Welcome to the swamp! Things are really cleaned up around here. Come with me as I travel Switzerland and the Rhine on my SUP.


Showing posts with label flowery dresses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flowery dresses. Show all posts

Monday, April 5, 2010

Keep Your Friends Forever, Seal Them in Plastic, Part One

"Keep your friends forever, seal them in plastic" was the saying in the fortune cookie.  There must have been something lost in the translation, but as usual I understand things in my own way, don't you?  Since none of my really good friends or worst enemies for that matter, have consented to me laminating them and hanging them from my walls, here's my secondary interpretation of "seal them in plastic", and an idea for an art project.  You can see one of the creations in the picture.  It is made of four scarves that I wore at very different times in my life and that I bought or acquired in four different countries, spanning almost 18 years: London, Venice, Paris and Basel.  The silk on two of them had been worn down so much that it was beginning to be shredded scarf.  So I cut away the bits that were falling apart, ruffled them up and voilà a fancy top!  Well maybe they won't last forever, but I'm glad I can wear these 'friends' again for some special event I like to think I'll think up.

So, you want to do it, too?  Here's the idea of an art project that will also fuel ideas and stories for this blog:

Step One:  Find an item in your closet that is dear to you, a representation of enormous sentimental value or something that for some reason, you just can't give away.  Be it a hand-bag, a pair of heels, a dress, a scarf, an old t-shirt, old jeans, whatever.  It would be easier for me to transform it, if it was once a piece of clothing since I know where to begin with textiles.  Stiff materials like wood and metal are more difficult, but you could challenge me.  Keep in mind that you don't wear the item anymore because it's too small, too big, too worn out, too smelly, not your style anymore and after I get through with it, you may not recognize it. Step Two: You give the item to me along with a story, written or oral, about the item to be transformed.  Step Three: We photograph the new item it has become and I hope and pray that you actually like it. Step Four:  we collect our new stuff made out of old garb and organize the event I'm thinking I'll like to organize.

Accepting sentimental stuff now!
Yours, with seam ripper at the ready!
Mrs Crocodile

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Colors for 'Closer', the play now in Basel

If you haven't seen the play in Basel yet called 'Closer' you will, you should, you must. Two and a half weeks before the show opened, they asked me, "Hey, Colleen! Could you do the costumes?" And I thought, "You know what? I'm just about crazy enough to say yes". So I said, "Yes!" And in two weeks, the actors, the directors and their significant others as well as myself had pilfered all the closets we could in Basel without losing friends to come up with a whopping 48 costume changes for 12 scenes.

In this picture with Anna and Dan played by Stephanie Nemeth-Parker and Josh Malik I am particularly proud of the flowers on the dress being mirrored by the bunch of roses in Dan's hands. The other colors are sober and reflect the mood at the end of the play. And the bald head in the way was not part of the overall concept for the play's colors. Just go see it. I hope you notice the subtle use of colors, as well as the scar I made and I know you will thoroughly enjoy the acting and the script as 'Closer' is being hailed as one of the best plays of the nineties.
Enjoy, yours, for now,
Mrs Crocodile
PS 'Closer' was written by Patrick Marber. This production has been put on by Upstart Entertainment, Basel, directed by Andrew Fernades and Esmeralda Hernandez and also stars Mimi Myrick and Dany Demuth. Check out the upstart entertainment website for tickets: www.upstart-entertainment.ch