By Monica Sklar,
November 28th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
(Uncategorized)
Not too long ago Harlo, via BoingBoing.net, led me to some absolutely beautiful photos that I just had to share with you. They’re by a photographer named Clayton James Cubitt and the series is entitled Lagos Calling which is of course a reference to The Clash’s London Calling. I have a strong interest in the skinhead look to begin with, and the incorportion of African aesthetics, and the historical tint and scratch of the photos makes these shots breathtaking. I emailed Cubitt to get more background info because some online references to the shots indicate they were a fashion shoot (for what publication I don’t know) and some say they may in fact be historical??? I haven’t heard back yet, and don’t know if I will, be regardless, I’m a fan.
Note-there is some debate on the web over his use of dogs in the shots as a reference to dog fighting. However, to me and many of the other viewers, it does not seem that the shots embrace or encourage dog fighting, which of course is an abhorent thing that I would never endorse.
3 Comments
By Monica Sklar,
November 28th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
(Uncategorized)
This weekend should be a gift-getting frenzy as the No Coast Craft-O-Rama hits the Twin Cities. In fact, Debbie Stoller, of Stich n Bitch and Bust fame, will be signing books from 4-5pm on Friday (which I don’t think I can make) but I expect to be there with bells on Friday night or Saturday morning. Lately I’ve been really into brooches, and have picked up some fabulous ones in felt such as a grrrl skull and crossbones and the state of michigan with a heart for Detroit, as well as some by Carly Stipe in floral designs made of her trademark duct tape stylin’. I’d bought a duct tape purse from her many years back in MI, and was pleased to find when I moved to the Twin Cities that this is where she’s from and I can frequently find her at craft shows and her wares at local stores. There are so many things about colored duct tape in apparel applications is so perfect for me.
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By Monica Sklar,
November 28th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
(Jobs, Uncategorized)
The Royal Ontario Museum posted a position for an assistant curator. I think this was posted months back and it may be the same one I blogged about before, but it’s a good museum in a cool city so worth a second post if it is indeed the same. I found the post on Costume Society of America’s site and it says it was listed Nov. 14 so that’s fairly recent. They say they’re taking apps through Dec. 14, so you’d have to get to it quickly.
Here’s what they say about the job description:
“The successful applicant will join the Textile and Costume section of the ROM’s Department of World Cultures. They will oversee a collection of approx. 12,000 works with particular strengths in Chinese Qing dynasty court costume, textiles and costume of the Islamic world (including an important collection of mediaeval tiraz), Indian chintz, and Eastern European regional dress. They will be expected to: undertake an active program of research that leads to publication and presentation of work in peer-reviewed scholarly outlets and to seek external grant funding for that research; develop a dynamic program of collection-based scholarship through acquisitions, permanent and temporary exhibits, publications, new media and public programs; participate in museum service and community outreach. The applicant is required to be actively engaged with the academic community and should qualify to teach in undergraduate and graduate programmes at university level.”
They give two contacts:
Anu Liivandi
Assistant Curator
Textile & Costume Section
Department of World Cultures
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen’s Park
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C6
Canada
Tel. 416-586-8057
Fax 416-586-5877
Email anu@rom.on.ca
and
The Royal Ontario Museum, Human Resources Department
100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C6
Fax # (416) 586-5827
1 Comment
By Monica Sklar,
November 24th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
(Uncategorized)
I was reading the recent NY Times article on “IT” celeb-of-sorts Andre J, the bearded Vogue covergirl, and in the piece it said that (s)he spends time on Google looking up tragic lost model Donyale Luna. So of course, I am so drawn to the tragic lost variety of story, and had to go straight to Google myself to see what’s up. (There are a ton of links, but I decided the one I used was the most thorough.) Well, I didn’t know that Donyale Luna was in fact a Detroiter (my homegirl!), who rose to fame it the 60s as the first African American on the covers of major fashion press, and also was part of Warhol’s factory, among other film appearances. Having read tons about Warhol, going to the museum in Pittsburgh, and seeing every type of movie possible, I must have somehow missed her. Anyway, she was a tragic and mysterious character, with a sketchy background that she got away from through fantastical stories about a global history. There are some great shots of her in Paco Rabine clothes and much more, and Adel Rootstein even did a mannequin of her. However, she died of drugs in the late 70s, after fading into obscurity and has been mostly forgotten as people credit Beverly Johnson and Iman as the first women of color to make an impact on the fashion scene. Glad that the NY Times put that little side thought in, as I really enjoyed learning about a lost icon. All the sites seem to describe a biopic en route, but who knows when.
There are so many people like this, and it’s too bad we cannot make biopics and write books about all of them. But, the beauty of the Internet is that we can learn about them all in a click. In thinking about my subcultural studies of late, I can think of tons of people who would make for interesting biopics, books, articles, etc who made quick but lasting impacts on the world of fashion. That’s why I love those movies about Leigh Bowery, Peter Berlin, and more. I have a few tucked away for when I have the chance one day to showcase someone. Let me know if you ahve any suggestions of anyone else to Google to draw out of obscurity.
Comments
By Monica Sklar,
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:41 pm
(Uncategorized)
I’m working on a class project in my clothing and behavior course on what young men wear to work. With mandatory grey suits a thing of yesterday, and business casual a confusing mess, my research partner and I decided to do a small term project on how new professional men get it together. If you are one of said men, and would like to do our survey, it takes less than 20 minutes and is very easy. Email me and I’ll send you the attachment. We’re hoping to have about 50 completed by Dec. 1. You’d be really helping me out.
1 Comment
By Monica Sklar,
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:37 pm
(Uncategorized)
Hi All. Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I promise I will return to my more or les daily posting ASAP. I’ve been swamped in homework, and with the holiday this week everything has been quiet on the fashion front and intense on the homework front which combined equals little to post on. I did decide to venture out today for Black Friday and truthfully it was lackluster. Granted, I didn’t make it out until about noon, because the whole notion of the 4am madness is just that. But, Macy’s was the only place that was actually doing full on deals, Everywhere else had a little bit of crap on sale to get you in the door and then nothing on major sale to speak of. There were some shoppers at Target with black t-shirts, which in puffy paint had written, “Black Friday team, we shopped ’til we dropped.” Then it had all the stores they went to listed like tour dates. Now that is dedication. Or stupidity. Not sure.
Also regarding my lack of posting–I do have a lot of coals in the fire with some new and exciting projects I look forward to sharing with you as soon as they are more developed. Basically it sounds like things are really moving in terms of me getting more of my research out there in some fun and productive ways.
Hope you have a fight-free holiday shopping weekend.
1 Comment
By Monica Sklar,
November 17th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
(Uncategorized)
I just loved this NY Times article about one man’s debate over owning a Ramones t-shirt, and how he feels when his young son wants one from Hot Topic. It is a heartfelt account of the authenticity issues surrounding subcultural iconography. Went straight to my heart and I laughed a lot. I think the only time I ever saw the Ramones was at the Michigan State Fair and a guy stood in front of me, practically pressed up against me, who must have been well over 6’5″. I was going to try to get him to move the hell out of the way, but he then proceeded to remove his sweaty t-shirt to reveal an enormous, full back tattoo of a swastika. My teenage self was a little intimidated, and decided to just step aside slowly. Anyway, I guess I earned a t-shirt, but I don’t have one either (like the article’s author). I did also see Joey Ramone in person once hanging outside of Coney Island High when I was crashing in NYC ten years ago. His up close and personal image rocked me a little as he’d really aged at that point, but it was still daunting and I remember everything about him from that night.
In follow-up news, the LA Times has a piece this week about the Ramones look and their influence on fashion.
2 Comments
By Monica Sklar,
November 17th, 2007 at 9:33 am
(Uncategorized)
Below Heather is guest posting about her recent experience with what she feels is unjust plagiarism. She asked to use Worn Through to discuss this issue, and I said “sure” because I think it is important to address this type of behavior.
Furthermore, I too recently experienced plagiarism, on a much smaller scale than Heather, but it still burned. Prior to my return to school this past year I was the Director of an art gallery for one year. The gallery has an annual newsletter, for which I wrote a biographical essay describing my background, accomplishments, and commitment to arts and culture in the community. This newsletter is distributed to a few thousand people. This year I was able to see a copy, and upon reading the new Director’s biographical essay I was astonished to see she had my background (with subtle changes) and exactly the same verbiage about her commitment to the arts, the community etc. Exact same paragraphs which I spent a lot of time on phrasing my exact feelings.
So, plagiarism big and small is unethical, frustrating, and reflects horribly on the plagiarist (of course). Take a few to read Heather’s account which had a much larger audience than my newsletter issue.
FROM HEATHER: While doing some “freshening up” research recently, for a paper I published online on the Iconic nature of the shirtwaist dress “Icon: Tracing the path of the 1950s Shirtwaist Dress” in 2005, I was shocked and angered to discovered that my article had been substantially plagiarized by a reporter for the Financial Times of London.
Columnist and fashion editor, Vanessa Friedman, utilized and did not credit my work in her article “FT WEEKEND – STYLE: The working woman’s best friend” of April 22, 2006.
While I appreciate and was flattered that Ms Friedman found my research interesting and useful, it disheartened me that a journalist at such a high caliber publication as the Financial Times would plagiarize the work of an academic. Friedman’s article very clearly lifts quotes, points and arguments from my much longer article which explores the development of a shirtwaist as an icon – as far as I’ve been able to discern, the only research yet to do so.
Friedman’s article, while it did include additional quotes from contemporary designers that were not a part of my paper, does lift significantly from my work without recognition or consultation. (“recent films such as Pleasantville and Far From Heaven”; quoting the Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences in a 1916 pattern book in the collection of the Costume Institute at the MET in NYC; and covering key points highlighted in my paper including Dior, Donna Reed, idealized motherhood, and summarizing my descriptions of early shirtwaist designs).
Ms. Friedman has clearly passed this research off as her own work, and, I assume collected a paycheck for this piece. This is highly unethical and appalling behavior. I think I deserve an apology, a copy of a printed notice published in the paper (including a link to my original article), and for Friedman’s article to be removed from the website. Compare the two yourself and see if you don’t come to the same conclusion.”
Many thanks Monica, for sharing my story.
1 Comment
By Monica Sklar,
November 12th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
(Uncategorized)
John Waters was here on Sat. doing his one man show “This Filthy World” as well as sitting for an interview with Minnesota Public Radio. For whatever reason, MPR is significantly better than Detroit’s public radio, and they bring in all sorts of amazing shows like This American Life and Amy Sedaris. Anyway, John Waters isn’t just one of my favorite author/film makers (yes I wrote author first because I have a preference for the books and spoken word over the films), but his movies are a life-long design inspiration for me since my Cry-Baby birthday party in 1990. I am absolutely enthralled with the look of the Dreamland gang, and you could see the same enthusiasm in many of the attendees of the show. Wigs, bouffants, horn-rimmed glasses, and all the trimmings. In fact, Harlo even said to me, “This is the first thing we’ve been to since we moved here where people had retro style.” Meaning, in Detroit, retro is a major thing vs. the crusty, punky, hippy vibe of the Twin Cities. (See previous post on the subject).
Talking about retro meets punky, the band that played to open, close and entertain intermission was The God Damn Doo Wop Band. They are fabulous, and this is the second show we’ve seen by them which was such a treat. Real honest to goodness 50s/60s songwriting and stylin’, with a tat and pierced touch. Sincerely, really polished great songs, and a look that is a lot of fun, although I hoped they would dress up more for the Waters show, as I was looking forward to seeing debutante dresses and instead they had on very nice, but a little bit drab 50s/60s common wear. We picked up their album, which is almost as much fun as the shows, except the horn on the album, which is choking the life-blood out of all the songs with its poor pitch. Somehow though, they are such good songs that doesn’t even really matter.
Anyway, I cannot get over how much I adore everything about the John Waters world. I once asked him at some meet-and-greet about working with him and he referred me to Divine’s long-time hair, make-up, and stylist named Van something. I tried to get in touch, but never heard back. No worries, but of course a girl can dream. Anyway, thought you’d enjoy the two pictures exactly ten years apart. No matter how old you get, it’s good to have people to look up to. (ignore the red-eye in the 2007)
1 Comment
By Monica Sklar,
November 9th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
(Conferences and Calls for Papers, Uncategorized)
The Pop Culture/American Culture associations joint national conference will be in San Fran in March ’08, and they are still looking for submissions to the Fashion area. I will most likely be there as something I’m co-authoring on biker clothes has been accepted to the Motorcycle topics area. The due date is Dec 1 and they’re looking for 150 word asbtracts. Should be a good time. If you’re going let me know. You can send your work to: jhh33@drexel.edu
2 Comments
