Tuesday, September 30, 2014

DIY: A Keith Haring Inspired Pleather Ensemble

What I've got for y'all today is an ensemble brought to you by the exquisite fabric known as pleather. Which I have decided can only be pronounced as "plehh-thahh" in a deep and gravely Barry White voice, preferably followed by a "baby". As in, "I wanna wrap you in plehh-thahh, baby, plehh-thahhhhh." And just who doesn't want be draped from head-to-toe in leather fauxness with Barry White at their beck and call, hmmm? 

Little known fact: pleather actually comes from the rare and annoying creature known as Twilight Sparkle. Hence the smell of plastic and rainbows shot from unicorn anus. 

So I got this idea to draw all over my clothing from one of my fave artist blogs Alisa Burke. Y'all. I totally hate it when chics say the have a "girl crush" so, well, lemme just put it this way: I totes have the lady hots for Alisa. She's like a Super Crafty Genius. Sometimes, I visit her site and I'm all "GAH! She's done it AGAIN!" and commence shaking my fists at the heavens wondering why some folks be all touched with the crafty-gene and I ended up with hammerhead toes. HAMMERHEAD TOES, Y'ALL (and, to that freaky-deaky person who keeps messaging me about wanting to see more pictures of my feet, STOP. It's not gonna happen, 'kay?). Life just ain't fair, y'all.
As soon as I saw Alisa's jacket, the idea of doing the same with a Keith Haring theme popped into my head (along with "squirrel!" and "unicorn anus!" but that's pretty normal). I scoured the interwebs for super cheap plehh-thahhh (see, I told you, I can't say it any other way. Bet you won't be able to either after this post) and found that Forever21 had this circle skirt on the cheap. Not wanting to pay shipping costs, I decided to venture to the mall (anyone else abhor the mall? Gah, I feel like I'm stepping back into a 1990's time machine each time I enter one. Orange Julius, anyone?) and scooped one up.
I gotta tell ya, the last time I wore a plehh-thahh skirt it was my 11th birthday, I was in 6th grade and we were bringin' the house down at Chuck-e-Cheese. I tried my hardest to find a photo from the occasion but, alas, I think I may have taken one look at it, thought, "OMG, why am I wearing maroon pinstripe pleather?!" and tossed it. Sorry, y'all!

After my shopping fun at the mall, I popped over to the craft store and scooped up a coupla of Sharpie oil-based pens. I also picked up a couple of terrible fabric makers which sucked unicorn anus. Thusly, I don't recommend them. 
Once I got home, I did a quick search for Keith Haring/black and white and this is what popped up. I loved it so much (look at the scissor people, people!) I decided it would be the perfect inspiration. 
I began by sketching out my Haring-inspired designs in chalk but that proved to be too time-consuming and did a number on the tip of the Sharpie. Since Harings designs are pretty simple, I decided to just let it goooo and draw 'em with reckless abandon. 

Are y'all fans of Keith Haring? I feel like he was such a revolutionary artist not necessarily because of his style but because of the boundaries that his artwork removed. In the 1980's his graffiti artwork could be seen by anyone who happened by it, not just those "in the art world". He removed the mystic of the artist by working out in the open on grimy subway walls in his cartoonish hand. Not only that, but his artwork brought to light issues that were close to Haring's heart: AIDS awareness, sexuality, apartheid and war. Dude was Banksy before Banksy. Suddenly art became by the people and for the people, thanks to Keith Haring.
Once I was finished with the plehh-thahh skirt, I decided a biker jacket was needed to top it all off. Barry White insisted. 
Gotta tell ya, I've been wanting a vintage biker jacket for ages. However they cost exactly One Million Dollars and, despite my ginormous art teacherin' paycheck, I just ain't got that kinda dough. So a plehh-thahh biker from Forever21 it 'twas (dude. Do you know how awkward it is to shop in a place called Forever21 when you are really Forever 39?).
For this jacket, I really wanted to stress Harings more popular images like the people holding the heart, the barking dogs, the radiant baby and the cartoon face on the television. Other than that, I had seriously no plan at all, didn't draw in chalk or nuthin. I just went at it. 


And the result is pretty busy, I gotta say. However, I kinda dig that it doesn't match the skirt. I like that the skirt has more negative space so you can see the images better. By the way, do you even know how stinkin' hot head-to-toe plehh-thahh is?! And by "hot" I don't mean "hawt", I mean butt-sweat hot. You can thank me for the visual imagery in the comments.
Once the temps dip a pinch, I think this will be so much fun to wear. I'm thinkin' I will get a lotta mileage outta that jacket.
OMG, I just realized, I look like The Fonz!
Who has two thumbs and loves plehh-thahh?! Eeehhhhhh. This guy.
Oh, Fonz. You so cray.
And with that, one more artist-inspired ensemble in the books! 

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29 comments:

  1. twilight sparkle, keith haring, and the fonz! all in the same outfit, hell, in the same blog post?! i bow down to you ma lady;)

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  2. You are one cool artsy chic!!

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  3. I can't even put into words how much I love this skirt. LOVE.

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  4. I almost spit my chinese food all over the laptop laughing when you said," sucked unicorn anus" !!! I so needed that laugh today! I have the same love for Alisa Burke! The woman is a freaking creative inspiration genius! I want to play in her studio! Do you not love the moveable walls her husband made for the studio!? I want to paint my bedroom wall with giant flowers like she did! ( my husband is not quite on board with the idea... yet... :) and the Haring skirt you made, AMAZING!!! :)

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    1. Oh, spit up Chinese food, that is no bueno. I have an idea! Let's go stalk Alisa together! That's not at all creepy and weird...is it?!

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    2. Nah... not creepy and weird at all! :) ( lol ) ( I really do want to play in her studio though :)

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    3. I had to go look up the flower wall it sounded amazing (and totally is!) but what I found even more amazing. She is standing on WHITE SHEETS and painting with black. I can't buy white anything because even if I'm not painting paint will end up on it some how! She must be magic.

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  5. So my mini me is now saying Unicorn Anus!! I love it! Imagine a three year old saying that!

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    1. Haha! Love it...although I'm not sure you will after a couple of hours. And for that, I apologize ;)

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    2. I dont think that will ever get old!!! EVER!!

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  6. Just one word: love!!

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  7. Haha! A word about comment moderation and copying the captcha word- when I typed the comment above, I absolutely could not read the captcha. It was one big blur. So I figured I'd just type a couple of random letters, you blog would tell me I was wrong, and give me a new, and hopefully more legible, captcha. But that's not what happened. I simply typed two random letters, and *poof* my comment somehow appeared on your blog! How did that happen?

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    1. Phyl, you beat the system! You hacker, you! Thank you for your kind words :)

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  8. The system is beating me! Phyl, you have the magic touch! Cassie, you have confused my brain again. Just when I think I have a favorite outfit picked, you rock another one. The Fonz would be jealous!

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    1. Aw, thanks, Donna. Or, Eeeeehhhhhh, as The Fonz says ;)

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  9. Aaaaaeeeeyyyy! Whoa! Sit on it! You are a GENIUS! Keith Haring is so relevant today and good pleather never goes out of style. BTW who would want to be Forever 21? xoxo

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  10. So funny and you are so awesome! Thanks for the laugh :)

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  11. You are a riot! Great job on that outfit-love it! you could make it big in fashion design!

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  12. Ginny Guiffre10/01/2014

    Love, love, love it...all of it!!! The outfit is amazing and your prose is hilarious!!! Question: If a unicorn wears plehh-thahh, will it get anus-sweat hot or butt-sweat hot?

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  13. This one might be my favorite!! Are you taking orders? I love it!

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  14. Oh, c'mon. You're more like Pleather Tusca-nevah' in this. It's all kinds of awesome and Heyyyyyyy! And my wonderful 11-year-old calls it For-nevah' 21.

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  15. What if you are my version of Alisa Burke cause I'm totally fist shaking at that jacket? I have a leather jacket that I love and this would look so amazing... but my hubs bought the jacket for me while we were dating and it was $400 so I'm not so sure he'd be on board with that plan.

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  16. I love, love, love this. Could never pull it off but it looks like a lot of fun. Just mentioned you and Mr. E and linked to your blogs in one of my post over on Art on my Hands. Check it out and give me a shout out!!!

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  17. This just popped up on Pinterest... The outfit is fabulous !!!!

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  19. Anonymous1/19/2018

    I love this look! on a side note when you said "I also picked up a couple of terrible fabric makers which sucked unicorn anus." I had a good laugh at that.

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