily

At this point in the semester when everything is happening at once and sometimes nothing seems to go quite right I feel like poor Claudette Colbert in 'The Gilded Lily'. It's a great performance from 1935.


-Sarah

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

I know it's incredibly commercial and debatably mysoginistic but you have to admit that Victoria's Secret has the talent (in terms of employees) and budget to put on a pretty ridiculous and fabulous show. Unfortunately, I can't find who does the actual costume design and construction. Edit: At least one of the costumers is Martin Izquierdo. I'm sure there's a whole team though.

A little gay pride:
A little Hussein Chalayan reference:
A little cultural insensitivity:
Jacob, that head piece reminds me of someone:
Holy understructure:

You just guess who would make the lingerie post.
-Sarah

Hologram Superstar

Crypton Future Media in Japan (of course) has launched a (sure to be sold out) tour featuring Holographic singing sensation Hatsune Miku, backed by a live band. The singing isn't even prerecorded, they are using Yamaha's Vocaloid software which allows for synthesized singing. The lines between reality and the digital world are becoming further blurred and callopsing in upon itself.



There is a brief article Here

And you can see more of the concert and other hologram singers Here

-Jacob

China Fashion Week

Tyre-Toy-Fashion Zhang Wei


NE-Tiger Haute Couture


Miidii Liu Xing


Dayiyan

Lots of interesting things happening at China Fashion Week.

Plant Growing Time Lapse

Some amazing plant growing time lapse videos












via - Boing Boing

-Jacob

Rashaad Newsome

SHADE COMPOSITIONS 2009 from RASHAAD NEWSOME on Vimeo.

I saw this artist at school 33 in the spring and Peter refreshed my memory of him. In this piece Rashaad Newsome conducts an african american female acapella group which perform stereotypical roles of african american women in today's society.

here's his website: http://rashaadnewsome.com/

Sharela

Pseudomorphs

Artist Anouk Wipprecht is interested in creating garments which redesign themselves and considers her work a collaboration with technology. In this dress she has dress made out of felt and a neck piece which drips ink and leaves the resulting stains to chance.

More info here & here

-Jacob

The History of the Fashion Show

You recently finished reading Ginger Gregg Duggan's article "The Greatest Show on Earth" about the contemporary fashion show. tonight, we will look at some images and video clips related to the history and development of the fashion show over the course of the last century.


Early footage of a Charity Fashion Parade from 1923:

THE GRAND PARADE

The 'leg shows', revues and chorus girl stage productions from the early part of the century had a big impact on the format and look of the fashion show. 

Here we see the Ziegfield walk used by the models descending the stairway in this 1929 Fashion Show:

The collision of mechanical production, fantasy and wish fulfillment prevalent in films and stage productions of the time, and the 'leg girls' dance numbers of the 1920s and 30s are apparent here in this sequence from the film The Fashions of 1934, choreographed by Busby Berkeley: 

and this sequence from the Gold Diggers of 1935:



The mash-up of entertainment, dance and fashion was also evident in the runway shows of Mary Quant, that resemble parties.

MARY QUANT FASHIONS IN AUSTRALIA.

A similar format is evident in this London Fashion show from 1966:
ALL THE GEAR CARNABY STYLE



It is fascinating to think about what elements of the fashion show remain constant, and define it as a performance format distinct from other genres.



In the 1980s and 90s, music video and celebrity culture, including the rise of the "supermodel", affected the format of the fashion show, and the other way around.







A video montage of iconic moments from Alexander McQueen shows certainly illustrates the evolution of the fashion show into an event that some might dismiss as the ultimate commercial spectacle, while others hail it as the medium's transcendence of the commercial to the realm of theater and performance.

Alexander McQueen: Iconic Moments from Jean Hürxkens on Vimeo.

We will also be dicsussing possible venues for the show tonight. Thinking about the format of various shows and their use of space will be part of this discussion. Here are a few videos to serve as fodder:

Alexander McQUeen's "Deliverance" (2004)

Alexander McQueen's "It's Only a Game" (2005)

Alexander McQueen's "Supercalifragilistic" (2002)
Alexander McQueen's "Please Sur" (2007)
Alexander McQueen's "Scanners" (2003)

Irenebriation

An excellent fashion/art blog worth visiting: http://irenebrination.typepad.com 

Mint Designs’ Hokuto Katsui and Nao Yagi denim-based collection.

Samuel Barsky, Sweater Artist

Chanukah (2001)

Sarah Konigsburg, a recent graduate of the MICA Fiber department organized an exhibition of the work of Samuel Barsky, a visionary knitter from Pikesville, a suburb of Baltimore. I had the great fortune to meet the artist at the opening last Thursday. I was deeply touched by his sincerity and enthusiasm and willingness to talk about his work. Photos of his sweaters, and the story of how he got started with knitting, are available on his website: http://colorknit.webs.com/aboutme.htm.  The sweaters are more amazing if you see them in person - good thing they are on display for the next month at Shapiro's cafe on Preston Street, right next to the OK Natural food store. I HIGHLY encourage you to visit!

Man on the Moon (2002)

London Bridge II (2002)

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