CricketToes

RedLine's Runway Design Competition: That Is So RePurposed

Throughout the centuries, high fashion has suffered mightily from what can only be described as acute cases of silliness, disfunction and waste. Take the ginormous, neck-straining wigs so popular with the French royal woman in the late 1700s--twas not so much work by the time the guillotine got its way. Or the layers and layers of petticoats worn under ball gowns in the Victorian era--each set enough to clothe a small village and all its draft horses, too.

Now, the existence of these and many other atrocious examples does not mean that what we drape over our naked, vulnerable selves should simply be functional and boring, conveying a level of visual appeal about as hot as a potato sack, but isn't there some way we can make high fashion more relevant and less wasteful? Huh? Isn't there?

Funny you/me/we should ask because Milwaukee's art incubator RedLine has just put out the word that it's looking for fashion designers, artists and students to apply for its 3rd Annual RePurposed Runway Design Competition. You read that right, kids--each outfit must be made from stuff that's lived a previous life but now yearns to "find itself" in the exciting world of Fashion with a capital F!

Here's what you need to submit:
• Name, Address, Home Phone, Cell Phone and Email Address.

• 2-3 .jpg images--either on CD or free floating within the email ether--of recent samples of garments you've made, created from recycled materials or not. FYI, if you send a CD you ain't gonna get it back, so don't burn a copy of your encrypted fashion manifesto on it and cheerily delete it from your computing device, 'kay?

• Designer/Artist statement describing your work. Keep it under 500 words 'cause nobody needs to hear your "inspiration" story about when you saw Kirstie Alley in a muumuu and you knew it in your bones that you could find a way to squeeze her into a plus size, bullet cup corset with fabulous results.

• Idea for your garment for this year's competition.

The theme is Environment And Water, so ya know you'll be able to come up with something that just screams, "I'm sustainable and transparent!"

Check out full details here. Deadline is Friday, March 1, 2013.

(Thanks, Lynn!)

Related:
Fashion Crosses The RedLine
Fashion, Schmashion--Let's Wear Some Art!

Art Bras Needed To Support A Greater Good

Bras. Most women on the planet wear 'em--or some facsimile of 'em--because, despite the self-indulgent fantasies of those who don't, they're a practical necessity that keep us females comfy and pain free. This, of course, does not mean these garments--known in some quarters as over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders--can't be sexy or artsy or fun.

In this spirit, one of Miltown's sassy erotic boutiques, A Woman's Touch (AWT), has put out the call for submissions to its Uplifting Art: Bras For A Cause contest and fundraising event. Haha! Anybody else just have a crazy, mind-melting flashback to the old Playtex Cross Your Heart Bra ads? No? Well, you're either too young or you've somehow succeeded in avoiding the omnipresent influence of modern advertising and should book yourself on a nationwide tour posthaste so that you may teach others your magical secret.

Anyhoo, as is our custom and right here at CricketToes, we shall post no call for art that does not pay and/or give loads of goodness to others who need it. As it happens, Uplifting Art fits snugly and securely--hehe!--into the latter category as proceeds from the contest and silent auction will benefit ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis, a very worthy organization located in West Allis that provides free information and one-to-one support to anyone affected by breast cancer.

Okay, so what kind of art are they looking for, you may well ask. Since we began this post unabashedly making mention of a particular type of unmentionable, what would be your best guess? Righto, super smart peeps, it's bras! And not your grandma's could-fit-a-small-child-in-each-cup brassieres, but those created special for this event and made from whatever materials ya fancy--although nothing you'd ever find in a compost pile, please. Deadline is January 9, 2011.

Interested? Go here for more info, to download an entry form and see some examples of art bras. As Amy Moore, AWT's Milwaukee Outreach Coordinator, expressed to me in an email, "Although the ones depicted [online] are all bra-based, we are open to a variety of media if the submission fits our theme for the exhibit," so feel free to liberate your mind--and whatever else is bindin' ya--so you can make great art to support a greater good!

Link (Thanks, Amy!)

Related:
Declare Yourself Slave of Your Domain for the Good

Fashion Crosses The RedLine

As you no doubt recall, art incubator RedLine Milwaukee hosted an event filled with bright lights and fancy fashions as a part of its official "soft" opening weekend last September. Well Friday night they're gonna do it all again--this time with Spring on their minds and bodies--and you're invited!

Designed to raise funds for RedLine's varied and fantastic artsy programs, the 2nd Annual Fashion Show will feature Bruce Paul Goodman's vision of what's now, what's happenin' and what's hip for your edification and beautification. Watch in bedazzled amazement while enjoying free pizza and a bit o' the bubbly.

Once you've witnessed Goodman's parade of charming frocks and habiliments--15th century words are the new black, don't cha know--you'll have some powerful inspiration to create and print your own t-shirt, which you will then proudly sport around town, saying, "Yeah, I know I look good."

The show starts at 6PM sharp and runs until 9PM on Friday, May 14, at RedLine, 1422 N. 4th Street. Tickets are just $25 a pop and I have it on ultimate authority that there's still a few left, so buy yours online now or call Lynn at 414-491-9089.

(Thanks, Lori!)

Related:
A Night of Photogs & Phashion
Fashion, Schmashion--Let's Wear Some Art!

RIP (Rest In Punk) Malcolm McLaren

Word has come from Switzerland that Malcolm McLaren, Punk's most adept and manipulative architect, died yesterday at the age of 64.

Equal parts visionary artist, tireless promoter, exploitative control freak and cold fish, McLaren managed a slew of bands in the 70s and 80s, including Adam and the Ants, New York Dolls, Bow Wow Wow and, most famously, The Sex Pistols--a band he not only created but also helped to destroy.

For many of us who watched McLaren's shameless and powerful dance of Life As Art, his uncanny ability to utilize provocation as a means to shock and scam The Man, attracting the disenfranchised and angry youth of a crumbling Western society, and somehow making it pay, well, we simply stood in awe.

But the ruthless and callous methods he sometimes employed to achieve this art, operating as if unaware that the players he directed were actual human beings, could not be ignored and made us feel hollow and empty.

There is no doubt that McLaren's influence and impact on the music and entertainment world was monumental, but his death leaves us no less conflicted and no closer to a satisfactory understanding of the artist or the man.

(via NPR's Morning Edition)

Related:
Punk Lives On In The Cyber Universe

Punk Lives On In The Cyber Universe

As we all should've learned in elementary school, the time it takes for the light of a distant star to reach us here on Earth is mind-blowingly huge. And so it is that the mere act of gazing upon celestial bodies places us in a cosmic time machine in which we see the stars as they once were and not as they are today.

In the frantic realm of The Internets™, however, one minute is equal to one light year, so when ya run across something that's been up for five years and documents a period from some three decades ago it's like looking at the brilliance of a star located an eternity away.

Just such a stunning experience happened to me last week when I stumbled upon Andy Rosen's "London Punks 1976-1984" photostream on Flickr, uploaded in 2005. Seeing as y'all know I cannot tell a lie, let me just say that I was so amazed and delighted to find these images that I nearly fell off my oh-so comfy chair!

Presented in all their fantastically dark and brooding glory are The Clash, Paul Weller of The Jam, Dave Vanian of The Damned, Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17, David Sylvian and Richard Barbieri of Japan, Johnny Rotten--band name not necessary--Siouxsie Sioux without the Banshees, Steve Strange, Midge Ure of Ultravox, Specimen, and my all-time favs Peter Murphy and David J of Bauhaus.

Just who in the hell are these musical/cultural rebels of a bygone era? If ya don't know, take Mom's advice and look it up!

Ah, good times, kids, good times. Reminds me a punk rock girl I used to know very, very well:

Unfortunately the link to Rosen's blog yields nada, but you can watch a 2006 video interview with him at Current.

Link (via Boing Boing)

Related:
Avant-Garde/Acoustic/Punk Never Felt So Right
That’s Pretty Underground

A Night of Photogs & Phashion

We've got two recommendations for those of you lookin' to head out on the Miltown tonight:

1. Right on the heels of a special two-week exhibition of the Brady Street Photo Festival, Caggio: An Art Experiment extends its love and admiration for the shutterbug artist by presenting images crafted by three Wisconsin-based photogs: Amelia Coffaro, Ben Lambert and Gary Hannabarger.

Each member of the triad skillfully demonstrates a strong visual style unique unto themselves, as can be witnessed on their respective websites linked above, and will be on hand at the opening reception this very evening at Caggio, 918 East Brady Street, from 5-9PM.

If ya find yourself trapped with your art apathetic in-laws/cronies and just can't get away, you've got until October 14, 2009, to see the show.

2. Art incubator RedLine Milwaukee is holding its official "soft" opening this weekend and tonight's happening includes a phashion--only boring folks spell it with an "f"--show with models traipsing down the runway in outfits from Bruce Paul Goodman clothier. Also, Susanne Carter will present some movement pieces and video installations by Anthony Lopez and Jon Salimes will be on display for your enjoyment.

It all starts at 6PM at 1422 N 4th Street. A $20 door donation is requested.

And don't forget to stop by tomorrow for a fancy free event from 4-9PM, featuring a coming-out party for RedLine's Resident Artist debutantes and a plethora of other nutty artsy types walkin' around in their own wearable art. In addition, there's an Open House from 12-4PM on Sunday.

Now get out there, kids!

(Thanks, Kaitlin, Joseph & Lori!)

Related:
Photo Walkin' Brady Street
Fashion, Schmashion--Let's Wear Some Art!

Fashion, Schmashion--Let's Wear Some Art!

I recently received an email announcing that the soon to open art incubator RedLine Milwaukee had put out a call for artists to apply for several human mobile art displayer positions for their "soft" opening event on Saturday, September 19, 2009 and right off the bat I thought of you! That's actually a compliment cleverly disguised as a you-remind-of-a-blank-wall dig.

So what they're seeking are local Miltown artists who can come in from 6-9PM that night and strut around wearing their creations for the enjoyment of all in attendance. Beyond the fact that you should be able to wear it, they were nonspecific about what kind of art it should be, so if you've got a painting that would look just divine with that matching cable-knit sweater/skirt ensemble your Aunty bought ya last year and ya can figure out a way to hang on your bod, go for it!

Click here to download the application. Deadline is September 1--that's next Tuesday--so get clickin'!

(Thanks, Lori!)

Related:
Creativity to Flow Freely at RedLine

Givin' It Up for Cricky's New Sponsor

We are überpleased and proud to welcome Indie Talent Magazine as a brand new sponsor of our little blog that could, can and will, CricketToes. Whoozzah!

Featuring profiles of independent artists across the disciplinary spectrum, Indie Talent is a rising monthly e-zine star available only on the highly influential and indomitable Internets™. How do they do it? Through the power of pure, nontoxic Indie awesomeness, of course.

Their third issue just came out, so go ahead and flip those digital pages, peruse the wealth of talent and enjoy learnin' what makes other artsy types tick. Who knows, by the time you're done readin', ya may even wanna advertise with 'em or pitch an article to the fine editors there, but only if you think you're poser-free enough to handle it, and of that we have no doubt.

Go to MagazineHost and click on Indie Talent.

Espresso: Sexier Than You Ever Wanted

Image via http://www.lavazza2009.com

The 114 year old Italian espresso company Lavazza hired legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz to shoot its 2009 Calendar and, as should come as no surprise to any of you, it's filled to the brim with sexy ladies.

It may just be me and feel free to disagree, but when I think about espresso my mind doesn't necessarily leap to an image of a human female scantily clad in an animal skin, doppio cup in hand, pretending to be the she-wolf nursemaid of Romulus and Remus. I guess we can all be happy that Leibovitz decided not to provide a faithful reenactment of the famous statue, eh?

Now, listen, I got nothin' against showin' a bit o' epidermis, but I'm not entirely sure that this is what I want to see when I'm jotting down a dentist appointment or trying to figure out what date my niece's sixth birthday falls on. Then again, perhaps the mundane of daily life could benefit from a little more va-va-voom.

Link (via CoffeeTalk)

Japan Meets Africa in Wafrica

Cameroon-born, Paris-trained and Tokyo-based industrial designer, artist and now fashion designer Serge Mouangue has created a line of Japanese Kimono and Obi wear using traditional African fabrics, and the results are quite simply stunning. Called Wafrica, the line debuted in August of 2008 with an aim "to develop new means through which we celebrate diversity in harmony and peace... [and] search for ways to express a new aesthetic by the transformation of timeless iconic symbols." Well said and well done, sir.

Now, being the incredibly practical--not to mention eternally broke--person that I am, you will not be seeing me traipsing about in one of these Mouangue originals. However, compared to so many other strap-ya-in-so-tight-you'd-rather-commit-harakiri-than-ever-live-through-that-again fashions out there, the Wafrica line appears to be exceedingly comfy and easy to wear, though I'd probably refrain from, say, doing the dishes or painting the house. I'd only have to spend about 3 hours on my hair to make it all come together, but that's a mere trifle of a sacrifice to honor such sublime fashion.

Link (via Boing Boing)