Quote of the Month

Dinarzade or Lillian Farley photographed by Edward Steichen, 1924

‘’As I went through the door to show my first dress, I had the impression of stepping into a perfumed, silk-lined jewel casket, the atmosphere was strongly charged. The men in their correct black tailcoats with the sleek, pomaded hair; the women in gorgeous evening dresses, plastered with jewels. It was hot, so hot, and the air was stifling with the mixed odours of perfume and cigarettes.’’

Lillian Farley in Chase, Edna Woolman and Chase, Ilka, 1954, Always in Vogue, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. pp: 166

December's quote is a recollection by Lillian Farley, sometimes better known by her more exotic moniker ''Dinazarde'', recalling her first entrance as a mannequin in a fashion show at Jean Patou. Farley was one of the six celebrated mannequins brought from America to showcase the haute couture creations of Jean Patou. Although a lesser known name today than Chanel, Patou was a fashion marketeer par excellance, and knew what a great stir he would created in ''old Europe'' by showcasing his designs on a group of attractive yet ''modern'' American women. In turn, Farley's recollection here as recorded by Edna Woolman Chase (who worked for Vogue for an incredible 50 plus years rising to become its Editor-in-Chief, assisting in the ''birth'' of the British, French and German editions of the magazine along the way) reminds us of what an ''event'' a fashion show can be and the importance of the ''performance'' aspect that fashion can provide. Here in the depths of winter with heavy snowfall disrupting or preventing travel we can now revert to the comfort and convenience of the Internet via our laptops to obtain our ''fashion fix'', yet as Farley also reminds us, there is really no substitute for ''being there'', breathing in the atmospherics of the fashion, whether that be mannequin parade, or the spectacle of dressing up for a Christmas party. None of this can be substituted by the virtual experience. Farley's recollection is also an intriguing insight into the apparently more ''civilised'' experience of the early fashion shows, where the audience, men included, ''dressed-up'' for the occasion (no scruffy photographers scrabbling around in jeans and trainers) and where the heady atmosphere of excited anticipation for the new collections was heightened by the mixed aroma of perfume and cigarette smoke. Perhaps it was this kind of atmosphere Tom Ford had in mind to re-create when he presented his first own-label womenswear collection in September, where all but his ''official photographer'' Terry Richardson was banned, and the outfits paraded in the ''closed salon'' were worn by a mixture of high-profile characters, including Lauren Hutton, Beyoncé and Stella Tennant. Does this mark the return of the fashion show as an intimate ''insider'' event, where you have to be ''in-the-know'' to attend? As with Patou, Ford too is consummate marketeer, and so it will be interesting to see if others take to offering the ''first bite'' of their new collections to only select group of fashion insiders. Although judging by some of the outfits worn by the audience in recent pictures released from this show, it would appear the audience too will need to dress accordingly to rise to such occasions.

Searching for...Halston or Lanvin

There's a frisson of glamour in the air in a gloomy and wintry London this week. Following hot on the heels of speculation about who may or may be designing the future Duchess of Albany's wedding dress comes the launch of H&M's collaboration with Lanvin plus also the European premiere of the film Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston.

With Lanvin perhaps the party-dress label du jour, it came as no surprise to see a queue of eager fashion fans outside H&M's Oxford Circus flagship in readiness to get their hands on a piece of Parisienne chic from such a fabled house. In researching in and around the uses of fashion film it is curious to note how H&M have picked up on creating a short film to promote their tie-up with Lanvin - viewable here:

LANVIN FOR H&M. SEE THE FULL COLLECTION AT HM.COM

Taking the Paris-chic theme to its extreme, the film is created in the image of Guy Bourdin, best known for his fashion spreads for French Vogue and advertising campaigns for shoe company Charles Jourdan. This can be read in one of two ways, either as an homage to the innovative work of Bourdin (who was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the V&A a few years ago), or perhaps as a pastiche, featuring Bourdin's evocative and mysterious women, dressed-to-the-nines, pursuing strange encounters in hotel rooms, with the odd French Maid-type slinking by with a pot of coffee. I'll leave it for you to decide...but for an original look at Bourdin's own experiments with film it's highly recommended to take a look at SHOWstudio's project which puts together several fragments that illuminate Bourdin's working processes as a highly accomplished fashion photographer.



In the same week we have the release of a feature film on another 1970s fashion stalwart (do we detect a trend in the air, happily coinciding with the 70s-esque S/S 11 trend for maxi-dresses, big hair and espadrilles?) that of Halston, the famed New York designer who dressed the best of the Studio 54 crowd and partied hard alongside them. Following on from other recent documentaries focusing on the fashion industry, such as the September Issue and Lagerfeld Confidential, it will be interesting to see how this new film adds to the developing genre of fashion documentaries and the fashion film genre as a whole, as well as seeing what kind of insight this film gives into the evocative world of a decadent period of the 1970s New York fashion scene.

Resources:

www.showstudio.com

www.halstonmovie.com/

Upcoming - 3rd Fashion in Film Festival

Exciting news - hot off the press - the 3rd Edition of the Fashion in Film Festival directed/curated by Marketa Uhlirova of CSM is coming up from 1st-12th December. I had the privilege of working on the 2nd Edition ''If Looks Could Kill'' back in 2008, and it looks like the 3rd Edition under the theme ''Birds of Paradise'' is shaping up to be even bigger and better, with an intriguing mix of film screenings being hosted at the Horse Hospital, Tate Modern, the Barbican and BFI Southbank. This edition is also set to include a series of ''off-site'' installations on a trail around London, together with an installation at Somerset House. Definitely this festival is a must for any fashion or film lover's diary as a number of rare or never-seen-before films are to be included in the programme.

Fashion in Film also participates in many other projects and events, with plans to visit New York and the Arnhem Mode Biennale in 2011, while Marketa's new book to be be published by Wallflower press is also due out next year - so plenty to keep an eye out for!

For the full Fashion in Film Festival programme listing visit:

www.fashioninfilm.com

Who will it be - Jigsaw or Westwood? Galliano or Marshall?

Souvenirs at the ready...

After much speculation and anticipatory rumor Prince William and Kate Middleton have today announced their engagement. While much comment has been generated over the choice of ring (William's mother, Princess Diana's own engagement ring) the real speculation in fashion circles is what will the bride be wearing, and perhaps as importantly, who will be given the task of creating what will no doubt become one of the most photographed, blogged and tweeted upon dress of the century? As a former employee of mid-range brand Jigsaw it's not outside the realm of possibility that in these straightened times that Kate may choose something ''off-the-peg''. More likely, however, the task will go to a ''name'' British designer, perhaps some satin-silk ''picture-dress'' with a huge bustle by Vivienne Westwood? Or perhaps an intricately embroidered number by Matthew Williamson? Or even something spiky yet seductive by Gareth Pugh or Hannah Marshall? Although fully-resident in Paris, John Galliano has on hand the full might of the Dior ateliers at hand...and one can only imagine what Alexander McQueen could have created...or perhaps Christopher Bailey could develop something tasteful with a little Burberry-check...and of course she must wear a hat or headdress of some kind, British milliners are second-to-none, step forward Stephen Jones...

Coming on the heels of recent royal weddings in Sweden and the Netherlands, such a state occasion offers the opportunity for Britain now, too, on an even grander scale to assert its authority in the sartorial stakes of its official consorts. While the sartorial battles between the likes of Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and Samantha Cameron are well documented, the royal consort holds a special place in the demonstrating the cultural, and thereby political, superiority of nation states. Although the potency of their sartorial influence has perhaps waned under the plethora of actresses, TV and pop-stars that now act as fashion's ''role models'', the royal consort still adds a certain glamorous and exotic allure that their less-than-royal counterparts cannot hope to provide, or indeed compete with, as examples such as Queen Rania of Jordon prove. Yet the figure of Kate Middleton provides a new-take on the ''fairy-tale'' updated for the 21st Century, being a middle-class girl from a wealthy, self-made family. In dressing Middleton for her wedding the designer entrusted with the task will not only be creating a fabulous gown for a one-off occasion, they will also find themselves on duty to provide a dress that defines a new era in bringing the royal wedding into the 21st Century

Design Relationships

McClaren C12

I am not really a big fan of cars as such - living in London a city seemingly snarled up with them, or having lived in NL too, where pretty much everywhere is accessible by public transport, not being a car owner is almost a no-brainer. Yet today at the RCA I had the opportunity to attend a panel talk hosted by the Vehicle Design Department, in part because I was intrigued more by the talks title than the speakers attending (not being very ''au fait'' with the ''names'' associated with car design generally) which went under the banner of ''Design Relationships - the ways design relates to commerce and the way it touches people''.

Design - especially for ''consumer goods'' such as clothes, cars, furniture, telephones or computers - is perhaps as much about the emotive or tactile quality as anything. This was certainly the key message put across by Neal Stone, Director of consultancy Leapstone, and formally of BA and GNER, who put it in terms of how design is the key link between commerce and people. In many way this is one of the standard arguments, that innovation comes through design, as a way of promoting the health and leadership of any given brand or product. Yet design, or rather designers who create and develop cars, or other products, have a very real role as ''problem solvers'' - with even car designers having to think through how to develop a vehicle that coincides with the principles of ''cradle-to-cradle''. Frank Stephenson, Design Director for McClaren, explained how the ''time-to-market'' for cars has changed from the usual 36 months, to 18 months, and how it is now even possible to develop a car in just 10 months, which is achieved with advances in the speeding up of the ''drawing-board'' and prototyping stages of car design. Deputy Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre, Rama Gheerawo, explained how in looking at the role of cars in cities today it's necessary to garner the views of a cross-section of car users, from passionate ''petrol heads'' to complete car abstainers, since all have a valid view, and indeed stake, in the usage and perceptions of cars today. Looking at how cars can be more ''connected'' to our everyday lives - how they are used for both professional and personal occasions, he described some possible solutions to how this could come about, and how cars may in future may become more ''useful'' in their role as ''street furniture'', when cars spend so much time just sat passively in parking bays. Kenny Schachter, a curator, was a car enthusiast of a different kind. As furniture has come to be displayed as ''Design Art'', so too he believes, do cars have a role to play in the gallery or exhibition space, as beautiful objects whose aesthetics and meaning behind them can be celebrated in the same way so many other ''designed'' products can be, and are. He cited in particular the project he commissioned the architect Zaha Hadid to create, with a 3-wheel and four-wheel version of what became the ''Z-Car''. This idea of creating ''bespoke'' or ''limited'' edition vehicles almost brings car design back full-circle, to its beginnings, with cars initially the preserve of enthusiastic and adventurous inventors.

For each of the speakers, collaboration was a key theme in the context of car design, yet this is also a facet that applies to many other areas including fashion. Since to realise the vision or ambition of a particular concept requires the input, and co-operation of a number of stakeholders - from designer's ''drawing board'' through to end user. Yet, as was acknowledged in the Q&A session at the end of the panel presentations, the designer's role is today perhaps more complex than ever, as they have to negotiate the demands and needs of the various aspects their designed product impacts upon. Less about trends or ''styling'', instead the social impact has to be considered, and while building ''efficiency'' into the design process is important, helped along by innovations in technology, this cannot negate the quality or emotive aspects of design. As cars too, can be viewed as ''fashion'' objects, unveiled in the glamorous surroundings of glitzy car shows, this emotive and tactile quality makes them not only interesting, but also desirable.


Z-Car, four-wheel version, by Zaha Hadid

Research RCA: New Knowledge

''What is Fashion?'' this is the question I pose as part of my installation for Research RCA: New Knowledge - the first ever dedicated exhibition of the work of MPhil and PhD students held by the RCA.

In many ways this question ''What is Fashion?'' is less a statement than a provocation in re-assessing how we look at and consider what fashion is. While there is much commentary about fashion, both in the Fashion Press or Media and amongst those in academia who take up fashion as a serious subject of intellectual investigation, few have actually dared to ask the question out loud ''What is Fashion?''

In a well-known essay Valerie Steele, Director of the Museum at FIT in New York, has even gone as far as to state that for many Fashion is the ''F-word'' - something abusive, yet in turn itself also abused. This curatorial project seeks to address this stance, looking at the different ways in which we seek to define and process the meaning of what fashion is.

In the ''What is Fashion?'' section of my website I post up pictures of my installation together with a PDF copy of the accompanying brochure, with the aim of provoking a continuing and lively discussion. To join in the debate E-mail your thoughts, comments, ideas or images to: whatisfashion(at)nadabea.com

Details for the exhibition:

Research RCA: New Knowledge

22nd - 27th October 2010

Opening Times: 11.00 - 18.00 daily

Private View: 21st October 18.00-20.30

Venue: Gulbenkian Galleries, Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London. SW7 2EU.

Transport: Buses: 9, 10, 52 and 452 Tube: South Kensington and High Street Kensington

Quote of the Month

Fashion is inconceivable except as image. Fashion plays out in images, not on the streets. The fashion industry is intimately entwined with the logic of the illustration, the presentation. What stimulates our imagination are the illustrations, far too rarely the clothed individual himself. Less and less do we see the clothed person as an image, but more and more as a two-dimensional interpretation of that image. There is no fashion without the resonance in the logic of the illustration.

Lauwaert, Dirk, ‘I. Clothing and the inner being II Clothing is a thing III Clothing and Imagination IV Democratic snobbery’ in Brand, Jan, and Teunissen, José, Editors, 2006, The Power of Fashion: About Design and Meaning, Arnhem: ArtEZ Press and Terra Lannoo. pp: 183

This month's quote concerns fashion's relationship with images, and particularly the notion that because fashion is mostly perceived through images (such as those in magazine spreads) its aspect s flat. Yet this disconnects fashion from its very real haptic or tactile qualities. In exploring how and why fashion has become so popular as to be used in the promotion of such a wide variety of products, as I attempted to explain in my paper presented at the 2nd Global Conference on Fashion in Oxford, in part this is due to the very tangible nature of fashion. For everyone, the touch-quality of fashion is something that is perhaps very specific to the enjoyment of fashion - while we can all aspire to the images perpetuated through glossy fashion magazines - in ''real=life'' we also experience fashion through touch - with the clothes both in our wardrobes and those we encounter in shops. It is this tangible quality that many non-fashion brands and products seek to emulate in attempting to attach the idea of fashion to enhance the allure of their own products or services. Visible in the car industry, electronics and food. While the image of fashion remains important it is through the physical notion of touch that we perhaps truly experience fashion.

Wool Week

Sheep Herding in Savile Row

While we are all familiar with the glamorous round of Fashion Weeks - New York, London, Milan, Paris - a number of ''alternative'' events have recently been established here in the UK offering a more nuanced engagement and showcasing of specific aspects of the fashion industry. Following hot-on-the-heels of High Street Fashion Week in September comes today's opening of Wool Week (11th-17th October 2010) as a showcase of all things wonderful and woolly. Not only limited to London, with stores such as Harvey Nichols, Liberty and Jigsaw dedicating windows to the event, this initiative of the British Wool Marketing Board also includes events in Cumbria and at the Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead. This promotion of wool is part of British Wool Marketing's ''Campaign for Wool'', which even has the backing of HRH Prince of Wales, who attended its original launch in January. Now in the midst of autumn it is an appropriate time to turn our attention to wool as we seek out new winter coats in the shops, or search in the back of cupboards and drawers for old favourite scarves or pullovers. This is also an interesting example of a re-configuring of the idea of a Fashion Week to focus on a specific aspect of what is a sometimes forgotten aspect of Britain's rich textile culture. It is also a reminder that there are many mills in the North of England and Scotland, in particular, who remain key-players as producers of woollen cloth, sought out for their high-quality products. While it might be possible to pick up a cashmere sweater from M&S or Uniqlo for £60 or so there remains nothing quite as satisfying as pulling on a pullover made out of 100% wool, a fibre that has helped to keep as both warm and stylishly attired for hundreds of years. A bastion of the British fashion industry, Savile Row is also to be seen backing the event, in spectacular style, with a ''greening'' of the Row complete with grass and a heard of sheep!



For more information visit the British Wool Marketing Board at: http://www.britishwool.org.uk

Away to Oxford

Oriel College, University of Oxford, venue of 2nd Global Conference on Fashion

Lack of recent posts is due to my preparation of a paper to be presented this week at 2nd Global Conference on Fashion, hosted at the University of Oxford by Inter-disciplinary.net. I attended to give a paper at the first conference last year, so am glad to have been invited back, and to have the opportunity to re-acquaint myself with some of the academics and fashion professionals who attended last time, and to meet some new faces too. The opportunity to ''network'' within the field of fashion theory is somewhat limited, particularly as relatively few of these type of conferences are held, so am looking forward to hearing about the research of others in related fields. At last year's conference some of the most interesting papers were those that related to fashion from a theoretical and historical perspective, areas in which my own knowledge is less developed (my own knowledge of ''fashion history'' is gleaned from my own haphazard reading, hence the number of gaps in my understanding), as well as those who had traveled from places outside the usual Euro-American fashion theory arena, which last year included speakers from Russia, South Africa, Japan and Jamaica.

Presenting my own work in the form of an academic paper at such a conference has also become a useful tool in my own research methodology; as well as finding a forum in which to present my work before an informed audience. In particular, the feedback in the Q&A session at the end of the presentation was useful in finding if in ''testing'' my work that is is understood in a wider context outside of my immediate academic community. It also provided me with a few useful leads and new ideas to explore, so am hoping for more of the same this year, not least because I still feel that as my research topic on the ''Fashion City'' is so under-developed it needs a few learned and rigorous ears to help iron-out the anomalies or to pick out potential pit-falls.

One of the ''finds'' of last year's conference came in the form of the academic fashion blog Worn Through to which Lucy Collins of Temple University contributes. This American-focused blog, which is more like a magazine, is full of interesting perspectives on the teaching of fashion and fashion curating, with news on exhibitions, new publications, conferences and potential job opportunities. Visit the site and view their latest posts at: http://www.wornthrough.com/

For more information on the conference, and the archive of last years, visit: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/ethos/fashion/

The Power of Fashion

Holly Fulton, London Fashion Week New Gen designer and RCA Graduate

On the eve of London Fashion Week the British Fashion Council today unveiled a report it has commissioned from Oxford Economics entitled The Value of the UK Fashion Industry. This report is a particularly timely ''snap-shot'' of British fashion, particularly in light of the current economic state, with ''fast-fashion'' firms considering how to pass on rising costs due to scarcity of cotton supplies and the immanent VAT rise to 20% in January 2011. Fashion is often perceived by ''outsiders'' as flaky and frivolous, yet the summary of the report shows the industry is worth £21 billion to the UK economy, which surely is not a sum of money anyone, least of all government officials can ignore. The report also cites that the fashion industry is not only UK's 15th largest (similar in size to the food/beverage and communications sectors) it also the largest of the so-called ''creative sectors''. An interesting facet of this report, and one I aim to look at further, is that it takes into consideration the role of different fashion organisations, not just designers, brands, manufacturers and retailers, but also seemingly overlooked aspects of the fashion, including educational institutes, trend forecasting and the media, which all have an impact on the state of the British fashion industry, and equally contribute to its success. In the words of BFC Chairman Harold Tillman:

Fashion is a great British success story and this landmark piece of research underlines its true scope and economic impact.

The full report is available to view on the British Fashion Council/London Fashion Week Website at:

http://www.britishfashioncouncil.com/valueoffashion

Quote of the Month

Elinor Glyn, inventor of ''It''

...strange magnetism which attracts both sexes. He or she must be entirely unselfconscious and full of self-confidence, indifferent to the effect he or she is producing, and uninfluenced by others. There must be physical attraction, but beauty is unnecessary. Conceit or self-consciousness destroys ‘It’ immediately.

Glyn, Elinor, It, Macaulay, New York, 1927, pp: 5-6, in Roach, Joseph, It, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2007. pp: 4

This month's quote comes from Joseph Roach's book It, but comes from the pen of Elinor Glyn, the often ‘’in-famous’’ socialite, author, screen-writer and lover of Lord Curzon and (here comes the fashion connection) sister of the couturier Lucile. Am currently working on a paper to be presented at the 2nd Global Conference Critical Issues: Fashion at Oxford University next week, and in researching this have been re-thinking again about how cities go about presenting themselves on local, national or international stages. What they all seem to have in common is a search for an ''It Factor'' that helps to set them apart from their competitors. Glyn is perhaps the instigator, or certainly one of the first to define what the ''It Factor'' meant, i.e. ''sex appeal'', and in turn as starlets of stage and screen before them, so too are cities and even local neighbourhoods are seeking to define what makes them appealing, and indeed, ''sexy''. The so-called ''soft'' elements of culture are certainly a part of this, including fashion, yet other economic and practical elements, such as investment and transport, also play an important role. Yet as in Glyn's assertion here, it appears that this ''It Factor'', however it is harnessed and portrayed, needs to be un-self-conscious, without the city (or the person) appearing to try ‘’too hard’’. As many city councils, indeed national governments, sometimes fail to realise, it is actually very difficult to ‘’invent’’ or ‘’import’’ culture in attempting to generate such an ‘’It Factor’’ to appeal to either a local audience or to those from outside, such as business investors or tourists. Rather than developing its magnetism from the ingredients of a generic formula, instead each city needs to delve into its own character, separating out what is appealing and necessary to produce this. Different kinds of ‘’It Factor’’ appeal to different kinds of audiences , but it is up to the different segments of city to work together to produce this in a holistic sense, since any hint of ‘’fakery’’ is likely to be as damaging to a city’s perceived image as having none at all.


Clara Bow, the original ''It Girl''

New Shops: London

Colonisation, in a sense, can work both ways, particularly in the context of the exchange of fashion culture. While big name high-street and luxury brands are well-known to have the power and resources to open shops in far-flung destinations such as Dubai, China, Russia and India, brands from so-called ''developing'' countries are developing the resources and confidence in their product to do so too. In London, Turkish brand Desa, well-known for its leather heritage, is preparing to open, not one but two large stores, with one in Hampstead and a ''flagship'' in Covent Garden. Desa already operates 60 stores in its home market, plus a franchise operation in Saudi Arabia. Given the number of Middle Eastern visitors who like to spend their money on clothes in London, it would seem this is a canny move by the brand.


Advertisement by 7 For All Mankind


New denim stores are also set to open, with 7 For All Mankind, the ''original'' American premium denim brand, to open its first British store in Westbourne Grove. Dutch brand Denham, meanwhile, has turned its attentions to the East End, with the prospective opening of its third wholly-owned store in Shoreditch's Charlotte Road (the brand's other two concept stores are in Amsterdam and Tokyo). It appears as if each of these brands is taking advantage of favourable exchange rates, and a perhaps slight dip in rental prices, proving that even in a recession, London is still viewed as place of opportunity for fashion brands wishing to make their mark in this ''World Fashion City''. Having a presence in London, it seems, retains its caché.


Denham Jeans, look for the brand's ''scissor'' symbol

Since the ‘’explosion’’ of the Japanese designers in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Paris (names like Kenzo, Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto), there has since not been such a concentrated number of designers emanating from one place making a significant impact on the global fashion scene. From within Europe itself, perhaps only the ‘’Antwerp Six’’ can compare to this. Yet since the 1980s the nature of the fashion industry has perhaps changed considerably, with a larger amount of monetary resources needed to launch a fully-fledged fashion label to begin with, and also the development in technology, particularly, the Internet, meaning that connections between places are now much ‘’closer’’, taking away the need to travel to present collections before an international audience. Rather than a ‘’collective spirit’’ there also seems to be a move towards more designers striking out on their own, not necessarily setting up business in a ‘’World Fashion City’’ like London or Paris, but instead choosing to remain, or return to, their home town, building a local clientele before branching out abroad. It will be interesting to see if Desa is the first of many Turkish brands to begin on an international expansion, opening shops or franchises, especially as the country has built up a reputation for high-quality products, both ready-made clothes and textiles. For the European market, their proximity to the main Western European fashion markets of Germany, France, Italy, UK and Spain, mean many retailers are looking to source their own product from there, particularly in light of recent problems with deliveries from countries further away, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Thailand.


Advertising Image by Vlisco

In a reversal of this, and perhaps reflecting the seemingly, almost ‘’circular’’ nature of the fashion industry, the Dutch firm Vlisco is little known in its home-market, yet it is a household brand across West Africa, famed for its intricately, brightly patterned batik prints, or ‘’Dutch Wax’’. Although, incidentally, some of its products can also be found in the less exotic confines of Brixton market, the best place to view the full range of its very luxurious products is in the firm’s flagship stores in Benin, Nigeria, Togo or the Ivory Coast. Vlisco certainly challenges the notion of so-called ‘’authentic’’ textile products, since these prints begin life in Helmond rather than Lomé.

Style Centre: Copenhagen

CPH Style - Drapers Magazine Cover Feature


Drapers Magazine, the UK fashion industry’s trade ‘bible’, has over recent years given an increasing amount of coverage to trade fairs and Fashion Weeks that are, on the surface, well away from the usual merry-go-round that is New York-London-Paris-Milan-Tokyo . Perhaps in light of its own confidence and influence on the North European fashion scene Copenhagen Fashion Week was given the accolade of being featured as Drapers cover-story. The cover itself featured an outfit from the By Marlene Birger catwalk show, a brand that is now a popular and reliable staple in many a British ‘indie’ boutique. The success of Danish fashion in the UK and elsewhere can perhaps be summed up by Drapers reporter Laura Weir’s assertion that:

Whether scoping the streets for inspiration or pounding the halls of mainstream behemoth Copenhagen International Fashion Fair (CIFF), the city’s fashion landscape has a preoccupation with sophisticated, quality product.


Advertisement from By Marlene Birger

While the style of clothing produced by Spanish, Italian, Portuguese or even French brands is sometimes considered a bit too ‘continental’, many UK retailers have found a trip to Copenhagen has a more suitable offering in terms of styling, especially in terms of a having a shared understanding of what it means to live in a ‘colder’ climate. Danish brands Drapers highlighted in its report included womenswear brands Edith & Ella (as well as sister brand Epoque), Best Behaviour, Bøgelund-Jensen and Lysgaard, ethical T-shirt brand A Question Of, and mens/womens brand Mads Nørgaard, all of which were cited as good examples of fashion brands with potential for UK retailers. For the more general reader, however, perhaps the most interesting aspect was a shopping report giving an overview of some of the most interesting boutiques in the city of Copenhagen itself. The newest of these included Wardrobe 19, open for just over a month, selling menswear by Han Kjobenhavn, amongst others. Pede & Stoffer, with two stores, one for men, one for women, was cited as being a good place to view the Danish take on low-key, yet high-end design. ParisTexas was included as a welcoming place to find pieces by well-known avant-garde designers like Rick Owens. Quirkier options included Sneaky Fox, whose owner regularly rotates the labels she stocks to keep things fresh, and Carmen Vintage, which was given as place to experience the Danish concept of ‘’hygge’’, or ‘’cosiness’’.


PARISTEXAS, Copenhagen



In recent years a number of other Danish designers and brands have to prominence, including Bruuns Bazaar, Ann-Sofie Back, Henrik Vibskov, Jens Laugesen, Noir, Sand, By Marlene Birger, Part Two, Martinique, InWear, Jackpot and Cottonfield, demonstrating how Danish fashion runs the gamut from ‘’avant-garde’’ through to ‘’ethical’’ and ‘’high-street’’ or ‘’mass’’ fashion. It appears CPH Vision and its sister show Terminal 2 are developing as the ‘’go-to’’ events for buyers looking for a quality-made, well-considered collections, while for journalists it offers a place to scope out what is happening in Scandinavia. At the same time, Copenhagen also appears to offer a more ‘’formal’’ clothing offer than it’s near neighbour Stockholm, which appears to be carving out its own niche in denim and street-wear brands such as Acne, Whyred, and WESC, not to mention the unstoppable growth of H&M. With Helsinki gearing up to become ''Design Capital of the World'' in 2012, and Norway also developing its international presence on the fashion scene with retailers such as Bik Bok expanding overseas, it will be interesting to monitor developments as Scandinavian fashion increases in confidence at all levels of the market. In particular, as the region has a particularly strong and rich history in the design of interiors, furniture and product design, Danish fashion designers are perhaps well-placed to capitalise on fashion’s ability to evolve and develop its reach into these areas too. It is not inconceivable to imagine a Noir range of ethical textiles for the home, Ann-Sofie Back ceramics, Sand furniture or InWear wallpaper.


Noir Fashion


Resources:

Trade Fair

CPH Vision/Terminal 2: http://www.cphvision.dk/

Brands:

Mads Nørgaard – www.madsnorgaard.com
Lysgaard – www.bylysgaard.dk
Edith & Ella/Epoque – www.edith-ella.com
A Question Of – www.aquestionof.dk
Best Behaviour – www.bestbehaviour.dk

Shops:

Sneakyfox – www.sneakyfox.dk
ParisTexas – www.paristexas.dk
Pede & Stoffer – www.pedestoffer.com

A Visit to The Surreal House

Entrance to The Surreal House


Today, a visit to The Surreal House exhibition at the Barbican. It was recommend to me quite a while ago to pay a visit here, but having only just managed to get around to it, am glad I took the time. Anyone familiar with the gallery space at the Barbican will know it is often a ‘difficult’ space to fill, with a larger open space on the lower level, and a series of smaller rooms, or rather large alcoves, on the upper level, from where it is also possible to view the lower level, and vice versa. This sense of different levels and viewpoints seemed to work well, however, certainly giving any visitor the sense of having entered a kind of ‘house’ space, and offering the opportunity to view exhibits and films from differing angles. The aim of the exhibition was to showcase the links between the concept of the house and surrealism, and while many of the exhibits were certainly familiar, it was intriguing to have the opportunity to look at them again from a different viewpoint. Interestingly, there was a mix of exhibits by the ‘original’ surrealist artists, writers and designers, such as André Breton, Dora Maar, Alberto Giacometti, Salvador Dalí and Marcel Duchamp, complemented by others whose work has shown a surrealistic influence, or whose work includes elements of the surreal, such as Louise Bourgeois, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Francis Bacon, Francesca Woodman, Jan Švankmajer, Joseph Cornell, Paul Thek and Gordon Matta-Clark.


Untitled (Black Bath), Rachel Whiteread, 1996


In keeping with the ideas around the surreal, it was curious to see a number of exhibits appearing seemingly out of context, or in curious juxtaposition. Most striking perhaps was Lucien Freud’s leather desk chair, on loan from the Freud Museum in London, which was displayed alone behind a glass panel, appearing almost like a spectre, the chair of an interrogator or a torturer. Rachel Whiteread’s Untitled (Black Bath), 1996, meanwhile, certainly had the ‘’demeanour of a stately sarcophagus’’, as the exhibition blurb put it. Interested in dreams and the possibilities of dreams, the surrealists were much influenced by the use of film, and also made much use of the medium, and visitors could certainly spend much time in this exhibition exploring the various manifestations of this. I was particularly intrigued by a series of photographs by Francesca Woodman, and the theme of appearances and disappearances that was evident. Jan Svenkmajer’s films Jabbawocky and Down the Cellar, were also still startling instances of mixing the surreal with a playful, yet very dark and grown-up sense of intrigue and possible danger. In particular, Down the Cellar conveyed a sense of how we ourselves often mix these up in everyday life, making us question what is ‘real’ or ‘unreal’.


Still from Down the Cellar, Dir. Jan Švankmajer, 1982

As someone interested in fashion as a research pursuit this exhibition was again a reminder of how the collaboration between art and fashion has perhaps been most successful in their meeting through surrealism, or surrealistic elements. Fashion is often perceived to be ‘ridiculous’ or ‘absurd’, as so many media commentators on the fashion still take great delight in emphasising during the bi-annual catwalk presentations. Yet it is this very absurdity that continues to make fashion relevant as source of release from the mundanity of everyday life, which all of us need from time-to-time. The only outfits, as such, included in the exhibition were a pair of latex dresses from 1979 by Louise Bourgeois. Other ‘fashion artefacts’, if they may be called that included Alberto Giacometti’s Table Surrealiste of 1933/1969, a kind of ‘’dressing table’’, with four different legs, a veiled mannequins head and a dismembered hand. The walls of the exhibition itself were also painted grey, almost like a ‘’traditional’’ haute couture salon, or some rooms appeared in shades of pink or a deep plum/aubergine colour, and indeed the overall ambience of the exhibition could be described as ‘’chic’’, with a sense of the exhibits being both well lit and well placed. I especially liked the placing of the antique glass vitrines in several of the rooms, adding a sense of both the ‘’traditional’’ practices of curatorial display and also a play on the idea of the ‘’wunderkamer’’ or ‘’wonder room’’, or looking at ‘’an exhibition-inside-an-exhibition’’. Perhaps the most ‘’fashionable’’ exhibits, however, were a series of black–and-white prints made by Nicholas de Larmessin (1640-1725) illustrating a number of trades-people, including a lingerie seller and a miller. Their appeal as surrealistic inspiration was evident in the very bodies or outfits of the figures in the prints as they were made up of the accoutrements of their trade, even including their headwear and footwear. It is very possible to imagine how these extraordinary outfits may be realised in ‘’real-life’’ on the catwalk at Christian Dior.


Table Surrealiste, Alberto Giacometti, 1933 (1969)


Installation view of Table Surrealiste


Although not a ‘’fashion exhibition’’ per se, The Surreal House was an interesting example of how fashion permeates different areas, and also how the realm of the domestic, that is ‘’the house’’, continues to have such a profound influence. In developing my own work as a researcher through the medium of film it was also a good opportunity to view a number of films, not only to view the film-making of the films themselves, but also to engage with how film is presented. The Surreal House showed its selection of films on both large and small screens, sometimes with the opportunity to sit on a bench if the film was of a longer length. Interestingly, the section Electric Cinema, featured a miniature version of a real cinema, with plush red curtains on the walls and matching, ‘’real’’, old-style cinema seats, offering the visitor a ‘’real-life’’ cinema experience, with a series of full-length feature films, such as the surreal masterpiece La Belle et La Bête. In the creation of films, this is perhaps an aspect that is often not fully realised, yet with the growth of 3-D presentations as way of enticing and retaining people’s interest in the cinematic experience, this is an area that retains a great many possibilities to explore and consider. Echoing the surrealism and filmic quality of the day, I arrived at the exhibition on an overcast, if dry day, and left in the rain, weaving my way to the tube station without an umbrella through the labyrinth that is the Barbican complex...

Resources:

Barbican: http://www.barbican.org.uk/

Filmic Inspiration from Kew Gardens

Today's post is a collage of images taken from a recent visit to Kew Gardens. Strangely, for all the years I've lived in London, this was my first visit here, and for any other Londoners yet to go, it's definitely worth the trip on the District Line. I was particularly intrigued by the 'filmic' quality of the famous glass houses, particularly the older ones, with peeling paint, winding staircases and ornate urns. My 'fashion' eye, meanwhile, was also attuned to the multitude of textures of the plants, their colours, forms and shapes. In developing my research through film and the processes of film-making this visit to Kew was certainly a lesson in 'looking', not just with a casual glance, but with a more nuanced 'looking', thinking about framing of shots, positions and angles of the camera, and of course, lighting, the bug-bear of every film-maker or photographer, particularly noticeable on the day I visited, with pleasant, if changeable, weather. The practice of looking is certainly something I'll no doubt be developing further over the coming months.


Chinese Pagoda


Temperate House, Kew Gardens






Japanese Wood Carving




Cacti Closeup


Glasshouse Roof


Purple Petticoats



Resources:

Kew Gardens: www.kew.org

Introduction to K-Pop

Fashion Souvenir Key-ring, Nagoya, Japan


Wonder Girls, K-Pop Album


A new edition to my collection of Fashion Souvenirs: a key-ring from Nagoya, courtesy of my sister who lives in Japan, and who was recently back home on a visit. The little paper bag it came in, too, was rather intriguing, being perfectly ‘’key-ring sized’’. The bag also features the same fish motif that appears on the back of the key-ring itself, so being both co-ordinated and stylish, something the Japanese appear to know quite a bit about! One of the other elements of my interests in both fashion tourism and also the Fashion City, is the influence and inclusion of localised cultural elements, from design, food, architecture, customs and music. My sister also brought along her latest CD purchase by a group called the Wonder Girls, from South Korea, an interesting exemplar of K-Pop, the Korean version of J-Pop (Japan) or Canto-Pop (Hong Kong). I have listened to some J-Pop before, mixing Japanese with English lyrics, usually on a relationship theme (falling in love/breaking up etc.), sung over a hyper-speedy pop/electronic rhythm. I’ve not much experience of K-Pop as such, although the syrupy-style love songs are perhaps similar, and according to my sister K-Pop is actually a more sophisticated, and indeed trendy, offering. Listening to the Wonder Girls certainly proved a good introduction to the world of K-Pop, and certainly in terms of musicology seemed a little more solidly put together than some J-Pop tunes I have heard (perhaps this is also a case of learning the best of the elements of J-Pop, and selling back a more glamorous, larger-than-life version, as with Ralph Lauren’s take on English aristocratic living in the creation of his Polo brand).

Living in such a globalised world where it seems everyone is wearing identikit outfits gleaned from H&M, Zara, Mango, Top Shop, Abercrombie & Fitch or Urban Outfitters, it is intriguing to note how localised notions of style continue to permeate and influence cultural customs in specific locales. This appears to be especially true in the form of local ‘’slang’’, TV shows, magazines, pop music, and the dress and lifestyles of B-list celebrities. Often these exemplars of a specific style genre are too ‘’localised’’ to actually transcend their home market to be promoted and taken up overseas, yet sometimes, particularly in terms of music and TV shows, formats and styles have to be ‘’exported’’ to attain success, before they gain full recognition ‘’back home’’. Alexa Chung had to move to the USA before being taken up as ‘’style icon’’ to rival Sienna Miller by the British fashion media, for example, while musicians like the Scissor Sisters appeared ‘’too eccentric’’ in New York, yet their idiosyncratic style slotted perfectly into London’s Shoreditch-Hoxton scene, with barely anyone realising they were not actually European to begin with. (As an aside, in London it’s quite difficult to ‘’stand out’’, since there’s almost no exotic get-up that no-one has not seen before. The locals here are actually quite blasé, and any really outré outfit is just taken as part of the rich-mix of cultures that London contains). Western fashion brands operating in Asia often seem to forget that ‘’European-ness’’ or ‘’American-ness’’ is only of limited appeal, to a certain extent, as local trends and influences on style are often much more important, and indeed relevant, on a day-to-day basis. For instance, the Japanese notion of ‘’kawaii’’ or ‘’cuteness’’, and which continues to be an important indicator of style there, is actually quite alien to European tastes. Although many European men are very happy to wear toddler-like baggy jeans and slogan T-shirts well into their late 30s or 40s, European women generally favour a slightly smarter, more grown-up take on such casual style, teaming their jeans (usually more ‘’fitted’’) with an array of different tops, and boots or ballet flats, rather than trainers. In my own continuing research I aim to explore these nuances further. For anyone keen for an entry into the world of K-Pop, the website of the Wonder Girls, including their latest video, is perhaps as fine an introduction as any.

Resources:

Wonder Girls: http://www.wondergirlsworld.com/


Wonder Girls at New York Fashion Week, February 2010

New Books

As far as possible at the moment I am trying to make the best use of the books and materials I already have in my own ''library'', and also from those other free resources, such as the websites of newspapers and magazines (though the UK Times and Sunday Times websites are now subscription based, so I guess I'll be researching elsewhere from now on). Yet sometimes there are some books you just have to have your own copy of, as waiting for the library to get them in takes too long (besides, I tend to make a lot of pencil notations in my own books, something librarians tend to frown upon!). Aside from Magaret Maynard's book Out of Line: Australian Women and Style, published in 2001, there are very few publications on the Australian fashion scene, which is one of my potential case studies in my research into the Fashion City. So it was with great excitement that I came across this new publication from Thames & Hudson called Fashion: Australian and New Zealand Designers, by Mitchell Oakley Smith, an associate Editor at GQ Australia. While the book will probably not win any awards for its rather unimaginative title, the contents promise a good overview of Australian and New Zealand fashion designers who have emerged over the last two decades. The book covers some, now internationally well-known, stalwarts of the OZ/NZ fashion industry, profiling Akira, Alica McCall, Collette Dinnigan, Easton Person, Karen Walker, Nom*D, Zambesi, Willow and Sass & Bide. Lesser known names, at least to those of us in the Northern hemisphere, include Arnsdorf, Birthday Suit, Camilla and Marc, Dhini, Flamingo Sands, Lisa Ho, Pistols At Dawn, Something Else and Vanishing Elephant. Overall this book offers a visual treatise of the work of the profiled designers, together with a brief insight into their backgrounds and positioning within the Australian-New Zealand fashion scene. Similar to much of the world today, this particular fashion scene offers up a melting-pot of styles and influences, imbibed with a hard-working ethic on the part of the designers. As Oakley Smith states in his introduction:

The breakdown of the barrier that once existed between the secular fashion industry and the general public has been seen as the democratisation of fashion. Not detrimental to its growth or prestige, local fashion has gained attention, interest and, ultimately, respect of its public.

(Oakley Smith, 2010: pp xi)

It is interesting to note, however, that whatever recognition designers gain in their ''home-market'', it still remains necessary to for their reputations to be secured and confirmed outside of that of ''home market'', with catwalk shows and press coverage in the so-called ''first-tier'' Fashion Cities, such as Paris, London Milan and New York. This is something not limited to Australian and New Zealand designers, as even those based here in London have often not been recognised as leading talents in their field, in part because fashion is deemed ''too frivolous'', or because many British designers, particularly at the higher-end of the market, make the bulk of their income from exporting their work abroad.




The second book to enter my possession recently is the first look at the work of Alexander McQueen, subtitled Genius of a Generation, by Kristin Knox. Rather disappointingly this publication from A&C Black appears to have been a bit of a ''rush-job''. While up-to-date, including mention of McQueen's untimely recent death, the text offers only a rather superficial insight into the work of a man aptly labeled a ''genius''. Unlike many of his peers, McQueen was admired in part because he was perhaps one of the few, and perhaps last, designers to have served an ''apprenticeship'' in the traditional sense, working his way up from toiling away in the cutting rooms of Savile Row, to stints working with Romeo Gigli and Koji Tatsuno, and then an MA at Central St. Martin's, moving on to set up his own label, picking up the gig of Creative Director at Givenchy, and finally developing his own-name brand under the auspices of the PPR-owned Gucci Group. Amazingly, while his work has been exhibited in several fashion exhibitions, including the recent Zwart: Meesterlijk Zwart in Mode en Kostuum at MoMu in Antwerp, there has yet, as far as I am aware, to be a fully dedicated exhibition to McQueen and his truely outstanding contribution to fashion culture. The main plus-side of this book is the visual treatise it gives of McQueen's oeuvre, spanning his early collections up to the Autumn/Winter collection of 2010. As Knox references, while McQueen was sometimes dubbed a ''misogynist'' by the media, trussing up his models in masks, corsets and brutal looking jewellery, this rather misses the point, as looking closer, his collections can be viewed as providing a kind of modern ''armour'', aiding the confidence of a woman unafraid of facing the challenges of the contemporary world. It is a great shame for us that McQueen felt he was not able himself to continue producing work in the same confident manner he had so often delivered, yet I hope soon to view an exhibition of his work that is as celebratory and as challenging as his own catwalk presentations so often were.

Quote of the Month

It was Colly Cibber who said that one might as well be out of the world as be out of fashion. But far more important than being stylish or passé is the question of our attitude towards fashion. Those who disregard it completely are the losers, for they miss the delightful multiplicity and charm of the fads that reflect our deepest psychological needs. He who ignores fashion ignores life itself.

Beaton, Cecil, 1989 [1954], The Glass of Fashion, London: Cassell. pp: 329

This month's quote is an extended version of one I used in a recent article on new developments in fashion curation, and comes from the pen of Cecil Beaton, in probably his best-known book The Glass of Fashion, originally published in 1954. In summary of why fashion has been, and continues to be, not just relevant but important as a subject of both intellectual investigation (and a fun one at that), Beaton addresses the notion of how dismissing fashion as irrelevant, also means detaching yourself from all worldly goings-on. In addressing why I pursue research within the context of fashion theory, it is reassuring to remember the relevance that fashion has in the world, not as a superficial entity, but as something integral to life, or rather living, itself. In making use of the last part of the sentence in relation to fashion curation, still in many ways an undeveloped and still growing endeavour, my aim was to emphasise the role of fashion as a serious and necessary curatorial pursuit, both within the context of the traditional museum or gallery space, or ''white box'', and in so-called ''alternative'' spaces and contexts. As engagement with fashion through the form of clothes, shoes, bags, accessories, continues to intrigue and thrill people, so too have museums and galleries realised the importance of seeking to utilise their collections of such artefacts to attract an audience of (fee-paying) visitors. In 1971 Cecil Beaton curated Britain's first full-scale fashion exhibition at the V&A in London. Since then, fashion exhibitions, and dedicated galleries and museums, of fashion have grown steadily, not just in the UK, but internationally. It will be interesting to monitor these developments as they continue, particularly as so many ''non-fashion'' museums and galleries are also taking to showcase fashion in new and unusual contexts. I explore more of this in my article, which is to be published shortly. Watch this space...

Research on the Run...

Milanese Suitcases, Milan, 2009


Dirk Bikkembergs street advertisement, Amsterdam, 2010


South Korean versions of well-known Western magazines, 2010


Aussiebum, bus shelter advertisment, South Kensington, 2010

(All photos Nathaniel Dafydd Beard)

This week I have been working on a long over-due up-grading and redevelopment my website (click link right). During which I have been going through my archive of photographs, all of which can be included in the ''Research on the Run'' category. In particular street adverts are a particularly good source of finding out how brands promote themselves. This can be especially interesting when the brand in question is not advertising in its ''home'' market, as with the striking Aussiebum bus shelter ad, photographed on a wintry day in London (right around the corner from the RCA!). The slogan reads: ''A culture is defined by those who wear it'', which perhaps neatly sums up how you don't necessarily need to be Australian to engage with the beach-fashion culture of ''down under''. The lurid, orange suitcases are perfect for identifying your luggage on the carousal after a long, tiring flight, and reflect the globe-trotting life-style we no longer need to aspire too, but can actually realise, with the rise of low-cost airlines and efficient train connections, such as the ''Par-don'' lifestyle the Eurostar now allows. The magazines from South Korea, brought for me by a generous colleague, also reflect this sense of ''gloablisation'', being not genuinely Korean at all, but are rather Korean-ized versions of well-known Western magazines. Dirk Bikkembergs, meanwhile, appears to use the same imagery to assert and re-inforce his ''sport-luxe'' message across all markets he sells to, again reflecting perhaps the ''homogenisation'' of Western fashion culture. What is perhaps most intriguing about this collection of images is the variety of expression of this fashion culture, through advertising, photography, reading material and objects, and also how ''place-bound'' they are, despite the promise of a life ''free'' from the constraints of physical boundaries. Even within the numerous possibilities that mobility can bring, it appears we all still need to feel anchored in some form of ''localised'' culture, something to identify with, and in turn be identified by.