By MICHELLE BESAW
BURLINGTON — To Josie Furchgott-Sourdiffe, fashion is more than just the images found on catalogue pages.
The 23-year-old artist from Lincoln, Vt., designs fashion-forward and socially inspired trends, each piece unique and handmade in her two-bedroom Burlington apartment.
Growing up, Furchgott-Sourdiffe took an interest in fashion.
"I'm smaller than most people so I got everyone's hand-me-downs," she said, her 5-foot frame comfy in an oversized armchair.
She cut those clothes up and created new styles by sewing them back together in different fashions.
Through the years she had aspirations to be a fashion designer. But a subscription to Harper's Bazaar changed that.
"The things I didn't like about the fashion industry, especially from reading Harpers, is that it's so materialistic. It's all based on physical looks."
She said she was turned off by the articles promoting plastic surgery and tips on staying thin, and the unreasonable costs of the clothes.
"In my mind it's such a negative industry — very selfish and elitist.
"It was not any kind of world I wanted to be related to."
Instead, her penchant for drawing took her to Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., where she studied art and dance, which later led her to printmaking.
"After graduating, I realized (that) in a recession people don't want to spend money on art."
So she started transforming her art onto clothes and selling them on commission.
TOOL OF VOICE
All Furchgott-Sourdiffe's designs are hand-carved into linoleum, rolled in ink and pressed onto clothes.
She calls her work surrealistic and politically motivated, exploring gender, sexuality and the impact of human life. "I think that art is a huge tool of voice and of social change."
Much of her work involves human interaction, figurative objects, anatomy and animals and "taking the layers away and seeing underneath.
"Humans are insanely complex and can be insanely cruel or insanely amazing," she said.
Most of her clothes are made of T-shirt fabric in different colors.
She incorporates a lot of zippers, colors and images — she calls her Fiesty Ink line "artistic streetwear."
"It's streetwear but a little more funky," she said.
Most of her clothes are geared toward women, but she wants to start focusing on mens attire as well.
Because everything is handmade, tees and ties start at $45. Dresses are $150 to $200, depending on style and prints.
FASHION SHOW
Right now Furchgott-Sourdiffe creates her clothes in her apartment and is looking at selling her designs locally. She has a small inventory but will design clothes upon request if people have something specific in mind.
Last February, she had a show at the Design House Gallery.
"It was really cool," she said.
And this fall, she did a fashion show at the annual Art Hop.
In 10 years, Furchgott-Sourdiffe sees herself working with non-profit youth programs, like Health Initiatives for Youth (HIFY) in San Francisco, where she interned to promote health and well-being by empowering young people through education, advocacy and leadership opportunities.
She also hopes to "be at the point to be well-known and surviving off my art, instead of just surviving."
E-mail Michelle Besaw at: mbesaw@pressrepublican.com
