30th November 2010.

Notorious and Notable

20th Century Women of Style

Day 9

"Style - without it, you're nobody." Diana Vreeland

Today I attended the Notorious and Notable 20th Century Women of Style exhibition. As soon as I walked through the doors I was inspired by the quotes splashed upon the walls, slideshow of 20th Century women and display of fine jewellery and exquisite garments. I began to make my way around the room by first admiring the jewels in glass cabinets, each displaying a blurb about the women who wore/owned them and a quote from the women herself. It was at this moment that I found my concept inspiration, "There are no ugly women, only lazy ones." Helena Rubinstein. Excited by my discovery, my mind instantly ran wild with design ideas, fabric choices and colour pallets. Of course I am yet to fully form my concept, but I now have direction and inspiration to begin designing for my graduating collection. I made my way to the garments, where I made another discovery, a fishtail skirt. The women of style who wore this skirt was a stripper/ exotic dancer, but this is not what grabbed my attention. The entry and exit of this skirt were buttons which fell down the entire centre back. This was for practical purposes, seduction.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The whole two weeks of this trip to New York City would not have been enough time to see all that there is to see in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Today I spent a large chunk of the day in the Museum and only made my way through the Egyptian history and the Contemporary art. The Egyptian Mummies, sphinx's and coffins were unbelievable. The inscriptions on the stone tombs were a work of art, if only I could understand what dog, cat, snake, snake, egyptian man and vase meant. The contemporary art was refreshing, there were varieties of sculptures, paintings, sketches, woodwork and some things couldn't be defined to one category. One painting had my attention, after being inspired by Helena Rubinstein's quote. It was of a women with an oversized nose (side view) and next to her was an image of herself (side view) with a normal, attractive nose. The word HAPED was stamped above the images. I was unsure of the meaning behind the word HAPED, but it made me reflect on Rubinstein's statement "There are no ugly women, only lazy ones.". An oversized nose is generally considered unattractive, however would a women with an oversized nose fall under the lazy category if she were not to book in to a plastic surgeon for a nose job?

The Lion King

on broadway

Tonight I attended The Lion King on broadway at the Minskoff Theatre in Times Square. I cried in the opening scene (circle of life), as the costumes and South African vocals were so moving. Sadly I was unable to take photos of the production, but this is one experience of the New York Study Tour that I will cherish, and never forget. Not only were the costumes innovative but they were realistic, they mimicked the wild animals movements. Seeing this performance gave me a interest in costume design, maybe something I will look into after my graduating year.