alive inside
“Alive Inside” was my entry into the International Young Designers Competition. We did this at the beginning of third year. The brief was to design an outfit to fit in with the theme “Ecology”, and we were encouraged to be as show-offy and crazy as we could.
The first phase of the competition was to submit illustrations to propose your design.
Please note this is not my greatest illustrative work ever, I believe it was the first digital collage I ever created.
I started out with the idea of showing the death/life cycle somehow within a garment. I designed a dress with a back that was meant to suggest a backbone and ribs. My professor encouraged me to go further, why not use actual bones? Yeah right, I thought. Then I went home and my boyfriend expressed enthusiasm for the same thing. So I thought, why not? It would have to be wild and crazy. I probably wouldn’t move on to the second phase anyways.
But surprise, surprise, I did move on to the second phase. “Oh my god now I have to make this crazy thing!” I realized. Of course, I had no idea how I would do it. But I did it.
I painted the layers of sheer organza by hand, airbrushed and cut and frayed the edges in what turned out to be a ridiculously time-consuming process.
And then there was that wacky bone structure and harness. I had to order the plastic replicas from the states. Originally I wanted to string it together like beads, but that ended up not working like I thought it would. So my boyfriend (who happens to work in special effects and is a problem-solver extraordinaire) fused and rigged together the bones, and helped me paint them to look old. I attached them to a harness which due to the configuration of the straps (why oh why had I designed this thing this way) had to wrap around the neck and between the breasts.
It all came together in the nick of time, I managed to co-ordinate a quick guerrilla photoshoot and I made a careful booklet to go with my dress which lovingly explains how the contraption should be worn, in English and French.
The runway show and awards was in Montreal on a Sunday evening. It was a long drive. My parents came. We stayed in a cheap hotel downtown.
The runway show was generally a fiasco. I was not backstage (I hate being backstage at runway shows). We sat very close to the front. It was neat to see what people came up with there was a really broad range of levels as far as the entries go, and some very impressive stuff. The modeling was awkward and amateur. I prepared myself for the worst.
And it was. The model was too large for the bone structure (My stupidity for not making it lace up, duh), and instead of wearing the shoes I provided, she stumbled along in too big clear plastic stripper shoes. I kid you not. It looked like crap. I knew I wouldn’t be winning! And I didn’t.
Several of my classmates won, though and deservedly so. One of them was very clever and modeled her dress herself. They got to go on a free trip to Paris, to see a much better produced show, and one of them even won second and met John Paul Gaultier!
So I learned some important lessons.
1. CONTROL how your stuff is presented. This is the one time where you MUST be a diva if you have to. If I had modeled it myself I might have had a chance.
2. Don’t design things you don’t know how to make and can’t afford! This dress cost me a full month’s rent. It didn’t look as great as the drawing. I wasn’t careful and designed myself into corners.
But still, it’s kind of a neat piece of art, even though it did turn me off designing avant-garde stuff. I think the design says a lot about my interest in duality, my dark love of the decayed, damaged and aged, and so on.
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[...] alive inside [...]
What a great piece to show off your creative edges tho.
There are so many different techniques to explore while looking at this dress, which is the reason I love to look at fashion items to begin with.
It is a shame that you could not have modeled that dress and won. Just as well, since you were turned off by designing avant garde stuff. It gives someone else access to Gaultier that might benefit more from it right now. Yours will come at the right time, with the right garments you love and the right mentor. Thank you for showing it to us.
I love it! I could totally see a trend like this, with different bones, innards showing.. gross, but that stuff appeals to me in a twisted way, too. It also seems to say something (on such a skinny model) about like, how friggin’ thin girls think they should be nowadays… it’s like an ironic commentary. “Look how pretty and alive she is! The american girls’ ideal! Green for wealth and envy and life and— Wait…waaaait.. she turns…hi, Nicole Ritchie!”
Ah, but it makes a great story!
And you learned a great deal more than you would have had you taken a “safer” road.
What an interesting design! I really like it, and it was cool to read your story about its creation and what you learned from the process. The pictures are great and I like the frayed and airbrushed edges of the organza.
Amazing work, Danielle. Especially the flats. The illustration of the figures is not as good as the flats, and the bones look shiny, unlike the real thing. But the flats–supremely detailed and cleverly rendered. I’d love to see a bigger view at some point.
[...] Though alive inside was probably the most labor intensive, problem ridden project I’ve ever undertaken, as far as making clothes goes I still haven’t talked about my most technically tricky project to date – my third year tailoring project. [...]
Freaking amazing!
I don’t know how or on what but, I hope I get the chance to work with you someday.
wow what an amazing dress. i like this dress allot. abloutly fabulous
amazing.
i dont understand you!
first you said that you dont like that CSM is an art school and that you prefer making wearable things, and than you say that your dress is a piece of art.
second: every fashion designer knows its a must to be in a backstage during fashion show, specially if you are presenting your dress! you could avoid problems with shoes and fat model…
i read your post about CSM and i was angry at you! its not just mcQueen thats graduated at csm. as a fashion designer you should know that they produce so many talents/fashion designers!(john galliano, hussein chalayan, stella mccartney, phoebe philo, gareth pugh…)
think about it! do you think people would go there just because its popular?
good luck with your work!
Maja!
I’m sorry I made you angry. The post you reference is over 2 years old and I’ve learned a bit since then. One thing I have realized since about my school is that it did a poor job of teaching taste, which is something that CSM takes very seriously. But when it comes down to it, CSM or any of the other famous schools are a great option if it is available to you; it wasn’t available to me.
This piece of “art” was the event that made me realize that I am not that type of designer. I don’t mean to disparage designers who work like that… I can be a little outspoken and exaggerate sometimes. Many of my friends design fantastic things and I admire them for a talent I do not have. I now work as an illustrator, and I adore drawing really outrageous things, as I also do when I am reading magazines or surfing the net.
.
The designers who did go backstage had to sneak back there; for this event, we weren’t allowed to pick models or do fittings or (technically) be backstage, so mine was not the only dress that suffered in presentation. This was the moment that I realized I should have broken the rules at any cost to present my work.
I tell this story here as a way to show how I learned some things about fashion design in a difficult way; perhaps it is a lot easier for you and you know how to prevent all problems and execute everything perfectly; its hard to tell because you don’t leave a link or explain your own identity.
[...] costume was from my school days – my only avant garde piece. I did bring along the spine and ribs, but it was too heavy to wear to party so I left it in coat [...]
this is really nice i like the way u design…
[...] its not like I’ve won every competition I have entered. But I have a little bit of experience with design competitions both as an organizer and an [...]
[...] I was one of the early subjects, and after she took her shot, she took this photograph by my request, showing the ribcage harness that I made for Alive Inside. [...]
[...] Alive Inside: I love the creativity put into this piece. [...]
Oh Danielle!! I am searching your site for images right now for the interview and I found this. I remember this from way back when. I always remembered these designs and always wished I could remember who had done it!!
[...] I want – I got shares some pictures of Dsquared2 “Frank N Furter” pumps. Reminds me a bit of this old fashion school project. [...]
What an awesome concept! I love that you were able to execute it, even with the difficulties/challenges you had. I just found your blog today, but I am eating it up! Thanks for sharing your experiences, good and bad.