I have always been among those who view fashion as an art medium, through which one can express their taste, feelings, or beliefs. The extent to which Galliano’s gowns can be considered as art can be debated; yet, fashion has nevertheless been an inextricable part of artistic creation throughout the history of art, reflected through stained glass, gilt bronze, or oil on canvas. Art major Kimmy Lawes ’11 incorporates fashion into her current performance art project, as an assignment for her sculpture class.

Assigned by Assistant Professor of Art Tyler Rowland, the point of the project is to make the student artists go back in their lives and move forward in their art. The project is aptly titled as “Looking Back to Look Forward.”

Kimmy, who had never done performance art before, wanted to get into this medium, in terms of moving her art forward. In terms of looking back, she wanted to highlight her childhood dream jobs. As a result, she chose to dress up for seven days in different outfits, each of which represent one of her childhood dream jobs.

Kimmy’s project was inspired by her own life and Professor Rowland, who flirted with a similar idea before, in a 13-year project entitled “Artist’s Uniform,” where he dressed up in a different specific outfit for an entire year. ”When I think about looking back, and of what I wanted to be when I was younger, it’s completely different from where I am in my life now. So I thought it would be interesting to realize it,” she said.

So, Kimmy set up seven different outfits for her project over the spring break, idealizing the jobs, rather than showing how a person having that occupation actually dresses up. In other words, the outfits reflect more of her childhood view of what each occupation entails.

In the pictures, you can see Kimmy dressed up as a painter on the first day of her project.

“I’ve always been into art,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to be an artist since the middle of high school, when I realized it’s something I could do for living, something I really wanted to do for living.”

For her painter outfit, she modified a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, specifically for the project. In order to make the shirt and the jeans look like they have been used in a painting studio, she slashed ink over them, applied acrylic paint and water color, and smudged color pastel into the fabric.

Kimmy’s first outfit is interesting, although it is not a very questionable or unusal one that would appall a person on the street. But stay tuned, as we’re going to see even more interesting looks throughout this week. I, personally, can’t wait for Saturday.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 2:36 am and is filed under Fashion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.