Narrative: Description of Project

For the pants project, I wanted to create a garment that reflects my current vein of thought. In combination with my research on the city of Paris, I found that romance, structure, and emotion were key ideas of my design. From the beginning of the assignment, I knew what I wanted to say, it was just a matter of how I was going to express that. This project brought me to new territory in my design work; I had not previously made trousers, but after this project, I feel that my design capabilities have expanded immensely. With my pants, I feel I’ve been able to express my message of romance and deep emotional connection through the use of material, form, and finishings. When starting the project, I had one initial goal: to reach further understanding of myself and my emotions through my clothing. After countless hours of work and thought, I’m happy to say I feel that I reached my goal of personal understanding through this project.

Inspiration/Research:

The research for this project began by focusing on the city of Paris. Having lived in Paris during summer 2016, I drew on the emotions I felt during my time there to inform my emotionally minded design. I first focused on who my wearer was; she is silent yet powerful, extravagant yet contained, and sure of herself above all else. I used inspiration from classic Parisian art and culture, focusing on Le Moulin Rouge, Alberto Giacometti’s work in Paris, and Martin Margiela. Moulin Rouge and the cabaret shows put on there informed the romantic side of my research, while Giacometti and Margiela inspired form and design ideals.

Fabric swatches and treatments:

Process: Draft, Drape, Construct

Completed Pant on Pant form: 

Model Shoot:

Fashion is an abstract concept, ever changing in public view. My personal view of fashion is constantly shifting; taking Fashion Studies this semester has definitely worked as a catalyst in my understanding of fashion. Fundamentally, my comprehension of fashion has remained the same: fashion is the convergence of art and body. Each week in fashion studies, I started realizing that although my definition of fashion is accurate, there’s so much more to the abstruse idea of fashion.

Prior to fashion studies, I had never considered intersectionality and fashion. I thought that people simply dressed themselves in the way they saw best. Little did I know, there are a plethora of subject positions that inevitably make up every single persons’ dressing patterns. Susan Kaiser wrote that “There is not merely one model for fashion subjectivity… subject positions are embedded in cultural discourses over which individuals may have little control,” (Kaiser, 28). Kaiser makes it clear that intersectionality is a driving force of the style/fashion/dress complex.

Another topic I didn’t consider prior to taking Fashion Studies is subcultural relation in fashion. I’d always known about The New Romantics, Punks, and other subcultures; what I didn’t know was the vast influence fashion has in each subculture. Specifically, the use of the safety pin in punk subculture and the consequent appropriation in high fashion (Gianni Versace, Spring 1994). The manner in which subcultures are neglected until they are appropriated is something to always take note of in fashion. Studying the formation of subcultures and their influence in fashion has made me more aware of how fashion ideas are formulated. If you consider where your ideas come from before you develop them, the issue of appropriation can be avoided completely.

The FIT Pink exhibit offered great insight on the history of the color. The variety of garments in the exhibition show how versatile the color is and the many ways it has been used from the 15th century until now. The garment I chose to analyze is Gwyneth Paltrow’s 1999 Oscar dress by Ralph Lauren. This rosy pink dress gives a classic princess silhouette a modern, sexy reinvention. The color pink is usually associated with femininity; in fashion this has classically been translated into delicate, ultra feminine silhouettes. I think the object was made in this shade of pink to add an elegant and soft touch to an otherwise sexy silhouette. When designing, I presume Ralph Lauren primarily considered who he was designing for and the event it was to be worn at; I think Ralph Lauren used this shade of pink specifically because Gwyneth Paltrow was to wear the dress. He wanted to accentuate Paltrow’s kind and feminine personality, while also proving she could be powerful and sexy. At the time, a dress with such a low neck and thin straps was very risque, especially for an awards show. In the reading from “The Power of Glamour,” author Virginia Postrel notes that “By figuring out how glamour answers a particular audience’s longings, we can see how it operates,” (Postrel, 38). Ralph Lauren knew who would be watching when he made this dress; he knew that for the red carpet, people expect extreme elegance and glamour. If a design relates enough to glamour ideals of the time, it can go down as an icon of dress. Lauren used this rosy pink taffeta to make a statement about femininity and glamour. He played into hegemonic standards of gender with his use of pink and also the classic feminine silhouette. He knew that Paltrow’s personality would wear his sexy, simplistic design with ultimate grace. Lauren here taps into celebrity culture to bolster the effectiveness of his design. I think Lauren intended for this design to go down in fashion history, and it did. I think the curator’s at FIT’s museum included Lauren’s 1999 dress for this reason. Lauren established a new power in femininity with this dress; he showed the fair, dainty pink he used could be used in a modern, sensual design, rather than the conservativity the color usually is used in. By deeply understanding the event and person he was designing for, Lauren successfully created one of the most iconic Oscar gowns of all time.

In modern culture, the common portrayal of a person is hegemonic. White, straight, tall, thin, cisgendered people saturate our media. Fashion holds the key to changing this hegemonic image; what is presented in fashion has the ability to shift cultural views. In 2018, we have reached a point where womenswear is beginning to diversify. It’s becoming more common to see women of different ethnic, cultural, and physical backgrounds. Menswear, on the other hand, seems to have a stagnant representation of “slim men in their early twenties with 6 pack abs,” (Kaiser, 143).

Though it is hard to make a departure from this view of hegemonic masculinity, some brands in fashion are beginning to change their perspective on menswear and masculinity in general. The above advertisement is from Eckhaus Latta’s PreFall 2017 collection, and it features a male model wearing a skirt from the collection. Released in May 2017, the brand does a successful job of subverting the rigid idea that menswear is all suits and ties. By questioning the very idea of what menswear is, Eckhaus Latta was able to open the door for a new kind of man.

Although they were able to give a new viewpoint for menswear, the advertisement does not completely subvert hegemonic masculinity. Kaiser writes that “navigating masculinities can be described as a process of negotiating the boundaries between what is ‘safe’ and what is ‘dangerous’,” (Kaiser, 145.) If Eckhaus Latta’s PreFall 17 ad campaign were to be placed on a spectrum from safe to dangerous, I would say the ad plays it very safe. All of the models in the ad are white, young and skinny. Though they highlight a male figure in womenswear, the brand didn’t stretch their image to be more inclusive. And even their twist on masculine standards wasn’t an extreme push on gender norms; it was a simple statement.

I overall enjoy the ad and the image they present, though I do think a more diverse cast in race, size, and gender. As the brand has grown, they have began to push their image, which I appreciate.

Bibliography:

“Eckhaus Latta Pre-Fall 2017.” Vogue. May 04, 2017. https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/eckhaus-latta-pre-fall-2017.

Kaiser, Susan B. Fashion and Cultural Studies. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2012.

After reading the aphorisms presented by Christopher Breward, multiple phrases resonated with me. The first was one which I met with divergence: “Fashion is gossip. Never underestimate the power of gossip. Semiologists are driven into ecstasies of supposition by its whispers.”

Although I do consider this point true, I do not agree with it. This aphorism is explaining the way trends (gossip) and conversation (ecstasies of supposition) drive fashion. The whispers that spread via the conversations started by fashion are what constitute the movement of trends throughout time. Breward’s observation that ‘gossip’ or trends in fashion are a driving point of the industry is completely accurate; trends are a large component of the marketing of fashion. The reason I fundamentally disagree with the aphorism is because I do not think trends should be involved in the process of fashion design. I define fashion in a very personal manner. For me, fashion is self expression in the most tangible form. Self expression never coincides with gossip; gossip diminishes the foundation that self expression exists on. Though gossip is an effect of fashion, in no way is fashion itself gossip.

The second aphorism I was drawn to was better aligned with my personal beliefs: “Fashion is intensely personal, in the same way poetry is intensely personal. It is a medium through which personal stories can be told, memories re-lived and future foretold.”

I consider fashion to be the pinnacle of creativity. This aphorism looks at the delicate, artistic component of fashion. Fashion is a personal mechanism of storytelling, whether it be autobiographical or narrative. The metaphor that Breward uses equating poetry and fashion is something I find particularly intriguing; I think fashion itself is a form of poetry. Breward’s understanding that fashion is a way of remembering, reliving, and perceiving is something I agree with wholeheartedly. I use fashion to understand myself better, while simultaneously trying to express the way I feel.

The both of these aphorisms opened my mind to new considerations of fashion and sparked new thought. Though I don’t agree with Breward’s observations in totality, I think his notions must be acknowledged to understand fashion completely.