I’ve seen a lot of bodies lately. As temperatures rise in NYC and I’ve even begun to throw my own sense of modesty to the wind, more and more body parts have been out on display. While the parade of flesh that is summer in this city may be alluring to some, the reason for more exposure is most basically a desire to stay cool rather than the desire to seduce.
But in this effort to beat the heat, it really does seem as if all standards of decency have evaporated – much like the sweat on our backs. And as I’ve been observing this phenomenon these last few days I’ve also been thinking about places where women aren’t able to wear a tank top or sundress when it’s hot. Even as I write in a small apartment with no AC, I’m feeling all the more poignantly the irony that cultural modesty standards are often the most severe in places with the hottest climates. So why do they do it? Why do they wear layers and layers of clothes to abide by certain clothing guidelines – what purpose does it really serve?
While veils and other forms of modesty garments often find their origin in various religious dictates, there’s something to be gained from thinking for a moment about what it means for clothing to conceal – even to the point of invisibility – rather than revealing everything.
It’s easy for a liberated American women like myself to immediately dismiss veils and the like as oppressive and outdated, but isn’t there some valid purpose they serve?
I think at the most basic level, veils are an attempt to preserve the distinction between the public and private realms, and that might not be such a bad idea.
Putting it all out there all the time (whether it’s in the way we dress or the fact that we’re chatting on the telephone on the bus) means we really don’t have boundaries between what is private and sacred and what is for public consumption. My question is then – what are the consequences of this kind of barrier breakdown for a society at large?
Veils are so appealing in certain cultures because it’s assumed that self-control in dress implies self-control in other areas of one’s life (specifically in the sexual department). It’s precisely this self-control that makes a woman appear worthy of marriage. As Andrea Rugh writes in her great book Reveal and Conceal: Dress in Contemporary Egypt: “Modesty garments are symbolic in the sense that they mark people’s intentions concerning moral issues.”
There’s so much talk of how much clothing reveals about the self – what if we revealed more of our self (or our self-control rather) through revealing less?
In another sense, modesty garments are actually class equalizers – they are uniforms which can disguise a woman’s poverty. So rather than posing women as sartorial competitors, flaunting clothing and bodily endowment in an effort to woo men, women have to be more creative and subtly provocative. Is modesty then more a sign of a culture’s sophistication rather than primitivism?
(Please note that I’m in no way trying to make light or appear dismissive of the serious abuse that certain culture enact towards women – unfortunately the veiled woman often is the subject of much oppression and violence; yet, I do believe over-correcting to the opposite extreme of full disclosure doesn’t necessarily solve the larger problem of women being treated as objects – clearly, this is a much larger topic, far beyond the purview of my present thoughts…)
Modesty garments ultimately make apparent the struggle that every woman must encounter in any game of flirtation – how much does one reveal and how much does one conceal? The fine line between revealing just enough to keep one wanting more and spilling it all is difficult to discern. And the metaphor certainly extends beyond the purely physical…
I recently watched the video presentation of Johanna Blakley who is involved with TED (a non-profit whose conferences unite the worlds of technology, entertainment, and design), and UCLA’s Norman Lear Center, which utilizes Entertainment as a lens through which to read world events and ideas, much as I use Fashion to do the same. I recommend you take a gander (it’s relatively short):
Blakley delves into a bit of the history of copyrights, but here is an excerpt directly from the official US Copyright website:
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:
• To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;
• To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
• To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
• To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audio visual works;
• To display the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audio visual work; and
• In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
In addition, certain authors of works of visual art have the rights of attribution and integrity as described in section 106A of the 1976 Copyright Act.
You might note that last sentence sounds like it might include fashion… but it doesn’t. Blakley explains that copyright protection is not afforded to a wide array of creative industries including food, perfume, hairstyling, furniture, and cars, among others. The reason for this oversight is that
…copyright protection for the designs of useful articles is extremely limited. The design of a useful article is protected under copyright “only if, and only to the extent that, such design incorporates pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that can be identified separately from, and are capable of existing independently of, the utilitarian aspects of the article.”
(Incidentally, that same page includes a somewhat odd but interesting, lengthy comparison between fashion design and boat building.)
So useful, functional articles may not be copyrighted. Blakely paraphrases more helpfully to call the excluded group utilitarian. Fashion is too utilitarian to be copyrighted, because everyone should have access to clothes. While in abstract theory that makes sense to me, this distinguishes fashion from art, a nebulous line. A notable exception is the zipper, the failed copyrighting of which you can read about here. What the article doesn’t mention is that patenting the zipper was only possible at all because it’s technically a machine and not strictly an article of clothing. The placement and artistic design incorporating zippers are another matter.
1917 Sundback patent for the "Separable Fastener"
And yet there are growing (though still alternative) factions within other industries that are technically applicable for copyright protection, but that choose to publicize and gift their ideas. My computer-saavy partner convinced me to give open source Ubuntu a try, and once installed on my little laptop (wiping out the familiar PC interface with more than a little trepidation), I admit I soon took pride in joining the freeware community and the cache it gave me among tech-savvy folk. There are extensive online forums with a never-ending supply of techies willing to sooth my freeware freakouts. Though Open Office is undeniably, perhaps irretrievably inferior to the Microsoft original, I find it inspiring that computer programmers are willing to invest their personal time and energy in developing these systems (most of which are far better than the Office knockoff).
The DIY movement shares this free information standpoint, in that sites like Instructables and Make Magazine offer step-by-step tutorials on how to build relatively complex-looking items your very own self, ranging from lights to tables to computers, to upholstery. Part of the appeal is that it’s anti-establishment, anti-consumerist (which the Fashion Industry is certainly not) ; part of the appeal is that you have more opportunities to customize your software / shelving unit / whatever. While these movements deliberately reject copyrights for their own projects, this returns me to the question: why should fashion design be copyrighted when it seems other creative industries can manage without?
Part of the difficulty in determining whether fashion designers should be allowed to patent their designs is that the original purpose of U.S. government copyrighting is not to willfully deprive inventors of fame and money for their inventions, but to encourage innovation within the U.S. market. Chia-Yu Chang writes:
Innovation in the fashion designs has not suffered for 2 reasons: One, innovative fashion designs still commands very high premiums in the high-end market; and two, a design’s value drops precipitously after just one season. So, high-fashion designers can bring in sufficient profit from one design, but only for a very short period of time. They must continue to innovate to sustain the business. Protecting the less-valuable older designs is relatively unimportant.
She tempers this assertion by asking, but “what about protections for the young designer dreaming about establishing herself by innovating for the mid-end market, which commands lower premiums? What about the need of mid-end and low-end markets for innovative designs?”
The music industry’s battle with copyrighting has been in the spotlight ever since the internet was used in conjunction with programs like Napster, iTunes, and the soon to be defunct Songza that allow the instantaneous sharing/copying of music files. Blakley mentions that Charlie Parker invented beebop because he didn’t think it could be mimicked (or stolen) by white musicians. While I strongly believe artists should be compensated for their time, effort, and talent, I do think there’s something valuable in being able to test, sample, and share music without the fear of prosecution. The fashion industry somehow doesn’t get as much press (or respect) in its similar struggle, though it’s been an issue to those directly involved for decades. Way back in 1977, former Register of Copyrights Barbara Ringer stated that the issue of design protection was “one of the most significant and pressing items of unfinished business.” And the issue is still open.
From her own open source platform of complete internet lecture video footage, Johanna Blakey suggests using fashion as a model for an inter-disciplinary discussion about what needs protection, what needs to be in the public domain, and what will lead to the most innovative ideas. I still don’t have a clear answer. Do you?
Further Reading:
Here is an impressive breakdown of the issues involved in fashion copyright law by Jennifer Mencken.
“Fashion in Art: Dress in Impressionist/Post-Impressionist Paintings” Art History Lecture, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM, April 8, 2010, Koret Auditorium, de Young Museum. Lecturer: Melissa Leventon, Principal, Curatrix Group Museum Consultants and Appraisers; Senior Adjunct Professor, Fashion Design and Visual Studies, California College of Arts; and former Curator in Charge of Textiles, FAMSF
“In Pursuit of Style: Shoes in History,” Docent Lecture, 2:15 PM – 3:00 PM, May 1, 2010, Koret Auditorium, de Young Museum. The lecture follows the changes in fashionable footwear—from early Roman sandals, through high button shoes and stiletto heels, to wedgies and platforms—reminding us that, throughout the ages, shoes have always reflected the personality and status of the wearer.
Event:
Ethical Fashion Night hosted by Global Action Through Fashion
Thursday, April 8th, The HUB SoMa at 901 Mission Street (Chronicle Building) 6pm-10pm Attend the “First Bay Area Ethical Fashion Night” to mingle, munch, sip, and learn about Ethical Fashion in the Bay Area and beyond.
Exhibitions:
Shanghai, February 12 – September 5, 2010, Asian Art Museum. “This exhibition features more than 130 oil paintings, Shanghai Deco furniture and rugs, revolutionary posters, works of fashion, movie clips, and contemporary installations. They are significant visual documents of the city’s rich and ever-changing culture.”
Rhythm and Hues: Cloth and Culture of Mali, February 5, 2010—May 2, 2010, Museum of Craft and Folk Art. “Mali’s extraordinary legacy of textile arts, with its vibrant colors and complex graphic statements. In addition to the cloth and clothing, this exhibition showcases other forms of traditional art and craft from Mali, such as wooden puppets, and the life-sized masked and costumed figures called “marionettes” which act out village legends. Unusual calabashes and baskets are also included to show the wide variety of Malian craft and folk art.”
Somethin’s Happening Here: Bay Area Rock ‘n’ Roll 1963-73, September 25, 2009-August 28, 2010. Museum of Performance and Design. “Co-curators Melissa Leventon and Alec Palao evoke this rich era using a wealth of rarely seen footage, posters, images, and costume from private and public collections and from the artists themselves. Visitors are able to sample extremely rare audio and video clips, some of them drawn from the important archive of recordings from San Francisco’s KSAN that are now in MPD’s permanent collection.”
Hollywood Legends: The Barry Barsamian Collection, at the Metreon, 101 4th Street, SF. Open Wednesday through Sunday noon-8pm, now through May. “When in 1976 Barry had the chance to purchase one of the dresses Judy Garland wore in the film, he jumped right on it and he’s been collecting Hollywood memorabilia ever since. Now through May, Barry has opened up his collection of over 100 items for a public exhibit at the Metreon in San Francisco.”
Re-Fashioned: The Origins of Our Clothing, April 2 – May 15, 2010, Oakopolis Creativity Center, Oakland, CA, “Re-Fashioned explores the art of sustainably produced clothing through the display of handmade garments, photos and video. The show illuminates the origins of the textiles, dyes and processes employed by four local clothing designers {and one Australian designer}.”
Night & Day: The World of the Twenties, April 1st – September 1st 2010, Lacis Museum (Berkeley). “This exhibit will explore the spirit of this period through these garments, some touched by the ribbon embroidered flowers and beadwork from Paris, others from the day-dress pages of the Sears and Roebuck catalog.”
I stumbled upon the contest Cheap-ChicWeddings.com sponsored for the most impressive wedding gowns made of — wait for it — toilet paper! Yes, this humble stuff is the focus of an annual challenge to use as the sole fabric of a wedding dress. I’m always interested to learn how technology affects textiles and by extension, fashion, but it’s equally interesting to be confronted with garments made of material whose primary function is not the building block of a dress (some will recall my earlier post on a similar duct tape prom dress competition). Yet another difficulty was probably disguising the “fabric” so it concealed its bathroom origins.
Though I myself have never tackled such a garment, challenges working with this particular paper would, I imagine, include transparency and flimsiness. But like all materials, I suspect experimenting with various brands would be part of the process, finding the texture, weight, stiffness, etc., that best suited various parts of the garment. Frankly, the whole contest reminds me a bit of the Charmin “quilted” toilet paper ads of bears and things sewing toilet paper for a supposedly softer, quilted product. It strikes me as hilarious that non-cartoon animals tackle this task… and in the form of wedding dresses, no less! Following are 2009′s winners.
First place winner:
Ann Kagawa Lee's toilet paper wedding dress
Ann Kagawa Lee's dress from the back
Ann Kagawa Lee's matching wedding hat
Though this contest is on the alternative side of crafty fashion, paper dresses are not actually new. The 1950s paved the way for this temporary and flimsy fashion by integrating more and more rapid obsolescence in products, from seasonal cars models to kitchen appliances, aggressively marketed as lifestyle essentials. Many historians attribute the ready acceptance of these sped-up trends to a pervasive feeling of impermanence, due in no small part to the fear and doom of nuclear war. It is with some irony that the government itself looked to paper as an alternative to cloth.
In the 1960s the government began experimenting with paper textiles. Paper’s light weight, insulating qualities, and cheapness made it an attractive choice for disposable combat garments, parachutes, and pup tents. The idea went viral when a corporation adopted the idea: in 1966 the Scott Paper Company used a paper dress as a gimmicky marketing ploy where for $1 women could buy a rather shapeless paper dress and get Scott coupons. To the surprise of many (including Scott Paper), women actually loved the dresses (though the color apparently rubbed off easily) and Scott sold half a million of them in 8 months. Fashion designers jumped on the bandwagon soon afterwards, and the paper dress craze lasted for the next few years.
Scott Paper dress, 1966
Here is perhaps the most recognizable paper dress, the 1960′s Campbell’s Soup dress that was inspired by the work of Andy Warhol — expendability and easy reproduction was central to the Pop Art movement, after all. These were produced by Campbell’s Soup as an advertising campaign (see the ad here). It’s a classic example of how fashion intersects art and industry:
Warhol's Campbell's Soup dress of the '60s
The infatuation with paper clothes didn’t last long. They tore easily, were highly flammable, and a bit too fad-ish to last past 1969. Though the full-blown craze died out decades ago, there are still those who use paper as a deliberately challenging material:
phonebook paper dress by Jolis Paons, 2008
And a 1960s version of similar concept:
phonebook paper dress by Waste Basket Boutique by Mars of Asheville
Hussein Chalayn constructed a paper airmail dress that you could write on, fold up and send, and finally wear, humorously playing with ideas of original textile function, disposability, and usefulness:
Hussein Chalayn paper airmail dress, 1999
Designer James Rosenquist created a papery suit out of Tyvek®, a nonwoven fabric made from spun-bonded olefin, adding gender to the mix of concepts (why weren’t paper clothes made for men in the 60s?):
Hugo Boss, designed by James Rosenquist, spring 1998
Leona Scull-Hons had a performance art piece where she wore an elaborate paper dress throughout the day and then sat in a chair in the gallery every evening to sew all the tears. Though I didn’t see the piece myself, I love how she incorporated the female-dominated tradition of sewing and mending, utilizing the frailty of paper to accelorate the breakdown process of clothes.
Leona Scull-Hons, "Mend," 2002
I thought I’d leave off with the paper gown we are probably most familiar with today, though it was invented in the mid 20th century alongside the obsolete paper dresses. Keeping in mind how awful these feel, can you imagine purchasing one to wear in public??
As some may remember, this past December I traveled from California to Philadelphia for the American Anthropology Association conference. While there, I spent an afternoon exploring the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Museum had a lot to offer those interested in historical clothing. Not only were there a number of special exhibitions to tempt viewers, but its permanent exhibitions held a number of examples as well.
Portrait of a Lady and Her Child, c. 1625 by Jan Anthonisz. van Ravesteyn (Dutch)
When I arrived at the museum, the first special exhibition I came upon was “Wrought and Crafted: Jewelry & Metalwork 1900 to the Present” ending February 7, 2010 (Curated by Elisabeth Agro). Philadelphia’s history is strongly tied to the history of metalworking, though the majority of this exhibition offers more contemporary examples. The exhibition also has a nice online feature, whereby visitors can leave comments if they’ve seen it in person.
Torque, 1972. Gilded SIlver and Polyester. By Stanley Lichtzin.
Brooch, 2007. Silver and Topaz. By Georg Dobler
“An Enduring Motif: The Pomegranate in Textiles” ending February 21, 2010 (Curated by Dilys Blum) was the next exhibition on my trek through this marvelous museum. This small, but well executed exhibition provides a brief and beautiful history of the cultural significance of the pomegranate in textiles (not only their image, but also the use of the plant). It includes objects from as early as as the 15th Century (a silk velvet chausable dating to 1450) through the 20th Century (a Jack Lenor Larsen piece of hand-painted fabric from the 1970s). Examples are from various countries including, Uzbekistan, France, Spain, Turkey, Italy, and the United States. Techniques such as ikat (resist-dye), block-printing, needlepoint lace, lampas weave, and embroidery are also represented.
selection from Fragment, c. 1760. Block-prnted cotton plain weave, Bourger, France
Boarder, c.1650-75. Linen; needlepoint lace, Made in Italy (Venice)
Quilt Facing, 17th-19th Century (Ottoman), Linen plain weave wilk silk embroidery in surface darning stitch, Made in Turkey.
"Pomegranate" Fabric From the Afghan Colletion, 1974, Hand-printed silk plain weave Designed by Jack Lenor Larsen, Made by Jim Thompson Thai Silk Company
“Inspiring Fashion: Gifts from Designers Honoring Tom Marotta” ending Summer 2010 (Curated by Kristina Haugland) is presented in the new Perelman Building. This exhibition is also small, but very focused. It presents designs from 17 designers, in honor of the late Tom Marotta, a retail executive at Saks Fifth Avenue who was much respected in the industry. The garments on display here were obtained directly from the designers for the museums permanent collection. The exhibition includes a video of interviews with each of the designers to offer insights into the pieces, and their relationships with Marotta.
Tom Marotta
An overview of the exhibition
Carolina Herrera gown
Zac Posen, 2009 gown
Finally, “Horse and Man Armors” curated by Pierre Terjanian (ongoing) was a welcome new distraction from what I might readily consider fashion history. As I walked in to the Arms and Armor gallery the connection between fashion and armor suddenly dawned on me. The Metropolitan Museum of art has an in-depth article on the connections between armor as it relates to historical styles and trends, and an article by Stephen V. Grancsay from the 1930s traces these connections more specifically. The most recent writing on fashion and armor, comes from Ruel A. Macaraeg, “Dressed to Kill: Toward a Theory of Fashion in Arms and Armor” published in Fashion Theory, March 2007 (Berg), though the focus of this article is more on arms specifically.
Armor for the Field c.1520 (Germany)
Cuirassier Armor, 1612 (Italy or France)
But while standing agog in these galleries, amazed at the craftsmanship, it occurred to me that current designers often use armor and military concepts to inspire and design their creations. Thierry Mugler, Gareth Pugh, and a number of others seem fascinated with the idea of an armored female figure (see Tove’s post yesterday on Lady Gaga’s armored exoskeleton).
From the Armored body section of the Superheroes exhibition at the MET, CI
Most memorable in my mind, however, is the work of costume designer Eiko Ishioka (her films include Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Fall, and The Cell). Her use of armor-like designs for modern and futuristic fantasy films can’t help but influence fashion designers in their work.
In the spirit of inspiration to designers and historians alike, I have these additional images from the arms and armor galleries at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to share:
Kneeling Knight in Prayer, C. 1470 Southern Germany.
Boy's Armor, 1500-1540 (Germany)
Hauberk (shirt) of Mail c. 1600 (Persia, now Iran)
Hauberk (shirt) of Mail for Ceremonial use c. 1550-1600 (Transylvania now Romania)
Photo from Monarch Knitting and Quilts, Pacific Grove, CA
An Evening With Kaffe Fassett, in Pacific Grove, California this past Sunday the 27th of December was fabulous, as expected. The event was coordinated by two local shops, Monarch Knitting and Quilts and Back Porch Fabrics (you can also read their write-up of the event). I went to last year’s Evening, and that one was marvelous. This one was very similar, a delight like last year’s with new material added in, plus a display of many of Fassett’s well-known designs.
Fassett started off his talk by saying, “I live in a world of textile and color.” If you know his work, you know his vibrating color combinations. The textile artist in me loves that he named textile before colour. He gave his biographical backgound, telling us of how when he first went to study painting in Boston (you can read his biography on his web site), the lessons included an introduction to color wheels, and how he reacted to them as, in his words, “the work of the devil,” saying that “colour is a very instinctive thing.”
If you look at the span of Fassett’s career, and the development of his work, it is fascinating to see how in his early work as a painter, he was, in his own words, “terrified of color.” For a long period, he painted white-on-white still lifes (not as colorful as the more recent painting pictured above), often assortments of white china, sometimes broken china (interesting, when you see his recent work with broken china mosaics, pictured below).
As the legend goes, Fassett learned to knit after a visit to a Scotland wool mill with designer Bill Gibb. He purchased twenty different colored balls of yarn and some knitting needles, and asked a woman on the train back to London to teach him to knit, which he says took just twenty minutes. He immediately started on a twenty-color sweater, and when it was finished, took it to Vogue Knitting and had his design published. Kaffe Fassett’s very first sweater is pictured below, as seen in the book Glorious Knitting.
Kaffe Fassett's First Knitting
Today, Fassett is known for his textile designs for quilt fabrics and interior design, needlepoint, mosaics, painting, tapestries, and quilts, and, of course, his ten books. Currently in progress are a book about his lifetime process of becoming a designer and an update of Welcome Home: Kaffe Fassett. Additionally, a new quilt book, Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts: 23 Original Quilt Designs,is due out in March 2010.
Fassett described in his talk how travel has been a continuing source of inspiration for him: first, in his travels to places with “intense love of color, no fear of color,” such as Guatemala and India, and second, as a teacher. He described how in his work teaching workshops around the world, seeing people discover how to work with color was one of the things that keeps him teaching (I know that’s one of the things that keeps me teaching, now to figure out how to get paid to travel the world while doing so).
Fassett’s talk was filled with wit and humor and kept the audience well entertained. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the Evening:
When in doubt, overdo it.
So basically, it’s a TV cozy.
Deep down, I’m shallow.
When he described how he chose to hand off teaching knitting workshops (now done by his partner, Brandon Mably) in favor of teaching quilting workshops, he said it was because the quilters could accomplish an entire quilt in a one-day workshop, he said “much more to my taste, because I’m a speed demon.” Having taught both knitting and quilting myself, I can relate.
The night was rounded out with booksigning and time to view the quilts and garments on display. Pictured below are some of Fassett’s knitted creations from the on display on the stage:
I had brought my first edition copy of Glorious Knitting. with me and had it signed, and then had my picture taken with Fassett. I had my photo taken last year, too. I figure I may as well make it an annual tradition.
Like last year, many in the audience proudly wore their own handknit creations, Kaffe Fassett designs or otherwise. The bag pictured below was particularly eye-catching. Made and designed by Therese Stark Felder, of StarKreation, it is an entrelac knitted and felted bag, with a vintage belt for a closure.
If you would like to learn more about knitting Kaffe-Fassett-style, I recommend you pick up one of his books, and likewise if you are interested in his quilt designs. If you are interested in his appearances and workshops in California, bookmark the site Kaffe in California. His entire international tour and workshop schedule is on the main Kaffe Fassett site, here. Lastly, while Fassett is a self-professed Luddite, his partner Brandon Mably is on facebook, and you can also become a fan of the Kaffe Fassett facebook fan page.
Have any of you knittted up any Kaffe Fassett designs, or used his fabrics, quilt patterns, or needlepoint patterns? If so, let me know and share a photo.
I know I promised you a plethora of fashion history book reviews over the coming weeks – and they are on their way – but I simply could not pass up this opportunity to share with you some of the amazing educational podcasts available through iTunes (that, and I need time to read some more of these books!). From Universities to Museums to Conferences, more and more academic institutions are making use of iTunes as a way to convey information.
Here are just a few of the things I found recently (Please note that when following these links, your computer will likely want to open the iTunes program). Each has a rather large number of different types of podcast downloads, from gallery tours, to discussions of specific garments, to interviews, to fashion design and construction courses. Many include both audio only or videos.
American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting
This week I am attending the American Anthropological Association‘s annual meeting in Philadelphia (Dec 2-6). A number of papers being presented should be of interest to readers of WT. These include:
I am sure there are and will be other programs of interest to professionals in fashion studies that are not on this list. If you plan on attending the conference , either as an attendee or presenter, please comment below – I’d love to get to know more of WT’s readers and the topics they are interested in. It’s not likely that I’ll be able to see many of these presentations, so if you have comments on what was presented after the fact, I’d love to hear those as well.
*The dress pictured above is from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, dates to about 1760, and is of French origin. It is silk brocade with silk supplementary warp and weft. Details here.
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?
While in London last month for the Global Fashion Conference, I had the pleasure of seeing Andrea Zittel’s “Smockshop” exibition at the Spruth Magers Gallery on Grafton Street (September 19 – October 3, 2009). After touring the Dover Street Market (which was itself a sartorial exhibition of delight), I headed to Spruth Magers to see the smocks, all of which were designed by a variety of artists including fashion designers, handbag designers, and even cooks.
Andrea Zittel has been playing with the idea of environment and daily routines for many years. In fact, the Smockshop itself is a project initiated in Los Angeles in 2007. However, the most recent manifestation of her pop-up gallery/sweatshop/retail space continues to remind us of her original intention – prompting viewers to question the dividing lines between art, fashion, and commerce.
But along with these ever-present questions, it seems that her exhibition highlights the notion that rules in fact make us more creative. The freewheeling liberty that we often crave, whether in art, or in constructing our own appearances, is often contrary to actual creativity. Sometimes it is only within certain confines (think variations on a theme) that creative expression can stand apart – in harmony with, or in contrast to, a set of boundaries.
Through establishing the theme of smocks, Zittel allows for a kind of uniformity amidst diversity. The garments demonstrate how we might struggle to maintain our own individuality through dress within the constraints (and commonalities) of the human body. And each smock successfully illustrates the multitude of unique possibilities one could achieve – even when given specific design guidelines. In such diverse fabrics as blue plastic tarp to knit jersey to denim to wool gabardine to crochet, there were smocks to fit anyone’s fancy. And they were all for sale for about 200 pounds each.
The smocks themselves certainly harken to an essential craftiness. In a sense, they represent craft within a craft. So the exhibition itself is “meta-craft” – artists making smocks for other (presumably) artists.
Questions concerning function and creativity, or rather, creativity that functions, will always go hand and hand with fashion. How dress, a material object that we “need” for simple covering and protection, begins to approach the purely creative is a topic that fashion exhibitions will continue to explore as long as galleries and museums open their doors to everyday design.
Garance Dore at GAP pop-up shop
Just a quick word about another exhibition I was REALLY excited to see in London. I’ve been a long time fan of Garance Dore (who actually photographed me several years ago in Paris.) Her blog has exploded in popularity (perhaps due to her celebrity romance with none other than the Sartorialist himself), so the Gap recently approached her to create a exhibition of sorts for their London pop-up store at King’s Court.
The exhibition was in a small space on the basement level of the Gap pop-up shop, but I definitely felt like I was getting an inside view into her studio. The exhibition really felt more like an expanded inspiration board, with Garance’s sketches and scribbled notes all over the walls, but there were also blown-up images from her blog as well t-shirts that she specially designed for the Gap. I especially appreciate the magazine collages that referenced her favorite style icons. Overall, it was an unpretentious, intimate, creative, and sophisticated space that very much reminded me of Garance Dore herself.
This week I am pleased to tell you that the first part of Project Sartorialist went swimmingly when put into action with my Introduction to Fashion class.
The class’s assignment went like this:
Project Sartorialist Street fashion photography combined with trendspotting and stylehunting.
• Students were to choose to work in the team of their choosing or work solo.
• At least one student in the group had to have a digital camera or a camera phone.
• The students had exactly 45 minutes to find people to photograph, either on the street or on campus.
Teams’ photographs were to demonstrate either:
1. a definable style trend that can be seen on three or more individuals, or
2. two or more individuals who exude a particular je ne sais quoi, evocative of The Sartorialist’s style.
After the 45 minutes were up, the class had to return to the classroom to check in. Then, they emailed me their final photos to document that they were completed on time.
Several groups were able to complete both project options, giving us a wealth of photos to examine next week. During the next class meeting, the teams will present their photos to the class as a whole. I’m considering inviting some guest judges to select the best photos from each category, however I haven’t yet determined the potential point-value of winning towards the students’ grades or potential prizes for the winners. Any thoughts on this, my fellow instructors?
If, like me, you can’t get enough street fashion, and are looking for more sources for style inspiration, without the cost of a plane or train ticket, here are a few blogs to sate your appetite.
Lastly, Feedshion indexes photos from many international street style blogs and you can sort them by date, city (London, Vancouver, Bucharest, Sydney), or apparel key word (dress, hat, bag, jeans).
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. Additionally, a new quilt book, 
is due out in March 2010. 
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