It Begins

Some Beauty Ideals in History - B.C

 

 

 

 

 

Hans Bellmer

  

One of the themes that Hans Bellmer explores is the idea of perversion. Inspired by Freudian concepts, Hans Bellmer explores his own sub-conscious and expresses them in a sculpture series of "young maidens."  His goal? "To construct an artificial girl with anatomical possibilities... capable of re-creating the heights of passion, even to inventing new desires." 

His work fascinates me for many reasons, especially in our post-modern society where we are constantly bombarded with images of ideal beauty and sexuality.  A brave (especially in his time - 1930s) and very personal approach to exploring the inner workings of our sub-conscious desires. 


His work inspires me to explore concepts of physical desire through stretch fabrics - I will start my exploration this week by using stretch fabrics to create illusions of anatomical modifications and will post my findings by the end of the week.

Body Modifications

Some inspirational photos considering body modifications to kick off my project research: 

The Karen tribe of Padaung, Thailand 

Photograph by Chris Rainier 

 Wounded Amazon Statue

In Greek mythology it is believed that Amazon women cut off one breast for improved archery skills.

 Scarification 

A technique among African tribes to mark passage into adulthood and considered aesthetically pleasing.

Knit Wits

Today in class with Feride, we explored knitting.  When I worked at Abercrombie, they put me in the sweaters department (I knew zip about knitting). While I picked up on the theory of it quickly, it was nice to finally learn about it in practice. Once we had the basics down, my classmate Jo and I turned martial arts sticks (basically broomsticks) into large knitting needles in the woodwork shop and used them to knit together long strips of Neoprene (kudos to Liz who kept this stuff since 1992).

Then I made some yarn out of an old T-shirt and knitted it together:

Before

After 

I plan to explore the idea of turning old T-shirts into knitting - perhaps in my millinery class I will explore knitting toques out of them.  I would also like to explore using old swimwear to create yarn for knitted bikinis.  This could be a good way to re-use old swimwear instead of taking them to the second hand shop (because that can be just gross...)

Brainstorming for Stretch It Project

I'm happy to say that the "Generic" portion of our stretchwear studio is done and I am handed in.  Not as happy with the outcomes as I could be, but surprised that it all came together in the end and I came to some interesting conclusions about the definition of generic garments.  I'm excited to see how it will affect the second half of studio that focuses on an open self directed project. 

Some ideas that I have been throwing around include:

1. Exploring the notion of the ideal body shape and emphasizing how unrealistic the standard can be.  It will include using different methods to over exaggerate the female ideal (ie. big breasts, small waist, etc.)

2. Still exploring the notion of the ideal but focusing on an alternate universe where the ideal is completely different than it is in our society.  This would include emphasizing unconventional silhouettes and exaggerating completely ridiculous body parts (belly button, one breast only, arms, neck, etc.) to come up with new silhouettes.

3. Focusing on the ostrich, an animal that inspired my eveningwear dress in 2nd year, exploring the its silhouette more extensively, its texture and personality.  

Outcome: Decorate or Integrate?

Decoration vs. Integration technical: 

 

Decoration vs. Integration toile: