Take A Minute

In hospital and all that jazz.

Mad love folks.

Currently playing: Slaves ft. Why Why Peaches - Kano 

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Sometimes I wear clothes

Currently playing: Blue - Gemini 

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Weekend Reading: Gothic

Valerie Steele and Jennifer Park, Gothic: Dark Glamour (Yale UP & FIT New York, 2008)

"Lady Halcón", Vogue Brides, 2001

Visionaire no. 7, Black, Fall 1992

Costumes by Eiko Ishioka, Bram Stoker's Dracula, 1992

Dazed and Confused, August 2007

Dita Von Teese, Vogue Nippon, November 2006

From Gothic & Lolita, Phaidon Press, 2007

Yohji Yamamoto, Dazed and Confused, August 2007

"The Clinic: Welcome.  We'll tear your soul apart", The Face, March 1997 & Alexander McQueen, It's A Jungle Out There, Fall 1997

Rick Owens, Fall 2007 & Rick Owens & Olivier Theyskens, Gloomy Trips, 1997

Gattinoni Couture, Fall 1997

Gareth Pugh, Fall 2006 - channeling Klaus Nomi

Olivier Theyskens, Gloomy Trips, 1997

Confessions of a Goth by Rick Owens

"I had just moved to L.A. and was starting to blossom into the early stages of Gothdom, trying to look hard and world weary.  I was going to dive into a world of sin and exoticism that I'd read about in Huysmans's À rebours and Là-bas.  The stereo blasted the Sisters of Mercy, Marlene Dietrich, and Wagner.  I wore my gloves and jewelry to bed in full make-up.

Later, the main reason I took a job as artistic director with Revillon was its direct lineage to glamorous, decadent, fin-de-siècle Paris, my non plus ultra of high artifice.  I was still attracted to the same aesthetic, but it now had a layer of affection.  All those years of doomed idealism seen in the daylight of adulthood seemed rather sweet and poignant.  Everything black I ever wore again or put on a runway would be with a loving wink."

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Valerie Steele's writing is always fun and engaging, and thankfully the essays in this volume do not disappoint.  If you are looking for a purely visual book, look elsewhere, but there certainly are enough beautiful images to inspire.  My personal tastes are not particularly Gothic in any semblance (I will always need some bright colour and fun patterns), but there have always been select aesthetics that intrigue me, and as such I find this book absolutely fascinating.

Currently playing: Written In The Stars ft. Eric Turner - Tinie Tempah 

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Gunmetal

Currently playing: Alone - Dan Black 

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A Uniform Image

Rick Owens

A Personal Uniform

When it comes to fashion the main focus of the observer is invariably centered around what is produced for the catwalk, and how those ideas, images and garments are disseminated through the media and the individuality of the consumer.  However for this post I would like to shift the view around, in a way, to that of the designer rather than the designs they create.

It is no secret that one often finds a disconnect between what a designer wears and what they create, whether that simply be due to gender differences, or more often, as a result of the story-driven collections that change dramatically from season to season.  Indeed it is often at labels where the look changes entirely each season that there is the most jarring visual disconnect between runway and the designer.  That is not to say that designers ought to dress according to what they create, or create according to how they dress, rather I simply mention such labels as the most striking example. 

Oyster Semi-Sheer Sleeveless Jersey

Black Paneled Swing Pants

Monochrome Hi-Top Sneakers

All pieces by Rick Owens

Available via oki-ni

I have always been fascinated by the idea of uniform, no doubt due to a schooling career spent in uniform from the age of five.  However uniform does not necessarily have to mean a suit and tie, or company overalls - we all have a uniform of some nature, even if that uniform may shift eclectically from season to season, or from weekday to weekend.  At the most basic level are those garments, or indeed entire looks, in which we feel comfortable and confident, and so find ourselves falling back on time and again.  It is impossible to dress in an entirely new way every day, even with the largest of wardrobes, for we all have personal preferences and sartorial habits unique to us that come to characterize our individual styles.

Fashion designers, including the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Riccardo Tisci, Michael Kors, Hedi Slimane, Thom Browne, Yohji Yamamoto, Carol Christian Poell and Rick Owens, often have very strict personal uniforms which may remain consistent over a number of years if not decades.  The most interesting example for me is that of Rick Owens, who for a number of years now has essentially lived in the same style of tank top, swinger pants and sneakers, all of his own design.

Owens is perhaps also one of the most extreme examples in that he only ever wears his own designs and quite consciously wears a strict "uniform".  His collections have a strong and now almost iconic personal aesthetic which are a clear reflection of his own personal style.  He is one of the few designers who designs expressly within his own aesthetic, and has really profited from the sale of a personal style.  Although independent designers such as Yohji Yamamoto or Ann Demeulemeester create within a highly individual and powerful expressive framework, in terms of personal style Owens is interesting for the strictness of his uniform.

Of course where personal style and uniform overlap is also something interesting to consider, for a strong and coherent sense of style would no doubt produce a highly recognizable uniform, even if the style and colour of individual garments changed on a daily basis.     

William Chase Merritt, Whistler, 1885

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(James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an artist who placed a high importance on the cultivation of a personal image as a form of advertising and expression of his art.  And heck was it a cool image.)

On a commercial level cultivating such a recognizable personal image is no doubt highly useful to the fashion designer.  Karl Lagerfeld's style is so iconic that you can transplant his uniform to a teddy bear and everyone still recognizes it (...just think about that for a minute!).  For the consumer market the image of the author is often just as important, if not more so, than the work, just as the label can unfortunately far too often be more important than the clothing.  Being able to quickly identify the high collars and fingerless gloves of Lagerfeld or the blazer and jeans of Kors no doubt plays in well to the idea of brand recognition and trust in the voice of a designer regardless of the actual content of what they say.  To give a very current example we have the Lanvin collaboration with H&M - I do wonder how many people will buy based on the merits of individual pieces rather than simply buying based on the Lanvin label (hopefully the majority do the former).

I often tend to think of designer uniforms in relation to the historical cultivation of image by artists and the practice of painting self-portraits.  For an artist, of any kind, personal image is highly important for creating a client base, and even more so when that artist is exhibiting on the global stage.  Of course there are designers who belie this idea, for example the ever-elusive Martin Margiela, however he is a rare exception.  An argument can also actually be put forward that provided the label is well known the designer does not matter, hence Helmut Lang can still profit without Helmut Lang actually remaining at the label, or Jil Sander can profit without Jil Sander remaining, or Maison Martin Margiela can profit despite Margiela himself having taken a back seat.  In this way it is the image of the designer and/or the image of the label that is important.  The actual fashion being produced is still vital of course because no label could really survive without producing good clothing every once in a while (although I could actually name some labels that ignore that idea).

In the case of Owens I do not think the idea of the designer's image as a form of advertising or manufacturing recognition can be so easily applied, as it could for example be applied to the (insanely) strictly controlled image of Lagerfeld.  Rather it is the product of a highly edited and functional wardrobe.  Owens is obviously one of the most extreme examples of this, but consider a designer such as Yohji - he knows what suits him, he knows what he likes, he knows what he feel comfortable in, and he goes for it.  Vital to the creation of a uniform is really knowing your tastes, your body and your self.  It is a not a result of simplification and loss or obscuring of identity, but rather a distillation of character, to create a highly coherent and strong image of self.

I am not sure I could be as extreme as Owens in the cultivation of a personal uniform, but I think we all have some form of uniform that we adhere to, however tightly or loosely.  What I would really like is to have a highly edited wardrobe that I feel truly reflects me and the expression of myself that I would like to make.

Currently playing: I Don't Need Love, I've Got My Band - The Radio Dept. 

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The thing about art history is that you just see phalli everywhere you turn

Currently playing: Dear Jack - Jack's Mannequin 

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Midweek Music

Every now and then you hear something that takes your breath away

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A Cloak Revival?

Cloak

Spring/Summer 2005

Cloak

Autumn/Winter 2005

Cloak

Autumn/Winter 2006

WWD reports that Alexandre Plokhov, designer of the highly acclaimed, but now sadly defunct, New-York based menswear label Cloak will be launching his signature menswear line in Paris this January.  Plokhov, who won the 2005 CFDA Swarovski Perry Ellis Award for Menswear and was the runner-up in the 2004 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award, closed the label back in 2006 due to "partnership issues" (why hello there...Jil, Margiela, Helmut).  Cloak garments are quite remarkable in that they are still highly coveted and widely worn today, indeed from a construction viewpoint they are absolutely stunning. 

It will be interesting to see how Plokhov's vision has matured since his Cloak days, notwithstanding the fact that the new line is to be a signature label, therefore hopefully far more personal.  Although you can not really compare the two, judging from what Takahiro Miyashita, formerly of Number (N)ine, created for his own label The Soloist, Plokhov's offerings ought to be one to watch out for.  Here's to hoping for a beautiful collection!    

Click here for an interview with Alexandre Plokhov, conducted by the lovely Sonnet Stanfill of the V&A.

P.S. Apologies for falling behind with my correspondences, I will try to catch up as soon as humanly possible.

Currently playing: Blackout - Lupe Fiasco 

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"Avant! Avant!"

Currently playing: Made For Each Other - Jack's Mannequin 

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Monday Malaise

Darker Shade of Black

Lurve Magazine

Photography by Lena Emery

Styled by Stephen Mann (seenmy)

Carol Christian Poell kills it.  Someday I will own one of his leather fencing jackets and the object dyed dripped rubber sneakers.

 Thinking of black and white, I find it amusing that when Ann Demeulemeester was training to become a designer she was told not to mix the two in the same outfit - apparently she should have used off-white like Chanel.  Glad to see that she stuck to her guns.

Currently playing: What Will Give? - The Radio Dept. 

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