Happy Saturday!

I am so excited to share with you some photos from one of my twins’ – Rani’s first art exhibit that I attended yesterday at her school. Rani was chosen as one of the students to display her work at this coveted annual art exhibition and what a beautiful event this was with artwork from the most talented art students at her school.

Rani’s designs. Fashion as Art

Rani is a self taught seamstress and has been designing and sewing clothes since she was 8 years old! Over time she has developed a uniquely artistic perspective to her designs inspired by historical fashion and the world around her. 

As a Mom I love, love love seeing what pieces Rani is conjuring up and how it all comes together as a stunning piece of clothing.  Sometimes I even get the privilege of being asked for input!  Rani has over the years made easily over 100 pieces.  Her dresses, gowns, skirts, pants, and shirts all have a very unique feature running through them – they have an artistic flair.

Rani’s first Fashion Show 4 years ago -in Middle School.

Even as a Middle Schooler Rani hosted a fashion show with her fellow students and her cousins as models 😀.  To see those hand sewn dresses today worn by the young models is priceless!

Rani’s biggest fan – her twin sister Anjali 🥰

One of Rani’s biggest fans is her twin sister Anjali.  Depending on Rani’s mood, she has indulged Anjali’s requests over the years to make her a special dress for a school dance or a gown for an event or a costume for Halloween. 

Creating dresses with self designed fabrics

But now Rani has created pieces with fabrics that she herself designed! Meaning, she created patterns, had them made into fabrics and then used those fabrics to make her wearable art. 

Rani did this for all her art pieces and seeing what she created I was truly blown away by how far she has come! From the little girl who made dresses by hand to the fashion designer and artist she is today.  Here is a look at Rani’s first ever fashion art exhibition!

And now today Rani’s first Fashion Exhibit

Teen Rebellion in Music and Fashion of the 60’s

The theme of Rani’s exhibit was teen rebellion and fashion of the 60s. A really unique concept and so fun to see.

” As a cellist and a fashion designer, I was initially intrigued with how I could incorporate sheet music and lyrics into my own fashion designs. 

Music, to me, is an emotional outlet, often used to express feelings of frustration, love, sadness, or happiness. This can be seen through Selena Gomez singing about her breakup with Justin Beiber or the Beatles singing about a lost love. When I looked at my own surroundings, I found that the theme of using music to release pent up emotions is most stereotypically seen in teenagers, always wearing air pods or blasting music in their rooms, and these observations ultimately lead to the guiding question: How does music display frustration in teens, and how does that connect to fashion?

After doing some research, I decided to focus my sustained investigation on how music and fashion are used to display teen rebellion.

I wanted to find a decade that had distinct rebellious features in both areas, and the 60’s particularly stood out to me, as it produced outspoken artists such as the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.  These artists expressed feelings of frustration in regards to politics as well as feelings of rebellion amongst teens.

The 60s was also rebellious in terms of its clothing, with mod fashion and Mary Quant’s mini skirts taking the fashion scene by storm, both of which were revealing and used to declare independence.”  Rani

Rani’s work-in-progress sketch book

Rani’s original fabric designs

The 60s inspired dress

This black fabric has lyrics from a song by the Rolling Stones.

The final dress!

The Bustier

This was a beautiful piece of art! The paper Rani used had her original patterns that she had transferred onto paper.

Everyone wanted to know how did she make it so stiff and upright?  Entirely made by paper and glue – no wires here!!

A look at the work-in-progress.

The Gown

A beautiful gown designed with original fabric by Rani.

The orangey gold fabric used in this gown is from Madrid!

The orangey gold fabric used in this gown is from Madrid, Spain from a recent holiday we went on last summer.  We stumbled upon a fabric store while exploring the city and Rani bought fabric as her souvenir 😀.

Alternate design using the checkered fabric

Rani’s Art Teacher 😘

Rani’s friends are her biggest fans 😀

A look at the works of other talented student artists

Can’t wait to see where Rani’s talents will take her in the future!

Fashion as Art by Rani. Teen Rebellion in Music and Fashion of the 60’s

Wishing you all a stupendous Saturday!