A Worldly Wardrobe: Beautiful Vintage Maps As Dresses and Shirts By Elisabeth Lecourt

above: “Coquille de Noix et Allumette”, Bird Eye View of San Francisco rep. 1846, Signed and sealed E.L. Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012, 841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request

London artist Elisabeth Lecourt's Les robes géographiques is a series of sweet dresses and a few buttoned-down shirts that use actual vintage paper maps from all over the world in lieu of textiles.



Made for displaying rather than wearing (the paper fashions are in plexiglass boxes), several of the stunning pieces are available for purchase at the Stephanie Breitbard Fine Arts Gallery.

“Coiffure Playmobil et Bouton Fleur”, Le panoramic map of New York City rep.1851
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“Dans les Nuages, les Cigognes”, Los angeles panoramic sightseeing map, rep. 1932
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012, 841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“La Barque des Giraffes”, map of New York from the Battery rep. 1892
Signed and sealed E.L. Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“Jerusalem Artichaud et Topinambour”, Jerusalem City Map, Historic Holy Land, rep. 1660
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“Le Trésor des Corsaires Coquillages”, Known world map of the world, rep. 1565
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“La Bulle de Savon Multicolore”, USA Railroad map Atchison, rep. 1888
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“La Chasse aux Papillons”, map of Cambridge
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2011
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“La Mongolfière Sac de Sable”, Balloon map of London rep. 1831
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“L’Aventure Peter Pan”, Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, Cartagena Columbia map rep. 1585
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“Le Chateau Mandarine”, map of the world
Signed and sealed E.L. Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request :


“Le Far West ZigZag”, Bacon’s Shilling War map
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“Le Petit Canard Danceuse Ballerine”, Balloon map of London rep. 1831
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2011
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“Le Poisson d’Argent Volant”, Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, Santo Domingo map, rep. 1585
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“Le Tableau Noir et la Cloche”, panoramic map of New York City rep.1851
Signed and sealed E.L. Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request :


“Le Trèfle à 4 Feuilles et le Lutin Blanc”, Dublin Ireland, Historic City Plan map, rep. 1797
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“Le Voyage dans les Entrailles”, Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, Atlantic Ocean map, rep. 1585
Signed and sealed E.L. Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request :


“L’Étoile et la Souris Dent de Lait”, map of Connectucut, Long Island & Manhattan rep. 1777
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“Pierre Verte, Rubis Rouge”, Voyage of Sir Francis Drake Saint, Augustine map rep. 1585
Signed and sealed E.L. Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request :


“Pop Corn Edelweiss Pop”, Rivers and mountains of the world, rep. 1849 with gold leaves
Signed and sealed E.L Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:


“Caramel Elastique Chewing Gum”, New York Central and Hudson River rep.1876 Railroad map
Signed and sealed E.L. Elisabeth Lecourt, 2012
841 x 594 x 30 mm, price on request:

images courtesy of the artist

Several more of Elisabeth's paper map fashions can be found, and purchased if available,  here.

Photographer Christian Tagliavini And His Unique Paper, Plywood and Cardboard Dressed Portraits.

Recently, artist and photographer Christian Tagliavini completed a stunning series, 'Cartes', an artful take on playing cards using models clad in his paper fashions and decorative accessories.


above: Christian crafts the hat for the "Carte" shown below


Seeing those here on Huffington Post, inspired me to take a look at more of his work. As a result, I want to share with you two other series of his, Dames di Cartone (Cardboard Women) and 1503, both of which are formally photographed portraits of models clad in artful representations of historical fashions crafted out of cardboard, paper and plywood.

Dames di Cartone (Cardboard Women)
His series, Dames di Cartone, consists of two dimensionally outfitted portraits that emulate Cubistic, 17th century,and Fifties fashions. Using corrugated, cut and colored cardboard and plywood, the craftsmanship applied to live models makes for an interesting series.

#1, Dame di Cartone, Cubism I:


#2, Dame di Cartone, Cubism II:


#3, Dame di Cartone, Cubism III:


#4, Dame di Cartone, 17th Century I:


#5, Dame di Cartone, 17th Century II:


#6, Dame di Cartone, 17th Century III:


#7, Dame di Cartone, Fifties I:


#8, Dame di Cartone, Fifties II:


#9, Dame di Cartone, Fifties III:


1503
Similar creations of his can be found in his 1503 series. These represent 16th century fashions and combine textiles with paper and cardboard for a unique look. Several of these photographs have been featured on the cover of many photography and arts magazine worldwide.

#1 1503, Lucrezia:


#2 1503, Donna Clotilde:


#3 1503, Bartolomeo:


#4 1503, Ritratto di giovane donna:


#5 1503, Ritratto di signora in verde:


#6 1503, Ritratto d'uomo:


#7 1503, Artemisia:


#8 1503, Cecilia:


#9 1503, Ritratto di giovane uomo con cappello piumato:


Born in 1971, Christian Tagliavini was educated in Italy and Switzerland, where he lives and works as a photographer. This provides him the perfect frame and background to invent, create and totally produce images that blend fine arts and craftsmanship.


above photo of Christian Tagliavni by Paola Bergamaschi (courtesy of his Facebook page)

Christian Tagliavini

Hilfiger Fashions Become Model Kit Pieces In This Window Display by Fabio Novembre

Italian designer Fabio Novembre has created a unique window installation in Rome's La Rinascente for designer Tommy Hilfiger's Fall Winter 2013 collection.




Titled “I Have a Lifestyle” the installation is Novembre’s creative interpretation of a man’s wardrobe in the form of those model kits whose pieces are connected prior to assembling, incorporating pieces from the Tommy Hilfiger Men's 2013 Winter Collection. Each piece is coated with navy blue nitro and acrylic paint and affixed to metal tubing.




“There are no assembly instructions for our personality. We build our model kit day by day, listening to good advices and following sweet dreams” said Fabio Novembre.

The window display went up mid-September and will come down on October 14th.

images courtesy of Fabio Novembre and photographed by  © Pasquale Formisano