My brain is spinning a bit with this new blog theme.
All stars, including our sun, are powered by fusion. And, we are here because of it.
Professor Brian Cox explains a star's fusion in this video, delivered in his inimitable style.
For the illustration, plus the J.F.K. speech quote, this site is interesting regard how difficult it is to create fusion. Apparently, fusion offers a cleaner and safer energy solution than coal, natural gas, or nuclear power, but "is an arduous source to achieve."
Kawakubo delivered this idea in her 1998 CdG Fall 'Fusion' collection. It was described as "A collection of complicated clothes over which much labour had been spent as the designer grafted and collaged different types of garments into unique pieces." Laird Borrelli-Persson wrote that the garments "needed to be seen from all angles."
Grafting different types of garments into unique pieces. I tried this approach in a collection project I undertook some years ago, t-shirts, waistcoats and ties,
For example, WAFRICA, where Japanese and African aesthetics are brought together in kimono collections.
Serge Mouangue (an indigenous Cameroonian artist) and Kururi (a Japanese kimono designer) worked together to create divinely fused kimono garments.
Further explanation and beautiful images found in this site https://www.spoon-tamago.com/wafrica-japanese-kimonos-inspired-by-west-african-culture/
And, Maya Caulfield, a Scottish/Japanese artist created kimonos that explored her bicultural identity.
And in Aotearoa/New Zealand, we have The Pacific Fusion Fashion Show, a celebration of Pacific inspired fashion.
Check it out through this link, great information with great images of great designs.
https://www.fusionfashion.co.nz/2020-polynation/
which inspired me to create these garments, blending my Scottish ancestry with the Pacifica culture I live within. 
Nuclear fusion reactions first occurred during the early stages of the Big Bang, which enabled the universe to emerge from a hot, dense sea of matter and energy. As the cosmos expanded and cooled galaxies, stars, planets and life evolved.
Interested...read a bit more https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/parker-cold-dark-matter-an-exploded-view-t06949/story-cold-dark-matter It gives you lots to think about.
Irving Penn is the photographer, so it was a pretty special fashion shoot.
I loved that skirt!
Rei Kawakubo did a bit of cultural fusing with some of the garments from the CdG S/S 2006 "Lost Empire" collection,
The most important thing to consider if you are engaging in cultural fusion is cultural appropriation.
Cultural appropriation involves the clothing of one culture being removed from its original context, which could involve exploitation. If you are working to honour and respect the culture and its people, it is referred to as cultural appreciation. Cultural appreciation is a learning experience, which gives one knowledge and deepens understanding. And, don't we all want to do that, deepen understanding and knowledge at all times.
In 2022, a Fusion of Fibre Arts, Fashion & Design International Exhibition was held. Artists were invited to explore the various ways fusion as a concept can be expressed and incorporated into fashion and fibre arts. I like some of the results that appear in the following link, especially Theo Trotter's "Untitled II". I see it as the inside structure of an opened out jacket.
Want to know a bit more about the Big Bang? This video might assist.
This is a Nature Time Spiral poster, an amazing expression of the Big Bang and its aftermath of events, designed by Pablo Carlos Budassi. Presented as a spiral starting from the centre to the outer end it reveals events, like the emergence of cosmic structures, solar systems, important geological events, and the evolution of living beings, including homo sapiens.
Here's a fabulous work of art, that reflects/inspires an aspect of the big bang, 'Dark Cold Matter An Exploded View' (1991), by Cornelia Park.
This link will take you to a very good video discussing the poster. It is narrated by a friend of Budassi's and is worth listening to.
One year, a student of mine was inspired by the Big Bang.
The moodboard she created.
The Big Bang Theory, an American TV sitcom, which centred around a group of physicists, who share an apartment. I never watched the programme. Did view these bits to get some idea.
"Somehow the idea and imminence of the ‘explosion’ in society seemed such an iconic thing. You were being constantly bombarded with its imagery, from the violence of the comic strip, through action films, in documentaries about Super Novas and the Big Bang, and least of all on the news in never ending reports of war."
The Big Bang the beginning, was a source for RK's Fall/Winter 2023 collection. Kawakubo described it as "Return to the source....a feeling of going back to the starting point...wanted to use fabrics that existed without thinking about making proper patterns, just basic patterns, free."
It is a very interesting collection and was delivered in 11 sections. Each section had its own accompanying music. Maybe best viewed in a video.
Otherwise a garment from each section. The glorious headpieces are made by the artist, Valierane Venance.
I like that idea of RK's "without thinking about making proper patterns, just basic patterns" I'm going to see what I can come up with, taking a basic shape and making a wearable garment, just like she did.
I've got a basic pattern on the way...a square shape is pretty basic, isn't it.
Sorting out the 'pilgrim collar'.
The end result, my style of 'Pilgrim Collar Cube Dress/Coat'. There isn't one curved line, apart from the collar. Prototype number one.
And, this is my more 'wear-to-work' version of it.
A '1997 Fashion Big Bang' exhibition has just finished at the Palais Galliera.
The exhibition theme refers to the 1997 Paris Vogue issue, which printed the cover statement "The Big Bang", relating to the Spring/Summer collections that year.
I purchased this Vogue magazine way back then, and I loved that poster image so much I now have it hanging on my bedroom wall. It's become part of an installation.
The idea behind the magazine story was that the collections of that season were so radically different and have proved to be a watershed moment in the history of contemporary fashion. It was the year Kawakubo presented her 'Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body' collection, which got referred to as 'lumps and bumps'.
This was a fascinating collection, the like of it never seen before or since, I hazard to say.
These are two other photos from the magazine, and both of them are working with the wonderful paper bag skirt RK conceptually designed.
Eventually I purchased some paper fabric from a Chinese company and made one. It was great creative fun.
Maison Martin Margiela is also presented in the exhibition. During the 1997 S/S collection season he presented a wonderful collection inspired by Stockman mannequins. (Not sure what they are about, check out my Mannequin blog https://solovetosewliketheboys.blogspot.com/2020/10/its-these-two-again.html?m=1 )
Images from the collection. Martin Margiela, a very creative man.
If interested in Martin Margiela, take this website from MoMu Fashion Museum Antwerp, you will find out more.
So, 1997 Fashion Big Bang, check out this link, it is in french, but I'm sure you will pick up the spirit of it. (I hope the connection works ok for you.)
Plus an article from i-D explaining the exhibition
1997 was also a year of tragic events, the assassination of Gianni Versace and the death of Princess Diana.
And, it was the year of a big beginning for me, my new career in secondary school teaching, my very own personal Big Bang. It's been a blast!
SLTSLTBsigning off.
