Having designed a range of swimsuits and resortwear for women of shape and style, former film and television costume designer Helen Hooper needed a mannequin that had the curves and energy her customers do.
After looking at the stolid and lumpen plus-size mannequins commercially available, Helen decided to make her own. She's a fine arts graduate and had never worked three dimensions before, but decided that working with flat patterns for the garments had given her a new insight into shape and volume.
She started out with a torso-size block of high density foam and carved the shape of Betty. Fortuitously, her 76 year old landlord Ben Godwin, a former manufacturer of mannequins, offered to make a two piece mould from heavy duty fibreglass from which he cast the dummies. This simple and effective method has largely been abandoned in favour of automated CNC extrusion.
Helen then painted the cast mannequins with several shades of opalescent white and cream, and the Bettys have been finished with a subtle marbling that references classical sculpture, a time when a wealth of flesh and contour was cause for celebration.
For more celebration of womanly wealth in clothes and swimsuits, visit Helen's website at www.BettyDiamond.com.au
The increasingly genteel neighbourhood that overlooks Eveleigh and Chippendale between North Newtown and Redfern bears witness to criminal behaviour with that domestic cultural icon, the milk crate, more wreckless NSW government behaviour and the imminent arrival of the Seven GroupAt the Redfernish end of Wilson Street, between Eveleigh Markets and the Foundry on Eve Street, I spotted a fiendish stacking of crates that spells out STOLEN in a naive font. In a curiously empty and wire-fenced yard of the old government department type and against the wall of what may once have been a Housing Commission warren of mock terraces, the crates display their subversive, self-aware message. Suspicious in the otherwise abandoned yard are a few of those knotted wood sculptures seen in the living rooms of Daoists and up-country hippies; looks like art is afoot.
Further down the street stands a Victorian two-storey balconied NSW Railways building under the shade of broadleaf trees. Boarded up and well on the way to delapidation, it's a boutique developer's heritage dream. What's going on there Minister Keneally?
Beyond the ridge that Wilson Street rides upon lies an even bigger developer's dream, but one that's about to come true: Seven Group's new HQ at 8 Central Ave. The building will house the staffs of Channel 7, Pacific Magazines and, eventually, Text Pacific Publishing.
Real estate directive? Buy now!
I'm not sure if he's cloned himself or just doesn't sleep, but Marc Newson is one busy boy. The multi-talented designer has collaborated with Boucheron to create the Julia necklace inspired by the Julia Fractal. While it's not exactly something you'd wear on a construction site, the degree of craftsmanship and detail that has gone into the piece is spectacular.
The great Australian dream: owning your own home, knowing you have that sanctuary you can call all your own. 1 House=1000 Homes places an entirely new spin on this much ingrained Aussie ideal - for one Australian home, how many houses could be constructed in less developed regions?
The exhibition will showcase international proposals from seven international (Ghana, Philippines, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Namibia and Sri Lanka) non-government organisation groups on how their community would use the money raised from the sale of one Australian home.
1 House=1000 Homes will be showing at Carriageworks, Sydney, from 23 October.
The current issue's Commercial theme is consuming me with thoughts of spending, and I'm hoping that any day now, I'll be consumed with thoughts on the evils of consumerism. In the meantime, news of Marc Newson's new limited collection of menswear and womenswear for G-Star appeared in my inbox. I am not a huge Newson fan and I wouldn't have paid it much attention except that I saw an interview with the designer a few weeks ago on the ABC. It gave me a new-found appreciation for what he does, and although I think that some of the collection's jackets and tops resemble jockey's clothing, I can see why he is so popular. Newson does instantly satisfying very well, however I would love to see what a 'less experienced' designer would come up with given the challege - consumer spending aside.
Marc Newson's new limited collection is available at ASSIN (Sydney, Melbourne)
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