As some of you know, I’ve been slowly chipping away writing a book on Punk Style for Berg Publishers. Well it has come time to choose images for the cover, which I thought would be a daunting task but has turned out quite fun.
The real challenge has been that the book is part of a series, so the basic cover design is predetermined, and includes only one spot for an image which is rather small, and in black and white.
I’ve been working with them to brainstorm the nucleus of punk style, so it can be recognized instantly from a solitary image the size of a large postage stamp. We’ve had some logical and out-there choices to work with, and thankfully I’m really on a similar page to their marketing and design team.
This has been a fascinating exercise in thinking about design and fashion, as it’s been all about symbolism and how one cue can signify not only the 250 pages of text but really an entire people who you’re trying to represent. Many of us don’t really want to see ourselves that way, as someone who can be pinpointed so easily, and who’s ideologies and lifestyles can be boiled down to one garment. But, for something like book design, it’s precisely that. And of course, we all know it’s really more than book design where that is the way people think.
So I’m curious..without saying more….what images do you think would represent punk in a slam dunk way? Where it’d be able to be identified without question? We’ve already picked something, but it’s not a done deal, and I’m wondering what your ideas are.
On a related note, I’d be curious in the comments to also read what image or garment you feel could represent you or a culture you’re a part of with such instant recognition?
The Vionnet gown worn by Zoë Saldana to the premiere of Tree of Life at Cannes was declared the “Look of the Moment” in the NYT Magazine this weekend. While Saldana’s dress is from Vionnet’s upcoming Fall 2011/2012 collection, it is very popular for Hollywood stars to wear vintage on the red carpet; so much so that Anne Hathaway’s Valentino dress for the Oscars in February was described as being vintage, despite only being nine years old.
Real vintage was to be found: Marisa Tomei wore a 1950 Charles James gown, and of course Livia Giuggioli Firth created a huge buzz with her “upcycled” 1930s vintage dress. It was even misreported that eleven pristine gowns had been cut up to create one dress rather than the truth, that eleven gowns that otherwise would have been completely unwearable had been given new life. Giuggioli even wrote about her decisions and the creation of her gown at Huffington Post because everyone was so fascinated (or infuriated).
Is there a glamour to be found in the past that the Hollywood actresses who favour vintage cannot find in modern designs? Is it a form of “recycling”, wearing a gown with a history rather than having a new one made? And why do we never hear whether the men are wearing vintage suits?
We are seeking contributors for a collection of critical essays on Steampunk. Steampunk remains an elusive topic even among its admirers and practitioners, but at its heart, it re-imagines the Victorian age in the future, and re-works its technology, fashion, and values with a dose of anti-modernism. From sci-fi and fantasy to websites catering to a Steampunk lifestyle, this multi-faceted genre demands greater scholarly analysis.
The editors of this anthology seek contributions in the following suggested subject areas:
Steampunk Film Steampunk Literature
Steampunk History Steampunk Fashion
Steampunk Technology Steampunk Fandom/fan culture
Steampunk Art & Design Steampunk as Culture/Lifestyle
Gender and Steampunk Critiques of existing analyses of Steampunk
Submission Guidelines: Send a 1000 word abstract in Microsoft Word by email attachment on or before August 15, 2011; include a brief biography or vita. International submissions are welcomed and encouraged. Abstracts chosen for inclusion in the anthology will be considered “conditional acceptances” – the editors will secure the submission in the volume, but the editors reserve the right to reject any full essay that does not meet the standards (of style/content, etc) agreed to between the editors and authors. Endnotes are mandatory; illustrations are encouraged and must be secured (along with permissions) by the author and submitted with the final draft.
Editors:
Dr. Julie Anne Taddeo
History Dept., University of Maryland
Email: Taddeo@mail.umd.edu
Dr. Cynthia Miller
Institute for Liberal Arts, Emerson College
cynthia_miller@emerson.edu
Dr. Ken Dvorak
Distance Education, Northern New Mexico College
Email: krdvorak@nnmc.edu
London Street Photography 1860-1910, Museum of London February 18 – September 4, 2011 Curated by Mike Seaborne
Nick Turpin, Street scene Piccadilly, 2009
One of the great joys of being a specialist researcher is to have the ability and enjoy the experience of looking at everything through the lens of your interest. I challenge myself to see the dress history in nearly everything, and thus relate to a broad range of topics with my fashion glasses on so to speak. In the case of the current exhibition London Street Photography, it is no great surprise that the photographs selected provide a sampling of the fashions of the past 150 years as well as the changing face of London as a whole. Photography is an overwhelmingly present form of fashion documentation. It is arguable even that our whole experience of clothes, both historic and contemporary, relies more on photographic images than what we actually see, touch or wear. Carefully constructed advertising images in glossy magazines amplify fashion, and are widely regarded as “artificial” or “unreal” depictions of people existing in clothes. In seeming contrast, the proliferation of “streetstyle” candid photos as initiated by i-D Magazine, and now a prevalent form of fashion photography owing to blogs such as The Sartorialist and Facehunter, record the supposed everyday wear of fashionable denizens of locales around the globe. These photographs are indeed a valuable record of what people are wearing, and often where they bought it, where they are going and sometimes how much it cost. But, the subjects of these photos have been selected and informed that they are about to be held up as an example of fashion. These photos may be candid in some sense, and use chance locations as a backdrop, but they are not really street photographs. The London Street Photography exhibition borught me to this realisation if i had not been conscious of it before, and furthermore brought to light the beauty and importance of stret photography as a medium by which fashion in context is visible and thus a more poignant and accurate source of fashion information than other manifestations of photography.
The exhibition’s introductory text celebrates street photography’s ability to capture the ‘curious incidents and unexpected juxtapositions,’ of life in London, and the sartorial is often a protagonist in these fleeting urban dramas captured on film. The exhibition scribes an arc spanning one hundred and fifty years, and featuring the works of fifty-nine photographers, but never seems over-laden with information. In fact, the selectivity and presentation of the photographs inspires a slower pace of looking – slower than the pace with which we are accustomed to viewing images generally, and absolutely slower than the pace at which I flick through even the most artful fashion magazines.
The photographs are presented chronologically, and each twenty to thrity year period is introduced by brief text outlining the social, technological and aesthetic climate of that space in time. These texts remind us of what we may remember or know about each period historically, and tune us into how street photography captured, and now reflects these moments.
Inspired by the immediacy of street photography, and thrilled by the wealth of fashion information in the exhibit, I thought the best way to review the exhibition would be to caption some of my favourite images from the show with the fashion associations, questions and affirmations they conjured.
You can find out more about each of the individual photographers featured in the exhibition by visiting the Museum of London exhibit page. The exhibition catalog comprises almost all of the work in the show. I highly recommend it, and am pretty certain you will shelve it with your fashion books and find it a valuable and enjoyable visual reference on dress and urban life, the power of the photograph and the acceleration of fashion and other social phenomena in our times.
Paul Martin, A Magazine Seller at Ludgate Circus, 1893
Early street photographs such as this one often recorded the daily activities of working people in the capital. These images allow for a counterpoint to “fashion history” as being the story of the clothes of the middle and upper classes, and show how working class dress differed from the prevalent fashions, and was wholly utilitarian.
Anonymous, Woman Walking in Hyde Park, circa 1895
This anonymously taken image was described by the curator as an ‘extraordinary photograph in an otherwise unremarkable album of amateur snapshots.’ I find it remarkable not only for its capturing of dress details, but also because of its striking similarity to Jacques Henri Lartigue’s famous image of a woman walking with her dog on the Bois be Boulougne from 1911, long after this photographer captured a similar riverside moment.
Jacque-Henri Lartigue, Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, Paris 1911
Anonymous, Passersby walking along Sutton High Street, circa 1930
This photo is one of a series of around two hundred that anonymously recorded people on a suburban high street in the 1930s. The subjects are not usually aware of the photographer or are posed, but do seem to foreshadow the type of street fashion photos we are used to nowadays. Here we see two friends wearing the same coat – still an occasional sight among London’s teenaged girls. Whether this was a choice to appear as fashion doppelgangers or a common occurrence due to lack of variety of styles, it is a whimsical and curious image.
Nigel Henderson, Outside a Hammersmith Pub on Boat Race Day, c. 1952
Just look at that peplum! And, here is proof that women really did always wear hats in case you needed convincing. This photograph made me think that photographing people enjoying drinks outside pubs in different parts of the city would make a fabulous candid record of London fashion today. If anyone takes up the task, send along your photos…
Roger Mayne, Teddy Boy and Girl, Petticoat Lane 1956
I became familiar with the work of Roger Mayne a few years ago when researching the fashions of London’s teddy boys and girls for a play I was designing. It was neither the first nor the last time I would marvel at these gritty and alluring images of one of the most important British youth subcultures, which still continues to influence both rebellion and fashion today.
Roger Mayne, Southam Street W10, 1956
Kate Moss PRNewsFoto/TOPSHOP.COM
While I don’t propose the photos above to be proof positive of the enduring legacy of the teddy girl, it is an illustration of the fact that Mayne’s photo of a young woman on Southam Street, reminded me of a young Kate Moss. While many early images of Kate evoke youthful mischief and precocious sexuality, this more recent image of her promoting her Topshop range of clothing, is pretty close match to Mayne’s photo in composition and demeanor.
A far cry from the marching of the teds, Cory Bevington’s photos of 1950s London show the splendor and anticipation of shopping in the city’s Portobello Road Market. The photograph shown in the exhibition of a mother and child at a girls’ dress stall is one of a series taken at the market over time. A quick look online turned up another photo of the same stall, perhaps same day, with different shoppers, illustrating that then as now, London is a diverse and multi-cultural consumer space.
Cory Bevington, Portobello Road Market, 1950s
Cory Bevington, Portobello Road Market 1950s
Back to subcultures, Terry Spencer’s photograph of late 1960s Skinheads is a powerful document of the image and impact of how fashion can be a signifier of an ideology, and how uniformity emphasizes the effect.
Terry Spencer, On the steps of Eros, Piccadilly Circus, 1969
The distinct opposite of walking with the fashion crowd, is seen in Paul Trevor’s haunting and serene photo of a cloaked woman strolling in London’s East End. Some older male visitors to the exhibition remarked that this one was, “straight outta Harry Potter,” proving that these photos fire up associations of all sorts! At first I presumed that this photo captured a Goth or New Romantic walking home at dawn after a night out clubbing. But perhaps I was just inserting a photo memory of a similar experience. She could be old or young, a fashionable trendsetter or an eccentric anachronistic recluse. It does have the air of magic about it…a fashion mystery that is keeping its secret. It was by far my favourite image in the exhibition.
Paul Trevor, Lolesworth Street E1, 1978
Lastly I zoom in on one of the most recent and few colour photographs in the exhibit. The accompanying texts explain how in the digital age, street photography is seeing a resurgence despite the increasing fears about privacy and security. However, the photos depicting “right now,” were a little disappointing, and seemed reductive , even a little bit sentimental. However, Paul Baldesare’s work was n exception. In a snapshot that could have been taken almost anywhere, he captures the particular feeling of rushing down Oxford Street, in the faces of three laughing women. They have similar hairstyles, sunglasses and coats, and oneof them clutches a Primark shopping bag. In the future, this photo may seem unremarkable, but to a dress historian, it will speak volumes about consumer culture, social behaviour and mass fashion.
Paul Baldesare, Laughing women, Oxford Street, 2008
Looking back on the images that resonated most for me, I have become aware that they all correspond not only to fashions I am interested in, but also to places on my own mental map of London that are significant. I set out to view London Street Photography objectively as a fashion researcher, and came out with a greater awareness of my own affinities and psycho-geographical narratives. I can conclude by saying that like the subjects in the many of the photos, I was caught off guard. London Street Photography is a collection of moments that will stay with you long after you emerge from the gallery. And I suspect you may have a new perspective on the power of the snapshot to record that which is unremarkable now, but may be extraordinarily significant in days to come.
WornThrough is taking a new approach to its Graduate School Profiles. Feel free to email us with feedback or leave a comment below. If you attend a graduate program in this field and feel it should be profiled, please email Worn Through.
The London College of Fashion is a part of network of art and design institutions associated with the University of the Arts in London, England. Its close proximity to continental Europe allows many students the chance to conduct research on specific topics in the world of fashion design, business, history and culture. This diverse program offers postgraduate degrees for those interested in pursuing higher education in the fashion industry and beyond.
This university has many advantages when it comes to postgraduate academic success. MA degrees range in a variety of topics, from broader studies of Costume Design and Fashion Business, to more narrowly-focused interests like Fashion and Film, Fashion Photography and History and Culture of Fashion. Other comparable institutions typically only allot one or two classes on such subjects for their students to explore, making the London College of Fashion unique.
Most (if not all) of the programs can be completed within a 15-month period for full-time students. Conceivably, an enrollee can earn two degrees of higher education in the same amount of time it takes to earn a Masters from a typical university elsewhere. Interested students can also earn a MA by working on a research or a project independent of the degrees offered, allowing scholars the freedom to develop their own coursework and curriculum.
Students can work towards a PhD but must apply for the Research Degree program. This is a unique opportunity for students to devote their time to researching a specific subject without the strict guidelines of PhD courses found in other universities. According to their website, “Research students’ study is self-directed but they are expected to work conscientiously and independently within the parameters of the guidance offered by supervisors and the College.” In this way, the student creates their own method of study and is not expected to teach or take classes, endure language supplements, publish regularly, etc.
The London College of Fashion’s most notable undergraduate alumni is footwear mogul Jimmy Choo, but several other contributors to the field of fashion studies have emerged as well. These include Dr. Djurdja Bartlett, author of FashionEast: the Spectre that Haunted Socialism, and Amber Jane Butchart, buyer and archivist for BeyondRetro.com. Readers at the institution include Judith Clark, curator of several exhibitions including Anna Piaggi: Fashion-ology, Spectres: When Fashion Turns Back at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Alumni success rate is uncertain based on information available on the internet, but current students and graduates seem to explore a wide variety of opportunities both in the United Kingdom and abroad.
There is some debate as to whether or not a post-graduate degree earned abroad holds the same depth as one received in the United States. The different degree requirements and the condensed nature of these programs are sometimes seen as a disadvantage to American employers. It might be pertinent to inquire about post-graduate job success, and if any foreign students have had trouble finding employment opportunities. As of now, only MA diplomas are awarded – there are no MFA or MBA programs.
This university would be beneficial for a student who has a specific research or industry focus and would like to enhance their education further through more in-depth study. I would also recommend this school for those who prefer a more flexible, independent approach to higher education, especially if ones research interests lie in British or European fashion. More information can be found on The London College of Fashion’s website.
Contributor Jenna has also written a fantastic review of the 2011 MA student show at the university. Please take look at the post to find more information about each program and to read insightful student interviews.
Scrolling through Netflix a few weeks ago, I came upon this British film from 1935, “First A Girl.” The ‘Fashion Show’ mentioned in the introduction initially caught my eye, and I added to my que and promptly forgot about it, until it showed up in my mailbox. Now I consider myself to be pretty well-educated in the history of film – but I had never heard of this or any of the actors in its cast – so of course I was intrigued. When it arrived, I read the description a little more closely and realized the significance of the film:
Turned down at her first audition, shop clerk Elizabeth (Jessie Matthews) thinks her dream of being a music hall singer is over. But when her friend and female impersonator Victor (Sonnie Hale) is unable to perform his musical number, Elizabeth steps into the spotlight. Soon success traps her in a real-life role as a woman playing a man playing a woman — until a handsome suitor comes along. The film was later adapted as Victor/Victoria. (Netflix description)
Watching the film late one evening, I was surprised by how modern it felt (though it does have some gay subtext, its admittedly small in comparison to the more resent version). Gender roles and sexuality were questioned, and the style felt somehow familiar. It proved to be a real treat for historic fashion and film costume buffs. It all started off with an early scene with a fashion show and a workshop, where the fashion designer character’s personality and designs reminded me of Schiaparelli.
This version of the story had been adapted from the German film, Victor Viktoria (1933) and was later remade as Victor Victoria (1982) starring Julie Andrews. According to author and film historian Sarah Street, the gender-bending storyline reflects a trend often found in German films of the early 1930s (British National Cinema, 58). The star of the film, Jessie Matthews, is little-remembered today but in the 1920s and 1930s she was known as “The Dancing Divinity” (Lee, 95). In a contemporary review of the film, however, the New York Times, however, felt that Jessie Williams didn’t go far enough to try to act like a man :
“Being a woman of vast loveliness, grace and personal charm, her pretty attempts to wear male clothing, smoke cigars and simulate hearty masculinity are about as convincing as Wallace Beery would be in the rôle of Juliet.”
Elizabeth’s first attempt at male impersonating… (image via Ebay)
Sarah Street further notes that this film was made particularly for export to America. Not surprisingly, to achieve popularity in the US, First A Girl draws heavily on established visual conventions and seems to lift many stylistic references [and costumes] from American films. Watching the film, these were easy to pick out, and explained why it felt so familiar. The plentiful dance numbers bore strong resemblence to Busby Berkeley’s choreography, and outlandish costumes, though admittedly the chorus girls weren’t quite up to snuff with their timing (they bordered on the ridiculous, especially in the musical number “Half and Half”-oh that there were a clip of that!).
In this clip below (forgive the quality), Elizabeth/Victor wears a white jacket and hat that strongly resembles Marlene Dietrich’s white tuxedo look from 1932’s Blonde Venus and publicity photo wardrobe of 1934. Other scenes in the film seem to make repeated reference to Dietrich’s costumes, including a very fashion-forward tube hat.
Following that scene, Elizabeth/Victor appears in the ‘birdcage scene’ heavily referencing both Busby Berkeley’s choreography/costumes, and most striking her costumes seem to be a combination of Louise Brooks birdcage outfit and Ginger Rodgers feathers from Top Hat(1935).
Louise Brooks (image via Celeb101) and Ginger Rodgers in Ostrich Feather Dress from Top Hat (1935) (image via Meredy).
Jessie Matthews in “First A Girl” (1935) (image via Bunker61)
The costumes for the whole film are credited to someone named “Marianne” who mostly worked with Alfred Hitchcock. I’ve not yet been able to find out much about her and any leads are much appreciated. Thus far the only real clue I have is from an actress named Anna Lee, who played the Princess in the film. She notes that First A Girl was filmed in the south of France and that “Molyneux and Chanel designed my lavish costumes” (Lee 95). Love to hear your comments, and any leads you might have.
Bibliograpy
Lee, Anna with Barbara Roisman Cooper and Maureen O’Hara. Anna Lee: Memoir of a Career on General Hospital and in Film. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co, 2007.
Sennwald, Andre. “Jessie Matthews as a Male Impersonator in ‘First a Girl,’ the British Film at the Roxy.” New York Times, January 4, 1936.
Street, Sarah. British National Cinema. Abingdon: Routledge, 2009.
I have recently become addicted (as in, I watch it every couple of days. Perhaps on repeat.) to Anna Calvi’s simple but mesmerizing video Blackout:
Though this particular video spends much time grazing Ms. Calvi’s chiseled jawline and lingering on her sensuous, down-turned red mouth (all of which I heartily approve of!), you unfortunately don’t get a concrete taste of her distinctive style, as you do in this live performance of another new favorite of mine, Desire:
Here we voyeurs can better appreciate the full ensemble: the aggressively slicked-back bun, the winged khol eyes, more of those ruby lips. In conducting a rudimentary image search of Anna, you’ll see she always dresses in strict variations of these themes: red, high-collared shirt with sharp shoulder tailoring; severe bun; high-waisted black pants; fetish stilettos. Voila! So stringent (and effective!) is her style as a performer that when her hair is seen in loose curls, it doesn’t feel right.
Her Italian roots make it easy for her to “pass,” but Calvi is not Spanish, though she has adopted a distinctly Spanish style of dress. Flamenco dresses are traditionally red, white and black, polka-dotted, and elaborately ruffled. The graphic qualities all these elements enhance effectively emphasizes the motion of the dancer, as does the common use of asymmetrical or uneven ruffles which inherently imply movement, even in moments of rest:
Fringed shawls heighten this effect,
The fringed flapper dresses of the 1920s borrowed the shawl fringe and layered it instead over full dresses; this was hugely informed by the popularization of athletic dances like the Charleston, which looked even more marvelous when executed by flappers draped in motion-enhancing fringe. I cannot over-emphasize how jerky these dance crazes were; see the hilarious proof yourself (around minute 2, there is a be-fringed woman shaking vigorously):
Unlike the ’20s, which was possibly the first decade youth led a widespread fashion revolution, an interesting characteristic of Flamenco distinguishing it from other dance forms where the nubile are strongly favored (and generally retire in middle age), youth are considered too immature to convey the emotional depth, wisdom, and pain expected of Flamenco performers, whose peaks generally start where other dancers’ end; often performing beyond their 50s. Though frilly, Flamenco dresses generally have some gravitas too.
Christian Dior made use of beading to create a trompe l’oeil layered Flamenco-inspired dress from 1952, with only alludes to the external ruffles, even as the silhouette remained typical of the 1950′s New Look:
Dior Flamenco dress, 1952
As the wonderful recent exhibition Balenciaga: Spanish Master at New York’s Spanish Institute pointed out, that designer frequently looked to his Spanish roots for inspiration, and many of his dresses, though perfectly indicative of the time in which they were created (puffy skirts and graphic prints were common in the ’60s), they undeniably incorporated red, polka-dots, and lots of ruffles. In this example, he’s flipped the ruffles to the inner layer, as petticoats (the photo doesn’t capture the vaginal pink of those ruffles):
Mary Jane Russell in Balenciaga Flamenco dress, 1951
The late Alexander McQueen devoted an entire collection to “The Dance of the Twisted Bull,” conflating Spanish dancing traditions with the footwork of bullfighters (not all were this literal, but I happen to particularly love how the train has turned into a defeated flag of sorts):
Alexander McQueen Spring / Summer 2002
Though not from the same collection (in fact, from a shipwreck-themed one of Spring/Summer 2003), McQueen’s famous “Oyster Dress,” now exhibited in the Met’s spectacular Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, is clearly speaking from the Flamenco tradition too, with hundreds of layers of silk organza, collapsing the normally stiff ruffles into a softer, destroyed, waterlogged version…
Oyster Dress, Alexander McQueen, SS03
…of a traditional Flamenco dress:
To return to Anna Calvi: her highly stylized, feminine Flamenco makeup flourishes are interestingly contradicted by (male) torero-inspired black slacks and red button-down. Balenciaga famously riffed on this too:
Balenciaga bullfighter ensemble, 1957
McQueen revived it, in a typically more extreme version:
McQueen bullfighter ensemble, Spring/Summer 2002
Both of which seriously resemble Anna:
Looking at an example of a 21st century interpretation of the cross-dressing, bullfighter / Flamenco dancer drives the point home that we’re ripe for a widespread revival of this look, don’t you agree? May I also suggest that if you come across the opportunity, go see a live Flamenco performance. They are intense like you wouldn’t believe, and you might just get some inspiration from it.
This year’s CSA symposium looks to be action packed with great talks, but I’m sorry to say I had to cancel the one about Worn Through. I wanted to let you know in case you see it in the program. I simply could not make the trip at this time, and plan to attend future symposiums to discuss the blog and similar topics in the near future.
Let me know if you have any questions you planned on asking and I can try to answer them here on the blog or via email.
If you attend you will find that many of our contributors and interns will be there as well, and so please do introduce yourself and attend their presentations!
Go ahead and put in the comments section whether you’re attending, and feel free to promote your talk if you’re giving on.
Forbes had a wonderful article on Friday about a 72 year-old grandmother in Cosoleacaque, Veracruz, Mexico, who has almost single-handedly preserved and revived her native form of loom weaving. Despite living in a region where opportunities were few and only for men, and where most indigenous arts and crafts were abandoned or lost when oil was found in the area, Leocadia Cruz has kept loom weaving alive. Ms Cruz was able to create her own weaving workshop with an initial loan of $150, she now employs 15 people full-time, exports her cloth to markets in China, Cuba and the US, and in 2006 was awarded the “National Prize of Science in Arts” by the Mexican government.
The article does not mention where Cruz received the initial loan from, or when. However, the internet is making such assistance more and more possible through sites like Kiva, enabling “average” people to directly help one another around the world. The Vancouver-based textile and clothing company, Maiwa, has expanded to become a foundation for preserving traditional textile arts, largely in India, hosts a yearly symposia, and makes textile lectures available as podcasts. Even Etsy has enabled First Nation moccasin makers to reach a broader clientele. And Scotsweb, an internet-based Scottish goods distributor, was able to save DC Dalgleish, the family-run tartan manufacturer that created Nelson Mandela’s tartan, and which weaves 90% of worn tartans.
Image via the Maiwa Blog
All of this seems to be in direct contrast with the cheaply manufactured, mass-distributed goods that make up “fast fashion” and are found in most high street retailers such as Primark in the UK, or Walmart or Old Navy in the US.
Is the quiet trend toward preserving these traditional hand-made textiles and garments a backlash towards the mass marketing of fast fashion? Is it a desperate attempt to stop it from destroying these traditions? Or are the two trends completely distinct? Are there any stories of preservation or loss you can add to the above list?
The organizers and Advisory Committee of Costume Colloquium III: Past Dress – Future Fashion are currently seeking papers on unpublished research, new creations and/or practical experience, relating to the Topics of Interest below. We welcome proposals from: scholars, educators and museum specialists, students, makers and marketers of wearable art, conservators, re-enactors and other clothing enthusiasts worldwide in order to create a symposium that is inclusive in an international, inter-cultural and interdisciplinary nature.
Topics of Interest:
I. The remaking or recreating dress from the past: yesterday and today
II. Patterns from the past and the fashions of today: which aspects of a certain historic past?
III. The past relived through dress: in institutional collections (public and private), in a social context (pageantry, parades and historical reenactment), in didactic experiences (fashion and design course and schools.
IV. The vintage phenomenon and recycling of styles
V. Conservation, restoration and the presentation of collections: new tendencies and innovative methods
VI. Fashion documents and archives
VII. Dress collecting: goals and accessibility
VIII. Information regarding costumes and dress accessories
Submission Information and Instructions:
Please send your proposal abstract to info@costume-textiles.com with Abstract Submission CCIII in the subject line.
Please send, as a separate document, a brief (200 words maximum) autobiography which describes your current field of interest and highlights your more significant or pertinent accomplishments. Also include your current contact information (email address, telephone number(s), postal address) as well as your affiliation and job title or description (consult past Costume Colloquium programs on our website (www.costume-textiles.com) for examples.
Length of presentations: 20 minutes
Language of Conference: English and Italian. Simultaneous translations will be provided.
Successful candidates (one only if multiple authors) will have their base conference attendance fee covered, however this does not include any travel, accommodation and board expenses.
Deadlines:
Your proposal abstract and brief autobiography must be received via email by October 31, 2011. Candidates will be informed of the decisions of the Advisory Committee by December 31, 2011. Candidate acceptance will be required in writing by January 20, 2012.
