Bowie

Just last Friday, I hit play on the entire catalog of David Bowie and culled my closet, in the hopes that his supreme domain over the word cool would somehow seep out of the speakers and guide me as I determined the fate of each garment. Friday was also his birthday, and the day he released his 28th album. It was his final album release, as he fell back away from Earth this morning. 

I don't so much think I have the right to wax on about the loss of Bowie. Although he was a god to many, he was a human to many more, and that deeply personal loss is theirs. But he always has (and will continue to) inspire (really the word inspire doesn't cover it), so I thought it would be fitting to simply look back on a Bowie inspired creation of the past. I wrote the following post in April 2013. 

I love every glittering hard edged sexy speck that is David Bowie. In fact, I've been known to get into serious arguments with close friends about the neverending cool that is Bowie. I defy you to find a rocker that has always been as undyingly cool as Bowie. I'll fight you. EVEN LABYRINTH COULD NOT STOP HIM.

So when that wildfire storm of a bloggess Tempest Devyne announced a Bowie sewalong, I was aaaaaaaaaall in. Bowie sewie, baby. The only problem was too many ideas. Glam rock outfit...punk acid rock leather...slick R&B gospel suit...I landed on the look from "Jump They Say," from the album Black Tie/White Noise. VERY COOL VIDEO. He's on skyscraper rooftops, being pushed and pulled in medical rooms and elevators by sharp suits and pale nurses...the tune was written about his half brother, who, I believe, did jump. To me, it always sounded like an admonishment, a commendation, and a warning at the same time. VERY COOL SONG.

But I couldn't seal the deal, as the fashion was clean lines, tailored coats, and, well, black and white. 

Summer's coming, I can smell it in the air, it makes me feel alive, and I'm hellbound for color. Enter Nicole's (of You sew girl!) holyfrig amazing Drape t-shirt dress pattern. This is "pattern magic," with no magic required. I'm of the no-thank-you camp when it comes to figuring those bad boys out, so imagine my delight when I had an artsy draped dress in UNDER AN HOUR. My first crack was made up in silky grey jersey, in the hopes of a slim resemblance to Monochrome Tailored Jazz Bowie... and I would've went with it, but I really needed to shoot it on top of a building (seriously, you gotta watch the video).  

But then I remembered this magnificent print, picked up at Spandex House. Or maybe it was World. Whichever one, IT HAS A SIX DOLLAR A YARD RACK. I had enough of this fabric fulla colors-to-light up-your-face to extend Nicole's pattern to maxi proportions. I believe there's even some serious moonlight in there. Definitely some blues for those red hues. And nothin says sway like jersey. The "Let's Dance" dress was on.

Big Daddy was always quite fond of this tune, we'd duet often. And Bowie is just, as always, the coolest. I revisited the video: a sweaty, white gloved Bowie lolls against a plaster wall with a lone upright bassist, a disinterested yet slightly worried singer, squinting into the sun bleached distance, as bar patrons of all ages drink and shimmy. You feel like you're in a mix of present and past Mexico, and Bowie is so cool, he doesn't even need to be in the video. You leave him halfway through the first verse and follow a young girl who happens upon a pair of patent leather red shoes, and then it all goes wrong in that Bowie video way: a mushroom cloud blossoms in the distance, and she and her beau are transported to some kind of New York (I may be projecting here), where they find themselves scrubbing streets, thoughtlessly spending, and dragging mechanical factory inventions around like packhorses. In the end, she ditches the shoes, and they snap out of it, back dancing barefoot atop their mountain, the sharp city intact in the distance across the water, the red shoes abandoned.

Appropriately, I went sans shoes for these photos, taken while away this weekend with Hollow Leg Dad, Hot Mama, and The Child(ren). Also appropriately, I would rather be dancing barefoot in their sun bleached backyard than heading back to the sharp city.

I'll put on some Bowie tonight for sure. It's the best for dancing when you have the blues.

2016: This dress has since been shortened to mini length, and now graces the (over 6 foot tall) frame of a stunning actress/singer/dancer who exudes joy twenty four seven. I don't regret the giving of it-- it was an excellent reincarnation. And there will always be Bowie in my closet.

vogue: three years ago and over three hundred K

some child in my life (there are many that i tolerate, all the more easily so, as none are mine) was doing a school drive of some sort, and that was the year i read vogue magazine.  2' aught '11, to be exact.  and i've kept every issue like some mini hoarder.  

yesterday evening, i was gazing at our shelves, wondering which tome to take with me on a free snack hour.  the vogue magazines live with our books, in the sewing section, and i found myself wondering if any of the styles had come back around yet.  this pondering was probably happening at the same time noah veitman's scientific findings were hitting the online pages of the daily mail: by his calculations, if one were to treat the pages of vogue june 2014 like a clothing catalog, it would cost $343,368 to purchase the whole shebang.  

the article gapes at the price, but honestly, i was surprised by the total, i thought it would be way more. my wallet has no earthly idea if the cost of couture has risen LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE HAS in the past three years, but here's what the editorial pages held in one of my favorites: march 2011, the spring fashion issue...

a "grown up brand of glamour" (carolina herrera)

"punk'd" looks of the season (balenciaga & balmain) 

magical ensembles in "the enchanted garden" (tom ford and oscar de la renta)

"the life rhapsodic" bohemian florals (dior, louis vuitton, galliano, chanel)

always david bowie: new rebellious red carpet takes (bottega veneta & gucci)

i could see any of these looks being rocked today, the floral page is in full force, the met punk gala was what, last year?  and come on, that last gucci (forgive the shine, it's actually a jumpsuit).

noah further calculates a median price of $850 per item-- and again, that sounds super low...

OH

GA GAAAAAAAAAAH*

these confections, both alexander mcqueen, are way more than 850 per, that's for sure.  (both mcqueens are listed as "price upon request.")  i'm not necessarily saying it's right that these garments come with such lofty pricetags, i'm not sure what the price tag should be when you are a house of Something Fabulous, complete with minions, like gucci and tom ford and balenciaga.  but listen, people who don't sew, and listen well: DON'T GO GETTING ANY IDEAS.  the cost of a handmade garment is, and should be, pretty high.  

when you're a lone lady, and you calculate the cost of a custom ordered evening gown, avec supplies and hours and fittings and design... wouldn't it have to land in the ballpark of a grand?  really think about it. two weeks of nonstop work, for sure.  that's a weekly wage of $500 before you deduct materials.

not getting into whether you could-or-couldn't make it, let's assume we have all the skills necessary, but no minions: what would you sensibly charge for a gown worthy of vogue?

*can't say i know much about gaga's music.  but i do love that she is 100% in character All The Time, and i want to eat everything she wears.  which i think she would appreciate.

i say never too much...and "never" too much.

holy hell i appear to be sewing with a plan. what has caused this completely out of character move?  possibly i didn't eat enough red meat last night.  in fact, it was quite the vegetarian day, i don't know what hit me.  cray-cray vegetables and their mind altering powers. 

this morning, i awoke with an urge to finish a beautiful and possibly extremely tacky neon green lace dress hanging over our iron staircase railing (read: garment rack), but had run out of the olive green silk i'm using for interlining.  (or underlining.  which is it?  is it both?) i ran out of it because i bought it without any plans for it.  so back to the district i go tomorrow.  this is slightly frustrating.

don't get me wrong, i like sewing without a plan.  i'm not sure i could completely sew with one, since it's really the fabric that inspires me 90% of the time.  but the tomato soup on my brain and the lace on my staircase inspired this fruity thought: maybe i could look at my stash and pair some stuff together... then collect the rest of the things i'd need if i'm lacking... so i could start and finish a project.

ground breaking, i know.  never been done before in the history of sewists, i'm sure.

so i dove into my stash and started mixing.  

you might remember some chatter about feathers and the entire ruggian clan putting the kibosh on adding them to my anna sui dress.  well, these feathers from mood are destined for a bombshell dress.  and surprisingly, i have most everything i need for it.

LOOK AT THE BOW!!! how have i not recognized the awesomeness of this pattern yet?  i found this silk print at paron's new location (i am so happy to see those lovely peeps in their new joint.  way better lighting, and nothing says fabric like window dressings of paper mache rocket ships and working toy trains).  of course i bought it without a hint of an idea why.  i kind of think i'm going to look like david bowie circa velvet underground.  or maybe hunky dory.  hell, looking like david bowie circa anytime works for me.

the first photo is destined to be a vest, oscar de la renta wool & turquoise silk remnants from the mood LA store i snagged this summer during two separate meetups with clio and tigress.  those remnant boxes have magical bottomless holes in them leading straight to some couture house in france. hopefully i'll pair this vest avec shirt, which will REALLY make my david bowie dreams come true.  

will you look at that... i now realize i'm going to need a pair of pants to go with that... maybe i'll need to make another plan...