Artist Notes

I am frequently asked about the process I use to create/design my  silk wearable art pieces and the story behind each one. I'll deconstruct  March at Tacloban as an example of how I work.

In  this case the story came first . . . My grandfather's survival of the  Bataan Death March in 1942 and my annual participation in the Bataan  Memorial Death March at White Sands, NM. Every year, I look for ways to  connect with my grandfather and the other men even though it has been  over 75 years. At the March in 2017, I marveled at the yellow wild  flowers that, due to the rain that winter, were everywhere; I've never  seen them before or since.

For this piece, I began with a vintage postcard from the Philippines that I found.

Every year, I see different sights on my 26.2 mile journey and photograph them.

I doubt the original marchers saw, or if they did had any interest  in, the surrounding landscape. From original images I have seen, the  road was dusty and frequently barren of foliage.

Using Photoshop, I  collaged the two images. The resulting piece overlays my experience of  the landscape at White Sands with the resiliency of the men who marched  in the original Death March and survived.

This go 'round I'd like to examine the idea of multiple uses for a piece  of art. In my case, for example, can it hang on the wall and be worn  (not at the same time, obviously)?

Is Reflections II art or fashion or both? In the top photo, the 36x36  inch silk has been sewn loosely, in a sculptural fashion, to a canvas.  Art, right? In the lower image, the silk has been photographed to show a  way in which to wear the piece. Fashion, right?

Ultimately, of  course, it's up to you. But, the idea of wearable art is one that  intrigues me, given the fact that both these pieces are mine and to me  equally beautiful.

Do you look at the object differently, depending on its form? Each of  my images tells a story; perhaps better understood hanging? But wearing  it, brings the story along with you to share.

I'd love to hear  your thoughts, not only on "Is it art or fashion?", but how you may have  multi-purposed art you've either purchased or created.

Janice, creator of The Vivienne Files, is a tiny, sprightly, fey woman, who appeared in my life on a deep  freeze of a day, at my first outdoor show. She introduced herself and  started rifling through my inventory. Within 5 minutes, she had pulled  out a scarf, Joss Sticks from A Daughter Returns series and  said, “I’m highlighting this scarf in my blog on Monday. Please send me  the image file.” The rest, well, is history.

ImageDiary: Janice, I met you in May 2015; how long had The Vivienne Files been in existence at that point?

Janice Riggs: The very first post on The Vivienne Files was on April 17th, 2011. I have, to date, written 1,953 posts…. (Holy Handbags, that’s a LOT of content…)

ID: Can you tell my readers (notice the plural) your impetus behind the blog?

JR:  Back at the dawn of the internet – literally – I was a member of a chat  group on Yahoo called “Je Ne Sais Quoi.” It’s that special “something”  that you can’t put your finger on, but which distinguishes the French  woman from all others. The group was a bunch of us who really love  France, and who availed of the chance to talk about it all the time…

At  the same time, I had a job which took me to Paris frequently. Like  every 3 months frequently! I often stayed at the same hotel, where I met  a staff member named… yep – Vivienne! 

She  and I discussed clothes and shopping and what distinguished an American  woman from a French woman – all the kinds of topics that fascinated the  members of JNSQ. So, the members of the group began to relay questions  to me to ask Vivienne…

The chat group dissolved  into acrimony and bitterness, as many things do on the Internet, but  unbeknownst to me, someone had saved everything that I’d written about  Vivienne, and stashed it all in a Word document that they named….  (second really obvious reveal!) The Vivienne Files…

Fast  forward about 10 years, and I’m supposed to be doing something  constructive on my computer, but I’m really blog surfing… When to my  surprise, I start reading something that I HAD WRITTEN!!!! Yes, a quote  from The Vivienne Files, for which I was indeed given full credit.

I  realized at that moment that there was still a lot of value to thinking  about and discussing the merits of a well-chosen and distinctive  wardrobe, and so I grabbed the web domains, jumped into the world of  blogging, and never looked back!

ID:  What really  intrigues me, now that I've gotten to know you, is your perspective on  art and why you chose that as your focus for wardrobe styling?

JR:  I use art as my inspiration much of the time because it condenses a lot  of aesthetic choices into one relatively compact “piece.” You get  colors, texture, rigidity or fluidity of line or image, degree of focus  (or softness), and a mood from 1 painting. 2 paintings can include 3 or 4  of the identical main colors and still be as different as chalk and  cheese! Also, I find that a lot of people already have a favorite  painting, but they can’t really put their finger on why that  piece speaks to them. Or it’s something around which they can’t  decorate… Using the art as a wardrobe inspiration can be a way of  incorporating the essentials of the art into one’s life without robbing a  museum…

ID: I know you spend hours finding the exact  right accessories for each wardrobe – where has this journey taken you? I  recall one blog you did based on window shopping you had done in an  Indian district in Paris?

JR: In person it’s taken me into  a ton of obscurely located little stores in London, Paris, New York and  Chicago (the cities that I visit the most…) but moreover, I’ve wandered  down amazing black holes on the Internet where one can find small  designers, or groups of designers, making beautiful things…

Probably  my most successful adventures have been at craft shows – like where I  met you! There might be a ton of uninteresting (to me) pieces, but I  only need to find one designer with whom I really resonate, and the trip  is worth it! Each show has someone who’s done something I’ve never seen  before, and that always delights and amazes me.

ID: You feature many Hermes scarves on your blog. Do you have a favorite? Why?

JR: Easy question! My husband gave me a scarf named De Tout  Coeur (With All My Heart) for my birthday 6 or 7 years ago – that would  HAVE to be the 1 I would save in a mythical disaster that left me with  only 1 scarf…

The scarf that I wear the most often is a more recent one named  Collections Imperiales – it’s black and white, like most of my clothing.  It’s easy for me to wear – it adds some pattern and texture to my  outfit without making things too complicated!

ID: Who is your favorite artist that you’ve featured on your blog?

JR: Marie Laurencin (The Vivienne Files, May 27, 2011).  She was a contemporary of Picasso and worked in a limited palette of  pastels colors accented with black and grey. She did a ton of portraits  of women – all of whom are enigmatic and very beautiful…

ID: Do most of your readers think your stories are based on your life?

JR: Goodness – I hope not! I would have to have lived a dozen lives to have done all these things!

That  said, I think that all my heroines share my need and desire for  clarity, liberty, independence and a sense of freedom. That’s probably  why I write so much about the revelatory feeling of traveling alone for  the first time – it can truly be life-changing. Well, it was for me…

ID: Is your closet this organized?

JR:  Yep, most of the time it’s like something out of a magazine! Right now,  it’s NOT, because I’m in the middle of making a big change in how I  store things – I’m going to bring my athletic clothes and gym togs to  the front (metaphorically speaking) of my closet and send my dressier  blouses, sweaters and trousers into the background…

Functionally,  this means that a lot of my gym clothes (which I wear SEVEN DAYS A  WEEK!!!) are going onto hangers, where I can easily find them, and the  lovely things that I only wear 2 or 3 times a week are going to be  folded down into drawers, or up onto shelves. Every day I find myself  walking PAST cashmere sweaters and digging into a drawer for a pair of  gym shorts and a tee shirt. My closet needs to reflect my life, and  right now my life is focused on getting stronger and healthier. So, the  sweaters go into the drawers, and the gym clothes come up front and  enjoy the care and attention that they deserve. Just because I don’t  wear them out of my building most of the time doesn’t mean that they’re  not a worthy and important wardrobe segment.

Actually,  I think I’ll blog about this project when I get the transformation  completed… Right now, it’s slow going because of my recovery from the  flu, and having THREE trips to Europe coming up in the next 3 months…  Packing always gets me in a kerfluffle!

ID: Advice to your readers?

JR:

• Know thyself, physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, and dress accordingly. 
• Learn  to spot when someone is trying to sell you something, under the guise  of being helpful, (which would be almost ALWAYS) and eschew their  “advice” as nothing more than a sales pitch. This includes those  insidious “10 Things You MUST Have for Spring” lists, and those “50  Items No Closet Should Be Without.” Horse-feathers…
• Don’t conform, but do try to feel comfortable in your skin, and your wardrobe. 
• Treat  yourself to something truly pretty – earrings are a great option, as  are scarves. You don’t have to spend a bucket but find something you  adore and wear the daylights out of it.
• Wear accessories fearlessly – there are really no rules.
• Think of what your signature might be…maybe a PILE of silver jewelry, and a long braid?
• Experiment – bad taste can be better than no taste at all, someone once said (Diana Vreeland?).
• Don’t own too much – it’s confusing and wasteful.
• Don’t take it all TOO seriously!

Love,

Janice