HINTS about ERTE Challenge #8

Erte's take on moonlight,

"Queen of the Night"

Challenge #8

Dot wrote, in response to Ted's post that Erte would be a part of our next challenge,

Dear Santa Ted:

Only since it's Christmas, could you open up your bag just one more time?

You see, no matter how we research, it's kinda useless to start on anything before we know what the twist in this challenge might be............and some of us have been REALLY good and have our shopping done, and would like something to do while all the goodies are in the oven.

BTW, don't forget to stop by Christmas Eve - we'll be leaving out your traditional plate of cookies!! hehe

Merry Christmas!!
Dot

and since she has been so very very good,Ted responded with a full bag of tricks for us all:

Yum, Yum, COOKIES.

Have you all finished your Veronique challenge outfits? Can't wait to tackle the Erte challenge?

The ERTE challenge is all about INSPIRATION. This creative artist inspired the fashion designers of his era with his fantasy fashion illustrations that were published in VOGUE. His theater and film costumes further influenced the world of costume and film.

The other influence of the Art Deco period was Paul Poiret and these two artists have left a fantastic legacy behind.

So, as a modern fashion designer how would you create a modern gown inspired by the work of these two designers?

The challenge is to create a floor-length gown inspired by the Art Deco style of Erte and Poiret. The influence can take the form of pattern or silhouette.

The Dollway designers did not have an actual model doll -- only measurements and suggested "stand-in" models. The At Home designers may use any Tonner 16-inch fashion doll to model their fashions.

Alexandra and I will post images on our blogs and discuss the influences and how they might be applied to a contemporary gown

Have fun.

Ted

Meditation on Moonlight

Day for Night

. . . and channeling Veronica Lake

Finally, I got Veronique settled into a venue!

Finally! I'm on a roll with a design for a dress: I worked up a pattern and have a pile of fabrics on the bed next to me and am snipping and scrunching and also keep telling myself, "Remember; people think moonlight is a cold, clear, light blue."



I did manage to get Veronique into California, and we compromised on her seating for the venue I chose for her in which she could enjoy outdoor moonlight. Adele is helping calm her and get her used to actually being outside.

I'm excited.

Pierre is clamoring for a coordinated outfit.

Still rolling around the Veronique challenge

Does Veronique ever relax?

I'm looking at her clothes and she is always in tight clothes.

The "Diamond Dusted" outfit is a gorgeous one, a sort of hostess outfit and the only one I can think of that suggests relaxing.

Is moonlight always cold? That's my question, as the judges on this challenge seemed to take issue with warmer colors as an interpretation of moonlight.

Also, I have jumped more into the concept of moonlight: what do we do in the moonlight, as the entire concept is Joie de Vivre -- taking joy in life. To take joy in moonlight, one should be outside -- or lying in bed with a clear crisp white rectangle of window thrown across the bed by the moon . . . or, like my cats, stalking small living things in the clarity of the light of the moon, the clarity achieved by the contrast of the highlights in the direct light of the moon against the crisp dark shadows thrown against the area lighted, the crispness in direct contrast to the darkness of what is enclosed -- inside buildings, bushes, trees, shelter of all sorts. Wildness is a component of moonlight. . . and Veronique is so controlled, so bustier-ed, so put together.

I am too California for this challenge: I have seen owls take off from the side of the road, bears ignoring me while they pick my trash (mmmmm, cake!), coyotes running silently in a pack down the middle of a mountain road in clear crisp moonlight, a family of raccoons snuffling in the attic and fighting their way across the road -- not fighting cars, fighting each other; raccoons coming to the window to peer in . . . . I have been tossed and tumbled by the Pacific until I was breathless, until I swam to the bottom thinking it was up; caught in rapids in Taroko Gorge, trapped under a capsized raft; pulled to a tantalizing depth, just barely able to touch my toes intermittently to the sand while trying to rescue a non-swimmer pulled out in the Taiwan Straits; listened to the chiming of millions of shells and shards in clear water off the Pescadores . . . . I have run across an entire island, a country, by mistake -- run across an entire island by mistake, yes. I have run the length of three islands and two bridges with mad intent . . . . I have climbed to the source of the Santa Ana river high in the San Bernardino Mountains, where the water bubbles from under a plantain-like leaf, a skunkweed type leaf.

and I wonder what Veronique does to enjoy life?

I want to dress her comfortably for a moonlit evening out -- not without her champagne and friends -- yet in the place I select, in California, she would be out of place dressed as she dresses.

What do people do outdoors in New York -- or is that where her cosmetics company is located?

Isn't she taking some time off at the moment to travel? I believe she is in Paris or on the Riviera.

I have not travelled in Paris, though I spent some time there in the Gare St Lazare -- or another one, en route from Amsterdam before I took the underground to the correct one -- asking every hour then every 15 minutes where I should pick up my train, until the information clerk's shift change and a new clerk told me it was another station and it might not be likely I would make it there in time, but I did, to board the train to Madrid.

On the way south, I was stuck in front a teenaged girl and her mother who boarded somewhere south of Paris, the girl hacking and coughing and honking constantly, never once covering her mouth and never once reminded by her mother to do so. "Oh my God!" I said to myself in alarm and horror at the realization, "Peasants! They still exist! I thought they only existed in van Gogh and Breughel."

On the way back, I met a gracious young man, a French train attendant who carried his own corkscrew, as the train did not, and opened my Spanish wine for me.

veronique - challenge 7 - Clair de lune

Claire de lune led me to Paul Poiret . . .

and I'm going to need to wrestle those bustiers out of Veronique's hands: how one can enjoy life stuffed into a bustier is beyond me. I certainly enjoy seeing her in them; it's time for Veronique to take a break and go out into the countryside or a more relaxed place than she is used to . . . .

Challenge 7, Veronique: Preliminary Thoughts from the Stump

Preliminary Thoughts from the Stumped,

as some of us At Home Players are:

AliMcJ wrote: I'm a bit stumped, perhaps intimidated because Jason Wu does such a marvelous job at dressing and designing all the FR people, and I'm fairly familiar with the lines. The dolls are very leggy and delicate and Jason's designs are intricately detailed in perfect scale. Stories about Veronique's cosmetics company and all the dirt on the other company and characters involved are here, and there are archives of collections of other years: http://www.fashionroyalty.com/

Luckily for me, I have a Veronique from IFDC 2006, a lovely blonde that's been itching to get out of her box and pose. When I get dolls of such limited editions (this one 500, I think; maybe smaller), I tend to "save" them -- keep them in their boxes and open the boxes and admire them from time to time. I have two of these, so I know I can open my own one -- and need to anyway to get some good pictures of her in her outfit. I think she'll tell me what she wants; I know she's thinking of a good rest: Adele talked her into it (and I got a great Adele with the right lipstick on from my buddy Kevin K). Wonder why he's not here? Anyway, I may have reached my level of incompetence. I'll take the ladies out and see what all they have to say to me -- maybe over a bottle of champagne howling at the moon together. How is everyone else doing on this one? --Alison

--- In projectdollwaychat@yahoogroups.com, Durelle wrote:

Alison...you know I am stumped too.. I can not wrap my brain around this challenge yet.. I think I will be needing some of that mentoring TED promised us... I have some Lame I ideas floating in my visions but the question is ..... Hmmmmmm.... to create a "Centerpiece" ensemble it would seem it would not make sense without the rest of the collection... Am I just a dope or maybe I am just not getting the whole concept. And yes Alison....where is our buddie Kevin...he would really love this stuff.. We must tell him ....

Dollie-ON, Durelle Demi-Divas by Durelle http://demi-divasbydurelle.50megs.com/ Visit my new blogg...... http://demidivabydurelle.blogspot.com/

In projectdollwaychat@yahoogroups.com, agarva1 wrote:

Hi Durelle & Alison, I'm stumped too!!! We have a saying down here - 'Beyond the black stump' meaning the middle of nowhere (outback etc). That's where I am sitting at the moment!!! : I had an idea but what's getting me is the detail that FR fashions have and my lack of confidence in sewing for such small girls so it doesn't look 'frumpy'. I too am finding it difficult as without the rest of a collection how does 'moonlight' centrepiece show the 'joy of living'. i'm feeling a lack of confidence at the moment. I too might need to contact Ted with the one idea I have. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Thanks for posting this!!! I'm glad I'm not the only one!! A bit down in downunder Agarva

Challenge 6: Alex in Iconic Wear, comments

Alexandra's comments on my Alex Challenge, redesigning an iconic dress:

DESIGN ONE - "Some Like It Hot" -- I think you are certainly headed in the right direction[,] but it seems to me that "Sugar" is all about sweet sexiness. She is the classic dumb blonde with hidden brains. She uses her natural charms to their best advantage and dresses accordingly. I think you need to convey that more in this costume.

Hopefully, the costume, when the pleats are let out and the blouse is tidied up, it will convey the contemporary schoolgirl Lolita look of Japanese Anime-Manga while giving the dress a more authentic 1929 flavor. The thin fabric I used on the skirt under a tight hip band should add motion to the hips.

At present, a total redesign of the hip band is in the works, and I still have not come up with a 100% satisfactury solution to the putting the garment on and off problem, i.e. a solution that does not entail an entirely new skirt section.

The hip band, as planned, is beaded in transparent light peach/neutral and turquoise beads, with light peach triangles at the four points the current skirt band has -- starting off an Art Deco flair to the band.

Responding to The Alex Challenge: How to Solve It at Home?? clarification?

My initial response was, as usual:

Oh boy! So far I've met every challenge with an enthusiastic and gleeful rubbing of hands and energy to start. Now . . . to pare that enthusiasm down a little bit in terms of time I spend thinking of outfits. Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy!

A little later, came an "Oh Boy!" of another sort, looking for clarification.



I set myself a list of questions as to why I would want to be reimagining an iconic garment and came up with numerous reasons for doing so. However, when it came to fitting it into the film, it seemed to lose reason -- that is, I could imagine having a different color, or time period, setting, and so on, all of which would require a reimagining of other elements of the scene. One possibility also is not particularly caring for an iconic garment, and I can't think of one I don't care for. In reimagining Scarlett O'Hara, as an example of something I didn't care much for, the whole antebellum south style leaves me cold, at least at this point, so reimagining the dress would take it into another time period I think. . . . For those reasons I am wondering if you can give any clarification on how to redesign a dress as if it had not been done before that also fits in with the set and other clothing established in the film, as those things all working together are what make a garment appealing and result in its becoming an icon (case in point, the white shirt and short dance tights of Audrey Hepburn).

Should I be looking at replacing, for example, Audrey Hepburn with Alex, who would not wear that particular outfit as well as Audrey Hepburn did, though another one that fits the bill could be designed for her?

I do have one film picked that I can mine for possibilities -- "The Women" -- so I'm not MIA on this one. I'm just curious, as I hit a wall last night while considering things outside of the film I lit on (as a hummingbird lights on things), and the clothes in it may not be stand-alone icons.

Alex challenge

This is the description of Challenge #6: Iconic Film Costume with Madame Alexander's Alex as a model:

Ted wrote:

At Home Designers,

The ALEX challenge is a complex one but if you follow these steps you will be able to solve it very easily.

This challenge is about ICONS in the movies. Thousands of films become famous and memorable because of the central female character. The film and the actress become icons for the film.

In many of the films a particular outfit also becomes an icon simply because of how it "works" in the film.

Here is a brief list of such films, stars, and outfits. All have been done as dolls.

Judy Garland in THE WIZARD OF OZ

Vivian Leigh in GONE WITH THE WIND

Marilyn Monroe in THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH

Tippi Hedren in THE BIRDS

Audrey Hepburn in SABRINA

The challenge breaks down this way.

1) Select a film

2) Determine which scene the icon outfit appears in

3) Imagine how it was described in the script

4) Create the outfit AS IF it had never been done before

The TWIST. Your new design must "work" in the final film and be compatible with the sets and other costumes. You should imagine your design set into the finished film.

Costume design descriptions are usually brief unless there are specific details (functions) required. For example. Tippi Hedren basically wears only one ensemble throughout the entire film. But, because it is a suit it can "change" to vary her look and enhance the character (and storyline) of the film. That is its "function" and would probably be noted in the script.

Be careful that your design doesn't get "lost" in the crowd. The Ascot scene in MY FAIR LADY is very tricky because everyone is dressed in black and white.

Accidental icons. There is a certain irony that the icon outfit for FUNNY FACE isn't any of the couture gowns the character wears, but the black sweater and Capri pants she dances in during a cafe scene. This outfit is such an icon that a couple of years ago the GAP used it in ads.

So, choose your film carefully.

Ted

Grabbing Bits from a Whirlwind

I was all over the map, literally, all week, trying to come up with a country or p.o.v. on it that hasn't been done and had gathered fabrics for several different versions, and I think I will still do them all. I had Japan, and several viewpoints/sectors of society their fashion, Burma rolling around -- though their traditional clothing, the Longyi, wouldn't really transmute much: it's worn contemporarily and I have a couple I like to wear, and have a "foreign" variation on it. With the Burma idea rolling around, I also wanted to create a Susie travel set paralleling my own, collected and worn around Asia: that one's on the burner.


Then I got to "I can use camouflage for an American Outfit," and put that on the back burner; two different outfits from Japan, both of which I will continue with and both of which I decided didn't vary enough from the originals, though they represented contemporary interests there. Another American Susie was a sort of Southwestern Susie with jeans and a made-over jeans jacket plus . . . . The bits from that, the outfit and props will go with the one I wound up settling on to submit. I'll do it, not say it, so no further description of what it is; two different outfits for "La Frontera" Susie.



Yesterday, pulling more things out of the stuff I brought back after Thanksgiving, I rediscovered the fabric I made her skirt from, worked in the camouflage stockings (which need leather soles intended for use with the jeans), and was preparing to finish up by using a made-over jeans jacket as part of the outfit, attaching the red handwoven Mexican fabric you see in the picture to the top of the jacket, i.e. over the denim jacket foundation, leaving the denim sleeves and collar showing. It would have been a faster solution; however, in the process of laying the fabric over the jacket, I decided to use the red fabric to make a red jacket I've had in mind for a couple of years, one I like one I had had for over 30 years and which was vintage when I bought it and which I sold on eBay before moving to Texas for this ten year period (we're halfway there). I loved the jacket and have wanted to recreate it in doll scale.



Putting it on as an appliqué seemed a waste of the red handwoven fabric, especially when I have had this red doll jacket in mind for so long, so I threw expedience to the winds in favor of divine inspiration.


Chaotic in a sense, like throwing elements into a whirlwind and letting them swirl as I work on each part of an outfit that emerges out of the whirlwind, that finalizes itself and tells me what it is.

. . . and that's how I usually work.

challenge #5: Travel Susie: "La Frontera"

more items are involved -- this one emerged out of literally a world of ideas, a combination of a couple of ideas and my unpacking some fabric from my mom's house, and then a rediscovery of small pieces of handwoven fabrics from Mexico, a large patchwork bag I had deconstructed and packed into my fabric source-bag.

My head is still brimming with ideas; this one was within range and used a couple of them, and in the process grabbed a hold of/on an idea I'd been tossing around for some time: a "tourist skirt" and a red wool jacket like the 1940s Mexican red wool Tourist Jacket I had had for many years (since the early 1960s) before finally parting with it on eBay about five years ago: a sweet short jacket that I was and am no longer slender enough to carry off well.

Susie is such a slender and delicate little doll that sewing even the skirt turned out to be much harder than one might anticipate; scaling fabric to her size also takes more thought and skill to bring about successfully.

challenge #5 (susie) vote for KAREN's IRELAND

Vote came down to Ireland or Greece, and I settled on KAREN KOLKMAN's IRELAND, as it caught my eye first, is imaginative, fully realized in terms of detail, and a lively interpretation of traditional Irish wear (and was also a country I wished to do and did not have time for -- knitting a traditional Aran Isles sweater in white or ivory on a very small scale).

Blue Ribbon to Karen

and

Red Ribbon to Judith.

initial reactions:

again, from the private comments, notes to myself as I look through the Runway show, I omitted any comments that are off-the-cuff negative and any comments about the work of those who don't welcome feedback.

Just including my thinking processes since I write them down as I look for a piece to vote for, as I find ways to narrow down the choices; any negative comments that come up in this context are mere excuses for winnowing it down to one vote and are not the things that strike me first; they are the things I had to nitpick out of my favorites.

Susie is a very delicate little lady and so is hard to design for, as clothes look bulky on her.

I like both of the London outfits, Debbie's the better of the two, and think that of all of the designs, the outfit for Greece was most imaginative, best kept in mind the challenge and the character and delicacy of the doll. Is Judith going to win again?

The outfit I initially responded to was Karen Kolkman's Ireland and need to revisit it after going through all of the designs.

Both of the London outfits also fit the size and character of the doll. However, in doll clothes, London's been done.

Now I am left with Greece and Ireland. The Ireland is lively and imaginative and on task, and I'm troubled by the stiffness of the fabric in the skirt. I also like the completeness of the outfit -- the pin and the bag. Now, can I give this high marks with "I'd prefer to see a lighter weight plaid in place of this one?" Sometimes we are limited in the choice of fabric we use to design a piece and say to ourselves in choosing the fabric: "Do I choose based on the fabric pattern I want in order to indicate the pattern and find one in the right weight for later production. or do I use the right weight fabric and substitute the color when it gets to production?" I think I'd give more weight to the former.

The outfit for Greece is lively, imaginative, on task, well-made, and complete: the espadrilles are an excellent touch.

I'm down to an eenie meeni miney moe here. Do I choose on the complete package? Do I give more weight to Karen's because Judith won one already, and this is popular vote and not for elimination. Yes, that is what I will do. Karen's has more work involved in it and was also the one that captivated me on first look, so that will decide my vote.

--Alison

Susie Challenge

Susie

Too Many Ideas, Too Little Time