Imagine My Surprise

   When I think of how narrow the part of the Attire language is that pertains to men in the western world, it makes me sad.  So much delight is out there, so many options both practical and attractive.  But we boys cling to our black and gray.  I thought this especially true of footwear, which, (with the exception of sport shoes), is unrelievedly dull.

    What a shock I got when I discovered this old shoe company from Great Britain.  The Coxton Shoe Company, Ltd. of Rushden, Northamptonshire, was a revelation.  It was so not only because of the genuine pleasure at seeing shoes that were brilliant, innovative and fun. Partly it was because they were made not now, but over 90 years ago.  The shoes you see here were made primarily for promotion during the 1920s, so I don't want you to suddenly get it into your heads that Jazz Age fellows were running about in these shoes.  The truth is that few wore shoes like these.  Black and brown, then as now, was the rule.

     In fact the shoes you see were aimed mostly at the American market, since Yanks were more likely to be drawn to the emphatic styling than their British cousins.  These were referred to as Fashion Shoes and would have been thought too vulgar for most tastes or applications. But Coxton did in fact produce and sell some of these designs in a limited fashion. I can imagine some of the Bright Young Things of London assaying these to a party, or a dance.  But outside of that sort of venue, it would have drawn too much opprobrium.

   
                        
    Now, I'm a self acknowledged shoe whore.  I scour shops looking for shoes that are not the common run.  The idea of owning and wearing any of these oxfords makes me smile inside.  And why can't men's shoes walk down this design path at last?  Things are opening up for men in the Attire language, so their footwear should as well.  Sure there have been some slight inroads made at the top end of things, but by and large what is available at the RTW level is bland and uninspired.

   

Shoes have long been a major accessory for women, giving strong influence to the final apparel sentences they relay.  Men have, most especially in the work environment, allowed their shoes to become mute players.  So much could be related by footwear that expresses more than, "I'm at work".
And I'm not suggesting that this has to be expensive.  Increased use of robotics means that more elaboration is possible for little cost increase. 
    So take a gander at these.  Which ones do you want?

Forth, and Back

    Our very first forays into speaking the Attire language came from nature in a literal sense.  The leaves and berry stains we used at first to make ourselves over into something new, came from right there around our feet.  It was a desire to make ourselves more like the natural world in some way.  It was a need to take the world onto, and into us, to take its powers into us.
    We have been at the same thing ever since.  Sure, few of us now take leaves and stick them in our hair, or crush berries to stain our skin.  We have simply found more sophisticated, less direct ways of getting closer to nature.

    As our various cultures cross the world began to gain complexity, to civilize in the manner we understand, we began to use this need for connectivity with nature in symbolic, rather than in blunt ways.  We were weaving cloth that came from nature, but we had made it look less so by dying it, or patterning it.  So instead, we trimmed it with fur, or made for ourselves jewelry that aped the shapes we loved from nature.  Waves and wind, fire and heat; we took it all, made it into a different forms, from other kinds of matter, and put it onto us.

    And as our cultures became even more complex, that brought with it a kind of distancing from nature that expressed itself in equating too much closeness to the land, with lack of education, and of general crudeness of person.  It became acceptable to associate the greatest distance from the land with the greatest level of refinement.  It became a method of creating and maintaining the class distinctions we still struggle with now, though many would try to say they are gone.

    They are far from gone, merely subverted, and channeled into different ways of revealing themselves.  It may not be acceptable to publicly refer to someone as a hick, or a hayseed to their face.  But looking with disdain on people who choose to live in rural places is still done, daily, and by a great many of us.
    Now that our world has become the gasp inducing, byzantine place it is, we still refer to those forces and forms from nature all the time. We have no real desire, after all, to do so.  Nor would it be possible, in truth.  We are nature. Everything we have and make, comes from that same source point.  It just seems less so because we are so very good at making things that look like other things.  We love taking materials we have devised, like textiles, and making them do astonishments, through our efforts and technologies.

   

    By now, the symbolism of nature is often hard at first to see with clarity, but as the series of images I'm including here shows, it is no less potent, for all that it is more distant from its alpha.  We may no longer be able to allow ourselves to acknowledge our need for this connection, cloven as we are to our mechanization.  Still, we require it. We need it's touch upon us, around us.  We have even taken to applying its images directly to our skin.

No matter how far we manage to go on our journey of science, industry, and global culture, we will always come back home to the sunset, the sea, and the forest.

Scatter #98

    It's going to be a beautiful day here in San Francisco, so I must perforce share some beauty, and strangeness with all of you, since those things are part and parcel of what my city is about.

    Let's ease into things this week, shall we?  First up this rather hipstery dude.  What intrigues me here is that this grouping of garments is a lot more expressive than your straight up Hipster guy apparel.  Sure he's pulling some standards into the mix, but the combination of color and texture is giving more depth to what is being said.  I'm getting considerably more than just, "I'm trendy" out of this, which is a very good thing, indeed.

    On Thursday I posted an Arts and Crafts pendant by Georgiana ( Georgie), and Arthur Gaskin of England. This necklace is from the same time, about 1900, and is as staunchly in the Arts and Crafts realm as the other piece.  What I appreciate here, aside from the superior craftsmanship, (a mainstay of the movement), is that they rely not on precious stones and fabulously rare metals, but on slightly humbler materials.  Here they are working with black opal, rock crystal and pink tourmaline, in a silver setting with enamel.  What results is a beautiful piece that is somehow warmly welcoming, rather than forbiddingly glamorous.

    Me and my love of the experimenters.  This is an interesting exploration of wrapping and tying to create shape from a pair of blocky, large garments.  The crisp hand of the stark white cotton contributes to the eventual effect. And somehow it manages not to look like some sort of bondage garment.  Perhaps it's the unrelieved whiteness, combined with the huge volume of what looks to be a skirt with an inverse pleat that keeps it away from fetish territory.  In any case, I like the way it works, even though it would never be a player in real world Attire conversation.  I could, however see it as a club gear thing, or something for a high level art opening.

    More and more often pop culture imagery is presented by designers.  We can credit Yves Saint Laurent for starting us down that path.  For over a half century now, the design community has been finding a greater amount of its inspiration from film, television, music, and of course, the internet.  This jacket by Pushbutton utilizes an anime character blown huge to take an otherwise simple and unremarkable garment and make it a blustery remark.  The wearer of a jacket like this would be hard pressed to escape the immediate assumption that they are a devotee of Japanese animation.  I also love the smartness of the design's placement.  With hands in pockets the character's hair continues, undisturbed, making the image complete.

    More crazy for you.  Commes des Garcons is without question one of the most out there of the avant garde design firms, routinely sending things out for review that are utterly baffling.  This is one of the more seriously outrageous of their efforts.  I am, as you all should know by now, very much in favor of the avant garde.  It's vital for us to stretch and try new things in order for the Attire language to stay facile and lively.  Sometimes the designed piece is so out of bounds that we cannot relate at all.  This doesn't mean that there might not be some small aspect of it that could be translated into something useful later.  It is only that facing a visual scream like this one, it is hard to pick out what that might be.

    Sometimes too much of a good thing is just that.  I'm not against any of the individual pieces here.  I champion the breakaway from the old menswear traditions.  But what can happen in a situation like this, is that the body ends up being lost in the confusion of pattern that overwhelms the eye.  What makes this a more extreme reaction is that the nature of the pattern is such that it really cannot be matched, so every  structural detail adds to the level of confusion by breaking the surface further.  Our eye doesn't know where to go, so it retreats to the safer distance of seeing the pattern as a single mass.

    When we think of the 1920s we tend to think of bobbed hair, headache bands, and bedazzled chemise dresses.  There were other options though.  For example, for the lady with longer hair, it was quite fashionable to pull the hair up and back, and hold it in place with an elaborate comb. Huge combs like this one became very readily available, and at all price points.  This one is made of bakelite and decorated with blue and green rhinestones.  This sort of comb was an accessory often chosen by the women who liked the robe de style look, with its slightly lower hem, and hooped sides.  It was a softer more romantic look that suited women who wanted something more overtly feminine.

    We have never fully given up the idea of dressing small children like miniature adults.  This little girl's outfit from 1928 is a case in point.  There is nearly nothing about this that could not simply be enlarged to make an adult costume.  Even the style of the embroidery on the dress was as normal for adult women, as it was for children.   The color combination is a stark and sophisticated one.  The details of construction are not overly sweet. The only thing my eye rests on as being particularly childlike is the tie at the neck of the coat.  But that could be forgiven.  In all it's a great example of dressing our children for their later adult role.

    Though it is an inevitability that, like spoken languages, words in the Attire dictionary fade out of use over time, or change meanings, it saddens me that our spreading globalization has taken apparel terms like this one, and relegated them to the status of ethnic costume.  This leather vest is from Hungary, made in the mid 1800s.  The leather has been intricately pieced and dyed, and then embellished with beads and fringes.  Such vests as this were commonplace things, and  were a strong marker of locality, since decorative styles varied from one area to another.  But outside of festivals and reenactments these beautiful articles are no longer worn. The The Attire word has gone silent. Sad.

   

    For several years, Thierry Mugler experimented with robot girl costumes as a part of his spectacular runway shows.  Between 1991 and 1995 largely, there would be a model in some variant of the idea inserted into the proceedings, even if it has little to do with the overall point of the show.  Constructed of shiny plastic parts both metallic and clear, these costumes were meant only as punctuation marks, and expressions of design creativity. Since his shows often had an aspect of conspicuous outrage, they always fit in nicely.  Several of these ensembles still exist.

    Force of personality is essential in ultimately putting your Attire sentence forward. These young men could seem all of a piece so similarly are they dressed.  It is the power of the people within the clothing that takes these nearly identical ensembles and makes each one unique.  Sure we can tog ourselves out in the most outrageous of apparel choices, or the most conservatively quiet, but what sells it is us, the internal us.

    Aaaaaand here she is folks, the queen of burlesque herself, ecdysiast supreme, that dazzling icon of idealized retro-femininity, Dita von Teese!  It must take a deal of time and effort to first become and then maintain such an unassailable living icon.  But for those with the determination, and the willingness to live entirely outside the box it is indeed possible.  What the person who does this accomplishes is extraordinary, because they personally create a whole subset of Attire words that apply to themselves alone, and then get us to the point where we not only understand them, but try to employ them if we can.   Brava, Miss Dita!

    Now that I've delved once more into my cluttered closet of a brain for you, you can feel free to dash out into the world for some fun.  Have a great weekend!

Having Your Work Cut Out

    There are numerous phrases that have worked their way into the English language that refer in one way or another to Attire. We understand many things that are communicated to us by phrases that we have inculturated over time.

    "The whole nine yards", for one, reaches us, and speaks to us, even when we do not know its full meaning.  Nine yards is the length of two different things, actually.  In one sense it is the length of a formal military kilt in Scotland.  In another culture, India, it is the length of a formal wedding saree in the Hindu religion.  Nine yards of fabric, in both cases, pleated into form around the lower half of the body.  Did these two things develop contiguously?  No.  They developed entirely outside of each other. 
    That makes something important come to light.  We, as human creatures, develop the same notions over time.  I suppose this is because we share so many traits, both physical and psychological.  The only things that really divide us are those things we have cleaved to later in our existence. Things like philosophies, religions, and political ideologies. These evanescent things separate us. Attire however, can join us. We can, if we wish, look at how we choose to accoutre ourselves, and see connections between us, rather than separations. We can, if we wish to, see Attire as a means to communicate, rather than a means to divide.

    "Having your work cut out for you" is a phrase that means two disparate things. On the one hand it means that things have been made easier, because the work has already been done to a large extent. The other, more commonly held meaning is this; that the person facing something will have to endure something, or someone of decided constitution.  We face a certain resistance because of having the work cut in advance.  We do not make the decisions. They are already made. 

     "Satin and silk" is a phrase that is essentially disconnected, because the two terms are at odds with each other.  Silk is a fiber, drawn from the cocoons of silk worm pupae.  Satin is a weave structure of four or more lines of weft thread floating over a warp thread to create a sheen.  A convenient mnemonic is (The weft goes to the left). So satin can be created from endless varieties of fibers from cotton, to silk, linen, and wool.
    Honestly, there are many others, I could go on and on  The point is this. We have taken the idea of textiles and apparel so much to us that we have inbued our most complex language and colloquial slang with it.

    If we were to impute the notion that apparel and Attire were of no real meaning, we would have substantive evidence otherwise.  Our apparel speaks, just like we do. It's important to remember that we every day speak multiple languages. We speak one with our mouths, one with our bodies, through our gestures and position, and one through what we choose to dress ourselves in.  That final expressive mode may be the singularly most complex and varied of all.

  

A Thin Layer of No

    The line between yes and no is a very thin one.  It is thin in action, thought, emotion, and even, oddly enough, Attire.  When we go out of an evening dressed to entice and attract, we walk a slim line.  We do so, all unknowing, because those we may attract might not be the ones we want.  So when we dress ourselves in ways that are overtly sexual, and deliberately provocative, we take a chance that those who see us will read our message correctly.  Of course what so often happens is quite the reverse.  So often, (and this is particularly true to men), such apparel reads as an invitation to sexual conduct that may not actually be desired, at least, not with that person.  And as a gay man, tight jeans and tank tops are not always an invitation to more than conversation, as I have learned myself from both sides of the issue.

   

Yet, we still persist in going there.  We consistently create images of ourselves that are upgraded, more sexualized versions of us, in order to attract a mate, whether momentary or permanent.  This always comes at a cost. For who of us thinks, when we are dressing to kill, of those who might be attracted that we are not interested in?  The fact is that the majority of those who will see us are not going to be into us, and many will be, who we wouldn't consider.
    What this means is that the clothing we select when we go on the prowl is something double edged.  Sure it makes us feel attractive and powerful. Sure, it's designed to make the people we most want to notice us, see us in a positive way.  But we must be aware of the other side.

    I must add here, that I in no manner whatever think that dressing provocatively,  whoever we may be, gives others license to overstep, and deal inappropriately with us. The ability to check one's own behaviors is the mark of a full adult, the inability to do so, the mark of a beast, or at very least, of someone with no consideration for the feelings of others.

    The ongoing fascination in the design community with cut outs, sheerness, and other body revealing tricks steps up the intensity of this whole subtle issue.  When we present in a manner that decades ago would have marked us as sexually suspect, it is not to be wondered at that people respond in a sexually charged way.  And as our culture deals with ever expanding freedoms with regard to sex and sexuality, these questions become even more pointed.  In other words, we are evolving culturally, and as yet we have not defined new rules to adequately encompass all the changes we are experiencing.  What this means is that within those gray areas, some find a ready excuse for behaving towards desired others in an unacceptable way.

    Since it is true that the things we clothe ourselves with deliver messages to others, and that the received messages vary slightly from viewer to viewer, it is important to consider what we do when we leave the house to go to a club, or some other social venue.  And from the other side of things, it's vital that we do not jump to unwarranted conclusions about someone's potential willingness to be sexual, based on the tightness of their pants, or the depth of their cleavage.
    Just as great political freedom requires diligence to maintain it, greater freedom of behavior and dress requires diligence, and observation, to insure we do not substantively harm others in some way. 

Scatter #97

    Here we are again at Scattertime.  The week sure does zip by, no?  This week's grouping sure does cover some ground, so bear with me, please.  Everything does have a point.  I only hope you can see that point with me.  So, let's get to it!

    This detail image is of a design by Central Saint Martins that falls into the category of social commentary and satire.  On the one hand we have old style shaping in the structure of the suit, the jacket of which strongly resembles work done by Dior in the 1940s. In form it is essentially a classic mid century woman's suit.  Then we get to the manner of its decoration, which looks as though the model was splashed with paint and road dirt by a speeding vehicle.  The interaction of these two things, one serene and understated, and the other random, perhaps even a touch violent, call to my mind the kind of profound tension we are under in this complex age we live in.  Perhaps this is a central part of why clothing presented in this way gets so universally slammed in the real world. It challenges us too much to look at things we would rather not consider.

    While I'm certain the intent of this jacket was not some sort of deliberate commentary, it makes a comment or two in any case.  Of course it is loudly proclaiming the details of its construction.  By expanding the scale, however, the comment made takes on a cheeky edge. It becomes something in the nature of a jest.  We are being toyed with, gently.   The success or failure of such a design rests on two things.  Scale, by which I mean getting the expansion of these detail exactly right.  And finish, since bad construction would erase the entire point of the piece.

    This is Gertrude Lawrence. Say hello to the people, Gertie. I found this image of her arresting, and wanted to share it.  Her costume, (and I'm assuming it's a costume due to the scale of her headdress), conforms to most of the common points of the 1920s styles.  The dress is a sleeveless chemise.  The surface of the dress is heavily worked with beads and embroidery. The skirt is covered in layered fringe, so it would be exciting to watch in motion. There is the requisite long rope of beads around her neck, and the multiple bracelets.  And finally, her headdress which covers the forehead is an often repeated look.  Everything is right out of the 1920s style book.  Just don't go looking at this and thinking that real humans looked like this when out at night. (grin)

    Next up, a gent's waistcoat of the 1790s.  One of the fashions that became popular as the century drew to its close was the inclusion of decorative work on waistcoats that showed scenes of people, rather than the flowers and fruits that had dominated the design work previously.  This waistcoat has two images of bullfighters engaged in their sport.  What makes this especially interesting is that the scenes in question were embroidered and attached later.  Expanding the image you can see clearly that both are patches that were added to the existing garment.  It is obvious then, that this waistcoat was remade in a newer style.  The original was probably completely picked apart. The body was re-cut.  The standing collar was added, and the oval appliques of the bullfighters slapped on.  I say slapped on because little care was given to placement. The floral border on the bottom is just covered over without consideration.  I love things like this where we get to see the story of a garment expressed in its structure.

    Here's something I'd never seen until a few days ago.  Cristobal Balenciaga was and is one of my design gods.  His fiercely edited work is amazingly contemporary looking even now, and he inspired a great many of the most important designers of the 20th century.  People like Charles James, Andre Courreges, and Oscar De La Renta all owe a good deal to his seminal work.  This suit is one of the very first things he designed and made as a young designer.  Created in 1912, and worn by Salvadora Egana Balenciaga, it already has the kind of pared down approach that his work would maintain and experiment with his entire career.  As well, the choice of black cloque' material is one he would return to many times in the future.  It's interesting to me to see the very beginning of such a distinguished creative career.

    And now, a journey to Absurdistan. Yes, I do have a point to make here.  Sure, this is entirely wacky, has nothing whatever to do with real world clothing, and isn't even very well constructed, (what there is of it).  But, what Bas Kosters is about as a designer is largely poking people in the eye. His work, (and this is by no means the most wild) challenges the viewer in multiple ways. First we are nearly commanded to not take things too seriously.  Second, the very existence of fashion is being lampooned for its often more ridiculous, and frivolous aspects. And third we are getting some loud commentary about body image and traditional masculinity. Is this appealing in any sort of traditional way?  No, not really.  It doesn't adhere to any of our conventions of proportion, scale or interaction of elements.  That said, I still applaud designers like Kosters for being out there doing what they do, and giving us all a chance to think a bit.

    Surrealism. I love it.  And I love that it has returned to design in many areas, not the least of them, apparel and accessories.  Accessories have most often been the place in Attire where surrealism comes out to play.  This Dolce & Gabbana handbag is a great example.  When is a stack of books not a stack of books?  When you can carry your cell and your wallet in them. Sure an item like this is crazy expensive, but such things can be both made oneself, or found a lower price levels, so it doesn't have to be only the province of the advantaged.

    Oh my, those lapels!  You've seen me go on about the lack of color in menswear. This suit, part of the Museum at FIT, is by Yves Saint Laurent and was designed in 1972, (hence the enormous lapels).  This was just at the end point of the Peacock Revolution where the primacy of traditional menswear was got a serious challenge.  The cut of the suit is easy to wear and flattering to a wide range of body types.  And that amazing lime green velours!   Yes, please.

    This ceremonial costume is from Korea in the 1920s.  I love the combination of textile patterns and colors.  In the western world we have become so fearful of pattern mixing.  It always pleases me to see it done with such energy and delight.  The other thing I find interesting is how often, even in places where the climate is quite warm,  ceremonial garb is voluminous and layered.  I almost included this in the post on power and discomfort, but I felt it didn't quite express what I wanted.  That said, I think this is just plain glorious.  More gorgeous human creativity on display.

    The knickerbocker suit was the choice for nearly all young lads in the later 1800s and earlier 1900s.  This 1917 Sears catalog page shows a range of the suits available for boys.  Wool serge, tweed, canvas, and twill are all in evidence here.  The jacket styles mostly copy gentlemen's sporting coats, with their inset belts.  Only three of the suits, (the upper left ones), are cut more like men's dress clothing.  And then there is the issue of price.  the range is from $1.95 to $8.00.  While we would think of this as absurdly inexpensive, in 1917 one dollar was worth the equivalent of just over 20 dollars today.  So the least expensive of these suits was about $40 in current terms and the most expensive, over $160.  We must also understand that wages were significantly different.  40 dollars would have been more than a weeks wages to most people.  The other thing to think on is that the construction of these suits was very likely quite good. Better than you could hope for at Target or H&M today.

    Today, the concept of body modification as a method of self expression has reached levels that we never dreamed were possible in decades past.  Virtually any conception we have of our fantasy selves can be made real and permanent, if we have both the internal commitment, and the price. What this desire for ultimate alteration says about us as a culture is profound.  Sometimes it seems to be a very dark thing about us, but it is also a sublime thing. We aspire always to be more than we are, different from the herd around us.  Like any of our greatest assets it can also be our downfall.  But it is in this relentless striving that we find our ability to succeed eventually.  We stumble often, but we always get up, and continue.  To me, at least, this is wondrous in us.

    This backstage shot is from a Craig Green runway, S/S 2015.  The all white presentation allows all the structure to take center stage, which I appreciate.  it makes it possible to envision each thing made up in other colors or patterns.  I also love that Mr Green is not bound by menswear tradition, but instead is charting other territory.  Bravo, Sir.  Sure, it's pretty out there for all but the most avant garde folk, still I love it all.

And that, my friends is the Scatter for this week.  I hope you enjoyed this romp, trying as it might have been at times. But hey, part of my job here is to stretch you a bit, while I stretch myself.  Thanks!