NYC Zombie Crawl and Sexy Horror Burlesque

Nothing says Memorial Day Weekend like being drenched in fake blood...

This Sunday, those with a fondness for brains, booze and gore (those undead and their groupies) can join their soul(less) mates at the Sixth Annual NYC Zombie Crawl.  The corpse crowd starts terrorizing at 3:30 PM.  Get the full route details at nyczombiecrawl.com.

At 6 pm, dead partiers can start Brooklyn's Trash Bar and continue onto Public assembly.  Get your bones on with Rigor Mortis Revue's Hot Zombie Competition or sexy Horror Burlesque show or play a preview Resident Evil 6 video game...


photo by Nate Igor Smith

Design School Goth

NYC's top fashion design programs celebrated their graduates in the last few weeks.  While they all displayed a wonderful range of style and skill, the darker, edgier looks were the ones that caught my eye...

The looks from the Fashion Institute of Technology:

From Parsons School of Design:

 From Pratt Institute:

Steampunk World's Fair - New Jersey

Yay, I can't wait for this one...A glamorous, shining World's Fair of Steampunk happening next month.  It is a festival of music, dance, crafts, art, literature and fashion with Victorian aesthetics and futuristic technology.  

If you like to play dress-up, guests are welcome to show up in any kind of period garb, (accurate or not) whether its Victorian, Renaissance or otherworldly... Shop from vendors, be dazzled by magic or compete in contests.

Date: May 18-20th 2012

 Location: Piscataway, NJ (21 King's Bridge Road)

 Website: http://steampunkworldsfair.com/

See you there!

Judy Clark - Scottish Steampunk

I discovered Judy R. Clark at the Scottish Re:Designed fashion presentation last night.  Her work was meticulously detailed, constructed and romantic.  True to her Scottish roots, she made creative use of bespoke Harris Tweeds and is a multiple design award winner.  One of  her most famous gowns is a Steampunk-inspired gown for Ford motor cars made from their car parts.

Isn't it time to have a Highlands fling?

Norisol Ferrari - Bespoke Punk Goth

I met my new fashion heroine last week.  Her name is Norisol Ferrari.  She is a strong, Amazonian woman who makes no excuses for her super luxurious sable coats and makes no compromises in her quality and fit. She is often compared to Alexander McQueen, which she does not agree with, except to say they both are inspired by mens' tailoring and military uniforms.  Instead, she cites more historical references like Dior's New Look that she finds to be a muse, except she updates it with modern materials and some edgier gang references.  

She has very strong opinions on how many designers try to infantilize women.  She builds clothes for a woman's shape with an almost warrior-like passion.  Norisol has images of Frida Kahlo and Louise Brooks on her office wall.  She has trinkets and carved skulls from her travels and a wall of taxidermy to show her darker influences.  Her collection for Fall 2012 was drawn from a classic Jean Harlow meets Tina Turner of Mad Max as her muse.

Norisol proudly produces her collection with trusted artisans in New York.  She refuses to sell out or tailor her label to anything less than what truly inspires her, regardless of cost.  In this day of outsourcing and penny counting, her fashion manifesto is a career to look up to.

Check out our exclusive interview by Mdivani Monroe:

Scream Queen Glamour of Christian Siriano

                      

Did you ever find classic horror heroines elegant and sexy?  Apparently designer Christian Siriano did.  For his darkest collection yet, the Project Runway winner paid homage to the divas of scare.

The prolific dressmaker sent elaborately detailed fishtail gowns, floating wings, ruched tulle, sequins and satin.  The palette had lots of sculptured black, dark blood red, with some ghostly white thrown in.  Hair was a severe pulled back ponytail and deep vamp lipstick.  Red carpet fantasies for those with a wicked sensibility.

 Yes, we may have seen a lot of fishtails at recent awards shows, but Mr. Siriano exaggerates the silhouette even more, with more fluid fabrics.  Draped shoulder details turn into wings when the model moves.  Instead of ruching as a trim, it is stacked upon stacked to built structure.

Congratulations Christian, you have achieved elegance for the post-Twilight generation!

Anti-Valentine's Guide: Sweetly Demented Chocolate

For romantics of taste from a sexier, darker sensibility, bland bonbons from Godiva will not do this Valentine's Day.  Whether you want to send a deviant message of lust or hate, do it with good quality chocolate, but in a more morbid form....

Sweetly Demented is an online chocolatier from the deranged hands of Sivonne.  With a background in sculpture, art and photography, she brought her artistic skills to the French Culinary institute for work in chocolate.

She claims to have "watched too much Tim Burton as a kid" and is inspired by the natural surroundings of her Pennsylvania home.  She hand-created candy molds from actual deer antlers,hawk skulls, clay sculptures or paintings.  Sweetly Demented creations use a mix of Peter's Chocolate, edible luster dusts, fine flavoring oils and toffee.

I had the privileged of receiving these confectionery masterpieces, and the shimmering, detailed chocolate looks terrific.  I love the dark humor of this collection, and who doesn't love chocolate?

If you're looking for a tongue-in-cheek (whether the ganache stuck it there or not), candy delivery, look no further than Sweetly Demented Boutique.