Last month I found a whole new obsession - fiber art classes at the Smithsonian! Most of the classes are given at the S. Dillon Ripley Center which is this tiny building next to the Smithsonian Castle. When you enter the Ripley Center you basically just walk down a spiral staircase into a long hallway of classrooms underground - it's pretty cool!
I took the Haute Couture Embroidery Class which was taught by Elizabeth Lay who is a Decorative Arts Historian currently working at Montgomery History Museum. She gave an awesome presentation on designers who use embroidery in their haute couture designs. She talked about a few designers I knew about like Poiret, Vionnet and Worth, but she introduced us to several designers I wasn't aware of like Guo Pei - whose designs are so beautiful and Iris Van Herpen who partners with NASA and is moving embroidery into a whole new dimension with 3d printing.
After the presentation, we moved on to designing our own haute couture buttons with a fun array of fabric and beads to choose from. I think my only complaint would be that I could have used a little more time for working on the buttons, but that was mostly because after the presentation I was fairly overloaded with inspiration and just couldn't focus on one thing.
I loved the set up of this class - learning and getting inspiration from current and vintage designers and then spending some time creating in a cool location. I recommend the Smithsonian classes and am on the lookout for my next class!
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