I haven't posted in a long long time. And there is a very good reason for it. I've been stuck.
Very very stuck.
It's not that I haven't been prolifically designing. I've actually been holed up inside for the past two weeks, not sleeping, barely eating...just making. I was going a little crazy and I was not inspired by my collection. In fact, I kind of hated what I was doing.
I had no wind in my sails.
Which confused me because I have been simultaneously designing for the local Green Project's "Worn Again" recycled fashion show. And it's been great. I'm going with a WWII era Shanghai look and it's fabulous and I'm inspired and I'm in love with what I'm making.
So why was I dreading the moment when I would have to go back to designing for Blues'n'Bruises? The answer came last night, at about 4am (my best thinking time): I had veered too far away from this:
This is the image that originally inspired me. This is the PERSON that I wanted to dress. I went too far into analyzing the many varied meanings of The Blues, and The South and What that Means in a Greater Perspective. And I forgot that all I really wanted to do was dress up the character of Rae.
You see, when I'm designing, I'm designing for a heroine. I need a girl in my head with whom I can consult with: "Would you wear this, darling?" "You wouldn't be caught dead in that, huh?" And my heroines are always strong, powerful women. They are heroines who I admire, who I want in my corner, and, most of all, who I want to be...at least who I could pretend to be for a little while by literally walking in their shoes (and dresses, and pants, and underthings). These women are my muses that inspire the firestorm of creativity that results in my best work.
I had misdirected my perception of Rae. In my head, I had made her a victim instead of a heroine; and victims, frankly, are not people I can really get excited about. And, hell, if I'm not excited about my own work, who else will be? An artist, of any medium, is only successful if they are their own biggest fan. Moreover, I can't send sad models down a runway to down-tempo blues music and expect to get a winning response. I've got to get the audience's adrenaline pumping if I want a memorable, exciting, and, hopefully, profitable show.
So I'm hitting refresh and scrapping the melancholy and listless, Blues-riddled, abused Rae for her more appealing side: the writhing, sweaty, starvingly-maneating, succubus, siren Rae. The rural bombshell that struts down a red-dirt road like it's her catwalk. The rare and wild cat in heat that claws and hisses and spits at her captor. The superheroine that uses sex as her weapon of choice. The predator that sport-hunts with a lust-hungry, crazed look in her eye...who chooses victims indiscriminately.
The All American Sex Zombie.
Ok, so it's a little bit crass, but at least it's got some life to it! My collection, thankfully, has become undead!
p.s. I've decided not to post pics of the things I'm working on. Sorry, guys! I want a grand reveal when showtime comes around...plus it stresses me out to have to take crappy pics of my half-finished pieces and post them.
Robert, my neighbor and a fabulous local carpenter, kind of dropped the kitten one day.
