The 50's, Le nonne, e la Comune di Firenze

So... about three classes into the semester, our draping professor got a phone call from and ex-student(i believe) and he asked her if she had anyone who was interested in participating in a fashion show"thing" for some elder ladies... She briefly explained and we all said YES! I mean, we are in ITALIA- lets take advantage of it all... some research-this is my desk!

So...Now we are all being part of a Fashion Show organized by the Comune di Firenze-that celebrates the 50'S, and the beauty of women. In Italy-when a woman has children-she stops being a woman-and becomes JUST a mother, just a wife, a cleaner... etc.. so THIS show will give them...a remembrance of their "plumper" years- but will make a point that women never stop being women... its just that some-forget!A vintage boutique will lend some dresses so that young models-model- with the older women- who will be wearing OUR 50's inspired, NEW creations... IRONIC! ENCHANTING!

...JUST sketching SOME IDEAS

It has been such a touching experience- We met the nonnas last Wednesday and I am telling you-almost all of us cried! These women have so much energy! One of them-93- said that she was blessed to be alive to see this happening-Youth and Old... together!

the measurements of my "nona"-

Fashion Past+Present Collection 2...

We went on a "school"trip to Milano two weeks ago and were asked to make up a collection for our Past +Present class... I selected as historical reference the Armour at ones of the museums we attended... Poldi Pezzoli

Draping... my new adventures?

Ciao a tutti!(practicing my italian here!)

 

(at Baldovinetti-Draping Lab...Jessica Velez and I...partners in crime)

Draping is one of my favorite stages of the design process... sometimes by just playing around with the fabric I can come up with the most unimaginable ideas. By listening to the fabric, letting it guide me, show me the way... I pin, touch, feel... the way into a new design.

I can't sketch what I will drape-I feel as if in some way-that sketch will limit me and I won't  let my imagination run.. or the fabric surprise me .

This semester we have only one draping class a week, and it runs from 8:30 AM until 2:30 p.m.. As much as I love this class, it is so exhausting and mentally/emotionally draining. In those hours we have to take the lesson, get an idea, develop the idea, drape the piece, and construct it. It is a lot of work-especially when i am used to coming to the lab in the after hours and taking my sweet time to play around. Now.. its more of a challenge-not necessarily more fun-but great training. it is getting better, I am getting used to it! My professor this year is Therese Schoenholzer-she is amazing and supposedly a world expert in lace!

I never take pictures of me working or me with my work-but here are some that my classmates took.

Couture/Luxury Jackets and Suits-Fashion Art

Funnels, Lee Bontecou, Rick Owens... development

Here are some pictures of my first Fashion Art project for IFD 2(International Fashion Design year 2)...

My professor is Sass Brown-the program director, and I am loving it this year!

The project was supposed to be inspired by a design detail from a luxury or couture designer collection for Fall 2008. I chose Rick Owen's funnels!

Owen's inspiration-AND MINE.... Sculptress Lee Bontecou! Marvelous!

Customer Profile???

customer lifestyle

Design Development!

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Now... The Presentation... The project I handed in for Fashion Art!

I will edit the pictures later,and add detailed ones,  but for now.. this is a sneak peak!

Enjoy!

Long time, no writee.. this will be a long one-I hope!

      -This is during the packing stage-what do I take what do I take?

This is a long one so brace yourself!

 Okay- So a lot has changed since the last time I wrote. Last time I was in the NYC airport heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico(mi islita linda)... and trying to write about my expectations of the journey that was about to begin...

At the end of this summer I went to all my homes-to visit my people-for a few days before I moved to Florence, Italy for a whole year as part of a study abroad program with POLIMODA through The Fashion Institute of Technology. I went home for 7 days, then to Florida for 10 and it was an incredibly emotional experience. I realized that it was time to let go of so many things-in order to se what was ahead of me without holding back-starting from scratch! A new beginning-one more for the collection really!

So... I said goodbye, packed 2 VERY HEAVY suitcases and flew off to Florence for about $300 as a American Airlines Frequent Flyer(thanks mom!)First of all me and my sister(the best packer ever) did not sleep the night before- and THIS was the first time I flew oversees! What an experience!I flew from NYC to Chicago, Chicago to London, London to Brussels and Brussels to Florence. Not to mention that I had an overnighter in London where I met up with my friend Paul(thanks for the delish! food) and the next morning missed my plane to Brussels because they sent me through the wrong gate! Anyhow... I arrived in Florence and my baggage was lost, I stayed with a friend from NY who was already here, then at a hotel with my friend Paul and his family and then crashed at another friend's house while I tried to find an apartment with my not so perfect italian skills!

However- I am now settled, almost two months now... have a beautiful apartment I share with two other students from the program and lots and lots of things to say! 

I get internet signal only sometimes... in a corner in my room(comes from a neighbor)so... i am lucky if i can be online like now! So I will give you a synopsis and expand on later blogs...

School and classes are interesting-It is evermore crazy-trying to figure out why no matter where I am and how many responsibilities I have- I will always feel so busy! We have loads of work-creative freedom,new challenges and I cant believe incredibly fast time passes and we don't realize! I am taking only 5 classes-the least ever!-Illustrator, Fashion Art III, Italian II, Draping:Soft Silhoettes and Fashion Past & Present.Two weeks ago we went to Milano-and when we came back we had a pile of projects to hand in and catch up with...DUE: 

Monday- Fashion Art Couture Jackets collection. Mine was inspired on Rick Owen's funnels for Fall 2008.
Tuesday-Italian Class-I love my teacher, but frankly it is like repeating Italian Conversatio(which I took last semester)
Wednesday: Draping of a cowl is due-I am having a hard time in this class. I draped the cowl(a cute bustier) and made some felted straps) but I just wish I felt as passionate as before about it.That day we started draping the BIAS dress... and  that-requires a blog of its own!
Thursday: Italian HW... FITSA Potluck dinner(I ended up not going because of the project due the next day. I went to sleep at 2:30. First time we didnt do an all-nighter)
AND... 
Friday: Fashion Past and Present Collection 2...(was nice-not amazing! but got an A- which was a lot easier grading than I expecter) ay ay ay!
Finally the WEEKEND!!! I stayed in Firenze! It was great

Although we have lots of work I know we  are really learning a lot. One of my biggest missions right now is to get a bycicle I am so so anxious to ride a bike in the streets of FIRENZE- perhaps it will give me a
whole new perspective-new experiences-! I went on Friday afternoon and was unable to be treated nice by the "signores" at the MOTOFFICINA-SO NO BICI FOR NOW :(
OKAY.. I really have to get back to my Homework, but I promise I will update soon. Pictures, Projects and all the good stuff!

nel aeroporto..

Or.. do you say it like that?... Hmmm.. I guess I will find out soon. very soon. sooner that I thinK.

SO. today. July 24th.2008, I'm on my way back home. Just for a little while, just for a week-7days... BUT hey, It only took GOD 7 days to create THIS wonderful world. I wonder what I will be able to do in my 7 days of grace.

7 days to see friends- to see the, and realize that NOTHING has changed, 7 days to realize that everything's different and you dont belong there anymore-OR is it me- HAVE I CHANGED? HAS MY WORLD CHANGED? perhaps!

Optical Illusion: After Images

The phenomenon I studied is called After Images. I initially tested the optical illusion on my computer and it worked perfectly, so I printed it. After printing it, I mounted it on a small piece of cardboard and put a pencil/stick inside it so that it was easier and faster to flip. The illusion did not work; possibly because the printing and paper quality were not the best and did not make a strong enough impact on one’s eyes. I decided to print it on the school’s printer, and now it works a little better. The best result is still obtained when looking at the computer.

This is how it works: just stare at the dot for 30 seconds. Flip to the grey image of the picture, as your eyes adapt to the inverted image you were seeing first, you will see a color image for a few seconds and then it will change to black & white.
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I tested my friend Sunja and he was completely amazed, he said that optical illusions don’t usually work for him but he kept on saying that this was magical. He wanted to try it one more time, because the first time around he didn’t realize what had happened exactly; he just knew something was weird. So I let him try it again and this time he realized what it was. He said he had read about this phenomenon on the back of a cereal box! That was hilarious! He explained it to me as if I had showed him my report!

My roommate who was sitting next to us became interested in knowing what was going on. She is always very curious about what I am studying in Psychology class because she loves this subject. She came over and tested the illusion as well. She could not believe that I had created my own illusion and thought that it was “so cool”. I explained to her how it worked and she sort of remembered about the subject. She is an illustration major, so I told her I would show her how to make the illusion and that it was not difficult at all. She will probably do this to a good amount of her pictures-just to play around-.

I got this idea from a “Black and White Spanish Castle in Color” Illusion in John Sadowski’s website, he claims to be the original creator of this type of illusions. I goggled him, but nothing special came up. I proceeded to look for information of the scientific aspect of it.

Afterimages
An afterimage is an optical illusion of an image that continues to appear in one's vision after the exposure to the original image has stopped. One that we have all experienced without knowing it is the bright glow that floats before our eyes after staring at a light bulb for a few seconds.

Ewald Hering (Karl Ewald Konstantin Hering) was a German physiologist who not only described the Hering illusion, but explained how the brain sees afterimages, in terms of three pairs of primary colors. After-images appear once the original stimulus is removed. The colors revealed are usually the opposite (complementary) colors of the original picture. He explained the opponent process theory, which suggests that we receive information for three opponent color groups: red vs. green, blue vs. yellow, and black vs. white. This opponent process theory says that any visual receptor (cones and rods) that was turned off by one of these colors was excited by its coupled color. Therefore, a green image will produce a red afterimage.

There are two types of Afterimages: negative (inverted) and positive (retaining original color). The exact process behind positive afterimages is unknown but it is related to neural adaptation. Negative afterimages are better understood.


Negative afterimages
Negative afterimages are caused when the eye's photoreceptors, primarily the cones, adapt to the image by over stimulation and lose sensitivity. Normally the eye deals with this problem by rapidly moving, and the “flickering” is later "filtered out" by our brains so it is not noticeable. However, if the color image is large enough and the small movements are not enough to change the color under one area of the retina, those cones will eventually get tired or adapt and stop responding. This can also affect the rods.

When the eyes are diverted to a blank space, the adapted cones send out little signals and those colors remain muted. However, the surrounding cones that were not being excited by that color are still "fresh", and send out a strong signal. The brain interprets the signal as exactly the opposite color.

Positive afterimages
Positive afterimages appear the same color as the original image. They are brief, lasting usually less than half a second, and may not occur unless the stimulus is very bright. Although there is not much information on Positive Afterimages we know that activity in the visual system makes the retinal photoreceptor cells (cones and rods) send neural impulses to the occipital lobe revealing that the experience of a stimulus can vary with the intensity of the stimulus. Usually only very bright stimuli such as the sun produce positive afterimages, and a stimulus, which brings out a positive image, will usually trigger a negative afterimage quickly via the adaptation process. That is why my print out did not work the first time around; the intensity/saturation were not a strong enough stimulus.

So what is the difference between the positive and negative afterimage? A positive afterimage forms only when the backdrop used is the same external object and the negative afterimage forms only when the eyes are shifted away from the external object using a blank backdrop.
While doing this assignment I discovered a variety of optical illusions that blew my mind away. Choosing one was fairly difficult, but I am glad I chose this one. It was easy to make-easier than I though possible-and if you do it correctly it works really well. Even when you are not testing yourself if you are looking at it while showing someone, the result will also affect you.

bo-D.ART.hleeta

bo-d. ART. hleeta



Adorning the body is an important aspect of African Egyptian cultures, from ancient to contemporary times. Body art; from scarification, body paint, headdresses to hairstyles, play a very important role in their lives and societies. It has influenced their art and culture in and the relation between them.
In South African Rock Art an Archaic Rock Painting of a Horned Female Figure in the Tassili N’Ajjer Region of Algeria a cow deity or female goddess is adorned with raffia and other body ornamentation. The cow, like women, is a source of milk and a nurturer. For the Ajjer peoples adorning the body with tattoos, beads, or body paint apparently contributed to the experience of transformation into the spirit they portrayed in their masquerades and rituals.
The cow deity/mother concept carries over to Egyptian Art, as we see the pre-dynastic Female Figure sculpture with raised arms that resemble horns. In Egyptian beliefs the woman, sometimes Isis or Osiris as mother of Horus, has immense sexual power, which is seen as a source of life, and an important symbol of rebirth and resurrection. At a grave at Thebes, Egypt we see how a female figure’s hair plays an important role as a symbol of female fertility and birth, and pubic hair is shown in a triangle and her well-groomed locks, made out of black mud beads are seen as erotic. Women’s role in society is motherhood and to nurture; as mothers of the Pharaoh and as Queen, but they do not emphasize on the babies. Some rock paintings showed us how tattoos served as spiritual protection and not just for physical beauty, scarifications served to mark the different stages of life and were sometimes done in the abdominal area to protect women and their fertility.
In Nubian culture it was believed that the God Amun Ray impregnated the sister of the Pharaoh; this made them a matrilineal society and the Queen was a ruler. They were often depicted as large and heavy to represent how much strength and majesty they possessed. The wealthiest capital of the Kingdom of Kush was well known for their trade with other countries along the Nile and Queen Amanishakheto of Meroe was a good example. An ornament found in her tomb is believed to have been part of a headdress or a ring. It contained cowreshells that resembled female genitalia. Egyptian and African women wore them for protection and blessing. We also saw photography of a Nuer man with forehead scarifications that are still used in contemporary Sudan; for them it is a symbol of manhood and bravery.
In Nigeria, the Ga’anda women-especially the wives of the Chiefs- have to go through rituals of scarification during their engagement period. Sometimes at a very young age, they undergo this process to prove that they survived the pain and they are strong. The groom gives gifts to her parents when the first makings start to appear and, when she is ready to marry. Hleeta represents a sensual beauty, because of its dimensionality, but its patterns can be read by others. It indicates their social status, civilization and order. It is an idea of village vs. city/marshes vs. the pharaoh’s establishment of organization. It is supposed to protect them for reproduction and the bearing of children. In the MBIRGLENGNDA enshrined in a rock (3-10) hleeta also represents the sexual maturity and the achievements and responsibilities that come with adulthood. In West Africa , the Nok sculptures have very intricate hairstyles and no facial hair. In Bura culture the terracotta pots found on the graves were mostly women; their pottery showed marks on the body both for women and men.
Not only is hleeta used to mark people, but its significance has also influenced other cultures and Ga’anda art forms such as the engraved calabashes and the sculptures and vessels of the Dakarkari peoples.