Fashion Distraction

I'm pretty sure that the Creativity Distraction Challenge is going to be even more important in the next two weeks than it was leading up to this point. It's a good thing it's one of my favorite times of year...Fashion Show time.

In my industry (interior design) in my town (Boston) those two words mean only one thing. Every year, the IID.A (Inter.national Interior Design Assoc.iation hosts it's annual fundraising event. Which is, if you haven't guessed, a fashion show.

What does fashion have to do with interior design, you might ask? Well, quite a bit when interior designers from firms all over Boston are teamed with up manufacturer's reps and challenged to create a fashion concoction our of industry materials. This means carpets, including backings and yarns, ceramic tile, paint, swatches, wood veneer, drapery and upholstery fabric, even lighting. It's the even of the year here, every October, and we usually start talking about it in June.

My husband hates it! It consumes weeks of my fall, and I always end up being somehow disappointed that our entry didn't go just quite so. But yet, every year, I keep going back for more. (there are awards you see, which I we have yet to win!) I have worked on entries for 7 years and attended the event for 8 of the 13 years it has existed. It has kind of taken the place that theater had in my life in college.

This year, I've lost some of my fashion show mojo, seeing as we started thinking about it in the middle of IVF 1.0. But, now that we're down to 2.5 weeks left, and haven't rallied many troops to our cause, someone has to pick up the pace, and make sure we don't embarrass our sponsors! A group of us stayed one night last week to make some progress.

One of our sponsors this year is a paint manufacturer.
We haven't yet decided how we will be using these paint cans. 

I whipped this brushes into a necklace the other night with some fishing line. 

I can't show you too much until after the show, you know, just in case someone out there is a competitor. But I will show you a few images from past shows so you can get an idea of what a huge deal this event really is. 

Each entry poses behind a scrim before they hit the 60 foot long runway. 

Our entry last year, above, was made from various layers that make carpet, including the yarn, (which we though was so cool to use because we hadn't seen anyone use it before), and small mosaic tile. The theme of the show last year was Revolution. We were going for a Victorian Super Hero/Steam Punk thing. 

And then we saw this entry, by the previous years winners. They worked with carpet materials too. And they knitted! And not only that, they did a steam punk thing too, and actually carried steam! It's hard to see here, but they had 4 models, impecably constructed, and they even made their shoes! (I have to give up on winning this thing and just enjoy the craftiness.) 

Another firm's entry. This blue stuff is actually very stiff and plasticy. The models were getting rashes on their arms from brushing against it. Fashion hurts!

Two years ago, the theme was Fabuless. This was made from plastic bags. 

Our Fabuless entry was titled "More or Less." The idea was that one dress had a whole lot more going on in the front than in the back, and vice versa. 

This was in progress, but then, the dress would unfold and extend down the run way, becoming even "more" than you though. 

Here is is all bustled up. 

Here, you can see the back of the other dress (with more in the front).  

And here's me, with our two models. 

Three years ago, for the tenth anniversary, before the industry crashed and started laying everyone off, the theme was Decadence. This entry won one of the awards. 

One of our models for Decadence, made from leather, wood veneer and fabric.
She's Eve from the Garden of Eden. Hubby was the one who actually found the glittered apple for me, after I dragged him into endless stores looking for one. 

Another of our Decadence entries, a chandelier/Marie Antoinette inspired creation.

One more of our Decadence, the one I worked on most. And clearly struggled to get a good photo of!
It's Russian inspired. 

Anyway, trying to get my fashion show mojo perked back up so I can use it to distract me during the two week wait. Beta is 10/10. Show is 10/13. 

More later, I'm sure, once I get my fert report.