Visual Verbs

    In the Attire syntax verbs phrases are of course a constant presence.  Every set of pieces that make up a full ensemble from top to toe contains one or more items that establish the action, whether passive or active, that is being expressed.  In a single outfit, there is a garment, and occasionally an accessory that explains to the viewer what the wearer is doing, thinking or feeling.
    So, here are a number of visual examples, with some explanation of what I believe to be the verb in play in each case.  Feel free to disagree if you want to, of course, we are all making our way together through this morass of symbols.
    I will start with one that is less obvious than you may think.  Nope, its not the skin tight dress that is the verb here.  Posed and accessorized differently, the dress though snug, would not inevitably read as it does here.  In fact, what is the operative verb is her hairstyle.  Everything about that particular style states, "I am on the prowl"  It wouldn't matter how she was otherwise attired, the hair would still be making that same remark.

 
    Next Kaiser Wilhelm the First in a portrait by Anton von Werner.  Again it is not the obvious thing that is the action word in this statement of temporal power. Sure, you could look at this and say, its the whole schmegeggie that is the verb, but in fact, its just that very "pointedly" positioned sword. Without that sword he is just another man in a uniform bedecked with medals.  When that accessory comes into play, it is motive.  At once we see that he is "seeking to dominate".  Don't believe me?  Put your hand over the lower half of the image and see how it changes tone.

    One of the more notorious women of the 19th century was the Comtesse De Castiglione, mistress to Napoleon III.  She was known for her sartorial extravagances.  Here it is that vast dress that is the verb in her statement.  What is the sentence?  "I enjoy obvious wealth and opulence".

    Kayne West here.  The verb phrase is that fur coat.  What do you think is the pronounced statement?  Is it "I thumb my nose at political correctness"?  "I revel in sensual display"? "I desire you to know how wealthy I am"?

    This delightful young woman is my next example.  The verb in action here?  That jacket, of course. In this case, everything about what she is wearing is supporting the "I love having fun" verb phrase that is that jacket.

     Our next observed person is this young man.  His verb?  Those unusual shorts which look almost like a skirt. In this situation, the verb phrase is a more subtle, complex one about having no interest in the past or in societal notions of normality.

     For my last example of the verb phrase concept, this unabashedly stylish woman.  In this case, there is no clear winner in the the verb category.  Her ensemble is so well balanced in its individual elements, even to the hairstyle and glasses that the entirety becomes the verb phrase, "I am".

    There are many instances where the verb is not clearly self defined, particularly when we are dressed in some sort of professional gear or uniform, then our own choices become subordinated to a degree to the symbol of the profession or group.  I will delve into that aspect another day.
  For now though, have fun looking about and trying to suss out the verbs  being worn around you.

SHUZ!

    Over the time I've been doing this blog, I've amassed so many images that I've squirreled away that really do deserve some time in the sun.  So, this is sort of a scatter post, but its all about footwear.
    Human beings seem hard wired to create some pretty extreme, bizarre, and often sculpturally beautiful ways to cover our tootsies.
    These gold leather football sport shoes were designed and made by Adidas in 1959, as a pair of footwear they are remarkable since the notion of wearing metallic gold leather on a ball field seems odd to say the least, but they are kinda fabulous.  I'd totally wear these, sans cleats, of course.

    Wooden sandals like these Charana Padukas come from India and were commonly worn by mystics, and holy men, while on pilgrimage  The knob is clenched between the big toe and the next.

    These shoes are from 19th century China.  They are made of silk, with silk embroidery and a wooden center mounted platform, used to allow the robes to fall with more length and grace. Clearly, whoever wore shoes of this sort was wealthy and had servants, since walking in these must have been a slow, perilous process.

    The 18th century in Europe had shoes that were, at least, a bit more realistic of use.  These green brocade shoes are embellished with gold lace and have a pair of pattens to protect them from street muck, and dampness.  The only thing missing from these shoes are the buckles, which were at this point, not attached to shoes. They were purchased separately, and used for many pairs, since the buckles were often very expensive indeed.

    Scrolling back a century we find these English shoes, with attached pattens. The heels and toes are far higher, and longer than their followers of a century hence.  White silk over a leather foundation, trimmed with metallic lace and braid.  They must have been a bear to walk in considering that the patten is not flexible in the least.

    In one of his final collections, Alexander McQueen introduced the Armadillo shoe.  This version in beige leather with Swarovski crystals and beadwork re-invents the shape of the foot entirely.  Evidently they were hideously dangerous to wear, and more than one model took a header in them.

    I'm including these shoes from 1885 because they are just flat out beautiful. The ribbon decoration is unique, and lovely.

    These strange creations were a tradition for weddings in France for 4 centuries.  The bride wore these amazing things of wood and metal.  At least they don't look dangerous to wear.

    And as a final entry here, these are called Nalins and they were worn in the Middle East from the 14th through the 17th centuries.  Made from wood and inlaid with mother of pearl they frequently topped out a foot in height.  The strap of leather was usually heavily decorated with silver, and chains and fringes of metal beads hung from the sides, sometimes all the way to the ground.  Like most versions of this sort of footwear, height from the ground was closely connected to social position.

     Okay, so one more, just cause they are fab.  These shoes are from the 20s and are made of a metallic brocade and gold kid leather.  Serious shoe porn.

Thass all fer now!

The Business Of Life,...

More Stuff!

    In response to folk who wanted to see more of my work, here's another plate of various things.
    To start off, here are some interesting process shots which show the progression of the embroidery work for a piece I called "Rune Collar" which I did for a client many years back.  Stretched on a  24 inch hoop the white linen base fabric has the design drawn on it.  The framework for the collar is gold cord which was couched into place.  Then each rune gets a padding of cord to give it extra dimension. Once that is done, the rune is embroidered by couching rayon cord into place.  Then the background for each section is covered with cupped sequins worked face down to create a slightly padded look. The whole collar was finished with the bead swags and antique crescent moon sequins, which was worked separately and added at the end.

    Here's a sketch of a period piece I did for a wedding.  The bride wore this off white and white floral brocade dress with knife pleated insets and bias ruffles.  Her corset was made by a company here in SF first so that measuring and fitting would be accurate.

    I did this costume for a friend who was at the time a member of the SCA.  Here's the sketch, and the finished work.

    I called this piece, "Sanguine"  Its glass pebbles, normally used in floral arrangements attached to a piece of red leather.  I thought it was deliciously wicked looking.

    Here's something I've never actually built, though I'd love to get the chance one day.

    This piece is called "Joy Mandala".  It' embroidered with wood, glass, plastic and metal beads, stampings, and sequins.  It took roughly 80 hours to complete.  It makes me smile, each time I see it, which was naturally, the point.

    Here's client of mine in a fantasy costume I did for him. He wanted to be a sexy god.  He said I got the job done.  Structurally it took no time at all.  The vast majority of the time involved was the embellishment work.

    And to finish up for now, a little something I put together for myself for Halloween.  Does he love color? Um yeah, he does.

Scatter# 7

    Girls and Boys, its time for our weekly dose of random stuff.
    I want to start out with this intense image of Elizabeth Taylor from Cleopatra.  Its of interest to me for how Hollywood twists our perceptions of history, by making the realities of it conform to our hopeful wishes of it, and whatever our current cultural norms are.  In this case, though there are some references to the period and place in her attire, she is mostly a resolutely 1960's woman.  Really the part of her apparel that gets closest to accuracy is the arm band, but even that is subtly tweaked to conform to the needs of cinema, and the 60s.  Her dress is by style, fabric and construction, wrong in every respect, her wig, gives a nod to the culture, but doesn't go all the way, and though her make up references, in particular the bust of Nefertiti, it really owes more to the Mods of London than the Upper Kingdom.

    Second on my list of delights is this beautifully etched and formed cuirass.  Made of steel, with brass joining studs, it is not only wonderfully well crafted, but I am also intrigued by the dissonance of having an iconic image of maternal love and support emblazoned on the front of something dedicated to violence and warcraft.  In our Attire language we frequently use contradictory terms. This is a perfect example.

    Before our culture became globalized, every nation, and frequently areas of nations, had versions of the common mode that distinguished them from each other to a degree. This Robe a la Francais from 1765 is of English make.  The clearest, easiest way to identify it as such is that the English eschewed a great deal of the extra embellishments that were commonplace in both France and Italy at the time. Where the robings would appear, (at the edge of the gown that faces the stomacher and continuing down to the hem on either side of the center front opening), is in this case entirely devoid of trimmings.  The dominant decorative detail is the stomacher itself, which is restrained as well, having no embellishments on the brocade fabric in use.

    This picture is an advert from Zink and Sons Tailors in Sydney, Australia.  I'm mentioning it here because it shows an interesting shift in how menswear is marketed, and how male models are staged to interact. In particular the intent gaze of the fellow being fitted for his jacket is a change from the utterly disconnected way that menswear was presented in advertizing prior to the 21st century.  Is that anger, frustration, jealousy or desire in his eye?  We cannot know, but the point is there is a real relationship suggested here, rather than a random positioning of men without and relevance to each other.  What it suggests moreover is a shift in how we socially perceive men, and how they relate together.

    When I first found this image it made me smile.  Once upon a time, ( in this case, the 1930s) when we were on vacation somewhere, like say, Monte Carlo, the expectation was that we would dress for it.  Leaving one's hotel as though dressed to play in a sand box was not possible. But then again, this was also a time when there was no such thing as carry on space, and travel meant steamer trunks and a full day of packing. So here are these two decked out ladies, toasting just how fabulous they both are. 

    By now you know how much I appreciate anyone who bends the rules and blurs the lines.  This shot got my attention instantly.  Part of me wishes deeply that we could get away with a much greater level of playfulness in our daily dose of attire.  This fellow, with his curious combination of coyness and sly menace might be just teasing us, but there might be something darker going on.  His apparel is so full of cues and hints that we cannot make any of it out with clarity, which is of course, the point in this case.  All the pastel softness is both supported by and undercut in another way by the essential decadence of his wildly abundant ensemble.  It makes me want to know more.

    Because no scatter post would be complete for me without a visit to Mr Worth's atelier , I'm including this drool worthy evening jacket from 1890.  The coat draws its shape from the gentlemen's coats of the 18th century. It is of deep burgundy silk double pile velvet, embroidered with cut steel and jet beads, and further decorated with beige Point de Venise lace, and a black silk ribbon tie for the waist.  Pardon me while I get a tissue,...

    And bringing up the rear, this wonderfully disturbing costume from the French company Vertugodins.  Certainly in the US we have gotten used to masquerade costumes being pretty uniformly cheap and tacky in their make and design.  Not for these folks. This costume, called, Post Apocalyptique even has a custom designed breathing mask.  Good, unique design is out there.  Of course, its not going to be a 20 dollar costume.  But I always appreciate anyone who gets the details right.  This is an awesome costume.

That's all, Folks!

Object Lesson

    I have recently made the choice to reintroduce pants into the mix of things I wear.  I know it seems odd, considering that I've been a literal full time kilt wearer for a decade or more.  The reasons are dual, really.
    First of all, when I started wearing kilts back in the day it was an enormously freeing thing, sartorially speaking, and gave me the opportunity to visually operate somewhat outside the box, which I appreciate.  Now, for quite a long time it remained so for me. Wearing a kilt was a badge of individuality, and an almost inevitable conversation starter.  And when I discovered along the way that my family actually had a Scots clan connection through the Douglass clan, it cemented all that even more.  
    Recently though, I had begun to feel not freed by kilt wearing, but trapped by it.  I can trace it back to starting this blog, along with the somewhat older version on facebook.  Doing a daily dose of work on Attire made me consider my choices more carefully than I had before.  So I became, discomfited.
    The second reason I made the choice was because I am doing this blog. If I am going to present Attire as a language and speak about that with authority, it makes sense that I walk the walk that I talk about, as fully as may be.
    Now, all this is preamble, really, to the point of this post.  When we make changes in the way we speak our own version of the Sartorial tongue we change the way others perceive us to a significant degree.
    When I first showed up at work in pants the amount and type of blow back I got was amazing, everything from comments on how much taller I looked to outright statements of refusal to permit the change.  As the weeks have gone on, I have been stopped on the street many times, so people could remark on it and register their opinion, and in one case, I was waiting to be picked up by some friends to go to dinner, and they drove right by me, not recognizing me in pants.
    Another interaction that seems worthy of relating here is a conversation I had with a friend I ran into on the street. While chatting about this, to him, startling change, he asked me if I felt sexier in pants.  It brought me up short.  On thinking a moment I had to say no, that I didn't, but I had already noticed that I was in fact getting a good deal more of that sort of attention, whether I consciously felt sexier or not.

    So here I am, before you as a walking talking object lesson in how profound the level of perceptual change can be when we choose to change things up in how we dress.  Have I as a person changed in any substantive way from one day to the next?  Not a bit.  But what people choose to perceive when they see me, has.

My Work

    So I heard you all, when yesterday you asked to see what I do as a costumer.  Herewith a meandering melange of my work, spanning many years.

    This is a Robe a la Francais' I created for a client, back in the day.  Floral cotton chintz, striped chintz pinked, and gathered hem trimming. A pale gray underskirt with machine embroideries.  Stomacher with a ladder of crisscrossed ribbons, and blonde lace.

    This is a close up of a wearable art piece I did called, "Byzantium"  Its a collar, mounted on canvas for structural strength. The surface is entirely covered with hand applied embellishments of antique french military braid, metal stampings, cording, sequins, chain mail squares, buttons and sequin leaves.

Here's an intriguing thing.  I did this costume sketch of an Elizabethan  gown, and ended up rendering it in small scale on an artists manikin.

    A early Germanic Renaissance costume I did for myself. Its in dark gray brocade, trimmed with black, and silver braids, and lined in turquoise satin.

    This is the sketch of a Djinn costume I did for a client.

I made this for my partner David, back in the day.  An evil woodland spirit. A full body stocking embellished with seed pods, twigs and oddments, a black vinyl cape that looked like snakeshin, with an attached hood.  Headdress of branches, moss, roots and other found plant matter.

    Sister Agnes Dei of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, costumed as "The Bad Seed" for Project Nunway 2012.  The skirt is of layers of wired petals and the corset bodice is completely covered in branches and leaves, sprouting tiny babydoll heads all painted to look like other sisters.  The headdress is pleated black lace, backed with fuschia, with more branches, and trailed tattered chiffon in varied shades of green. Matching seed pod bag, of course.

  And to finish things up for now, a look at a piece of pinned and draped work I did for store display at my workplace.  Yep, not one bit of this is sewn.

  So, Ladies and Gents, that is a small bit of what I get up to.  There can be more another time if you want.  In any case it gives you a window into my aesthetic and my skill set.  Hope you enjoyed it!