~ ~
~ ~
....
..
..
Forget
the housework. Put on your high heels and go dancing -- your knees will
thank you for it.
That's
the conclusion of a British study published today which found.. a
significant link between regularly dancing in three-inch heels and a
reduced risk of getting arthritis in the knees. In fact, women who wore
any size of heel had fewer knee problems, although the effect wasn't as
great. ....
They
may not get knee arthritis but wearing stiletto heels throws a woman's
whole body out of alignment, said Stan Gorchynski, chair of the board
of the Ontario Chiropractic Association.
To
prove it, try standing face-to-face with another person, hold your arms
straight out and push up with your arms while the other person pushes
down on them.
|
Then try the same thing, standing
barefoot on a phone book
with your heels hanging down off the back to the floor.
"You don't have half the power you do when you're
flat-footed, he said.
"The issue here is general stress on the whole system from
wearing heels."
Heels
change the whole mechanics of your body, thrusting your pelvis back and
your lower back forward, he said, and that requires the body to do more
work, causing more wear and tear on all the joints.
"Heels
accentuate the buttocks, the walking posture and the female anatomy,"
he concedes. "More attention is drawn to a woman in heels because her
whole carriage changes.
"But women are experiencing physical hardship to look
attractive -- so men should appreciate them that much more."
from article
Healing power of stilettos -
by
Elaine Carey, Toronto Star Jan. 9, 2004
photo by Vince Talotta
|
....
~ ~
~ ~
....
 |
In
designing fabrics for my menswear collection, I look to the world
around
me for inspiration. Learning about new things helps me design, and in a
way, provides the men who wear my clothes a glimpse into other
worlds.
In
past seasons, I've been inspired by architecture... nature... the
Southwest...
the under sea world... and mathematics. Each season I select a theme
that
provides the design foundation for my whole line: from shirts and
sweaters
to jackets, pants, socks, ties, and even furniture.
The
computer is a great tool in designing. It helps me create much more
elaborate
and sophisticated fabrics because I'm able to be more prolific, quickly
trying out design ideas, discarding those that don't work, and refining
those I like. ........
Jhane
Barnes
from article:
Jhane
Barnes - Pushing the Limits of Design / images
from jhanebarnes.com
|
 |
....
~
~
~ ~
....
 |
I made a
conscious effort
to keep my feet on the ground. So anything that detracted from that, I
stayed away from, intentionally. I always associated certain things
with
the myth of what actresses do, not the reality of acting. I was afraid
if I embraced a myth, I would cloud the reality. And I missed out on a
lot of great stuff. I'm not going to do that anymore. I've resolved to
look at it as a real gift, to get to play and have those life
experiences
that most people only dream of. ...
[Cate
Blanchett]
still knows
what makes her happy and what motivated her to be in this business. And
yet she's having a great time with it. I've learned that in the last
couple
of years. I've gotten to see the glamorous side as so much more
artistically
expressive. God, what designers do is extraordinary. I'm not going to
shush
the fun away anymore, darlin'.
[Last year,
Zellweger did
a whirlwind tour of the Paris couture shows and formed a relationship
with
Karl Lagerfeld.]
Through him, I
learned to
understand
the self-expression of that art form. He's so educated. So brilliant.
And
so.. kind.
Renée
Zellweger....[style.com
excerpt of interview in December 2001 issue of W] // photo from
animalfair.com
 ....related
book: Karl
Lagerfeld: Escape from Circumstances
|
~
~
~ ~
Truly
elegant underwear has the same effect on some women as diamonds, after
all. Traci Ching, a Los Angeles manager for
writers and directors, recently bought her first set of La Perla
lingerie, the molto bella , ultra-elegant Italian lingerie brand.
"It's
like jewelry for the body," she said. More than that, such fabulous
foundations boost not just the bust but the psyche, too. "It's a
sense of empowerment, even if only you know you have it on," Ching
says. "But it's so beautiful, you can't wait to take your
clothes off so someone can see it."
from "Pretty on the Inside - Designers are indulging women's passion
for luxurious lingerie", LA Times, 8.24.01]
~ ~
images:
1 from book: "Support and Seduction" ; 2 Victorian Bridal Corset from
absolutecorsets.com ;
3 La Perla bra ; 4 Cabaret artist Margill wearing a corset bodice
~ ~
....related books:**
Beneath
It All : A Century of French Lingerie
The
Corset: A Cultural History by Valerie Steele
In
this book, I shall challenge the reductiveness of this picture, which
frames the history of the corset in terms of oppression versus
liberation, and fashion versus comfort and health. Corsetry was not one
monolithic, unchanging experience that all unfortunate women
experienced before being liberated by feminism.
It
was a situated practice that meant different things to different people
at different times. Some women did experience the corset as an assault
on the body. But the corset also had many positive connotations - of
social status, self-discipline, artistry, respectability, beauty,
youth, and erotic allure. .....Valerie Steele*** *more comments by
Steele about corsets on: sexuality :
page 2
Fetish:
Fashion, Sex and Power by Valerie Steele
Lingerie
: A Lexicon of Style by Caroline Cox
Lingerie:
A History & Celebration of Silks, Satins, Laces, Linens & Other
Bare Essentials by Catherine Bardey, Zeva Oelbaum
The
Little Bodice Book : A Workbook on Period Bodices by Bonnie Holt
Ambrose
Support
and Seduction : The History of Corsets and Bras by Beatrice
Fontanel, Willard Wood
~ ~ ~ ~
 |
Feeling
burned out on acting, Justine Bateman found an outlet in design that
offers more freedom than her previous gig. "When I was an actress I was
paid to wear what they ask you to wear and say what they ask you to
say," she says. "As a designer, I can make a sample any time I
want."
[Fashion Wire Daily, Sept. 4, 2001]
site for her clothing line Justine Bateman Designs :
justineb.com
|
~ ~ ~ ~
| Much
of her work evokes a classic 1920s spirit. Eugenia Kim admits that the
reference is intentional. "I admire that era because it was a really
feminist
time. Women had a lot more freedom, intellectually and otherwise. ...
Twenties
hats were more beautiful, flattering and less encumbering than the
heavy
ones of the Victorian era."
Kim
also believes that the '20s resonate with her generation. The young
people
of World War I experienced conflicting feelings of disillusionment,
self-indulgence,
moral reevaluation and especially, hope. The time held, as Fitzgerald
wrote,
"all the iridescence of the beginning of the world." ...
Sarah
Brown, Vogue's beauty editor.. admits that "when people meet Eugenia
for
the first time, it isn't always apparent how smart she is. She seems
whimsical
and nutty. But, she's drawing on a wealth of literary and cultural
influences." [LA Times April 26
2002] [image of
Nicole
Kidman from eugeniakim.com]
|
 |
~
~
~ ~
 |
**book:**National
Geographic Fashion by Cathy Newman
The
idea was to examine what is fashion. What we found is fashion is an
instinct that cuts across all cultures and all time periods. ... It
tells you what tribe you belong to. It's a look-at-me statement. ... in
the most primitive cultures with the smallest means, a woman will take
a piece of cloth and make it into a skirt or a sarong, or wear it on
her head with style.
Fashion
is accessible to everyone. It's important because everyone cares about
how they present themselves to the
world.
editor Cathy Newman [LA Times, September 10, 2001]
|
~ ~ ~ ~
book: Eiko
on Stage
Eiko
Ishioka, Francis
Ford Coppola.
Ishioka won an
Academy Award
for Best Costume Design for "Bram Stoker's Dracula"
|
Ishioka
dissects
the beginnings and realizations of her art in nine forms, ranging from
a four-night-only performance of a Japanese opera to her millennial
movie,
The Cell.
Hallmarks soon
become
apparent:
literal visual metaphors (the anatomical diagram of an arm for David
Copperfield's
Broadway magic show); minimalism, as in Hwang's M. Butterfly; and a
sinuosity
cloaking bodies in The Cell and The Ring of the
Nibelung."
Barbara Jacobs [Booklist]
"All
the world is my motif, every culture. That and what comes from the
drawers
inside my mind, my own strong vision of what things can look like."
Eiko
Ishioka
cinema.com
interview about her work in movie The
Cell
|
~
~
~ ~
 |
[The name
of her
company,
featuring handmade clothes reconstructed from Salvation Army castoffs,
is Imitation of Christ
-- named after a 15th-century book
by Catholic ecclesiastic writer Thomas à Kempis.]
It's a beautiful
book. The
message
is to really try and do something. If you really want to analyze
Christ,
he's completely a rebel -- someone who did not live by society's
standards,
doing something completely not of the time. I'm not going to compare
ourselves
to Christ. We're not resurrecting clothes. People are freaking out
about
the name, but it keeps everyone guessing. I don't ever want to define
the
name. It stands on its own.
Tara
Subkoff*****[papermag.com
interview]
|
~
~
~ ~
 |
I
have always painted, and I've always designed and made embroidery, or
used
my art to design clothing. For me, it is another art form. I've made
many
of my own clothes since I was 15 when my mother taught me how to cut
and
sew. In my career, I've had the privilege of seeing and wearing lots of
different styles, and learned what makes you look good.
I find
that certain pieces of clothing can really make my day, make me feel
good
about presenting myself to the world with just a little extra something
that says this is my style, this is me. This is what I hope to do with
this collection. ... the idea is to interpret my style and my palette
of
colors, and to use some of my artwork, the patterns and floral designs
that I have been painting.
Jane
Seymour -
about her collection of clothing designs
[image
and quotes from Official Jane Seymour website
more
quotes by Jane Seymour on painting and drawing on: painting:
page 2
|
~ ~ ~ ~
| What
I do involves all sorts of people, all genres, and I think people in
the art community appreciate it because they see it's another form of
expression, they see another point of view.
I
never wanted to make clothes just for fashion shows. I preferred to
develop a relationship with people who wear my clothes. I also started
working with photographers and artists and filmmakers and graphic
designers -- collaborating with them felt like a more natural way for
me to work, and one I knew would ultimately lead to my work being seen
by the world.
Issey Miyake
[Interview magazine, Nov. 2001]
**book: Irving
Penn Regards the Work of Issey Miyake : Photographs 1975-1998
|
~
~ ~ ~
* *
|
******* **************************
< Dale Evans and Roy
Rogers
Tom Petty in a Nudie Rodeo Taylors
jacket >
|
|
**book:**Holly
George-Warren, Michelle Freedman. How
the West Was Worn
"Accompanying an
exhibition at
the Autry Museum of Western Heritage... features archival photos
of celebrities as well
as
collectibles
like vintage album covers, mail-order catalogues, and sewing patterns."
[Amazon.com
review]
"The walls of his
store
[Nudies],
plastered with photos, read like a who's who of music and film. Dale
Evans,
Hank Williams, Bob
Dylan,
the
Rolling Stones, Marty Stuart, Gram Parsons and Dwight Yoakum
were customers. Most
of
Nudie's
work was custom made. His embroiderer, Rose Clements,
festooned suits with
thunderbirds,
frogs, castles, crowns and guitars.
"Before there were
videos, there
were Nudie suits," [book author] Freedman said. "If you had a hit song,
you would have a Nudie
suit
decorated with images from the song."
[from
article
about the exhibition and book: Perfect Duds for Riding Off Into the
Sunset,
LA Times, Oct. 19, 2001]
<<
related
book: Rodeo
Girl by Lisa Eisner (photographer)
~
~ ~ ~
 *Britney
Spears************* *Julia
Roberts as Louise Brooks
...book: Femme
Fatale : Famous Beauties Then and Now
by Serge Normant, Bridget Foley, Michael Thompson (Photographer)
"Celebrity
stylist Serge Normant crafts clothes, setting, hair, and makeup to
transform
today's most beautiful
women.
He re-creates Julia Roberts as Louise Brooks, and Cindy Crawford as a
forties
glamour goddess,
a
savvy
paparazzi-stalked nineties superstar, and a twenties ingenue. Elizabeth
Hurley frolics as a flower child
and
vamps
as Mata Hari. Isabella Rossellini is a curvaceous fifties pinup and an
eighties punk. And Britney
Spears
exudes all the poise of Grace Kelly.
This
lavish
exploration of fashion history, imagination, and stylish beauty carries
with it Bridget Foley's cultural
survey
of each decade -- from social and political issues to art movements and
key style makers.
~
~ ~ ~
|
"My
job is to lead the market, to be ahead of it -- to come out with a
message.
So
whatever
is inspiring to me and what I feel is the right mood is where I'm
going."
Ralph
Lauren ..... [CNN,
November 5, 1998]
**book:*Colin
McDowell. Ralph
Lauren and the Spirit of America
|
~
~
~ ~
 ...interviews:
Gelila
couture clothing designer
Kathy
Ireland
clothing and home furnishings design
Bob
Mackie
fashion designer
~
~ ~
...sites:
Costume
Designers Guild "A costume designer creates the look of
a character
in film or television. This
requires
detailed research and director's vision.
Often, the costumes set
fashion
trends
that inspire fashion designers and impact world culture."
 ...books
Le
Book NY 2003: The International Reference for Fashion, Photography,
Graphic Design and Production
Teri
Agins. The
End of Fashion : How Marketing Changed the Clothing Business Forever
Jane
Ashelford,
et al. The
Art of Dress : Clothes and Society, 1500-1914
Malcolm
Barnard. Fashion as Communication
What
kinds of things do fashion and clothing say about us? What does it mean
to wear Gap or Gaultier, Milletts or Moschino? Are there any real
differences between hip-hop style and punk anti-styles? In this fully
revised and updated edition, Malcolm Barnard introduces fashion and
clothing as ways of communicating and challenging class, gender, sexual
and social identities. Drawing on a range of theoretical approaches
from Barthes and Baudrillard to Marxist, psychoanalytic and feminist
theory... [amazon.com]
Janet
Boyes Essential
Fashion Design : Illustration,Theme Boards, Body Coverings,
Projects,
Portfolios
Melvyn
Bragg. Vision:
50 Years of British Creativity, A Celebration of Art, Architecture and
Design
Charlotte
J.
Fiell, Peter M. Fiell. Designing
the 21st Century
Tom
Ford
[of
Gucci - guest editor]. Visionaire
24 Light [reader review:] ..comes in a
magical,
revolutionary format consisting of a flexible Luminagraphics light
panel
packaged in a black foam-lined box which is used to view the 24
transparent
and panoramic photographic plates. LIGHT is encased in a shiny black
plexiglas
case, and "custom-manufactured" by Gucci for Visionaire. [used price
$550]
Sara
Gay
Forden. The
House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour,
and
Greed
Susannah
Frankel. Visionaries
: Interviews With Fashion Designers
Pamela
Golbin. Fashion
Designers
Eiko
Ishioka,
Francis Ford Coppola. Eiko
on Stage
Sue
Jenkyn Jones. Fashion
Design
Deborah
Nadoolman Landis. Costume Design
Elizabeth Leese. Costume
Design in the Movies: An Illustrated Guide to the Work of 157 Great
Designers
Colin
McDowell Shoes
:
Fashion and Fantasy
[fashioninstitute
cybrarian's comments:] "Due to the populartiy of our shoe program
this
is a
fabulous
resource. Colin McDowell is, of course, one of our favorite fashion
authors
known
for his accurate and entertaining information."
Lynn
Pecktal,
Tony Walton. Costume
Design : Techniques of Modern Masters
Victor
Skrebneski
(Photographer), Laura Jacobs. The
Art of Haute Couture
[fashioninstitute
cybrarian's comments:] "Haute Couture epitomizes fashion as art.
Delicious
photographs
of the major 20th century designers'work."
~
~ ~ ~
*related
pages:**design
: page 1.......design
: page 2.......body
image.......sexuality
** **home
page :: Talent
Development
Resources**-*site contents******books
etc
---**----sections
:---Women
&
Talent ------Teen
/ Young Adult talent
|
.Talent
Development Resources --..
"My work is quite
architectural
in concept, but designed for women to actually wear, not just for the
runway,"
he says. 
on costume
design
The
late Richard Harris [right] had signed to play Albus Dumbledore in
"Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," but early on he hadn't figured out
the Hogwarts School headmaster.
