To Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street...

My transformation this week was definitely a "make it up as you go" kind of process, which was only fitting as the entire idea was brought on by a series of perfect events.  While in New York, my sister and I talked a lot about what I wanted in my portfolio.  I knew it would have to include some creations that would show my personality.  And it was during this conversation that we turned down Mulberry Street.  I looked up and saw the street sign and it was like a vision I remembered a Dr. Seuss book I read when I was little To Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street.  It was the perfect vessel to show my child-like imagination: Dr. Seuss characters.  Still, I didn’t want to do straight from the movies Dr. Seuss characters, I wanted to put my own twist on them.  My sister and I threw around some ideas, but it was again a New York City inspiration that stuck.  With fashion week steadily approaching, it seemed like the perfect marriage of inspirations: Dr. Seuss and high fashion.

To prepare for this look I took a different approach from my usual formula. I couldn’t just watch a video or research a time period, so I had to piece together everything I wanted for this Dr. Seuss themed page. I decided to do three characters for this page, two different looks and two that are in a sense the same character.  This week I created a high fashion Thing 1 and Thing 2.  I started by looking at pictures of Thing 1 and Thing 2 and getting a sense of their over all colors: fluffy blue hair, white faces, and red jumpsuits. Then, I looked at picture of models on the runway.  The two things I noticed were faux hawks and feathers.  Marrying these ideas, I created a hair style for the Things that used blue feathers in a faux hawk to achieve a whimsical Dr. Seuss look.

How To:

To do the hair I started by pulling the front into a big poof, think Snooki when doing this part. Fix that in with booby pins and lots of hairspray (Gel if needed). Then start teasing the hair like crazy, I also find that if you curl the hair a little bit, it make it easier to tease. I then pulled back and pinned the side pieces of hair, combing the edges so they were sleek. Once all the hair is pinned back I started the messing part the feathers. I took a long blue boa and cut tiny pieces and started bobby pinning them into random places in the faux hawk. I finished off the hair with a little blue spray color and hairspray.

                                                                                                           For the make up I had to think a little differently. I knew I didn't want them to look exactly like Thing 1 and 2 with their big eyes and turned up noses, but I wanted to to be inspired by the colors and cartoon aspect. Instead of an all white face,  because let's face it, been there done that, and it was not fun. I decided to just do a paler face, common on the runways, then add white into the eyes and streaks of white on the face to give a more high fashion appeal. I also wanted blue in the eyes to match the hair. Finally, when I looked at Thing 1 and 2 I realized they had very dramatic cartoon eyelashes so I used a little trick to create that same look.

How To:

Start off by applying some skin colored or a shade lighter foundation, then set that with a skin colored loose powder. You are then going to apply a white eyeshadow extending up into the hair line and into the forehead. I then took a very electric blue and added that to the crease of the eyelid and extended out. Then, for the eyeliner I took a liquid liner and drew in 3 fake eyelashes and drew lines on the bottom lashes. So from far away it looks like she has big bold eyelashes that make the eyes pop. For blush I took the white again and put it where I would normally put the blush. To finish it off I took a red lipstick to match the lovely thing one and thing two jumpsuit. 

F

For the costumes I just did an Ed Hardy inspired cut up Thing 1 and 2 T-shirt that I made myself with some black legging. I wanted the T-shirt to be bigger so that it was more like a short dress and the cut up back reminded me of thought bubbles common in Dr. Seuss books. 

My idea for the pictures was to find a Mulberry St nearby to pose with the street sign and luckily, thanks to Google, I discovered there was one about 15 mins away from my house. Unfortunately, the weather was not in my favor the day of the transformation. So, I was unable to get the full affect I wanted.  I guess this means I have to do this again in a few weeks and track the weather a little better.  This was a really fun and creative transformation...And to think this all started on Mulberry Street.  

My cat Tiny really got inspired by the
transformation. 

Notes for this transformation:

1) Not everything always has to be just like the character.  Use color and textures to also show a character. 

2) watch the weather channel if you plan to take picture outside you won't be surprised when you wake up and it's raining haha! 

       

Next Weeks Hint: He had it coming...