Death & All His Friends

Natural History Museum Inspiration:

Sketches:



Swimsuit Collection:



     I was assigned to go to the Natural History Museum of San Diego by my internship to sketch African Headdresses. Instead, I stumbled upon an exhibit full of animal skulls and decayed bones (or atleast, very realistic, fake, decayed bones). Though clearly moldings, these skulls reminded me of my trip to the Catacombs of Paris back in the Summer of 2010. I felt similar feelings of discomfort. I felt very uneasy. I felt out of place, yet I still felt very eager. There is definitely something very beautiful about the concept of decomposition, as well as the actual residues of life & death presented in physical form.

     Following the museum trip, I quickly finished up a few sketches of the skeletons, my interpretations of the bones, and faces that I imagined the skulls to be wearing.  One section in particular that I enjoyed was the dinosaur displays that only consisted of its skeleton  and a modestly covered stomach. The anatomy, directions, and angles of its bones, as well as, the museums decision to concurrently display the dinosaur in both forms of life & death  inspired me to create a swimsuit collection (in terms of structure) that emulates that same feeling of division, and connection that, I feel, bones create. As you can see by the prints, I was also very inspired by the colors and textures of dinosaur skin.

KVN

ONO

EXTERIOR: charcoal gray wool LINING: feint pink satin

THE PROCESS:

















INSPIRATION:






     A bit late, but I recently watched Memoirs of A Geisha. As much as I love Ziyi Zhang, the costumes -by far- was my favorite part of the film. The color combinations, the patterns, the texture, the fluidness of the fabric were amazing. After watching the film, I decided to do some research on the "anatomy" of kimonos, and kimonos in general. Luckily, I found "Textiles on the Homefront 1931-1945:Wearing Propaganda" at a bookstore. It has hundreds of photos of kimonos from WWII. The Kimonos were presented as a flat, so it was extremely easy (and convenient) to see the shape and structure of the kimono as well as the patterned textiles.

     Since I don't have a kimono of my own (yet..), I decided to make one for myself but in coat form. My inspiration, obviously, stems from fluid-like kimonos and their strong, geometric lines. Although the coat does not fully resemble a kimono, I wanted to experiment with the lining to include similar strong lines as do kimonos.  Making the patterns, for me, is usually the best or worst -never in between- part of sewing, and this time around it was definitely one of the worser times. I usually listen to music when I sew (one song...on repeat...over and over and over again), and always pick music with either no words or in another language so that I can zone in on the sewing rather than the meaning of the song (and still set the right vibe in my sweatshop/livingroom). This time around, it was 2ne1's I Love You. I have to admit, I Love You has become quite a guilty pleasure.



 I usually have no ounce of patience, and my attention span is that of a child so I'm very surprised -pleasantly surprised- that I was actually able to finish this coat. So here it is. I hope you enjoy (because I wont be enjoying it until october when it's not super hot  -___-).

 KVN