Avant Garde Styling Midterm

Yesterday I achieved yet another major milestone in my modeling career. I am so excited and thankful to have passed my UCS midterm! A major part of the assessment was styling an avant garde outfit, and here is my description of what I prepared:

Good evening and thank you for attending the March class midterm styling event tonight. My name is Laura Reverie and I am a model-in-training with hopes of graduating from the University of Classic w/ Style later this month. For our avant garde assignment, I am wearing the stunning Leonie dress by Pipins.

The designer, Angiliak Crystal, created this gown as part of her Phantom range and it was originally paired with a long white fur boa and wide brimmed hat to blend elements of classic design with avant garde. Through some substitutions, I have decided to take this dress in an even more avant direction. Yet it still honors the duplicitous elegance that the designer had intended.

What I absolutely love about this gown is its shifting and category-defying quality. It has seemingly angular lines in the many intersecting shapes, yet the forms are slightly curved and rounded. At one glance the dress appears to be soft and matte in texture, while at other times its shiny surfaces seem rigid and hard while glistening under the light. Even the color plays upon opposites, being predominantly silver yet taking on gold tones.

I have chosen accessories that complement the dress and emphasize this play on duality. Around my neck and wrist I wear the Aphrodite necklace and bracelet in silver by Finesmith. They echo the cyber flower-like quality of the dress's large petal forms and extending curls. The tightly fitting jewelry has metallic looking orchids on either side with dangerously curved spikes extending from their centers. It addresses the question of whether this outfit has the elegant sweetness of a flower, or if it is dangerous and more violent in nature. In addition to considering its attitude, it raises another question: is this ensemble organic or metal in material?

My Selma hairstyle was designed by Tukinowaguma and it is molded into angled yet rounded forms that echo the large upward petal shapes of the dress. A long ponytail sweeps down from my head like the lower lines of the garment. In my silvery hair I wear a crescent moon-shaped headdress that mirrors the rounded peaks of the gown, which could be interpreted as rippling across water under the moonlight. It has me asking whether the dress is liquid or solid, or if it is a substance that transforms between the two.

When I turn, the dress resembles an ancient sea urchin with tentacles that slowly sweep across the ocean floor in the way that the long train of the dress billows and sweeps around me long after I have stopped moving. The skirt flutters and breathes on its own as you pan around it, which gives life to an otherwise inanimate piece of clothing. And for that matter, when I wear this outfit am I Earthly and human or other-worldly and alien? The accessories and elaborate silver spiral makeup by White Widow help bring the dress to a futuristic cyber state.

This dress is a complex interchange between opposites and my perceptions of it are always in flux. It is thought provoking and a true conversation piece. It is avant garde in all ways imaginable, and I believe that I have elevated it to a new level with this styling.

This ensemble consists of:

Dress: Leonie by Pipins
Necklace & bracelet: Aphrodite by Finesmith
Earrings: Shae by Finesmith
Hair & headdress: Selma in Ebony by Tukinowaguma
Makeup: Glitter Makeup 1~f by VoguE
Face tattoo: Spiral in silver by White Widow
Contacts: 3 Eyes by Dream Ink Design
Shoes: Kick! Ankle boots in PlainWhitesilver by Finesmith

Thank you, Janet, for opening my eyes to the wonderful possibilities of avant garde. I would like to express my gratitude to the staff of UCS, especially Tiffani and Janet, for the knowledge, time, dedication, patience and support that they have offered me during my training. I would also like to thank the fabulous new owners of Classic w/ Style for continuing this modeling school and venue. I am so impressed by your skills and honored to be among you.

     ☆´¨)  xoxo,                                                                                                                                
(.¸.•´ (¸.•` ☆ .:. Laura Reverie ..:☆¨*•.
                                                                  ´☆. 3.25.13