Moodboards, Debutantes, & Fashion Class

I think my Fashion Class this quarter is in danger of quickly overtaking my schedule as my favourite.

For one, my professor has an English accent. So it doesn't matter what comes out of his mouth - it sounds gorgeous - he could read the phone book all day and I wouldn't get bored. Second, he started the class by giving us our "porn names" which was hilarious: you take the name of the first pet you had, and the street you lived on as a kid, and that's your porn name. So mine is Daisy Register; my professor conceded that it made me sound more like a debutante than a porn star; I was okay with this.

Our first assignment is create a collection of fashion designs/illustrations based on a literary quote which we selected at random. I sat there on my little stool, the only non-fashion major in my class, itching to find out which quote I was going to get...

...mine is about bowler hats. Bowler hats. Yep. 
(Although other people got corduroys and grandpa shirts, so, okay...)

For class tomorrow, our homework was to go out and get inspiring images, do research, and - as my professor says - "have a play" with some fabrics that inspire us.

Here's the result of my playing (read: my worktable exploded):

Luckily, 

my literary quote also touched on the lines of the female identity, and I just so happened to write a paper on feminism last quarter. I'm excited to start sketching tomorrow morning after my workout and before class. I'm aiming my collection towards joining hard and soft, masculine and feminine, structured and flowing. You get the idea.

Also,

I'm going to try to start wearing red lipstick.

We'll see if I'm brave enough, but I think it looks boss.

Alice in Wonderland

Here are the pieces from my final project for Concepts Class at SCAD; 

A darker interpretation of the classic story:

the Cheshire Cat grows to a monstrous size, (larger version)

the Mad Hatter's neurological disease manifests itself as leprosy, (larger version)

the Queen of Hearts skins off and wears the faces of her beheaded victims, (larger version)

and Alice sees ghosts in her opium-induced hallucinations. (larger version)

Spring Quarter started today, and I'm ready to get into the thick of things and keep my mind busy. Spring Break wasn't what I thought it would be, but that's life, right?

You know what strangely helps when dealing with loss? Coldplay's Lost.

My sister had a jam version, which she shared with me. I really liked the acoustic version, but this is pretty slick.

Here's to making art that heals hearts.

It's really the only way I know how.

What To Do When You're Homesick

I'm usually not a person who gets into a funk easily... but this last week has been really tough on me. I am freaking homesick. At the beginning of grad school, I felt like nothing could stop me; I wanted to be friends with everyone; I was gonna do everything! Now, I feel like I have traded that person in for a burned out, dark-eyed recluse. Maybe because it's finals week? I wish I still felt that overwhelming joy; instead, my little heart is a heavy one.

It's been 2 months since I've seen my family. While this is certainly not the longest I have ever gone without seeing them (I lived abroad, for God's sake - why can't I keep it together?!), something about just moving to another city far away by myself has taken a toll. I was really proud of myself; I didn't shed a single tear about the move until Midterms.

Then I remembered these words:

Sometimes it's really all you can do. I also think when you're feeling down - as corny as it sounds, it really works for me - I dress up. Even if it's just to go to the grocery store. It just makes you feel better about everything in your life.

I've also been dying to try some of the really adorable bohemian hair tutorials I've pinned, so I tried this one: The Bohemian Twist.

It links to a video (which is a little corny, but whatever, good instructions and super easy), so after my workout, I popped into the shower, toweled off my hair, and tried it. Here's the result (and a good excuse to work on photo-editing skills):

I fell in love with it. It took all of 5 minutes, and it looks really lovely and feminine. Probably will start wearing my hair like this a lot. AND, no blow drying (3 words that thrill me). Here's a secret: when your hair is still wet, twist the ends of the pigtails around your finger to get them to spiral. Do it every-so-often as your hair dries, and they will stay in perfect little spirals all day :)

I go home in 11 days, and I couldn't be more excited. 

 My school workload seems so much more manageable this week, but it will mean a weekend in my apartment, working. 

Time to finish the quarter with a bang.

Thank you for putting up with this totally emo post. We'll get back to art & illustration next time.