burton does lacma

In May of this year, Tim Burton's retrospective debuted at LACMA charting his extraordinary  talents from his reclusive days as a teenager in prosaic Burbank to current day where he is acclaimed as one of the most successful film directors.

Burton's talents span numerous modes and modalities and his work has been prolific.  The costumes for his films such as Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland and Batman have allowed him and his collaborators to push the boundaries in all their respective areas of film making. 

In September of 2009 Burton was invited by Harper's Bazaar to do a spread for Halloween which preceded the opening of his retrospective at the NY Met.

The images are of phantasmagorical creations by Armani, Oscar de la Renta, Balmain, Chanel and the list goes on that
are styled and imprinted with Burton's inimitable and unmistakable imprimatur.

Burton has the most wonderful and whimsical eye and crazily mashes and crashes colours and textures and silhouettes in a delightfully visual cacophonic symphony.

A true genius, the exhibition shares his writings, animation, live action films, sketches, costumes, puppets, storyboards, cartoons and ephemera.  His witty and sophisticated humour is reflected in his work.



photos courtesy of Harper's Bazaar, Disney,

Under the Tuscan Sun

Above is an illustration by Ms Sunny Cannon of the dress that we will be making in our upcoming pattern marking class.  It is reminiscent of the exquisite frocks designed by Nicoletta Ercole in "Under the Tuscan Sun".

Diane Lane's dress appears to be made out of Thai Silk which magically reflects the light and creates beautiful nuanced tints and shades of saffron, enriching the landscape of the dress and creating definition and contour.

As a neophyte seamstress, the first challenge was in the selection of the fabric or rather lack of selection.  Since life is short, I am sticking to cotton which I think has some limitations in making a dress like this.  There is a lot of surface area in this dress and since cotton has a fairly matte finish, my concern was to respect the integrity of the classic lines of the dress and not to obliterate them with wild patterns.  Block colour, while still showing the structure, would look like too much mass in cotton. 

I settled on a white polka print with black which will allow the surface to be broken up but because of the subtle print,  the structure of the dress will reign.  A pale pink tie belt will compliment the polka print and keep the dress soft and feminine.  The tie belt can be made in various other colours - olive, saffron, turquoise, aubergine, red - that will help  change the feel and mood of the overall outfit.

It's a classic dress that can easily transition from day to night.