Front Row at Christian Dior F/W 2010, see more of the power scene at RDuJour
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
LVMH
Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy - LVMH - is the world's largest luxury conglomerate overseeing 60 different brands from its Paris headquarters. The merger between the luxury leather goods company Louis Vuitton and the liquor company Moet Hennessy took place in 1987 with CEO Bernard Arnault slowly acquiring luxury fashion houses. Arnault is one of the wealthiest men in the world with his assets residing largely in LVMH shares. His influence is compounded by his massive art collection, one of the most significant in the world, which led to the creation of Louis Vuitton Espace Culturel and the development of his own contemporary art space in Paris.
Arnault first acquired Dior, which now accounts for 42% of LVMH's holding shares although Louis Vuitton accounts for 80% of profit. The chart below shows the timing of development.
When you own the company you can ask Galliano to personally design your daughter's wedding dress and have Lagerfeld take the photos.
The massive extent of LVMH includes American brands like Donna Karan, department stores and cruiselines.
Staff of 56,000 in 44 countries, 1,500 stores in both sprits and goods.
Arnault defines a star brand is one that is timeless, modern, fast-growing, and highly profitable. “There are fewer than 10 star brands in the luxury world,” he maintains, “ because it is very hard to balance all four characteristics at once—after all, fast growth is often at odds with high profitability—but that is what makes them stars." Luxury also needs a certain combination for the consumer such as heritage, integrity, flagships and premium pricing all of which give the consumer a sense of confidence in the product.
In the past four years Espace culturel, located inside the Louis Vuitton headquarters, has dedicated exhibitions to artists from Moscow, Korea and India and more. The idea of a global art space open to the public is the brand's way of supporting culture and reaching a wider audience.
Vanessa Beecroft at Espace Culturel, 2005
Monday, March 1, 2010
Hussein Chalayan
by Simone Miller
S 2000
“Hussein Chalayan, Fashon and Technology” : This article was first published in Fashion Theory, Volume 6, Number 4 in 2002 but was published again in 2009 in Design Studies, A Reader. Both are published by Berg, a company that publishes volumes of academics on and analysis of fashion. The article deals mostly with Hussein Chalayan’s Remote Control Dress from Spring/Summer 2000.
Author: Bradley Quinn is a journalist and author. Frequently, his writing is about fashion and technology, architecture or other aspects of design.
Chalayan's student exhibition The Tangent Flows, 1993, buried in his back yard then presented
F 2001
Cyborg: “a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality, as well as a creature of fiction” (388), when a human’s nervous system “[operates] in direct connection with the artificial intelligence of a machine” (388). The ability to be a cyborg does not rely merely on complicated or advanced technology; even something as simple as surfing the web can (momentarily) turn one into a cyborg.
Four categories of technological enhancements to the human body:
Restorative- the replacement of missing limbs, failed organs, defective bodily functions.
Normalizing- “a generic aesthetic while imposing technologized bodies as social or aesthetic norms” (389). In other words, establishing the technologized body as a normal form.
Reconfiguring- equipping the body with extra functions such as by adding extra limbs or communications systems.
Enhancing- using technology to enhance the body’s pre-existing functions.
This article focuses on avant-garde designer Hussein Chalayan who combines technology and fashion in his collections. Quinn says that in doing so, Hussein Chalayan brings technology in direct contact with the body and hails Chalayan’s Remote Control Dress as “a high-tech triuph that married fashion to technology and technology to the body” (387). The Remote Controll Dress is made of fiber and resin and contains solar panels, wireless technology, electrical circuitry and automated commands. It was the first fully functioning garment containing a wireless device.
Though Chalayan brings technology almost uncomfortably close to the body, he maintains that any cyborgian references are “something of a side effect” (388). Chalayan’s main goal is not to explore the relationship between technology and the body but rather the relationship between the form of the garment and the body. Chalayan strives to extend clothing’s functions. Indeed by wearing the dress, the body can be connected to other machines, people, businesses, and governments. Quinn presents four categories of technologies in relation to the body: restorative, normalizing, reconfiguring and enhancing. Quinn says that in terms of fashion, the cyborg body is mostly made up of reconfiguring and enhancing technologies such as sunglasses, reading glasses, mobile devices and even athletic shoes.
However, Hussein Chalayan’s Remote Control Dress also has normalizing processes as it is involved in what Quinn refers to as the techno-sexualization of the body. That is to say that the dress has the power to reveal or hide certain parts of the body and to shape the female form, allowing the wearer’s body to conform to ideal standards of beauty. Thus the term ‘fashion’ in this instance is used not to describe the system or the garments but rather the process of shaping or creating something. The idea of revealing and concealing body parts is a running theme in Hussein Chalayan’s work.
Still, the Remote Control Dress and Chalayan’s body of work confront a chilling issue that has come up as society becomes increasingly technologically advanced which is the potential for humans to become controlled by technology. The dress is the epitome of scientific progress and challenges fashion norms. Fashion, Quinn argues, has always had interactive and communicative properties and the Remote Control Dress increases these possibilities. The dress challenges traditional aesthetics by blurring the lines between body and machine and marks a shift from defining the human body in terms of social values to defining it in terms of technology.
Quinn concludes by suggesting that Chalayan’s work allows him to be free of fashion system rules and create a discourse on the principles of clothing. Chalayan’s way of thinking is part of a more integrated approach to design that includes fashion, interiors and architecture.
S 2008
The author’s point of view is that Hussein Chalayan’s work is innovative and provocative. Quinn’s article makes clothing that seems totally unwearable at first glance seem progressive and appealing. Quinn suggests that the inclusion of technology is a natural progression in the evolution of clothing and its functions. Hussein Chalayan’s designs question notions of what can and can’t be worn as clothing. In terms of power, Chalayan’s technologically enhanced garments have the power to increase clothing’s and humans’ capabilities but also have a dark power to control the wearer. Still, this is not unlike the modern-day fashion victim who is controlled by clothing forms as trends come in and out. Chalayan as a designer has power because his line of work allows him to exist outside of the fashion system but he is still considered an important designer.
How Can This Be Applied? This article is very pertinent because it explores our increasingly technological dependent society. Clothing seems to be an area that has remained relatively untouched by technology but it certainly has the potential to be. Chalayan’s Remote Control Dress represents how far fashion has come from just its original protective uses. While the Japanese Avant Garde designers’ designs represent working with the body, Chalayan’s designs represent a shaping of the body. The desire to shape the body to its ideal form is an idea that has held up for ages, so while Chalayan’s designs are technologically advanced, much of the thought process behind them are the same thoughts behind more traditional fashion. While the Japanese Avant Garde designers valued and referenced the past, Hussein Chalayan is focused on looking to the future.
The Japanese Avant Garde in Paris
by Angela Marzan
Yuniya Kawamura’s “The Japanese Revolution in Paris Fashion”: It was first published in 2004 in Fashion Theory, Volume 8, Issue 2. The author is an assistant professor of sociology at FIT. She is also professionally trained as a fashion designer and a patternmaker at Bunka School of Fashion in Japan, Kingston Polytechnic in England, and FIT. She completed her Ph.D. dissertation at Columbia University. At the time the article was published, Kawamura was studying Japanese street style in New York and Japan.
Kenzo F 2009
The article “adopts a production-of-culture theoretical approach” (195). It discusses the introduction of Japanese designers into the French fashion industry from 1970 to 2003, during a time when haute couture was losing its primary clientele. Of particular interest are the designers and their relationship to the French fashion system. The designers that she speaks of are Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Hanae Mori, and Kenzo.
Kenzo S/S 09 Ad campaign by Mario Sorrenti
Kenzo Takada was born February 27, 1939 in Himeji, Japan. He is a Japanese fashion designer and the founder of Kenzo. He shortly attended the University of Kobe and in 1958, he began attending the fashion school Tokyo's Bunka Fashion College, which had just begun to admit male students. He settled in Paris in 1964 where he tried to gain a place in the fashion environment by attending shows, making contacts with the media, and selling sketches. Around 1970, Kenzo began to gain success. His first men's collection was launched in 1983. In 1993 the brand Kenzo came under ownership of LVMH. He retired in 1999, but returned as decoration designer in 2005.
Miyake, SS 2008
Issey Miyake FW 2009
Issey Miyake was born April 22, 1938. He is a Japanese fashion designer known for his technology-driven clothing designs. He studied graphic design at the Tama Art University in Tokyo, graduating in 1964. After graduation, he worked in Paris and New York City. Returning to Tokyo in 1970, he founded the Miyake Design Studio. In 1994 and 1999, Miyake turned over the design of the men's and women's collections Naoki Takizawa, so that he could return to research full-time. In 2007, Naoki Takizawa was replaced by Dai Fujiwara.
Yamamoto F 2007
When speaking of her article, Kawamura offers a definition for the difference between fashion and clothing: I introduce Fashion-ology, a scientific and sociological investigation of fashion as a system that constitutes institutions, organizations, groups, designers, gatekeepers, events, and practices, and that contributes to the making of 'fashion'. The structural nature of the system affects the legitimation process of designers' creativity, and the inclusion and exclusion of designers in/from the system… A systemic analysis of fashion helps us make a distinction between fashion and clothing which are two independent, autonomous entities although they are often utilized interchangeably. Clothing is a material production while fashion is a symbolic production. Clothing is a necessity while fashion is an excess. Clothing has a utility function while fashion has a status function. Clothing is found in any society where people clothe themselves while fashion must be institutionally constructed and culturally diffused.
Comme des Garcons S 2008
Comme des Garcons F 2009
She also defines social capital as connections within the industry, particularly in regards to Mori, which Kawamura posits is fundamental in Mori’s place amongst haute couture houses in France. Her belief is that despite the avant garde quality of the Japanese designers, they are still resigned to conforming to the laws of the French fashion system, explaining that these designers only show in Paris, not Japan. She furthers this idea by stating that if a designer wishes to succeed, they must submit to the French fashion system. Thus, in order to make it in the fashion world, one must submit to the Western fashion power.
Hanae Mori 2001, 2004
Hanae Mori was born January 8, 1926. She is the only Japanese woman to have presented her collections on the runways of Paris and New York, and the first Asian woman to be admitted as an official haute couture design house by the fédération française de la couture in France. She graduated from Tokyo Women's Christian University and then married and attended dressmaking school. She opened her first atelier in 1951 and in 1965, she presented her first New York collection, "East Meets West". Twelve years later, she opened an haute couture showroom in Paris, leading to her appointment as a member of La Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. In 1997 Dominique Sirop became the grand couturier.
The Avant Garde
Viktor & Rolf S 2010
Deconstruction and the avant garde are subjective terms to describe designers that often overlap. Both make more art like creations however deconstruction designers are normally more quiet and cerebral which avant garde designers are more theatrical and flamboyant.
Use of the term “avant garde” was defined in a book by John Berger “Theory of the Avant Garde” in which he isolated the historic era of art politically reacting against systems during WWI & II. This was art work not connected to either academia or the market. The women associated with the avant garde artists experimented with traditional forms of fashion. They considered what they were making as either art or costumes. There seemed to be an understanding of the separation between art and reality which has decreased over time.
Duchamp, LHOOQ 1919 & Fountain 1917
Elsa Sciaparelli, 1937 and Meret Oppenheim, Turkey Shoes, nd.
The term haute couture describes one of a kind designs, typically displaying extreme aesthetics. Most haute couture is just an example of a designer’s talent and is not for sale, however with growing interest from celebrities for black tie and other events, some couture is fitted or duplicated upon request.
French couture is regulated by an industry governing body, the Fédération française de la couture, du prêt-à-porter des couturiers et des créateurs de mode created in 1973. It consists of the Chambre Syndicale of haute couture (high fashion), created in 1868. The Federation also has a fashion school, the Ecole de la chambre syndicale de la couture parisienne (created in 1928). Only companies officially recognized by the Chambre Syndicale are licensed couture, which are all French corporations, but designers in Milan, London and NY also use the word couture for custom clothing.
From the end of the war in 1945 until the mid 1960’s most designers focused on mass sales. Creative extravagance was observed in French couture by Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga, and YSL. By the late 1960’s the social climate began to change encouraging more creative experimentation.
Andre Courreges: Born in 1923, he studied engineering then entered fashion in 1965. He came at the right moment of revolutionary thinking and the space age.
Courreges, 1967 & 1966
He claims to have “invented” the mini skirt (along with Brit Mary Quant at the same time, a quantum invention), and the heelless gogo boot. He emphasized synthetic materials and geometric shapes. The design and the presentation challenged the status quo.
Courreges, Qui Estes Vous Polly Magoo?, 1966
Paco Rabanne: Like Balenciaga he came from Spain to France and first worked making jewelry for the design houses. He was recognized for space age costume design for Barbarella. Like Courreges it was his emphasis on synthetics and the new forms they could make that made his work seem ahead of its time from standard designers.
Rabanne, 1967 & 1968
Thierry Mugler: Began as a designer with the first collection in 1973. Has emphasized wide padded shoulders, solid colors, pvc and synthetics. Has inconsistently been able to produce couture in part because of lack of sales but has continued by creating costumes for Lady Gaga and Beyonce.
Mugler, Lady Gaga & 1997
Designers can also create forward thinking, innovative and dreamlike creations, that seek to make fantasy a reality but may not always end up in reality. The challenge of the avant garde is not only in the unrealized future of the designs or the limitations of their wear-ibility but their claim to be fashion rather than art or theater…?
Amaya Arzuaga, Spanish Fashion Week, 2009
Alexander McQueen: Alexander McQueen was the controversial son of a taxi driver and graduate of Central Saint Martins. He created his own line and designed for Givenchy from 1996-2001. His label is now owned in majority stake by PPR Gucci group.
F 2008
F 2009
S 2010
Viktor & Rolf are a Dutch design team of Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren. They initially worked at Margiela and presented their clothing in art galleries and unauthorized shows during fashion week. They consciously use form as a means of communicating a message and often embellish existing forms.
F 2004, F 2005, SS 2006
S 2010
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