(Yeah, yeah I know got my Led Zep references mixed up with my Bowie ones in that post title....it doesn't help that my iTunes shuffle is currently playing Queen of All the Tarts at me....is it a message?)
Aaanyway. You know this Bowie Sew Along thing? It's doing my head in and it's not even March yet. Doing my head in, in a good way though. I'm a kid in a sweetie shop (translation for Americans: candy store).
There's just...
too.
much.
choice!
I've been gradually adding images of some his looks to my Bowie Sew Along Pinterest board. But this is adding to my "I wanna sew that, no that, ooh look at that!" confusion.
And it isn't finished yet. There are some iconic looks missing, plus I'm hoping that this isn't just going to be a collection of pretty pics but that, combined with the research I'm doing on some of the designers he worked with, I can update the details for each pic and find out when and where he wore the outfits and hopefully a bit about who made them.
This is being helped greatly by my lovely local library supplying me with some excellent research materials:
Danny Lewis's 'David Bowie Style' is particularly wonderful. Admittedly some of the images are ones you've seen time and again if you Google Bowie....but they're excellent quality huge versions in the book so you can examine every little detail, the size of the collars and cuffs (that sounds rude....it's not honest, I've just got a bit of a thing for oversized cuffs....ok, I'm making it worse aren't I?), and you get a much better feel for the fabrics used etc. Plus the photos are divided up into his different 'regenerations' and book discusses cultural and artistic influences behind some of the creations.
I'll be posting what I've been learning about his looks, the designers and lots of other interesting things throughout March, so watch this space. In fact I'm currently half way through A Beautiful Mess's Blog (Design) Love e-course so I'm not giving you the code for a sew along button just yet because I want it to link to the Bowie Sew Along archive I'm coding to have all the resources easy to find for you. There will be buttons to stick in your blog sidebars next Tuesday.....and someone else will be letting you have this little something too that day.
If you have a look at the Pinterest board I'm also collecting pics with links to more recent fashion designers who've also been inspired by his looks and how they've translated them into their clothing creations.
(Photos: David Bowie images via Last.FM, Runway images via Style.com. Compilation credit: Heather Lettieri for DFW Style Daily - check out Heather's full post here for more inspiration).
And I've been checking out my local fabric Aladdin's Caves (and Jo-Ann's) to see whether the materials available speak to me....shout out "make me, make me! I'm perfect for Bowie's *insert year and description of many, many different iconic outfits*" And they have been, but all at once, in a cacophony of wondrous temptations.
Look at this lot, tempting me with their jumpsuit possibilities:
I think I'm narrowing down what I want to make during the Bowie Sew Along to one of these:
But how do I just choose one look? Aaargh! And to complicate it even further, I remembered his wonderful silky number and trench coat from Dancing in the Street with Mick Jagger for Live Aid:
I've never found Bowie that fanciable, but wow, that man can dance....give me a man who can dance any day. Swoon. Oh, and Senator Marco Rubio, check out 1.29mins......that's how you have a drink mid-way through a 'performance'. If you're gonna do it, make a blooming show of it.
So anyway. Any advice on what I should make for the Bowie Sew Along will be gladly received and then probably rejected as I, magpie-like spot another look altogether ;)
Are you having the same trouble as me?
Can't you pin down one look, outfit or garment that you want to use as inspiration?
Are we going to have a gaggle of Jareths? (Not that this is any way a bad thing. I loved it on the Sew Weekly last year when a few of us used the same inspiration....but made the looks our own).
Have you seen the ArtFund's "Which Bowie Are You?" interactive quiz? This might help or hinder you in your choices:
Right, that's it for today.....still got 12 movies to watch as part of my Oscars 2013 Watchalong. Laters!
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