As an illustrator, I love collaging patterned papers together to dress my characters. Why should my fibers fashions be any different?The beginning of my fashion design journey, started with costuming. My enthusiasm for costuming was fueled by attending anime conventions and wanting to dress up like certain video game or anime characters (cosplay). As my skills grew, my desire for creating original designs grew with it. A few years after I discovered cosplay, I stumbled into the world of Elegant Gothic Lolita, which is a subculture fashion trend in Japan. I religiously searched the web for any and all examples of this newfound love and discovered other Japanese fashions, ones I loved just as much if not more than EGL.
I delved deeper and deeper into the fashion trend, but I never found my niche. After exhausting myself in the rigid and strict rules of Lolita design, I exploded. In order to free my mind from the structure of my EGL designs, I tore apart a yard of red velvet and collaged it onto my dress form. I wanted to be free of patterns and embrace raw edges; I wanted to be as far from Lolita as possible. I wish it had been that easy. After fussing with my ‘dress collage’ for weeks, I was so frustrated I put it aside. A month went by, two months, three, six. It loomed over me, taunting me on my dress form. I refused to make anything new until I had conquered this ‘Red Beast’. (Yes, I had named it so, and it still retains the title.)
I had had it. The Red Beast had kept me at bay for too long. The next few weeks were spent battling with the voice in fashion that I was so driven to discover, and it was embodied in a red velvet dress. I never felt completely victorious over my Red Beast; I blame that on my perfectionist nature. It didn’t turn out exactly as I had envisioned, but we now have a working, even friendly relationship. I no longer try to control the Red Beast’s ‘look’; instead I let myself be influenced by it’s ‘Unrefined’ nature.
Now I look for new materials that inspire me to cut up and collage together for my line of Unrefined.
The picture is great. It gives a sense of your personality and your art. I like the recounting of your progression through various fashion stages, but it might be a little long and too detailed. I really like the story of the Red Beast, which is a strong visual metaphor. I was a little confused by your opening reference, "As an illustrator...", because the rest of the artist statement does not deal with illustration, but with fashion design. I might remove the reference to illustration in the opening sentence. I found it very interesting to read about your passion, especially since I am so unfamiliar with this field.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the background story you wrote-- I think it explains your reasoning and passion behind your art so well, which makes the art itself, I think, even more interesting. I also love how apparent your drive is to make art. It reminded me a bit of the movie we watched earlier about the wire-walker. I think it's great that you can convey that through an artist statement.
ReplyDeleteI love the color of this dress... Bold, beckoning... It may not have been what you envisioned, but it is "a statement without words". Reminds me of a restless day, when you get fed up and just venture to do something different and out of your "ordinary"... Well done...
ReplyDeleteI can also be found at my papercutting site... http://daysease.blogspot.com/ Have a great day...
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