The Real Deep Dive
Garmenture (2006-2009)
In undergrad, my work was emerging as some sort of combination of garment, sculpture and performance. I coined “Garmenture.” I had hijacked fashion techniques like draping and patternmaking, and moved them into sculpture. I’d make a sculpture, use it as a dressform and make a garment for it, then I’d swap in my own body and perform the wearable object. A garment made for a sculpture was inevitably a failed fit on me. Performance ensued. Garmenture distorted my silhouette, restricted my movement and took up too much room (or so people told me). By the time I graduated from Emily Carr University in 2009, the experiments had coalesced into a sophisticated method that felt very much my own.
YOU ARE HERE: 2006–2009
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Grad Pants, 2009
Pencil on paper. 18 × 24 in.
Graduation, Emily Carr University, May 2009.
Bully, 2009
Vinyl, felt, metal wire. Dimensions variable. Photography: Christina Ladwig.
“Go big or go home, man.”
— Ben LaRose, quoted by collaborator Ginger Ngo, 2008
Bully — Dress Form, 2009
Cardboard, plaster, tape. 84 × 26 × 32 in.
Early development material for Bully, 2009.
Mutants, 2009
Series of pencil drawings on paper.
Snowboot, 2008
Garmenture. Felt, vinyl, nylon. 24 × 24 × 30 in.
Photography: Deniz Merdanogullari.
Snowboot — Felt Lining, 2008
Felt. Wearable lining for Snowboot, photographed on a classmate.
Snowboot — Dress Form, 2008
Newsprint, plastic wrap, tape. 24 × 24 × 30 in.
Snowboot — Frozen Swatches, 2008
Felt, nylon, acrylic gel, wax, Styrofoam. Samples in various dimensions.
Early development material for Snowboot, 2008.
“A snowy morning for the child is eerie and magical; for the adult, it’s often just an inconvenience. I sought the whimsy in watching snow accumulate and transform familiar objects into larger, stranger forms. Snowboot is about ‘dressing to go out there,’ beyond the window and into the landscape. Walking becomes more like sleepwalking, and the boot becomes both refuge and burden: protective layer, but comical, heavy, and restrictive.”
— Ben LaRose, Graduate Body of Work Proposal, 2008
Emily Carr University of Art and Design publicity campaign, 2009
Published in the Vancouver Queer Film Festival catalogue, 2009.
“In spring 2009, I got called into the University Advancement office. I thought I was in trouble. Turns out, they’d seen Crotch Study #6 and wanted to use it to advertise the university—on screen and in the catalogue for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival.
… My crotch → on a movie theater screen. DONE. DEAL.”
Crotch Study #6, 2008
Color photography. Prints in various sizes.
Le Horla, 2007
Dress inspired by Guy de Maupassant’s short story Le Horla.
Suitcase-Jacket, 2007
Deconstructed Pierre Cardin suitcase and Christian Dior overcoat, polyester, cotton, vinyl. 72 × 36 × 24 in.
Sewing Machine Orchestra, 2006–2008
Speculative performance project envisioning an orchestra of sewing machines wired to perform live noise/music from digital sheet music. Conceived in 2006 as a dramatically lit, immersive fashion performance, the project progressed to creative electronics prototyping in early 2008 before being abandoned.
Excerpts from the Marengo Collection, 2007
Excerpts from the People Carrying Things Collection, 2007
Excerpts from the Punk Collection, 2007
Excerpts from the Jersey Collection, 2007
The Cell, 2007
Fashion Drawing - Early Collection Development, Pencil and Sharpie on paper. 8.5 × 11 in.
Ahmad Tabrizi and Ben LaRose hosting a party at their shared studio, 2011
“In Spring 2007, I interned with costume designer Ahmad Tabrizi. Learning to sew required a kind of patience that didn’t come naturally to me. I was used to jumping into ambitious projects and figuring things out as I went, but Ahmad made me slow down and practice. I spent hours at the industrial sewing machine sewing straight lines, then epaulettes, pocket flaps, collars—repeating the same exercises until I could execute them perfectly. He taught me to work one inch at a time, to pay attention to every seam, and to understand that craft came through repetition.”
— Ben LaRose, Ahmad Tabrizi internship journal, 2007
I Love NY Dress, 2006
Photography: Deniz Merdanogullari · Model: Caroline Doyle
Fashion Etiquette, 2006
Fashion performance by Ben LaRose.
Emily Carr Atrium, Vancouver, BC, April 15, 2006.
Models: Camila Arango, Katie Doyle, Sarah Landry, Heather Lindsay, Ellen Lee, Brie McInnis, Zoe Peled, Josan Pinon, Crystal Precious, Nicola Tibbetts. Music: Jonathan Igharas, Karlo Melgarejo. Makeup & Hair: Cora Chan, Stephanie Chies, Lily Lin, Brie McInnis, Heather Rae. Editorial Photography: Max Kostromine. Event Photography: Jason Edwards, Jeff Werner. Video: John Graham Lee, Robin Selk. Performance soundtrack: “Push” by Madonna.
Behind the scenes of Fashion Etiquette, 2006
Backstage preparations on the day of the performance.
Event poster and program for Fashion Etiquette, 2006
Promotional and printed materials produced for the live performance and runway show.
Taming the Lion, 2006
“Fashion Etiquette was a crazy project. I made a 10-look collection in six weeks, with absolutely no prior knowledge of sewing. I borrowed a machine from a friend—the first time I practiced on it, I wore safety goggles—and started doing fittings on my girlfriends, making drapes, curtains, and bed skirts into fashion. It was a ‘think big, push hard’ moment. And even though some models had to be duct-taped into their garments, somehow it felt right—it felt like something had clicked.”
— Ben LaRose, Internship Journal, 2007