Jay Plastronaut: On the Forefront of Avant-Garde

My closet has an very wide range of styles; I switch my style daily and sport styles such as: Dutch Minimalist, American Rocker, French Avant-Garde, American Grunge, British Teddy Boy, Contemporary, Neo-Goth, Scottish, and Russian. Although I often prefer to go out in what's comfortable (sweatpants, tank top, et cetra), dressing in the Avant-Garde mannerism is easy as pie.
Without further ado, here are some of the outfit and accessories I have made within the style:

First, I'll start with an outfit I'm particularly proud of. The look is comprised of: cropped leather jacket- Rick Owens, oversized T-shirt- Billy Reid, elongated long-sleeve shirt- Rick Owens, gloves- leggings cut to make fingerless gloves, cargo

Source: http://www.style.com/
slideshows/fashion-shows/
fall-2012-menswear/
rick-owens/collection/28

shorts- Levi's, leggings- Underarmor, black socks- Vans, shoes- Puma, wishbone necklace- Forever 21, magnetic horn gauge- made by yours truly from Sculpey, ceramic paint/varnish and neodymium magnets.

When I received the Rick Owens jacket, I was totally and utterly enthralled. It's a modification of one of the pieces seen in the Rick Owens Fall 2012 Menswear show (as seen in the above right

picture). The quality of the piece is utterly stunning. The leather is an thick calfskin that has been aged for quite a while (the age marks can be seen by the indentations) and the zippers are made of silver. Another testament to the quality of Rick Owens apparel is the tall long-sleeve T-shirt. From a distance, you can see the tattered raw ends of the shirt. This isn't the only gritty aspect of the piece as the fabric has been thoroughly aged as well. This is shown by the below left photo; the transparent quality also lends itself to a super soft touch.

Considering that the sleeves of the jacket are super slim and the silhouette is completely unique, you have to compensate for the exaggerated crop with a lengthened toro. I did this by layering two oversized shirts and tied them together. This made for an long slim torso.

Had to have a
PG moment :O

If you imagine a high-crop tight fitting jacket with a large baggy shirt underneath, it isn't quite flattering (I would provide an example but I'd feel a bit self-conscious, haha!).
And finally, the accessories. Since the outfit is within shades of black, I wanted to add some contrast and bring out the shine of the silver hardware. So, I went with a silver-tone necklace; I chose a simple pendant with a simple design to tone down the outfit a tiny bit. I also thought that a wishbone would go with the dark appeal.

To further blacken the aesthetic, I pulled out my magnetic gauge. Oh by the way, if you want to read further into the earpiece you can go to my 'Aesthetics' post and follow a link on how to make them! My philosophy on the way I dress is: I do it for myself, to express my creativity and to make myself feel confident. Despite this, I was a little unsure when I was walking around and heard a couple of gasps from people passing by, whoops!

Considering the scarcity of avant-garde apparel in mainstream retail, there's been many times where I've had to make my own pieces.

The "knuckle duster" to the above left is a modification of a chain wrapped bracelet (which I bought from Hot Topic). I was partially inspired by Alexander McQueen's 'Knuckle Duster' ring (seen below to the right). The ring got it's debut in the Fall 2009 trunk show. As someone who thoroughly enjoys Punk Rock and a smidgen of British Anarchism, this immediately appealed to me.

Source: http://marisworld.co.uk/
index.php/2010/12/09/
alexander-
mcqueens-knuckleduster/

But getting back on topic! To get the feathers into the chains required some thought; feather stems are rather fragile and I needed to find a way to strength them and fit them into the chain openings. I scrounged through my crafts box and finally found what I needed, head pins (see the picture below to the left). To strengthen the feathers, I poked a hole into the feathers stems with a needle and put the

Source: http://www.
gossamerwingsdesigns.
com/Jump-Rings-
Chain-Maille-20-
Findings-4.htm

head pin in the hole. Finally, I had feather sticks (so to say) and all I needed to do was stick them into the bracelet. And voila! It can be worn as a typical bracelet around the wrist but I prefer to wear it around my hand.

My friend Josh commissioned me to make an earpiece for him. He said he wanted something flashy but a little Punk-y. Luckily, I had some safety pins left over from one of my projects and armature wire from the hat I made (to see the oversized fur hat go to my 'Carpet Baggers' post). I fitted the wire to my friends ear and I made sure it would sit properly, considering that the wire would become heavy with embellishments I didn't have to worry too much about it falling off. The next step was

preparing the embellishments before I super glued them on to the frame. You can see this better in the picture to the left, but the top is made of white safety pins, the middle of silver and the bottom of black pins. After I made this dégradé pattern, I put beads in the safety pins and closed them. And finally, I covered the back of the piece with torn up aluminum to give some extra shine.

So, this is just a taste of what I enjoy doing with styling. And I'll end this post with some more pictures in the style.