Sigh...

More fashion porn from the fabulous Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. Enjoy.

My Favorite Person of the Day

My darling Becky. I am now closer to making peace with Halloween.

Urban Inspiration

Every time I visit a city, new or old, near or far, I perceive it as if I might live there some day (I mean, why not?). I think it's because of this that the first places I seek out are farmer's markets, used bookstores, coffee shops that pull their own shots, and all the other things that make me the artsy urban cliche I am. I try to see where I would and could fit in, how much my purple coat sticks out in the crowd.

I have an upcoming project with the fabulous Theatre Mir that deals with urban environments and development. Thus, I am presenting the question; in what ways does a city's architecture (literal and figurative) create its own unique style? There's the obvious elemental concerns (everyone in Chicago owns a parka and rain boots). Then there's the... edginess of New York? preppy-ness of Boston? showiness of Nashville? I don't have an answer, but I've been searching for throughlines of fashion and architecture. The photo above is a fence on the Upper East Side that would translate beautifully to a textile pattern. I'm going to start collecting more of these images...

Full disclosure: I'm wearing a vest and blogging at a coffeeshop in Cambridge, Mass. I need to stop now. 

A Toast to St. Catherine!

I'll be there celebrating, will you?

(St. Catherine is the patron saint of milliners!)

Judgment Day

Today was my first day of shooting for my first film. Nervous, exciting, all that. We're filming a portion set in the Civil War (like the research I posted) and we're using reenactors as extras. These guys seriously know their stuff. In the costume world, lack of time always forces one to fake it, and it usually goes unnoticed. Reenactors notice, reenactors know.

Often in the industry, we have a historical costume that is put on a modern actor (not used to wearing it) to present to a modern audience (not used to seeing it) and they have to safely do cartwheels through the aisle. Clearly, we have to sacrifice the authentic for the functional and aesthetic. Reenactment folks bring a whole new level of authenticity to the table. They special order historically accurate fabrics. One gentleman hand stitches all of this own garments. They know every date, battle, button and they have guns. I was terrified. 

I was met with appraising eyes, I got lots of criticism, and a few compliments (whew). It was a long day with plenty of waiting around, so I asked questions and got lectures and lessons about... everything. Even if my costumes (ahem... period dress) didn't quite win them over, I think I did. It was kind of wonderful having authorities on site to help make choices and give input. At the end of the day, I had a deeper respect for the reenactment community. And on my way out, one kind soul said, "Ya know, I could never deal with actors and run around all day with a smile, I think you're pretty good at faking it." Victory! 

A Little DIY Humor

I'm all for the DIY movement, though I've only stuck my feet in the proverbial pool. Although, there's this weird tension between DIY folks and old-school craftspeople, and being a little bit of both can be a bit awkward. Now, I'm an equal-opportunity critic, but my biggest beef with the DIY community is taking themselves too seriously (it's on par with self-righteous bicyclists). Again, I dig DIY (AND ride a bike), but you can't tell me you're a serious crafter because you knit and felt vaginas or screenprint owls with umbrellas on aprons. It's all adorable, clever and fun, but let's keep a little humor about this, eh? 

http://www.regretsy.com/

An Excellent Idea

Think about all those empty storefronts on Chicago Avenue and so many artkids to fill them...

Check it out.

Almost here...

It's true, a lot of costume folk roll their eyes at Halloween, I do too. It's hard explaining to your friends why you can't magically produce four adult-size bar-friendly Ninja Turtle costumes in an hour for $5. And JoAnn Fabrics? Forget it. 

However, working with children more and more has helped my Halloween-Scrooge attitude. In fact, making costumes for kids is now one of my favorite things ever. Here are the rough sketches for a couple of current projects. 

The Best Part!

I have a confession to make... not only is my job cooler than yours, but it's way nerdier. See, the art and fashion part is all a cover-up for the research part. Sigh. The point of the pie, the cheesiest chip. You find yourself looking for and really needing strange specific little bits. Sometimes I can badger friends and strangers (what bands did you listen to in high school? what do you wear on high holy days?). Sometimes, I'm Googling and flipping through every book in desperation (a 1930s Hungarian postal worker? French turn-of-the-century chambermaids?). It's fantastic, and I could do it forever. 

I'm getting things together to work on my first film project (!) and I keep finding these great photos. The project is partially set in the Civil War, and I'm finding the research to be well-documented and plentiful (sadly, wars lead to good research). How often do you see snapshots of Lincoln?