By Monica Sklar,
March 26th, 2008 at 10:59 am
(Uncategorized)
Tim Gunn is in town today!Project Runway’s favorite father figure will make an appearance at Herberger’s, a department store at Rosedale mall, in Roseville, MN. He’s here to promote Liz Clairborne, for which he’s now the Cheif Creative Director, after leaving Parsons. There will be wardrobe transformations, Q & A, and he’ll pose for photos with people who spent $100 and more (which seems funny to me as his main fan-base might not be exactly L.C. shoppers, and might not often spent $100 a pop). Anyway, it starts at 6pm and they’re expecting big crowds so be early! I don’t think I’ll go, however I’ve seriously considered the Make It Work bobble-head for my desk which is adorable. Also, check out this awesome t-shirt which cracks me up.
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By Monica Sklar,
March 25th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
(Conferences and Calls for Papers, Uncategorized)
A two-day colloquium organized by the McCord Museum of Canadian History in collaboration with the Costume Society of America, Northeastern Region in conjunction with the McCord Museum exhibition Reveal or Conceal. Fashion is inextricably linked to the bodies that wear it. Bodies give shape and meaning to clothing, while dress makes bodies social and fashionable (or unfashionable). How do we address the body in researching and interpreting the history of dress and fashion? How do we address its absence in studying the material culture of clothing? In the light of the growing scholarly interest in addressing the body in many academic disciplines, this colloquium aims to foster a dialogue among those in the academic setting who study the body as it relates to dress and fashion, and dress as an embodied practice, with those who approach it from the museum, material culture, living history, and design perspectives. Themes: Abstracts for papers are sought on the following themes, in historic or contemporary, Western or non-Western perspectives. Research incorporating or intersecting with material culture is encouraged.Uncovering modesty: Issues in the historical and contemporary perceptions of acceptable body covering, regulating dress and modesty, the interplay between modesty and eroticism in dress. Shifting standards: Key changes in constructions of physical comfort in dress, notions of public and private in fashion and the body, and gendering and the dressed body. Fashionable immodesty: The power of the partially dressed body, marketing the body, readdressing theories such as the “shifting erogenous zone”Wearing the body: methods of shaping the body from corsetry to fitness, embellishment and modifications of the exposed body, issues surrounding appropriate public presentation of the body. Putting bodies on display: aspects of museum or living history presentation of dressed bodies, such as the creation of mannequins and supports for bodies, clothing for bodies to be displayed in unusual ways. Practical demonstrations are welcome. Abstracts for papers should not exceed 600 words in length and should be sent via e-mail to symposium@mccord.mcgill.ca with a short biography for use in the program or publicity (about 200 words). A separate page must indicate the authors’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses, and to whom all communications should be directed. Students (Masters and PhD) are encouraged to submit, and should also indicate their degree status and school and program in which they are enrolled. All contributions must be received no later than June 13, 2008. Click here for the contact email.
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By Monica Sklar,
March 25th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
(Uncategorized)
Emily sent me this fun link to a video from the 30′s about what clothes in the year 2000 would look like. You should for sure check it out. I think there are a lot of videos such as this one and it would be a great project to get them all together and do some sort of analysis on them.
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By Monica Sklar,
March 12th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
(Conferences and Calls for Papers, Uncategorized)
So here’s a list of things to consider doing: A book called Teaching the Body is looking for contributors by June 1, 2008. They say, “The editors of Transformations seek articles (5,000-10,000 words) and media reviews (books, film, video, performance, art, music, etc. 3,000 to 5,000 words) that explore the body in a variety of pedagogical contexts and disciplinary perspectives including literature, science, womens and gender studies, anthropology and more.” Email or web. A journal called Interdisciplinary Forum on Early Modern Women and Material Culture is looking for submissions by October 31. They say, “An Interdisciplinary Journal invites submissions to an interdisciplinary forum slated for publication in Volume IV (2009). Email or web. Expressions of the Body: Representations in African Text and Image needs a contributor wanted for volume on representations of the body in African text and image by March 31. They say it is “a collection of academic essays by international researchers working on topics related to the representation of the human body in African literature, art, photography, theatre and film.” Email. A publication called Feminist Theory and Fashion in Modernity needs essay proposals by April 15 from a cross-disciplinary perspective of current feminist scholarship on modern fashion in the period between 1860 and 1940. Email. Stanford is starting a fellowship for 2008 for scholarly researchers in the arts who also practice in the arts. You have to have compelted your schooling by 2005. It sounds pretty fantastic. Web.
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By Monica Sklar,
March 11th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
(Uncategorized)
I’m in my last full coursework semester so things are heating up for my dissertation. For the process of getting dissertation ideas together I am doing a project for one of my classes that is essentially a pilot study. I’m putting together a small focus group to answer questions, discuss, and brainstorm on my topic, and through that conversation I hope to shape the final concepts that will be my core research questions for my dissertation. I am looking for individuals who self-identify as punk, or at least have at some point, and are college educated with a job/career in any type of work environment not directly tied to the punk subculture (not full-time in a band, working at a venue, record label, record store, etc.). The root of the discussion will be about dress, as I want to talk about how one dresses regarding their “punk” self as compared to their “work” self. I just need 4-6 participants for one 1-2 hour discussion with me and the rest of the participants. If needed, I may want to do one brief follow-up interview individually. The focus group will most likely be from 11am-1pm on Mar. 30 or April 6, but the date and time are not finalized yet, although nights and weekends are best for me. We will probably meet at either a UMN campus meeting room, or a coffee shop. The details will be finalized with the participants’ schedules. Interested people should email me by March 24, 2008.
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By Monica Sklar,
March 11th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
(Uncategorized)
I apologize that my posting pace has been scaled way back lately as it’s mid-semester and I’m swamped, but here are a few links I’ve been wanting to share. I’ll skip the commentary this time in order to just get them posted. Harlo sent me a link from New York magazine about people who wear only one color. This was similar to one of the first Worn Through posts about people who dress in an unusual fashion, such as wearing the same thing or versions of it for decades. For anyone who hasn’t heard, there is a class action lawsuit and settlement for people who purchased diamonds in the past few years. I might qualify so I plan on doing the process, but as you’ll see from the site it’s a tad labor intensive, probably not too much time, but a little effort on the recipients part (of course). Might be worth checking out though.The LA Times recently did pieces on Cali finally getting a Bathing Ape store which I know many people have griped about-not specifically for LA, but the lack of domestic stores in general.Also, LA Times did a piece on Elmer Ave which is a compound/collective of sorts putting out high end graffiti blazers and the like. While normally I am suspicious of this type of stuff being cheesey, particularily from LA (hello Fred Segal most of the time), I think I’m a supporter of their pretty sharp looking designs. The article describes their stuff as “desconstructed, reworked and hand-painted vintage blazers,” and they’re pretty enticing.
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