| Features
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Last Updated:
Mar 19th, 2008 - 07:43:02 |
Here’s
how Bethany Shorb, the multi-disciplinary artist who set up, styled and
photographed this issue’s cover shoot and inside fashion spread, came
to now find herself making a “ridiculous fur coat” for current WWE
Intercontinental Champion wrestler Johnny Nitro.
Shorb grew up
in Connecticut, about an hour outside of New York City, got her
undergraduate degree in sculpture (with a concentration in photography)
from Boston University and then came to Cranbrook for grad school. She
would — and still does — use her sculpture skills to make props for her
photos. Eventually, she needed clothes for the photo shoots — so she
started making them too.
Shorb has since done clothing and
costume work for movies, music videos and her own clothing lines. Her
Eastern Market studio is in perpetual motion. “I like it a lot,” Shorb
says of working on so many projects at the same time. “I go crazy if
I’m doing just one.” Though she initially became known for goth-y,
techno-y rave wear, Shorb has diversified into doing vintage military
graphic-adorned ties and deconstructed-reconstructed vintage military
coats. Johnny Nitro found her Web site (cyberoptix.com) and bought a
tie; the custom fur coat order soon
followed.
With clothing, design, sculpture and music, Shorb’s
always been a bit of a tinkerer. Besides Dethlab (her musical
partnership with Mike Doyle), she also performs as Toybreaker. “I’ve
always been a bit of a nerd about taking apart electronics and making
my own keyboards,” Shorb admits. “So, I think when I was doing a lot of
that in my music, that that project kind of leached into the fashion a
little bit … the projects bleed into one another.” | RDW
More info: www.cyberoptix.com.
Dethlab play the Guggenheim Museum in New York on Dec. 1.
Sarah
Vidosh had grown tired of being a “groupie” to her creative friends —
supporting and admiring their creative pursuits but having none of her
own. So she got an old sewing machine from her aunt and started making
clothes.
That was four years ago. A few fashion shows, a stint
at college and a waitressing job later and Vidosh’s homemade Spywear
line (which she describes as “Simple, modern and clean, for the most
part.”) is about to grow into a whole retail store concept — with a
little help from all of those creative friends.
Just down the
street from the Bronx Bar, in the spot that Zoot’s coffee house (and
more recently, 101up art gallery) once occupied, Vidosh will launch Spy
— a store that offers handmade items and “all things design.”
The
space will house everything from clothing (Bethany Shorb’s work
included) to housewares, textiles and graphics, in addition to local
records and crafts.
Vidosh plans to feature new designers each
month. “Because I’m housing all designers,“ she says, “I intend to have
a monthly opening for people who submit items to the store.
"So,
for the Grand Opening, the opening will be for Bear Lovies — that’s
Lauren Casteel and she does illustrations and paintings on ceramics,
and clothing as well.”
As Vidosh sums up the experience: “I went to
Wayne State for a bit for textiles, but have recently become a college
dropout. So … now I’m a business owner. Wooooooo!” | RDW
Spy’s Grand Opening party • November 25 • 4470 Second Ave.
More info: www.look-see-spy.com.
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