The Ragtime Collection

I am rather frustrated with my Illustration teacher because our midterm project has suddenly become Marketing 101. The assignment:  To create a six-piece line of clothing, describe my target client, make an inspiration board, draw six figures modeling the clothes, tell what fabrics they’re made of, and then sell it to the class as if they were a company that we wanted to produce our line. 

In the first place, this is an Illustration class, not a marketing class.  I even looked in the school catalog to see if I’d missed something somehow. Nope. So did we learn any of this stuff (besides the drawing) in this class? NO. 

In the second place, it has never been my intent to create a line and market it.  If I work in this silly field at all it will be from home, advertised by word of mouth, and for a more personal clientele who come to me to do alterations, make patterns for them, or make them something special. So does this assignment really have anything to do with my goals?  NO.

After wracking my brain for two weeks I finally thought I’d re-draw and use my Maple Leaf Rag dress that I designed clear back in Intro to Fashion, and create an entire “Ragtime Collection” of dresses. My wealthy clients (hey, this is all fiction anyway!) are going to use these dresses at a “100 Years of Scott Joplin” pops gala.  I scrounged up ideas for three more formal, prom-type dresses, to sell to this high-class, wealthy market, and I figured I could probably scrape my brain and come up with another two. 

That is not good enough for my art teacher.  I have to "flesh out" my target clients, and make the clothes marketable to several people rather than something for a one-time occasion. (“Tell why this music inspires you,” she prompts me.  Hmm. Joplin is fun, but not inspiring.  In fact, his music has been jangling in my head since I decided to do this “line” and it’s really annoying me.)  Since I can’t figure out how to make this collection work, or how to market it to people who may have never heard of Scott Joplin (although they have undoubtedly heard some of his music) I pretty much have to figure out an entirely different line of clothing.  So right now I'm feeling like the miller's daughter, being told to spin a room full of straw into gold.

I am very put out about the whole thing and have decided to rebel slightly and make the assignment suit me.  Here’s what I think I will do/say for my presentation:

“A few weeks ago I was visited by a woman in her late sixties or early seventies. She was very gracious and lady-like.  I learned that she is a patron of the arts; every year she buys season tickets to the symphony and the opera, and often has season tickets to the ballet as well.  She plays the piano herself, and has even taught some lessons when her children were little.  She is well-educated and enjoys art exhibits and classic literature, from  Grimm’s Fairy Tales to Shakespeare to Hemingway. She has traveled quite a bit.

Her family donates substantially to various charities, including the building of hospitals and college facilities. Because of their passion for the arts they also donate to funds to keep them going.  She is good friends with people who sit on the board of directors for the symphony, opera, ballet, etc....

“She has a fourteen year old granddaughter who is fighting cancer, and so she is planning a big fundraiser for children’s cancer research.  (Currently only about —% of funds raised go specifically to children’s cancer research.)

“She has seen how much her children and grandchildren have loved the music of Scott Joplin when she has played it for them on the piano; it is fun music.  Knowing that it will be the 100-year anniversary of Scott Joplin's music, she—with the help of some high-up friends in the symphony—has organized a Joplin festival for September of 2013 (because September is Children’s Cancer Awareness Month). Rather than using the full symphony orchestra, about 25 members have agreed to donate their time to play some of  Joplin’s ragtime music at a “Pops” evening gala.  She is also considering hiring a group called “The Ragtime Dancers” to entertain, and maybe even teach a few steps to the audience. Tickets for this special event are being offered to season-ticket holders in all classical arts venues. The word will also be spread on classical radio stations, and through newspaper and private advertising.

“The granddaughter loves beautiful, formal gowns and so, at the gala, they are also going to show about six different dresses and sell them through a silent auction. All profits from the tickets, the sale of the gowns, and hopefully more private donations, will go toward children’s cancer research.

“As you can guess, the gowns are where I fit into the event.” 

(This is when I will show my “inspiration board,” which, with permission, will include a picture of my real friend and her son.)

“The client heard of me through my friend Wendy whose son Matthew is also fighting cancer.  Wendy knows the client’s daughter and granddaughter through a cancer-mom support group. When she heard of Grandma’s fundraising plans, she gave them my name as a custom dressmaker.

Maple Leaf Rag

“My client came to me to see what kind of ideas I might have. With the key elements of: Scott Joplin, September, and children’s cancer funding in mind, I thought of making dresses named for Joplin’s rags, and also using some gold in each one because gold ribbons are the symbol for children’s cancer awareness (like pink ribbons are for breast cancer). I created my first illustration for Joplin’s famous Maple Leaf Rag.  She loved it and asked me to make all six pieces.

“The elements that tie my line together are Scott Joplin and gold. So now I would like to present my Ragtime Collectionto you.”

At this point (after my whole moving and very fictitious story) I will show my dress illustrations.  What do you think?

Front Porch

As you all know, I have succumbed to facebook. It is all right for posting short, little blurbs; I still prefer my blog for the sharing of my deep thoughts and all my fabulousness with you.  But I am not here to talk about facebook.  Rather, I'm going to share a thought that was sparked by something I read on facebook.  Ready?

Our ward Relief Society has a facebook page.  It's a great way to keep us all informed on upcoming events, and in touch with each other. In a way.  A few days ago I read this:

"Everyone keeps posting that they are sticking things on the porch for the taking... i think i should just start driving the neighborhood and taking anything i see sitting on peoples porches :)"

Seems all right, huh? I know what she's talking about.  I, myself, took advantage of some garden-ripe cherry tomatoes that Heather left on her porch. I posted some things that I was willing to share, too—although I didn't leave them on my porch (it was baby clothes). And that's what I'm thinking about . . . the front porch thing.

I am incredibly guilty of never leaving my house or visiting with people.  I can be very content inside my house—cleaning, cooking, working on my latest hobby fetish—all day long, with maybe only a short trip to the library to break things up. But I do like people and have thought that I'd like to know my neighbors better.

See, it used to be that your front porch was the portal to your house. You didn't sneak in through the garage.  People who were out and about might say hello to you as you were coming and going.  Now you might give, or get, a finger-waggle from your neighbor if you both happen to be in your cars at the same time.  You used to sit on the front porch (which stood more forward than your garage, back in the day), and watch your kids play in the yard. And if people happened by you'd at least say hello; if it was a near neighbor or a friend you might invite them up to your porch, or go down and visit with them.

So this facebook sharing-our-stuff-with-our-friends thing really is great; it's pretty cool that you can toss off a quick post and let them know you have something they might like and are welcome to have.  But maybe just leaving it on the front porch for them to pick up at their convenience . . . well, it is convenient, but it's also kind of . . . sterile. Impersonal.

I understand.  We are all afraid to impose on one another. Maybe if Heather had posted that she had ripe tomatoes up for the grabbing, and anyone could come knock on her door between this time and that time, then maybe no one would have gone for them. I might not have. But then aren't we missing out on something?  The tomatoes were delicious. But the opportunity to chat a little—maybe learn a tiny something new about each other, to get to say "thank you" in person, have some human contact . . . these are all delicious too, aren't they?

6000 Views

Check it out:

I went to read a comment on one of my posts, and my homepage said I've had 6000 views.  That's an average of 1300 people looking at my blog each year. (And, no, 1259 of those pageviews are not just me looking at my own blog.  I told it not to count me!)

So thanks for reading!

The Weird, Weird World of Fashion

Look at these pictures:

model 1

model 2

model 1

model 2

At least one of these models is a guy.  Do you think it's model 1 (black hair), model 2 (blonde), or both?

I will reveal the answer in the comments.  But, in the meantime, let me tell you that fashion is a very weird and distorted world.

On the first day of my Fashion Illustration class I learned that the fashion croquis is drawn twenty-five percent taller than a real human being (ten heads tall instead of eight heads). I am getting the hang of drawing these alien creatures, and it's pretty fun. Last week we started drawing male croquis' as well (they are actually closer to real proportions). Out of curiosity, just the other day I printed a photo of Cary Grant and measured the height of his head and compared that with the height of the rest of his body. 

Mr. Grant is eight heads tall.

If he is eight heads tall (and he is), then even the eight-head woman of the regular art world (not fashion art)  is still pretty tall.

Besides being ridiculously stretched-out and super long-legged, a ten-head croquis is also drawn much thinner than a "regular person." Well, maybe she's as thin as a regular size six woman who's been stretched out to be 25% taller. My illustration teacher explains that this is because a croquis is really just a hanger on which to show off your designs.  "Anything will look good on this figure, so it's really fun to design for them," she says.

This is true.  It is fun to design for a croquis, because you can make anything look good on them. But when she explained that to us I couldn't help thinking that the idea was totally wrong.  If you can make anything look good on a croquis figure, then wouldn't it make more sense to take a little bit of a challenge and design things that would look good on real women?  Shouldn't we design, illustrate, and make clothing that the average woman would actually wear—would actually want to wear—and would look and feel great in?

No. That is not how it's done.

It seems to me that, in fashion, you basically have some brilliantly creative people (and, yeah, some who are just strange) who take the easy road of creating designs that will only look fabulous when worn by "stick-figures with poufy lips." (Edna Mode, The Incredibles) And then they have to find the tallest, thinnest women they can get to parade and, hopefully, sell their fashions, creating new ideals of beauty for all women . . . ideals like "heroin-chic."

Well now I've learned that these super-skinny women are still not thin enough, small-hipped enough, or flat-chested enough to satisfy the industry. Nope. For at least a couple years top designers have been turning to skinny young men to model their women's designs. The fashion world loves these models, even calling them "the most beautiful [women] in the world."

Wow. So women aren't even woman enough to wear women's fashions.

I find this rather offensive. Why don't they call it what it is and design evening gowns for boys? Or, better yet, why don't these people design real clothes—beautiful, stylish things—to serve the real woman instead of idolizing their own phony art form?

Illustration Homework

This is my latest piece of homework for my Illustration class. I wish my pictures would scan better—the scanner kills some of the shading. But he was about six hours of work, and I am rather proud of him! :-)

Whaddaya think?

Renaissance Girl

What do these two pictures have in common?

(It looks like these two ladies are looking at this young woman and wondering why she is dressed like a man.)

I will tell you what they have in common.  Isn't that good of me?

I have been learning about Renaissance costume in school and I had to make a contemporary, viable design based on an element of Renaissance fashion. Even though I had a pretty good speech planned out in my head, and a few notes to work from, my presentation only lasted about 30 seconds.  At most.  I probably said about an eighth of what I'd thought of. (Note to self:  write down your presentation.) Still, I got a perfect score and lots of really good comments. 

Anyway, this is how my presentation should have gone:

This painting (below) called "Two Courtesans," was made by Vittore Carpaccio who lived during the Renaissance period from 1465 to 1525. You can see this painting in the Museo Correr in Venice, Italy. Judging from their dress, which appears to be velvet and is embellished with embroidery and pearls, these are two wealthy women.  I'd like to draw your attention to their sleeves.  You will see that the sleeves have slashings in them, which means that they have open areas in the outer dresses where they could show off their beautiful, fine camicias (or chemises). As a display of wealth and power they would pull the camicia through the slashing and puff it out so that people could see all of their finery.

My Renaissance Girl (below) wears an ocean-blue tunic with slashed sleeves.  The slashing is emphasized by goldenrod trim and rusty-pumpkin ties; she wears a goldenrod belt with a gold flower-designed buckle.  You can see her shirt—which is made of heavy, crocheted lace in coffee color—through the slashings in the tunic sleeves.  She completes her outfit with rusty-pumpkin leggings and slouchy suede boots in goldenrod.

So now you've been educated a little in Renaissance fashion.  As I said, I got lots of really positive comments on my design, and even on my very short presentation. Someone was impressed that I used the same color palette as the painting, but not the exact same colors (unintentional); the teacher liked how my sleeves echoed the drape of the handkerchief in the hand of one of the women (completely unintentional!). They gave me credit for more smarts than I really used.

I am quite pleased with my drawing.  This is the first time I've tried to make a croquis in color with some detail/shading in her face.  (In fact, this is the first time I've drawn my own croquis; usually I just trace one and draw my design onto it.) I'm not excited by the bumpy crayola look of the pencils, but next week in Illustration we are learning about using color, so maybe I'll find out how to smooth that out.

School is going pretty well this semester!