29/3/13

As I try to get my head together and put some effort into this blog, I've been starting to think about how we think about fashion as a society. Fashion seems to be treated as the frivolous, superficial artform and hardly has any sort of intellectual critique, at least not in the mainstream media. Maybe becasue of the inherent commerciality of fashion as an industry: magazines dare not critique a designer that has paid huge amounts to advertise with them and it seems there are more and more fashion bloggers that are 'sponsored' to wear 'x' label head to toe and yet don't disclose that they are being paid to do so (smidge unethical?). I wanted to see fashion blogs (and write one) that was connected with the original intention of fashion blogging- to be a real person showing real fashion in a personal way and discussing it as a form of expression just as valid as art. In studying art history, it's becoming more and more evident to me how similar art and fashion are in terms of the the way they are influenced and influence. Fashion is essentially one of the most basic, human forms of expression that becomes a part of our body and how we are perceived: it communicates to others about you more easily than a painting of yours on a wall yet people dismiss it so easily.

This has all been buzzing around in my mind for a while now but came to a head when I met curator Alison Kubler at the Gregory Crewdson exhibition at IMA and I of course gushed about how she inspired me to get into art history. She gave me some advice, told me to try and get into fashion and that there will eventually be a huge demand for curators who can talk about art and fashion on the same level, so here goes nothing.

I'll finish with some quotes and links that put what I'm thinking into words much more eloquently than I could:

"...much of the fashion content published is dominated by celebrity and consumer driven stories that bank off the entertainment value of fashion while doing little to enlighten readers about its intricacies and creative nature."-- Gisela Aguilar for http://www.fashionprojects.org/

Amazing fashion writer for Bullett Magazine, Fiona Duncan

Another Magazine's "An Intellectual Fashion"

And some blogs/bloggers I'm really into at the moment:

THE DOPPLEGANGER 

Leslie Ashton Bloomfield particularly the "Webcam Blogging Manifesto" and she did have a blog that I was going to link but it's disappeared?! it's jellybones.net/blog (maybe hosting issues idk)

26/3/13

21/3/13- I'm a big girl

off to uni. (it took me ages to take this because I kept falling over)

I've been trying to plan a post for about a week now but it will be more of a rant/analytical/writing thing so I want to make sure it's coherent before I post it... l8r sk8r

12/3/13- CLAVICLE p.2

Satisfied my geometric/industrial/céline jewellery craving:

Obviously inspired by Love Aesthetics: the tag said it was an 'Oschin 15mm brass socket' and it is a surprisingly comfy fit, also looks kind of cool on a necklace. The girl at the hardware gave me the weirdest look when I said I was looking for 'brassy/goldy plumbing bits.' #thestruggleisreal but worth it for about $2.50

from Creative Treasures in Wynnum which is a really cool 'everything' shop with vintage clothes, jewellery, books, records and new, handmade market type items. It reminds me of a snake's skeleton or fish scales or even barbed wire. I've never seen anything like it before and it sits really high like a choker. ($12)

Ok I know this is hardly a DIY post but this is how I tried to recreate the Céline style choker:

-bought gold wire necklace from bead shop ($4.50) and wooden bead ($0.60)

-didn't check to see if bead would actually fit on the wire (it didn't)

-drilled a slightly bigger hole in the bead

-sanded bead and painted black (and gave it a coat of clear nail polish, I don't know if this is essential but I was worried about it coming off my on my skin)

-combined the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and voila 

9/3/13- fringed

// asos

I never thought I'd buy a fringed bag but this one ~spoke to me~. It's perfect for uni and has a detachable longer strap which is handy. 

8/3/13- CLAVICLE

Lately I've started thinking about jewellery. I don't like most jewellery, especially the cheap stuff that all looks the same and and is often covered in rhinestones or neon. I like the idea of using jewellery as frame, after all an accessory is, 'a thing that can be added to something else in order to make it more useful, versatile or attractive.' I like jewellery that frames my body well and creates a sense of symmetry and balance- i.e. this:

I love how the shorter necklace sits perfectly at the dinty-inny-bit (what's it called?) between my collar bones and the longer necklace comes down right where my collarbones are visible and it makes me feel like it 'fits me'? (p.s. would now be a good time to plug my instagram?)

Here are some styles that I'm obsessed with that fit with my search for simple, modern and geometric jewellery:

I love the height of these chokers, that the ball/circle sits so perfectly on the neck (especially in the first picture).

For a long time I've been following Love Aesthetics, a very clean, simple and minimalist blog and I was inspired by Ivania's ability to combine select designer pieces, thrifted and vintage finds and her own homemade DIY projects. So I thought I'd give this DIY thing a go and try and re-create the minimalist jewellery look, on a budget. Stay tuned, in a few days I should have done some experimenting and have a DIY post up.

Images via style.com, Brook&Lyn and Love Aesthetics.