Beatrice Oettinger I

Working in a world of fantastical fashion Beatrice Oettinger has often used fairy tales for the starting point of her costume and fashion creations. Now she says that she simple needs to take a walk and see a weed growing from a crack in the pavement or a flower to be inspired.
This first of three posts, exploring the work of this German artist/designer, features her 'pea collection'. A transparent dress and underwear with peas sewn inside, inspired by the fairy tale "The princess and the Pea".

Marianne Maric I

Marrianne Maric's work straddles, art, fashion, styling, costume and performance. It is challenging in its explorations of feminine sexuality and exciting in its fun and possibility. Marrainne has been playing with light, the dresses constructed from lamp shades have built in lights that can be turned on and off. This theme in Marianne's work has extended into skirts that can rotate around the wearer casting shadows creating a stunning performance piece.

Cathy Daley

Cathy Daley is an artist who's work very involved with clothing particularly the tutu and the stiletto. Cathy also has started exploring her themes through sculpture with “Little Black Dress”, a 17 foot high extravagantly slender cloth gown and “Soft Stiletto” a collapsed over sized vinyl shoe with stiletto heel.

"Drawing on persistent cultural images inspired by ballerina tutus, the garb of fairy-tale princesses and Barbie doll couture, my work investigates childhood memories of what it means to be female in Western culture and explores cultural representation of the feminine and the body. The drawings mine contemporary vocabularies of glamour, fashion, popular culture, cartoons, street signage, Hollywood cinema, fairy tales, and mythology, to examine the iconography of the feminine as it exists in the cultural imaginary, personal memory, and fantasy." Cathy Daley

I think Cathy's work would be fantastic as fashion illustration and is certainly inspirational.

Jacqueline Bradley II

Picnic dress by Jacqueline Bradley , again this Australian artist/designer has approached fashion for a solution to an event and this twin dress is her multi functional answer to the problem of the picnic blanket.

Amy Sollins

If you are all up to date with all your assignments . . . maybe you could set about drawing a sketchbook of your favourite clothes. This would help you with your design work. It would help you with rendering different fabrics, details and fastenings. To inspire you, here are some charcoal drawings by Amy Sollins. (thanks)

Rustha Luna Pozzi Escot

Rustha Luna Pozzi Escot created this series "Women hosts", 10 self-portraits where she appropriated the actions and positions of other women.
Interpreting different traditional costumes in modern materials such as cleansing pads, hair rollers, make-up, hair extensions, fake eyelashes and purses, are just some of the everyday objects that Rustha has utilised to create a mirage of identity.

Ian Addison Hall

Surreal and disturbing ian Addisons work also questions what we cover in pattern and what we don't. This question can be applied to fashion or other forms of body adornment for example tatoos.
Ian's exploration is one of science and anthropology.

"Using vintage catalog imagery, each piece in this series explores the relationship between the patterns that exist in fashion and the patterns that are found in human genetics. While a clothing pattern is designed to make the wearer look and feel different, when it is expanded over a model's exposed skin it instead represents the biological and emotional framework that we all share. Acknowledging that we are all the same encourages empathy, compassion and understanding."

"Patterns of Science is named after a program created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) shortly after World War II. The program's purpose was to prevent an apocalyptic third world war by promoting intercultural understanding. At the time many thought the fundamental cause of international conflict was humanity's failure to realize the ideals of a world community and that we are all grounded in common values."
Ian Addison Hall

Nikoline Liv Andersen I

Nikoline Liv Andersen's styling and concepts are amazing. Drawing on historical and modern fashions and mixing everything up; colours, styles, textures and fabrics. A melting pot of creativity Nikoline is currently exhibiting 'The Dance of the Deaf and Dumb Eye' and 'Slowly Seeping Through My Hands' at Horsens Museum of Modern Art. (Thanks),

Vadis Turner

Vadis Turner creates textile art pieces and opulent installations from ribbon her works are very textural, emotive and rich.

Lesley Dill

Lesley Dill is an artist/sculptor who's work has as its foundation dress, known for her sculptures of texted classical dresses. However inspired by her admiration of the poetry of Emily Dickenson, she was driven to create an opera. 'Divide Light' is Lesley Dill's opera based on Emily Dickinson's work and for it she created amazing costumes, costumes of poetry that scroll out from the body emanating the passion of the language.

"I wanted the costumes to be vivid word-pictures that were themselves events of reading. There was a costume for each of the three operatic voices that were tailored for the rhythms and harmonics of their voices. The other seven costumes are performative costumes that scroll out, pivot, release, pull out, revolve and are "actions" of reading using a number of actors for each performative costume." Lesley Dill

Josh Blackwell

Love when artists and designers turn their minds to the most mundane, unexpected items for inspiration and projects. These are Josh Blackwell's 'plastic bags as humble presents', all hand embroidered with couching and other techniques in other waste materials.

Hanna Hoyne

Above: Lotus Heartmantra Protective Suit.Above: Passion Imunity Suit, Below: Emotion Ocean Protection Suit

Two installation pieces from the 'Protectornauts Series' by Australian artist Hanna Hoyne exploring the theme of protective clothing. These astronaut like suits were created using Asian ceremonial papers, they are made to protect the psyche, heart and soul.

Andi Arnovitz

Above: Dress of the Unfaithful Wife

Above: Coat of Agunot

Above Coat of a Chained WomanAbove and detail below: Wearing our worries

http://www.andiarnovitz.com/ Andi Arnovitz's work is the perfect illustration of the power of garments made from things other than just textiles. Andi's sometimes heart breaking work has been made from hair, prayer books, photographs, paper, thread and worries. A great way to expand on ideas experiment and make an amazing portfolio, don't limit yourself to textiles in expressing and expanding on ideas.

Maria Walker

Maria Walker is an artist who invests her work with memories choosing to use materials with a history of people including, letters, photographs and here she uses old clothes. Using textiles that have already had a former life with someone means that they have that persons personality and being worked through their very fibre, their smell, their wear and tear and stretching. Here Maria has been experimenting with using text with the garments to illustrate found letters. I thought these samples were very interesting and such techniques could be used in fashion design.

Isabelle de Borchgrave I

The paper clothes and costumes by Isabelle de Borchgrave have blown me away this evening, fantastic inspiration for the NC's Paper Challenge on Friday.