'4. One Size and the Return of the Woman:
LAIRD: what about the emphasis on womanly curves? how did Victoria's Secret models show up on the runway this fall? this season there was so much emphasis on size. did size replace diversity?
AMINA: i thought there were a lot of stories about it, and obviously the Cut wrote a lot about it, but i don't want to see a model who looks ike me up there.
LYNN: i do! i want to see a model who looks just like you. ani d just like me. i'd love to!
KELLY: i think it is distracting from the clothes.
LYNN: no it isn't!
KELLY: it is for me. i don't want to think 'oh my God, she wore that dress really well.' do i want to see an emaciated girl? no! i want to see the healthy middle ground.
AMINA: i don't want to see a girl who's so skinny you can play her ribs like a glockenspiel. i want her to be healthy. there has to be a middle ground, and maybe that is Lara Stone.
FERN: but it has to be across the board. there can't be a show with all those girls and then one bigger girl comes out. that's distracting.
KELLY: it can't be 'check it out, here's our token, this is the big girl.' it has to be done organically.
LYNN: see, when you said i want to see the clothes and not the girl, i'm thinking i want to see clothes that look good on a normal-sized person who is over 18 years old. if you can't make something that looks good on a normal adult, i'm not interested.
JEAN-PHILIPPE: i think that would be the most revulotionary idea, to give up on the idea of a perfect silhouette, a perfect body, that people should be thin, people should have long legs, or whatever.
LAIRD: there were so many examples. Karl Lagerfeld was hooting plus size burlesque dances, Mad Men is exerting a bigger and bigger influence on the fashion world, while Christina Hendricks, who plays Joan Holloway in the series, was voted the most desirable body by women.
KELLY: i don't think there's a new silhouette. i think it's a total lie. people need to understand what a consumer is and that we live in a capitalist republic, not a democracy. consumers don't really understand how much power they have. first of all, they're buying into these brands because they want power. you're buying in Ralph Lauren and you feel like you're part of the estate. 'i'm wearing these pants and my name is Chip, and my wife's name is Jasmine and we just played croquet.' people like thin, young people.
in every society, in Africa, in India, in Europe, what people have deemed attractive and the best is lighter, taller, thinner and younger. that's just historically the rule.
FERN: they could still put the thin girls on the runway, but every designer should cut to a size sixteen and sell it in the same department.
KELLY: that's why Yohji Yamamoto and Donna Karan do so well, because they do that.
LAIRD: so, what about diversity?
KELLY: here is the problem: every non-Caucasian designers only want Caucasian models. i know - i'm a fashion show producer. the answer is always 'oops, we don't have any Asian girls, we'd better get an Asian girl!' 'oops, we don't have any dark-skinned girls, we better get a dark-skinned girl!' or 'oh, let's get two so we don't look like we're only taking one!' until the girl gets so big that she's considered Caucasian, like Chanel Iman.
GEORDON: they always try to make it more diverse so that they don't get criticised for having a whitewash.
FERN: it's a defense thing. it's not because they believe in it.
LYNN: i don't think these things are fixed in time forever. i also think that things will change. for example, we see more diversity on television.'
- p173, Bon Magazine: issue #AW10/11
'the purpose of this book is to break down the perceptions of local fashion and communicate its unique voice; to bring you face-to-face with the incredibly talented artists that have not only created wearable collections, but also allowed us to dream, to be inspried and to learn to appreciate. all the while these designers have unearthed the international myths of the Australian regions and its people, modestly promoting a forward-thinking, cosmopolitan nation. these designers are real, and their creativity unlimited. they work in their own shops, they cut and sew, they answer the phones, and, as i'm proud to note, they do it with a sense of humour.'
- pXIII
'Elsom has built a fashion label with a social conscience. mindful that green fashion won't translate to the mainstream if it remains corralled in a hippy ghetto of its own making, Elsom is as passionate about the aesthetics of fashion as he is about producing it with minimal environmental impact.
'most important,' he says, 'is that we do it in a way that is clean, sophisticated and elegant.'
i found that as a customer, just because you support organic textiles or sustainable farming doesn't mean you want to dress like Mahatma Gandhi.'
- p119
'Friedrich Gray is best described as industrial androgyny. Pollitt designs for both men and women and uses high quality fabrics, such as leather and wool, to ensure the clothes last a liftime. inspired by music, art and historical references, he attempts to create pieces that aren't trend-specific or fashion statements, but that are solid, with a strong cut and can be worn every day. the idea of non-trend-specific clothing, that which is innately stylish, equals lifetime wearability.
perhaps the pinnacle of Pollitt's creative vision was presented in his Spring/Summer 2009/2010 collection on the eve of Australian Fashion Week. aptly titled Transgression, the collection explored the limits of subversion, eroticism and countercultlure, building upon his previous work and entering a new stylistic counterculture, building upon his previous work and entering a new stylistic phase. while the clothes maintained the androgynous narrative of the Friedrich Gray label - stretched silhouettes, the binaries of textiles - there was also an exit from traditional colours, instead injecting saturated firm colours and prints which were inspired by David Lynch's use of shadow and lighting in the film Dune.'
- p136
'i'll be walking down the street and see the way a dress gets caught by the wind, and for a second it looks like something completely different. maybe it's just that i need glasses, but it can be quite inspiring.'
- p176
'we use a lot of black and i still maintain it's the colour i love and work with the best. so then we get tagged with this gothic thing. yes there is darkness, but there is also humour and love of summer.'
- p262, Fashion: Australian & New Zealand Designers - Mitchell Oakely Smith
LAIRD: what about the emphasis on womanly curves? how did Victoria's Secret models show up on the runway this fall? this season there was so much emphasis on size. did size replace diversity?
AMINA: i thought there were a lot of stories about it, and obviously the Cut wrote a lot about it, but i don't want to see a model who looks ike me up there.
LYNN: i do! i want to see a model who looks just like you. ani d just like me. i'd love to!
KELLY: i think it is distracting from the clothes.
LYNN: no it isn't!
KELLY: it is for me. i don't want to think 'oh my God, she wore that dress really well.' do i want to see an emaciated girl? no! i want to see the healthy middle ground.
AMINA: i don't want to see a girl who's so skinny you can play her ribs like a glockenspiel. i want her to be healthy. there has to be a middle ground, and maybe that is Lara Stone.
FERN: but it has to be across the board. there can't be a show with all those girls and then one bigger girl comes out. that's distracting.
KELLY: it can't be 'check it out, here's our token, this is the big girl.' it has to be done organically.
LYNN: see, when you said i want to see the clothes and not the girl, i'm thinking i want to see clothes that look good on a normal-sized person who is over 18 years old. if you can't make something that looks good on a normal adult, i'm not interested.
JEAN-PHILIPPE: i think that would be the most revulotionary idea, to give up on the idea of a perfect silhouette, a perfect body, that people should be thin, people should have long legs, or whatever.
LAIRD: there were so many examples. Karl Lagerfeld was hooting plus size burlesque dances, Mad Men is exerting a bigger and bigger influence on the fashion world, while Christina Hendricks, who plays Joan Holloway in the series, was voted the most desirable body by women.
KELLY: i don't think there's a new silhouette. i think it's a total lie. people need to understand what a consumer is and that we live in a capitalist republic, not a democracy. consumers don't really understand how much power they have. first of all, they're buying into these brands because they want power. you're buying in Ralph Lauren and you feel like you're part of the estate. 'i'm wearing these pants and my name is Chip, and my wife's name is Jasmine and we just played croquet.' people like thin, young people.
in every society, in Africa, in India, in Europe, what people have deemed attractive and the best is lighter, taller, thinner and younger. that's just historically the rule.
FERN: they could still put the thin girls on the runway, but every designer should cut to a size sixteen and sell it in the same department.
KELLY: that's why Yohji Yamamoto and Donna Karan do so well, because they do that.
LAIRD: so, what about diversity?
KELLY: here is the problem: every non-Caucasian designers only want Caucasian models. i know - i'm a fashion show producer. the answer is always 'oops, we don't have any Asian girls, we'd better get an Asian girl!' 'oops, we don't have any dark-skinned girls, we better get a dark-skinned girl!' or 'oh, let's get two so we don't look like we're only taking one!' until the girl gets so big that she's considered Caucasian, like Chanel Iman.
GEORDON: they always try to make it more diverse so that they don't get criticised for having a whitewash.
FERN: it's a defense thing. it's not because they believe in it.
LYNN: i don't think these things are fixed in time forever. i also think that things will change. for example, we see more diversity on television.'
- p173, Bon Magazine: issue #AW10/11
'the purpose of this book is to break down the perceptions of local fashion and communicate its unique voice; to bring you face-to-face with the incredibly talented artists that have not only created wearable collections, but also allowed us to dream, to be inspried and to learn to appreciate. all the while these designers have unearthed the international myths of the Australian regions and its people, modestly promoting a forward-thinking, cosmopolitan nation. these designers are real, and their creativity unlimited. they work in their own shops, they cut and sew, they answer the phones, and, as i'm proud to note, they do it with a sense of humour.'
- pXIII
'Elsom has built a fashion label with a social conscience. mindful that green fashion won't translate to the mainstream if it remains corralled in a hippy ghetto of its own making, Elsom is as passionate about the aesthetics of fashion as he is about producing it with minimal environmental impact.
'most important,' he says, 'is that we do it in a way that is clean, sophisticated and elegant.'
i found that as a customer, just because you support organic textiles or sustainable farming doesn't mean you want to dress like Mahatma Gandhi.'
- p119
'Friedrich Gray is best described as industrial androgyny. Pollitt designs for both men and women and uses high quality fabrics, such as leather and wool, to ensure the clothes last a liftime. inspired by music, art and historical references, he attempts to create pieces that aren't trend-specific or fashion statements, but that are solid, with a strong cut and can be worn every day. the idea of non-trend-specific clothing, that which is innately stylish, equals lifetime wearability.
perhaps the pinnacle of Pollitt's creative vision was presented in his Spring/Summer 2009/2010 collection on the eve of Australian Fashion Week. aptly titled Transgression, the collection explored the limits of subversion, eroticism and countercultlure, building upon his previous work and entering a new stylistic counterculture, building upon his previous work and entering a new stylistic phase. while the clothes maintained the androgynous narrative of the Friedrich Gray label - stretched silhouettes, the binaries of textiles - there was also an exit from traditional colours, instead injecting saturated firm colours and prints which were inspired by David Lynch's use of shadow and lighting in the film Dune.'
- p136
'i'll be walking down the street and see the way a dress gets caught by the wind, and for a second it looks like something completely different. maybe it's just that i need glasses, but it can be quite inspiring.'
- p176
'we use a lot of black and i still maintain it's the colour i love and work with the best. so then we get tagged with this gothic thing. yes there is darkness, but there is also humour and love of summer.'
- p262, Fashion: Australian & New Zealand Designers - Mitchell Oakely Smith
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