Bollywood Style

Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world and by far the most popular, with its country of origin being the second largest in the world, India. Everything about a Bollywood film is stylized and made to look super glamorous because that is what people in general want to watch. Each film has a heroine who dresses perfectly with the most beautiful saris one could ever imagine, with perfectly curled hair and flawless makeup. These heroines are not only are they superstars, but they are the face of fashion in India. The trends are all based off of these celebrities who really don’t know anything about fashion, they just wear what they are provided. The saris and salwar kamezes that sell for the most are the ones that are duplicates of what was in the latest film. To think that just a few people have power over style in a nation is so interesting because it not only shows the power of celebrity, but it also shows the power of fashion. The clothing they are wearing in a sense makes them into the megastars that they are. By creating something that every woman in India can feasibly possess and selling it really shows the power of popular culture and how much fashion is apart of that.

Comparison & Contrast

The old logo(left) vs. The new logo (right)

Gap came out with a brand new logo last week, expecting applause from the world and instead got hit hard with criticism. This backlash came from the general public via social network sites like twitter and facebook along with scorn from professionals. The new logo had sans-serif typeface, which was bolded, on a plain white background, and there was a gradient blue box just above the “p” in “Gap”. This new logo really retrograded the whole company’s look through its simplicity and overall bulkiness. There is no real style in this logo and it seems very generic, not setting the Gap apart from say a pharmaceutical company. It seems as though the designers were really trying to emulate the famous American Apparel logo, where its just bold Helvetica font spelling out the name, but they failed to capture that and instead captured something that was just plain boring. The logo that Gap has been using for 20 years or more is a simple navy block with long, skinny serif letters spelling out “Gap”. This logo really fits the Gap and the whole style of the store, with their plain and simple clothes that have very stylish cuts and modern trends. The general public obviously really felt strongly about this old logo and was deeply offended by the new logo. People were not afraid to voice their opinion on the change in icons, and so as a result there was a huge outcry. The Gap responded to this by immediately revoking the newly designed logo and keeping the age old classic one. This is really a perfect example of how minor differences in a logo can really change the over all feeling of a product or of a company. Buy just getting rid of the serifs on the typeface and making the blue box smaller, the logo really lost its iconography and became something that was more repulsive than stylized.

Design as a Conversation

Yoko Ono Nail&Hammer Piece

Design as a conversation is something that needs to happen during the design process sometime. A designer must realize that their designs are not for themselves, but for others, and to be able to see what others want, there must be a conversation. The audience has so much power over what is accepted and what isn’t, so to be able to have that conversation before something isn’t accepted is so key to being successful. Through this back and forth relationship, design is allowed to evolve and develop over time. A designer is trying to communicate ideas to the world, and if the designer is not on the same page as the public then the idea is lost. For a designer to maximize their potential, they must have this open relationship with the outside world. Yoko Ono’s art is a perfect example of how a designer really uses their audience to create something more, and build upon their original ideas. With the piece featuring a plain white piece of wood with hammers and nails waiting to be put into the wood, Yoko really involved her audience in her art. They built upon it by hammering nails into that plain piece of wood and made it into something completely different, and yet still the same. This piece resembles the relationship between the designer and the public and how symbiotic they are.

I'l Buono, I'l Brutto, I'l Cattivo

The film "I'l Buono, I'l Brutto, I'l Cattivo" or as it’s more commonly known: "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly”, is a beautifully designed film. The 1966 film is a classic spaghetti western and is apart of the Dollars Trilogy. Director Sergio Leone made this film not only a classic in the world of popular cinema, but in the world of art and design too. The costumes, cinematography, and music of this film all are so modern for their time and really were influential in film and art. The costumes that adorn a young Clint Eastwood are beautifully iconic: the poncho. In fact, I can see many of the trends from the fall 2010 runway in his costume from the shearling, military, poncho and even the broad rimmed hat. Clint carries this outfit with such style and that really creates the mystic that surrounds his character.

The cinematography of this film is amazing; there is one continuous shot at the end that just focuses in on the eyes of the three characters during a stand off for 5 minutes or more. This shot was so beautifully laid out and designed because it really captured the tension that was between the characters with just the squints from their eyes.

Ennio Morricone created the soundtrack for this film and really made it something different. The film has very little speech in it and so the score really is prevalent and sort of narrates the film. The theme song is very sixties-Italian and yet there is a sense of the old west and the energy and spirit that embodies it.

Creativity from Without

Lauren (Metro Series) Melanie Pullen

The artist Melanie Pullen is an excellent example of an artist who finds her creativity from without. She finds inspiration from the old LAPD crime scene photos of brutal female murders. She recreates these scenes and incorporates high fashion into them to give off that glamorous feeling despite the gruesomeness of the photo. She really embodies this concept of finding creativity from without because she went out and found something very unique to work with, and then upped it by using her own design aesthetics to make it into her own art work.

When I first saw Melanie Pullen at the Photographic Museum of Art in San Diego I was completely drawn to her photos because of the beautiful clothing she used in the photos. After a while I noticed what was going on in the image and how violent it was, and was completely in love with her way of turning horror into beauty. She has many series where she focuses in on a certain type of murder such as hanging, metro murders, prostitute murders and much more but no matter how disgusting the image is, the woman always looks elegant. It’s as if she has given these murdered women a second chance in the way that she dresses them up. Pullen not only finds her creativity in old crime scenes, but in fashion too. She really uses beautiful clothing from the top designers like Prada and Miu Miu, and by using these pieces of clothing; it allows her photos to be different from the original.

Stone Soup

Our final product

The beginning

Last Tuesday in Design 001 we were given the chance to create a design oriented stone soup together. Everyone brought some type of material we could use to create an art piece. We formed intimate work groups and trekked outside to start work on our ephemeral art pieces. The concept of stone soup was that we would all contribute ideas and build upon those ideas to form something beautiful and creative.

My group brought some acrylic paints, cardboard, some newspaper, origami, stuffed animals, and bottles. It took a couple minutes for us to get started; we all kind of stared at the junk in front of us and pondered how we were going to make it into art. It started with the cardboard, which we made into a sort of tepee structure and decided to decorate it with the origami. We started to get inspired at this point and began to make other origami forms with the newspaper that was provided. From there we started to paint on the cardboard elements of nature such as leaves and water swirls and then we actually gathered leaves and sticks that we surrounding us and incorporated those into our art. Our final product was not the most beautiful piece of public art, but it certainly was a mash up of many ideas and it represented our teamwork.

This exercise really helped me understand the importance of working with other designers to improve your own thoughts. As a designer you must find inspiration from not only yourself, but others too. Working with a group of people who all have very valid and creative ideas is so conducive to your growth as a designer and as a person. Designers must be open minded and learn out to work together so the best possible product is created.

Versace China

Recently I was searching for some dishware and I came across some Versace china. The images of these gilded plates and cups made me realize how fashion can be translated into anything, from the clothes on your back to the plates you eat off of. Fashion is everywhere in our lives and its more in our face than we realize. Gianni Versace started a fashion empire where he created beautiful clothing for the masses but he also provided the world access to his lifestyle by designing this china. We all have seen the beautiful opulence that he lived in from his marble floors to the beautiful murals on the walls in his Miami Beach mansion. But with the design venture of creating this china, Versace not only branded dishware, but he branded his lifestyle. The designs on these plates are beautiful and intricate works of art that make the person dining on them feel as if they are ancient Roman aristocrats. To be able to make a person feel like this while they are eating is a sure sign of a confident and talented designer. The art of Gianni Versace makes a person feel like they are gods, even when they are doing the most primal of acts, eating. Versace made this dish ware so classy and it really inspired me to look at everything with an open mind.

Image taken from http://www.int.rosenthal.de/1160/Brands_Products/Rosenthal_meets_Versace.htm

The Birkin Bag

There is no handbag more coveted than the Hermès Birkin bag. Birkin bags are made out of the finest leathers, the most precious metals, and are individually handcrafted. It is said to take up to 48 hours to create one of these beloved purses. Hermès, a french company that specializes in leather goods, has created this icon of a purse along with the mystery of it. A bag could cost up to $150,000 depending on the type of leather and hardware that is on it. One may ask why would anyone in their right mind want to spend $150,000 on a purse, and the answer is all in the design of it.

The Birkin bag is really quite simple, but that simplicity is what makes it so beautiful. It is a timeless piece of design that is very feminine, yet at the same time has a very masculine feel. It could be a travel bag, a brief case, or just a purse but it is created to work for any situation in a woman's life. Yet it is an enigma to most, and may just come to you in dreams. Hermès only produces a certain number of bags per year and they are all randomly distributed to their stores around the world. There are wait lists to get onto the wait list for this bag, and only a select few individuals are able to obtain these pieces of art. This rare purse has become a sort of status symbol throughout the world not only for its value but also for the classic design of it.

Image taken from http://birkinwatcher.blogspot.com/

Barbie as an Inspiration

As a child I played with Barbie dolls everyday to my hearts content. I was surrounded by all different generations of them from my older sisters and mother. All of the dolls were special, but what I cared most about was their wardrobe. The actual act of making up a story for them wasn't the fun part for me; it was dressing each and every one of them. The act of being able to put clothing on these dolls and transform them into different characters fascinated me, and it really inspired me to become a fashion designer. Since childhood, I wanted to be able to make the clothing that could transform a woman into someone else and I knew I was going to become a fashion designer.

A Barbie doll is one of the most iconic toys of our era because of the glamour and style she represents. These dolls allow children to experiment with design and understand how clothes can change a person. Barbie was first created in the 1960’s and was placed on the market as a fashion-doll and has stayed that way since. The most important components to the doll are what type of clothes you put on her. Barbie allows you to live out a fashion fantasy, whether she is wearing a luxurious fur coat or pair of jeans, it always looks stylish, and more importantly its inspiring.

As I look back upon my childhood experiences of playing with my Barbies, I realize how much I really concentrated on the art of composing an outfit and how even the fit of something could drastically change the woman. These dolls made me discover my eye for detail and allowed me to exercise that through the process of creating a person with a piece of clothing.

image taken from http://twocrazycrafters.blogspot.com/2008/12/this-is-special-barbie-wednesday.html