Theodora Barclay VH
Integrative Studio Kate Teal
Spring Semester
Final Project Idea 1/ Collaborate Collage & Black and white Analog photography
From taking this Studio class this semester I have realised I really enjoy collaging as it is a medium I didn’t use to much before taking this class. Realising this I went back to look at all of the work I have made for this semester so far and I noticed a corroltion between using photography in these collages along with a heavy use of paint. Therefore for my final project I would like to develop this further to create a series of A3 or lager printed photographs that I have taken/will take using black & white film and then collage using paint and other chosen materials on top of the printed piece. Then frame them and place them as though they were hanging in PS1 or The MoMA. For the photographs I plan on using both fashion photographs and street photographs because those are both the pathways I focus on in my photography. But as this is a series, I might try to stick to just one of those pathways as it might look better sticking to just fashion photography or just street photography rather then both to create a more series like look.
Photography Inspiration:
Daido Moriyama’s Fashion Photography
Collage Inspiration:
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Greg Gossel
My Mock up ideas:
Original Film Photograph Final Collage
Original Film Photograph Final Collage
Research Sources:
http://www.dazeddigital.com/photography/article/28577/1/the-best-photographers-working-in-black-and-white
Discover The Captivating Work Of Acclaimed Japanese Photographer, Daido Moriyama
http://www.greggossel.com/work2017.html
Final Project Idea 2/ Instillation cinema
For this idea I would create a small box which would replicate a room from PS1 and create a vintage cinema (in the style of the electric cinema in London) with in it. In Order to link this final piece to my Seminar piece. In the chairs of the mini cinema I will create dolls to resemble certain figures who are well known in the fashion industry, who especially in this past year of so have made mistakes that have hit plenty of headlines and become quite known for their very un liberal/un ethical views and mistakes. Very notable Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Victoria Secret and Karl Largerfeld . On the side of the cinema walls I plan on wheat pasting either quotes they have said or mini paragraphs explaining what their mistake was. For the front of the cinema I will put an iPad or a phone showing a movie/powerpoint that I will make on ‘Equality in the Fashion Industry”.
Inspiration
Clare Crespo & ‘The Mini Show‘
Inspiration:
Final Project Proposal:
Process
Catalogue Page
Final Images
Final Film:
Final Seminar Essay :
When will the Fashion Industry learn to stop being so Culturally offensive
It has taken many years for a lot of cultures, sexes, races, religions and genders to be finally recognized and appreciated all over the world. But there are still people who simply refuse or just don’t think, or are just not interested in acknowledging and sharing love for them, as in their eyes being ‘different’ just isn’t ok. Why there is still ignorance and prejudice may be for a number of different reasons. Many of the fashion industry leaders are still predominantly white/ Western “only 3% of members of Council of Fashion Designers of American are black”. This seems to lead to a blinkered attitude when it comes to understanding anyone else’s cultural sensitivities. Anne D’Innocenzio from Global News writes that some experts say that designers live in “some sort of Bubble and have a lack of diversity in their staff that could vet their fashions” she also goes on to say that some also excuse their behavior saying that because of the pressures to get new designs out to the retailer quickly, it means there is no time to reflect on what they produced.
The high end of the Fashion Industry which holds the most power is appealing to a moneyed demographic which traditionally was believed to be Caucasian and generally older – perhaps making the industry lazy in its approach to cultural and ethical inclusion and also pandering to a demographic that it believes is still prejudice and bigoted. However, there is also another theory that the Industry does “follow the money” with more Asian models/ designers / personnel coming up as this part of the world becomes much richer and interested particularly in designer goods. (Does stop some designers biting the hand that feeds them so to speak – see below) But does not believe it’s goods are bought by black people, which is bizarre.
It seems to have got it wrong and be behind the times which is great, the backlash is a good start to changing this attitude. There is also another point as stated in T. N. Ellington “Underrepresented: the lack of Black Designers featured in Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue”, few black designers get the coverage they need to thrive and influence. There also still seems to be a barrier for creatives and executives of color to progress within the fashion industry therefore as said above at the moment there is a lack of ethical diversity in the industry, people who would help to oversee cultural and racially sensitive issues. Ellington also goes on to point out that some blame the fashion schools for the lack of African American students, sighting examples, FIT only having 8% , Parson’s 3.31% and Pratt as 1.9%.
In recent years some of the prime suspects of cultural insensitivity have been many well-known influencers in the Fashion Industry, ones which I once admired. It is an issue that has been going on in the industry for a while but has only hit the headlines and been nationally recognized in the past year and a half. This exposure has led to many brands being boycotted and clothes being either thrown away or burned!
One of the most shocking and most well-known incident to happen was in November last year. When Steffano Gabbana who is one of the co fashion designers for Dolce and Gabbana literally “offended an entire country” with what started with a marketing campaign showing a Chinese Women struggling to eat Spaghetti Bolognese with Chop sticks. Stefano’s true feelings about China were later laid out in a series of Instagram direct messaged with fashion writer Michaela Phuong, which got exposed on the Instagram fashion criticism platform Diet Prada. These messages included such things as “China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia” and “And from now on in all interviews that I will do internationally I will say that the country of (5 poo emoji’s) is China…. and you are also quiet and we live very well without you”. The Chinese model who features in the campaign Zuo Ye told the BBC News that it almost ruined her career, and that she even felt guilty and ashamed for doing it. When in actual fact it was Dolce and Gabbana that should have paid the price, not Zuo Ye and luckily they did. The aftermath of this was huge. A few days after this scandal broke Dolce & Gabbana were due to have a fashion show in the Chinese city Shanghai which got cancelled due to many models pulling out, including some very big names in the modelling industry such as Lucky Blue Smith, who posted on his Instagram account saying “After what has gone on today and until I have more clarity of the events – I have decided to not participate in the show this evening – I have the up most respect for the people of China and absolutely love this country. I got beyond excited when I heard I was going to this side of the world. We are all god’s children and we should all be treating EVERYONE, EVERY CULTURE with respect. I will be back to China soon – Love you all so much”.
Image
But it wasn’t over yet, the e-tailor luxury clothing retailer Net-a-Porter pulled all Dolce and Gabbana products from their Chinese Markets. Products were removed from many other large e-tailor platforms, such as jd.com, Giant Alibaba’s TMall and secoo.com.The director and writer Xiang Kai, who previous to this incident was a huge fan of the brand later [2]told The New York Timeshe burned all of his Dolce & Gabbana products which accumulated to over $20,000 worth of items. He also told them “The purpose of burning my clothes is to awaken the Chinese people and the Chinese nation” and “Some people say you wasted a lot of money. I’m willing to waste this money for a nation’s dignity”. In addition many people burning or throwing away their Dolce & Gabbana products many shops globally were vandalized with the words “Not Me” to mock Stefano’s public fake apology. Both Stefano and Domenico Dolce posted a video on their Instagram apologizing to China with the excuse that Stefano’s Instagram has be ‘hacked’. This response also wasn’t taken well by the public due to Stefano’s notorious history in not being able to take criticism and therefore hitting back at any mortal soul who does.
For back in 2016 both Stefano and Domenico had hit the headlines when in an interview with the Italian Magazine Panorama stated “children of chemistry, synthetic children. Uteruses for rent, semen chosen from a catalogue” when on the topic of IVF. Of course this too was not going to run with no flame from the public as even the likes of Sir Elton John took them on over an Instagram post saying “How dare you refer to by beautiful children as ‘synthetic’. And shame on you for wagging your judgmental little fingers at IVF- a miracle that has allowed legions of loving people, both straight and gay, to fulfil their dream of having children. Your archaic thinking is out of step with the times, just like your fashions. I shall never wear Dolce and Gabbana ever again. #BoycottDolceGabbana.
Another Brand that jumped on the industries racist bandwagon was Gucci when it released a woollen balaclava jumper with red lips for their Fall/Winter 2018 collection (also costing $890!) And to make matters worse they released this certain garment during Black History Month (February). Of course then as expected havoc broke out online. People were all over twitter and Instagram calling it a “racist garment” and “Haute couture blackface”.
One person over twitter wrote “Balaclava Knit top by Gucci. Happy Black History Month Y’all” and hours later the same twitter user discovered a matching black hat that had what looked similar to a ski mask goggles on the front – “They have a mask to match so you can
have a chic classic black face moment without the mess of paint”It is very hard to believe that the designers did not understand the negative historical references to the degrading of the black community which through the 19th and early 20th “entertainment “ practice of white people painting their faces black and acted in an insulting stereotypical way, now referred to as Black face.
Image – (Chiu 2019)
[3]Within a day that twitter users two tweets had gone almost viral and Gucci had become aware of what was going on and their mistake. Gucci immediately released a statement on Instagram apologizing for the incident “Gucci deeply apologizes for the offence caused by the wool balaclava jumper. We can confirm that the item has been immediately removed from our online store and all our physical stores. We consider diversity to be a fundamental value to be fully upheld, respected, and at the forefront of every decision we make. We are fully committed to increasing diversity throughout our organization and turning this incident into a powerful learning moment for the Gucci team and beyond.” Soonafter Alessandro Michele the creative director of Gucci wrote a letter to his employees expressing how he loved diversity and thinks that diversity is “The only celebration I’m willing to stand for”. In another effort to try and rebuild the reputation of the Brand, Marco Bizzari CEO of Gucci released a statement including – “The way we have been portrayed as a company is not reflecting who we are and what we stand for. The current perception is putting at risk all the values we believe in and have been working on from the beginning of our journey. Self-expression, diversity, community building and inclusivity are in the DNA of the brand reflected in the many initiatives we have launched in the last several years, such as our membership of Parks and our signature of the “UN LGBT Business Conduct Standards,” our gender equality campaign Chime for Change, our 15-year partnership with UNICEF and our support for refugees through Artolution, to name a few”. Bizzari has also opened a scholarship program in aims to “increase inclusivity, diversity, participation and cultural awareness”. Unlike Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci immediately realized their wrong doing and have since being trying to make up for it instead of publishing a fake apology and calling it a day.
Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci may have hit the headlines in major ways but they don’t stand alone in these somewhat reoccurring mistakes in the fashion industry. In 2018 H&M releases an advertisement of a little black boy modelling a jumper saying “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” which lead to the singer The Weekend to discontinue his ties with the brand. Prada’s Pradamalia collection feature a bag charm that was almost identical to a black sambo figure, a day later all bag charms had been cleared from all Prada stores. Zara and its skirt that resembled an Indian lungi. There was also a Dior cruise campaign influenced by Mexican Ecaramuzas which featured Jennifer Lawrence using a desert in Los Angeles as Mexico. Again the public rightfully hit back at the campaign that claimed to be inspired by Mexico which included no Mexican models and wasn’t even shot in Mexico! Burberry even delivered a hoody with a noose around its neck down the runway! One of the models working that show said she “extremely triggered” by the noose, and Burberry excuse was “It’s just Fashion”. When in actual fact it’s not fashion, its actually an object that causes harm, so try not to glamourize suicide by calling it fashion! Katy Perry designed a pair of shoes which practically had black face on them, again these later got pulled from stores. It would seem as though this is a vicious circle the industry it going through. Step 1, Design a disrespectful item. Step 2, Backlash breaks on the internet by the public about said item. Step 3, Apologize (Or lie in Dolce and Gabbana’s Case). Once all steps are complete you can officially call yourself part of the fashion industry!
The point is also made that racism in the fashion Industry seems to be going backwards and that there were more black designers in the 70s, 90s and more cultural diversity with multicultural adverts etc in the 1990’s “The Lack of Black Designers Featured in Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.”
Much like Mullets and shoulder pads there are trends that have gone out of fashion and should never return. So will the trend in the fashion industry insulting the general public take the same path as mullets and shoulder pads, realizing what they are doing is not cool and will not be stood for. Or take the same path as flares and return every few years? However seriously, unlike the above this is not a joking matter – this must stop and the fashion Industry if it is to be properly creative and initiative, must include everyone. It is a global Industry and must respect everyone’s culture.
Process Reflection For Seminar and Studio:
When I started with the project I originally wanted it to be based on not only racism in the Fashion industry but sexism, homophobia and body shaming. But through my research for both of the classes the subject that drew my attention the most was racism therefore that end up being the topic for my project.
I am very happy with the results for both my research paper swell as my studio piece. I struggled with finding for academic research but after I got my first draft back I had longer time to research which lead me to more stronger sources. I face a few struggles with my studio project, I have learned pins are not my friends as I end up using almost an entire box to create my diorama and that included many mini injuries. I have never made a diorama before and I have only ever made one film before this one but I am extremely happy with the way ‘Sinners Cinema’ turned out as I feel it is one of my best piece I have made this year both technically and creatively. Even thought I made this piece every time it was in full action with the film playing I felt very intensely absorbed by it. My studio piece relates to my Time class as that is where I learned the skills to create a film. My final project for that class is also a bit similar as it too is about social awareness and racism.
