Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Barbie goes to Paris

I guess the e-newsletter I sent out on Sunday was a bit confusing… let me clarify: I am not going to Paris for Fashion Week, just the Barbie that I designed jewelry for will be making the trip. Sorry for the confusion.

Despite a lot of last minute scrambling, I finished her jewelry and shipped her off this afternoon! This is the necklace design I was perfectly content with up until about 20 minutes before I was to send her on her way…

However, I decided I liked one of my other configurations better after all, so this is what I ended up sending them instead:

By flipping up the hands in the back, the necklace has more collar-like dimension, which I think makes it more sculptural and interesting.

The cool thing is, the necklace can really be worn several ways, it's just a matter of adjusting the hands and the way they're situated on the neckwire.

She had to have some fabulous sterling silver heels as well (*these were cast)…

I also made her a ring to match the nipple-esque end caps used in the necklace:


I'm pleased with how she turned out. This project was a lot of fun, and it makes me want to play around and make more jewelry for Barbie. A friend of mine wisely suggested that I actually make the jewelry wearable when off of the doll, so that it can be worn on the (human) body as well which I thought was a great idea! Like a "hers and mine" set. I might just have to make a series of those. I've been trying to think about ways to "display" some of my pieces when not being worn anyway, and that might be an interesting solution. When not wearing the jewelry on your body, Barbie wears it on hers. ahh the layers…

So, which design do you prefer and why?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

gasp. those heels are to die for. i love that you made heels!! how completely unexpected! i am also wowed that barbie has a ring to match the beautiful customizable collar. every piece is so thoughtful.

Margaux Lange said...

Thanks annie!! Glad you liked it all! I forgot to mention the heels were actually cast… must go back an add that to the post now! :-)

Lauren Braun said...

loving the turned up necklace collar- it goes along with that 60's big eyelashes all black beatnik thing Barbie has going on! I too love the shoes-- killer heels!

Anonymous said...

oh I bet you wish that you could be there to hear the comments that THAT piece is going to get! I love it, ESPECIALLY the second one and the idea of making them wearable by life size barbies is BRILLIANT I can just see a line up on thighs "ah la follies" kinda thing! you go girl!

Unknown said...

Oh how I love your work. I think Barbie looks better with the back up as a collar. Nice move!
I must say my right brain kicked in and I thought, Barbie wearing Barbie parts, as jewelry! Isn't that kind of like feeding cow's, cow parts.
And then thought, NO CAUSE SHE'S A DOLL, PEOPLE!
Ok, continue with your awesome work Margaux! I,m thinking you will be in the top 3 favorites at the show
if not number 1!
Love your blog,
Patty

Anonymous said...

omg, i sooo love your work and everytime they post something about you on craftzine.com i run over here to see, but i am only just this very minute realizing that your in Brooklyn too!! i love it! i also have a preference for the turned up collar, it gives Babs a needed edge! and can i commission a pair of those great shoes for one of my dolls? bksneakerhead@aol.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Margaux. I agree with your decision to use the more complex collar. I appreciate both minimalism and complexity, so simple is good with me, but I think the second design took a good idea and gave it one more tweak. Pushing for that extra bit is often very satisfying: for example, don't just paint the edges of a piece, paint them a bold red and see how it charges things up a bit.

On the topic of your blog, I stumbled across you when you were just about to move to your studio. I really admire how you've kept up interesting entries, and you've made such a splash. How do you find out about all the international magazine coverage?

If I'm remembering correctly, you had to deal with a bunch of "Ew, weird" comments when you went to a show a few months ago. And here you are! Congratulations. My husband keeps encouraging me to write down some of the things people say because, as long as you can avoid taking them in as hurtful, they're pretty funny. (Dropping off work for a student show, I chatted with the director of the gallery. My pieces had been mislabeled, and he said, "I THOUGHT that looked like beginning work!" Then the school bought the pieces for their permanent collection!)

Anyway, congratulations on keeping on and making really interesting work.

Karin

Sherry said...

I come to your blog to be inspired and to get myself kicked back into gear, and down into the studio. As usual, fantastic work! I like the flipped up version a little more, but both are fabulous. Congrats!