egon, meinen lieb!

translation: i heart egon schiele.

self portraits by schiele

i've been swamped, again.  (so goes fashion school finals), but here's a brief on one of my favorite expressionist painters and a quick flashback to when i was a fine arts student... ah the good ol' days of oil painting, screen printing, and live figure drawing.

i am enrolled in a fashion history class that fuses art with fashion.  PERFECT for me! and our final project? a presentation/paper on an inspiring artist with a mini-collection that fuses MY design with the ARTIST'S essence.  first thing i've been legitimately happy with since fall semester finals:

[SCHIELE SLIDESHOW COMING SOON]

A pioneer of the Expressionist painters, Egon Schiele created grotesquely beautiful renditions of the figure.  His stroke was both heavy and fluid, contrasting the realistic renderings of art prior.  Curving around the shapes of the body, the line ceased to delicately depict a subject, rather becoming at least as important as the figure itself.  Scheile’s understanding of the human figure allowed him to manipulate the traditional portrait into the ultimate expression of humanity.

Born in Tulln on the Danube, Austria, in 1890, Schiele was a child prodigy who sought the teaching of Gustav Klimt and attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.  Drawing inspiration from Art Nouveau and the Impressionism, Schiele produced twisted figures with underlying themes of existentialism, death, and sexuality.  The images were disturbing as the poses were foreshortened and unnatural.  The figures were frail, suffering from the hardships of the first World War.  He gained notoriety for his expressive style, dominant artistic talent, but also his pornographic imagery and underage models.  His erotic female nudes and barely-clothed figures depicted his wife, lovers, and coming-of-age girls summoned to his studio.  For this, he received much criticism, opposition, and even an arrest with almost a month in jail. 

Despite the controversy, Schiele managed to make a positive impression on early twentieth century art.  In his short life of twenty-eight years, Schiele produced over 3,000 pieces of stunning expression.  He and his wife both succumbed to the Spanish Influenza in 1918, making his large body of innovative work even more impressive.  With so much emotion sealed into such a young body, his heavy themes may have been too much to have sustained beyond his prime.

My own work has largely been figurative since I picked up a pencil, but my hand has always been delicate, precise, and noticeably feminine.  Through art school I was challenged by my professors, peers, and myself to make something “ugly”.  This deemed a near impossible feat, so I compromised with a contrast of “ugly” subject matter depicted in a soft and “pretty” style.  With this approach, I find Schiele to be a perfect source of inspiration.  I have taken his grotesque and provocative and interpreted it as lovely and delicate without losing his essence.  Many of his figures are shown in lingerie, so I also pulled elements of turn-of-the-century undergarments into my details and silhouettes.  The raw expressive line would be created by wires inserted in the seams of the garments, and the sheer organdies and organzas would reveal not only the construction of the garment, but also the frail figure underneath.  Asymmetry and heavy draping suggest undressing.  Though inspired by such a tragic artist, my garments should make the wearer feel beautiful and sensual rather than tasteless and destitute. 

mood board

my mini-collection

so there ya have it.  dark and twisted becomes my delicate fantasy.... i think i'm making the 2nd one from the left for my construction final! yay for having a summer romper just in time for school to get out!

"schiap" to the lou, my darlin'

i recently had to research the first avant garde designer, Elsa Schiaparelli.  mind you, this was the 1930's. ANCIENT, right??  i had no knowledge of her before, and little desire to research.  but i'm SO inspired from all the time i spent looking at her work.  here's a sampling of some of her more well-known pieces, juxtaposed with the inspiration for each:

Schiap's Lobster Dress vs. Salvador Dali's Lobster Telephone

Schiap's Famous "Bow" Sweater and her Portrait

Schiap's Skeleton Dress vs. Man Ray's Nude

Schiap's Embroidered Blazer vs. Jean Cocteau's Drawing

Schiap's Fingernail Gloves vs. Man Ray's Hand Photo

And naturally we have to compare for the latter half of the century, aka decades in which we were actually present:

So now you know a little bit more.  I could post the actual report, but who wants to read when you can just look!?  So fascinatingly original.  i don't particularly think i would buy or wear many of her things, but they are genuinely works of art, not just clothes.  (AND she's the reason HOT PINK exists. fabulous contribution, right?  i'm a pink HATER and i still lovelovelove hot pink.)

the little assignment that could

first assignment is ALWAYS a momentous occasion for me, the over-achiever.
i read it over. i ask the teacher questions. i research. i over-analyze and over-work (these are bad things).  i belabor the project until i am running on no sleep, little food, and a hint of too much confidence, only to present it and be completely ripped apart.


i should have known this was coming.
the actual assignment was to create an artist's book.  basically, this is just a book with no words. only images and ideas.  it was to be centered on our interpretations of this concept: 

'women who lunch, women who punch'

really!?!? alright, so that's probably a business woman, a dominatrix, a woman born into high class, or a working woman.

or in my opinion, a mean girl. (maybe i've seen the movie too many times??)

so my concept was to represent the prim+proper female with a dainty teacup on pink paper.  the backgrounds of the cutout teacups are photos i took of ugly or dumb things, like trash, jagged rocks, spotty concrete, etc.

the x's and o's are like offensive game plan diagrams... one group of mean girls with a target.

the "girls" are identified by the silver over-layed line-drawings.

the only requirements besides the concept? 20 pages. use front and back. no internet imagery.

i used pink paper with hand-scalloped edges, doily stencils, actual doilies, acetate pages, acrylic paint, hand-cut teacup silhouettes, sharpie, and my printer. viola:

this is B+ work (growl).  i spent FOREVER, but i can see now that my concept was not communicated well.  my over-conceptualization and simplicity are not what a customer, or even an average audience, would understand.  the other books produced for this class made a lot more sense, even if i had spent way too long cutting, drawing, photographing, and painting. lesson learned.

we had to re-do it in a more refined format.  mine specifically needed to be more clear, and this project had to be done in photoshop, a folded book, stapled together in the middle, using 81/2"x11" paper.

the first image is the cover, front then back. (each page is split because the book was folded. had to work with figuring out sequence for print layout, but this is how it looks if you just see the book)

the rest of the images are two-page spreads.  the girls were googled vintage dolly dingle dolls. love them.

the photography is still mine.  the doily was also googled. lots and lots of photoshop!! it's printed on pink paper, but these are the actual photoshop files.

this version was much clearer and received more positive responses. yay!! i'm understanding how to make my art readable!!

welcome to the school that never sleeps!

that was the main point of my orientation lecture today.
i was one face in a sea of optimistic, naively-confident, wannabe-designer faces.
ironically, i've never felt less self-assured.


back home i always felt confident in my wardrobe and modestly happy with my appearance.  i sought to have presence in every room, self-affirming my potential fashion design abilities.
back home, it was clear i needed to pursue fashion.

skyline from battery park, 03.10

back home is the humble south, and honey, NYC is nothing. like. that.

photo-cred: boyfriend, 03.10

you know those rumors about fashion school? like all the girls are bitchy? spoiled? and dress like a poodle who collided with a shredder while wearing a biker jacket?  i'm here to refute these theories.

you know those rumors about fashion students working through the night for weeks on end? vying for the most lofty internships only to be punished by an overbearing fashion guru who makes you run coffee errands and massage her feet? desperately trying to keep up with the industry's lightning-speed evolution so we aren't ignored and wasting the 40K we dropped on tuition?  i'm here to validate these theories.

times square from empire st. 03.10

new york is a dazzlingly beautiful place--but it's like one a venus fly trap for the fashion hopefuls.  It's the place that makes things happen, right? we can't resist the glamour, the people, the resources, but it comes with a very sharp bite.  these are my writings (and means) of survival, the avoidance of being eaten alive by the very thing i want the most.


{commence cheesy end-note} buckle up! it's about to be a bumpy ride!