When did tacky become chic?

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Sitting with coffee in hand browsing through Internet shopping a reoccurring thought came to mind: At what point did tacky become chic? Now before you all go, whoa, whoa! Back down there Audrey, I'm not attacking the craze... Well, not quite if I’m honest the majority of "Tacky Chic" I look at with distaste, although I do believe tacky chic can be done well. For example I find that Lady Gaga pull's it off quite well, but this maybe as she carries an air of class. Whereas Katy Perry tends to not, due to her (excuse me) but supposed willingness to "put-out." Yes, Lady Gaga does also flaunt her sexuality however I find it to always be in a much more self-empowered way in relation to Katy.  

The classy tacky is incredibly hard to replicate, and of course it's near impossible when everyday life isn't in the same context in which Gaga lives. The internet has of course been onto this so-called new trend, for a while now so I’m hardly commenting on anything new, and I’m not against the internet's exploitation of this it's a great money maker I’m sure. However it has managed to increase the number of 90's style imitator’s as well as over-priced plastic shoes and mustache themed everything.

Jeffrey Campbell

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I have a preference for the classic's, although I wouldn’t been seen dead in a pair of Doc's I like the original’s much more than the new patent floral designs that are made in China, and I much prefer real to faux be it leather, fur (I know, horrible person) or label's. Speaking of label's and more specifically high end. One tacky chic designer who come's to mind is of course Jeremy Scott whose latest collection doesn’t disappoint in terms of tacky chic. True to form he uses a rainbow palette and mixture of unconventional patterns. Jeremy Scott does not appeal to my better sense's and yet he pull's model's from the top of the ranks and make's mega buck's selling imitation Coca-Cola bottle dresses and sunglasses patterned coats. So am I the only one who doesn’t get it? The last clothing snob left?

Jeremy Scott Spring RTW 2011

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Sometime's I feel like I am, but then I remember I'm wearing my mum's old pig patterned jumper, that sometime's Jeremy Scott does get it right and that there's alway's Chanel.

Jeremy Scott Spring RTW 2011

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Chanel Spring RTW 2011

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Lot's of Love

                   Audrey Megan

Dirt and Dresses

For my latest paper in Art and Design at uni we have been charged with a space that is now relatively forgotten and we have to find ways in which to interact with the space and to record the passing of time within it. I've thankfully managed to get graffiti alley which is in central Wellington and therefore it only takes me about ten minutes to get there. However, due to the fact New Zealand is hosting the rugby world cup this year. Both the council and the government have decided to "cleanup the streets," understandable? Sure, when it's taking all the empty chip packets off the sidewalk. But, alas they have decided to do away with any public self-expression! The history of graffiti alley isn't ancient, but it is a valued site by tourists, residents, artists, drunks and teenagers. A solid representation of expression, identity, perhaps anarchy, although beautiful nonetheless.  

From the old Left Bank blog.

See here.

I Have been assigned this space just at this seemingly inconvenient time, despite this I have found that I am now more able than I perhaps was before to make a statement with my project. My idea is to capture this restriction of self-expression by using fashion, as I am majoring in fashion. My piece, which has just hit it's mock up stage uses a dress to represent the alley starting out clean, neat and tidy but slowly getting covered with dirt and paint. (My gorgeous friend Keber gets to model and have paint thrown at her!) Before getting covered up and chained.  

When I came up with these ideas, I wasn't particularly thinking about what I was doing, and then my teacher asked why I had chosen performance design and yadda, yadda, yadda. Before I was informed of my apparent decision I don't think that I'd ever really heard of performance design before. But since then I have done some research into it, and I have found something that I can really appreciate, maybe that's why I love fashion so much, because wearing the clothes and showing the clothes is a performance in itself, that can be both beautiful while making a statement about social issues or historic events.  

A couple of performance pieces I really like I have posted below this first is a piece by Yoko Ono in 1965 where she sat on the stage and asked for the audience to come up and cut at her clothes. I find this to be very beautiful and a strong feminist statement at the same time. When Ono preformed this it was done in silence but some douche has overlaid music. However I fully recommend that you watch it.

The other piece of performance design that I want to share with you is actually done by my fashion lecturer Catherine Bagnall. She wears huge, bulky old-fashioned wedding dresses and ball gowns tramping / hiking and records how the weather and conditions affect the fabric and how the huge mass of fabric effects her journey. You can find a really good article on it at Fashionprojects.org and lots more photos of her work there as well.

 

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Well thats all for tonight, it's 12.15am over here and I've got to get up for art and design tomorrow morning, wish me luck!

Lots of Love

               Audrey Megan

Chalayan's genius

I recently had to do some research into Hussein Chalayan whom I'd actually never heard of before, (I guess that show's the true breadth of my knowledge). I looked at a couple of his collections and needless to say I was impressed, very impressed. Staying true, it seems to my new androgynous obsession I fell white in love with his newest 'ready-to-wear' collection, Sakoku. Now before I write about the collection it's self. I thought that you would perhaps benefit from a quick definition of 'Sakoku' as Hussein Chalayan puts a lot of thought into his concepts and ideas; he lets his inspiration truly take form in his creations.

Hussein Chalayan

Sakoku roughly translates into "locked country" and is from Japan's isolationist policy, put into place from 1633 to 1853. This policy allowed for no one to enter Japan and for no one to leave, people caught doing so faced death. Wikipedia has a great article on sakoku here. Hussein Chalayan rigidly incorporated the idea into his latest collection. The showing of the collection was done via video, isolating the models and cutting them off from any audience, much like the sakoku regime. The video is very eerie and  that is helped a lot by the music and sounds, but also very elegant and minimalist. Vogue has it here if you want to watch it, and i well recommend that you should!

 The first looks too be shown were very androgynous, with straight cut shirts, waistcoats and the models veiled. The shoes worn represented ankle cuffs, as a thick band encircled each ankle. A small introduction of light blues, and greasy entered when the models lost veils, however much of the clothing retained it's 'boyish' shape. Finally there was the entrance of the floaty floral dress, this could have potentially been a reference to the final abolishment of the policy, however three masked ' puppeteer's' surrounded the model as she walked moving the fabric for her. A symbol of Japans holds over the people in that time period. After this both simultaneously beautiful yet also chilling dress. A range of startlingly bright colorful appeared, before returning to the monochromatic palate of previous.

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I found Hussein’s depth into his research inspiring as he took everything he could from the sakoku policy and turned into a collection that both spoke politically about such an alarming era and managed to hold beauty at the same time.

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Although I have chosen to analyze this collection, I suggest that you take a look at his site (here) because he has all his collections archived there and with each he has taken the time to thoroughly research his idea's and incorporate them into his work, creating beautiful collections, infect one of my other favorites is his 2007 S/S collection, one hundred and eleven where he created dresses that changed and morphed themselves into new positions, With on even completely disappearing up into the model's hat leaving her bare on the catwalk. He is defiantly one to be admired and he is most definitely on my list of top designers!

Lots of Love

    Audrey Megan