Out and About - 'The Day Before Lanvin'

Anna Boulic and myself at the 'Day Before Lanvin' film premiere presented by Madame Virtue & Co.  photograph by Couturing.com taken at ACMI Melbourne. For more photos and a wonderful review please visit www.couturing.com

This week I was lucky enough to attend a special premiere screening of the Lanvin film; 'The Day Before Lanvin'. The film was presented by Madame Virtue & Co. at ACMI at Federation Square as part of the upcoming Melbourne Fashion Festival.
The film followed current Lanvin designer, Alber Elbaz in the 48 hours leading up to their collection premiere parade. The film did a wonderful job in giving a realistic insight into the world of high fashion.
As an ex-fashion student, the stress and the all night marathon of work was all too familiar. I actually had a physical reaction as my eyes stung from the familiar feeling of exhaustion and concentration and my stomach started to churn. Watching the seamstress unpicking stitching hours before the show, reminded me of all the time I'd spent with my un-picker. (It was WAY to much which is why I became an illustrator not a fashion designer!!)

Some of my favourite things to see in the film:
A very quick history lesson. I loved hearing about the story behind the Lanvin Logo. The Logo was taken from an original photo of original designer Jeanne Lanvin and her young daughter and then styled into the famous trademark we know today.

A real insight into how hard the seamstresses, patten makers and technicians work and the pressure they deal with. I was very pleased to see them drinking some Veuve Clicquot at the end of their night and actually being in attendance at the actual parade (even if it was to work).

There is a wonderful review and photographs of the film premiere at here at www.couturing.com. Please check it out.

One Week and One Day and Counting!!!!

Tim Burton Exhibition Opening in Melbourne June 24th

Conceptual drawing 'the joker' for Batman by Tim Burton

As an illustrator (and a reformed goth kid) I have long been a HUGE fan of Tim Burton. Of course I admire him as a movie maker, but to me, first and foremost he is an artist. You may or may not know that he started his career with Disney as an illustrator before becoming a director. He is still largely responsible for all the art direction in his films and works the old fashioned way by HAND drawing many concepts from costumes & character development to set design. To me this is marvelous, while I dearly love both my Apple MACs (and Photoshop) there is nothing better than creating something the old fashioned way with pencil and paper.

Original Art by Tim Burton

Tim Burton was a major inspiration to me in many ways from the way that I dressed to the work that I produced as a design student. As a fashion design student at RMIT back in the mid 90's many of my design projects had an obvious Burton influence. Over the years and during my many moves and travels I ended up throwing most of this work out...but a few pieces still remain. (As do a few choice gothic outfits).

 Promotional Image from Sleepy Hollow

Considering the admiration I have for him, you can imagine my joy in learning that as part of the exhibition that is about to open in Melbourne next week, Tim himself is going to be here AND he will be appearing to talk about his work in a seminar AND I HAVE A TICKET TO GO SEE HIM!!!!!!
I am so excited!!!!
I am also excited that as part of the show that The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, or ACMI, are hosting an online gallery for fans to upload their own Burton inspired work. Of course I have to take part. Unfortunately, there is a 2 piece maximum. Obviously, I have a stack of work which could be appropriate....now just to find it and scan it etc. Most of the work I completed during my Uni days was pre-Apple Mac so it is stored in old-school folios, packed under beds and in other hard to reach places.
Another problem is that for some reason back in the early 1990's many Art teachers seemed to insist on all work being large scale..at least A1 size..(I never understood this, it sure did make train travel difficult going to and from University) anyway, this also makes scanning the work near impossible so will narrow my choice. So far I have entered one piece (because it was conveniently located on my hard drive) but my second and final choice will take more careful consideration.
Anyway, in honor of the exhibition, I have decided to have my own "Tim Burton" retrospective and pull out many of my projects  and possibly some photos, ranging from 1995-1998..my Art School years.

'Lady Killigrew' by Me!

(This piece was actually completed in 2000, when I was going through a collage phase. This work is created with photography and torn paper. I think it still works in the Tim Burton theme though)

More work coming soon.....