Exhibition Review: Hussein Chalayan at the Design Museum

The Design Museum in London, located by the Thames, was founded in 1989. It claims to be the first museum of modern design and has exhibited the work of many important designers including Zaha Hadid, Paul Smith and Jan Kaplicky. Currently they are showing the Brit Insurance Design of the Year awards, which includes the work of Alexander McQueen, Min-Kyu Choi.

2009 saw the showcase of the legendary Turkish designer (preferring to call himself a 'design artist') Hussein Chalayan, renowned for his innovation in use of materials, pattern cutting and technology. Chalayan graduated from Central St Martins in 1993, and has won 'British Designer of the Year award twice. Currently, he works as the creative director for Puma, and lives in London where he works from his East London studio, though preferring to show in Paris.

Exploring fifteen years worth of his work and inspiration, the exhibition is the first of its kind, being that there hasnt previously been a solo exhition of Chalayans work in the UK until now, making this a rather important retrospective. It includes collections such as 'Readings', an impressive display of moving lasers which make up the dress; 'Airborne', garments comprised of LED lights and Swarovzki crystals and the more recent 'Inertia', which is 'clothes inspired by the shape a body might make in the propulsion of a car crash'.
There are several projections, including one of the 'Afterwards' collection, which involved furniture transforming (with the help of the models) into clothing, and a short film, 'Place to Passage'.
What struck me, as I walked around was how different the designs look in person, as opposed to the countless fashion magazine images they are seen in. There is so much detail that is easily missed, such as rich embroidery on the 'Ambimorphous' collection of 2002, and the sculpted, laser cut, 'puffs' of tulle, of the 'Before Minus Now' collection of 2000, It has to be said, seeing some of the garments up close did lend to me being slightly dissapointed, particularly the 'Inertia' pieces, which, I feel, looked more pleasing in the pages of the magazines.

I did think that it was cut slightly short, as I expected to be there alot longer. Considering Chalayans contribution to the design world, I thought perhaps he deserved a little more. That said, I thought it was a visually stimulating overview of his work, and it moved along at a nice pace. It was particlarly nice to see his pieces up close and fully appreciate his work.

Essay Proposal 2

Provisional Essay Title:
Lookbook.nu; A case study of fashion identity and peer influence in an online environment.

Main Issues addressed by your essay and the thrust of your argument:
Using the internet to 'create' different identities. Acceptance by online peers. Influencing and being influenced by people you have never met in person. Identities new meaning in the modern era. The difference between a fashion identity and a personal one. Using others identities as your own.

What visual material will you look at?
Lookbook.nu, fashion blogs.

What theoretical perspective/methodology will you use?
Identity

What specific theorists will you refer to?
Bauman, Gauntlett, Dencik, Krueger

Books/Articles/Resources already located (using Havard)

Bauman, Z (2001) Identity, (Cambridge: Polity)


Bauman, Z (2000) Liquid Modernity, (Cambridge: Polity)

Bell, D and Kennedy B (2000) The Cybercultures Reader, (London: Routledge)

Gauntlett, D (2008) Media, Gender and Identity: an Introduction, (London: Routledge)

Gauntlett, D and Horsley R (2000) Web.Studies, (London: Arnold)

Merchant, G Identity, Social Networks and Online Communication (2006) http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/validate.asp?j=elea&vol=3&issue=2&year=2006&article=9_Merchant_ELEA_3_2_web

http://www.lookbook.nu/
 
http://www.blogger.com/

Essay Proposal 1

I've lost the spare sheet I had to fill in, so I've recreated it on here.

Course Title: BA Fashion

Name of Critical Studies Tutor: Toby Juliff



Name: Natalie Dodd



Provisional Essay Title: Fashion and Identity in an online environment; how the internet has shaped fashion identities.



Main issues addressed by your essay and the thrust of your argument:

How internet has created new peer groups which affect peoples fashion. modern identity. we are influenced by people we havent met.



What visual material will you look at?
Websites such as lookbook.nu, fashion blogs,


What theoretical perspective/methodology will you use?
Identity

Which specific theorists/ writers will you refer to?
Bauman, Gauntlett


Books/articles/resources already located (using Harvard):

Bauman, Z (2001) Identity, (Cambridge: Polity)
Bauman, Z (2000) Liquid Modernity, (Cambridge: Polity)
Bell, D and Kennedy B (2000) The Cybercultures Reader, (London: Routledge)
Gauntlett, D and Horsley R (2000) Web.Studies, (London: Arnold)
Merchant, G Identity, Social Networks and Online Communication (2006) http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/validate.asp?j=elea&vol=3&issue=2&year=2006&article=9_Merchant_ELEA_3_2_web
http://www.Lookbook.nu

essay tutorial notes

internet identities
peer approval/influence
can we be influenced by people we dont even meet in person? influenced by people through online communities? Bauman.
post modern identity

lookbook.nu, fashion blogs etc. pictures posted online. people are influenced by others fashion without even having met them.

community

http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/validate.asp?j=elea&vol=3&issue=2&year=2006&article=9_Merchant_ELEA_3_2_web

www.prevos.net/ola/goffman_marcuse.pdf

Essay

Dreaded essay deadline in a week. Struggling to get to grips with it, as im not sure how interested i am in the subject, now ive chosen it. Currently researching the work of Gillian Wearing, as i remember it being in the identity lecture and i really like her work. hoping for some inspiration. Tried googling 'Bauman and Fashion', as Toby suggested, however nothing useful came up.

The last time i wrote an essay was literally a year ago, and before that, about 2 years ago, so im quite out of practice with writing.

Georg Simmel 'The Stranger' (1908)

• 
  
  The stranger is near and far at the same time - far enough away to be unknown, but close enough to get to know.
• 
  
  He is not connected to anyone so people let down their inhibitions.
• 
  
  The stranger has an objectivity to society - unbiased - so his opinion is important, however it could also be that it isnt important as he is not properly within the society so why should his opinion count?
• 
  
  Simmel says that there should be a stranger in every society to bring something new.

Having moved from home to Leeds, I myself would be considered a stranger. As I have 'wandered' before, this makes me a potential wanderer. My 'position' in Leeds is determined by the fact that I havent been here from the start and I 'import' qualities which can't stem from anyone who has not wandered.

Identity, by Zymunt Bauman

Toby told me to read this book on the train home for reading week. I have mixed feelings towards it, really. Some of the content I found interesting, whilst other bits bored me to death. Bauman mainly seemed to talk about how identity has changed in modern times, and mentions the 'fluid world' and 'liquid modern era' rather alot. thoughts:

' Identity is revealed to us only as something to be invented rather than discovered' Identity, although now a 'burning issue', was previously alot more simple.

The internet and fake indentites. but are they fake? Only if you presume that a person has one true, solid identity. Bauman suggests that people are forced to constantly change their identities, and that 'eletronic instruments' help them to do this.

Are our identities being shaped by what we consume?
Do the internet/mobile phones etc mean we lose real relationships and connections?

not sure how any of this could lead to an essay title. might read some more books.