The Art of Fashion

I’m an artist, fashion accessories designer, picture framer, and all-around craftsperson.  I started out as an artist, which I had planned to be since I was a small child.  For the last 18 years or so I have been mainly painting portraits of unusual fashion models, friends, and eccentric café and night club patrons.  Along the way I played around a bit with collage art, using many found objects (mostly glass and metal) and incorporating them into drawings and torn magazine images.  As a teenager I used to make my own clothing and jewelry from stuff I found in thrift stores.  Somehow that came back to me one day, sick to death of my boring picture-framing career, and my stagnating artistic life.  So in 2004 I quit my job cold, and I started making jewelry and accessories again.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much, that it has become my life, my passion, and my full-time business.

I’ve also undertaken sewing corsets for myself (the old-fashioned, steel-boned, figure-cinching kind) which is an extension of my love for historial fashion.  Art of Adornment is the name of my company/store, where I display and sell the vintage-inspired jewelry, hats, handbags, and other oddities that I make.

Currently I have at least 5 blogs (can’t remember actually), although I read and update only 2 of them these days.  I’m a pretty busy person and fall behind on them a lot, so it’s unlikely this one will get much attention.  Seek me out on LiveJournal instead: artofadornment (public blog: updates on my store, showing off new creations, etc.) or valerian (personal tripe, friends-only - I don’t add people very often), or on MySpace.  I’m here on Friendster more to ‘network’ than to make strong friendships - I’m afraid you won’t get much personal content out of me here.  If you’d really like to learn more about what makes me tick, please visit my personal site.

~ Valerian (Elaine)