Musing Monday: Tamara De Lempicka

It's Monday! That means it's once again time to share some inspiration. Today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite artists, Tamara De Lempicka.

Just to give you a little background, she was born into a wealthy Polish family. Her parents divorced and she and her mother moved to Russia with her aunt, and then had to flee the Bolshevik revolution. She was married several times through the years and had many affairs with men and women. Eventually her style fell out of favor, but after her death in 1980 she was rediscovered and collectors began clamoring for her work.

She was an amazing portraitist. Her synthetic cubist style paintings are so visually exciting and, in my opinion, epitomize the glamour of art deco. Her use of color and line is everything. I could stare at her work for hours. I am always finding something new in her works and hope one day to have an original hanging on my wall.

Dorothy Draper Collection

For anyone who may not be following me on instagram, you should be. I post photos of my illustrations there regularly but thought I might post some here so everyone can see what I'm up to.

I'm really loving how this is turning out and this week I should be close to finishing it. I am so excited to start illustrating the martinique print pieces.

Resuscitate Me (Moto Blanco Club Mix)

What I'm currently devouring. Have been a fan for years and only recently is she available in the states.

Mainstreaming is the new fashion

Fashion week is here, and I wanted to share some thoughts. I was watching youtube fashion videos as usual and came across an interesting and thought provoking video I wanted to talk about. It was a panel discussion with several fashion industry professionals about race in fashion. The leader of this discussion was Bethann Hardison. I had the opportunity to hear Bethann speak when I was in college and she was such an amazing person, she still inspires me to continue chasing my dreams.

While watching this video I began trying to google black fashion models, but to my dismay, I could find none. The women I found images of are women that I already knew, Alek, Naomi, Iman, Grace Jones. I think that Alek is exquisite, and Grace is always inspiring but these women all became famous pre-1995. However, I can name at least 5-10 current white models at any given moment. The "mainstreaming" of fashion seems to be what brought us to this point.

The panel talked about how 10 to 15 years ago the garment district was its own entity, its own life form. Models weren't used because they were the girl of the week, they were used because a designers liked who they liked. Models weren't told not to smile, they had personality and things weren't so utilitarian. (How I long for the days of Jerry Hall strutting with a smile on her face.)

The more I thought about this, the more I agreed with these people about how media and the mainstreaming of fashion has killed not just diversity but the glory that once was. I talk with people regularly about how "mainstreaming" of fashion has made it so hard for designers to create a name for themselves. Where are the Calvin Kleins, and Halson of my generation!? They have been replaced by cheaply priced designer knock-offs at Forever 21. And NO!, Zac Posen for Target is not Zac Posen so stop telling people like you should be proud. I am so frustrated that people are more obsessed with a new (disposable) outfit, rather than something exquisite that must be saved for and will last a lifetime.

Any I'm going to post a like to the video below and I would love to hear questions or comments from anyone that is reading this.

http://youtu.be/Sy89yqQV_b8