Ryan Jude Novelline (/ˈnɒvɪln/ NOV-i-leen) is an Italian–American contemporary artist and clothing designer,[1][2] and is known on social media as the Royal Dressmaker.[3][4]

Ryan Jude Novelline
NationalityItalian-American
Alma materRhode Island School of Design
Known for
MotherLisa Anne Novelline
Websitewww.ryanjudenovelline.com

Early life and education

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Novelline is the second of four male children born to Dave, an information technology professional, and Lisa Anne Novelline, an author and former dancer who performed with the Boston Ballet.[5] He credits The Secret Garden, Scott Gustafson’s illustrations for Peter Pan, and playing with Barbie dolls as childhood, creative influences.[6] He attended Lexington High School where he received a gold key prize from the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers for a self-portrait drawing and awards for high academic achievement.[7][8] He completed his BFA in Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design and interned for Diane von Fürstenberg and Walt Disney Imagineering.[9][10]

Selected works

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The Golden Book Gown

2008–2012: RISD

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In 2008 Novelline was commissioned, among other RISD students and faculty, by GAP creative director Patrick Robinson to create one-of-a-kind cardigans that would be sold out of GAP's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York.[11] In 2011 Novelline created designs that were shown at Harvard University's fashion show, Eleganza. One of his dresses, an aquamarine and topaz Swarovski crystal-embellished gown, was made from repurposed hotel curtains and modeled by Sonia Dara.[12][13]

The Golden Book Gown

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During an elective college course in RISD's fashion department in 2010, Novelline created a garment from recycled materials. He acquired hundreds of recycled and discarded Little Golden Books from the Salvation Army and eBay[14] to construct a dress comprised entirely of the illustrations from the books sewn together with metallic gold thread, and a bodice was made from the books' foil spines.[15][16][17][18] Tommy Hilfiger called the piece "amazing".[19] The work of contemporary art, titled The Golden Book Gown, received widespread attention for its design and innovative use of material.[1] According to Italian Glamour, the piece "lascia tutti a bocca aperta" or "left everyone in awe."[20] Publishers Weekly said that the dress "proves that green fashion can provide as rich a fantasia as can be imagined."[9] The gown was voted the "most creative" fashion design of 2011 by Ecouterre.[21]

2013–2019

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In 2014, Novelline made a dress from the pages of recycled graphic novels for Maisie Williams that she wore as a guest judge for Bookbarn International's Out of Print Fashion Show.[22][23] She wore the dress a second time at the Entertainment Weekly party at San Diego Comic-Con. The dress, called ZAM!, included pages from X-Men, Sandman, Sailor Moon, and Game of Thrones.[24] According to The Huffington Post, the paper dress was "the coolest thing at Comic-Con"[25] and later named among Williams’ "Best Looks" by Vogue.[26]

Novelline collaborated on the children's book Piccadilly and the Fairy Polka contributing as the art director and illustrator of the book casing and dust jacket.[5] In 2015, he created a series of illustrations of Tyler Oakley as Disney Princesses that were featured on Oakley's Tumblr.[27] Influenced by a long-standing interest in fashion dolls,[6] he has made paper dolls[10] and art dolls wearing his own designs.[5] In recognition of the Supreme Court's decision to recognize marriage equality in all 50 states, he created a commemorative art doll from an upcycled Barbie. The doll wore a rainbow gown and carried an American pride flag in one hand and a marriage license dated June 26, 2015, in the other.[28]

Based on the fairy-tale Undine, Novelline showed a gown called Beyond Blue as cosplay during New York Comic-Con in 2017. The hemp-silk gown weighed over 50 pounds, had a 13-foot cathedral train, and featured over 20,000 hand-placed, Swarovski crystals. The fabric print featured a round composition of mermaids taken from one of the artist's original paintings. The blue gown was listed among the years "Best Cosplay" and compared to Elsa’s design from Frozen.[29][30][31][32][33] In 2019, he returned to New York Comic-Con with a gown based on the story of Sleeping Beauty called The Good Fairy. According to him, the look "celebrate[d] not just the final character, but the process of creating one.“ The design was also listed among the year's “Best Cosplay".[34][35][36]

2020-present

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Dutch influencer Rose Nora Anna danced to Billy Joel's Uptown Girl in a TikTok wearing a replica dress by Novelline of Princess Diana's blue Catherine Walker gown originally worn to the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.[3][4][37][38] TikTok's Queen Astraea also ran through New York City in one of his dresses.[39][40]

Exhibitions

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Novelline's Golden Book Gown was displayed at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library[41] and was the centerpiece of an exhibit at the Drift Contemporary Art Gallery in 2013. At this show, he asked visitors to consider whether or not "the stories of our past become part of a sustainable future."[1] Novelline was a guest speaker at Asian Geographic’s 2018 Asia Dive Expos (ADEX) in Singapore in April and again in Beijing in October. He presented Beyond Blue as part of a Mermaid Festival.[42][43][33]

See also

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  • Novelline, Lisa Anne (2014). Piccadilly and the Fairy Polka (illustrated ed.). Lexington, MA. ISBN 978-0983531111.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Dodds, Felix (2021). Tomorrow's People and New Technology: Changing How We Live Our Lives. Taylor & Francis. p. 162. ISBN 9781000467673.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Drift Gallery has the 'Last Word' — reception Sept. 28", Sea Coast Online, September 26, 2013, archived from the original on February 3, 2014, retrieved March 20, 2014
  2. ^ "How To Be An Ethical Shopper And Look Good Doing It", The Huffington Post, March 19, 2014, archived from the original on April 5, 2014, retrieved March 19, 2014
  3. ^ a b Balao, Neia (February 24, 2023). "TikToker transforms herself into Princess Diana: 'I GASPED'". Yahoo. Archived from the original on February 26, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Lloyd, Andrew (February 27, 2023). "A TikToker stunned viewers by going to extreme lengths to recreate a 1987 Princess Diana look, enlisting a professional hairstylist and gown designer". MSN. Archived from the original on March 25, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Campbell, Ami (October 2, 2014), Lexington's Novellines 'A Power House' of Creativity, vol. 149, Lexington, MA: Lexington Minuteman, p. C1, archived from the original (Print & Web) on October 16, 2014, retrieved October 7, 2014
  6. ^ a b Henseler, Christine (April 3, 2017). "Ryan Jude Novelline Is A Fearless Fashion Designer Who Transforms Trash Into Treasure". HuffPost. Archived from the original on March 1, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  7. ^ "The Scholastic Art Awards list of honorees", The Boston Globe, February 10, 2008, archived from the original on October 12, 2014, retrieved March 20, 2014
  8. ^ "Foreign-language students earn awards", Wicked Local, June 7, 2007, archived from the original on October 12, 2014, retrieved March 20, 2014
  9. ^ a b Bluemle, Elizabeth (October 11, 2013), "A Talk with the Creator of the Gown Made of Golden Books", Publishers Weekly, archived from the original on October 11, 2014, retrieved January 23, 2014
  10. ^ a b Baker, Whitney (October 31, 2013), "Looks Good on Paper: Guys and Dolls", The Improper Bostonian, archived from the original on October 11, 2014, retrieved January 23, 2014
  11. ^ Gap and Rhode Island School of Design Bring the 'Art of the Cardigan' to NYC's Fifth Avenue, San Francisco, CA: Gap Inc., February 27, 2009, archived from the original on March 31, 2014, retrieved October 28, 2014
  12. ^ Lambert, Craig (January–February 2013), Model Student, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Magazine, p. 33, archived from the original (Print & Web) on June 26, 2014, retrieved October 28, 2014
  13. ^ Ibbotson, Sophie (April 2013), "Rubbish couture? An Eclectic Fashion Forward Trend", Asian Geographic (97): 63
  14. ^ "Golden Book Gown, Gaun Cantik Terbuat Dari Kumpulan Buku Cerita", Vemale.com (in Indonesian), May 11, 2013, archived from the original on June 7, 2013, retrieved February 9, 2014
  15. ^ Mok, Kimberly (April 2, 2011), "Designer Makes Fairytale Dress From Recycled Children's Books", TreeHugger, archived from the original on November 7, 2011, retrieved February 9, 2014
  16. ^ "Váy tranh", Yahoo! (in Vietnamese), April 3, 2011, archived from the original on March 7, 2014, retrieved January 23, 2014
  17. ^ Pham, Diane (October 3, 2012). "High Fashion as Eco-Friendly as Child's Play". Chevrolet. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  18. ^ Shea, Beth (April 4, 2011). "Dress Made from Recycled Children's Books is Fit for a Fairytale Princess". Inhabitat. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  19. ^ Hirschfield, C.J. (February 1, 2013), "Once Upon A Time: Tale of the 'Little Golden Books Gown'", Oakland Local, archived from the original on October 13, 2014, retrieved January 23, 2014
  20. ^ Rimondi, Carolina (April 3, 2011), "Un abito fatto di libri", Glamour (in Italian), archived from the original on February 2, 2014, retrieved October 28, 2014
  21. ^ Malik Chua, Jasmin (April 4, 2011), "Announcing the Winners of Ecouterre's 2011 Readers' Choice Awards!", Ecouterre, archived from the original on October 12, 2014, retrieved June 7, 2014
  22. ^ Mat, Ian (June 3, 2014), "Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams judges fashion show made of books", Wells Journal, archived from the original on October 11, 2014, retrieved July 29, 2014
  23. ^ "Maisie Williams: The Game of Thrones giggle heard around the world and returning to Somerset to wear a dress made of books", Western Gazette, June 4, 2014, archived from the original on October 12, 2014, retrieved June 7, 2014
  24. ^ Peterson, Jesse (July 28, 2014), "Maisie Williams Wears A Dress Made Out Of Comics To Comic-Con", MTV, archived from the original on August 8, 2014, retrieved July 28, 2014
  25. ^ Feldman, Jaime (July 28, 2014), "Maisie Williams' Book Dress Is The Coolest Thing At Comic-Con", HuffPost Style, archived from the original on October 14, 2014, retrieved July 28, 2014
  26. ^ Gándara, Ana (October 26, 2017). "El look de Maisie Williams: una explosión de color". Vogue (in Spanish). Archived from the original on May 17, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  27. ^ Dryden, Liam (November 4, 2015). "Tyler Oakley Has Become An Actual Disney Princess And It's Magical". PopBuzz. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  28. ^ Η Barbie γιορτάζει τον γάμο των ομοφυλόφιλων [Barbie Celebrates Gay Marriage], Pathfinder.gr (in Greek), June 29, 2015, archived from the original on June 29, 2015, retrieved June 29, 2015
  29. ^ Acuna, Kirsten (October 9, 2017). "Photos of the best cosplay from New York Comic Con 2017". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  30. ^ Chopin, Allison (October 7, 2017). "Record-breaking number of fans, cosplayers flock to Comic Con to let 'their inner geeks fly' in Manhattan". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  31. ^ "Best Cosplay from New York Comic Con 2017". ABC News. October 5, 2017. Archived from the original on November 15, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  32. ^ "Lexington residents appear at New York Comic Con". Wicked Local. November 7, 2017. Archived from the original on March 8, 2020. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  33. ^ a b "Ryan Jude Novelline 12 IL". RISD XYZ. Spring/Summer 2018: 86. May 29, 2019.
  34. ^ Acuna, Kirsten (October 5, 2019). "Photos of the best cosplay from New York Comic Con 2019". Business Insider. Archived from the original on March 1, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  35. ^ Gallo-Pratt, Nicole (October 10, 2019). "NYCC 2019: Spirit Halloween's Breakdown of the Best Cosplay". Medium. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  36. ^ Santos, Alexa (October 2019). "New York Comic Con wraps up after whirlwind of cosplay, stars and fun". News 12 Networks. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  37. ^ González, Sheila (February 28, 2023). "Conoce a la doble de la princesa Diana que se ha hecho viral". Marie Claire (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 18, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  38. ^ Mori, Andrea (February 27, 2023). "Descubrimos a la 'doble' de Diana de Gales que arrasa en las redes". Okdiario (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  39. ^ Glover, Ella (May 26, 2022). "'I feel like me': Woman makes a living dressing as a medieval queen". Metro UK. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  40. ^ Lazell, Louise (May 31, 2022). "Intern fulfils regal childhood dreams after redundancy by becoming a medieval Queen on TikTok teaming her ballgowns with one of 250 tiaras". Yahoo. Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  41. ^ "5 Gaun Cantik Ini Terbuat Dari Bahan Yang Tidak Terduga". Fimela (in Indonesian). August 20, 2013. Archived from the original on March 2, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  42. ^ "2018北京国际海洋文化周ADEX亚洲潜水展". Piaoniu (in Chinese). August 31, 2018. Archived from the original on March 1, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  43. ^ Dasgupta, Shreya (February 2018). "ADEX Singapore 2018". Scuba Diver Australasia + Ocean Planet (112): 29.
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