Fashion and Power Forum at CUNY

Members of ThreeASFOUR in their Chinatown studio. Photo: Mara Catalan

Last night’s talk, which was part of the Graduate Center Great Issues Series on Culture and Power, evolved into a discussion on the homogenization of fashion and the role the economy might have in spurring greater creativity in cities like New York through renewed affordability. Moderated by fashion theorist and historian Eugenia Paulicelli, the panel included designers Gabi Asfour (of ThreeASFOUR) and Anna Sui, and New York Times cultural critic Guy Trebay.

Anna Sui gave a candid account of the way the economy changed her company’s situation, in some ways for the better: She was able to retain the lease on her garment district work space, thanks to the fall of the housing market in New York, which stopped the ongoing conversion of industrial spaces in the area into condos. Trebay seemed less sanguine about the creative future of New York, resigned to the fact that the level of affordability and the other elements which allowed the flourishing of New York cultures in decades past (in particular the 1970s ) is behind us for good. Gabi Asfour found New York cultural centrality indispensable to his work—the reason he chose the city over Paris as the basis for the company, despite its lack of support for experimental fashion. Interestingly, what they all agreed on was that collaborations could be a way forward—both collaborations between creative individuals and between companies (i.e. Uniqlo and H&M tapping into designer’s fashion).

Another thread of the discussion was the homogenization of fashion across cities and countries, which the three speaker saw epitomized at international airports, where the pervasiveness of casual clothes can be observed: What Anna Sui saw as the Californization of the world’s wardrobe.

Soft Geometries: Fashion, Architecture, and NYC’s Garment District

A felt structure by Gabi Schillig

The Van Alen Institute is hosting a discussion tonight between designer Yeohlee Teng and architect Calvin Tsao on the relationship between fashion and architecture, civic identity and public spaces with regards to the possible rezoning of New York City’s Garment District. This program is in conjunction with their current exhibition by outgoing Van Alen Fellow Gabi Schillig, titled "Public Receptors: Beneath the Skin". Stay tuned to Fashion Projects for an interview with Gabi regarding her work in attempting to mediate the relationship between private users and public spaces using her portable, detachable felt structures.

The program tonight is from 6:30 – 8:30pm at the Van Alen Institute, 30 West 22nd Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues) 6th Floor. $8 for non-members, payable at the door; free for Van Alen Institute members and one guest. RSVP required to rsvp@vanalen.org.

Valentino: The Last Emperor

Valentino sourrounded by his work and pugs.

The Matt Tyrnauer-directed documentary, Valentino: The Last Emperor, which is currently playing at Film Forum, is rather touching, as it shows the swan song of the Italian designer. Most poignant is its depiction of Valentino’s relation with his life and business companion Giancarlo Giammetti, who seems to have patiently supported the designer throughout his career.

From a fashion historical point of view, the film remarks on the end of an era of finely hand-made couture gowns. One of the most interesting parts of the movie shows the highly skilled seamstresses draping and constructing the garments entirely by hand. It’s also significant to hear Valentino recount how his interest in fashion stemmed from watching Hollywood films such as the highly choreographed Busby Berkeley extravaganzas and the 1946 musical the Ziegfeld Follies—which was, in fact, a precursor to the fashion show as spectacle. Valentino, like many Italian designers of the post-war era, was thoroughly inspired by Hollywood glamour, especially by way of Via Veneto, which was famously immortalized by Fellini in La Dolce Vita. In the case of Valentino, this fascination with Hollywood met with an interest and a thorough knowledge of the Parisian haute couture.

Ultimately, the designer’s fondness for the art of dress-making, his attention to the details of the craft combined with his love of an opulent over-the-top lifestyle, put him at odds with the market forces at hand. His 45-year career, however, has extended an influence on generations of designers and consumers alike, while the man himself, in his studied mannerism, has certainly left a strong impression. As a kid, I remember my father recounting how in the early ’70s he shopped in Valentino’s menswear boutique, which was then in Rome’s Via Condotti, and was greatly flattered that the designer himself advised him on what to buy—a fact that to this day my father considers an undeniable stamp of approval on his style.

Valentino and his head seamstress at work in his atelier

Upcoming Conferences in New York

A 1933 window display devoted to American designers at Lord & Taylor in Manhattan from the New York Times

April brings at least two conferences of interest. One is a rather large conference organized by FIT's Sustainability Group. While not focusing specifically on fashion, the conference does have a number or sections that revolve around organic textiles--cotton in particular, as well as one paper on the topic of Slow Design. Ambitiously titled "Putting Sustainability into Action," the conference is scheduled to take place on April 2nd and pre-registration is encouraged.

More specifically on fashion and much smaller in scope is the yearly Richard Martin Visual Culture Symposium organized by the MA in Costume Studies at NYU. This year's keynote speaker is Phyllis Magidson, Curator of Costumes and Textiles at The Museum of the City of New York who will speak on fashion in New York and Paris from 1914 to 1941--possibly an extension of the recent exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York "Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture, 1925-1940."

Among the papers presented are "Fashion and Façade: Addressing and Undressing the Bourgeoisie in Emile Zola’s Pot-Bouille" by Jessica Pescosolido, "The Italian Look: Unique Synergies at Work" by Gabriella Pannunzio, "Shapewear: A Complicated Affair A Study in the Resurgence of Body Shapers Worn by American Women" by Ashley Cohen, and "Jungle Red and Dragon Ladies: American Femininities and the Modern Manicure" by Suzanne Shapiro. The symposium takes place on Friday April 3rd Friday from 6:00-8:00 in the Einstein Auditorium at 34 Stuyvesant Street.

CAA 2009 Los Angeles (and fashion)

Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons, Spring/Summer 1997. Photo Paolo Roversi.

The recently completed College Art Association Annual Conference had a surprisingly small numbers of papers which could fall under the fashion history and theory heading. More numerous were papers revolving around the theme of craft, ornamentation and the body.

I spoke on Rei Kawakubo’s collection from Spring/Summer 1997 titled “Body Meets Dress,” and her subsequent collaboration with Merce Cunningham for a dance of the same year, Scenario. The paper was part of a panel organized by Victoria Rovine and Sarah Adams titled “Clothing, Flesh, Bone: Visual Culture above and below the Skin.” The papers presented in this stimulating panel ranged the gamut from architectural history—how German Körperkultur translated into architecture—to participatory art practice—the work of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica —to medical science (i.e. discussion of reconstructive plastic surgery).

Merce Cunningham, Scenario, 1997. Photo courtesy of the Merce Cunningham Archives

Unfortunately, I missed a panel organized by Alla Myzelev of the University of Western Ontario dedicated to the convergence of fashion and furniture, as well as a panel on ornament organized by Patricia Flores, which included a paper by Glenn Adamson, currently at the V&A. However, the latter’s work seems to have inspired a very interesting and lively panel on Queering Crafts, which featured mostly practioners’ presentations. Among the most interesting papers was Jesse M. Kahn’s. which introduced a range of queer practioners’ work, including his own. Among them were Bren Ahearn—who seems to be commenting both on gender and labor processes, by carefully embroidering the word “manmade” on cheaply mass-manufactured goods.

Francesca