 LJ Runway Mondays, Grand Finale!
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Oct. 20th, 2008 @ 01:35 am 
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For the consideration of the judges, competitors, and anyone with an Internet connection and five-or-so minutes to kill...
I'm Mark G. Harris, and welcome to my end-of-the-season collection! This is the big one!
I can't believe Becky, Timothy and I got this far! [See their collections by clicking on their names.] Who knew? It's truly an honor to be "in The Big Apple, showing at Bryant Park during Fashion Week," and to see you all here!
Now, I trust the muscle-bound security guard in the black turtleneck with the headset was courteous to you as you were shown to your front-row seat. Underneath your chair you've probably found your swag bag filled with a pair of swanky sunglasses, a T-shirt printed with your favorite designer's logo, a box of gourmet chocolates, and passes to tonight's after-party. You're doing a splendid job of cooly pretending that you don't notice the celebrities who are seated all around you. Oh, look!
The show's about to start!
The five looks that comprise this show are all driven by the concept of marriage between differences. I approached each design with my hand covering the middle of each envisioned outfit, showing myself only the shoulders and hem of the garment, making sure they were different... and then my goal was morphing the two together somehow in luxurious ways. The blending of different colors, particularly at the hem, will be a key visual leitmotif meant to encompass the recurring concept's obsession: The union of historicism and modernity, the coming together of this color and that color, and most importantly, Harmony.
As the music starts and the models begin to stride and stomp to the Queen-like beat past us on the runway, as heard in this clip of the show...
  
...let's refer to our program and examine the designs closer, starting with...
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Look # 1:
Toxophilite
A day ensemble. The fitted hip-length jacket in dew-pink silk dupioni worn over the black-and-white houndstooth above-the-knee skirt, accessorized with sunglasses, boots and the status bag.
 
The skirt's check disintegrates (or reintegrates) into optic-white with a smooth fade provided by the insertion of a lace band between. The lace is repeated on the jacket's sleeves. The bag is white silk, worked over with hand-applied strips of black ribbon and edged with magenta.
Its zipper-pull is adorned with a beaded silver chain and a dangling charm. Though the jacket is as sculptural, clean-edged and modern as The Sydney Opera House, its inspiration is anything but a current affair: Court attire worn by Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, in a portrait painted in 1564 offers cues to her neck ruff. Her feathered and fletched arrow is sure to hit its mark in this outfit, and make those who look at her quiver.
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Look # 2:
Aviary
A day ensemble. The above-the-knee sheath dress of saffron-yellow silk dupioni paired with the bolero jacket in Caribbean-green silk shantung, accessorized with sunglasses, strappy sandals, the beaded necklaces and the status bag.
 
The hem of this dress features a fringe done in feather-like strokes of embroidery floss, hand-applied in three shades of turquoise, transforming from darkest and densest at the bottom to fade into the yellow's spectrum of the dress at the top. The lapels of the jacket resemble wings in flight, and are intentionally oversized, chosen to make the waist appear more waspish in comparison.
The cut of the lapels and stand-up collar mimic the jackets worn by the 18th Century's Les Incroyables. At the throat, a carnival of beads in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes seeks the rediscovery of childlike delights long ago abandoned. The red-white-and-green bag echoes all the plumage of paradise, caged in pink latticework. Wherever she's going, she's sure to look fly.
~
Look # 3:
Vincent
A cocktail dress. The knee-length dress of sterling silk dupioni with black tulle and silver bead and rhinestone embroidery, accessorized with the black tulle "mask," black hosiery and black slingback pumps, the beaded and beribboned evening bag and simulated raven feathers of shredded black tulle worn in the hair.
 
A dress reincarnated from a gamine's wardrobe, circa 1959, updated for tonight's funk. Successive layers of ebon tulle plunge the hem of this dress into a fog of lacy melancholia, mood-lit by the three stars of Orion's Belt, Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.
The tromp-l'oeil "necklace" is composed of black and silver beading and a centered rhinestone, stitched individually to the upper portion of the bodice. At the collarbones' edge, the beading takes on the role of straps, sweeping back and meeting in a V at the shoulder blades.
The bag features a selection of beads, ribbon and hematite. All in all, the perfect attire for meeting one's soulmate under cover of darkness, touring benighted mausolea, and discussing Dr. Gachet, earlobes, starry, starry nights, and fashion... a lunacy most exquisite. Quoth the raven: "She's a hottie!"
~
Look # 4:
Nocturne
An evening gown. The floor-length dress in changeant blue-and-purple silk shantung with pink tulle and magenta beaded embroidery, accessorized by the beaded choker and the bead-and-tulle-embellished evening bag. (Note: The gown can be worn without the underskirt as a cocktail dress.)
 
Inspired by silhouettes seen flowering during The Gilded Age, this red carpet gown represents a frail and delicate love affair with the pleat. Draping from the shoulders flow swirling yet precise pleats, caught up by the "girdle" midsection, and released once again at the hips in soft parting swags.
The "trumpet"- or "mermaid"-style underskirt, embroidered with beads and scattered with swatches of silk over tulle, intensifies in color to a pleasant pink, and ensures that the wearer will fishtail her way through elite receptions and into many a heart. A neckwire pays tribute to the Ndebele in peakcock-colored beads of differing delicacies, textures and sizes. Her bag has been vamped with a tulle bow and random multicolored beads sewn on in loops to form a fringe. Evening bag as conjecture: Is it a mere reticule, or a fantasy bird lead by a beaded chain? This is a puzzling matter best responded to in an alternative fashion universe that exists all around us, one that ravishes the eye of the faithful... and pistol-whips the infidel. That said, the dress clearly means little harm, and wishes all your Époques to be Belle.
~
And finally, the big finish, a mixture of several eras in one piece,
Look # 5:
Adore
A bridal gown. The floor-length dress of surreal blue/pink/silver silk, white tulle and pearl and sequin embroidery, accessorized by the bouquet, the veil and the pearl and crystal headpiece. (Notes: Shown without the veil in these pictures. The gown can be worn without the crinoline as a cocktail dress.)
 
The attention of those gathered is focused on the bride's face, due to the bejeweled headpiece she wears. Recalling the 1920s, when the headpiece and veil became more important than the dress, the one featured here has all the harem-charm and rampant exoticism of something inspired by 1921's The Shiek. Oh, très chic. The basquine is left unadorned, since the headpiece's trailing pearls and beads perform the duties of necklace and embellisher. By placing the headpiece with care over a powdered coiffure à la Pompadour, two looks separated by centuries at last meet, here and now.
The decision not to do an all-white dress is a fond and personal nod to the oh-so-pale blue-and-white dress worn by my mother at her wedding. Also reminding me of her are the mother-of-pearl sequins, from which loops of tiny seed pearls dangle at the flounce of the 1980s-inspired, drop-waisted, embroidered and tulle-layered tablier à la blanchisseuse.
Beneath the flounce and to the chapel's floor swish the soft and mammoth layers of an airy lilac and snowy tulle crin whose volume comes straight out of the 1860s. Release the doves and celebrate unity!
~
That's it for my collection. Rather than designing an entire collection basing looks around only one era or theme-- perhaps updating the Tudor Dynasty, The Civil War, The Roaring Twenties, or around themes like the secret life of birds, depression, Africa, Les Incroyables, or my mother and Audrey and Jackie-- to bring them all together and harmonize in luxurious tones with them was my goal with this collection I'm presenting. Let's hope the judges are kind! They can be found discussing our collections by clicking this link!
    
I hope anyone reading this has enjoyed seeing this show, and all of the preceeding challenges this season. Thank you so much.
[Explanatory note]
[Grocery store challenge]
[Eco-friendly fabrics challenge]
[New Orleans inspiration challenge]
[Olympics ceremony challenge]
[Lipstick Jungle challenge]
[Drag queen challenge]
[Car parts challenge]
[DVF's A Foreign Affair challenge]
[Avant-garde Zodiac challenge]
[Entering the workplace challenge]
[Musical genre challenge]
[Inspired by nature challenge]
~
(And now-- because this is also a competition for the models-- GREAT SCOTT! What was that noise...?)
Edit (11:15pm EST): Congratulations to Timothy and to Becky for all the hard work, technical skill and imagination that went into their collections, which the judges scored thusly. |
WOW!
Can you explain why you didn't go with traditional white for the wedding dress? Wait... Figaro, nevermind.
The wedding dress is a tribute to my mother's wedding dress, which was of a blue hue. : )
My mother wore black. Seriously. No wonder it didn't go well.
My mother wore black.
Any hope of some old family photos of this? Her dress sounds dramatic and I've got to see it! : )
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| From: | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dogrl |
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October 20th, 2008 10:26 pm (UTC) |
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Sounds like a german thing. It seems like my grandma had some old family wedding photos with the bride in black.
My mother wore white. With a BIIIIG black hem.
Suddenly I want to delete my post and pretend I was never a part of this. Your collection is fantastic.
...And hey, check it out! I made set-in sleeves! : )
I love your collection, Timothy. My favorite is your gown for your usual model. I returned to it several times, when looking at your entry. Very strong design work.
I have to ask, did you actually MAKE those red shoes.
No, but they're pretty damned hot. Everything you see I made, except the footwear-- in record time, too. I'm amazed I can even type anymore, as sore as my hands are. : )
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| From: | dogrl |
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October 20th, 2008 06:22 am (UTC) |
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Breathtaking!
I love the headpiece for the wedding gown.
Edited at 2008-10-20 06:22 am (UTC)
I showed it to my mom, who knows how to bead, and even she was impressed. I didn't show it to her while I was making it, though, because my cursing would've broken her heart. : )
That's what I thought it was, when I first heard it!
I KNOW! When I first heard it i was thinking "well Figaro DOES go all the way.."
Yeah... I wonder what the story is behind these two songs, you know, who sampled whom and whatnot. : )
While I don't believe that Sly Fox has any artistic integrity, I do believe they were discovered in a Levi's commercial - I think this song was out first. But I'm not sure, I've been working on my Derelicte campaign for quite some time
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| From: | ablueskyboy |
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October 20th, 2008 09:52 pm (UTC) |
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go all the way
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That's what I thought I was hearing at first, but the icon of the 45 in Mark's slide show isn't quite what it says it is, it claims about 5 mins long, but I think it's really playing a 12" version? Hmmm... not so sure anymore. But now I can rest assured that the beat was also in let's go all the way
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| From: | tjbtimmy |
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October 20th, 2008 11:26 am (UTC) |
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Wow! Uh, Uh, I'm speechless. Really. Excellent.
Timmy! Thank you for saying that... or not saying that, as 'twere. : )
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| From: | mary919 |
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October 20th, 2008 02:07 pm (UTC) |
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Mark, this is seriously amazing. The entire thing from top to bottom-- the designs, the presentation, the photography-- everything. When I looked at first one I thought it was the best thing you had done and then each one got better. Love the fringed skirt and how the beading ties it all together as a collection. You're amazing. I can't think of one funny thing to say :)
When I looked at first one I thought it was the best thing you had done and then each one got better.What ever your going rate is for Chief Executive Ego Booster is, I'll double it. All through this competition, I've really looked forward to getting a mary919 comment, and I'm probably not the only one. Your funny and supportive comments have always made me happy. : )
Aviary's my favorite by far. Yes definitely Aviary.
I can't help smiling, when I see the colors thrown together in Aviary. I'm glad you liked it, Gregory! Thank you. : )
I can see through my gray-tinted glasses that "Toxophilite" would have looked stunning in a Black & White film. You know what else looks stunning in Black & White? My Oscars. 
Ms. Head! What a cool thing to say... yeah, I could see "Toxophilite" kickin' it Old Skool. Fuck, I've been talking gangsta so long I can't stop.
Hey, your work in Vertigo MADE that movie, as far as I'm concerned. : )
Thank you, darling. "Hitchy" was dear man. A little too hands-on, if you get my drift, but how many women can say they've been groped by genius?
When I looked at the photos for Aviary, I thought, "Who amputated Figaro's leg?!" This is not a reflection of the design. The mental image of her hopping down the runway made me gig-to-the-iggle.
Oh my word, Mark!!!!! How very classy!!! Al of them!!! Aviary is my favorite, though!!
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