Second Chances... Non-fabric Fashions and more

Recently, on a visit to the San Francisco bay area, I had the pleasure of seeing an exhibit in the United terminal called Second Chances. This exhibit was comprised of articles from the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Since I am currently a curator of an upcoming gallery show called Non-fabric Fashion, my senses are tuned into creative materials used in creating non-fabric clothing.

So, here we have several shots from the exhibit at the airport.

Candy-Wrapper Dresses
Washington artist Shelley Hedges used discarded candy wrappers to make her dresses. She stitches them together and then constructs a dress.



Mary Jane and Tootsie Pop wrapper... some close-ups




Rubber car tires are used to fashion shoes in various countries of the world; from Africa to Central America to Asia.



Jewelry made from buttons, zippers and safety pins.




a little off-topic for fashion, but fun, snake and chairs made from bottle caps.

Zandra Rhodes: Fashion Designer

Recently, I attended a lecture at the Mingei Museum here in San Diego. The topic? A retrospective of Zandra Rhodes work, and Zandra was the speaker. The Mingei currently has an exhibit of Zandra's work which is utterly fantastic.

Zandra spoke of her career and shared images of her work, her inspiration and the various fabrics she has designed and used in her clothing.





Mingei International Museum
1439 El Prado
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 239-0003
Mingei Museum, and the exhibit, "A Lifelong Affair with Textiles"

After her talk, Zandra took questions from the audience. The best question was "What do you wear to the grocery store, and what would you wear if you were to go to the Oscars?" Zandra answered, that she wears comfort clothes such as jeans, etc., to the grocery store, and that, actually, she was going to the Oscars, and she would be wearing most likely, the same wonderful full flare-legged pants she was wearing with a top and yellow hat.

Below are some shots taken during and after Zandra's lecture.




My student Tina, with Zandra.

and.. here I am with her.