Charles Fraser and Allison Lurie

Stumbled upon a great new portrait artist today... introducing Charles Fraser! I am very into the 1820s and 30s right now, which is funny because I used to really hate them. But my costume history class last semester totally changed my mind, I can't believe I never realized what fun they were. Maybe I just hadn't seen good pictures or something. In any case, please enjoy some lovely Fraser portraits, complete with M-notches (one early 19th century detail that I absolutely love).




Well, now that I'm on the subject of the 1820s and 30s, I simply can't resist posting some pieces from my favorite artist of this period, Joseph Karl Steiler. Such lovely, rich colors and textures... his treatment of velvet is amazing.

Now that we've got some eye candy to ooh and ahh over (seriously, how fabulous is that 1830s hair? And am I the only one who thinks that the Fraser portrait with the crazy mutton chops looks like a perfect Mr. Collins?), I thought I'd mention my most recent costume-related reading. I ordered Allison Lurie's book The Language of Clothes because it's required for the design class I'm taking in the fall. But I'm such a geek that I was dying to read it in advance- what can I say, despite the scary '80s cover of the edition I bought, it looked super interesting! And I'm happy to report that it was. As you can probably tell from the title, she basically analyzes fashion and clothing as a language of its own and she makes some really interesting observations. I particularly loved the chapter "Fashion and Time" because of her interesting analysis of the 19th century as a maturing woman- moving from the simple childish Regency dresses to the mature, full-figured silhouette of the turn of the century. It makes so much sense! My costume history professor (who will be referred to from now on as G) used an analysis of the 19th century as utilizing a constantly shifting puff of air (from the sleeves in the early part of the century to the hoops to bustles to sleeves again in the 1890s, etc.), but I like Lurie's analysis much better. Overall, a great read, which I think could be enjoyable even to non costume/fashion people.

Ta ta!
All of the paintings are from the Art Renewal Center.

Image Overload

Well, I had hoped to start scanning in some pictures of my new summer project, but unfortunately, my scanner decided that it doesn't support that plan. So I guess I'll just try to give you a bit of a feel for who I am as a designer...
1. Favorite Periods
I'm in love with costume history. Doing historical research is definitely my favorite part of the design process. It's hard to pick just a few periods, especially since I seem to fall in love with everything! But here are a few consistent favorites:
The 1910s- I love the simple lines and fabulous embellishments. As you'll see in a minute, one of my other favorites is the Regency period... I'm just a sucker for those classical lines and columnar silhouettes, not to mention the lovely Grecian hair.
The Regency (1790s-1820s)- Is there honestly anyone who doesn't love the romance of the Regency? Like I said before, I love the Neoclassical look, and of course, a little Jane Austen never hurt anyone!
I also love the menswear of this period, which is sort of rare for me as usually I'm all about the women's fashion... it's a weakness, I know : ) But I am in love with the aesthetic of perfect tailoring and of course, floppy curly hair.





The 1930s- Changing it up a bit (no more empire waists!), I adore the 1930s. I love the draping and the interesting seaming, and the bias cut is a genius invention (though a pain and a half to work with...). I find the silhouette of the '30s pretty universally flattering, and so glamourous too! The old Hollywood look is so lovely, and of course who could forget the fabulous backless evening gowns?


2. Favorite Artists:
Art is a huge inspiration for me, as well as a great research tool for the pre-photography eras. Some of my favorite artists include...
Toulouse-Lautrec-
Oh those crazy Parisian bohemians! I love his bold colors and sketchy style, and I also really appreciate his obvious love for his subject matter. He's someone who truly created a portrait of the world he lived in.





James Tissot- Talk about eye candy for fashion lovers. Tissot's party scenes and portraits are always nothing short of impeccable in their attention to detail, particularly in terms of what his subjects are wearing. I really like the soft colors and lighting that he uses.







Tamara de Lempicka- Going right along with my adoration of the 1930s is Tamara de Lepicka. Her harsh style is really evocative of the Art Deco movement and I love how she creates such bold characters in her art.









Alphonse Mucha- So breathtakingly lovely... really, there's not much to say about this well-known Art Nouveau graphic artist and painter other than: BEAUTIFUL.


Well, this post has gotten a lot longer than I planned it to be! This isn't it, of course, I'll be sprinkling paintings and things throughout the blog... I just have far too many favorite artists not to! Before I go though, here are the sources for the pictures. I have to disclaim for a minute, I'm so terrible at organization and to be honest, when I started collecting images I wasn't planning on using them for anything besides my own personal reference, so I don't have very good notes on where many of my pictures come from. So if you recognize anything as your own or someone else's, please let me know! It's very important to me that the people who were wonderful enough to get these pictures out on the web in the first place get the appropriate recognition.

1910s-
Grefe advertisement: http://www.americanartarchives.com/ I love American Art Archives! So many great vintage advertisements, which are one of my favorite sources of research.
White Dress: http://www.vintagetextile.com/ Talk about breathtaking vintage garments! Another favorite source for finding primary research.
Sears Catalog page: http://blog.caseybrowndesigns.com A new favorite haunt... check out her blog and wardrobe remix too, gorgeous and very inspiring.

Regency-
Ingres Painting: http://www.artrenewal.org/ Art Renewal Center is a great source for realistic paintings
White Dresses: This is where my memory is spotty... I believe these might be from the Met gallery

1930s-
both outside images: http://www.sovintagepatterns.com/ LOVE this site. So many great old patterns.
Center image: http://blog.caseybrowndesigns.com Casey again! She really has some great stuff. Seriously, check it out.

Toulouse-Lautrec- Alone: I'm embarrassed to say I think I sourced this one from Wikipedia!
James Tissot- The Seaside: Another Art Renewal Center find
Tamara de Lempicka- Portrait d'Homme: I think this one is from Wikipedia too
Alphonse Mucha- Emerald: Fairly certain this one is from http://www.allposters.com/

That's all for now!

Introductions

I'm terrible at introductions and first impressions, so naturally I've deleted about five possible first posts on this new blog. It's a bit intimidating really, trying to establish a tone and feel for an idea that I've been turning around in my head for a while now. What I am hoping this blog will be is a place to record and explore my exploits as a costume design student. I hope that it will help me organize my thoughts and also provide an interesting read for people interested costuming, the design process, costume history, art, etc. So, the kinds of things you can expect to see here would include renderings, research, reviews of costume-related books, paintings and other art that inspires me, links to helpful costume-related sites, my sewing projects, and lots of good, old-fashioned musing.
So there you have it... this whole first post thing is seriously psyching me out. I think I'll just leave this as my mission statement of sorts and actually get down to posting!