this is what happens when Christophe has feelings about Gregory

drawing courtesy of gothichamlet

(via consultingtributes)

oh-you-better-run:

Anonymous asked you: saying fashion is architecture is like saying facebook statuses are great literature

my body is not your battleground: fashion, feminism, and me

really? do facebook statuses involve years of higher study, apprenticeships, and learning a huge variety of skills and techniques, as well as hours, if not days and weeks of work, just to produce one piece, and as a consequence require the imagination to create an entirely new collection of dozens of pieces with a central theme twice a year? no? okay, well, then get back to me when they do.

the idea that fashion is petty and silly and vain is never going to be a welcome attitude on this blog, because at root such concepts are firmly rooted inmisogyny. here’s the thing: how many times have you heard people - particularly cis straight men - say that caring about clothes, and caring about fashion in particular, is ‘feminine’ and ‘pointless’ and that ‘women should have better things to do with their time’, and so on? let’s try an excercise: go to your window, right now, and look outside. how many people are walking around naked? yeah. that’s what i thought.

in case i haven’t been clear about this: fashion isn’t just architecture. fashion isart. shall we look at the definitions of those two words for a second?

• architecture: the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings.
• art: 1. the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form. 2. works produced by such skill and imagination.

now, what about fashion could possibly lead you to believe it isn’t art? but fashion is just clothes, you say, fashion is just pretty earrings and girls talking about shoes. (how dare they!) i expect that we are all familiar with the term ‘artistic process’, but in case we aren’t, let’s talk that out for a second— the artistic process is the method by which an artist produces art. the artist comes up with a concept, puts together their studio, collates materials, spends weeks working on a piece, and then, when that piece or pieces are done, they exhibit them in a public place.

so, what part of that doesn’t sound like a designer preparing for a runway show to you?

but maybe that’s not enough for you. maybe the fact that people go about, of all things, wearing clothes that means they are not art. perhaps the fact that clothing, hairstyle, and make-up are the primary forms of outward self-expression in human society is not enough for you. perhaps the fact that fashion is, for millions of people, freedom, is not enough for you. perhaps the fact that the mona lisa is on coasters and phone cases and book covers and, oh yeah, t-shirts the world over and no one ever says the mona lisa isn’t art, isn’t enough for you. maybe the fact that commodification does not erase the possibility that something can still be art, isn’t enough for you. maybe the fact that the only difference between a fashion designer and a visual artist is that, in practice, there is no difference at all, isn’t enough for you.

here are some pieces by the late, great, alexander mcqueen, from his recent retrospective. i would like you to note that, like most pieces of visual art, they all have titles, (or the collections, at least, do), and that they are constructed with a level of skill and imagination that most people can’t even begin to comprehend. okay?

• the girl who lived in the tree
• dante
• oyster dress
• sarabande
• unfinished, angels and demons

personally, i’ve always thought that thinking fashion isn’t art is pure snobbery, a lack of understanding of the medium, or both. couture fashion is driven by creativity, because designers want their work to represent something fantastical and revolutionary and beautiful. (of course money matters, but have you looked at the contemporary art market lately? there’s some amazing things out there, but that charlatan damien hirst is famous for a reason, and that reason isunderstanding how markets work.) street fashion is about performativity and excitement and fun, about taking things you could have found anywhere, at any price, and making them into something you, and only you, will ever wear. maybe fashion isn’t architecture, although i think you’d have you work cut out to argue otherwise. but fashion is art, and fashion matters, and it’s extremely foolish, and quite prejudicial, to suggest otherwise. fashion makes me happy. what’s it got to do with you?