Just as there can be no museum show without the original made things — the photographs, the paintings, the textiles — there can be no show without a curatorial passion. Mounting an exhibition is research-heavy and resource-intensive — part fund-raising, part detective work, part negotiation, part stagecraft, part copy-writing, and many parts problem-solving. If you are not all in, you might as well not be in at all. | | | | Exhibition preview at Phillip Mould, London, 2012.
(Richard Baker/Corbis/Getty Images) | | | | | | “Just as there can be no museum show without the original made things — the photographs, the paintings, the textiles — there can be no show without a curatorial passion. Mounting an exhibition is research-heavy and resource-intensive — part fund-raising, part detective work, part negotiation, part stagecraft, part copy-writing, and many parts problem-solving. If you are not all in, you might as well not be in at all.”
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| | rantnrave:// Archives live. The French government is creating a permanent fashion collection within the CENTRE NATIONAL DES ARTS PLASTIQUE. It's one of several initiatives the government is undertaking to preserve fashion as French national heritage. Five ensembles will be purchased for the collection every season. I love this taken as a curatorial exercise—effectively picking what's historically significant from an of-the-moment, contemporaneous perspective. Rather than a routine way of expanding the collection, it could be its own concept called "Five from a Season" or "Ten from a Year." Of course, if the institution buys from pre-fall or cruise, like many shoppers, the acquisitions would number many more. "Thirty from a Year" just doesn't have the same quality—muddles the picture, doesn't it? Here in the STATES, government-sponsored fashion initiatives are more diffuse or left to industry and local organizations. The SMITHSONIAN has a costume collection, but how often do we hear of it? Almost never. No, the COSTUME INSTITUTE at THE MET holds the brightest torch for stately archives of fashion here in the USA. And it's about to open the REI KAWAKUBO/COMME DES GARÇONS exhibition. The conversation between REI KAWAKUBO and ANDREW BOLTON is a must-read (paywalled). And of course, the Costume Institute's largest fundraiser, the MET GALA is on tonight. Which means for you, dear reader, no more slideshows of the "craziest / silliest / wackiest / zaniest / whatever-est" past Met Gala looks. Only those of the extreme present will dominate tonight's swipe-throughs. I want a Met Gala with the theme "cliché eco-chic looks." Or "à la manière hypebeast"... Another archive in the works: MAISON CHLOÉ... Marketing can't provide what isn't there, and media-franchised exclusivity can backfire. Or backFYRE, as it were... Loved this short film on JOHNNY JEANA, TOKYO Rockabilly. | | | - HK Mindy Meissen, curator |
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| "Whenever you go backstage after one of Haider Ackermann’s shows – men’s or women’s – you can be sure of one thing: he will give you an elusive declaration on the state of the world, the material one or possibly his own." | | |
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| The story of how Mr. Enninful became the new editor of British Vogue, one of the most powerful positions in fashion. | | |
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| "We’ve been through a decade where we’ve been able to have a much broader view of many things, and I actually think we’re going into a period where focus and specificity are really, really important." | | |
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| Can you remember when Comme des Garçons' towering megalopolis of art and style forever changed the retail landscape of London and beyond? Flick through i-D's The Expressionist Issue, experience it once more and read a rare interview with Rei Kawakubo. | | |
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| The story of one man’s mission to keep the subculture alive and kicking in Japan. | | |
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| The transition from self-branding to state branding became a lightning rod for multiple issues surrounding the new administration. | | |
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| Meet Kazakhstan's most radical fashion export, the man who's reinventing menswear. | | |
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| Global fashion brands are facing increased competition as China’s large domestic players invest heavily in branding and retail experience in a bid to become more sleek, sophisticated and cosmopolitan. | | |
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| Monday is the fashion industry’s annual Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala. Under the direction of Conde Nast's artistic director Anna Wintour, the gala has become the undisputed event of the year on the New York social schedule and has raised more than $145 million for the Costume Institute (the party funds its operating budget in its entirety) to date. | | |
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| The Met Gala is best known for its starry red carpet, daring ensembles (both good and bad) and celebrity antics, but the most important night in fashion is also the biggest fundraiser for the Met. | | |
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| To what extent should celebrities, Insta girls, and bloggers shoulder responsibility for what they personally endorse on social media? | | |
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| This week Amazon took the wraps off a new incarnation of its Alexa voice assistant, giving the AI an eye so it can see as well as speak and hear. The Echo.. | | |
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| The casual luxury brand lost $163 million last year as it's struggled to compete in a turbulent retail landscape. | | |
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| Maybe this story begins with a mother and a daughter and a passion for fashion. The two explore fabrics and seams, stocking stitches and selvage, knitting and spinning. They search for patterns. They find them. | | |
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| Find out why African prints are getting renewed attention globally thanks to designers, retailers and a new museum exhibit. | | |
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| My bag is like any other, except for the line written in Urdu on the front. | | |
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| For better or worse, we live in an age of constant content. It feel... | | |
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| "We just need to make beautiful products, we get it," says the brand's chastened CEO. | | |
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| Folk Costume & Embroidery |
| The Frisians are one of the minority peoples of Europe, Inhabiting the coast of the North Sea from the northern Netherlands to the southernmost tip of Denmark. The Frisian Language is linguistically the closest living language to English [except for Scots]. | | |
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| U.K. fast-fashion retailer Boohoo seems to be immune from the carnage currently rocking longstanding American retail brands. | | |
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