Montreal's Barbie Expo - Fabulous Fashion!

The Barbie Expo in Montreal is the largest permanent exhibit of Barbie dolls in the world.  My husband and I were in Montreal for a few days recently, exploring the city, eating good food, and visiting the Jardin Botanique (Botanical Garden).  When searching for things to do, I learned about the Barbie Expo, and knew I had to go.  I was a 7-year old when Barbie first came out, with her black and white striped bathing suit, and sparkly fitted black gown with a tulle bottom enhanced with a red flower.  My best friend and I were smitten, and played with our Barbies, and made clothes for them.  My grandmother knitted and crocheted beautiful clothes for the dolls, and my dad donated his old ties for me to cut off and make into lovely evening gowns.  So, when I told my husband about the Expo (and told him it was FREE), he agreed to spend an hour or two there before we left to drive home, and he actually seemed to quite enjoy it.  Here's a couple of Barbies with major attitude!

This is an exhibit that it would be hard to dislike.  These are not your everyday Barbie dolls.  Instead, they are Barbies dressed in haute couture, by designers such as Bob Mackie (the two Barbies at the top of this post are wearing Bob Mackie), Ralph Lauren, Faberge, Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang, Bill Blass, Zac Posen, Kate Spade, and more, each with fabulous hair, makeup, and jewelry, and exquisite detailing.

 There are Barbies dressed as entertainment industry icons, from Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Audrey Hepburn, to modern icons like Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez, among many others. And there's Elvis and Priscilla Presley, and Rock Hudson and Doris Day. 

 

Yes, above that's Liz and Audrey, along with Grace Kelly, and below is Tipi Hedron in a scene from The Birds, along with James Dean and Heidi Klum.

And there are Barbies dressed as beloved characters from television and movies, from Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind to Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble from The Flintstones; from The Wizard of Oz characters to Katniss from The Hunger Games, Edward and Bella from Twilight, Agents Scully and Mulder from the X Files, characters from The Addams Family and The Munsters, and many more.  

 

I love this pair below: Scarlet O'Hara (Gone with the Wind) dressed to impress Rhett Butler in an outfit quickly pulled together from the drawing room drapes, and Carol Burnett's hilarious spoof of that outfit, compete with the curtain rod in the shoulders!  

And there are Barbies documenting eras of fashion, Barbies representing countries from around the world, Barbies dressed in couture wedding gowns, and still so much more! 

 

 Here's a few more that I really liked.  The two directly below are Byron Lars designs.  I wasn't familiar with his work, but there were many pieces by him, each amazing, from fabulous hair and hats to great shoes.

 These two below: slutty-looking Barbies?!

Believe it or not, these photos are just a fraction of the Barbie dolls there to see, just a fraction of the photos I took.  If you find yourself in Montreal, and you like fashion, this is an exhibit worth your time.  I'll be back. 

Playing along with Project Runway

Long time readers of this blog know I'm a fan of Project Runway.  This year, I discovered that a number of my Facebook friends (some art teachers, and some who are not) are also fans of the show.  Some of us decided to design along with the contestants each week, trying to come up with our own solutions to the weekly challenges (but our solutions were done by drawing, rather than sewing). I was aided by the use of a little fashion design sketchpad (with pre-drawn models in it) kindly sent to me by one of these friends.  It will be easy to tell which of these drawings were done with that sketchpad, since my people-drawing skills aren't so good on my own.

The final challenge of the season was to create a collection of 10 runway looks.  My collection incorporated the contrast of black patterned fabric with vibrant colors, using a somewhat bohemian aesthetic, with lots of bead embellishments in black and metallics.  Many of the outfits incorporated ribbons of fabrics to create movement.   By the time I was done, I realized that I had way more than ten pieces in my collection!

The judges always ask "who is your girl?", as in, who are you designing for?  I think my girl is somewhat free-spirited, not afraid of wearing bright color, with fabrics that move.  But she is also practical.  She wants clothes that are comfortable to wear.  The collection is mostly casual and party clothes.  Not really office-wear, but I wasn't designing for an office-type person, I don't think.  In my heart, I think I was designing for a taller, skinnier me. 

 I'd be  happy to wear a look like the one below for a day of teaching art, if my legs were longer and my hips were skinnier!!  All in all, this is my 12-look collection. 

 While I'm at it, I'll share some of my ideas from the challenges earlier in the season.  For example, there was a bathing suit and cover-up challenge.  I never fully realized my cover-up ideas, but I'd definitely want to wear my bathing suit design. 

There was a 'real woman' challenge where the contestants designed for their mothers or friends. I chose to design a casual and comfy outfit for a certain pantsuit-wearing former presidential candidate.  Please excuse my amateurish drawing. 

And there were challenges using non-traditional materials, too.  The outfit below (two attempts to draw the same general idea) used rope, assorted bolts, leather horse harnesses, and such.

This crazy outfit on the left below was an avant-garde design using non-traditional materials.  There were some flexible metallic tube-things shown in the challenge, that I used in my design, along with some multicolored ropes.  And the wacky design on the right?  I wish I could remember what the specific challenge was that inspired me to come up with this outfit!  

 I don't recall what the weekly challenges were that inspired either of the two drawings below, either. Both incorporate metallics - a silky silvery dress on the left, and some coppery leather on the right. 

 There was a challenge that incorporated glow-in-the-dark products that would look totally different in daylight and in the dark.  It was hard to show do this in a drawing, but I came up with the two silly designs below.

There were a couple other weekly challenges that I don't have pictured in this post, but I'll close with the drawings from one week where the challenge involved creating two companion looks.  I can't remember the theme of the challenge, but here they are.

I never specifically desired to be a fashion designer, but I spent a lot of my childhood designing clothes for paper dolls and Barbie dolls, and I have been sewing my own personal inventions now and then for years.  So maybe I'll make myself one of the outfits on this post!