Monday, November 1, 2010

The Paper Princess Bride

Each year as October comes closer and closer to its end we find ourselves taking sides. Love it or Hate it. The haters normally do things like, disappear when the convo turns to costumes or plan an apple picking trip to the mountains for the last weekend of October (that's for you, Tim and Raylene). But you'll find me on the Love side, mainly because, the word Halloween is synonymous with Creativity for me (oh yes, and you get to act like a fool in public for one night and no one seems to care.) Every year it comes down to the decision of the costume? Basically I feel like missing the opportunity to get crazy with creativity would be a disservice to my title of "designer."

In college my cousin, Bianca and I dressed up as Baby Dolls in an old dance costume, pigtails and all at a Florida State football game. We thought we were safe from lewd comments in our modest costumes but made a big mistake by carrying around giant lollipops. Another year my other cousin, Angie, and I were insects, not creepy insects but gloriously beautiful insects. We worked all night before a party to create our glittered, glamorous creations. And proudly fluttered around all night as a lady bug and butterfly. And other years, I have been everything from a rap star's girlfriend, to a flapper girl (with an authentic 20s hat), to Jessica Simpson (blonde wig, camo hat and a "Real Girls Eat Meat" T), to a white trash bride (pregnant belly, hill-billy teeth, fake cigarette and all).

This year I focused less of my energy on "getting into character" and more on "getting into costume." The seed of an idea popped in my head early on. I had been messing around with alternate ways of creating things using paper in my graduate design thesis (where I created paper dresses for a fashion and identity exhibit, you can check it out here and here) and in a wedding invitation (where I deconstructed an atlas and used each page as a pocket folio to hold invite components, you can check it out here). Then I saw Kirk Smith's creations in this year's 2010 Art to Wear Fashion Show and I have been dying to make an actual, wearable dress out of paper, much like his creation using Jimmy John's wrappers (check it out here).

First I needed to come up with a theme. I knew I wanted it to be a book and thought about using romance novels, Stephen King's Carrie, or Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind before I settled on William Goldman's The Princess Bride. I set out for supplies a few days before Halloween and two books, mounds of adhesive, a bit of clear wire, an elastic band, multiple strips of velcro, return trips to Michaels and Barnes and Noble, plus some stitching later I was wearing my creation by party time on Saturday night.

Below you will find a rare instance of me in FRONT of the camera. Ugh. I never know what to do with myself when I am looking back at the lens. Thanks, Kelly Lynn Bailey, for being such a great photographer!



photos by Kelly L. Bailey

CREDITS:
The Princess Bride book / Barnes and Noble
Tiara / Party City
Bling / Target
All construction supplies (adhesive, elastic, clear wire, hole punch, sewing machine, thread, velcro) / Michaels

8 comments:

Laura Andrews November 1, 2010 at 6:52 PM  

Carrie, you made that dress? That is so amazing:) I love it!

Raylene November 1, 2010 at 6:58 PM  

WOW! That is just incredible! If I were as creative as you, I wouldn't have to plan a weekend picking apples :)

Kortney Harris November 1, 2010 at 7:16 PM  

Caroline Louise Maxcy Prietz! You NEVER cease to AMAZE me! I can't believe you made this?!?! I feel like this is something I'd see on Project Runway...maybe you want to start designing clothes...just sayin'!

Liese Zahabi November 2, 2010 at 1:12 PM  

<3<3<3

Samantha November 2, 2010 at 7:00 PM  

You are a breath of inspiration girl!! Amazing and beautiful!!! You could sell this thing for real. You may have something going here!!! I mean you could do all kinds of outfits that fit the moods for novels.....$$$$$ cha-ching!

Anonymous November 6, 2010 at 12:36 PM  

You always make me so happy. Love it and love you.

Hunter Marina Stolworthy March 11, 2011 at 8:34 AM  

I want that!

cristmae July 8, 2012 at 2:11 AM  

Wow!very nice.I've seen a paper dress once before but this is the best.Very artistic and creative.Thank you for sharing.Inkjet Paper

About Caroline

I decided my destiny was to be an artist at age five when I won an honorable mention in a art competition in kindergarten. Ever since then I have been following a dream that has manifested itself in a variety of rewarding and delightful ways. I have practiced in the field of graphic design for over 8 years and recently acquired my Masters in Graphic Design at NC State University in Raleigh, NC (check out my design portfolio by clicking here if you like). But a passion that has stuck with me ever since I got my hands on my first Nikon camera in my undergraduate art education at Florida State University is photography. The instruction I received there was but a seed in what would develop over the next years of my life. Recently I have begun photographing people in their celebrations of life and could not feel any more blessed to be a part of capturing those memories.

About This Blog

A great american writer once wrote, "If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world, and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan my day." EB White penned the thoughts of my own heart. One part of me is a graphic designer working to challenge the world, seeking out problems and striving to create avenues for change. The other part is seeking out the beauties of the world and working to capture them in our memories forever through photography. This is what you will find here. Me enjoying the world. I have been truly fortunate to photograph such incredible people at truly beautiful moments in life. I can only hope that the images I've collected will forever keep alive those thoughts and emotions that swelled in their hearts and minds that day.

If you are interested in having me capture your life moments you can contact me by clicking here.

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