Ardithian Fashion…Costumery of the Odd

I was raised by clowns. I honestly was one in my back pages, Chubbis was my clown name and my costume was a hoop suit. I kid you not.

If you look at what and how I paint you can see the influence of that experience quite easily.

Actually, many of my family members were professional clowns which left a huge impression on me growing up about the use and importance of make-up and costumery. Mobile, Alabama is also my home, which is the birthplace of Mardi Gras, and that influence added another heavy layer to become fascinated with clothing, dresses, costumery, headdresses, and adornment.

In the Land of Ardithian, clothing and costumes tend to be unexpectedly colorful, elaborate, or complex by design. My inner child believes that everyone should get to choose clothes that are outrageous if they want to, not simply the affluent, so I make it a point to always apply a creative edge to the clothing in my paintings and digital work for character sets.

There are things I really detest about Ai and there are things I LOVE…. the ideation behind fashion and design really speaks to my Maximalist tendencies and it has energized me creatively in huge ways.

I am using my own images of paintings to collaborate and push the fashion concepts further. I take those and incorporate them back into who and how I am painting, and the fusion is pretty sweet.

Many of my paintings also have fabrics weaved within the layers and I am one to devote months at a time to painting furniture, shoes, purses, clothing, and aprons in deliciously odd and beautiful ways.

As The Land of Ardithian evolves over the next two years, Ardithian fashion will be a larger role in the application of concepts and products I produce. My collection of “Chairs of Truth” which play a dynamic role in the story with many characters, are being designed and the conceptual shift for me imaginatively is checking a lot of boxes.

If you are an artist, brand, or designer and are interested in collaborating with me in a creative way shoot me a message and let’s chat! info@ardithgoodwin.com