Blue Hue

A Colorful Story:
Recently, I've been seeing a lot of this color blue. A class, royal, primary color, blue.  Perhaps because everything has become so computerized and synthetic there has been an attraction to a purer hue, such as this one. This color also calls upon the popular nostalgia because this color has been seen in road signs, street signs, sports, for decades, by default becoming a classic. This color makes a statement because it is so refined, in a time where people are highlighting neons and iridescents, this classic blue stands alone as an authentic pigment.

images from: trendland.com, ABC Carpet & Home, Janis Maropoulos artwork, the sartorialist, planet blue, and tumblr

Muse: Destruction & Deconstruction

A Muse:
For my trend forecasting class at Parsons, we have to create a muse for a concentration we wrote about a couple weeks back. I wrote about the dissatisfied youth participating in Destruction vs. Deconstruction and then went back and related it historically to the Punk & Grunge movement. Now, I'm trying to uncover who this person is, who embodies this mindset of being disappointed with the present, doubtful of the future and turning to melancholy and darkness to cope.  I feel this person feels that the American Dream has failed them, that the future is uncertain and not necessarily in a positive light. They've been turning to mystics and myths instead of science and history to answer their unrequited questions and by living in the moment, feeling static in their time.

I created this collaged image to represent the muse mood of the youth. I found added photos of my own and from Tumblr of the grunge youth, mystic books, masked mannequins and aliens bombarding skyscrapers. I lowered the opacity on all the photographs to create this blurriness that I feel parallels with the movements feeling towards the future. 

Surrealism

 

Majestic and impulsive imagery coming from one’s subconscious; surrealism. This feeling that I’ve been seeing has been a very inverted and visual sense of self. Inspired by Dali, Schiaparelli, and words of Breton and Cocteau images and personal philosophies are becoming abstract and imaginative to the point of the unattainable. I think this is reflecting the mental state we as a society are in, this unsureness of what the future will bring, due to perhaps the current elections coming up, the static economic state etc. Therefore people are turning to times such as a the Surrealism Movement and recreating it themselves to produce images that tie to a time of freedom of thoughts and visions, connecting to their subconscious and doing away with our over-analyzed self. 

This attraction to Surrealism could be a reaction to how we are filtering ourselves via internet creating a daily cyber persona and advertising ourself, having the ability to delete or ‘command Z’ our lives because of computers, instead of living in the moment and reacting to our immediate feels and impulse reactions. 

All of these images are collected from popular sources, such as recent online magazine articles, tumblr, etc. showing that these images are in the mix of mass communication, that there is a turn to our own deep subconscious. Recent fashion such as the Margiela for H&M line (the handbag with the glove), Rhianna for the recent Vogue, Comme des Garcon SS13 collection show a direction of the unconventional, a surrealist perspective (shown in the first collage). 

images via: tumblr, Margiela for H&M line, Comme des Garcon (style.com), vogue.com

Form follows Function

Josh let me do an interview on him for my Trend Forecasting class at Parsons for "defining a customer". Josh is a  twenty year old from the beaches of LA living in the City. I chose him as a subject simply because I’ve always admired the way he sees form to follow function therefore always seeking quality and integrity in design. 

The aesthetic of going back to quality (counter-acting “fast fashion”), to locally made, designed athleticism and functional attire has become apart of our everyday imagery that parallels other trends such as organic foods and materials and sustainability. The visual representation that comes to mind are natural, clean lines, neutral colors and economic design. This contemporary style also has been adopted by lifestyle sports, such as snowboarding, surfing and skating. This adoption, popularized this aesthetic to a younger active generation, exposing them to modern design through hobbies and passions. 

This push for quality control has translated to a mindset of how one buys and what that represents; money as a vote.  When asked what affects his purchase, Josh responded: “Usually when I buy something it’s to fulfill some type of need I have; a valuable purchase.” This is the search for a new standard in need-base purchases.

Not wanting to “look like a Nascar” decked out in colorful logos, Josh and others who share the same interests and aesthetic are inspired by the street. Josh says he looks to his peers, culture and pastimes to influence his purchases.  “I prefer the guy [surfers] that wear more subtle things, Dane Reynolds, I like how he dresses.” It’s showing your individuality not through posting labels on yourself, but by taking them away. 

photos from personal photography, DQM for VANS, Malwitz Surfboards.

Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama, 83 year old Japanese artist was way ahead of her time during her youth in the 1960s but now, as society has progressed in visuals and thought, 2012 has been welcoming her with open arms. 

Kusama is famously known for her “dots”. In her early work to present it’s been focused on these massive multitude of hallucinatory dots in patterns as well as sculptures on everyday objects with painted growths, “soft sculptures”, constantly exploring the ideas of infinity and love. Yayoi Kusama was born in Japan then moved to New York City in the late 1950s to pursue her career as a fine artist, after brief success and notoriety she moved back to Tokyo where she voluntarily admitted herself to a mental institution where she still lives today. Although a participant in the Pop movement, perhaps Kusama’s art was slightly too abstract to the Pop art consumer during the 1960s. The height of the Pop movement was taking place in New York City and everyday objects were being glorified which contrasted to Kusama’s more physiological paintings and sculptures. More recently though, fashion design Marc Jacobs and creative director of Louis Vuitton has collaborated with Yayoi Kusama for a collection for LV which debuted this past summer and seems to be still circulating. (Kusama was also featured in the Marc Jacobs x Louis Vuitton documentary that released in 2008 at Sundance). And just in time for the debut of the collaboration collection, Yayoi Kusama was having an amazing exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, which just came to a close this past week. This is Kusama's time, not in the 1960s. Today people are pondering the same issues she's always tried to visualize. With the universe and the idea of it's infinity and interconnection with love and it's power, her time has finally come to show her dots and come in full color. 

Bullet Magazine recently did a fabulous interview with Kusama that I really enjoyed reading. These are a few of highlights:


BULLET: "What is the difference between a polka dot and a circle? What does a polka dot mean that a circle does not? 

YAYOI KUSAMA: Dots are cubic, but circles are flat. Dots are easy to move in the universe. Moon, stars, and people—we are made of dots. And they are infinity. Circles are not infinity, and have no active movements. They are controlled by rational human minds.


What is infinite about love? Can there be never-ending love as intimated by your exhibition, Kusama’s Peep Show, from 1966?
Infinity is the most intriguing subject for humans. Endless love is created from the wishful thinking of humans. Love is both finite and infinite. Love, hate, and even the whole universe can be described as infinite—everything will be absorbed in the trial and error of our desires. What excites me the most when I am writing poems and stories is the word “love.” Poetry, infinite love for the sun, imaginary worlds, and stars—these cosmic subjects can be transformed to the most beautiful things when they are crowned with love. I didn’t start to mention endless love in 1966; I have been talking about this since I was little. Love also contains the nihilistic meaning."

Bill Cunningham's On the Street--- Trend video on Yayoi Kusama's influence on the City, "Spot on".

Punk & Grunge

The Punk movement in the 1970s and the Grunge movement (or Seattle Style) in the late 1980s-90s, give some historical context for my previous post Deconstruction vs. Destruction on today’s youth culture. All three of these movements derive from an blatant unsatisfaction with society and current social customs and situations. Like most movements and trends, an outsider could see their opinions through their appearance. While these social circles are going against the grain and rebelling against traditional thought they are also rebelling against tradition dress, making a visual statement to what they stand for. 

Movements such as Punk, Grunge, and today’s Deconstruction vs. Destruction all center themselves around nonconformity to society and “the mainstream” in search for freedom. Freedom from society’s pre-justices and social norms that are restricting to the progressive thinkers. There is also a common theme in these three movements is streaks of nihilism, where the youth has lost all hope in the future, therefore turning to themselves and rebelling in the moment.

Whether it was Punk which was a counterculture to the Hippie movement or Grunge movement which was a response to the Outrageous 80s, or todays Destructive movement which is in response to the Tech movement, its shows that all trends have an equal and opposite force (thanks, Newton).

Prada SS13

Prada’s Spring 2013 collection seems to perfectly embody right now. We see a great tolerance of others cultures today which is visually displayed in this collection by the heavy influence of Japanese culture on this Italian luxury brand with the Kimono inspired dress and the new [metallic] take on the traditional Japanese sandals with socks. Also in today’s “trends” the nostalgia is a mix of all decades instead of a recreation of one. We can see this in Prada’s collection with the furry cropped jackets and graphic flowers which is very early 2000s, which is a take on the 1960s/70s, also paying an ode to the Mod trend with the high necklines, hair and make-up, contrasting colors and accessories. The influence of intertwining a sporty flare in their collection is found on every corner and Prada incorporates this sport influence with what almost looks like early 1950s bloomers in a ribbed knit as a jumper, onesies and shorts. I feel like Prada really dives into subcultures and makes them high fashion.

"Dream is forbidden, nostalgia is forbidden, to be too sweet is not good. Everything we used to feel historically, now you can't enjoy. The clothes are the expression of this impossible dream." Miuccia Prada said this backstage before Prada's Spring 2013 show at Milan Fashion Week which I think really reflects what a lot of us are currently thinking. 

Deconstruction vs. Destruction

deconstruction: (n) a method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language that emphasizes the internal workings of language and conceptual systems, the relational quality of meaning, and the assumptions implicit in forms of expression.
destruction: (n) the action or process of causing so much damage to something that it no longer exists or cannot be repaired

A recent trend I've noticed is that which is somewhat destructive, dipped in darkness. Our society is playing tug-of-war with deconstruction and destruction. On one end, deconstruction is challenging beliefs, ideas, physicality and on the other is destruction saying “fuck it” to traditions and the status quo. Although these both obviously overlap there is a line ( a thin one) where one is trying to discover what’s underneath the surface of our everyday lives (deconstruct) and why the things the way they are, and the other (destruction) disregards this and is searching to destroy something that makes them unhappy or they think is the burden and the cause of their unsatisfactory. There seems to be something beautiful, serene and quiet about the destruction or deconstruction of something; that something was built by man and that it’s able to be taken down by them. To destroy or deconstruct to perhaps to find answers to lingering questions or to simply see what would happen once something is gone. It’s to express one’s unsatisfaction with the present days and to make a physical, phycological or emotional change in something whether its in beliefs, society norms, the human body or someone’s surrounding. It’s the ability to change something that they want to no longer be.

Williamsburg Street Style

This past weekend I headed to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to the check out the Smorgasburg (The Brooklyn Food Flea) that happens every Saturday, where there's a tidal wave of trendiness.
full outfits:

These three girls had all very full outfits in the modern, nonchalant street style way—their bag went with their shoes, their hair was done and brushed, and their separates of tops and bottoms had a similar color scheme, but didn't match perfectly.
details:

The details in the outfits were squeezing out the last of the summer sunshine, from neon heeled sandals, to woven rope oxfords, maxi dresses and embroidered brights.

fabrics & prints

The fabrics that I saw this last Saturday (granted it was Willamsburg) were very ethnic and boho with some screaming vintage prints.
favorite detail:

playful tattoos galore!

Burberry Prorsum SS13

Burberry Prorsum just debuted their Spring 2013 collection in London a couple days ago and in doing so, completely reinvented their traditional trench coat, making you want to go buy the rainbow to match. The trench coat always being a traditional staple in every women's wardrobe from it's camel to black to grey coloring and it's 100% cotton fabric, but Burberry's trench coats now have seasons, different fabric, and outrageous colors. Super fun. With their knee-legth hemlines, relatively high necklines, micro and structured capes, and feminine silhouettes, they kept true to English-style Burberry being slightly conservative dress, and then turned it on its head by making the collection, metallic, fluorescent, lucite and textured. They also did some more toned down, earth and neutral hues—but those aren't nearly as exciting. Basically I think this 100+ year old, British luxury fashion house is on the up and up by still satisfying their tradition Burberry customer, but by also attracting a new, more youthful customer as well.