I just finished two new pieces — just in time for TEDxUSC, and consequently Art Walk, which is this weekend. The one on the left is titled “Industrial Ballerina” and consists of a stainless steel outer boning, pink leather, satin ribbon, and chiffon. It’s probably the prettiest, girliest dress I’ve made to date. The one on the right is titled “Space!” and it’s made of aluminum and UV-reactive plastic tubing. I made all of those aluminum pieces from scratch (sheared the aluminum sheets to 2″ squares, drilled 5 holes in each square, cut 2″ pieces of aluminum pipe then tig welded them to the center of each square, then hand-polished each piece to a mirror finish) making it the most labor intensive dress I’ve ever made.

Art Walk will go until 6pm tonight, so if you have a chance, please come by and check them out!

http://breweryartwalk.com

Addendum:
I should note that it’s not the fact that the aluminum pieces were hand-made that made the dress laborious, it is the sheer quantity (approx. 200) that made it so. Most of the pieces we make are created from raw materials (even the doll heads on the baby doll dress are hand sculpted), so that’s nothing new…

Just finished up a dress made of lead. It was amazing material to work with. I wish something that was not poisonous had the same properties. It’s incredibly malleable, beautiful material.

We shot photos in my studio against the freshly painted pink biohazard wall. (Thanks Marianne!) I couldn’t feasibly ask a model to wear a poisonous dress, so I carefully donned the dress and tried not to make ridiculous faces at the camera.

The Lead Dress // Atomic Number 82
Dangerously heavy fashion… poisonous even…
Lead sheet, steel and silk • 2010

Just in time for Spring, a light and airy little number made of the densest metal on earth.
High fashion at its finest - not actually wearable.

What better way to dance into Spring than with a frock constructed of the end product of complex radioactive decay?

My friend Kevin came over the other night to see what I was up to. I pointed to the large quantity of aluminum parts that were on a table next to me.

Jokingly, he asked, “So did you manufacture all of those pieces yourself?”

To which I answered, “Yes. Yes I did.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope. I made ‘em. And it took me months…”

Hoo boy, have I learned a lot about aluminum. There have been countless hours dedicated to trial and error, because no matter how much research you do beforehand, there will be mistakes. Also, an important thing to note — the internet is about 75% wrong, particularly when you’re digging around in various forums where everyone is an expert in the field of whatever…

So, after months of work, I’m finally taking my 200 little parts in today to get anodized, and when they get back they will be assembled into what is probably the strangest dress I’ve made to date.

I’m crossing my fingers that it actually looks good. Guess we’ll know in a few days.

I’m always surprised at how much math I use during the design process. When I’m making patterns, a calculator is my most important tool…
Kids, stay in school — math is your friend.

The hamster dress is by far our most controversial piece. People seem to have no problem with birds or bugs in enclosed spaces, but put a furry rodent in a habitrail and prepare for some upset humans.

As described to a variety of displeased individuals:

1. We only leave the hamsters in there for half an hour max (they are Union).
2. Habitrails are specifically designed for hamsters - yes, of course they can breathe.
3. It’s a fabulous way to wear fur.

You may notice a running theme in some of my work - I find it really interesting to create ‘housings within housings’ or have people wear functioning enclosures for creatures. More on that coming soon…