To Read: Echo Spring by Olivia Laing

I just read this New York Times write-up of Olivia Laing's Echo Spring, a book that examines the intersection of inebriation and writing. Why have so many writers imbibed as a way to find inspiration or relief? What are the pitfalls of combining ink and booze? Laing explores the perilous vices and victories of alcoholic creativity by examining the lives of writers such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. A good pick for the reading list (snifter of brandy not included).

Unlikely Birds of a Feather: Yayoi Kusama and Mac Miller By Anja Wade

Tumblr is good for many reasons. One such reason is that it brings new images and sounds to your attention. A few months ago, I was scrolling through my Tumblr feed when I saw a post about Yayoi Kusama’s “Fireflies on the Water” exhibit at the Whitney Museum. Before I had even read the post, I was reminded of another exhibit of sorts – Mac Miller’s music video for “I Am Who Am (Killin’ Time).” At the surface, Kusama and Miller don’t have a lot in common. Kusama is a Japanese-born artist who spent a good deal of time making headlines in the avant-garde art scene of 1960’s New York City. She works in a variety of media – installation, painting, sculpture, film, drawing, and performance. Miller is a twenty-something rapper and producer who hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kusama is lauded in the international art community.  Miller, on the other hand, has received recent criticism for attempting to break free from his “party anthem” music with an introspective album entitled “Watching Movies with the Sound Off.” Many heavyweights in the hip-hop community are nonetheless fans of this album, which Miller concedes is a mark of artistic evolution.

                

Despite their differences, “Fireflies on the Water” (2002) and “I Am Who Am” (2013) provide a similar atmospheric world for viewers and listeners. In “Fireflies on the Water,” Kusama explores the concept of infinity by inviting visitors to immerse themselves in an installation created with mirrors, lights, and water. In “I Am Who Am,” Miller sits in a room of lights and mirrors while reciting verses that address depression, spirituality, and artistic transcendence. Both artists meditate on the duality of limitation and freedom while inviting viewers to do the same. From time to time, I revisit each work to explore their themes. Kusama asks me to step into a box and contemplate life from a birds-eye view. Miller asks me to watch as he himself steps into a box and contemplates life from a birds-eye view. When one steps into this realm, one realizes that human beings tend to understand infinity through the confines of a finite space. Perhaps our bodies are the finite spaces, in addition to art exhibits. We can see and hear that there is something beyond, but we cannot grasp it, save for a fleeting moment. Indeed, Kusama and Miller use sight and sound to evoke an endless space that is paradoxically its own end. For that, they are unlikely birds of a feather.
-AW

**

Watch a video of Kusama’s "Fireflies on the Water" installation here: 

Watch Miller’s "I Am Who Am (Killin' Time)" video here: 

Read about Kusama here: http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/FirefliesOnTheWater

Read about Miller here: http://www.macmillerofficial.com/

10 Reasons I Don't Own a Television (and Haven't For the Past Two Years)

I am not preaching, and I am not saying that throwing away your TV is a saintly thing to do. I am also not claiming that you will stop wasting time. You will still waste time. You'll find your favorite shows on Hulu and become mesmerized by cat videos on YouTube. But ditching the box will change you. Sometimes when I reflect on not owning a TV, I can hear Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in my mind... "Throw away your television, recreate your supervision now." Then I do a little dance around the room.

1. The Internet. Seriously.
2. Books.
3. More time to make art and music.
4. More time to write.
5. Netflix.
6. More time to listen to Pandora and go to live concerts.
7. More time to cook.
8. Less ads (no, I don't know which hilarious dog food commercial you're talking about).
9. No desire to drop mega bucks on the latest, most expensive TV.
10. Life. Living. Doing.

Mercy, Mercy, Me: A 21st-Century Guide to Becoming Informed About Syria & the World

By Anja Wade

Syria. A world away from our world. At least that’s what it seems like for most twenty-something Americans. For most Americans, really. The headlines are deeply upsetting and worrisome. Where do we begin to understand this conflict? What is really true in the media and what is not? These days, the task of being well-informed about world events feels daunting. We carry our mobile devices everywhere and plug our computers in at cafés, we log onto Facebook and watch YouTube videos regularly. The onslaught of information is overwhelming and far from pleasurable or entertaining. It’s certainly anxiety-provoking and confusing.

It feels insufficient to simply read one newspaper or watch one news program on TV at night. The task of being well-informed seems to require much more than just one source. It feels as though we should have six laptops in front of us at once, each with a different news source on the screen, as well as several live streams and podcasts going on in the background. How are we to know what’s really going on globally if we can barely wrap our heads around the amount of information we are faced with locally?

Our eyes and ears take in more information than ever before. Some of it is relevant, some of it is trivial. What matters is that the sheer amount of information we take in is tremendous. It is our job to develop strategies for filtering this information. We need to figure out how to navigate our world in a way that makes sense. In other words, we need to learn how to make sense of our world.

The situation in Syria is complex and demands our attention. Many people confess to me that they feel like the situation is out of their control or beyond the scope of their day-to-day life. I propose that instead of succumbing to these feelings, we agree collectively to listen to or read a different news source for ten minutes a day each week. We don’t have to understand the Syrian conflict immediately but we do need to be immediately accountable for being well-informed. There is a practical way to do this. Just ten minutes a day. And that goes for any major world event. Start small. Choose one headline and focus on it ten minutes a day for a week. Limit yourself to just this headline for one week. Research it, investigate different opinions on it, and learn how you feel about it.

By learning about one major event in the world, you will begin to ask questions about other events in the world. This will lead to greater knowledge of the world in general. We must participate in the daily happenings of our globe. We must do so actively rather than passively.

Vicious: Rick Owens S/S 2014

By Anja Wade

Move over, Thom Browne, there’s another bad boy in town. Rick Owens. And he’s done it again. I just can’t get enough of his S/S 2014 ready-to-wear collection. I want to applaud him, thank him, and tell every designer in Western fashion to take note. THIS is how you take cultural inspiration and turn it into something unique without effacing its value. This is how you translate other cultures into something unique without stealing from those cultures. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me explain.

In the fashion world, it is easy to live in a culturally insulated and isolated bubble. Many designers and clients act like what they do exists solely for them, and they have no shame about it. Designers take hints from the streets, clients assimilate fashion cues from other countries, and the word “tribal” gets thrown around as if it’s not an embarrassingly outdated slur. All we know is what we do, and we take from the “other” or the “exotic” without batting an eyelash. The most credit we give is when we rename the “other” as our own creation. Never mind that autonomous factions of people go about their daily lives in diverse ways outside of the Western fashion bubble. When we like it, we take it and we make it our own. There would be nothing wrong with that if we were to give credit when credit’s due.

Where does Rick Owens come into play? Well, the bad boy has raised a middle finger to this close-minded attitude of rapacious elitism. This season, he put together a show that challenged everything. For S/S 2014, Owens used dancing known as “stepping” to convey the vicious nature of his clothing. During the show, step teams from American colleges performed step routines on the runway, fully outfitted in Owens’ 2014 collection.

Now, stepping is probably not common vernacular for most fashion week attendees. It’s a highly regarded African-American art form and has its own legendary history. Rick Owens said it himself in an interview with style.com: “There’s like this whole history that I’m not gonna even insult by trying to explain because I’m just not going to do it justice. But I suggest that everyone Google step teams.”

 These were real women in real clothes with attitude that for once was actually fierce. There were curves, muscles, and stoic faces to go with the beautifully crafted clothing (leather vests, enviable sneakers, tunics over shorts). The runway was not only a showcase for the clothing, but for the art of stepping.

Don’t get me wrong, as a woman of color, I can tell you that we’ve got a long way to go. It would be a mistake to assume that Owens deserves an award for somehow saving fashion from its dire plight of unethical cultural elitism. But a) I don’t think that’s what he was looking for and b) at least now we have a tangible example of change in the industry.

In addition, it would be easy to assume that Owens fell in the trap of using a common stereotype (the strong, "vicious" black female) to sell his apparel. But I think to read the show as such is to miss the multi-facted glory of its triumph over stereotypes and racism.

It matters that the step teams were the ones modeling the clothing. Owens didn’t hire fashion’s favorite waifs to model the designs. He didn't assimilate a culture and then throw away the culture's original value by pretending like Western fashion invented it. And he didn't reduce the original culture to a caricature or stereotype. He could easily have done so in interviews by offering some flippant, superficial remarks about stepping. Or by hiring step teams to simply open the show before skinny white models stomped down the runway. He wasn't looking for credit for the inspiration, just the clothes. He recognized something in stepping that was similar to what he wanted to convey in fabric.

The revolution of this show started a much-needed conversation. Owens made it possible to entertain the idea that culture can be its own inspiring phenomenon. Designers can respectfully translate culture into fabric without reducing it to something exploitable or marginalized in the sphere of Western fashion. Now we know what different looks like and how powerful it is. We don’t need to appropriate this power to appreciate it. Perhaps this time around we may learn something from it.
 
Image sourced from: http://www.vogue.com/fashion-week/spring-2014-rtw/rick-owens/review/
Watch the footage here: http://www.vogue.com/fashion-week/spring-2014-rtw/rick-owens/review/
And here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU4e2ssOVjo

You Are the First Woman On the Day of Creation: Dolce and Gabbana S/S 2014

By Anja Wade

"Tu sei tutto, Sylvia! Ma lo sai che sei tutto? Tu sei la prima donna del primo giorno della creazione, sei la madre, la sorella, l’amante, l’amica, l’angelo, il diavolo, la terra, la casa…"

Such are the famous confessions of Marcello Mastroianni in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. “You are everything, Sylvia! Do you know you are everything? You are everything, everything! You are the first woman on the first day of creation, you’re the mother, the sister, the lover, the friend, the angel, the devil, the earth, the house…” These words are resonant with the ethos of Dolce and Gabbana’s Spring 2014 collection, which debuted recently at Milan’s fashion week.

To the designers and their fellow Italians, women are indeed everything. Their spring collection celebrated the myth and reality of womanhood in Grecian-inspired Sicily. According to Greek mythology, Gaia is the goddess of all goddesses: the being who gives birth to the Earth and the Universe. Part celestial angel and part Gaia, Dolce and Gabbana’s collection featured interpretations of all things sensual. This was both worldly and otherworldly.

There were silk dresses with prints of Greek temples and theaters, fitted skirts, medallions worked into the hair and fabric, bustiers, flowing pieces, and more. Almond tree flower prints worked their way into appliqué for added poetry. Bright red lingerie-inspired pieces recalled the color palette of Satyricon. Fellini's tongue-in-cheek sense of humor did not go unnoticed, either. There was something witty about the collection, with Greek columns literally serving as the heels of shoes and medallions serving as flirtatiously over-sized embellishments. In any other designer's hands, the collection might have turned out to be garish. But garish it was not. At the show’s finale, models floated on the runway, outfitted entirely in gold ensembles. The show literally shimmered and sparkled. As they often do, Dolce and Gabbana left us with a much-needed sense of romance and reverie.

Models at Dolce and Gabbana, S/S 2014. Image sourced from: http://www.dolcegabbana.com/dg/fashion-show/woman-runway/catwalk-gallery/

Le Sportif: Sportiness In the Fashion of 2014

By Anja Wade

The word “sporty” has been showing up all over the place in reviews of S/S 2014 fashion. At Vera Wang: “Oh, that collection was so sporty with such a languid air.” At Gucci: “you could see the sporty influence in the fabric and cut of the clothes.” Of course, many people mean to say that there is an obvious influence of actual sportswear in today’s collections. There’s mesh, there’s the racerback neckline, etc. And there’s nothing wrong with that. As a category of clothing, sportswear has its own history and place in the canon of Western fashion. But I think we’re reaching for more lately when we say that a collection is “sporty.” My question is, why sports, and why now? What is it about “sporty” that is relevant?

            Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines sporty as “of, relating to, or typical of sports, sportsmen, sportswomen, or sportswear.” What, praytell, are “sports” then? According to SportAccord, an organisation for all international sports federations, a sport meets the following criteria: 1. It includes an element of competition. 2. It does not rely on luck. 3. It involves the mind, coordination, and/or motorisation or the support of animals. Well, the support of animals aside, I’d say that the everyday life of a 21^st-century woman qualifies as a sport. Our world is full of competition, mental and physical dexterity, and constant motion. Isn’t this what sports are all about?

            Further, the word “sport” actually comes from the Old French word “desport,” meaning “leisure, recreation, or pleasure.” This nuance of the word is on point for today’s fashion trends. In this often chaotic 21^st-century world, aren’t most women looking for clothing that imparts a sense of leisure and pleasure? We are entrepreneurs, PhD students, artists, mothers, writers, CEOs, and more. We want both sides of the coin: ease and pleasure to parallel our uncompromising mental and physical dedication. There is both exertion and relaxation in our world, and we are attracted to clothing that embraces this duality.

Designers are increasingly hip to this. They have heard our call, and answered it. Some of them understand this duality on a first-hand basis (e.g., Vera Wang, former ice skater and current fashion mogul on the go). So, when we say “sporty” in our reviews of fashion these days, I think we mean something new. A new sense of being, and a new femininity. Something entirely different and full of evolution. Something a 21^st-century woman understands well.

Model at Vera Wang S/S 2014. Image sourced from:http://i0.wp.com/www.fashionisingpictures.net/runway/vera-wang-spring-summer-2014-nyfw37.jpg

   

Flashback to Now: The 1990s In S/S 2014 Fashion

By Anja Wade

Now, this is the story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down and I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, I’ll tell you how I became the prince of… Oh! Sorry! Didn’t see you there. Got totally distracted by the theme song to one of the most popular TV shows from the 1990s. See, I’ve had the 90’s on the brain lately, as it’s supposedly making a comeback in fashion. Check any blogs or websites devoted to Spring/Summer 2014, and you’ll likely see references to this decade in fashion. But what does it mean when people say that the ‘90s are coming back on the runway and in stores? Well, let’s revisit the notorious decade and figure out what it was all about. (Get it, Notorious like B.I.G.? Hehehe).
First, let’s start with some of the major trends. There were many:

1. The grunge-inspired look. Simple and messy with lots of jeans and flannel shirts.
2. Oversized shirts.
3. Babydoll dresses.
4. Leggings and stirrup pants.
5. Drainpipe jeans, flared jeans, cargo pants, and low-waisted jeans.
6. Preppy casual.
7. Pastel colors, neons, plaid, tartan, and hippie floral prints.
8. Logo mania. Logos, especially high fashion logos, on everything. Worn proudly.
9. Crop tops.
10. Overalls.

And what about accessories?

1. Oversized watches like those of the Baby G brand.
2. Platform shoes and sneakers. Jelly shoes.
3. Slouch socks with tights.
4. Colored tights.
5. Neon everythang.
6. Doc Martens.
7. Knee high boots.
8. Bandanas.
9. Large hoop earrings.
10. Converse, adidas, or street-smart high-top trainers.

So, now that these lists have jogged your memory back into the era of supermodels and boy bands, let’s talk shop for Spring/Summer 2014. What precisely has reappeared from the decade? Slip dresses with spaghetti straps as seen in Jason Wu’s collection. Logos, as seen in Alexander Wang’s collection. Crop tops, as seen at Rodarte. Overalls at DKNY. In general, a return to the color palettes and silhouettes from the 1990s. If you’re wondering whether these styles have invaded more than just the runway, the answer is yes. It’s back in the streets (though one wonders if it ever left), and in stores already. Check out Forever 21’s “Totally 90’s” promo or Net-A-Porter’s write-up on “Gloss and Grunge.” There’s something for everyone.

 Image of 90s sitcom My So-Called Life.  Sourced from http://www.tabayag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/angelaskirt.jpg.