July282009

chat

The Bewakeful Interview

  • Tique: what were your thoughts when asked to be interviewed?
  • Mia Rae: Honored, excited & then I probably bit my lip to the side
  • Tique: what does a typical day entail for you?
  • Mia Rae: I have made it a pledge every morning to lay down on the ground and look up at the sky with a greeting in my eyes. I had to do this to slow myself down before I started zipping off for the day in "go" mode. A typical day is sewing, My dog, making a mess, baking, My dog, sewing, fiddling with plants, lil bike rides, making a mess, sewing & then rubbing my feet & stopping around 10pm.
  • Tique: What well of inspiration do you draw from?
  • Mia Rae: Time travel, Meditation, Mildly Cold Showers, Rooftops & probably simply being Bipolar.
  • I’m prone to thinking a lot about death and doomsday; My way out I think is creating a future apparel that feels free. I often gaze out from my roof looking out onto the cars where folks appear so gloomy. I imagine the world car-less dancing in a musical about surviving & loving the simple life. Of course they are dressed in "BeWakeful" from head to toe...
  • Tique: if you were to travel to a foreign land, describe how you would feel seeing your creation on a perfect stranger--and so far from home?
  • Mia Rae: C0nnected & Alive ; much like a cold dip in the ocean
  • Tique: Is the world that you create within your items similar to the world you would like to reside in physically, or rather are they one and the same for you?
  • Mia Rae: Yes & No ; There are many other parts just as diverse as this world that I’m not able to tap my creative side into just yet. This side is less colorful but just as real…. If not more.
  • Tique: if you had a chance to remake a film with you as its costume designer, what would it be?
  • Mia Rae: Peter pan 1924, the Never Ending Story & Barbarella
  • Tique: Are there any monumental figures (personal or world figures ) who have moved you?
  • Mia Rae: Peter pan, Eugine Fields, David Bowie, Dr. Who, Virgina Wolf & Soul Singer Betty Davis
  • Tique: what was life like for you as a young girl? -any other creative sorts in the family line?
  • Mia Rae: My family’s sorta like a bunch of brunette Martha Stewart's on acid. The shadows that rolled across my bedroom windows were from clay coiled life size monsters. During the day I’d balance on my head against the wall in front of my grandmother's sewing room & stared at the wall of buttons & bing a ma bobs. As soon as no one was looking, I’d sneak to the sewing machine & mischievously played . Walls of fabric to drape & safety pin into dresses & tents, mom’s & aunt to smash my hands in the clay with, & one cousin to copy cat the latest 80’s fashions (pumpkinhaus.etsy.com).
  • Tique: Your grandmother was a seamstress. do you feel had you not been exposed to the environment of fabrica you would not be a daughter of fashion today/ or do you feel as though regardless you are genetically predisposed to your creative surges?
  • Mia Rae: My grandmother was a seamstress true but; The rest were painters, sculptors, avant fashion addicts & one shrink. I think I was destined to the arts however I might have sculpted fabric or been more of an installation artist.
  • Tique: I wanted to ask you about JoMary Frances Barker (Delia). can you tell me a little about her?
  • Mia Rae: JoMary is my friend's mother; I never actually had the chance to meet her but was always told I’d love her & she’d love me. Her interests & obsession with sewing was much the same. She passed away from cancer unexpectedly & was given a few weeks to live. We never had the chance to meet & yet we work side by side everyday. I think ½ of my materials are from the deceased; passed on to me.
  • Tique: i understand that certain organizations have your support. which ones and why?
  • Mia Rae: It all started when I was given a large donation of fabric (12 huge garbage bags FULL) from JoMary Frances Barker, a woman that had just passed of ovarian cancer. It was mine with the agreement that I would donate a percentage of my sales from the items to a cancer research foundation of my choice.
  • I chose the “ Avon Army of Women” in part because my mother is a supporter. It is headed by a woman surgeon who discovered the link between hormone shots for menopause and cancer.
  • Endangered Species Protection; I have a strong pull to the world we are losing & I’d like to be as much apart of it as I can especially our wildlife. I’m a big dinosaur fan as well………..
  • American Cancer society ; This I chose because “Army of women” is obviously only women & I felt rather imbalanced not supporting the other side.
  • National Marine Life Center; I have a firm belief that many of the answers we seek be it past or future lay deep in the waters . We know more about space than the ocean floor! If I had been fostered out of my art whack happy family I think the marine biologist in me would have kicked in. The most calming place for me is the Atlantic. One of my secrets when I’m all wound up & can’t meditate is to watch 5 minutes of non narrated Marine life anywhere I can find online.
  • Tique: have you ever been dissatisfied with a creation?
  • Mia Rae: Yes in deed; Once a month something sours; I have a box of redo’s that are awaiting their day to shine.
  • Tique: Are you brewing any new creations you would like to give us a sneak peek of?
  • Mia Rae: I’m weave-eling a wild wind of idea’s right now for Bags, High wasted elastic topped jump suites & winter neck wear!!
  • Tique: you have chosen etsy as an avenue to present your items. what about etsy do you like?
  • Mia Rae: Etsy is a world of it’s own with millions of mystical and potent little fingers making & sharing like little elf's .
  • Tique: 3 colors in a scheme. which ones?
  • Mia Rae: Dirt Brown, cherry Red, Robyn Egg Blue
  • Tique: I’m going to sketch out a scenario. a woman walking through an outdoor market in Montreal. the air is fresh. the world is alive. she is dancing through a sea of voices. her hands are clasped together as she carries a clever tote round her wrist filled to the brim with her newly purchased goods-flowers included. can you dress my woman? give me a mental sketch of what she would be wearing stamped mia rae of course...
  • Mia Rae: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh……
  • she is a light little feather in her autumn layers;
  • High wasted dark dirt brown linen wide legged overhauls with a tuff of red lace along the bottom hem, 3 spaghetti straps make the suspenders on either side and cris cross the back.
  • * She wears a red low cut V-neck tank that tears down to the high waste line in tiny tiny small orange buttons looped across in yellow threads.
  • * She wears a small pocket watch around her neck on a extra long chain
  • * Her bangs are short & her hair has been fashioned into a loose high bun with a thin yellow ribbon
  • *Flat simple elf like shoes that are highly worn from troufeling through the mud.
  • *Her basket is magenta pink & orange with a red pleather handle ; full of blueberries with one small yellow flower stemming out.
  • Tique: there seems to be a surreal quality to your clothing that adds an unworldly dimension to everyday life. what is it about your clothing do you find original?
  • Mia Rae: Colorful, Sexy, Slouchy, Tom Boy, Future Girl, Dr. Who companion meets the care bears at a psych ward; not many folks have that brewing in their magic hat. I am keen to detail & color in the tiniest of places; I love stripes & the smallest amount goes along way.
  • Tique: what sort of emotive responses to you wish to evoke with your clothing?
  • Mia Rae: Carefree, sexy, time traveling versatile Barbie
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