Friday, December 3, 2010

STITCH WITCHERY:

Finished re-mixing this (once-shoulder-padded, brass-buttoned, big front-pocketed 80's Shirt) dress into something more fitted. The former sleeves are now the two front panels. The skirt was lifted about 4" at the waist, and lost about 5" from the bottom.

sleeves become front panels (see cuff on right shoulder).

Thursday, December 2, 2010

hazy days, reds blues and greys

"Dollar Bill Blues"
 

In honor of all the reds and blues in this chilling air.
Once traveling in Brugge, a scarf gifted from Aunt Gaye, on it's 12th year of wear.  Z thinks in blue.
Anyone who's lived in cold weather will confirm: leggings (especially multiple layers of them) are so much warmer than jeans. Old pajama pants are even better. Meditation on Missoni. And Botched shot of E. Lee & L. Hadden.
Don't know where this photos from but it's amazing. We all need a cabin for the winter. I feel lucky I've got mine.

It's Hard to Be Luca all Day.











 















 



Clothing: Transformation or Delusion? 

As an undergraduate, I wrote my thesis on the intersection of fashion and art.

My research was filled with Benjamin, still one of my theory-heroes, who had quite a lot to say about woman's  interaction with fashion.
  Benjamin wrote:

 "by making the inorganic commodity itself the object of human desire. Fashion is the medium that "lures [sex] ever deeper into the inorganic world"—the "realm of dead things."  . . ."the dialectical switching station between woman and commodity—desire and dead body."
With its power to direct libidinal desire onto inorganic nature, fashion connects commodity fetishism with that sexual fetishism characteristic of modern eroticism, which "lowers the barriers between the organic and inorganic world." Just as the much-admired mannequin has detachable parts, so fashion encourages the fetishistic fragmentation of the living body. The modern woman (man) who allies (him)herself with fashion's newness in a struggle against natural decay represses her own productive power, mimics the mannequin, and enters history as a dead object, a "gaily decked-outcorpse."

When I first read this, I was a student—far removed from most commodity. Life was filled only with creation. I didn't have any television, only read Venus magazine, (Raygun and Sassy before it) and didn't shop in any mainstream stores, all my clothes came from my amazing aunt or were thrifted.

STILL—as preoccupied with clothing as I have always been—this thought has vexed me.
I DON'T want to enter history as the parody of the gaily decked out corpse.


I made a dress about this frightening trade Benjamin writes of (natural fecundity for that of a superficial allure / death.)

Death dress in gallery:


As the years have gone by, I think I've walked further up to the edge (maybe fallen over the line a few times) of that switching station.

Still, I believe firmly that clothing can be completely liberating, exonerating, enriching.

A friend of mine has a pre-K son who likes to come home and dress up as a football player some days, a cowboy others.
One day she said to him "Luca, please I need you to put back on your normal clothes so we can leave."

"But mom," he pleaded back to her, "It's just to hard to be Luca all day."

Isn't it? I think that's the power of clothing.

It can reinforce us, change our mood, find a hidden strength or inspiration. Not just in terms of fantasy, or escapism—but in experimenting, help you push a portions of your personality and personhood. And as easy as it is for that to lean toward the world of "deadly/superficial" things, I think it can also push us toward the world of the creative and the living.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

FOUND. this week in thrift.

Lately, I've been checking the thrift stores daily.

Sun Ra purse.

Wallet, (Lauren look out for Christmas!) came complete with some Canadian postage.

Way into the pleats.

Monday, November 29, 2010

The Intersection of Fashion and Art

A timeline I have had on my mind, as a reason, one of the reasons, for starting this blog. So that I can further think about, and further explore where art and clothing come together. But maybe this time also where they come together and actually help or influence daily life in a inspirational way.


Panel Dress — Intersection of Fashion and Art from Liz Tapp on Vimeo.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Goodbye Golden Light

Some golden summer memories as the light gets bluer around here. These colors are still inspiring me, and greens and golds are always very Autumn.
A song for the moment:





A photo I took of Golden Friends at a golden quarry. Pool-side summer digs. (Photo by Andrew Ciscel)
Beautiful contemporary dresses I found somewhere, and need reminding (they were my desktop all summer).
One GOLDEN wedding. (I feel lucky to have taken this.)