Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair

I think I have died and gone to heaven!  Or somewhere better even!  Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair is one of the most remarkable fashion companies I have ever come across!  Just look for yourself and you will see what I mean ...

Little Red Riding Hood

The Inspiration behind my newest designs for our Sportswear/Leisurewear module was the story of Little Red Riding Hood.  I'll post shots of my storyboards as soon as they are assessed ...

Kathryn Elyse

How amazing is this illustrator, Kathryn Elyse!  There is such vibrance and life in her beautiful sketches that you can't help but be drawn to them!

Back to Basics

Collaboration

A little while back, I styled a photoshoot for Kristin-Lee Moolman, using my own designs for the shoot.  It came out really well, so here's a sneaky peek at some of the work - I'm still waiting on the rest.  Let me know what you think ...

Bad Day

Sandra Backlund

Ok, so college is starting to pick up the pace and things are beginning to pile up!  It's exciting, but still intimidating at the very same time.  We're busy in Fashion Design Week, with our overall theme for this module being Sportswear.  Our brief stipulated us to design a sportswear inspired range, which sounds quite 'bleh' at first glance.  But, with a bit more time and research, I realise that this could be a totally amazing assignment. And it IS!  I'm fully enjoying every aspect of this project so far and hope to keep up this enthusiasm right throughout.  Although, check in with me during Sewing Week, it might just be another ketttle of fish ...

But for now, I thought I'd post some photographs of the breathtakingly beautiful work of Sandra Backlund.  Her knitwear creations leave me speechless, with just a touch of jealousy towards her innovation.  She truly is a visionary of our time.

Valentines Day

My Inspiration Board

Vivian Maier - The Underground Photographer

Wow!  What an remarkable find!  I stumbled across an astounding blog today, dedicated to Vivian Maier, a street photographer from the 1950's to the 1990's.  Her tale is mind-blowing and definitely one-in-a-million.  Here is her story, told by John Maloof ...

VIVIAN'S LIFE IN OBSCURITY

Here is what I know.

I acquired Vivian's negatives while at a furniture and antique auction while researching a history book I was co-authoring on Chicago's NW Side. From what I know, the auction house acquired her belongings from her storage locker that was sold off due to delinquent payments. I didn't know what 'street photography' was when I purchased them.

It took me days to look through all of her work. It inspired me to pick up photography myself. Little by little, as I progressed as a photographer, I would revisit Vivian's negatives and I would "see" more in her work. I bought her same camera and took to the same streets soon to realize how difficult it was to make images of her caliber. I discovered the eye she had for photography through my own practice. Needless to say, I am attached to her work.

After some researching, I have only little information about Vivian. Central Camera (110 yr old camera shop in Chicago) has encountered Vivian from time to time when she would purchase film while out on the Chicago streets. From what they knew of her, they say she was a very "keep your distance from me" type of person but was also outspoken. She loved foreign films and didn't care much for American films.

Some of her photos have pictures of children and often times it was near a beach. I later found out she was a nanny for a family on the North Side whose children these most likely were. One of her obituaries states that she lived in Oak Park, a close Chicago suburb, but I later found that she lived in the Rogers Park neighborhood.

Out of the more than 100,000 negatives I have in the collection, about 20-30,000 negatives were still in rolls, undeveloped from the 1960's-1970's. I have been successfully developing these rolls. I must say, it's very exciting for me. Most of her negatives that were developed in sleeves have the date and location penciled in French (she had poor penmanship).

I found her name written with pencil on a photo-lab envelope. I decided to 'Google' her about a year after I purchased these only to find her obituary placed the day before my search. She passed only a couple of days before that inquiry on her.

I wanted to meet her in person well before I found her obituary but, the auction house had stated she was ill, so I didn't want to bother her. So many questions would have been answered if I had.

(www.vivianmaier.blogspot.com)

Alexander McQueen - One Year Anniversary of his Death

Alexander McQueen: gone but not forgotten. Understatement, perhaps, so let's use hyperbole and make that gone, but a gazillion miles from forgotten. Corny, but the sentiment rings true: one year to the day since his death, the late, great designer is still a fashion tour-de-force.  Telegraph UK

In the Pipeline ...

Ok, so I am incredibly fussy when it comes to buying swimwear!  I am so set on a particular style that I have conjured up, that nothing I come across ever lives up to my expectations.  Well, enough is enough!  I've decided that it's about damn time that I designed a range of bikinis.  I am so inspired by the fifties' creations - their flattering fit and slimming style-lines are timeless.  Thus, I have sketched and conceptualized a collection of vintage inspired costumes that I hope to soon put into production.  Watch this space ...

(Loic Peoc'h & Ludovic Andral)

Streetstyle

Never-Nude

def NEVER-NUDE:  Rare psychological affliction of never being able to be completely naked; insistence on covering one's gentialia and/or buttocks.  Often wearing cutoff's and body suits. One may also paint themselves blue.  Attends annual never-nude conventions.

(Tobias , Arrested Development)

Enough said!

Strike a pose ...

It's Illustration week at college, and we begin the module by drawing and rendering figures, including close-up's of the hands, feet, and head.  I haven't drawn for such a long time, that I've been really stressed about this class!  But like they say, 'it's like riding a bicycle, you never forget'.  My techniques have gotten a wee bit rusty, but I guess practice makes perfect.

We also practiced an exercise called 'blind contour drawing' - a preparation exercise to help free oneself's mind from rigidity, and enable the artist to truly SEE.  It appears to be a bit silly and useless at first, to be sketching without even looking at our paper, but it really does increase one's creativity tenfold.  The drawings don't particularly look like much, especially to an outside viewer, but thats apparently the whole idea behind these seemingly absurd gestures.  Alas, nothing could look MORE absurd to onlookers than a bunch of peeps holding their limbs in awkward statuesque positions all day!  Only at college!

Laurence Ellis

Along my internet travels, I came across this inspiring photographer, Laurence Ellis  His shots bear incredible soul and ethereal beauty, each telling more than a thousand words ever could.  Im in such awe!  One can view his vast portfolio at http://visualartistsuk.com/, alongside the work of the great David Bailey.

(all Laurence Ellis)

Lights...Camera...Action!

Spent the day styling a shoot for such a talented Cape Town photographer, Kristin-Lee Moolman.  We collaborated on a concept and direction for the storyline, and with both her vision and my designs, the end result was truly spectacular.  Coupled with a beautiful young model, Janine, just breaking into the industry, a great atmosphere was created and captured.  Her look was incredibly fresh and free-spirited, allowing the garments to really speak volumes for themselves.

I indeed learnt so much from Kristin today, and would again work with her in a heartbeat.  I can hardly wait to get my hands on those photographs!  Driving home from the location tonight, I was sporting the cheesiest smile ever!  I haven't had so much fun in a very long time.  What with there being a house pet, Tiny - a NOT-so-tiny 'potbelly' pig, that turned out NOT to be a potbelly pig after all; some, let us say, 'suspicious' growth forms taking place in the backyard; and a group of hungover students attempting to get over their hangover's, by consuming yet again, more amounts of alcohol...All in a day's work!

Wall Art

(Vredehoek , Cape Town)

FAN-friggen-tastic!

So with all this extreme heat going down in Cape Town this summer, it is only obvious to invest in a good quality fan.  Aah, my new BFF!  Our college has a fair few of them, as our working space is incredibly hot!  Rumor has it that one year, students were working in just their knickers and bra's because of the sweltering temperatures!  Ha!  Net so!  Today was just such a day where the heat was particularly unbearable.  And in dire times such like these, we count on our trusty fans.  What I DIDN'T count on happening, was butchering my finger whilst trying to adjust this above mentioned 'fantastic' apparatus!  I'll spare you the gory details, but lets just say that the picture was definitely not Mandy Moore, but rather more along the lines of Britney Spears!

Thus, our new relationship seems to have taken a turn for the worst *sob* and is currently touch and go ...  WATCH THIS SPACE ...

Overwhelmed with inspiration!

I'm not particularly sure if I'm speaking from a lone point here, or if I have a troop of followers suffering from the same debilitating compulsion...  But many a time whilst perusing the net, I'm bombarded with incredible amounts of information about the many new creatives on the scene.  Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not complaining, the inspiration is most welcomed.  But at times, it just seems one could go on for days, weeks, even years, hopping from one blog or website to another!  And the reality is, this IS THE REALITY.  I genuinely don't know where to draw the line at times, and this addiction has often left me sporting black bags under my weary eyes.  So is the key to not even begin at all?  Or to persevere through the many late nights of obsession in the name of creativity?

The latter seems to constantly triumph, so I succumb to the fact that my name is Tamara Cherie Dyson, and I am severely prone to 'serial-web-skimming-blog-examining-portfolio-investigating'.  So, whilst typing this blog entry, how convenient it was that I came across an extremely talented artist, Jeanne Phan.  Why, I guess all the preoccupation is unquestionably worth it...

              Take a snoop around her blog on www.jeanniephan.com/blog/