"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!!