By Lucy Collins,
November 17th, 2009 at 5:21 am
(Jobs, Uncategorized)
(1. Assistant or Associate Professor in Product Design, College of Design – University of Minnesota
The College of Design at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities invites applications and nominations for a tenure-track faculty position in product design and design thinking at the level of Assistant or Associate Professor. The successful candidate will take a leadership role in developing new courses in product design and design thinking as well as participate in planning for a new interdisciplinary product design program with a focus on human health and well-being.
We seek a colleague in product design and design thinking who will focus on human health and well-being in its broadest sense and who will forge further connections with health-related initiatives across campus and with the well-established medical and health businesses in Minnesota. The successful candidate will develop and teach courses in product design and design thinking in the College of Design; collaborate with faculty members across the university to create interdisciplinary courses; establish ties with local, national, and international businesses; create and grow a research program in the field of product design and design thinking; pursue external funding in support of her or his research agenda; and participate in faculty governance at the college and university levels. Candidates must have a clear vision, a commitment to interdisciplinary work, demonstrated or potential leadership skills and a global perspective. Strong collaborative and interpersonal skills are vital.
The position is a 100%-time, nine-month, tenure-track appointment at the level of Assistant or Associate Professor, with the possibility of tenure at the Associate level. The expected start date is August 30, 2010.
Qualifications:
- Commitment to disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching.
- Commitment to research and creative production.
- Commitment to outreach and service.
- Strong collaborative and interpersonal skills, and the ability to forge productive connections with business, related professions, and communities beyond the University.
- Experience in design or design thinking related to products and systems for human health and well-being.
- Ability to obtain external funding from industry or government sources.
- Commitment to cultural diversity in teaching and research.
- Terminal degree in product design or a related field.
- In addition to the above essential qualifications, the rank of Associate Professor requires a significant record of distinction in scholarship or creative practice in the fields of product design and design thinking.
To apply:
Visit: https://employment.umn.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=83548 (Requisition #163496)
Submit the following materials: a cover letter; curriculum vitae; a statement of vision for research in product design or design thinking; a statement of vision for teaching in product design and design thinking; and contact information for five professional references. A brief (no more than 4 pages) portfolio of original design scholarly work or creative practice should be submitted as PDF attachments in the on-line employment system.
Review of applications will begin December 2009 and continue until the position is filled.
Inquiries about the position may be addressed to the Search Committee Chairs:
Professor William Durfee at wkdurfee@umn.edu
Professor Karen LaBat at klabat@umn.edu
(2. Assistant Professor of Material Culture and Fabrication/ Director of the Donghia Material Library, Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School for Design, a division of The New School, seeks applicants for Assistant Professor of Material Culture and Fabrication / Director of the Donghia Material Library within the School of Constructed Environments (SCE). This is a tenure-track faculty position with administrative and teaching responsibilities.
Responsibilities:
- Serve as the director of the Donghia Material Library
- Work closely with the School’s leadership to refine and implement the Donghia Library’s mission and its integration into the School’s curriculum
- Organize the existing material library into an educational research and technology transfer hub linking practice and industry on issues related to constructed environments materials, with emphasis upon sustainable materials and manufacturing processes
- Develop and assist in the implementation of new courses in material science and application, open to all programs in SCE with special focus on the interior.
- Provide reference assistance to students and faculty
- Maintain and update the collection and interact with manufacturers, industry and research-lab representatives
- Maintain and upgrade the library’s organization, including the management of sample lending
- Monitor and coordinate work study library assistants
- Work with the SCE dean and program directors in the development of public programs and fundraising
Applicants should demonstrate expertise in the practice, history and theory of constructed environments and product materials while also being able to teach students from a variety of disciplines across Parsons. Candidates must be innovative in their pedagogical approaches to activating students’ interest in the relation between theory and practice, and be forward-thinking about what skills/proficiencies are now required to adeptly respond to complex 21st-century global conditions. The successful candidate will have an earned terminal degree in the design field or equivalent professional standing/experience, will demonstrate potential to be strong in teaching, research, and scholarship, and will have an established record of professional accomplishments.
Requirements:
- A terminal degree or demonstrated equivalence in the fields of product design, architecture, lighting, or interior design with a focus on material research and sustainable design
- An understanding of the implications of design and fine arts practice in relationship to broader social, cultural, economic, scientific and technological forces (an engagement with the contemporary art/design of Asia, Africa, Europe or Latin America and/or African Americans, Latinos, or Native Americans is highly desirable.
- University teaching experience, with preference for experience that includes a combination of studios, seminars and tutorials, coupled with a proven track record of working well with people from diverse cultural backgrounds, professional training and aesthetic sensibilities.
- Ability to organize and lead research. Interest in developing serious critical, historical, and theoretical discussions around material research and design in the classroom/studio.
- Ability to develop and nurture individual student’s design abilities and a strong commitment to progressive design education
- Excellent writing and interpersonal communication skills
- Ability to organize, manage and display a collection
- An interest in working collaboratively within Parsons, the University, and with external partners towards the development of shared projects and initiatives
- Demonstrated commitment to sustainability, socially responsible methods and ethical practices in design
- Engagement with the contemporary art/design of Asia, Africa, Europe or Latin America and/or African Americans, Latinos, or Native Americans is highly desirable
A cover letter and curriculum vita must be submitted online at http://careers.newschool.edu. Only applications submitted online will be accepted. Applicants may be contacted at the discretion of the search committee for additional materials, such as digital portfolio/work samples.
Comments
By Monica Sklar,
November 16th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(Uncategorized)
DUCK-Journal for Research in Textiles and Design
Current Call: ‘What is textile design research?’
Deadline for submissions: January 22, 2010
Authors will be informed of the outcome of their submission by the end of April 2010.
Theme:
Research for textiles is broad and far reaching. Historical, theoretical, technical, scientific, commercial and aesthetic strands interweave to create a complex and interdisciplinary field of investigation and invention. The intention of the first call for submissions to DUCK is to explore the nature and significance of current Textile Design research and establish a platform for future discourse.
Submissions are invited which address or cover one or more of the following themes:
The contexts for textile design research
The role of interdisciplinarity in textile design research
The distinction between research related to processes and that related to
outcomes
The tensions between the demands of commercial enterprise and the
academic domain
The methodologies that might be appropriate for textile design research
The impact of new materials and/or technologies on directions and approaches
in textile design research
The influence of craft methods/approaches in textile design research
The interaction between craft and scientific method in textile design research
Historical and theoretical perspectives within textile design research
Relationships between theory and practice in textile design research
The benefit of textile design research to the designer
Forms of application and dissemination of textile design research
Submission Instructions:
Contributions may take the form of written texts (maximum 5,000 words), visual essays, a series of images relating to methods (sketchbook style), visual diaries or other methods deemed appropriate.
Duck does not advise a particular format for written submissions although we ask that contributors present their ideas in an accessible format for Duck’s diverse readership of researchers, educators, artists and designers. For written texts the Harvard System of referencing is preferred.
Images:
Images should be 300dpi where possible, RGB format and submitted as TIFF or JPEG files. Text should be provided in MS Word (.doc), rich text (.rtf) or pdf format.
Further Details:
Please provide your name, affiliation, email address, a title for your submission and a short summary of your contribution.
Submission Info:
Please send submissions by email
(Maximum file size: 5mb). Alternatively, send on disk (CD or DVD) to:
DUCK Journal – Textiles Research Group
Loughborough University School of Art and Design
Loughborough
Leicestershire
LE11 3TU
Comments
By Lauren Michel,
November 13th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(Teaching)
Here is a deceptively simple assignment that teaches students to see trends in color, silhouettes, and styles. I use this one in my introductory course and students always seem to enjoy it, plus, it’s an opportunity for them to learn a number of essential concepts.
Supplies:
- September issues of fashion magazines: Vogue, Elle, GQ, Details. Whatever you feel is the right mix for your students. Having it be the September issues is not essential, but it certainly will give them more material to work with. You don’t want to bother working with January issues, as they’re way too thin. You want loads of visual materials to work with.
- Tag board or poster board
- Scissors
- Glue sticks
Collages. From the supply list above, you drew that conclusion all on your own, didn’t you? Break the class down into small groups of about three or four individuals. You can assign them to their teams, or let them choose who they would like to work with. Distribute the magazines, one to each group.
Now for the trends. You can dictate to each group what you want them to focus on, or you can let them choose organically. I have tried this both ways and either approach will work well, depending on the personalities and work styles of your students. Letting the students guide themselves will result in a surprise from each group, provided that you have strongly visually-oriented and self-directed students. A third option is to give the groups a list of suggested trends to focus on, and let them choose from the list.
Whether you assign or suggest trends, have each group flip through its magazine looking for repetition. Repetition of color, silhouette, style, and so on (curry yellow, riding boots, hosiery, et cetera). One way you can take this assignment is to simply direct the students to look for repetition and tell them to choose from there what they would like to focus on. Some students like having a lot of direction. Others like having a lot of artistic license. You will know what kind your students are and direct them accordingly.
The students will start to develop an eye for whatever their particular element is, whether it was assigned to them or not, and they will keep seeing it repeated throughout their magazine. Have them start cutting out all of those images that fit with their theme and let them take it from there, arranging them on their poster board in whatever arrangement they feel moved to construct. I encourage them to not leave any white space on their boards when they are finished.
You may find yourself surprised by just how much fun your students will have with this simple collage project. A few years ago, I tried this assignment with a class of first-, second- and third-year university students, and their enjoyment was palpable. They commented repeatedly on how much fun they were having, and several of them remarked on how it had been years since they had worked with scissors and glue. One student said that this was the most fun they had had in college ever. I tell you, what could be more gratifying to a teacher’s ears than that? Maybe getting the collages at the end of it all to decorate my office with (I jest!), but who says learning and fun have to be mutually exclusive? Not I, but you knew that.
Comments
By Lucy Collins,
November 12th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(Exhibitions, International Fashion, Uncategorized)
Once again, a slight diversion from the international fashion theme, but I wanted to take a moment to review a current NYC exhibition which is actually very international in scope. I highly recommend the “Dress Codes” exhibition at New York’s International Center of Photography…
The codified nature of dress is a contentious subject. Implying either a clearly defined structure of communication or a system which dictates behavior, the term “code” connotes a certain amount of rigidity. In either case, it might be premature, or rather a bit passé, to speak of clothing as a kind of semiotic endeavor.
Despite the evocative nature of the exhibition title, perhaps subtly referencing Roland Barthes’ seminal work on the subject, it appears that the very message of the images filling the galleries at the ICP is that of a code being broken. As the impressive collection of artists in this triennial exhibition suggests, maybe clothing, or our relationship to the objects that clothe our bodies, is far too complex and murky a matter to be broken down into a clearly demarcated system of references. In fact, it appears that the entire theme of this show is one of blurred boundaries – specifically those between flesh and fabric; individuality and conformity; art and commerce.
While the exhibition includes such art stars as Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, and Lorna Simpson, all of whom have frequently engaged questions concerning masquerade and consumerism, other notable artists shown in this triennial delve into these same concerns, but in a suitably unique manner. Pinar Yolacan’s portraits of women dressed in garments created from fabric and flesh are particularly arresting. The cow placenta and animal organs atop velvet blouses restore the jolting shock of exposure that we’ve all but forgotten in contemporary fashion. These images serve to remind us how all clothing can sometimes make even human flesh seem grotesque. The animal flesh that almost seamlessly replaces a ruffled collar around the neck reveals that the twisting push and presentation of bodily flesh is only truly possible with the aid of clothing.
"La Contrebandière" ( The Smuggler), Tanger, 2006
What study of dress would be complete without an homage to masquerade? Amidst other images in this collection of performing subjects dressed in drag or other costumes, the mask itself stands as an iconic image showcasing the duplicitous nature of our socially constructed identities. In the video “My Blood Self, Artificial Beauty (The Mask)” (2006-2007) Grace Ndiritu continually caresses the felt mask covering her face. Perhaps there is a sense in which we all begin to pet, cherish, and even fondle the façade of our social selves.
Another film, David Rosetzky’s “Portrait of Cate Blanchett” (2008), opens with shots of the actress standing in an empty stage set moving her hand with her other hand, beginning with her wrists and fingers. As she speaks concerning her craft as an actress, and her efforts to “make the mask transparent,” we see her literally manipulating her self, so to speak. In doing so, Blanchett speaks to what we all experience as she reiterates that “who I am is constantly shifting.” If in fact we are all acting, as Erving Goffman reminds us, an actress by her profession as well as her representation, Blanchett presents what is true of every person, especially when discussing dress.
Although this exhibition highlights so many of the unsettling contradictions apparent in our relationship with clothing, one image actually displays a strikingly perfect harmony between body and body covering. “Agnes, Red Dress” (2008), Richard Learoyd’s simple large-scale depiction of a woman wearing a garment of rich red, seems to represent a peace-inducing synthesis of the body/fabric dichotomy. Here is a woman whose face rises above her frock, and whose apparent personal confidence seeps out beyond the bright hue of her dress. Despite the obvious covering of her body, the cloth appears to blend into her person, seamlessly and effortlessly. And while she is clearly an individual, she is not such a performer that her individuality appears affected or contrived.
We are frequently unable to draw clear boundaries in our relationship with clothing, yet we still must accept the arbitrary and malleable systems that dictate what may be acceptable or understood by others. In this sense, the “dress codes” of the exhibition title is a double-entendre. Dress is a first layer social skin, somewhat coding our everyday interactions, but it is also a form of dividing social and economic classes, a social and cultural code of sorts.
Yet there is still a kind of mystification involved in the task of finding harmony with the objects of our world. As fashion continues to push the envelope of what clothing is, what it does, and to what cost, who will crack the code? And if fashion is anything and everything, then of what kind of codes are we speaking?
(image above is Richard Learoyd’s “Red Dress”)
Comments
By Heather Vaughan,
November 11th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(Academic Research & Related, Exhibitions, History of Dress, Uncategorized)
Something in the zeitgeist threw all things related to 18th century fashion my way this past week. So I offer you a number of marvelous exhibits, lectures and online collections currently available to those researching this time period, for academic work; costume design; or just the love of the visual.
First up, the Morgan Library in New York has “Rococo and Revolution: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings” on exhibit through January 2010. As luck would have it , corresponding to the exhibit, is a lecture at the Morgan, titled “Glamour and Guillotine: Fashion, Theater, and Decorative Arts in Eighteenth-Century France” scheduled for Thursday, November 12, 6:30 p.m (that’s tomorrow kids!). Participants include THE Harold Koda
(of the Met, CI).
“Watteau to Degas: French Drawings from the Frits Lugt Collection” from The Frick Collection in New York is also on view through January. Two podcasts are also available, and include discussions of the 18th and 19th century portions of the collection.
For those looking for a physical representation of 18th Century costume examples, you are in luck. Colonial Williamsburg has just made their collections available online. A simple search for the term ‘angliase’ yielded a lovely selection of examples, including the photograph above (Titled “Gown, wide hoops brocaded with strawberries” and dated to 1745.) I encourage you to peruse the collection.
The University of Southampton has put together a database of 17th-20th century tie-on pockets. The collection not only includes beautifully embroidered pockets, but also historic fashion dolls (whose costumes included pockets). This particular pocket is from the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum and dates to the early 1700s. (thanks to @seth_denbo for the link!)
Finally, and to offer a literary reference to 18th Century history of fashionable society, is the newly released Reading Gossip in Early Eighteenth-Century England (Palgrave Studies in the Enlightenment, Romanticism and the Cultures of Print)
It was just released November 10.
Here’s my question for readers: What are your favorite online visual resources for historic research? Looking forward to your feedback!
3 Comments
By Tove Hermanson,
November 10th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
(Uncategorized)
After reading the New York Times article “Can a Boy Wear a Skirt to School?,” exasperation and a wee bit of fury rumbled in my belly. As presented by Jan Hoffman, increasing numbers of school children are pushing the boundaries of so-called acceptable attire by cross dressing– a term used quite loosely here. “Cross dressing” could mean a boy wearing a bit of eyeliner or all-out lip gloss, dress and purse, or a girl in a tuxedo. Immediately obvious is a discrepancy between acceptable cross dressing for girls and for boys: girls may wear pants and button-down jackets or cut their hair short without having a finger pointed at them, but boys in a blouse are unacceptable.
Comprehensive dress rules are typically segmented by gender, revealing in and of itself. Girls may not wear midriff-baring blouses, stiletto heels, or miniskirts; boys may not wear sagging pants, tank tops, or hair longer than their shoulders. Dress codes in the office are an attempt to present a uniform level of professionalism, simultaneously curtailing skimpy clothes (generally targeted at women) that are deemed potentially distracting to coworkers and clients. In educational environments, they are supposed to improve academic and social behavior. Dress codes in schools have an additional moral argument: that of almighty child safety.
Hoffman sensationally mentions Lawrence King “who occasionally wore high-heeled boots and makeup” and who was murdered by one of his 8th grade classmates. Proponents of gender-specific dress codes claim they want to protect students who might attract assaults based on their garments, insinuating that the clothes themselves provoke violence, without actually addressing the root of the hate crimes and the subsequent pressure to outlaw gender bending in school dress codes. If a child or teenager has the desire to cross-dress in whatever subtle or loud form, I think that should be applauded. Thinking outside gender boxes and expressing creativity and originality should be integrated in every school curriculum– and dress is a wonderful, harmless playground in which to experiment with these concepts.
Though the article does not once mention homophobia, that is clearly at the crux of the anxiety surrounding cross dressing. It was instead pointed out that many so-called cross dressers are emo or punk kids whose boys may wear eyeliner and lipstick but who are staunchly straight, pointing to pictures of themselves with their girlfriends. While I agree that wearing makeup does not a fag make, the latent and pervasive fear of gays is undoubtedly the reason for people’s reluctance to accept even small gestures of cross dressing without trying to stamp it out under the guise of “safety” and learning without “distractions.” These anti-cross dressing codes are acts of willful, repressive ignorance. Hoffman mentions those who believe “high school should not be a public stage to work out private identity issues. School, they say, is a rigorous academic and social training ground for the world of adults and employment.” If unusual or gender bending clothes cause a dreaded disruption in class, banning the clothes is still not going to address the core problem: that gayness is considered an undesirable aberration, and adopting aspects of the opposite sex is interpreted (or misinterpreted) as a flaunting of gayness, which is inherently distracting. The feared (and yet misleading) link between gender ambiguity, cross dressing, and homosexuality should be confronted and addressed intellectually, ideally in an open health and sexuality class (and yes, I am woefully aware of the non-existent or inadequate health classes in schools).
Sexual self-discovery is an important and unavoidable part of puberty, and I can think of no redeeming argument to suppress this exploration– most especially in that playground of self adornment. The world is full of different people who dress is vastly different ways based on age, culture, personal taste, gender, sexuality, and more. By prohibiting creative or atypical dress in classrooms, are we teaching students that there is an inherent inferiority or unnaturalness in those who dress outside the “normal” dress codes they’ve been exposed to? If a youth in his awkward teenage years has the self possession to cross dress — in whatever form that takes — only hateful detractors should be afraid of reprimands.
1 Comment
By Lucy Collins,
November 10th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(Jobs, Uncategorized)
(1. Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Assistant Professor of Design
Emily Carr University of Art and Design invites applications for a full-time tenure track position of Assistant Professor in Design commencing August 2010. Candidates should be equally fluent in design discourse and studio practice and in balancing the conceptual, aesthetic and technical demands of the discipline.
Preference will be given to candidates with expertise in at least two of the following areas: typography, graphic design, systems design, interaction and/or information design, motion design, and/or exhibition design, but who can work effectively in interdisciplinary design teams on theme-based curriculum focusing on design for inclusion (cultural, socio/political, and sustainability issues).
The successful candidate may teach students at all levels, from Foundation to Graduate Studies, and will be expected to make a major contribution in developing curriculum in a University that is committed to the interrelation of theory and practice. Faculty members are expected to contribute in shaping the future of the University through participation in planning, administration and committees and in being actively engaged in the ECU community.
Candidates should have a Masters of Design or equivalent degree, and a minimum of two years related post-secondary teaching experience.
Please send applications (quoting Competition #F010-2009) by November 20, 2009, to:
Human Resources Department
Emily Carr University of Art and Design
1399 Johnston St
Vancouver BC V6H 3R9
Phone (604) 844-3824
Fax (604) 844-3885
Email hr@ecuad.ca
(2. Elon University, Costume Technology Visiting Professor
Elon University, Department of Performing Arts, invites applications for a full-time, visiting assistant professor position beginning in August 2010. This is an initial three year appointment, with the possibility of renewal for three additional years. Responsibilities: teach courses in Costume Technology (and other areas of expertise,) and manage the costume studio for an ambitious and growing production program.
Requirements: terminal degree in Costume Technology and/or Design; experience teaching at the university level; well versed in all aspects of costume technology; expertise in costume construction for theatre and dance; success at managing a regional professional or academic theater costume studio; and willingness to teach in Elon’s interdisciplinary general studies program. The Performing Arts Department offers pre-professional undergraduate programs with a rising national reputation in Acting, Dance, Music Theatre, Theatre Studies, and Theatrical Design & Production. Elon is a dynamic, private, co-educational, comprehensive institution that is a national model for actively engaging faculty and students in teaching and learning. To learn more about Elon, please visit our website at www.elon.edu.
Review will begin immediately and continue until position is filled. Applications must be received by December 4, 2009 to be assured of consideration.
Submit CV, a sample electronic or non-returnable portfolio, five letters of reference, and graduate transcripts to:
Costume Technology Search Committee
2800 Campus Box
Elon, NC 27244
Comments
By Monica Sklar,
November 9th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
(Conferences and Calls for Papers)
Reading Material: Textual and Cultural Objects
University of Wisconsin-Madison Conference in Language and Literature (MADLIT) English Dept.
Graduate Student Conference
March 4-6, 2010
The Graduate Student Association at the University of Wisconsin-Madison English Department is pleased to announce the 6th Annual MadLit Conference. This year’s conference, “READING MATERIAL,” engages the intersections between literature and material culture.
The rise of material culture studies in the last decade has begun to move us away from questions about how ideology shapes the world and towards a serious consideration of how our material world makes us. Given its roots in the physical world (as opposed to language and discourse), this emergent critical methodology brings several urgent questions to the doorstep of literary studies: What is the role of the material object in the world of the text? How do we apply reading practices to objects? What are the implications of reading texts themselves as objects? And what does a methodology rooted in “things” mean for the future of literary study? While grounded in literary studies, these considerations cannot help but engage fields related to literature, including history, art history, theater, paleography, consumer studies, and anthropology, and how these fields produce their own forms of “reading” objects. To this end, we hope this conference will invite a discussion of how literary studies is or should be inherently inter-disciplinary.
Keynote Speaker: Elaine Freedgood. Professor of English at New York University, Elaine Freedgood is a scholar of critical theory and Victorian literature and culture.
Soliciting proposals for 15-20 min. presentations and three-person panels on any aspect of objects, things, and literature.
Possible considerations might include:
What is the importance of distinctions between “objects,” “things,” “material goods,” etc.?
What are the limits of the “material”?
How do objects cross or define borders? What are the postcolonial implications of material culture studies?
What is the materiality of place—of domestic spaces, gothic spaces, etc.?
Are objects gendered or sexualized?
Does literature mask or illuminate the material world?
How does the materiality of the book evolve across periods? How do fields like paleography and book history speak to the relationship between texts and objects?
Do artifacts, relics, or curiosities mandate their own forms of reading?
How does drama complicate “thing theory,” given that the object has a presence on the page and the stage?
Does our changing relationship with materials over time complicate our notions of periodization?
Do objects produce and/or complicate genre?
What is the status of the “thing” in the digital age?
How we bridge the perceived divide between abstract theory and a material world?
What does it mean to consider a text as a “thing”?
How does “thing theory” change the way we read literature?
How does “thing theory” help us rethink the process of “reading”?
Submit a 250-word abstract by January 10th, 2010.
Accepted papers will be announced by January 25th.
Email
Comments
By Lauren Michel,
November 6th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(Book Reviews, Teaching)
Shame on you fashionistas if you don’t know who is captured in the photo above (if you don’t, worry not, for I will reveal their names by the end of this post).
Two months ago, I wrote about a class project I developed to introduce my Introduction to Fashion students to a wide variety of designers. I had initially planned that each student would receive copies of their classmates’ research papers. However, that plan has been revised, and I will now be drawing information for them from a variety of other sources, which brings me to the topic of today’s post: who’s who in fashion, and how do you find out who’s who?
My students, without exception, went directly to the internet for biographical information on their designers. While this is not my preference, there are two sites which I find to be credible and worthwhile, and those are Style.com and New York Magazine.
Style.com has a designer directory, with bios of designers, photos of collections, and links to Style.com articles featuring the designers. For example, click here to read the page on Karl Lagerfeld.
New York Magazine also has a designer directory, with similar content to Style.com. To see Jean-Paul Gaultier‘s page, click here.
If there’s only one print source my students turn to, I would prefer it be Anne Stegemeyer’s Who’s Who in Fashion
. I have the fourth edition (2003), and it is missing some of the latest designers, which is where Style.com and NyMag come in. The fifth edition is due in 2010. The fourth edition contains entries for Mariano Fortuny and Charles Worth, Tom Ford and Vera Wang, and everyone in between. I’m considering making it required reading in the future, even if only as a means of separating students from google and wikipedia for a few hours’ time (or however long it takes them to read the book).
For you professionals out there, where do you turn for information on a designer you want to know more about?
For my fellow professors, what are your preferred resources?
The people in the photo at top are Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel and Sir Cecil Beaton.
4 Comments
By Monica Sklar,
November 4th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
(Academic Research & Related, Conferences and Calls for Papers)
Well I skipped ITAA this year due to costs and because I’m mid-way through my dissertation, but done with other projects so I really didn’t have anything to present at this time. Generally, a lot of people do research, present it at some conferences, then work on manuscripts. My two main projects, “Black leather jacket” and “Young men’s work dress” are both at the manuscript point, having done the conference circuit with them over the past two years.
I’m not ready to make the public appearance yet with my dissertation material on “Punk dress and the workplace”, although I’m getting very close. The first three chapters are written, the research is all done and transcribed, and the qualitative coding is at about the halfway point. I think when it’s all said and done there will be a slew of conferences, manuscripts, and of course the material will contribute to my book on “Punk style.” I’d also like to do something with all the videos I recorded such as a small documentary but we’ll see.
So, now is the time to think about getting abstracts together for 2010 conferences. There’s a bunch on my radar, and of course I have to consider which ones are valuable for me to attend, where do I want to present this dissertation material, and how many conferences can I afford to go to?
Like most everyone else, I’ve got little to no research budget other than student loans and the occasional $100-$250 grant I land from school (although I think I’ve exhausted those). I know a lot of people last week were saying that they skipped ITAA because of the expense during this rough economy. Travel is expensive, and support dollars from institutions and societies are being whittled down to virtually nothing. It seems like a conference is guaranteed $1000 investment, and while you’d like to think it’s an investment in the work and your career, and in the development of a good research piece, sometimes you have to wonder how many conferences you need to attend to make a work viable in the eyes of your peers (and satisfying for yourself).
If the idea is that you present the work in different formats getting feedback and then working it into a manuscript, how many times do you need to do that before it’s done? Similarly, if a presentation at a conference is often not viewed as highly on a CV as a manuscript, I wonder if people are just going to skip the conference part while times are financially lean and move right to more journal articles, potentially further clogging the narrow arteries that are our publishing opportunities (with the small number of journals in our field). Consequently, more people will have to publish outside of the field in adjacent areas, maybe further splintering our already somewhat fractured community.
I know for me in the past, as a graduate student, conferences have been a way to get to know the field and its members, and to practice disseminating my research without some of the added pressure of writing a perfect manuscript and dealing with the arduous path that is publication. Now if less people are going to conferences will the events be as valuable experiences? And if more people are writing manuscripts will less of us get published, challenging the career development especially of new researchers?
It would be nice in this economy to see a way to go to conference on a budget, for the organizers to try to come up with significant money saving measures for the participates. I don’t know what those are, but I think the networking, the hearing each others’ research, and discussing our own with our peers is really a significant part of research development, yet I wonder if for a few years it’ll be a back-burnered method of career development?
But as mentioned, I do have a small budget for next year I’m willing to commit, so I’ve submitted one abstract to CSA and am slowly working on one probably for the subcultural style and identity section of PCA/ACA. I’ll debate going to ITAA again come spring when those abstracts are due. But I’m skipping all the rest that have peaked my curiosity, including all those fabulous international conferences that I really think are significant but simply too costly.
So I have two questions for you:
What conferences are you planning on going to next year?
What do you think about going to conferences in these tough financial times? Are they worth it?
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