Dear Stranger (Dress 171)

Dear Stranger

I lent you the shade of my shoddily made spotty umbrella, before the wind turned it out- I think we must have made a lovely image, two girls, laden with bags, holding an inside-out umbrella for dear life- somewhat like an alteration I made to a statue in the gardens once. It’s a Grecian copy- A hammer thrower mid-swing.

There was an article in the paper about it, and how every day someone stole the brass hammer, until the authorities, sick of the expense, replaced it with a spray painted length of broom handle and Styrofoam (or something equally cheap). That got stolen too- It seems it was more mischief than brass. I went past that statue twice a day for four years- and like clockwork, there he’d be; straining on the weight of cheap plastic in the morning, and then, in the evening, the hammer-thrower, straining on the weight of air. One day, at the death of my umbrella, I brought a couple of friends with me to give him the upturned object. Needless to say he looked rather silly. So did we (I suspect).

In the morning, my umbrella was gone.

This is all that is left.

(I’m ok with that. I think it is my nicest design to date.)

All my love,

IP

Dear Korean Girl on the Train (Dress 152)

Dear Korean Girl on the Train,

You were adorable and inquisitive, and you asked me all sorts of questions about my drawings, and then proved in about 4 seconds how insanely far I have to go when it comes to drawing- hell but you draw fast, and accurate, and pretty!

This dress reminded you of a traditional Korean dress- and I see what you mean, but with a twist.

(Blue matte satin, and silver matte satin in the middle, seperated by 'bands' of rubber tubing filled with something vaguely mercurial.)

All my love,
IP

Dear Huntingdale (Dress 149)

Dear Huntingdale,
You are structurally unsound.
There is a tunnel under the tracks to get to the platform. This is not really the problem, but the drains get clogged, and then it floods, and then no matter what you are wearing you are going to have wet socks which is like purgatory, only worse.
You have bathrooms which are always locked, and benches that are always wet with fresh paint.
And no matter where you stand, you are always in the path of freezing winds.
BUT:

if you look out from Platform 1 at dusk, you will see a collection of streetlights, wires and poles washed in intensely beautiful cobalt skies.
and that is why, for all your faults, I really do like you.
All my love,
IP

Dear Metro (Dress 119)

Dear Metro,
you don't deserve a dress.
Why?
'Cause you royally suck.
But who else am I going to dedicate a Train-based dress to?
XO
IP

Dear Yoska (Dress 95)

Dear Yoska,
You saw my wallet on the train- sitting on the seat, long after I'd up and left.
You googled my surname, and called my parents. And less than 8 hours after i'd lost it- I had it back in my hands. Relief unparrallelled!
I sat outside your apartment imagining what you'd look like- we'd exchanged a fair few textmessages and I wondered who this kindly soul would look like. Turns out you look like a very young slightly frightened male version of my friend Zahra- and you're a student pilot, which makes the socially responsible good samaritan thing make a little more sense. Honestly I expected to have my identity stolen or something- not have it returned with embarrassment at my thanks.
So in honour of those badges trainee pilots wear (although I think any pilot wears this one)
And in thanks to all kind strangers,
(Printed cotton for the dress, structured metallic-blue-grey for the 'badge' with a space for a brooch in the centre.)
All my love,

Dear Eduardo (and other strangers) or: Dress 66

Dear Eduardo (and other strangers)
You make travelling interesting, and humbling. You make leaving the house exciting and full of possibility and potential. Who might I meet next? Where are they from? Where are they going? Will I ever see them again? (probably not.)

Thankyou for the thousand conversations,
All my love,

Dear Hyperskinny Co-Commuter (Dress 55)

Dear Hyperskinny Co-Commuter,
You were painfully thin, dressed in the fashion of the waif. It made me hungry just looking at you- I know that underneath that stupidly trendy french-stripe shirt, your ribs are visible. Thinking about that trend, of heroin-chic, the culture of terrible posture and pasty skin, I wanted to design a dress that somehow held your shoulders back- what a waste of all those centimetres when you hunch like that. There's a bit of an old halloween costume idea I had back in 2007 (a clear acetate capelet (double layered) with plastic tubing in the sillhouette of the arteries and capilleries in the lungs, over a skeleton suit).

(Dress Specs: blended wool- the shoulder sections are reinforced.)
All my love,

Dear Melbournian Graffiti Artists (Dress 6)

Dear Melbournian Graffiti Artists,

Spending three hours (at best) on the craptastic victorian public transport system gives me a huge window of opportunity through which to study your work (pun very much intended.)

It's lovely; thankyou for the idea.

The Graffiti rabbit continues around the back, Stylised 'Flash' goes over the hip/waist and around the back of the dress. Printed on teeshirt material.

All my love,

Dearest Metlink (Dress 3)

Dearest Metlink,

In the lull of the to-ing-and-fro-ing of your trains I often daydream and mentally wander off staring at the clouds. Such is a day like today when the gorgeousness of the moon in the morning, and the happy advent of hot air balloons made for a moon-sky-inspired dress.
Two layers, one white silk with a light blue tint all over(except where the moon is), and the cotton underlay the more prominant image of the moon and clouds. Comes with a hot-air-balloon brooch for those days when you need a bit of colour.

All my love,

Dearest Co-Commuter (Dress 2)

Dearest Co-Commuter,
You had the most amazing eyes- they looked somewhat like a collage of autumn leaves in chocolate hues, and the idea of printing photographs of irises on fabric stayed on my mind, until this idea popped in:

Definately a better idea to start designing earlier in the day- I had time to work on both colouring/patterning and actual dress shape.
Really excited for tomorrow!
All my love,