Black Style Today, Our Style Tomorrow
/Last weekend the Museum of the City of New York opened a new exhibition titled "Black Style Now." An encyclopedic view of black fashion in NYC from the beginning of the 1900s to today, the exhibition focuses most heavily on the role of hip-hop in the last 15 years. I had visited the exhibition with the purpose of writing a review, but then I stumbled across Robin Givhan's article about it in the Washington Post. Honestly, I know that her article does the topic more justice than mere paragraphs here would. Instead, I would like to talk a little about a designer who had a piece exhibited in the show, Natalia Allen. Her dress was a classic halter-style wrap dress in the most pleasing color of sea-foam green. It turns out this color refers to the actual composition of the fabric itself - a mix of algae and cellulose. The hi-tech jersey releases nutrients such as calcium, magnesium and vitamin E onto the wearer's skin.
Natalia Allen's focus on fashion is definitely innovative. A graduate of Parsons School of Design, she won their Designer of the Year in 2004. She now has her own company, and also works as a consultant to many big-name designers about the emerging field of technological fashion. I had the pleasure of meeting Natalia earlier this month at (appropriately enough) a wearable technology fashion show. In my opinion, she is one of the most exciting designers out there today. Her enthusiasm for forward-thinking fashion is evident when talking to her. She is constantly seeking ways to expand the capabilities of fashion's most basic element, fabric. Even more, her work with large fashion companies promises to help unite the realms of fashion and technology in new and viable ways.
Information:
“Black Style Now”
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue (at 103rd St)
NY, NY 10029
212.534.1672
http://www.mcny.org
Natalia Allen
http://www.nataliaallen.com
Sarah Scaturro
Fashion Projects #5 is devoted to fashion curation, examining the meteoritic rise in relevance of fashion exhibitions.
It features interviews with an eclectic assortment of leading practitioners from different corners of the world. The issue includes long Q&As with Harold Koda, the longtime, recently retired curator of the Met’s Costume Institute, as well as the Museum at FIT’s veteran leader Valerie Steele. It also features interviews with curators in Antwerp (the ModeMuseum’s Kaat Debo), Toronto (Royal Ontario Museum’s Alexandra Palmer) and Venice (Maria Luisa Frisa); academics studying the field (Hazel Clark, Annamari Vänskä, and Alistair O’Neill); and, giving an on-the-ground perspective, the Met’s head conservator, Sarah Scaturro. The issue’s cover stars Greer Lankton’s sculptural representation of legendary Vogue editor and Costume Institute doyenne Diana Vreeland, who continues to loom over the field years after her death.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Showmanship and History: An Interview with Harold Koda by Francesca Granata
Woman of Steele: An Interview with Valerie Steele by Lisa Santandrea
Exploring Fashion’s Openness: An Interview with Kaat Debo by Alex Esculapio
London, After a Fashion Curator: An Interview with Alistair O’Neill by Alexis Romano
Curation and Conservation: An Interview with Sarah Scaturro by Mae Colburn
Reflections on Fashion Curating
An Interview with Hazel Clark and Annamari Vänskä
Fashion in the Vast Museum: An Interview with Alexandra Palmer by Ingrid Mida
Restless Curating: An Interview with Maria Luisa Frisa by Marco Pecorari