July 30th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
(Uncategorized)
There are some fun fashion related things on the tube that seem worth TIVO’ing to check out.
PBS has Hair World: The Pursuit of Excellence, which in the Twin Cities is airing Tuesday, July 31, 11:00pm and Wednesday, August 1 at 5am. PBS’ site says, “Highlights of the 2006 International HairWorld Championships for hairstylists, in Moscow. Included: footage of preparations by a U.S. team, including stylists Dale Dees and Danny DiLeo, and trainers Ron Hawkins, Andrea Turrisi and Michael Della Penna.” Having watched about half of it last week, and all set to finish it this week I have to say it’s a real insider’s look at something I knew very little about. In Detroit, where I’m from, competitive hair shows were very common and a big deal, but I never went (regrettably). This documentary shows the painstaking time and energy put into the designs and training, which is honestly way more than I could have possibly imagined.
TCM is airing the movie Beau Brummel from 1954 August 1 at 1pm. I’ve never seen it but I have it set to tape as a flick about the most famous male fashion icon seems like a good bet.
Finally, NGC is re-airing their spectacular Taboo series which covers a ton of dress issues and I have watched over and over. Covering topics such as body modification, gender identity, and rites of passage, the series is a virtual dress classroom with stimulating and captivating glimpse into the methods people use to express themselves and their experiences visually. I’ve taped them, but I really should just buy them so I can have good copies for a long time.
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July 26th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
(Uncategorized)
BoingBoing recently posted that there is a new book chronicling the adventures of Japanese teen street fashions which is always a roller coaster. It’s called Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno and is an illustrated history of this irreverent underground culture.
There is a great journal article that I believe is Japanese Teens as Producers of Street Fashion by Yuniya Kawamura from FIT in which the details of this independent and inspirational fashion cycle are explained and analyzed. The author talks about salesgirls as icons and their incredible market savvy, as well as the making of street celebs, and rejection of mainstream ideologies. It’s really one of the better articles I’ve read in a long time. A thorough look into a fast paced and ever changing subculture. Gwen Stefani plays a big role in bringing a certain surface level version of it to the U.S. market, but it’s so much more thrilling to learn how the originators conceive the looks.
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July 24th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
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The Detroit Urban Craft Fair is coming up and on their page it lists a series of ways people can get involved. One was to post the link-so I oblidged. If you’re in Detroit Aug. 4 you should check it out.
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July 23rd, 2007 at 4:49 pm
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It’s odd timing since my last post had a religious bent-but, I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the sad passing of icon Tammy Faye-who by all indications was a creative, charitable, open-minded, loving person, who supported the gay community and AIDS patients when others were shunning them and left us with an enduring image of her dedication to personal style. I like this link to Slate with a few snippets from the blogosphere including a quote from her last appearence on Larry King when asked ‘If you could have people remember you for one thing, what would it be?’ and she replied, ‘Well, my eyelashes.’
If you haven’t seen the documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye it really is a fabulous film.
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July 23rd, 2007 at 2:46 pm
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In last week’s Newsweek there was an article entitled Girls Going Mild(er) which discussed a supposedly growing movement of young women shifting toward a modest dress style as opposed to the pantyless celebs and bead begging shirt lifters that saturate the media.
It seems like a couple of concepts rolled into one confused theme. The core of the “modesty” movement with it’s books, sites, and fashion shows, is from varied religious backgrounds, all emphasizing purity and virginity. However, while the article does briefly address the ebb and flow of fashion trends based on societal mores, it is primarily focused on religious pride and virtue as a road to aesthetic clarity.
It’s a fairly well written article summarizing the influx of conservative values into the mainstream while that same mainstream is simultaneously clamoring for every nudie shot of celebs or any pretty spring breaker we can get. But, one point was sorely missed in the article. From my point of view, it appears that not only the pious, but also those considered alternative, and many considered fully within the mainstream are also rejecting the overtly sexualized daily wear that was recently somewhat popular (at least in the press). As I look at the hundreds of stylish young women in the halls of the fashion program I’m involved with, and in general just living in a pretty large city, it doesn’t seem the average young woman is buying into the image that most media outlets continually reiterate that she is buying into.
The Newsweek article’s angle, and other’s like it, make it sounds like the only people rejecting the flashing brigade are the devout and dressing the part, when actually it’s probably more accurate that most people are rejecting it.
I’m sure lots of people would disagree with me, and perhaps it’s geographic, but particularly in daily wear, most young women aren’t dressing in a way that would make poeple blush. Granted there are tons of very young girls who are highly sexualized, and do dress in provocative ways. But, I would contend the bulk of women are not dressing that way, and so a “movement” supposedly organized to reject a style, appears to be partially creating it. It’s possibly for their own needs to serve the agenda of empowering themselves as relevant when perhaps they’re not. To me it seems like another avenue to use dress as subtle behavior control, with questionable motives, and even more questionable support that it’s even an effective method of achieving the goal of changing people’s actions.
There are a ton of popular and scholarly books and articles about modesty in dress and its reasons, psychology, purposes, and success levels for its goals. But, within mainstream Western society this whole thing seems blown out of proportion and a little self-serving and narrow, let alone possibly pointless and ineffective for its purposes.
Not be confused, this not at all a rant against religion or modesty by choice–It is a comment on the over simplification of people’s view on dress as a behavior modifier as well as a route to judge other’s morality.
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July 19th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
(Uncategorized)
My friend Scott emailed me a link to this awesome skirt that glows from electroluminescent (EL) wire and reflective and transparent fabrics. While the concept is geared toward safety, there are a slew of fun applications that are highly theatrical. There’s a demo on the linked site from this year’s Maker Faire so you can put it together yourself.
I think it’s a bit limited that so few higher ed courses are given on textiles and the directions they’re moving in apparel. Granted, most people in fashion programs are not gearing up for a life in the lab, but the gap between the design world and the high tech world should be a lot smaller at this point than it actually is. Sometimes I’m so surprised by what passes for innovative textile research in the academic apparel world (admittedly I’ve done my own that was somewhat entry level market research-but it grew in some interesting directions). Also, I’m shocked by how little the tech schools utilize the skills of nearby design students to make their stuff at all appealing aesthetically, with strong fit and practical function, not to mention in styles to coordinate with a tech forward buyer/wearer.
Some schools are moving in the right direction, but, I’d love to see more integrative classes, projects, scholarships, etc. that are collaborative between the tech and design people in order to go in the direction that Nike, North Face, and so many more went years ago. Otherwise how are students going to be able to keep up and be prepared for the fashion workforce to come when it’s not just niche and sports brands developing smart textiles apparel products, but when it’s the norm. Perhaps if more students entering the industry were better trained, smart textiles would already be more incorporated into daily wear, as so many technological innovations are already in use in military, sports, and and a few luxury products.
In the meantime, or as an alternative, DIY smart textiles projects are often some of the best items being produced and I’m always thrilled to hear about another cool idea.
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July 18th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
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A few months back as I was preparing to start Worn Through, I did quite a bit of research to see what sort of fashion blogs were out there and whether they appealed to my interests. In my search, I found an article that ranked the top 50 fashion blogs based on unique visitors, how far the site reaches, and links.
Based on this info, along with checking out the various cooperative sites listed on Coutorture, and related group sites, I realized there were so few blogs talking about fashion issues other than celebrities, top trends, runway news, and and the industry. Truthfully I was sort of surprised top find so few fashion blogs talking about academic life, museum happenings, subcultural and countercultural concepts, and general pop or street culture that weren’t ruled by daily celebrity news. Admitedly, I’m a daily celebrity trash blog reader, by the dozens actually, but when it comes to fashion and dress in general there is so much happening outside of that sphere. Hopefully as Worn Through grows I can continue to showcase apparel news and info from all sorts of points of view.
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July 17th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
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I found this call for artists on a blog I check out often called the Arts Competitions List
I’m copying it pretty much directly so you get all the info but also Here is the Link:
“The call for entry is directed toward all visual artists to submit a full-body, innovative piece of wearable art. Suzanne Perron, formerly of Vera Wang, and Susan Ryan, Louisiana State University art professor, will be the jurors. Together they will award cash prizes to placed contestants. Selected pieces will be presented in a choreographed performance staged by The Cangelosi Dance Project. The aim is to create a venue for this growing art form while providing an inclusive atmosphere for artists and patrons. Entry fee.”
Contact:
Erin L Rolfs
Baton Rouge Gallery
1442 City Park Avenue
Baton Rouge LA 70808
225-383-1470
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July 17th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
(Exhibitions, Uncategorized)
In Portland-The Contemporary Crafts Museum and Gallery is reopening July 22 as the Museum of Contemporary Craft. In their doubling of square footage which will be up to 15,000 sq. ft., they plan to push ideas of craft to new avenues and concepts. Should be a place to keep and eye on for innovative work.
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July 16th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
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I’m back from my trip to the Southwest, which was absolutely refreshing, relaxing, inspiring, and exciting. From a dress perspective, there was great difference in what I’m accustom to as the Southwest has a few distinct styles, some of which are blended together. The mix of Native American, Hispanic, and Cowboy looks provided for some great shopping and people watching. I will say the male pony tail is a dominant theme.
I found Harlo some fantastic and inexpensive western wear shirts at a seemingly authentic (and enormous) store in Amarillo, TX called Cavenders. He’s been wearing western shirts from both vintage and from chain stores, and so a store the size of two Gaps filled with “the real deal” was overwhelmingly fun. I recommend you check out the selection if you’ve got the rockabilly bug in you.
The jewelry in Santa Fe was another point of endless shopping and I was thrilled that prices and variety ranged from street vendors for a few bucks to “whatever-you-want-to-spend” at the fine jewelry stores. After two days mesmerized, we were taken a little off-guard by a cabbie that casually pointed out that he doubts it’s all actually native made because the quantity is seemingly endless. Truthfully, he had a point, which rained on our parade a little and brought to mind notions about where our money was going and who exactly we were supporting with our purchases. But, we decided to hope for truth-in-labeling and made some beautiful purchases (no matter where they’re really from).
Roswell was a real point of visual insanity as the crowd at the festival for the 60h anniversary of the crash was from everywhere and represented every style. There was no general look of the Ufoligists (as I learned the scholars are called) although offbeat would probably fit. That whole part of our trip sent me on a whirlwind of thoughts about acceptable vs. nonacceptable eccentricities, and what kinds of “alternative” end up mainstream two seasons later, while others get further and further from the pack. I also thought a lot about playtime vs. daily life and how some people express themselves radically differently in different environments. I was actually a bit disappointed there weren’t more people with really far-out (pun intended) looks, but it was oppressively hot and even the die-hard costume contest participants were losing their commitment as they were sweltering. (The photo is me in my “bad antena day” tshirt with two of the 1st prize costume contest winners.)
We hit up some other cities and had an overall fantastic time. The Albuquerque/Santa Fe area is one I’ll be returning to ASAP although next time I’ll probably skip Taos, which is right there as well, but I can do without the aging, wealthy hippies and their boring, but overpriced bistros and boutiques.
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