burn the maps

{fig. 1 & 2} Susan Stockwell exhibit via Topshop blog {fig. 3} Carven Map Print Dress via hiyashishop

Vintage maps are one of my favorite things ever, especially the really old school ones with sea monsters drawn lurking in the oceans. I horde old maps whenever I can find them, and books that contain maps of fictional lands tend to make me giddy (sigh, Westeros). I think I would have loved to have been an old timey cartographer surveying the land and translating it on paper. Recently, map prints have infiltrated the fashion world, and I am jumping for joy! Carven's dress is just too good for words. I can stare at it for hours and get lost in the print's topography.

More literally, British artist Susan Stockwell has created amazing ball gowns constructed from maps and paper money. These works are her artistic commentary on colonialism and the British empire. Her dresses are life-size sculptures that utilize survey and military maps pieced together to create intricate and beautiful dresses. Trendland explains, "using military maps to create a woman's dress sends a double message of war and politics being dominated by men in Western history."

In the words of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Maps! Wait. They don't love you like I love you..."