You shouldn't flip through a magazine and subconsciously know what's next. | | | | | 'Corridor Pin, Blue,' Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, 1999. (stu_spivack/Flickr) | | | | | | “You shouldn't flip through a magazine and subconsciously know what's next.”
| - | Ibrahim “Ib” Kamara, 2016 |
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| | rantnrave:// Six decades after the 1960s, are t-shirt slogans still powerful or are they merely wistful for the time they once were? The best take on the subject I have ever, ever come across was by RICHARD MARTIN and HAROLD KODA, who exhibited t-shirts from a single year as an acute portrayal of politics and current events, limited to a span of 365 days. The year was 1991, and sample phrases include “This Scud’s for You,” in response to the GULF WAR, and “Go Gorby Go,” on the dissolution of the SOVIET UNION. “Pray for Magic” t-shirts were sold on the street in LA a mere 48 hours after MAGIC JOHNSON made the announcement he was HIV-positive. Looking back, the limited span of time is what makes the project so striking. That t-shirts are markers of temporality, of bodies and lives at a certain place and a certain time, makes us consider them as portals to the past. Like I said. Merely wistful?... With the combined burden of history and shifting contexts looming over every symbolic gesture we make in 2016, is it any wonder people decry the safety pin around the same time people begin relentlessly publishing listicles about it? Post-everything, our many historic failures don’t bode well for faith in the symbolic. Or do they? This powerful t-shirt messaging may prove otherwise. Was discussing with a friend last night that the message conveyed by the safety pin has morphed for several movements across at least 3 continents… Respect to VÉRONIQUE HYLAND for this self-professed piece of “investigative journalism,” ;) on where to find safety pins in AMERICA. And to the photo editor on that one, I salute you… Messages formerly reserved for the t-shirt have blithely shifted to the tote bag, and for all their two-handled novelty, just think about All. That. Waste. Or don't, depending on how many tote-able freebies you have stuffed in your pantry. I dunno about you, but despite all well-meaning intentions I can’t responsibly “re-use” 500 tote bags in my lifetime… POLYESTER ZINE has an abecedarium of anxiety, quite apropos… The exhibition MADE IN CHINA, situated in JAMESTOWN, NY (near LAKE ERIE) looks cool. | | | - HK Mindy Meissen, curator |
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| "I’ve dressed kings, queens, beggars, prostitutes, lawyers, bankers." A conversation with Manuel Cuevas Sr., designer of western wear. | | |
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| Why see-now, buy-now is ushering in a new, brilliant era for fashion. | | |
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| Isaiah Lopaz, a black, college-educated artist and writer living in Berlin, was frequently assumed to be a drug dealer. Then he had an idea for how to respond. | | |
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| Ma Ke has built one of China's most coveted designer brands and dresses the country's first lady, Peng Liyuan. | | |
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| We caught up with Gill Linton of Byronesque and Sarah Shikama of She Comes In Technicolor to discuss their new collaborative endeavour, sourcing and documenting the best vintage pieces in fashion. | | |
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| Ibrahim Kamara chats about “the gays,” life after university, and redefining Black male sexuality on his own terms with his project, "Sensitive Thug." | | |
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| Three new short films from three big brands challenge expectations about the relationship of fashion and film, and what exactly they are selling. | | |
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| It can be hard to ignore the lure of Forever 21, where fall jackets go for $18 and a halter dress can be had for $9. | | |
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| Now in its seventh issue, "Riposte," a title that bills itself as “A smart magazine for women,” has gone from strength to strength in 2016. It’s staging more events, unveiling a new website, and sharpening its editorial focus to explore some challenging social issues. I caught up with editor in chief. | | |
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| "It's very hard to find the exact right anything. And that's what I'm always looking for." | | |
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| Stores are balking at rents amid slowing sales and profits. | | |
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| The careful, self-conscious masculinity of men's grooming products. | | |
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| Does the promise of those connected retails stores hold up? | | |
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| Proper Cloth has exploded since launching as a bare-bones shirtmaker in late 2008. Its shiny, new Soho flagship is a milestone that speaks volumes about the brand’s progression. | | |
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| Its team-up with Rent The Runway won't solve its problems. | | |
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| Analysts repeatedly questioned executives from Victoria’s Secret-parent L Brands about the brand’s core. | | |
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| In an era where consumers look to their phones roughly 46 times per day - that is 8 million times per day for Americans as a whole - the Facebook-owned platform, which boasts more than 500 million active users, has identified a potential goldmine: Shopping. | | |
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| What exactly is behind fashion's addiction to drugs, both on and off the runway? | | |
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| And how to make sure you’re in the normal range. | | |
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| As a student studying fashion, I’ve learnt how to spend wisely and have slowly learnt the importance of every penny. When I shop these days, I think: “Do I really need this dress that I’ll wear once a year?” | | |
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| © Copyright 2016, The REDEF Group |
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