http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/collection?id=4287238
For my digital text, I wanted to try something new. A couple of my friends who are costume designers told me about the website "Polyvore" which they use to create looks for costume designs. Since costume designing and rendering is not a talent of mine (and I expect, not a talent for the majority of my students) I thought this would be the perfect digital "text" to experiment with. On this website, you are basically creating outfits or "looks". This can include everything from basic pants and shirts to accessories. You can title the sets, and create a collection. (My collection is titled "A Play", while the sets are titled "Character A, B, C and D") The website was easy to use and I anticipate students would love being able to create looks in this manner. It is so easy to use and share ideas that I could see myself using this website for a class project.
However, the website did have some drawbacks. It is really catered to modern fashion, so creating any time period shows would be difficult. It is also limiting in the fact that all the clothes are for the same age range of people. I had a difficult time finding outfits for a young person, and an old person. Because plays are so varying this way, that would be difficult. Also there are no "old" or "distressed" clothes so if you had to say, design a character that was a farmer, this website would probably not be very helpful.
I use a similar website, pinterest, all the time when I gather ideas for costume, set and teaching ideas. However, I liked this website because it focused more on clothes and you are able to put them together in complete outfits where as you cannot do that on pinterest. Like I mentioned before, I could see myself using this website in a class on costume design. I would love for students to create their own designs and share their ideas with others in the class. Plus I think it is fun to use websites that are usually used for personal activities like polyvore and pinterest and apply them to teaching and theatre. Students are already familiar with how the websites work, so it is easy for them to apply it to theatre.
In conclusion, I have basically added another fun website to my list of websites that I visit far to often (Facebook, Pinterest, etc.) and waste too much time on. BUT this one I can apply to teaching, so I don't feel to bad about spending time on it. ;)
PS. I hope the link works, please let me know if you can't access it.
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteYes, the link definitely worked. I'm glad you were able to try out this website! I had not heard of Polyvore, but I am going to share it with my Family and Consumer Science majors who teach Fashion, as well as with my theatre majors. This website could be a good "text" for your text set. I'm glad you were able to try something new. One thing I love about digital literacy is that it gives students opportunities to be creative and to publish their ideas to audiences beyond just the teacher. Your fashion designs exemplify that type of creativity. Thanks again, and I hope you are able to integrate similar activities into your class one day!