Jennifer (of the excellent Naughty Secretary Club) sent me the link to this dress, which is by her sister Hope (of Hot Pink Pistol).
It's hand-painted, obviously, although I would like, for a moment, to entertain the notion of a world where the image of Purple Rain-era Prince is omnipresent and heavily marketed, sort of like all those Che Guevara t-shirts.
It's such a short leap, isn't it, from finding a purple satin dress to thinking "I should paint Prince on this dress! That would be awesome!"
And lo, it is awesome.
If I had this dress, I wouldn't wear it … I'd put it on a mannequin and keep in my living room (or, if my husband objected, the bedroom, or, if he REALLY objected, my office) because, as a work of art, it would make me happy every day.
Even better would be to have one of those recordable greeting-card sound chips stuck inside it, hooked to a motion sensor, and then, if people got too close to it, BOOM! Purple Rain would play. (The really climax-y "I only wanna see you" part, naturally.)
I think paintings on dresses are the new dogs playing poker. Ever-so-slightly cheesy, but cheerful in a way that you can't really explain.
Whether you'd display this, wear this or just admire from a (very long) distance (I admit no other options), be sure to check out the link to Hope's other stuff — the David-Bowie-in-Labryinth-dress is equally fantastic, if slightly scarier. (Bowie was terrifying in that movie, was he not? Sure, half of it was the known fear-inducing quality of spandex, but still …)
A Dress A Day 
That dress is fab-tack-ulous!
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Fabtackulous indeed! I love it. And I’m sure His Royal Purpleness would approve of his visage being near the hem of some hot thang’s garment.
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I am so sorry my purple-kitsch-loving friend Britt isn’t here to see that! I’d have worn that to her funeral. With fishnets. She’d have loved it.She left me all her huge, tacky, earrings, too; I bet I’ve got a pair that would go perfectly.
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what IS that coming out of his nose????
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I hope you sent this to Anil.
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I want David Bowie as the Goblin King on my clothing! Airbrushed on a T-shirt–or possibly my next intarsia project. Hmm, a felted purse with the Goblin King’s head on it. That would be really cool…
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Sassy Seascapes!I am considering removal of a few ribs just to fit in that one. These are *awesome*!~Becky
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For a brief moment, I thought you meant that the Bowie image featured him _wearing_ the Labyrinth dress (the one Sara wears to the fairy dance).
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Hooray thanks for the post. My kid sister, what can you say the girl can paint. I have custom dresses with pictures of Siouxsie Sioux, a purse with Dolly Parton and a deer bag I am about to get done into a tattoo.
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Simply awesome!Might it be too tacky to make a similar dress and paint Duran Duran on it?
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Check out the Dead Rappers section on the website. Tupac with ice cream cones and banana splits on his head? A pensive Eazy E superimposed on a forest scene? Check and check.Now we all need to just raise $82 to buy the Prince dress for Ms. McKean to model.
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I’m with Becky O–the Sassy Seascapes is The One. Maybe it’s stiff enough to wear as a corset?
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Oh, Keen…..love it. I second the DD suggestion, as the former (and always in my heart) Duran Durangela (yes, the mean junior high girls thought that calling me that was an insult….yet I trumped by embracing the nickname). Johnny Cash on something black would be fab too. Ang
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Oh, but as an example of When Painted Dresses Attack, see the dress that was supposed to be worn by Miss Mexico in the Miss Universe Pageant. She was forced to pick another dress because the scenery painted around the skirt of the first one incuded pictures of rebels being shot and hanged. Yikes!http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18160526/
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How exciting for me to learn that I live near Austin, where Ms. Hot Pink Pistol resides. I might try and join their Austin Craft Mafia if they will let me in.Doesn’t the internet just prove that it is a small world after all?
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Erin–Thanks for making my day!Beth
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I must confess, “terrified” isn’t exactly the response I have to Bowie in Labyrinth… *swoon*
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I’m really disappointed this dress isn’t made of black velour! It would be fabulous 1970s wall art retro!
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Oh, I love that dress. I can only hope she makes something in a 12 soon!
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I love that dress it would look great on me, but more better then that I think Apollonia Kotero who starred with Prince in the movie Purple Rain would look even better in it. To bad it was not out then for her to wear it to the party of the movie.
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