This blog is inspired by a J.M.Coetzee novel I have been reading.
Why such an image on the cover?
It relates to the very first paragraph of the story.
-I have never seen anything like it: two little discs of glass suspended in front of his eyes in loops of wires. Is he blind? I could understand it if he wanted to hide blind eyes. But he is not blind. The discs are dark, they look opaque from the outside, but he can see through them. He tells me they are a new invention. "They protect one's eyes against the glare of the sun," he says. "You would find them useful out here in the desert. They save one from squinting all the time. One has fewer headaches. Look." He touches the corners of his eyes lightly. "No wrinkles." He replaces the glasses. It is true. He has the skin of a younger man. "At home everyone wears them."- (Colonel Joll)
The idea that the sun glasses are round, dark and threatening helps Joll to hide his emotions. They symbolize his 'blindness' to the truth of the Empire's cruelty.
Here are the sunglasses Johnny Depp wore for his Colonel Joll portrayal, in the 2019 film directed by Ciro Guerra.
The design of Joll's glasses in the film, was based on historical eyewear research, and helped to produce a menacing persona for Depp to embody in his role as the powerful unfeeling imperial military officer.
I am always interested in the research that goes into the design and construction of an item, far more so than many of my students!
Here's an interesting article, that maybe assisted in the design of Joll's sunglasses.
November 20, 2023, 'Waiting For The Barbarians' concert, inspired by Cavafy's poetry, was held in the St.Thomas Church on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. Here's a link to the event. My favourite performance is Laurie Anderson's contribution,
Back to Coetzee's, as one reviewer said, "who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider... and 'In Waiting For The Barbarians', the outsider is a concept to keep in mind."
I have got there, my theme,
The Outsider.
The beginning of a farewell speech I once delivered.
An Outsider
A person who does not belong to a particular organisation or profession.
A competitor, applicant, etc. thought to have little chance of success.
A stranger, someone who doesn't fit in, or someone who observes a group from afar, stands outside looking in.
If you go through high school without belonging to any particular group, not a jock, not a nerd, not an artist, not a muso, you may feel like an outsider.
In the beginning Rei Kawakubo was considered an outsider,
'Three Women' exhibition, 1987, Museum of FIT NY
because she was a non-traditional designer, who expressed her ideas/concepts over traditional apparel training. I think the thing that really got them, was that she had no formal training!
(I remember one of the practicum sections I went on, when teacher training, an associate teacher was rather off hand/cool/sniffy toward me, because I came out of industry, as opposed to a University Home Science academic degree.)
There are probably a number of CdG collections that could reflect the outsider, but maybe none more so than the Fall 2014, Monster, one. R.K. is quoted as saying, "The monsters I thought about are those that don't fit in - those who think differently from the majority, the people of exception, outsiders. I wish that society would place more importance and value on these kinds of monsters."
In this collection, Kawakubo delivered huge knitted extensions, distorted clothing, otherworldly silhouettes and challenges to the convention.
This is an interesting analysis of the collection. The writer sees it as "a transformation of fashion to art." They are quite correct about after the showing of the collection more wearable pieces are presented, for which the collection is only a point of reference.
Here are some of my sltsltb wearable takes on garments that came out of the collection. They may look quite straight forward, but when it comes to the drafting and construction, it does not often prove to be the case.
Outsider Art is art that is made by self-taught individuals, untrained, untutored in the traditional form. The term Outsider Art was coined by art critic, Roger Cardinal. It is an English equivalent of what French artist, Jean Dubruffet called 'Art Brut', that which is raw or rough art.
Rei Kawakubo has collaborated with outsider artists.
In 2013 she collaborated with Dan Michiels, to create garments that were included in the CdG Fall 2013 collection, 'The Infinity of Tailoring'.
Michiels worked at the San Francisco based 'Creativity Explored', a centre that gives artists with developmental disabilities the means to create, exhibit and sell their work. Michiels work is intricate geometric patterns on paper, which he then fills in with vibrant felt pen colours.
Rei Kawakubo saw his work in the Raw Vision magazine, and really liked it. Connection was made with Dan Michiels and he agreed to his work being used.
'My God We Have Needles and Pins'
and,
'Return of the Aliens'
Rei Kawakubo said Dan Michiels' work was a perfect way to express the synergy and accident she was wanting to display in 'The Infinity of Tailoring'. Dan Michiels expressed that he was very proud of the collaboration.
Here is my t-shirt, which was inspired by aspects of 'The Infinity of Tailoring' collection.
Maybe it is also reminiscent of Yayoi Kusama. She is often described as an outsider artist, as she works from her own visual world, which is influenced by issues with mental health.
One particularly fascinating outsider artist is Henry Darger.
I first came across Darger, when reading Olivia Laing's book, 'The Lonely City'. Born in 1892, the artwork of Darger's, who spent most of his adult life working as a hospital janitor, was not publicly discovered until after his death in 1973.
Very much in a world of his own, Darger produced a phenomenal volume of artistic and literary work, known as 'The Story of the Vivian Girls, What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Agelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion'.
and this film has a huge amount to share regard his work, and the man, via the few people who in some way shared his life, some of them in a very kind and caring way. I like Darger's quote, "I figure that it's better to be a sucker who makes something than a wise guy who is too cautious to make anything at all." (Yeah, go for it mate, "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum")
I have discovered a designer Hiroaki Sueyasu, who started the 'Kidill' brand in 2014. The brand is based on his experiences of youth culture of punk, with the concept that his clothing is produced for the rebels with a modern spirit.
For his Fall 2022/23 collection, 'The Outsider', Sueyasu was very obviously inspired by Henry Darger. Many of the garments demonstrate Darger's work. Fashion Week Online described it this way,
"Henry Darger, the art brut author and a lone artist portraying the artistic expressions of the endless deeds of human interactions led to the significance of the KIDILL 2022 AW collection."
It's well worth viewing the video presentation of the collection. It's an interesting reflection of the outsider and maybe a small bit of Darger's life, like coming home after work, walking into his room, alone.
A delightful book was written about Judith Scott's life,
and this is the beautiful book image of one of the textile pieces Judith created in her last year, before she died in her twin sister's arms.
A number of years ago, on one our school trips to WOW, a visit to the Wellington City Art Gallery was part of the itinerary. An exhibition on the 2nd level related to Susan Te Kahurangi King, totally unknown to me. I remember being the only one of our party who took it in, and I came away a different person. I now knew of Susan Te Kahurangi King and her story, which was delivered via a video. I remember myself and one other woman watching, and when it finished, we looked at one another, each with a look of a joy at now knowing about this amazing artist.
In 2023, RNZ National's Cultural 101 shared an interesting interview with one of Susan's sisters,
This is one of my favourite pages from the booklet I took away from the Wellington City Art Gallery exhibition. I hope you can read the comment in the first section, a comment from Susan's Mum.
Another NZ artist, described so interestingly as, "an outsider on the inside".
There is something about being an outsider and seeing things differently, slightly removed, that allows for wonderful creativity.
Take Hussein Chalayan's 2015 TED talk, 'My life as an outsider'.
He reflects on a number of his astounding works, my all time favourite being the Fall 2000 'Afterwords', and ends the talk with this statement, "Being an immigrant within different disciplines has allowed me to discover worlds that I wouldn't have never discovered otherwise and I've learned to think that outside the status is a privilege allowing me to see that alien worlds can coexist and inspire each other even leading to also connections that might eventually end up developing new disciplines altogether."
It's rather interesting, as I think "outsiderness" is a big aspect of the Fashion Industry. Many of us have feelings of being an outsider in the world of glamour that the Industry portrays. We don't really feel part of it, maybe due to appearance, body shape, race.
An inspirational woman who has confronted this experience is educator, writer, activist, Sinead Burke.
Born with Achondroplasis, a form of dwarfism, Sinead is proving to be an amazing influencer for disabled people to be more inclusively represented within the Fashion Industry, and life. In 2020 she founded her company Tilting the Lens, the goal of which is "to create the conditions for disabled people to be successful in a fair and accessible world".
In 2020 Sinead carried out a recorded conversation with Lonnie Bunch III, who was at that time the Director of Museum of African American History and Culture of the Smithsonian Institute.
This is a reveling section of the discussion, as to where both these individuals come from, where they are going, and why.
[11:04]
Lonnie Bunch III: The other part of it was, however, I grew up in a town where
there are very few black people. And in my school, my elementary school, I was
the only black kid. And so there were a lot of times that I had fights, that
there were a lot of racial epithets, and there were people that treated me
wonderfully, and people that treated me horribly. I remember like it was
yesterday, I was playing ball in somebody’s backyard, and the mother came out
and she had glasses of Kool-Aid to give everybody. And then she saw me and
said, “you drink out of the hose.” And I never forgot that hurt. And so I
realize that maybe history would help me understand why some people hated and
why some people didn’t. And so history began as a personal way for me to heal
and to understand, and hopefully became a way for me to think, how can I help a
country? How can I help the world find reconciliation, peace and healing
through the past? So that’s how I became a historian.
[12:07]
Sinéad Burke: That incident with the hose, I’m horrified, but so sadly not
surprised. What age were you at the time? And did you have any real sense of
what was actually happening?
[12:21]
Lonnie Bunch III: I was probably 8, 9 or 10, and I knew exactly what was
happening. It had happened from the very first day I had walked out. I mean,
even my grandparents who used to tell me that you’re going to face prejudice
and here’s how you handle it. My grandmother was this amazing lady who started
out life as a sharecropper and ended up life as this grand dame. Nobody messed
with her. And so she used to tell me, “you have to behave in certain ways. And
whatever you do, don’t get into fights.” Because the stereotype was that blacks
were ruffians, and they would fight. And she’d say, “never fight unless
somebody called you a ‘nigger.’ And if they called you a ‘nigger,’ you better
fight everybody. And so that’s how I grew up, with this sense of moving forward
and fighting for the good fight.
Sinéad Burke: I think that idea
of you always knew, and you were absolutely aware of the reality is
interesting. And as a white woman, I have no comparison for that story. But as
a little person, I knew from the earliest of ages the difference between
people’s curiosity and people’s maliciousness. And if people were looking at me
or pointing at me or staring at me, I would say to friends, even childhood
friends, I would kind of say, gosh, they are acting funny. And my friends would
think, no they’re not, it’s all in your head. You’re being oversensitive. And I
could feel it in my bones. I was so used to how their body language would
change when they look at me, or quietly nudging their friend and giving them a
raised eyebrow, going “look over there.” But it’s hard. I mean, it becomes a
part of you, it shapes you, and exactly as you said, it molds your interest in
who you become.
[14:01] Lonnie Bunch III: Well,
what it does is anybody who’s been an outsider knows what that feels like.
Knows what the stares are, the whispers. Knows about what it’s like to be left
out of gatherings. But what it also does, though, is it makes you care about
every other outsider. It makes you want to fight for fairness from every place
you work, every place you play, every place you visit. So for me, it has been
the overriding sense of my life to say, what can I do to make sure people find
fairness? That people have a chance to not feel that pain that you feel when
you’re an outsider? And it starts from when you’re a child and it goes to this
day. I’ll go places and sometimes people — I know what they’re saying, they’re
pointing at me. Sometimes it’s because they recognize me. But other times it’s
like, what’s this black guy doing here? And so I know that. And it makes you,
as your friend said, sometimes it does make you sensitive. What I say what it
does is make you perceptive. It makes you understand when to struggle and when
to smile.
This is my favourite image of Sinead Burke. It was a collaboration with photographer Tim Walker for The Business of Fashion. I think it nails her.
and this is a great article to read, 'Fashion, identity, and the need for community'. I relate with Sinead's comments in the last paragraph, "My relationship with fashion is complicated....I love the industry deeply, but I also see the deep systemic injustices that continue to exist."
(Just a wee personal aside, I love that David Bowie was an avid and diverse reader, who ranged from classics, sci-fi and history)
Bowie embraced his feeling of being an outsider, as it proved to be a source of creative strength and a connection with those who felt the same. Some say he gave outsiders the freedom to be themselves.
These are some of the things that have helped me with that feeling of "not fitting in"..
Embrace it and learn to be yourself anyway
Practice expressing yourself, when the opportunity presents (someone will get it)
Cultivate your skills and gifts (definitely!)
Express yourself through your own style (it's great creative fun)
Create a blog or website (certainly recommend this one!)
Back to Rei Kawakubo, who was seen, by the west, as an outsider at the beginning of her career.
She has proved herself to be an astounding success.
She is a very good business woman, very hard working and very appreciative of all the behind the scenes talent that helps her to achieve what she has achieved.
And man, has she achieved!
1983: Mainichi Newspaper Fashion Award
1986: Fashion Group International Night of Stars Award
1988: Second Mainichi Fashion Award
1991: Business Woman of the Year Award, Veuve Cliquot, Paris
1993: Honored by the French Govt. as a Chevalier in the Order of Arts And Letters
1997: An honorary doctorate, Royal College of Art, London
2000: Excellence in Design Award from Harvard University Graduate School of Design
2001: Minister of Education's Art Encouragement Prize, Japan's Agency of Cultural Affairs
2002: Asahi Prize
2004: Officier de l'Ordre National du Merite
2005: Walpole Medal of Excellence
2009: Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion
2012: Internation Award for Excellence in Fashion Design, Council of Fashion Designers of America, New York
2019: Isamu Noguchi Award
2023: Japanese Government Person of Cultural Merit
2024: Compasso d'Oro Italian Industrial Design Award
2024: Lifetime Achievement Medal at London design Festival
This is a very interesting article, pertaining to Kawakubo's 2023 Person of Cultural Award.
One very last conection, remember the article related to CdG's Monster collection, "a transformation of fashion to art", and the comment re garments that bear a reference to the collection.
Here is an example of it coming from the 'Small Things', Fall 2025/26 collection.
Two amazing suits,
and a more wearable jacket that reflects a reference to each one.
sltsltbsigns outside the status quo.
(P.S. One last comment concerning David Bowie. He was offered honours twice by the British
monarchy but refused both, a CBE in 2000 and
a knighthood in 2003. Bowie said he did not know what the honours were for, and that they were not what he worked for in his life. Admirable!)
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