Elemental Goddess Collection: Champion of Earth

Elemental Goddess Collection: Sentinel of Metal

Elemental Goddess Collection: Guardian of the Wood

Wild Kingdom: The Earth Goddess Makes a Grand Entrance

I call this a Grand Entrance jacket, meaning it only gets worn when making a bold statement upon entering a party, or walking on the red carpet and getting your picture taken, but you want to take it off before even thinking about sitting down.  It's not that the jacket's not comfortable, it's that the pleating is so deliberate, it will be ruined if crushed, and you can't iron it.

 There is something jungle-y and natural about the choice of fabric.  The jacket's crinkly nature and tiny pinstripes remind me of tall, dry Serengeti grass, and the simple dress underneath is beige with a shiny tiger stripe print, so, yes, the design came first, then the TV inspiration focused it.

When you first see this outfit, one might think, "Oh, noes.  He has gone over to the drapy dark side..." but this outfit is drafted drapy, meaning I didn't just throw a piece of fabric on a dressform and fold and hope for the best.  I actually made a pattern and mathematically controlled the angles that each pleat would fall and therefore created a symmetrical and evenly balanced garment that never would have been possible if I had just pleated fabric haphazardly.  I am very happy with the result and even looking at this picture of final flat pattern makes me happy!  Would you think that something like that ends up looking like something like this?

Wild Kingdom: The Earth Goddess Makes a Grand Entrance

I call this a Grand Entrance jacket, meaning it only gets worn when making a bold statement upon entering a party, or walking on the red carpet and getting your picture taken, but you want to take it off before even thinking about sitting down.  It's not that the jacket's not comfortable, it's that the pleating is so deliberate, it will be ruined if crushed, and you can't iron it.

 There is something jungle-y and natural about the choice of fabric.  The jacket's crinkly nature and tiny pinstripes remind me of tall, dry Serengeti grass, and the simple dress underneath is beige with a shiny tiger stripe print, so, yes, the design came first, then the TV inspiration focused it.

When you first see this outfit, one might think, "Oh, noes.  He has gone over to the drapy dark side..." but this outfit is drafted drapy, meaning I didn't just throw a piece of fabric on a dressform and fold and hope for the best.  I actually made a pattern and mathematically controlled the angles that each pleat would fall and therefore created a symmetrical and evenly balanced garment that never would have been possible if I had just pleated fabric haphazardly.  I am very happy with the result and even looking at this picture of final flat pattern makes me happy!  Would you think that something like that ends up looking like something like this?

Elemental Challenge: The Air Goddess brings only goodness and light (and the sexy)

I know I could regret sharing this, but ever since I was in my early twenties,  I've had this fantasy that in some alternate universe, I  am part of a pop supergroup phenomenon called "Elementals," with each member representing a different element.  Water is a sexy black girl, Earth is a buzz-cut skater, Air is a blonde soprano, Fire is a Latino guy, and I am Lightning.  The whole world loves us and every song we sing is an instant hit.  Everybody asks each other, "Which Element are you?" just like people used to ask "Who's your favorite Spice Girl?"

So, therefore, this challenge was cool and dear to my brain.

This week, the challenge was to design a garment inspired by one of the elements.  No other direction was given, so a lot of the designers went intentionally FAR out of the box and created colorless dresses out of black and grey.... Why?

For those that have been following me for a while, you know that I already have made a Sea Goddess dress, so I thought it necessary to create am Air Goddess dress that actually was flowy and colorful and...airy!  

No offense to Trina and my other girls, but this instance a live, flexible walking runway model would showcase this garment a LOT better!  I just wish that I could take a picture right of how the fabric moves in the wind with arms outstretched and huge strides being taken.  But, that will have to wait, so this set and the will just have to work for now.







I set up three sets of fans to blow on Trina to show flowiness, but since I prefer to use my camera with spotlights rather than with a flash, it was hard to take a picture without the moving parts of the dress becoming blurry, so I took a video to show how it blows in the wind.  The clip only lasts a few seconds (and I know it looks "squished", it's because I rotated the screen in an editing program, and that's just the way it is!).

When I thought of the kind of costumes my Supergroup would wear, this is definitely one that my Air girl would wear in some romantic ballad number with the wind blowing up from stage fans as the crowd hold up lighters and cries because we are all so beautiful.



Okay, now that I've shared this with the world, let the teasing begin...

Elemental Challenge: The Air Goddess Brings nothing but goodness and light

I know I could regret sharing this, but ever since I was in my early twenties,  I've had this fantasy that in some alternate universe, I  am part of a pop supergroup phenomenon called "Elementals," with each member representing a different element.  Water is a sexy black girl, Earth is a buzz-cut skater, Air is a blonde soprano, Fire is a Latino guy, and I am Lightning.  The whole world loves us and every song we sing is an instant hit.  Everybody asks each other, "Which Element are you?" just like people used to ask "Who's your favorite Spice Girl?"

So, therefore, this challenge was cool and dear to my brain.

This week, the challenge was to design a garment inspired by one of the elements.  No other direction was given, so a lot of the designers went intentionally FAR out of the box and created colorless dresses out of black and grey.... Why?

For those that have been following me for a while, you know that I already have made a Sea Goddess dress, so I thought it necessary to create am Air Goddess dress that actually was flowy and colorful and...airy!  

No offense to Trina and my other girls, but this instance a live, flexible walking runway model would showcase this garment a LOT better!  I just wish that I could take a picture right of how the fabric moves in the wind with arms outstretched and huge strides being taken.  But, that will have to wait, so this set and the will just have to work for now.







I set up three sets of fans to blow on Trina to show flowiness, but since I prefer to use my camera with spotlights rather than with a flash, it was hard to take a picture without the moving parts of the dress becoming blurry, so I took a video to show how it blows in the wind.  The clip only lasts a few seconds (and I know it looks "squished", it's because I rotated the screen in an editing program, and that's just the way it is!).

When I thought of the kind of costumes my Supergroup would wear, this is definitely one that my Air girl would wear in some romantic ballad number with the wind blowing up from stage fans as the crowd hold up lighters and cries because we are all so beautiful.



Okay, now that I've shared this with the world, let the teasing begin...

Beach Challenge Part 2: The Sea Goddess Lives to the East of the Constellations

The second half of the Beach challenge was to create an Avant Garde look that was a companion to the surfer girl outfit. While some (pretty much all) of the designers created something that didn't have anything to do with the first look, I decided to take elements of my very simple previous outfit and make it artistic.



This dress is entitled, "The Sea Goddess," and from the hems of the skirts to the "wave" of the hood, the fabric is meant to look like the waves and ripples of beautiful aqua colored sea water .



Avant Garde is supposed to be more artsy than wearable. I could have gone further with the "artsy" aspect, making more billows and strange looking puffs in odd places, and making it look less like this other dress, but for my first attempt at something like this, I think it's pretty cute! I think it's perfectly wearable if I ever had to costume a Bollywood movie.











The bodice of this dress was something new for me. I drafted the fabric to gather at the corner and sweep across the body diagonally, but when I sewed it, the fabric stuck out and didn't "ripple," so I used a needle and thread and did a strange zig zag pattern to hand gather parts of the top to a very interesting effect! I will definitely use this technique again!























Fun Extra! I have made a Sea Goddess concept before with Crystal. This is more an excercise in my photoshop "expertise," but I designed and made the shell crown! I was very disturbed when I remembered that I had just recently thrown it away with my last move. It would have been perfect to wear with this outfit.

Beach Challenge Part 2: The Sea Goddess Lives to the East of the Constellations

The second half of the Beach challenge was to create an Avant Garde look that was a companion to the surfer girl outfit. While some (pretty much all) of the designers created something that didn't have anything to do with the first look, I decided to take elements of my very simple previous outfit and make it artistic.



This dress is entitled, "The Sea Goddess," and from the hems of the skirts to the "wave" of the hood, the fabric is meant to look like the waves and ripples of beautiful aqua colored sea water .



Avant Garde is supposed to be more artsy than wearable. I could have gone further with the "artsy" aspect, making more billows and strange looking puffs in odd places, and making it look less like this other dress, but for my first attempt at something like this, I think it's pretty cute! I think it's perfectly wearable if I ever had to costume a Bollywood movie.











The bodice of this dress was something new for me. I drafted the fabric to gather at the corner and sweep across the body diagonally, but when I sewed it, the fabric stuck out and didn't "ripple," so I used a needle and thread and did a strange zig zag pattern to hand gather parts of the top to a very interesting effect! I will definitely use this technique again!























Fun Extra! I have made a Sea Goddess concept before with Crystal. This is more an excercise in my photoshop "expertise," but I designed and made the shell crown! I was very disturbed when I remembered that I had just recently thrown it away with my last move. It would have been perfect to wear with this outfit.