The Art of Adornment

For September's First Friday event in downtown Mount Vernon, we wanted to support the opening of a new art gallery on South Main Street and the many other art events that were occurring. So, we developed the idea of creating an "Art of Adornment" window display in which we created an "art gallery" in which the art that was displayed was an array of fashion accessories.

We used approximately 50 yards of black cotton fabric, plus a couple of black sheets, to create the backdrop. We have curtain rods hung on the back wall, so Maureen turned the fabric into curtains and draping fabric for the floor. Then, we collected a variety of old and new frames, pedestals, and blocks. We hung the frames from the ceiling using cup hooks and 20-lb test fishing line.

Choosing the items to highlight took the most time. We selected items that we knew would stand out, with bright colors or unique shapes. About a yard of black velvet was used to finish the framed accessories. Maureen used a dowel to put those ties in the frame--awesome! We also had a couple of female busts that were designed for displaying jewelry, and Maureen found the armature that she had for making latex masks, and we used it in the guys' gallery. All in all, we think it is a striking display, especially after dark.

Back-2-School at Frenzy

At the beginning of August, we put up our first Back-to-School display. We found props all over the place: We bought used lockers from the Cleveland Institute of Music, when they were selling theirs to make room for new lockers. We borrowed the antique desk from Maureen's parents-in-law, and the whiteboard was part of Kris's household furniture. We had the football and megaphone from a photoshoot we had done for our Football Guide advertisement, and our sister-in-law, who runs a school of performing arts for baton, cheer, and pom, lent us the pom-poms.

The girl in black in the left-hand window is writing repeats on the whiteboard, "I will NOT pay too much." The textbooks are a collection of Kris's texts from college and texts Kris worked on when she worked for a publishing company.

Wizard of Oz: Did We Win?

We decided that all of our handiwork would be most visible against a vivid, but simple backdrop, so we chose a solid emerald green (Emerald City green, actually). The theme of the window display contest was "There's no place like home," so we painted the slogan, plus our own little spin on it (Home is where you can truly be yourself.) on the portion of the backdrop that faced the street. The yellow brick road was added by using yellow anti-slip stuff that usually sees only the inside of drawers.

After several people stopped in to mention that they didn't "get" our window, we added little keychains with photos of the original characters so that visually, people could match the original characters with our interpretations of them. This little touch didn't seem to help all that much...

Ultimately, we did NOT win the contest. We were given a prize for "Most Creative Use of Merchandise to Tell the Wizard of Oz Story," because the young people in the cast (the cast voted on a winner) apparently all voted for our window. We're still calling it a victory because it made people stop and look, which is exactly what a window display should do!

Wizard of Oz: Cowardly Lion

The final character in our Gothic Wizard of Oz display was the Cowardly Lion. Of course, this posed a bit of a problem in terms of the black-and-white theme, because it would be very monotone, like the Tin Woodswoman was. So, we opted to borrow a page from another glorious, fearsome feline: the Snow Leopard. The black leggings, tank, spiked collar, and boots were from store stock, and Maureen created snow-leopard-print boot toppers. Maureen also sewed the snow-leopard bolero jacket and designed and created the paws. Kris painted the mask and finished it by using hot-fix red crystals. Maureen cut and grommeted the red sparkly vinyl belt and sewed together snow-leopard ears and tulle to create a mane. The mane was hot-glued to a hair band, and Kris cut the tulle in chunks to make it stand up like a mane. And what girl, no matter what kind of minx, hasn't needed a little Liquid Courage from time to time? Ultimately, this was our favorite costume, and we were thrilled by how closely she matched the original design.

Wizard of Oz: Tin Woodswoman

Because we were out of male mannequins, we had to turn the Tin Woodsman into a female character. This character strayed most dramatically from our first drawing. Originally, we had wanted a techno-clubber in liquid silver pants and a silver mesh top with a tinsel wig. When we couldn't acquire any of the supplies we needed, we had to get creative. The drawings on the right of the sample show how we re-imagined the character. Maureen designed and sewed the newly designed outfit from silver lame, and Kris invented the curly wig and mask combo using a blank mask, several of those curly ribbons for presents, and a small funnel that we spray painted black. We decided to accent our Tin Woodswoman by using a charm bracelet with silver, black, white, and red charms in the shape of hearts; a heart made of bindi stickers around her belly button; and a fake heart in a jar.

Wizard of Oz: Scarecrow

Our second character was the Scarecrow. He was the only character who remained male, mainly because we only had one male mannequin. In keeping with our Gothic theme, the Scarecrow became more like "The Crow" (Brandon Lee movie, 1994). Kris painted a blank mask to look like Eric Draven from the movie and designed and constructed the chain necklace that has a variety of bird-themed charms on it. Maureen took a fabulous pair of pants that our mom brought us as a joke, and cut the pant legs, grommeted, and laced them back together. The crow applique was cut out of red felt and added by using heat bond. Maureen repeated the grommeting and lacing process for the sleeves of the shirt, and Kris added the wings with paint and the white cross applique. The tie and hat came off the racks, and the boots were borrowed from Kris's boyfriend, Erik. A fake brain in a jar completed the "Scarecrow's" outfit.

Wizard of Oz: Dorothy

We began with sketches to design the characters. We decided to turn Dorothy into a Gothic Lolita. We originally hoped that a black and white gingham dress we ordered would arrive in time for the display. As we neared the deadline, we decided that Maureen had better begin working on one just in case. So, she created a circle skirt from black and white gingham, and we used a white shirt we had in stock, and we preempted the red belt we had originally slated for the "lion". Kris made a gorgeous gothic necklace from red nylon chain and black aluminum chain. A great wig find and some fab black and red gauntlets solidified Dorothy's kick-ass status. THEN, Kris came across the red Dorothy shoes in a Spencer's gifts store in Mansfield, and the outfit was finalized. A robo dog as Toto completed the look.

Wizard of Oz Challenge

Over time, we acquired more mannequins and began to branch out a bit in terms of arrangement and color. In July 2009, we were alerted to the fact that the local businesses were holding a window display contest to celebrate the opening of the local community theater production of The Wizard of Oz. We wanted our display to be different and remarkable, and our parents suggested that we do the whole display in black and white. Of course, we NEEDED to have red, sparkly shoes, so we decided on a black, white, gray/silver, and red color theme. Then came the idea of doing an alternative version of the Oz characters, and frenzy's Gothic Wizard of Oz display idea was born!

We sat down and drew clothing designs for our characters and set to acquiring the materials. The weekend the show opened, we premiered our Oz window.

How it began

When we opened, we had few mannequins and little vision beyond just getting some product in the window to show what type of shop we were. Even then, though, we had an eye for some more outrageous outfits and some eye-catching color. This was the window display for the week we opened.

A brief introduction to frenzy

frenzy n. \ˈfren-zē\ ME frenesie < style="">phrenesia < style="">phrenesis < style="">phrenitis 1. a state of wild excitement; 2. intense and uncontrollable activity; 3. a mutant supervillainess in the Marvel Universe; 4. a 1972 thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock; 5. a chic, unique boutique in downtown Mount Vernon, Ohio

frenzy is a chic, unique, resale boutique that is located in a 150-year-old building in downtown Mount Vernon, Ohio. We opened on March 10, 2009. We carry a variety of new and used clothing, shoes, and accessories for guys and gals, and we are passionate about designing and executing window displays that are outrageous, remarkable, and fun. We will dedicate this blog to describing and outlining the displays we make and what it took to put them together.