0 a 0 0 0 0 6B Thursday, March 17, 2011 // Fashion Issue .Do it yourself and make it your own Fashion Issue/ Thursday, March 17, 2011 e Wen couture conflicts with context Finding wardrobe and accessory inspiration from everything By EMILY BOUDREAU Daily Arts Writer It all began, like so many things, with a spring 2000 issue of Martha Stewart Living. From that moment on, I was hooked. The woman was a wizard, and being about 11 years old at the time, I was waiting on my Hog- warts acceptance letter. Well, Mar- tha was about as close as I was going to get to actual magic. With only a few household materials, a hot glue gun and some cloth flowers, I could whip up my own festive centerpiece, napkin rings and personalized name cards. Not that I had any need for any of these things, but the impor- tant thing (or so I thought) was that I'd never have to go to Party Depot to buy some cheap, horrible plastic nap- kin rings. Now, I'm not really artistic. I will never be Martha, no matter what color quilted jacket I wear or how many paper flowers I fold. One time, I tried to make my own candles and ended up with burns and a pot filled with molten brown wax. I have no desire to spend my days making rus- tic coat racks out of branches. How- ever, there is something to be said for actually making your own stuff - if you want something done right, do it yourself. So much is mass-produced about what we wear and the spaces we spend our life in. Pretty much every- body owns the same Michigan sweat- shirt and that doesn't really have a whole lot of personality. Now, I'm not suggesting you go out and embroi- der your own bedspread or produce a calico dress with seed beading, but it's always nice when there's some kind of a personal touch to an outfit or an apartment - some accessory or an object that actually means some- thing to someone, something that was made with care and has a story behind it. Additionally, making your own crap-you-don't-really-need is fun. And cheap. And much easier than you'd expect. The first step is prob- ably the hardest: deciding what you want to make and how you're going to pull it off. There is a certain art to figuring it out and your brain needs to blend creativity with a certain amount of mechanical savvy. It's kind of like trying to change a tire without an instruction manual. Start looking at the way things are put together. I make a lot of my own jew- elry, and sometimes I will go into jew- elry stores and just stare at necklaces. Trust me. It's weird, but it works. It also helps to think about what you could do to make it better - would you use a different color, a different style of material, perhaps? This is your project after all, so basically you have the freedom to do anything. Then, just start collecting stuff like old ticket stubs and newspaper clippings. I can'tguarantee you won't end up on an episode of "Hoarders" later in life, but you will get some great craft projects out of it. Craft stores are a dying breed, so the Internet is another great resource. Sure, there are generic chain stores around like Michael's and Home Depot, but I don't par- ticularly find those stores inspiring. Sometimes a craft project needs a really good jumpstart, like that fan- tastic collection of black-and-white photographs you could find at a flea market in Brussels and turn into your own stationery. But since obviously not everyone can go to Brussels, the Internet is perfect. Everyone can have access to weird materials. I have a pile of typewriter keys I got off eBay that I'm making into a bracelet. Also, the Internet provides plenty of crafts ideas. My personal favorite is the blog P.S. I Made This. It has mil- lions of ideas ranging from a DIY Birkin-style tote bag to circle scarves made out of the bottom half of an old sweater and some carefully placed double-sided tape. Basically, there are plenty of ideas out there and you just have to be ready to tackle them. Occasionally, you will have breakthrough moments when all your hard work will finally be worth it. Not all your projects will turn out the way you want them to, though. When I was 13, I walked around in a bedazzled jean jacket. You are goingto make mistakes - but still, there's nothing quite like wear- ing your own creations. High fashion and accessibility don't have to be enemies By JENNIFER XU SeniorArts Editor Here's a question that regularly plagues the fashion world: Why aren't models gracing the front covers of Vogue anymore? Why have the edi- torial spreads and September issues been transplanted by the debatably less attractive personalities of Hollywood? How could the exalted New York Fash- ion Week, a notoriously difficult event to get into even with celebrity status, possi- bly let, gasp, bloggers into its inner fold? The chasm continues to grow between fashion as curio and fashion as accessibil- ity. Franca Sozzani, editor in chief of Ital- ian Vogue, recently fired into the presses that fashion bloggers don't have a real foothold in the business - "they don't offer an opinion but only talk about them- selves, take their own pictures wearing absurd outfits," she wrote (ironically) on her own publication's blog. Antagonists quickly responded that um, Franca, the industry is changing whether you like it or not, so get off your high horse, you jealous hag. And so the battle wages, blueblood against layman, Prada-wear- ing-devil against Romy and Michele. Some say fashion isn't art, at least not when the clothes are hanging off our pasty, love-handled frames. Couture gowns by John "I love Hitler" Galliano are works of art, sure - and, in a way, so are the wacky compost constructions the contestants on "Project Runway" dream back hole gradually slithering up to Mila up -butwhenwewake upinthe morning Kunis's wing-shaped tattoos. These and put together that commercialized, were the pieces that provided the per- dime-a-dozen North Face-leggings-Uggs sonality, that papered the gaps between uniform, are we really making art? person and character. The Rodarte cos- Phrased differently, how much does a tumes, radiantly designed as they were, piece of clothing depend on context? If were just the icing atop the cake - not isolated, a gown can be pared down to the actual cake. its basic essence - we can pull out our In the language of real life, we (the magnifying glasses and monocles and humans) are the cake. When we seea girl laud every pleat and butterflied stitch on the street looking fantastic, we uncon- on its shiny surface. By unceremoni- sciously want to be the character she ously stuffing our flesh into a dress's evokes - not just own the clothes she's wafery silhouette, do we subtract from wearing. Fromthe wayshecarriesherself the object's fundamental nature? Ulti- tothe beauty mark on her chin, we look at mately, is fashion more about the article the entire package when appraising how externa than the human inside it? a piece of clothing fits. This is the power Maybe not. A few months ago, "Black of context, and fashion is wrapped more Swan" underwent controversy because dizzily in context that it would care to the designers behind fashion label Rod- admit. It was Audrey Hepburn that made arte bitched that they weren't put under the Givenchy little black dress famous, awards consideration for Oscar season - after all - not the other way around. despite the fact that they had only collab- Context, too, is what imbues the activi- orated ona total of seven costumes with ty ofshopping with its magical aura. Once the film's official costume designer, Amy we make a connection with that dress in Westtott. Their argument was that they the mall, once we hold that plastic bag had contributed ideas to the "impor- with the crinkly receipt stuffed inside of tant" costumes - the feathered tutu of it, there's something irrevocably altered the black swan and Natalie Portman's from this simple exchange. During these plunging white gown at the ballet gala, brief moments, the object has become a for instance. I am 100-percent against part of us, and we have become a part of Rodarte on this one. I'm not saying the it. Accessibility isn't high fashion's way gorgeous, glittering Swarovski crys- of pandering to the masses. It's the only tals stamped on the black swan's stage way we can view an article of clothing: costume weren't stunning in their own by seeing it as an extension of ourselves. right, but I more vividly remember the That's where fashion makes the pilgrim- film's work clothing - Portman's cushy age from museum piece into style. pastel sweater and Uggs, her slouchy grey sweatshirt,' j delightful9 opera based on the the black Yumiko ta i beloved novel by Louisa May Alcott leotard with the COURTESY OF TURNERCLASSICS Audrey Hepburn gave the "little black dress" its celebrity status in society. SChIEKEEPER3S fPits I2 8 Drafts PiDnit&Wings $4.99 $2.5 Pitchers o Off l adihPatr Tillians / Coors Light Taapy Hur - Sgt. t 99&O100 IW~JI~UP5- Ieied toiM d fu Would youlike toget more involved with current issues surrounding thestudent body? The Vice President for Student Affairs is looking for students to serve on their student advisory board for the 2011-2012 academicyear, and advise her on the topics that are most pressing to the students at the University of Michigan. Applications and more information can be found at: http://studentaffairs.umich.edu/ getinvolved/studentadvisor/dsa The deadline for applications is Monday, March i,2OII atSpm.