Twenty First Century Bodies and Electric Textiles

I thought after the discussion we had two weeks ago about prosthetics, there couldn't be a cooler subject to talk about, until this week. Sorry if this post is a bit long, but I really enjoyed the reading and have some things I want to say. Fashion that pushes the boundaries of what is considered wearable is so close to my heart, I found the readings this week from Bradley Quinn's Techno Fashion, absolutely amazing, which is now definitely on my "to buy," list.

Quinn's dissection of avant guard fashion designers who approach fashion from different perspectives was very informative and very interesting. I know the work of artists like Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan but I didn't know all of the concepts behind it, which I definitely should since I reference their work so much, so this was very helpful. The work I was not as familiar with was the work of Tristian Webber, who creates garmets "with the forensic scrutiny of a medical autopsy. " What Quinn means by this is that he literally cuts fabric that is informed by muscle groups and skeletal scructures. Red coloring references the inside of the body and is cut in a way that actually looks like muscles.

This image is from a show, Fashion in Motion, that McQueen did at the Victoria and Albert Museum which you can see in its entirety here



















Webber's work rests on a line between beauty and grotesque, but his purpose is to address "the flaws and inefficiencies of the flesh underneath, correcting them through seems and stitching." Webber understands that modern fashion made in our western world is because of the way we are accepted through sexualized beauty, and his work addresses the inside as well as the outside. Technology informs Webber's work. It used to be that women's most effective device for body modification was the corset, yet these days there are so many options between surgical enhancement and excessive exercise that the untouched body is a thing of beauty. I enjoy Webber investigation into the inside of the body, because why not? It seems like a logical next step that hasn't happened yet. What if we could start altering the insides of our bodies and being able to be aware of that somehow when we see people. I think notions of making the private public parallel decisions that are made about dress, therefore his logic is well within the capacity of what fashion discusses.

Oh Alexander McQueen, you are so much cooler to me now. I have always been stricken by your garments but to know now why you do what you do, I relate to you so much more.



















Quinn explains how McQueen saw his sister abused by a man when he was young and ever since has created objects that are aggressive for women. He adds that the women wearing this objects must be strong in order to withstand their razor sharpness or body modifying extensions and could even elevate the women wearing his work to super hero status. McQueen uses beauty as a tool to create violence, although the women wearing his objects appear dangerous, they are still quite beautiful. McQueen also works closely with jeweler, Shaun Leane, who has been working with McQueen for 9 years, fashioning obtrusive adornment to further assert the danger involved with McQueen's beauties.

This image is another from the Fashion in Motion show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the rest of the photos can be seen here




















These two chapters really focused on how technology has impacted the fashion world. Quinn said it perfectly when he said that fashion used to be about what could be made with the technology available, but now technology is being created to suit the needs of fashion. No designer addresses this more head on than Hussein Chalayan, who creates fashion that addresses how the body moves within environmental systems. His fashions have a life of their own. The garments are activated by the wearer, but the wearer is only necessary to hold their form. These garments push the limits of what clothing is understood to do, they start to have a mind of their own!

Check out this video. Watch all of it if you have 4 minutes, but if you don't skip to about 1 minute 40 seconds..that is when the amazingness that is Hussein Chalayan happens.




I also really enjoyed the discussions of designers that are working with textiles in an interesting way - like Daniel Herman, who cuts fabric which looks like lace to leave a layered lace suntan on its wearer, Kei Kagami, who also brings the private to public by making garments partially or completely from glass, so the viewer is invited inside the garment, and Elisabeth de Senneville who makes garments from microcapsules that can be filled with dyes, drugs or cosmetic substances, depending on what the situation calls for. Artists like these may seem strange and weird to some, but I feel like the questions that they are asking address larger issues and are leading technology in directions that only they know to go.