Self-reliant Fashion Design--Politics and Practices in Fashion Design: The case of Buenos Aires

It's exciting to report on the great number of conferences happening in the field of fashion studies, which helps one grasps the cross-cultural and geographically diverse scope of the phenomenon. Alessandra Vaccari, an Italian scholar based at the University of Bologna, is organizing a conference in Buenos Aires in conjunction with the new masters launched by the University of Bologna, Buenos Aires. The conference, which is taking place November 11, is organized in collaboration with the Centro Metropolitano de Diseño.

For detailed information on the conference, see below:

Thursday 11 November 2010, 17.30-21.00

Auditorium, University of Bologna Rodríguez Peña 1464, Buenos Aires

The forum explores the role and activism of self-reliant fashion designers in the development of a new perception of fashion scene and system. The term “self-reliant” designates here a relatively high degree of independence from fashion industry; strong control and decision-making power over research, creative process, production, and communication; output ranging from one-offs to small series; close relationship with end users.

The self-reliant practice is not necessary a goal, but it is the condition in which new generations of designers increasingly work with an enhanced attention to cultural and ethical dimensions of fashion, often after the achievement of an academic qualification in fashion design.

The forum investigates what has become a global phenomenon, which is particularly interesting to study either in the presence of powerful fashion and textile industry (e.g. Italy), or when such an industry is weak, as is the case of contemporary Argentina. The forum involves designers, media and fashion institutions’ representatives, academics, and students, who are invited to express and discuss their views. Which are the creative strategies that self-reliant practices entail? What is the role of fashion oriented small medium sized enterprises? How do self-reliant fashion designers interact with urban and social space? Are they the product of the current trend toward academisation in design education? And which are the relationships between them and the public institutions promoting design and creative industries? These are some of the key questions that the project seeks to answer.

Project Alessandra Vaccari

Co-ordination Vicky Salías y Alessandra Vaccari

University of Bologna, Buenos Aires

Programme

17.30 Introduction Alessandra Vaccari (University of Bologna)

17.40 Panel 1: Policies Andrea Saltzman (Universidad de Buenos Aires) Celia Turquesa Topper (Universidad Argentina de la Empresa) Daniela Sartori y Cesar Albarracín (Cèsartori) Marina Pérez Zelaschi (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial) Pablo Ramírez (Ramírez) Sofìa Marré (Fundación Pro Tejer) Vicky Salías (Centro Metropolitano de Diseño)

Panel 1 Co-ordinator Vicky Salías

19.10 Coffee break

19.30 Panel 2: Practices Emiliano Blanco y Camila Milesi (Kostüme) Javier Estebecorena (HE Hermanos Estebecorena) Jimena Nahon (Catalogue) Marcelo Giacobbe (Marcelo Giacobbe) Mariana Szwarc (Salsipuedes) Vicente Donato (Università di Bologna) Victoria Lescano (Pagina/12) Yumico Takemoto (HP France)

Panel 2 Co-ordinator Victoria Lescano

University of Bologna, Buenos Aires + 54 11 4878 2900 informes@unibo.edu.ar

Centro Metropolitano de Diseño, Oficina de Moda, Buenos Aires +54 11 4126 2967 oficina.modaba@gmail.com

"Locating Fashion/Studies" Symposium at Parsons the New School for Design

Locating Fashion/Studies is instead taking place on Novmber 12 and 13 at Parsons in conjunction with the newly launched MA in Fashion Studies and is organized by its director Heike Jenss in collaboration with dean Hazel Clark. In their own words:

"This symposium marks the launch of the new MA Fashion Studies program in the School of Art and Design History and Theory at Parsons. Placing an emphasis on fashion as material culture, scholars whose work spans multiple disciplines discuss their work in the diverse field of fashion studies. Topics range from collecting and exhibiting in the museum and in multiple sites in the global fashion industry; global denim; the fashioning of masculinities; and image production in New York modeling agencies.

Speakers include Christopher Breward, Cheryl Buckley, Otto vonBusch, Joanne Eicher, Francesca Granata, Susan B. Kaiser, Alexandra Palmer, Stephanie Sadre-Orafai, Valerie Steele, Sophie Woodward, and members of Parsons' faculty."

"Japan Fashion Now" Symposium at the Museum at FIT

Two fashion conferences are taking place in New York--only one week apart from one another. The first, the "Japan Fashion Now Symposium," is taking place on November 4th and 5th in conjunction with the eponymous exhibition at the Museum at FIT, the second at Parsons the following week (see below).

Among the participants to the "Japan Fashion Now Symposium," in addition to MFIT director and chief curator Valerie Steele and deputy director Patricia Mears, are Brian McVeigh who will speak on the personalization of students' uniforms in Japan, Sharon Kinsella who will talk on the transformation of cute in Japanese subcultural fashion "from naive subculture to Grotesque Parody." Similar themes might transpires in Laura Miller’s presentation titled "Perverse Cuteness in Japanese Girl Culture."

IXEL MODA 2010: A Sustainable Fashion Conference in Cartagena, Colombia

Work by the Colombian Slow Fashion Designer Juliana Correa of ONA

I was recently invited to speak at IXEL MODA—a conference on Latin American fashion that takes place each year in Cartagena, Colombia and was co-funded by Erika Rohenes Weber and Danilo Cañizares.

The conference had both an academic and a business and development component. The academic side of the conference, which was organized by the Latin American fashion scholar Regina Root, focused on the theme of sustainability—a particularly interesting theme in the context of Colombia’s ongoing environmental and social problems.

Departing from her historical studies in Argentinean fashion, which were discussed in her recent book Couture and Consensus, Root discussed the need for inclusiveness in developing the country’s fashion system. Marsha Dickson, who is also U.S.-based, spoke about ethical fashion and social responsibility and the phenomenon of Fair Trade, as well as the difficulty of defining the terms. Arturo Tejada spoke on the importance of fashion education in the promotion of sustainability within the fashion industries. Kathia Castilho, from the Universidade Anhembi Morumbi as well as the editor of the Brazilian fashion journal dObra[s] spoke on fashion and language, while I spoke on the phenomenon of slow fashion, tying it to earlier experimental fashion movements and, in particular, deconstruction fashion.

Also of interest were presentations by Laura Novik, who spoke on sustainability and slow fashion in the context of Chilean fashion, which she promotes through her organization Raizdiseno, as well as the Brazilian journalist and academic Carol Garcia, who traced the tension between globalization and authenticity by following the permutation of Latin American symbols historically and cross-culturally. Garcia wrote a book on the topic titled “Moda Brasil: Fragmentos de um Vestir Tropical” (Fashion Brazil: Fragments of a Tropical Way of Dressing), San Paulo: Anhembi Morumbi Editor, 2001, which unfortunately has not yet being translated into English.

Work by the Colombian Slow Fashion Designer Juliana Correa of ONA

The event also showcased Colombian designers, some of whom fall within the slow fashion movement. Of particular relevance is the work of Alfonso Mendoza, whose jewelry is based on the region’s Afro-Caribbean heritage and includes local artisanal craft and fibers, as well as the experimental work of slow fashion designer Juliana Correa of ONA.

Another aspect of the conference discussed the need for a greater development of Colombian fashion both as actual industry and image industry and included a number of government officials, particularly ones connected to Inexmoda the Colombian Institute for exports and fashion. The intermingling of business and government officials alongside academic discussions made for interesting exchanges of ideas across what is generally an often strict divide based on—at least, in this case—the false assumption that the former might not be interested in academic discourse.

Francesca Granata

Hacking Sustainable Fashion

Photos by Megan MacMurray

Fashion Projects readers might be familiar with Giana Gonzalez, an interaction designer and artist who seeks to hack into the fashion system. I had interviewed her back in 2006 about her Hacking Couture workshops. Results from her workshops given in New York, Chicago, California and Istanbul are on view now at Eyebeam as part of the exhibition Re:Group: Beyond Models of Consensus.

Giana and I will be giving a FREE workshop this coming Wednesday, July 14th, at Eyebeam using the hacking methodology Giana has created. Only this time, instead of trying to hack the code of fashion brands, we are setting our sights a bit higher - we aim to hack into the sustainable fashion movement. In fact, we know that ultimately, a hack into sustainable fashion is really about hacking the entire fashion system...something we are very excited to try. Please do attend if you can, as we cannot do this alone.

Of course, we will be posting the code we develop on the Fashion Code Wiki.

More images from the Re:Group: Beyond Models of Consensus exhibition after the jump.

Sarah Scaturro