This was a great show.
Before I begin, I must apologize to all the Steampunk purists out there, because this does not faithfully represent the ‘traditional’ image of Steampunk.
…but I can explain:
Due to a faulty mechanism, our time machine suffered several tremendous malfunctions, and our journey became threaded between multiple time portals.
The results were not at all glamorous.
At some point in the future, a great war between man and machine breaks out. We arrived at a time after the great war had finally ended.
Something happened during the battle. Both man and machine were fused together. Still enemies, but now coexisting as one. Learning how to cope with each other, while surviving on what little remains there were after the war.
Our involuntary journey brought us here, to witness the painful struggle of a new beginning.
We brought some of it back with us on March 23rd 2013.
This is Post Apocalyptic Steampunk.
Memphis with the Crime of Fashion runway models.
Memphis “Jenny” (Crime of Fashion Hair and Makeup) was contacted by RAW Artists Seattle back in January, and invited to be a featured hair and makeup artist for Seattle RAW’s March show GENERATION.
“RAW:natural born artists” is an independent arts organization, for artists, by artists. RAW operates in 54 cities across the United States & Australia.
If you’re not familiar with RAW Artists, check out this link.
I came along with her for the orientation walkthrough meeting at Trinity Nightclub. This is where artists are given an overview of the venue, have a chance to ask questions, and choose their display locations.
A few surprises…
During the walkthrough, Memphis picked a nice central spot for her display, near the runway. A week later we went back for a second walkthrough, to take measurements and plan the display layout.
Only then did we discover that more artists were added during the week, and Memphis got moved over to a corner spot. This spot looked adequate at first, but when we learned that the band would overlap her area considerably, it was a different story
The show must go on…
Even though it seemed we wouldn’t have much space, we planned to do the most we could with what we had to work with.
Meanwhile, there were many accessories to make for the runway show.
Business cards arrived (recognize some of the pictures?), along with T-shirts, and lanyards. We made up Fashion Scene Investigator badges for the crew.
No fashion crime scene is complete without the bloodstained murder tapestry!
(Yes, we’ve got blood stains on our floor now.)
The song she chose for the runway was “Station Seven” by Downlink. It was eerie and creepy enough to set the mood for human-machine amalgamation.
The display booth was great. In addition to the banner and the large print at the top, we had several 16×24″ prints. Even though Haley constantly rotated the lower 5 gallery pictures, we still had more prints that didn’t make it out on display.
More surprises.
Getting models to volunteer for this was hit and miss. Several bailed out, and Memphis was beginning to get bummed. It wasn’t until the last minute that Jenifer, Angel, Jason, Hailey, Brayden, and Melinda committed and came through.
Her hair assistant bailed, but we were still able to count on Haley to help out with the display, while Memphis was busy preparing 6 models all by herself.
There was a mistake, and they didn’t have Crime of Fashion on the runway list, so she was asked if she could go last, which ended up working best. She ended the show with a bang!
Not only that, but some of the other artists scheduled for March weren’t able to make it, so Memphis got her chosen spot after all!
Here’s the video featuring my girl, Memphis (Jenny):
Even without any assistance, she pulled off hair and makeup for 6 models in 3 hours, doing everything herself. Lots of hard work, and I couldn’t be more proud of my girl!
There are so many more pictures, but you’ll have to go here to see them all:
Seattle RAW Artists – Generation
Why Steampunk? Because that’s where it all began, for us.
