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

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.

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.

Monocle's City Survey

As I write London is enjoying a heatwave, which brings out a whole new dimension to the city, with people able to relax outdoors in a park, or sip a cappuccino at a pavement cafe. It is at times like these that you remind yourself of what it is you enjoy about living in the city that you do. Having lived in the Netherlands, where things appear to be so much more organised and smoothly run, it was during my time there that I realised how much I missed the 'chaos' element of London. Waking up in the morning, this is certainly a city where you can never quite predict how your day will turn out, hence most people's relationship with London is very much on the 'love-hate' spectrum, myself included. On the days when it works (not just when the sun is shining, although that helps) it really feels like the best place to be.

Which brings me to the focus of today's post, which is Monocle magazine's annual 'Liveable Cities Index', which has just been published in the July/August edition of the magazine. Perhaps unsurprisingly, topping the list is Munich, followed by such other cities as Copenhagen, Tokyo, Zurich, Helsinki, Stockholm, Vienna, Madrid, Berlin, Barcelona, Oslo, Auckland, Singapore, Portland, Lisbon. Aside from Tokyo, many of these cities are all, medium-sized, walkable cities, with good transport links etc. So far, so predicable... ( Although surprisingly, Amsterdam doesn't make the Monocle list, though given the constant digging up of the city centre for the new metro link to Noord, this is maybe understandable). In my own research on city cultures, and specifically creative city culture, it would seem that aside from Tokyo Berlin, Lisbon, Barcelona and Madrid, many of these cities, at least on the surface, are missing the element of 'chaos' that appears to be one of the key ingredients in forming a creative city culture. Traditionally, artists, musicians and other creatives are the first to move into an area that is earmarked for potential gentrification. Intriguingly, in the same issue of the magazine, the cities of Beirut, Istanbul, Naples, Rio de Janeiro and Taipei are also highlighted as potential places you may want to set up home. One of the key elements of all of them is the sense of 'un-finishedness' that all of these cities seem to posses, the idea that these are all cities that are 'works-in-progress', which is the very antithesis of the famous treatise on Brugge (Bruges) entitled 'Bruges-le-morte' (Bruges-the-dead). Perhaps what this survey misses out most of all is that different people hold different values, and thrive in different environments, which in part may be conditioned by where or how you were brought up. For some a calmer, quieter location and environment is required, where everything is in its place, and everything works (more or less) as it should. I for one, however, would miss the chaotic element, and while the grim, grey carpets at Heathrow are hardly welcoming, and the delays on the Tube are infuriating in their inexplicable-ness, on some days I wouldn't wish it to be any other way...

Return to Blythe House - The Concise Dictionary of Dress

Last week some of the F&T research group made the return journey back to Blythe House, this time to view the exhibition The Concise Dictionary of Dress, curated by Judith Clark and Adam Phillips in collaboration with Artangel. For anyone who has not yet seen this intriguing exhibit, I am almost rather loathe to reveal too many details, for fear of spoiling what is probably the 'must-see' fashion exhibition of the year.

To give an overall impression, rather being located in a glossy, purpose-built set, as many of Clark's past exhibitions have been, the exhibits were instead located within the working archives of the V&A Museum, located at Blythe House. Visitors are not allowed to wander at will through the vast rooms and winding corridors, which to some may come as a relief, such is the labyrinthine quality of the building. As a fellow visitor remarked, you certainly have the sense that something awful could happen to you, for instance, if you were accidentally locked in for the night. Instead, we were guided through the exhibits on a structured tour of the building, being with a journey in a large goods lift up to the fourth floor of the building. Beginning on the roof, we were led through a variety of rooms, travelling up and down winding staircases, eventually finding ourselves outside in the courtyard where the old coal-bunkers were located.

What struck me most about this exhibition, was less about the actual artefacts that we were directed to look at, than the play on the ambiance of the building itself. Atmospherics were very much an important part of the overall 'feeling' and experience of this exhibition for the visitor. Often, in exhibition design the 'comfortableness' of the exhibition experience is often forgotten, particularly if anyone who has had to endure the heaving crowds of a busy 'blockbuster' exhibition on an otherwise relaxed Sunday afternoon will appreciate. Yet in The Concise Dictionary of Dress the visitor was exposed to a contradiction in the experience of this exhibition. On the one hand we were offered the privilege of being allowed to explore a building normally closed to the general public, with the added 'luxury' of being attended to by a personal guide. Yet at the same time, in being (gently) forced to move around the building to view the next exhibit, there was little time to linger or savour the exhibits as you might in a 'normal' (and uncrowded) exhibition space.

Judith Clark and Adam Philips are to give a talk in a couple of weeks at LCF, where Clark is head of the MA course for Fashion Curation, so am intrigued to attend that to hear more about their motivation and intent for this exhibition.

Maid to Measure

One of the best things about being attached to an institution such as the RCA is the chance once again to make the most of an extensive library. While the college library is rather general, reflecting as it does the diverse range of courses hosted by the various schools, there are many 'hidden gems'. While my own practice is very much based in what is happening now in fashion, I am enjoying the opportunity to put into context my current research on the Fashion City. In particular, since the personalised stories of fashion practitioners are to be an important part of my continuing research, I am enjoying the chance to read over the biographies of the luminaries of fashions (not so distant) past.

One of most recent 'hidden gems' I've found in the RCA library is the amusingly titled Maid to Measure, the autobiography of Charles Creed, scion of the Creed family who ran a successful Parisian haute couture tailoring establishment. Actually the book was written by a 'ghost writer' based on conversations with Charles, who rather generously dedicates his book on an inside page with the words: ''This book is dedicated to my friend Elspeth Grant who wrote it''.


The early part of my research is into the workings of the 'fashion system', and the interest for me as a researcher in titles such as these are the insights into the structure and development of fashion in the early 20th Century. Far from being a weary and downtrodden fashion 'hand' Charles Creed seems to have lived a charmed life, spending his time mixing in the social whirl of Paris, Berlin, Vienna, New York and London, with diversions to Deauville or Biarritz, and flirtations (and more) with 'model girls'. Not one to hide his light under a bushel, he also mentions his own 'innovations', taking a 'pre-collection' to show to buyers in the USA before the haute couture showings, or having suits made with linings printed with the Creed logo. Even during World War II, as an (upper-middle class) conscript to the British Army, he appears to have treated his time amongst the horrors going on around him as just another big adventure. Despite this boastful blather, Creed does, however, give some intriguing insights into the realm of haute couture pre-World War II, including this description of of the excitement and thrill of attending a fashion show hosted by the charismatic Jean Patou.

The couturier most in the public eye at that time was Jean Patou, a strikingly elegant man who had a strong affinity with America, a wonderful flair for publicity – and a magnificent mansion in which to exploit it. He had rocked Paris to the core by importing American model girls, tall, willowy beauties, Ziegfeld follies, with exquisitely fine legs and ankles like racehorses. He preferred to show his collections at night and these presentations became one of the highlights of Paris social life.
Everybody who was anybody (and more people then than now) flocked to see not only Patou’s graceful clothes but more especially his fabulous model girls. His most decorative salon was so arranged that the girls made their entrance walking down a ramp – which showed off their beautiful limbs to great advantage, making the women green with envy and the men pop-eyed with admiration.

Creed and Grant, 1961, Maid to Measure, London: Jarrolds Publishers Ltd. pp 77-78

While the language of such titles as this may seem arcane today, they remain a useful resource, with intriguing insights into 'how things used to be done'. Although judging by the number of stamps on the loan page of this particular book, they are not often recollected as being useful or interesting. Knowing the pressures academic libraries have in obtaining materials on the latest and up-to-date knowledge it is a wonder they are able to earn and justify their places on the shelves. Yet I am both glad and appreciative that such titles remain in the library to be re-discovered and re-interpreted. Perhaps the V&A's popular re-productions of such titles as Barbara Hulanicki's A to Biba and Elsa Schiaparelli's Shocking Life are indicators that the personal experience in the form of biography remain an important resource and inspiration for fashion researchers.


A dashing looking Charles Creed aged 18 at Hotel Normandie, Deauville, 1937