Is it just me, or does it seem like everyone refers to ALL automotive decorative pinstriping as "Von Dutch" style striping? Is there a better term for it, or is that what we're stuck with? I think of a lot of those guys as having their own styles, not encomp***ing the entire art...
I've heard it 4 times this week, either from car guys, Barrett Jackson, and non-car folks...maybe it's just that he's become a buzz word that bugs me...
Yeah.....and what's up with all the "Von"s......seems like there are alot of "Von so and so"s too......
Listening to BJ was your first mistake. You are right though, his name is and will always be a buzz word. Like Unkl Ian said, you're listening to the wrong folks for that. Go check out the pinhead lounge or sketchkult.com There is tons of info and pics.
Been to both of them, I'm not THAT big into pinstriping, it's just something I do when I'm wasted...hence my ignorance...
You are not alone. At least these people realize Von Dutch was a pinstriper, not a clothing designer.
What I originally was wondering was if there's a better description/name for decorative pinstriping so I can correct them and stop the insanity?
Well, technically the lines down the sides of vehicles of any age old or new is pinstriping too, and most people get confused, so they refer to the decorative stuff as Von Dutch style to seperate the two types, and I don't like *******izing someone's name/style to be used as a blanket term...
Develop you own style and call it Winthrop deco???? And some day dumb***'s at BJ jr will be talking about Winthrop deco.
Long before there was a Von Dutch there were stripers and sign men that were decorating circus wagons in the style that preceded the fifties craze for car decoration. Every line that is credited to stripers today was done before cars were invented. There are thousands of books and photos to prove it.
I already have my own style, John (surfacedoctor) calls it "frantic"...whatever it is, it works for me and I'm happy with it...
From everything I read ,way back then, Pinstripping on rods and customs had a reason. Draw your attention to an area that was reworked,changed or modified, and "fill -in" the "gap " to balance everything out. Of course it also is a nice one of a kind decoration to finish something ,like a mat around a framed piece of art or photo. It's all about personal expression. Many styles, each stripper having his own"signature"...I like to call it "50's style hot rod" ....then most relate. Not O/T ...part of the paint appearance of a Rod.
What a loaded topic . For fun I ask people wearing Von Dutch gear who he is . Most think he is a clothing designer . I suppose it would be really flattering for Dutch at this stage to have become a house hold word... But truth be told he was self loathing glue sniffing , drunk that basically killed himself .... Not the best role model ..... And as for all the other Von people popping up . Someone should systematically remove their spleens with a red hot poker .....
When I was there it was just added to a car because it was cool and fun to watch the guy do it. It was like a tattoo today, adds little to the beauty of the object it is put on, in fact it usually detracts, but just a "in" thing that everyone has done to be part of the crowd.
Personally a lot of plain jane hot rods and customs benefit from pinstriping, it can give a mild custom a huge at***ude change, and give a hot rod some custom style...if you ask me, scallops and flames tend to ruin a car's look more than pinstriping can, usually...
This sounds exactly like HR40 was telling you. Tattoos add at***ude just like pinstriping, flames, and scallops. Too much at***ude and anything can be ruined.
I've always heard what you refer to as "Von Dutch" style called "Daggerpoint" pinstriping. The more swoopy, flowing stripes are referred to as "Scroll" or "Scrollwork". May be right, may be wrong, but it's just what I grew up with.
what I meant was, it's not often (in my eyes) that scallops and flames can be pulled off on ANY car, it's much harder to find a car that looks worse after pinstriping than it is to find one after flames or scallops ruined it...he said pinstriping tends to detract from the car and add little beauty to it...I think the opposite is true...
Done correctly,with sensitivity,flames,scallops,pinstriping,etc, will add to the car,instead of trying to dominate it. There can be too much of a good thing, the trick is in knowing when to stop,and when to say No. If you follow the logic of "the customer is always right", you might find yourself doing some ugly work.
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