Private Benjamin: Judy's Military Glam Punk

Okay, I will admit this outfit is on the VERGE of being trampy, and the hotpants are very dangerous, and there is a LOT of skin showing, but there is something about this outfit that I totally love!

I wanted to try out a new technique of twisting a pattern to create a starburst.  Now, you know what a problem I have morally with people who take stretch fabric and gather it here and there and call it a dress, but my  gathering and draping on this hooded halter is completely drafted and intentional, meaning all the gathers and all the lines are exactly where I told them to be.

After choosing the fabric, I thought who better to bring out the dangerous curves than Private Benjamin.  She grew up in couture and would be the first to take a military uniform and turn it into something inappropriate.

The shorts are actually made out of an old pair of my jeans.  I loved those jeans so much that I literally wore holes into them, but didn't want to throw them away.  I think the distressed edges really make the piece.

Private Benjamin: Judy's Military Glam Punk

Okay, I will admit this outfit is on the VERGE of being trampy, and the hotpants are very dangerous, and there is a LOT of skin showing, but there is something about this outfit that I totally love!

I wanted to try out a new technique of twisting a pattern to create a starburst.  Now, you know what a problem I have morally with people who take stretch fabric and gather it here and there and call it a dress, but my  gathering and draping on this hooded halter is completely drafted and intentional, meaning all the gathers and all the lines are exactly where I told them to be.

After choosing the fabric, I thought who better to bring out the dangerous curves than Private Benjamin.  She grew up in couture and would be the first to take a military uniform and turn it into something inappropriate.

The shorts are actually made out of an old pair of my jeans.  I loved those jeans so much that I literally wore holes into them, but didn't want to throw them away.  I think the distressed edges really make the piece.

Wild Wild West: Bridal Punk

So, I settled the argument between the two models by letting Raine play Angie, but making a dress for Leonora first.

I remember in the opening of "The Wild Wild West," the part where the cartoon saloon girl gets punched out by the cowboy.  Punching a woman?!  That's so wrong!  But for some reason it also tickled me seeing her fall on her ass each time.

The concept of this dress is crossing an Old West look with Punk.  Leonora was engaged to a cowboy, but he left her, so she cut up a pair of his jeans and one of his shirts and turned it into a brothel jacket, took his underwear and made a top out of it, and used the white bedsheets that she got as a shower gift and turned it into a billowy skirt.  Then, she went out drinking all night.

I kind of hoped I would end up liking this one a lot.  I'm not used to making dresses made out of huge amounts of draped and folded fabric, but I figured, what the hell, I'm up for trying something unfamiliar.  For the mock up, I ingeniously used a miniature dressform to figure out how to create a bustle skirt with a curved drape front out of one piece of material with a straight hem like they did back in the 1870's.  Once I figured it out, (it ends up looking kind of like a speed bump with spikes on the side) it was actually not as complicated as I thought it would be, but I sure am glad that I was able to make a few miniature versions first while perfecting the technique!

The jacket, I think it's a cool concept, but I could have made it look more, "dirty."  It's far too clean and finished to be punk.  Not finishing seams and being sloppy may sound easier to do in theory, but I guess not for me!  It was a good exercise in playing with sleeve cap volume, though.  I already have an idea on how to improve in this technique for a future avant garde outfit.




In the end, I think that this turned out to be a great excuse to discover a few new techniques in photoshop.  And my sexy-tough girl Nora plays a Fierce jilted bride, doesn't she?

Taxi: Simka and The Price Of Tea In China

I'm trying out a new style: Boho Punk!

Simca on Taxi, was a freak.  That is what made her adorable.  She was foreign (from a "European Country" that they never specified), didn't have a lot of money, wasn't always that intelligent, and also wasn't always that nice. Bohemian Punk!

I built everything off of this unusual skirt.  It's a tiered gathered skirt (Boho) held together with zippers that are open in areas, giving it an unkempt, jagged industrial look (Punk).  I also did a treatment that gives some panels a permanently wrinkled look by scrunching the fabric and pressing it on top of iron-on interfacing, so the wrinkles will never release.  The skirt is terribly impractical and would probably scrape your legs up, but I think it looks very cool.

And much like a European story, the rest of the tale is not such a happy one.  I made a gathered crop top to use as an undershirt for a Boho Punk jacket, but the jacket turned out too clean, which is what I am used to making.  I put on exposed zippers for the pockets and made the collar normal-sized on one side and large on the other, and even added a bullet-holder thing on the shoulder, but it still looked too flat!  Maybe a different fabric choice would have been the key, but I knew I liked the blouse underneath, so I removed the jacket and went with a new concept.

I took the top and added long kimono sleeves appropriate for the very sheer fabric.  I like this better.  It's dramatic even though it is soft and flowy, the amount of exposure adds a hard edge that goes along with the hard/softness of the skirt.

Taxi: Simka and The Price Of Tea In China

I'm trying out a new style: Boho Punk!

Simca on Taxi, was a freak.  That is what made her adorable.  She was foreign (from a "European Country" that they never specified), didn't have a lot of money, wasn't always that intelligent, and also wasn't always that nice. Bohemian Punk!

I built everything off of this unusual skirt.  It's a tiered gathered skirt (Boho) held together with zippers that are open in areas, giving it an unkempt, jagged industrial look (Punk).  I also did a treatment that gives some panels a permanently wrinkled look by scrunching the fabric and pressing it on top of iron-on interfacing, so the wrinkles will never release.  The skirt is terribly impractical and would probably scrape your legs up, but I think it looks very cool.

And much like a European story, the rest of the tale is not such a happy one.  I made a gathered crop top to use as an undershirt for a Boho Punk jacket, but the jacket turned out too clean, which is what I am used to making.  I put on exposed zippers for the pockets and made the collar normal-sized on one side and large on the other, and even added a bullet-holder thing on the shoulder, but it still looked too flat!  Maybe a different fabric choice would have been the key, but I knew I liked the blouse underneath, so I removed the jacket and went with a new concept.

I took the top and added long kimono sleeves appropriate for the very sheer fabric.  I like this better.  It's dramatic even though it is soft and flowy, the amount of exposure adds a hard edge that goes along with the hard/softness of the skirt.

Wild Wild West: Bridal Punk

So, I settled the argument between the two models by letting Raine play Angie, but making a dress for Leonora first.

I remember in the opening of "The Wild Wild West," the part where the cartoon saloon girl gets punched out by the cowboy.  Punching a woman?!  That's so wrong!  But for some reason it also tickled me seeing her fall on her ass each time.

The concept of this dress is crossing an Old West look with Punk.  Leonora was engaged to a cowboy, but he left her, so she cut up a pair of his jeans and one of his shirts and turned it into a brothel jacket, took his underwear and made a top out of it, and used the white bedsheets that she got as a shower gift and turned it into a billowy skirt.  Then, she went out drinking all night.

I kind of hoped I would end up liking this one a lot.  I'm not used to making dresses made out of huge amounts of draped and folded fabric, but I figured, what the hell, I'm up for trying something unfamiliar.  For the mock up, I ingeniously used a miniature dressform to figure out how to create a bustle skirt with a curved drape front out of one piece of material with a straight hem like they did back in the 1870's.  Once I figured it out, (it ends up looking kind of like a speed bump with spikes on the side) it was actually not as complicated as I thought it would be, but I sure am glad that I was able to make a few miniature versions first while perfecting the technique!

The jacket, I think it's a cool concept, but I could have made it look more, "dirty."  It's far too clean and finished to be punk.  Not finishing seams and being sloppy may sound easier to do in theory, but I guess not for me!  It was a good exercise in playing with sleeve cap volume, though.  I already have an idea on how to improve in this technique for a future avant garde outfit.




In the end, I think that this turned out to be a great excuse to discover a few new techniques in photoshop.  And my sexy-tough girl Nora plays a Fierce jilted bride, doesn't she?