Dear Idea (Dress 177)

Dear Idea
A) Day 150! I am most excited.
B) I have had to postpone the making of this month's dress. What with Hamletmachine eating my days, and trying to keep house while my mother is away, I have no time.
BUT.
C) If I do another 365 next year (after a couple of months break.) I want to do a jewellery 365. It's broader, so there is more variety in what I can design, and therefore more freedom. This dress is based on a ring design I had, which i've seen in real life since then (someone else thought as I did.)
All my love,
IP

Dear Casa Tsipos (Dress 176)

Dear Casa Tsipos,

You're a strange collection of roccocco, rustic and bizzare aesthetics. Everything is embellished or curliqued, embossed and engraved. There's always another inspiration point- always something else to find. Today: the embellishment on the coffee table.

Strange to find it there, but it's actually a sort-of nice dress.

All my love,

IP

Dear Catherine (Dress 175)

Dearest Cathi,

I miss you so much, I hope you're having a simply wonderful time in Italy, I'm sure you're learning stacks, and seeing all manner of amazing gorgeous things. From the things you said just before you left, I understand it'll almost be like you're the proverbial blank slate, your artistic understanding rewritten by a connection to the heart of all that you've ever learnt. That's how you say things- this intense love of the history of art. It's been wonderful to have seen you grow and mature and find love in this work. I'm insanely proud of you, furball.

(Starched cotton covered in a synthetic coat- white-board style.)

All my love,

Sister,
IP

Dear Ms Baulch (Dress 174)

Dear Ms Baulch,
You were my art teacher at high school- doing your very best to coax any artistic skill out of girls who took the subject out of laziness, and gently pushing those girls who genuinely loved the subject out of their comfort zones. In year ten I did my final (an exercise in pattern and oil pastel) on bats- a capture of my childhood, sitting in the moonlight cinema at the botanical gardens, as hundreds of fruit bats wheeled above, diving at the flickering lights. This dress comes first as birds (but is available in batman print as well)
All my love,
IP

Dear Meat Market Milliner (Dress 173)

Dear Meat-Market-Milliner,
I do not remember your name. I was very young, and spent the majority of my time toddling around my parent’s ankles at the artists’ market, a collection of odds-and-ends housed in the guts of an old meat market, big bluestone shell, honeycombed with little shops, an art bookshop, the Hungarian goldsmith with the waxed moustaches, the puppeteer who also made masks, the glassworkers, and the milliner. She’d let me into her lair, the back room where she stitched a hundred tiny flowers into the brim of a Oaks’ Day hat, or repair the crown of an old man’s fedora. There is something beautiful about the meeting point of felt and silk, waxed flowers and fruit, netting and feathers.

I was reminded of you by an article in the paper about the tiny workshops in Paris. Embroidery and Featherwork ateliers, where Lagerfeld’s creations are brought to life by little collections of old women, where young girls are introduced to the skills handed down between gossip and political debate over a workstation littered with silk chrysanthemums. What I would do to spend time photographing these women at their work.

Today’s dress is in homage to the skill of feather-pinning. The collar and embellishments are spotted turkey (?) feathers.
All my love,
IP

Dear Sudden OpShop (Dress 172)

Dear Sudden OpShop,

You popped up in a cobbled side street for a couple of hours. You had ancient lace, a sheer spotted shirt, and a silk scarf. And you were cheap and lovely, even if you smelt a little odd.

Today’s dress has printed spots on the stomach region, and cuffs. There are buttons (but they are hidden.)

All my love,
IP
P.S. Apologies for what I think is my worst drawing yet. Going straight to pen is always an error.

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 Caulfield Op-Shop (Dress 170)

Dear Caulfield Op-Shop,

I found a cape in your dusty innards. Looking for shoes I found her, hanging amongst drab coats and pilled bed-jackets. Long and woollen, and fire-engine red. There’s a faded circle on the left breast. Turns out you’re not just gorgeous and warm- you’re a part of history, a relic from WW2, when nurses wore red capes. I cut you down 13” before I knew. I’m going to use your excess to make a hood, and now you’ve got pockets, and you’ll get arm-holes soon.

I get the feeling I’m going to wear you for a long time.

Here was one hypothesis as to the alterations:

All my love,
IP

Dear Fashion, Image and Advertising (Dress 169)

Dear Fashion, Image and Advertising,
After a discussion on the nature of capitalism in Performance Class, going to a lecture on the elements of consumer culture was a no-brainer. The straps (and continuing lines) are thick satin ribbon, the ‘fringe’ ribbons at the base also. There are enamelled black numbers at the base of the dress.
All my love,
IP

Dear Hamletmachine (Dress 168)

Dear Hamletmachine,

Your aesthetic is more capitalist signposts than the mechanical post-industrial feel I thought we were going for. This would have been a nice bridesmaid costume if that had been the case.

The cogs in the middle are real cogs, and the rectangles are open to the skin.

All my love,

IP

Dear Abbotsford (Dress 167)

Dear Abbotsford,

Oh my.
Oh wow.
Can you say French architecture? And Victorian plasterwork? And Gold-Rush Era bluestone gorgeousness?
That doesn’t fix the fact that this dress looks more Playschool than a homage to architecture.
Oh well.
All my love,

IP

Dear Jess (Dress 166)

Dear Jess,

You expressed a profound love of clothes celebrating the beauty that is underboob. This one’s for you, (http://somethingimpractical.blogspot.com/ or http://sideofcake.blogspot.com/ )

All my love,
IP

Dear Caberet (Dress 165)

Dear Caberet,
I'd love to be in a stage production of you- if not, i'd happily settle for costume designer. I'm particularly proud of this 'lil number.
all my love,
IP

Dear Jamie Oliver (Dress 164)

Dear Jamie Oliver,

You're the author of Jorge's favourite go to cookbook for which I am forever greatful. The food he's made me from the depths of stained-corner-folded-pages is always spectacular. There's this one salad with fetta and cheese and all sorts of deliciousness. I likes it.

Om nom nom nom,
IP

Dear Safta Shula (Dress 163)

Dear Safta,

You're getting bck into knitting, which is good because it means that even though tit's winter your arthritis is not being too harsh. Rather a surprise 'since you had to quit the knittety knit several years ago beause of the aforementioned joint pain.

Anyway, I've seen knitting needles made into necklaces, bracelets, brooches and rings, but never into clothes. There's always a way!\

All my love,
IP

Dear Flo's 20th (Dresses 153-162)

Dear Flo's 20th
You were MAD. So I forgot to dress. Sorry!

Not Braille, but dice! Same technique 'though.

This dress has printed hands- but real fold/pleats in the fabric.

White Picket belt.

Yes. That is a bycicle wheel. Don't judge me. It's recycling! Even if it's not terribly physically possible.

I wanted to film my first short film in a spiral staircase, needless to say the story I wanted to shoot was too morbid and involved far too many Special Effects. The script is somewhere on my computer 'though, and I might go looking for it to have one of those awkward 'wasn't I strange' nostalgia trips.

Flo's artwork for her party was very macabre. I liked it- but that sort of things rather sticks in your mind.

 I remember my best friend's mum planting sunflowers. There is no happier plant.

This is in no way a cross-promotion with my workplace. I just like stamps.

Odd little beaded/bunched thing. The idea is there bur the drawing is attrocious.

Simple and (to be honest) kind of boring shirt/dress contraption with tiered collars. Oops.

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 Izzy (Dess 151)

Dearest Izzy,

You came to my house, and you were sad, so I fed you; which next to cuddles and talking in the dark is the only way I know how to cheer people up. So I made you poached pears. I think it may have worked (as well as it could have).

All my love,
IP

Dearest Reader (Update)

Yo.
So I know this update situation is not ideal, I've really not been updating regularly, I'm under shitstacks of pressure right now, rehearsing full-time and preparing for stage managing two plays and co-hosting a radio show. It's really squashing me. So when I'm using my dad's camera (because mum took mine to india with her) and the batteries are flat i'm just stumped.
On a more positive note:
My dear friend Flo hosted an art party the other night. It was freaking awesome. I got all living statued up, and debued my Audrey costume, which was fun/frightening/hard/awesome. I re-drew all the dresses up for voting this month and put them on her wall (underneath a gorgeous art photography/linocut series and an origami mobile of the solar system.) and:
Dress 107:  3 votes (T.H, S.R & K.H)
Dress 108: 1 vote (T.H)
Dress 116: 2 votes (FLO.D.C and Raphael, her housemate- who does look like he sounds like he ought to.)
Dress 118: 3 votes (J.A.M, T.P and Alex Welch- who has a fish in his signature, and saved me from accidental fare evasion once, and is lovely.)
Dress 119: 1 vote (L.W)
Dress 122: 3 votes (C.C, E.L, and J.A.M)
Dress 123: 1 vote (N.S)
Dress 136: 3 votes (G.J, John Munroe -who will be an author. he has no choice, his name is too authorly- and Dumbledore... which I am considering counting.)
Dress 138: 1 vote (the esteemed D.W. Murray)
which is an awesome lot of votes!
I will be carrying around my drawings in the hope that I can get people to vote on them. I quite liked the reaction of people- having to touch the drawings to vote (they were instructed to sign their initials) made it an interesing thing to watch.
I will post tomorrow as and when I have a chance.
All my love,
IP
P.S. new design! Thoughts?

Dearest Emergency Services (Dress 132)

Dear Emergency Services (c/o Di Munro)
You do awesome. Thankyou.
Di Munro took the first aid course I did last month. She was lovely, personable, informative and kind. We learnt things. We heard stories about what amazing work emergency services do. I could not respect those people more! Absolute saints, the lot of them.

This dress is a plain cotton base, two individual layers of mesh crepe with one painted circle on each. Attatched to the cotton base are two LEDs, which slowly fade in and out.

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 Lucksmiths (Dress 148)

Dearest Lucksmiths,
I went to your penultimate concert last year with my father- totally unaware of how lovely you were, or that the gentleman who worked at the greengrocers in my street was your bassist. There is something intensely australian about you, without being Casey Chambers grating or Missy Higgins samey.
There's a song called Fiction (from Warmer Corners) which is what I based this dress on.

The song is really clever, and sweet, and darn catchy too.

Listen to the song- and then look at the dress and it should all make sense.
The 'Fiction' bit is printed on mesh, and the Firs on the front of the dress are painted on. They're from one of the album covers, First Frost- which has another of my favourite songs on it; Lament of the Chiming Wedgebill.
)
Enjoy!
All my love,
IP

Dear Neil Gaiman (Dress 147)

Dear Neil Gaiman,
I've been reading your books since I was a child- graduating from Coraline to American Gods, and thence onto the bizzare wonder of the Sandman series. Your mind seems to fit into a same pattern of those artists I admire- Stephen Fry's encyclopedic knowledge and immense respect for other artists (watch any and all interviews with the man. He is a god.) or your dear Amanda F***ing Palmer's intersongstuality, or Billy Connolly's scatterbrainedness, or your friend and mentor Terry Pratchett's hyper-referancing, or anyone else equally awesome.
You just won a CARNEGIE MEDAL!
(for the Graveyard Book)
freaking congratulations.
Two blind girls were on stage when you accepted the medal with a gorgeous speech (watch this also. It is sweet and lovely) and presented you with a braille copy of the winning book.
How ace is that?

Long time readers may know I have a deep love of Braille, I made the bf and myself matching rings when I went to Israel with our names on them. It's not as clingy as it sounds! It was more a piece of myself to leave behind whilst I travelled... This is a guy who wears a silver replica of the one ring; so it is very hard to take his jewellery seriously.

Anyhow, this dress would have to have little 'beads' implanted between the dress and the lining. might not be very comfortable. Would have something meaningfull written on them, but not sure what. Any suggestions?
All my love,
IP

Dear Brotherhood (Dress 146)

Dear Brotherhood of St Lawrence,
I miss you- when you were old-school. You were so messy and disorganised, which meant that if you put in the time and the effort you were bound to find a bargain/something interesting and reasonably priced. Now you're really just becoming a Retro store, which is such a pity, since I really wanted skinny ties to make a bow tie (Tutorial when I find some, design alert courtesy of @ilanacharnelle) and there aren't any, because all the hipsters shop there. And who wants to pay 8$ for a scrap of badly patterned polyester? I just want something I can take apart to take a pattern off... Silly.
If I found a nice cheap tie to take a pattern off, I might be convinced that this dress

was a good idea.

All my love,

IP

Dear Reader (apologies)

Dearest Reader,
I'm going through a 'lil transitioning, as my mother took the family camera to india with her (she's backpacking. Is it just me or is this the wrong way 'round?) and the camera on my laptop is atrocious.
I'll post this week's dresses asap.
xoxo
IP