| From RealDetroitWeekly.com Features
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.
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. © Copyright by RealDetroitWeekly.com |
