Saturday, April 30, 2011

SpyGirl Debrief of April Mission (fake journal)

SpyGirl 2010 was a fashion spy. I sketched what I wore and grabbed ephemera from the day to stick into a "confidential" envelope, spinning the day into a spy mission.
text: Training new recruits again "That'll be 50 flats, soldier"
My initial structure for SpyGirl 2011 was more open. She would be a fashion blogger and could wear whatever she wanted, including garments that didn't exist. I kept with the same illustration style because it worked so well the year before. I had a list of potential themes: internet inspired looks, "hommage à" (honoring idols), flashbacks (looks of Anne past), as well as recording my actual outfits.
Additionally, in my blog posts, I played with methods used by real fashion bloggers - such as:
taking pictures of myself in the outfits
street-style shots 
detailed notation of garments and sources (see any post after 4/11)
soliciting guest posts (not yet realized)

In the course of my activities, I became a fashion blogger too! I joined an online Fashion blog group - Independent Fashion Bloggers, discovered countless blogs to follow and had great fun.
Giving myself permission to illustrate "whatever" rekindled my joy in fashion designing, a joy lost during several years of design drudgery at jobs.

For fake journaling, I've found what works best for me is sticking fairly close to reality - SpyGirl is me, with benefits. My first fake journal in 2009 (a Leonard Cohen groupie) was too far off and too difficult to maintain. I'm curious to see what transpires in 2012, seeing that SpyGirl will remain an active fashion blogger.