{ costume of the day } cyberpunk gypsy

" i'm the original hunter-down-of-fabulous-things. twenty years ago i sat down and decided that i would create a really wonderful image, an unforgettable image. and now i'm kind of stuck with it. when i don't wear my fringy, gypsy stuff, people kind of look at me like, 'what's wrong?' "

- stevie nicks to the toronto sun, august 14th, 1977

fashion people talk a lot about abstract inspiration, about channeling the emotion or feeling of a look, rather than recreating the look itself - like when john galliano says the new dior couture is inspired by the flemish masters, but what waltzes down the runway looks like this:

image above, style.com

no, it's not rembrandt, but if you look closely, you see the reference. that's abstract inspiration. it's about not getting stuck on a specific visual, but following the proposed stream of consciousness, and being open to where it leads you. in a small way, this is what i proffer on this page when i attempt to document the emotional or aesthetic pathways that lead me into a specific costume.

for instance, i bought this crazy fabric-scrap-cocktail years ago in texas, for the simple reason that it made me say: 'WUUUT. IS. THAT?!?!?!!!'

usually i just look at it fondly, hanging in my closet, and wonder who had the time, energy, and inclination to sew together the reams of lace, eyelet, cowhide, snakeskin, beads, velvet, dupioni, mink, mohair, etc, etcetera, ETCETERA... that comprise this curious piece. what were they thinking?

but i wore it today because, in my head, i keep mulling over the differences between steampunk and cyberpunk, between past medieval and future medieval, city of lost children and blade runner, little round-eye and big bug-eye sunnies...

... and somewhere in the middle of all that, it just felt right.