Josh Goot Autumn / Winter 2013
Turns out Suzy Menkes isn’t the only person with thoughts about all the bloggers and street-style stars armed with cameras outside fashion shows. In Take My Picture, a new minidocumentary created by Garage Magazine, a variety of people in the fashion industry — from critics and stylists to designers and even bloggers themselves — address the phenomenon.
Tim Blanks is perhaps the most vocal person in the video, even though he says he initially found it “charming … for so many different kinds of people to be so enthusiastic about fashion.” Now, he’s just had enough.
“It’s empowering, but it’s empowering in the way that reality TV has been empowering,” Blanks says in the video. “It makes monsters. It doesn’t make gods; it makes monsters. It’s coarsened, but that’s always the process, isn’t it — with everything? You can’t think of any leap forward that didn’t at some point become a parody of itself. But then what happens next?”
And while some of the people in the video agree that the throngs of people outside shows have gotten to be a little too much, others defend street-style photography and the growth of blogging as having redeeming qualities.
“Of course now it’s one of the strategies,” says Vika Gazinskaya, an oft-snapped Russian designer who first started showing her brand in 2007. “And as I always say, it’s a great opportunity for young designers who have no budget for advertising. It’s the best way, of course.”
A look at what others from the industry, including Tommy Ton, Susanna Lau, Phil Oh, and Hanneli Mustaparta had to say on the matter in the video above.
Alain Resnais & Chris Marker
Les Statues Meurent (Statues Also Die), 1953.
NOTE: Click CC button to add English subtitles. Go to properties to change font size.
Director: Alain Resnais & Chris Marker
Narrator - Jean Négroni
Music - Guy Bernard
Description: Statues Also Die traces the devastating impact of French colonialism on African art. As Resnais’ co-director, Chris Marker, stated, “We want to see their suffering, serenity, humor, even though we don’t know anything about them.” Their film shows what happens when art loses its connection to a culture. Consequently it was banned in France for 12 years.
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Statues Also Die (French: Les Statues meurent aussi) is a 1953 French essay film directed by Chris Marker and Alain Resnais, about historical African art and the effects colonialism has had on how it is perceived. The film won the 1954 Prix Jean Vigo. Because of its criticism of colonialism, the second half of the film was censored in France until the 1960s.
Synopsis
The film exhibits a series of sculptures, masks and other traditional art from Sub-Saharan Africa. The images are frequently set to music and cut to the music’s pace. The narrator focuses on the emotional qualities of the objects, and discusses the perception of African sculptures from a historical and contemporary European perspective. Only occasionally does the film provide the geographical origin, time period or other contextual information about the objects. The idea of a dead statue is explained as a statue which has lost its original significance and become reduced to a museum object, similarly to a dead person who can be found in history books. Interweaved with the objects are a few scenes of Africans performing traditional music and dances, as well as the death of a disemboweled gorilla.
During the last third of the film, the modern commercialisation of African culture is problematised. The film argues that colonial presence has compelled African art to lose much of its idiosyncratic expression, in order to appeal to Western consumers. A mention is made of how African currencies previously had been replaced by European. In the final segment, the film comments on the position of black Africans themselves in contemporary Europe and North America. Footage is seen from a Harlem Globetrotters basketball show, of the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, and a jazz drummer intercut with scenes from a confrontation between police and labour demonstrators. Lastly the narrator argues that we should regard African and European art history as one inseparable human culture.
Alain Resnais & Chris Marker
Les Statues Meurent (Statues Also Die), 1953.
NOTE: Click CC button to add English subtitles. Go to properties to change font size.
Director: Alain Resnais & Chris Marker
Narrator - Jean Négroni
Music - Guy Bernard
Description: Statues Also Die traces the devastating impact of French colonialism on African art. As Resnais’ co-director, Chris Marker, stated, “We want to see their suffering, serenity, humor, even though we don’t know anything about them.” Their film shows what happens when art loses its connection to a culture. Consequently it was banned in France for 12 years.
————————————————————
Statues Also Die (French: Les Statues meurent aussi) is a 1953 French essay film directed by Chris Marker and Alain Resnais, about historical African art and the effects colonialism has had on how it is perceived. The film won the 1954 Prix Jean Vigo. Because of its criticism of colonialism, the second half of the film was censored in France until the 1960s.
Synopsis
The film exhibits a series of sculptures, masks and other traditional art from Sub-Saharan Africa. The images are frequently set to music and cut to the music’s pace. The narrator focuses on the emotional qualities of the objects, and discusses the perception of African sculptures from a historical and contemporary European perspective. Only occasionally does the film provide the geographical origin, time period or other contextual information about the objects. The idea of a dead statue is explained as a statue which has lost its original significance and become reduced to a museum object, similarly to a dead person who can be found in history books. Interweaved with the objects are a few scenes of Africans performing traditional music and dances, as well as the death of a disemboweled gorilla.
During the last third of the film, the modern commercialisation of African culture is problematised. The film argues that colonial presence has compelled African art to lose much of its idiosyncratic expression, in order to appeal to Western consumers. A mention is made of how African currencies previously had been replaced by European. In the final segment, the film comments on the position of black Africans themselves in contemporary Europe and North America. Footage is seen from a Harlem Globetrotters basketball show, of the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, and a jazz drummer intercut with scenes from a confrontation between police and labour demonstrators. Lastly the narrator argues that we should regard African and European art history as one inseparable human culture.
THE ‘OTHER SIDE’ OF SANDY NOT SEEN ON TV OR IN NEWSPAPERS. Sandy also struck CUBA, HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Images that you will not see in the newspapers or on TV. There are now many more homeless people in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic suffering from the ravages of hurricane Sandy passing through their respective nations, prior to the hurricane also pummeling the east coast of the United States. In solidarity with all people, in light of the loss of their homes and loved ones, we must also speak out for them. Pain and suffering does not care about borders and true compassion has no flag to wave. Our hearts are with all who are impacted by this international tragedy. Please become more informed and support the efforts of groups attempting to help lives everywhere, who know no borders. Image of Orlando Barria (EFE) in the La Barquita, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, October 26, 2012 (A.E.L.L.A.)
Not only my city here in NY, but my home country in D.R. too geez :[ thankfully none of my relatives were killed or hurt. My condolences to those who were severely affected by these damages.
Shopping guide: We rounded up 25 of our fave party bags for homecoming, including this ultra-glittery clutch from Anya Hindmarch. See more stylish buys here »
