Today, I
noticed a friend of mine’s face book picture had changed, and being the
inquisitive person I can be, I asked her about it. People are using their Facebook
pages to demonstrate support for marriage equality, and of course I had to join
in.HRC provided the red and pink icon,
and representatives have said they feel overwhelmed by the amount of support
shown, especially through social media sites. Mashable.com is quoting George Takei to have saying,
“For those
friends wondering, this special ‘red’ equality s
ymbol signifies that marriage
equality really is all about love. Thanks to Human Rights Campaign[HRC] for this effort. Please consider
changing your profile today in support-esp. if you are a strait ally.”
Well consider
it done George. There is also an online PETITION that you can sign to show your
views about the two ongoing Supreme Court hearings. It says,
“As the
Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the Prop. 8 case and DOMA cases, we stand
united in support of all the plaintiffs -- Kris Perry & Sandy Stier, and
Jeff Zarrillo & Paul Katami, the Prop 8. Plaintiffs, and Edie Windsor, the
DOMA plaintiff -- and will continue fighting for the day when every loving
couple can be granted a marriage license and receives the equal recognition
they deserve.”
I find the
whole situation to be quite amazing. I am always moved when people can come
together in solidarity and support the rights of others. And of course people
are jazzed about celebrity support. Actually, I was thinking of doing a
critical post on Beyoncé, but since Queen
B has come out in support for marriage rights, I’ll give it a rest, and try
to spread the word about this important moment for equality.
The industry
surrounding Fashion is not really a kumbaya singing, campfire get-together of
the global community, where everyone is holding hands, smiling, and feeling
great about themselves. (Unless that campfire is someplace exotic, exclusive,
and your best friends are beautiful and fucking rich, and those marshmallows
are gluten and sugar free.) There are absolutely so many people within the
industry who are always trying to do a good thing. These people tirelessly
demand that “fashion” as a concept, and an industry can be meaningful, and can
occupy a place beyond vapid consumerism and profiting off that high-school aged
mean girl, or that football playing bully that lives somewhere inside all of
us. There are people who work day and night to express themselves, who believe
that what we put on our bodies can be a vibrant, and beautiful expression of
the mind inside that body. They believe fashion is art, and/or they believe
fashion can be a medium for good. They are right and they are wrong, all at the same time. Your brand has an
identity, you brand has to make money, your brand has to answer to consumers,
so you can keep you brand alive. That leads me to Suleman Anaya’s article in, The Business of Fashion. Apparently
logo fatigue has reached a tipping point. Yeah, we know.
Ron Arad (1987) apart of the Louis Vuitton Collection (link below)
Here’s a quote
from the article:
“Of
course, logo fatigue is not new. […] The phenomenon swept over Japan, Europe
and the US long before emerging in less developed markets. In the 1990s, the
‘LV’ monogram was highly popular in American and European cities, but slowly
drifted away (often relegated to the provinces) as more savvy and demanding
consumers sought out less obvious brand signifiers like iconic shapes or
signature design treatments — Chanel’s quilting, for example — that only a
select, like-minded minority would recognize [sic].”
What I think
is interesting is the “only a select, like-minded minority would recognize.”
Hummmmmmm, I wonder who that would be? Anyway, while I was looking for images
for this conversation I came upon White Box Contemporary’s show discussing Theodor Adorno’s ideas surrounding culture industry. Which
generally is the notion that there is a culture industry designed to keep
consumers or the masses passive, and controllable. Not to go deep into the
theory, but whenever I see articles like The Anaya’s I am annoyed for multiple
reasons, in this case, we’ll stick to how so many people in the fashion industry refuse to submerge themselves
in the artfulness of fashion design.Some
of these business people insist on propagating the vapid emptiness so many
people strive to move away from, and low and behold, 10+ years later, they realize some people in their target markets
have brains. Further, you have exhausted an element of your brand’s identity.
WHY ARE YOU EXAUSTING YOUR ICON? I am sure, creative types working in these
fields have been having this conversation for years, years, Anaya was talking about the acknowledging this “trend” in
the 90’s. She mentions Marc Jacobs who is the now the creative director for
Louis Vuitton. Jacobs defiantly keeps the brand fresh, and continues to have a
sense of humor, he takes his work seriously, while not taking it too seriously.
His collaboration with Richard Prince demonstrates this. But I wonder if Jacobs
participates in these conversations internally, I guess we’ll never know.
Ok,
so I mean I get it. Look at some of these shows, its BIG MONEY. A market I am
in no way a part of. And actually, Louis Vuitton as a brand does an amazing-ish job working with artists and allowing the selected few to comment sorta openly. I, however, will use my internet and watch the industry's displays all unfold after-the-fact,
and that’s fine. FINE. I feel no shame. I’m the person watching from someone’s
smartphone video-feed, who’s sitting in the nose-bleed seats, screaming at my
computer, either cheering for all the amazing, beautiful, avant garde, ballsy
designs or throwing tissues at the overdone, passé wannabe’s brain-farts that
somehow made it on a runway, or in a magazine. However, as much as I don’t have
a say in any of this, I will be watching, and typing, and commenting. And there
are lots of us out there watching and calling out bullshit. So in conclusion
for today, Long live Marc Jacobs! (and others working to keep things fresh and
real)
Have you ever had a conversation with someone, where they point something out to you? They say, “Have you ever noticed (something you never noticed)?” and of course the honest response from you would be “no”. Then you start to see that detail everywhere. You see it all around you; something that you always overlooked becomes so real and vibrant, you can no longer ignore it.
I think something like that happed during our last presidential election. All of the sudden, we start seeing and hearing codes displaying old prejudices from the past. We as a country start talking about race, and bigotry, “The South” threatens to secede, again, confirming the suspicion that painful grudges are still being held, even if they are buried behind myths about “safety”, fears about “socialism” and “freedom”. And unmistakably, we as a country were having heated debates about the rights women have over their own bodies. And lets be clear, the debate was not just about abortion, or consent, it was about agency. I mean really, what the hell is legitimate rape anyway? And lets talk about the fact that there are grown, adult men who feel totally comfortable getting on national TV having philosophical conversations about the rights women should or shouldn’t have over their bodies, and how that can or can not be rationalized. Men who have never felt fear walking past a group of men on the street, or worried that if the didn’t go home soon enough they would be in danger. I believe the conversation about abortion, rape, consent, and modesty are all tied, all linked to the position women hold in our society. For many, the debate is clear, you don’t blame the victim, you must ask for permission, if permission can not be given, it does not presuppose consent, and women have the right to make choices about the well being of their bodies, without justifying those choices. Women have the right to a private dialogue about what is best for them. Others feel if a women isn’t “modest” and “well behaved”, she deserves to live in fear, she has given consent to violence because of how she is dressed, she is irresponsible, selfish, and less than human. She has no rights, and does not deserve to be treated with respect. Because being treated like a human being is something some people clearly feel needs to be earned.
I could write a dissertation about all of the new stories surrounding these issues, and how they are related. I could go on and on about my views. I could talk about how disappointing it is, that young women are being terrorized, bullied, and humiliated by our media. How terrifying it is that women, especially women of color, cannot go on TV with out being threated. That despite all the evidence we live in a culture desperate to hold on to archaic ideologies that support violent power structures, there is a systematic denial of that evidence.
So what does this have to do with a fashion blog? As I have spent that past couple of months working on my collages, I noticed some of the imagry was extreamly violent, and this worried me. As I presented them to trusted peers and mentors, I noticed they inspired a conversation about how, despite my hand in the collage, each of the images suggested a type of violence to begin with; that we are surrounded by these codes that transcribe a systematic denial of ideas of equality of women, that the “gaze” is a means to not only derogate, but to control.
I think this is tricky. As all of you know I love fashion, I love fashion magazines, I love the fantasy, the fun, the escape getting dressed can provide. I will argue that in many ways, it’s liberating; that the experiences can be empowering, motivating, and energizing. But I agree we need to be careful, and that yes, these images are powerful.
Below, I uploaded an image of one of the most violent collages. I hope it encourages reflection. I hope you all take the time to brows the links I have provided to all the compelling articles discuss the issues addressed above. I hope we can get to a point in our culture, where we stop blaming the victim, and put the responsibility on the proper shoulders. That prevention is treated seriously, and that positive change can be engaged.
My collage can be found under "Collage Darling"...
Teaching men not to rape: Zerlina Maxwell, Fox News and Democracy Now
SO anyway...the past
couple years of my life have been spent trying to figure out what the hell I
want to do for the rest of forever. Because, for some reason, I decided I need
to do this now, I needed to at least get a general idea of what forever will
look like. So this self-prescribed task, mixed with EVERYTHING ELSE I have
signed up for, makes my life a little crazy. Which is fine. However, it often
leads to some type of existential crises. Lately, I have been averaging about
one existential crisis a week, to be liberal.
Images from Ken Borochov's Mordiekai
Ok, so what’s
the point? Freaking Lady Gaga needed hip surgery, that’s cool. She has
basically spent the last year visiting every country in the world on tour;
dancing, gyrating, grinding, and being awesome, so naturally, things broke,
like her hip. And if she is anything like any other creative person I know, she
probably had a moment of…WTF shit is real, and this life might not last
forever. But in true Lady Gaga awesomeness, she’s got it covered. She
commissioned Ken Borochov to create something perfect for her, and he did. THIS
THING. And thankfully, Terry Richardson broke the news. I know this news is a little late, but the message is worth reflecting
on; when life gives you a broken hip and you have to get a wheelchair, cover it
in gold.
