Limited Woman (Substraction of full article)

"Whatever happened to ageing gracefully?" - Miranda
"It got old" - Carrie

Sex and the City

And with that the case is closed, killer lines from 1999.
It's no news people have an obsession with anti-ageing, something that lies at the heart of 'homo sapiens' civilization, but has perhaps been magnified over the last century.
What lies at the biological essence of our existence is ironically the one thing we are all trying to fight.

Even at the beginnings of written history, there is Alexander the Great and his quest for the fountain of youth, which many after him have tried to find.

Anti-ageing can not be seperated from beauty and fashion, open any random magazine and you'll see perfected faces, nearing lifelessness, looking back at you. The misrepresentation reaches from retouched photographes to models aged 13 - 20 trying to sell anti-wrinkle creams for 40plus agegroups.

One scary thing I came across the other day was 'The New World' on Discovery Channel, where scientists were talking about the very real possibility that there will be pills on the market combatting old-age within 30 years. This would triple our current life expectancy.
When I think about ageing and society nowadays, it has a certain sadness attached to it. We often look at it as a limitation, something we need to fight to our last breath.

For the photoshoot 'Limited Woman' I tried to project this sadness on a young model, represented in an old age home where we held the shoot; taking a beauty we are familiar with and projecting this on a very 'unbeautiful', yet natural prospect.

But for every negative, there is also a positive. To balance the gloom, there is inspiration to be extracted from the subject of ageing as well. On a positive note I present this study on materials and stop-frame filming:

Green Gene - Products vs. Nature

Recently I've taken a crack at the art of 'giving workshops'. Actually I don't care for the word and it's more like the art 'entertaining kids that have to do an obligatory class about eco-friendly living, thus sustainable fashion'.

Yet, my unruly sense for justice, especially towards helpless nature which we have so cruelly mutilated, has led me to care whether these kids learn something about sustainability and bio-friendly living. What started out as something I needed to do to get paid, turned into something I spend more time in than I should, but has caught my interest yet again.

It seems a recurring subject of my imagination that leads me to think great things and aspire heaps; ideas that have been fermenting in my mind like a heap of compost (consisting of dead leaves, orangepeels and (apparently) old jeans!).

During my research I found a few links about creativity in recycling (The Greenest Dollar article on recycling jeans: influenced my whole day).

So to get a little step closer to closing the circle of product life vs nature that will make the world go round a little longer:

http://www.thegreenestdollar.com/2009/02/creative-ways-to-recycle-your-jeans/
http://readymade.com/magazine/
http://www.studiohergebruik.nl/

Abandonment

3 Years to be 19

I had a conversation. A conversation on a terrace, no alcohol involved. Just, you know, the universe drugging you with the understanding you need.
Once in a while you come across moments that feel like you're talking to the embodiment of your subconcious know-it-all and she makes the unsee-able missing link.

In this conversation the subject of talent and succes came up and with that my frustrations about not being able to channel all I want to achieve at this time and how you can hear about other people my age or even younger that seem to already do what they ought to be doing. Jealousy often turns out to be the case and frustrations grow mouldy like persistant fungi that grow in the corner of your dated bathroom.

I was telling the other half of this moment about all the things I wanted to do, obviously no concrete jobs or plans came out of my mouth, but after I while I realised that in order for me to be one of those lucky few who have the gift of decisiveness, I would need about 3 years to be 19.

3 years that a lot of us babyboomers' babies could use to explore, discover, create, achieve and most of all tell, so that after that there's a time to listen, see and achieve even more. But in a state of peace in stead of constant nervousness and regular visits to a psychologist.

Unfortunately, besides the fact that it's just impossible, this number is long gone for me. So what I've decided right now is 22 is my new number. I'll just take my time to be that gifted 19-year old that makes all of us 20 somethings regret or jealous. I declare:

22 is the new 19

Girl with a Pearl Coat

Finally, I got the PDF for the Cover of 'Pearl' Magazine, a magazine made by students from the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI).

The project I was asked for was to be part of a three-way (exciting! Didn't meet the other co-operators though) experiment including an artist, set up to make a painting on untreated cotton, a designer (me) and a stylist who was to style whatever item of clothing I would make out of the stuff.

Including in the magazine was a little interview about the project with each member of the team and after going through quite some trouble and struggle to actually sew something from a heavilly edited and reworked canvas, here's mine :)

WHO ARE YOU?

A 3rd year fashion student/renaissance woman with a passion for telling stories. It doesn't matter to me whether I make them up myself (with a co-writer) or come up with something after doing a lot of research into times past. These stories have to be interesting to read, but what I love most is making them into a total; to make something written visually interesting and accessible.

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION?

My curiousity towards anything to do with art, history, science, literature and language. I can be mesmerised and literally dive into any subject not to do with fashion and find it exciting to make this into a concept that can be translated to a fashion collection.

WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION FOR THIS PROJECT?

The name and focal point of the magazine led me to do research into pearls, but also historical items inspired by these objects and their surroundings. It led me to 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' by Vermeer, which I've always had a fascination for and the construction and development of pearls.
This is why the item became quite historical in it's exteriour, but also had a story of beauty to tell on the inside, which made it quite intimate.

DESCRIBE YOUR CREATION IN 5 WORDS:

Historical, Intriguing, Envelopping, Voluminous, Uniseks

CCCB - Bookshop; Giftshop from heaven

Recently I've been on a 4 month holiday (actually, three holidays, combined to nearly 4 months, but who's counting?), so I'm afraid I'll be posting a lot of stuff about these lovely destinations as they have inspired me just the way I needed.
Each single one had different qualities about them, logically as that is why we visit different places in the world.

I've had to drag about two extra bags from each place, obviously being overpacked after having robbed the cities from their local jewels!
Here's a little secret from Barcelona, for every lucky person who's planning to go still: the CCCB Bookshop in 'El Raval'.

This store has about everything anyone who's into art, photography, fashion and illustration (or writing for that matter) would desire. Apart from the extensive collection of books, which made me want to cry and grab, this was the first museumshop where I was so tempted by the gadgets they had, that I actually bought some.
Because honestly, who can live without a camera that can make BLUE PICTURES?? And what about a 3D Notepad. Just drawing some lines on the paper (see attached photo) give instant effect. Very satisfying for the lazy bastards or not-so-talented sketchers among us...
But the cutest and simplest idea came in the form of a sticky notepad, that has drawing of origami foldings on every one (up to 4 styles I think, it's one of those packages that makes you torn between wanting to rip it off and admire it they way it looks now).


Now, I'll be honest and say I'm an easy target for memorabilia and souvenirs, but I thought these were noteworthy exceptions to the rule.

Whittled

1. To cut small bits or pare shavings from a piece of wood. To fashion or shape in this way: whittle a toy car or other objects.
2. To reduce or eliminate gradually, as if by whittling with a knife. To cut or shape wood with a knife.

For a long time, I've been pondering over the fact that I must be one of the last people on earth not to have a blog. Careful consideration led to 'whittled'; to organise my own mind and hopefully inspire some others.

As the words written above explain, whittling is the act of cutting small bit of a larger whole, something that can be quite intimidating and hard to grasp.
My intention is to do just that, to cut out interesting thoughts out of my mind and find out about forgotten, renewed and completely original works of wonder. To collect the shavings of a very large creative spectrum and pare it back together, to fashion a new hub of inspiration.

So hereby whittled.blogspot.com has been created, she breathes her first breath as I'll try to be the knife and glue.