Ugly Shyla: Gore and Gowns - Execution Style Clothing

By The Domestic Gothess

Ugly Shyla creates art, dolls and now she creates clothes. How is this different from the hundreds of other online sellers out there today? Well for one, Shyla's clothes are art. And not in that "fashion as its own art" sort of mentality but rather the pieces are unique, one of a kind creations that use vintage components to create a wearable statement. The pieces all seem to carry this emotion that places me in those memorable cult classic slasher films of the eighties and nineties. It's an odd place to be transported by a piece of clothing but when I take a look at the "Slasher Nurse Dress" or the "Reconstructed Stitched Up Frankenstein Formal Dress" I can't help but think back to Carrie or Prom Night...

Are these clothes that you would wear everyday to work? Depends on where you work, I suppose, but for the most part these are unique pieces best worn on special occasions or to events where such fashions are warranted. However, don't let that discourage you from shopping; if you're looking for wearable horror art then Shyla's your girl. There's a trend in Japanese Lolita fashion called Guro where it's appealing to cover yourself in blood, bandages and wounds to an often extreme effect and while I don't think that Shyla's at all taking this trend on herself I do think I can see a counterpart in her art for the western culture. She's not forcing any gruesome extreme upon us for purely shock value effect, rather she's expressing the horror motif through a physical form meant to be worn and displayed.

Victorian-inspired gown

Slasher Nurse

Kinderwhore

And it's not all gore either, there's a subtle style of the macabre in her other pieces that seem to frequently feature a silk screened image of acid splattered dolls, an icon of her work as a doll artist. Again, it's not an in your face experience to study the clothing, they'll definitely draw stares and questions but they all still seem to carry with them the essence and feeling of the original vintage piece. There's real care and attention paid to each piece and it shows through in the careful distressing and reconstruction of the pieces. Shyla doesn't seem to have just thrown red paint on the dress or hacked up some clothing without any thought, there's real and sincere patience and creativity put into the pieces which is a sometimes rare and worthwhile find in a digital world where trends and patterns still seem to herd the consumer audience.

One of Ugly Shyla's doll creations

Overall, it's a very non-traditional style and medium, but it's fantastic and refreshing to see something like this. Vintage is trendy right now but Shyla's taken the style, rattled it around a bit and given us something worth wearing for more than just what we see on the more traditional models out there.

http://executionstyle.etsy.com