Il etait une fois... 
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 Jacq's entry, 'Il etait une fois' won the 2019 Wearable Art Mandurah, Artist of the year Award.  Her entry is based on the dark and gruesome beginnings of the fairytales we know and love today.  The garment is entered into the 'Movement' category and has been mainly created out of paper and card.  There is also a small amount of plywood to act as a frame for both the skirt and the diorama in the headpiece, corflute to strengthen the book front cover on the corset and wire to create the wording around the corset and to keep the birds in the air.  Powertex was also used to strengthen the branches and the large skirt pages.  There are 3 main parts to the garment.  The headpiece, the corset and the skirt.  Each plays a major role in the 'story'  The headpiece is a forrest diorama.  Trees are made from old storybook pages leading back to a tiny mirror with a little handpainted Red Riding hood disappearing into the darkness. The vintage frame surrounding it is handcut from card..  On the back of the headpiece is a paper mache wolf head.   The corset 'book' was created using corflute, covered in red felt then hand embroidered and beaded trees, a fabric wolf with a sparkly red eye and handainted gold flourishes and lettering.  The book is open with a forest growing out of it which envelops the wearer.  Within the branches are wire phrases from the book and tiny birds created from cardboard.  Around the sides are fabric pages which have been printed with the story of little red riding hood.  The skirt was designed specifically for the category of 'Movement'.  Using two handcut wood circles joined by wire and metal tubes, large card pages were fixed then linked by a thin beaded chain.  once the two front pages are pulled forwards the whole skirt opens up. The movement can be seen in the video at the bottom of this page.


Statement: Once upon a time, Fairy tales were written with sinister storylines, violence and gore, intended for adult audiences.   ‘Il etait une fois’ is a ‘pop-up’ book of Little Red Riding Hood, a forest growing from its pages up to a diorama detailing a fateful journey. The wolf watching her every step.   A large book-skirt of Sleeping Beauty illustrates the simple yet meaningful movement of a turning page.  Both stories whimsical yet dark.    These two tales were among many re-written by Charles Perrault, a French Author, from their gruesome beginnings into the beautiful fairy tales we know and love today.