DUNEDIN, Fla. — Demeree Barth is making a crab bag in the sewing room of her Seminole home.
“I had never made a bag before, so this year, I thought it would be cool to try it,” explained Barth.
The fashion designer is gearing up for her seventh appearance at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center’s Marquis: Wearable Art event.
Wearable Art, before and after parties start on August 27 at 7 pm
It’s a forward-thinking fashion event: the clothes are unexpected, even extravagant!
And so are the materials, from animal bones to drying ducts.
“I like that it’s theatrical and colorful, and that you can go crazy. It doesn’t have to make sense,” she said. Kind of like the parameters of her other job, a primary school art teacher, teaching five to ten year olds.
“Yes, the best age!” Barth said. “They are so free and creative and cool, they have the craziest questions. Is awesome.”
She floats between these two worlds of endless possibilities and wonders.
And Barth creates a kind of post-apocalyptic punk rock outfit.
“It’s a combination of things,” Barth said. “Some are found objects,” he said, pointing to the shoulder of a dress, “this is a knee brace from the army surplus store.”
Barth says she loves asymmetrical, deconstructed looks. He belongs to a wearable art collective: his theme this year is “Ocean Oddities”.
So it makes sense that her barnacle-encrusted dress called for a crustacean accessory.
Barth actually has a showroom for “artfit” accessories, as she calls them.
And he wears fashion well; in fact, she models his own creations.
“For my 40th birthday, we were invited to the New York Fashion Week show,” said Barth of the collective.
But before New York, he walked in the Dunedin Fine Arts Center.
Floating between two worlds: A modeling designer feels this unique and immediate audience reaction to her work.
“I was so happy that they liked the outfits and that they wanted to take a closer look at my artwork,” she explained. “The biggest compliment for any artist is that they want to come and interact and be a part of it.”
Source: www.baynews9.com