Photos by Steven Rosen

Here are some of the photos taken by Steven Rosen at the Shipwreck ball!

More info on my Fashion show on March 19th at Dances of Vice!

On the Subject of Mr. McQueen

Upon finding out that Alexander Mcqueen has died, I find myself upset on a deeper level than I expected. His work over the years showed me that if you wish to create the impossible, and work hard enough toward it, it can be done. As someone who is sometimes told that I take on too much, or that my over-ambitiousness is bordering on obsessive, his work has always been an icon to keep me on track, aside from also being immensely inspiring.

He was probably the closest thing to a role model I can admit to having, as he crossed genres and psychological categories with ease, and gave me hope that I wasn't crazy for wanting to devote my life to silly art projects.

Rest in peace, Sir McQueen, I'm not sure any other artists' work will have an effect on me like yours did.

New Stuff For Sale!

Click HERE to go to my Etsy shop!

Upcoming Show Info!

Here are some behind the scenes photos from my Seamonsters and Shipwrecks show

Djahari Clark, Andy Jordan, Marc Robinson, Renata Bergen

Grant Newton and Marc Robinson

I have three fantabulous shows coming up, here is some info on them!

March 19th- Spring Equinox Ball at Dances of Vice. My costumes should be fairly witchy and Pagan for this one, and there is a possibility of a dance performance.

April 21-25th- Toronto Alternative Arts and Fashion Week! Costumes will include anything huge and extroardinary! I'm very excited about this one, as I will be collaborating with Imagozine! Not sure which day we will be showing on yet.

May 16th-Steampunk World's Faire- This one is still tentative at the moment, but I may be debuting a menswear line at this one.

Stay tuned, ladies and jellybeans, and there will be more news of the things coming out of my studio, that are less like costumes, and more like fine art-creature-exoskeleton hybrids of wearable art!

Happy Bowie Day!

Modeled by the fantabulous Marc Robinson

Modeled by the spectacular Kelly Kotulak, who made all the awesome jewelry you see on my models

Yours Truly (necklace by Kelly)

Marc and I

Modeled by the marvelous Olivia Gagne

Kelly and I, staring at Mars, and the life that might be on it.

These are the pictures from a David Bowie themed fashion show I did on January 17th, at Don Hills (though I think I took quite a few liberties with the theme: is it glam? is it from Labyrinth? No one knows, but its shiny and there was a guitar present, and that's all that counts!). It was a small show, and a ton of fun, since I was so tired at that point, that I refused to worry about anything. I should be less stressed more often!

It was a great night, and I made some new friends with awesome people, and I hope I can do more events like this.

Red in Niagara Snow

Following my rather trying trip to the border of the Great White North, my cohort and I decided to stay in Niagara for a few days, see the sights, and have a photoshoot. Of course, we got snowed in, and were too drained to do much for most of the time, which led us to procrastination.

However, on the day we departed, though it was subzero temperatures, and snowing so hard that the plows wouldn't bother, we buttoned our coats and put on our gloves, and ventured into the snow. Here are some of the images that we got, I may post more in the future, as there are hundreds, and we even took some video as well. Photographed by Stephen Stuart.

Some Rethinking

An inspiring image from Wunderkammer

I think recent events in my creative life have left me yearning for a rest. not a complete rest from art, mind you, but I suppose i just want to be able to create without deadlines, and without the pressure of a deadline. I love making collections, since it is many sides of an idea, but perhaps mini collections... for the purpose of photoshoots rather than fashion shows.. it lasts longer anyway. For instance: why can't I make a dress based on a dollhouse? Time, thats why!

And maybe, If I simply create, without rushing, then by the end of the year, I will have a huge collection, of things that I put lots of care and effort into! Imagine that! Not rushing for a show!

Canadian Shennanigans...

So... the shennanigans that happened in Canada were of the pessimistic sort...

There are times in life, when everything decides to take a left turn whenever you think you are on track. This was one of those trips.

I left my car in Brooklyn the day before leaving to go north, in order to go to work, and my drivers side window got smashed in, and my GPS, or beloved LadyTron, as I call her, was stolen.

Ok, fine, brush it off, Stephen Stuart (videographer) and I called a repairman, and he was all set to bring a window, and repair it in an hour. He shows up, brought the wrong window, and we ended up duct taping some plastic sheets on, and away we went, snow, ice, and all.

We get to the border. Apparently, even if you are doing a fashion show at someone's house, and helping them for free, it is considered "work" that is being taken from Canadians. Hence, we were put through a stressful interrogation, and turned away, after being told to procure more paperwork.

We get the proper paperwork, go back the next day, and were told (albeit by a much nicer customs officer) that it would just be best if we went home, and trying to get through the border multiple times looks suspicious.

So, after some well deserved duty free alcohol was purchased and consumed, we decided to just have a small vacation in Niagara, NY, since we came all that way, and didn't want to have it all be a waste. After all, we have a jeep full of costumes, what better place to photograph than Niagara?

Long story short, we get snowed in to our hotel, making it difficult to go anywhere, and were even stranded at a Rite-Aid for 3 hours when the car broke down, and couldn't be jumped back into action. Eventually, after we stocked up on food items, as though the apocalypse came early, an emergency road employee came to our rescue and revived my poor frayed car battery with magic, witchery, or what have you, but at least we got to leave the Rite-Aid without being towed.

Finally, on the day we were due to come home, we wake up to a foot of snow outside, that wasn't there the previous evening, and it was a full out blizzard. We still had not utilized the costumes in the Jeep yet either. So we bit the bullet, and went out to Three Sisters Island, and had a photo and video shoot (in -3 degree weather) because by glory I was not going to leave this place after being completely unproductive!

Frozen, and at least feeling like we got something done, we headed home, through a blizzard, at 20 miles an hour.

Phew. I still haven't felt like I've had a break, and have been drained by the experience. Though I am very glad I got to see Niagara falls, and I came to some realizations about my work and myself, that I might not have otherwise.

For instance, though I have a couple shows a month from now till October, I think I need to focus more on having good shoots, selling my work, and expanding the way in which I think about costume. I feel a lack in fine art in my life lately, so new costumes might be more like wearable paintings or sculptures, in order to fill that void.

Ok, that was a longer more pessimistic post than my usual, but hopefully I will have some pictures to show from my trip soon! There were some good points, which I shall talk about when I can show pictures of them!

New Years Show in Barrie!

I am having a fashion show in Barrie Ontario, on New Years eve! I will be showing twenty-something designs (about 5 or 6 brand new things) based on the themes of Snow, and Party! Consequently, my jeep will be packed with lots of party dresses, and white floofy things! I will also be doing a feature shoot for Imago Magazine, which I am very excited about! Some examples of things to be shown:

In other news, because of the hype around the new Alice movie, lots of conventions and venues will be doing Wonderland themed events in the upcoming months. I have been writing a film based around the characters and setting of "Alice and Wonderland" for some years now, so I will be attempting to make some of the costumes in my concept folders for these shows. The writing of my film, however, I've put on hold, as no one in their right mind would make an Alice film at a time when Mister Burton is doing the same thing, but with a few more zeros in his budget.

Anyway, more on my future shows and the address of this one later! I hope everyone has a very happy holiday, full of family, warmth, and robotic starfish!

Seamonstery Afoot...

I have many things coming up, but for now, since I am tired, and must summon energy to find all those things in my calendar, let us just say that there are seamonsters on the brain... and in the sketchbook... and on the dress form...

More Seamonster Pictures!!

I was really lucky on this project to be working with many very talented people. I had 4 professional dancers, who not only looked great and danced spectacularly, but helped coach the non-dancers in being really expressive with their movement. I also was able to work with some great photographers, and of course the wonderful Shien Lee, who puts the Dances of Vice events together.

This photo is by Celine Gaille, a lovely photographer whom I am going to be working with a lot more in the future.

The following photos are by Michael Gwilliam.

Dancer Emily Edwards, who I first met that day, and was more amazing than I could have expected.

Me in my Nautilus costume, which at some point will probably have a new paintjob

Djahari Clark and Zahra Hashemian, dancers from Desert Sin

Renata Bergen, also of Desert Sin

Grant Newton, a ship enthusiast.

Seamonster Pictures!

MY Seamonster Show came and went, and it was a fantabulous night! My crew of seamonsters and ships danced and swam and intimidated each other, and I'm happy to say that I think the spectacle was worth it. It will take a while to knock this experience off the top.

Below are some photos from my friend Voon Wai, who is always a really great supporter of my work, and may soon be modeling for me!

Andy Jordan and I. He was a fish boy, and I was a nautilus creature.

A very entertaining picture of Voon himself with the lovely Sara Bender

Marc Robinson and I, Dancing together

Olivia Gagne and Sara Bender

Andy Jordan and Matthew Rogers

More pictures in a bit!

Seamonsters and Swhipwrecks!

I will be doing a show about seamonsters and shipwrecks at this event! It will occur around 11pm on Saturday the 21st. Everyone stick around for the show! the event itself will be marvelous as well!

More info on this event HERE.

Aftermath of Brooklyn Indie Market

No time for a real entry, so here is some feedback the event and I got from various blogs and websites. No news yet of anything in print. Pictures from my personal camera soon.

Model: Olivia Gagne

These are from Tor.com, and are super awesome because they credited the designers. And there's video! Go see it! (model:Genevieve Cerri)

THIS site also credited me! Wooo! (model: Patrick Harrington)

This one comes from HERE. This lady was taking pictures from behind a fence, while 3 other photographers where taking pictures of Olivia. It was surreal. (also note, a new unweildy dress is on the way... its about 2/3rds of the way done... this one will be grey and purple and brown)

Another photographer's Blog

And of course Metromix

and some VIDEO coverage