bits and bobbins

i’m one day late with the wardrobe_remix(ers) o’ the week this week. better late than never…and worth the wait, because these people are so awesome and gorgeous and the snappiest of dressers. isn’t that the point behind wardrobe_remix? yes, yes it is. shouldn’t you join and participate and spread the word far and wide? yes, yes you should.

boboniaa:

lalola:

vasiliisa:

velcrokitchen:

midoritsuru:

as per always, clicky-click on any photo shown above to get more information about that particular photo, and explore that individual’s flickr photostream.

i attended the panel discussion on wednesday with pete and a nice young anthropology student, kelley, who’s going to SFSU (who also happens to be writing a large paper on street fashion for one of her courses this year). hi kelley! *waves*

it was a very interesting talk…most of the historical gems and insights below came from a rather educated academic on the panel, melissa leventon, who is a specialist in european and american costume and textiles. she is a museum curator, and teaches classes at CCA on fashion history and fashion theory. i would very much LOVE to take some courses from her; she appeared to be a font of knowledge and i could have listened to and discussed her insights on fashion (from a historical perspective) for hours. i mean that quite literally…i’m a history buff (i got a major in art history and a minor in history in my undergrad and history is one of my great loves, next to and in conjunction with fashion and the arts).

the other panelists were fashion designers working in the field…and were able to give insight into the business of fashion, which i appreciated on a personal level, though i felt that discussion of that particular subject (the business of fashion) often fell out of the bounds of this particular discussion topic (street fashion and fashion in general). so as a result, i’ve only included my notes from the portion of the talk that dealt with fashion as an art, and street fashion itself, with a few exceptions that i felt were relevant and/or interesting (particularly on the topic of haute couture and how it fits in with fashion as a whole and the arts).

***

what is street?
-literally, what’s in and on the streets
-seeing different elements-putting things together in an individual way
-popular culture
-young people doing their thing—>typically the disenfranchised, NOT the wealthy-doing interesting things with what’s available [in the marketplace, what's available to them]-interesting things happening mostly in the metropolises/bigger cities
-the street is like a fashion runway for the masses

borrowing?
-everyone borrows from everyone and everything-we are inspired by what we see
-give and take

fashion is?
-primarily about status
-a collective expression AND an individual expression, simultaneously
-we reinvent ourselves visually every single day
-fashion mediates expression, we choose what we want to partake of, and what we do not want to partake of
-there are not many original ideas, there are definitely common themes in fashion [and all arts, really!-TR]-there are common themes and people are influenced by the work and ideas of other people—> originality is in the INTERPRETATION
-we reinvent and recombine—> things become different

celebrity influence on fashion design/street style?
-stylists pick from the latest collections for shoots, which then influence later sales [to the average consumer, like YOU]-these stylists make sure that their clients [celebs] are at least one season ahead of the masses
-celebs typically don’t influence what designers are doing, though some designers do cater to celebs and keep an eye on them
-some mass market companies respond to what celebs are wearing and produce those products to gain sales from people like YOU

haute couture is?
-it’s really just advertising
-RTW (ready-to-wear) is what REALLY drives the fashion system, since @ least the 1960s
-couture keeps going, though it’s really just a “fantasyland” using what are essentially 19th century design resources (hand-sewing/hand-work)
-there are less than 1000 true haute couture customers in the world and the garments typically cost tens of thousands of dollars to produce and purchase.
-haute couture pushes the RTW and licensed lines, which is where the bread and butter of a design house is TRULY made
-haute couture is an art form…very few people have the resources to actually be haute couture or buy haute couture

is fashion art?
-this point of view is not held as much in the US
-some do consider clothing to be art—> clothing is like portraiture-images of ourselves
-haute couture is allegedly “higher class” and makes fashion seem like an art to the elitist art world (though others disagree and call any level or class of clothing an art, even the most basic of tee shirts)
-fashion=a decorative applied art
-fashion=wearable art—> practical AND beautiful

today’s fashion?
-it’s like the 1970s [we've been looking back quite a bit since then]
-revival, looking at the past
-the cycles have sped up…we are looking at decades and eras increasingly close to our times…revival of past styles has been shortening
-we have TONS of images from the past and past styles (magazines, television, movies, the internet) to look back on and thus styles to revive
-we do nothing but look behind us, YET it’s never *exactly* the same the second time around as it was the first time around…the DETAILS and PROPORTIONS are different
-there is something art/fashion/cultural historians call the “accident of survival”—> we can only riff on what survives and what we can see…but the pervasiveness of the aforementioned imagery means that we have plenty of fodder for inspiration, even if the item itself has not stood the test of time (this was discussed in response to a point my husband pete made concerning the dearth of cheap mass-market fashion on the scene at the moment, from places like H&M, etc. that seem to disintegrate after one season or less (planned obsolesce, essentially))

-today there seems to be a trend of ageless dressing, more than any other time in the past-more democratic-some social/societal norms of the past are breaking down or beginning to break down
-fashion still remains a young person’s game: the young are the most interested in consuming fashion
-older people generally have found their style and tend to stick with it
-the fashion industry focused on young [read=skinny] bodies [in general]
-there is a trend of “anti-brand”, which in itself becomes a brand (referring to NYT article of recent vintage)

the fashion industry…
-wants to capitalize on what’s happening on the street..it’s all about making money, girls and boys.
[which is why things YOU AND I WEAR (and display on the internet) seem to mysteriously appear in the stores later...think of retailers like urban outfitters: they are capitalizing on the innovators on the street and in turn influence what average kids want to wear, and that's merely one example.]

so, you’ve been teaching yourself to SEE, right?

your eyes are opening, you’re looking around, you’re seeing patterns in the world, things that delight your eye and speak to your soul.

perhaps you’re starting to or are keeping a sketchbook, a scrapbook, making a pile of delightful and inspiring scraps, or putting them on a board. perhaps you even made a bona fide inspiration or mood board.

chances are, your eyes (really, your mind!) are opening up and you’re seeing that details really make the difference. the angel is in the details, really, not the devil.

details are truly what make things special, and different, and unique. anyone can own a pair of jeans, or a white button down oxford style shirt, but it’s the quality or texture of the fabric, the neatness and deliberateness of the stitching, the little unique design features (pleats, piecing, pintucks, the shape slant of a pocket, a fancy button, the innovative shape of a leg or sleeve, whatever!) that make something stand out. and by extension, these details can help tell the story of your own unique personal style. they take something very utilitarian, our everyday clothing, and elevate it to another level. they enrich our adornments and by extension, our personal story or statement.

the special details that you honestly and soulfully choose and the manner in which you mix them together is likely to say something completely idiosyncratic about you…and that’s the point.

i’ll let you in on a little secret: the details are the fun part of fashion (and really, all of art and design!), and they are out there just waiting for you to notice them.

***

to illustrate, i show you these two lovely pairs of shoes i thrifted recently (and also posted about quite recently, here).

the white pair on the left had this amazing ruched triangular section on the toe, something very interesting and unique that set them apart from other shoes on the rack. had they been plain white pumps, i would have been more likely to pass them over. a little detail like that shows that the designer was thinking, experimenting, pushing, trying. it doesn’t get up in your face, but it adds an extra edge. the same is suggested of you, if you notice, embrace, and wear these sorts of details, or any details of any kind that appeal to you. it shows you are LOOKING.
you are also making unique, very personal choices, and being yourself.

***

as was suggested above, details also speak to the quality of an item…and in turn, speak to your inherent or growing intelligence and education on the subject of fashion, even if you don’t intend to eventually become an expert. just knowing a *little* enriches you quantitatively and qualitatively, and actually makes lovely new connections between synapses in your brain! wow! totally cool.

pick up a book on fabric, sewing or fashion details from your local library, thrift store, or used/new bookstore, and page through. examine the pages on fabric, seaming, and the like. understand that some design and manufacturing processes take longer than others, some fabrics and pieces of clothing are harder to make, some are made of materials that take time to produce, and procure. all of these factors factor into the cost and quality of a garment, in the end. train yourself to recognize fabrics, and what feels good and what feels bad or cheap. chances are you know, inherently, with just a touch. use all of your senses.

just being aware of good quality of fabric and the extra time and processes that occasionally go into making higher-quality garments will earnestly assist you when combing the racks at the discount or mass-market shopping establishments, websites, or the thrift or secondhand stores. you can root out good, quality pieces that make an original statement about you…that show you are LOOKING and THINKING.

another example for illustrative purposes…

here, i’ve made a simple straight skirt…but inside, i’ve finished off each seam with hand-made bias tape. sure, i could have simply left the seams bare, allowing them to fray, or could have serged (overlocked) them for the sake of brevity or really, laziness, in order to have a skirt to wear. i take shortcuts like that sometimes myself, we all do.

but in this case, i took the extra time to find a coordinating tape to use as bias, cut the bias tape out by hand, and applied it to all the seams. i took the time and effort and sewed each seam and it’s bias tape as carefully as possible, trying to stitch in the ditch so the stitches wouldn’t show. i hemmed the skirt by hand, making sure not to prick too deeply or sew haphazardly so that the thread wouldn’t show on the outside of the skirt. i paid attention to the details…and this attention pays off. this skirt will last because i took the time.

one of my professors at parsons, darcy meeker, always used to say, “the long way is the short way.” in other words, do it right the first time, and you won’t have to go back and do it again, or put it back together or buy a new one when it falls apart, when it wasn’t done right in the first place (think of all the cheap mass market stuff that disintegrates within a few washings or wearings, UGH!). look for things that were done right the first time. things made with care. things that were made with and eye for and attention to detail.

this type of seam finish, or any other carefully worked seam finish suggests extra care, and hand-work on the part of a garment maker or manufacturer. seam finishes that appear to have been worked by hand, neatness or extra design details or lots of piecing suggest that a garment maker or manufacturer may be signs that you have a good quality piece on your hands…fine, detailed hand-work and beautiful hand-sewing is a huge part of true haute couture clothing, in fact.

i implore you to turn any potential garment you’re thinking of buying inside out…the inside of a garment says almost as much as the outside. it could mean the difference between having a piece that lasts and continues to make a statement, and a trendy, cheaply-made piece that lasts barely one season.

good quality can be rooted out just about anywhere, if you have trained yourself to LOOK and THINK and notice the details.