IF – Flawed

I'm slowly continuing to work with the sketches I did while in Toronto this past summer with my Dad. It's fun having these on hand to play with when one happens to match an Illustration Friday theme. This particular one fits "flawed" perfectly – I still get a pang in my heart remembering my disappointment upon discovering the flaws in these dresses.

It was a rainy, foggy day. Dad and I had been for a long walk, down Yonge street, up and down and through the financial district in every direction, along King and up Spadina. Once on Queen Street we split up for a while, with plans to meet back at the pub. I had been wanting to go in search of a vintage shop which had been one of my favourite downtown stops when I lived out at York years and years ago. I found it – Black Market, a cavernous basement spot with vintage clothes of all kinds, plentiful and cheap. I gathered up a huge armful of dresses to try (it being summer, I was obsessed with finding perfect vintage sun dresses). I had at least 15 dresses, nearly more than I could carry. And not one – NOT ONE! – was right. All flawed, horribly. Too flawed even for a "Well, it's only $12.99 and I could probably put a different belt on it, shorten the straps, and..."

I bravely managed not to cry, and continued on to the pub to meet dad. Sitting at the bar, sipping my beer and waiting for the jazz band to start, I pulled out my sketchbook and pens and drew some of the pretty pretty (on the hanger) dresses, so as not to forget the hopes I had had for them.

Dresses: classic couture or Shanghai cool?

Besides the iguana, my favourite thing at the ROM was the fashion. I couldn't stop myself from drawing these two dresses. I fell in love with them about half-an-hour apart and in two different rooms, but they ended up on the same sketchbook page, standing beside each other defiantly.

The first is by Zang Da, a designer from Shanghai. I loved his stuff because it had such a basic and effortless feeling about it, but drama too. Neutral, minimalist, elegant, feminine and bold. The dress above was black. I can't seem to find an official website for him, but here's a couple of blog posts about him and his designs if you dig the dress and want to know more: Shanghai Style Icon and Zang Da in his Studio.

This was part of an exhibition called Shanghai Kaleidoscope – "Shanghai as a laboratory for 21st-century urban creation" – which also included some great video work. And again, the exhibition design was interesting, floating mannequins and all.

On the right is the Delphine Cocktail Dress by Christian Dior, 1956/57. I was so excited when I saw this in the textiles exhibit – it reminded me instantly of a vintage black dress I bought a few years ago to wear to a friend's wedding on New Year's Eve. Mine's not Dior of course, but the concept is the same (the sash that folds over and hangs down like a scarf, with a fringe at the bottom), and it was so cool to place it in time like this. How great would it be to wear the Dior one, so red and perfectly pouffed.

In this standoff between classic and cool, I don't really want to pick a winner – I want both. To be both avante garde and put-together glamorous, all at once, or at least in the same week.