The inaugural Hollywood Fringe Festival runs June 17-27 at venues throughout Hollywood. To celebrate, this week is devoted to other people's shows, via Five Questions.
Presque Pret a Porter is a live draping that will be done on audience members. That means you bring an item of clothing you'd like made into something else and they'll do it on you while you're standing there and everything!
Brody, a costumier, jeweler and stylist, can be found at her homeport, Dreams By Machine, or at her Etsy shop. Fans of the HP Lovecraft Historical Society have seen a bit of her work in The Call of Cthulhu.
Presque Pret a Porter takes place 8-10 p.m. June 19 at Beauty Is Pain, a cute boutique on Highland near Sunset. Entrance and general participation is free, but see below for full details on cost if you want your draping made permanent.
Offering to drape anybody who shows up with anything they
bring - for free - is In Grand Style indeed! What is the genesis of your
project?
Genesis of the project is twofold. I used to drape friends for parties
--
often in tinfoil and trash bags and bubble wrap and whatever came up.
It's of course part of my job, but I love the immediacy of draping on a
person. Making it in recycled clothing and fabric is more of a personal
philosophy. So much of the professional work I do involves such shocking
waste (of materials, ideas, money and time), and my own art and jewelry
is primarily made or remnants, re-used garments, scrap fabrics and
salvaged/scavenged bits.
I can’t yet call if interest in ReMake culture is a true
movement that might get people seriously thinking about their consumption
patterns and changing them, or just another fad. Please share any thoughts you
might have about this topic.
Remake, redo and reuse were catch phrases out of the 40's (social propaganda for the rationing during WWII) that really became necessary beforehand, during the Great Depression. It was the idea of getting all possible available use out of any given material. You just didn't throw things away if you could remake, redo or reuse them. It was almost sinful.
We've been living in such an excess-based culture in the US recently. There's certainly a fad for so-called eco-culture and a lot of greenwashing in process. There are people, though, who are seriously working under the remake model. Check out FarmLab and the Metabolic Studios here in LA and the reclaimed water project, their Not-a Cornfield and the vermiculture they're creating-under the guise of art!
Now, I won't ever say that it's great to have mass economic problems or international fear, but it does bring about a serious and necessary shift in some people's behavior about use, reuse and the desirability of making your home more viable without spending more. The popularity of urban gardening, the interest in creating real handcrafting, the amount of DIY home projects- of course, some of that is just a fad. Some of it, though, is the process through which actual changes are made, and I think we'll be seeing more shifts to self-sustainability
Will participants be allowed to leave with what you’ve
draped for them, or will they need to leave it behind?
Projects that are draped with items brought in for "sacrifice" will remain property of the original owner. Since I'll be limited by time to non-durable attachment techniques (aka staples and tape), I'll also be putting up a notice board: Items can be sewn together (tape and all) for $50 or taken apart and completely re-done for $200. It's a combination offer and awareness notice- most people don't think of how much of their clothing is made by people making slave wages, and this is a pretty accurate price based on a moderately skilled hourly rate.
What do you expect per hour? And would you be willing to pay that for your clothes to be made? If not, why not?
And yes, I will in fact do the work if
someone takes me up on the offer!
What do you most hope audiences take away from this live
crafting work you are doing at the Fringe?
I would hope that they'll be entertained, gain new appreciation of and value for the effort involved, want to participate...but most importantly, I want people to think about what they have to remake. And for them to start remaking it, whatever it is.
Instead of dumping it or putting it in the corner to maybe get to someday.
It's a start.
