Designers & Their References

[jujumaster]

Henrik Vibskov AW17



Gladiators 1992

[blanket]

raf simons for ck


monokini, Rudi Gernreich, 1964


Commentary : Retrospective Keeps Alive the Gernreich Genius for Controversy
August 02, 1985, LA Times

It has been 21 years since Rudi Gernreich devised the topless swimsuit, and still the controversy rages. The swimsuit has outlived Gernreich, who died April 21, and it will probably outlive everyone reading this, because it has been sealed in a time capsule (between a birth control pill and a Bible) that will not be exhumed for generations.

more in spoiler

But Gernreich explained why he designed the suit: "Every girl I knew was offended by the dirty-little-boy attitude of the American male toward the American bosom. I was aware that the great masses of the world would find the topless shocking and immoral. I couldn't help feel the implicit hypocrisy that made something in one culture immoral and in another perfectly acceptable."

Spoiler:

The controversy now is whether the topless will be shown on a model (live and bare breasted) at the Gernreich retrospective Aug. 13 at the Wiltern Theatre.

After a decade of topless barmaids, nude beachniks, sexually explicit films and centerfolds--not to mention a Pilobolus ballet performed at UCLA's Royce Hall by male dancers without clothes--a moment's look at a model with uncovered breasts could not be cause for chaos. Or could it?

It is. Members of the Los Angeles Fashion Group, who are producing the gala to benefit the Rudi Gernreich Design Scholarship Fund, cannot agree on how to show the 1964 suit.

Gernreich's famous sooty-eyed model, Peggy Moffitt--who wore the suit for a photograph taken by her husband, William (Bill) Claxton, but never in a show--has said she will resign from the committee if the topless is modeled live on the Wiltern Theatre stage.

"Rudi did the suit as a social statement," said Moffitt, who is creative director of the event.

"It was an exaggeration that had to do with setting women free," she said. "It had nothing to do with display, and the minute someone wears it to show off her body, you've negated the entire principle of the thing. I modeled it for a photograph, which was eventually published around the world, because I believed in the fashion statement. Also, because the three of us--Rudi, Bill and I--felt that the photograph presented the statement accurately. I was offered $15,000 to let Playboy publish that photograph of me in the suit. I turned it down as unthinkable."

Sarah Worman, vice president of Robinson's and regional director of the Fashion Group, disagrees.

"I can't believe this; it's 1964 all over again," she said. "I agree the suit was a social statement--the most prophetic ever made by any designer in the world. It was his most brilliant concept, and from it grew all sorts of things we now take for granted. Why take the single most important idea he ever had--the one that changed the way women dressed all over the Western world--and refuse to show it on a model, when we are showing everything else he ever did on live models?"

The irony of this controversy is, as it always was, that the surface of Gernreich's genius is camouflaging the substance of it.

In the world of fashion, only a few designers anywhere can claim to have come up with anything original, much less anything original that lasts beyond their own life span. And Gernreich, the Viennese-born quintessential Californian, is at the top of the list.

Although widely revered by fashion insiders for his genius, he never really got the measure of public homage he deserved from the millions of women who directly benefited from his insights. Most who know his name associate it with the topless--and not with the idea behind it or the progress in women's fashion that it spawned.

But Gernreich explained why he designed the suit: "Every girl I knew was offended by the dirty-little-boy attitude of the American male toward the American bosom. I was aware that the great masses of the world would find the topless shocking and immoral. I couldn't help feel the implicit hypocrisy that made something in one culture immoral and in another perfectly acceptable."

His topless was an artistic statement against women as sex objects, much as Picasso painted "Guernica" as a statement against war.

Whether he would have wanted it shown on a live model seems irrelevant. He would undoubtedly have appreciated public acknowledgment, at last, that his suit profoundly affected women's way of dress.

From the topless concept he proceeded in his philosophic fashion meanderings to create the "no-bra" bra. It was the first soft, unconstructed, natural-fitting bra. And the two statements together signaled the end of American bosoms buttressed like bridges, the end of women trussed up like Christmas turkeys in undergarments designed to mold them, like plastic, into caricatures of the female form.

His no-bra was the prototype of all the contemporary bras on the market. And at the time, it saved the life of the American undergarment industry, which was faced with masses of rebellious women who would rather go braless than settle for the insulting harnesses they'd had to accept for years.

Topless Swimsuit Causes Commotion, Chicago Tribune, 1964

[oucho]

pics are from the musee du quai branly, I don't remember but I think the outfits were from Southern China/Nepal

[hharrissonn]

Alex Olson's use of Gay Culture in Bianca has always been interesting to me. I don't really know how he identifies, but how Loud and Proud a lot of the imagery in his stuff is has always kind of given me pause since he really isn't like, active in The Community in a recognizable way. Especially the Paris is Burning/Octavia Saint Laurent stuff, given how exploitative we know that particular piece of media was. The individuals who appeared in the doc were not compensated and basically treated as tragedy porn for voyeuristic filmmakers, and in recent years White Gays have really begun to latch onto this documentary/the scene it portrays in a way that's disingenuous to the people who created the scene/culture. Still a hugely important piece of media, but not without it's problems. This isn't really formatted in a way that makes sense but it's something I've thought about a lot. Side note, I do have a soft spot for the Lust tees because Rush makes a good product.


Bianca Chandon Lust Tee


Rush Original Isobutyl Nitrite


Bianca Chandon Lips Tee


Gran Fury Kiss In Poster, 1988


Bianca Chandon Legendary Tee


Bianca Chandon Legendary Deck


Paris is Burning, featuring Octavia Saint Laurent

[_Organism]

@hharrissonn I found this video where he talks about his influences more, it sounds like he's trying to co-opt disco culture and rebel from traditional skateboarding machismo and has been using a shit load of gay culture/imagery to do so, which strikes me as sort of weird? Like I don't want to speculate on his sexuality, but it seems really strange to me to be so dedicated to the theme when he isn't outwardly lgbt. Makes me wonder how the normalization of homophobia in skate culture plays into his choices.

[hharrissonn]

@_Organism "I've never been to Fire Island" is a very concise way of establishing the brand identity of Bianca. I get what he's trying to do, and I respect that he has a genuine interest in the fashion/music/culture of the disco era and early gay lib movement, but the way he's executing the references is, to put it lightly, haphazard. There's an irreverence to all of this that really undercuts the long history of violence and racism and struggle and loss and depression that is impossible to remove from these themes/this imagery. If you want to engage with the history, and then sell that history, you need to engage with it more carefully and holistically. I don't think the brand should be fixated on the tragic/violent aspects of the culture, or portray them for shock value, but at least acknowledging that people literally died for this imagery to exist would be respectful.


Paradise Garage Neon Sign


Bianca Chandon Paradise Garage Tee


Bianca Chandon (maybe the first season?) Welcome to Fire Island Tee, Back Graphic


Alex Olson wears a Bianca Chandon Fire Island Tee


Fire Island Polaroid by Tom Bianchi, Late 1970's

As far as the normalization of homophobia in skateboarding, I see how this is could be used as a response to that, but it's done in a way that feels more tongue-in-cheek than serious, which I really don't like. Having grown up skateboarding/immersing myself in that scene, I know firsthand how pervasive the homophobia is, and it kept me in the closet much, MUCH longer than I would have liked to have been. If Alex is making other LGBT people more comfortable in the scene, and is inspiring kids to be true to themselves, I think that's great, but I don't think using the culture as essentially a prop/for the sake of being contrarian is all that valuable.

In closing:

[hharrissonn]

https://enoughtohold.tumblr.com/post/170659958646/activists-with-the-lesbian-avengers-seemingly-at
"Activists with the Lesbian Avengers, seemingly at the first New York Dyke March, June 1993. Via the Lesbian Avengers website:

Founded in 1992, the Lesbian Avengers were a direct action group focused on lesbian visibility and survival. Too impatient for lobbying or letter-writing, these fire-eating secretaries, students, cab drivers, journalists, artists and teachers joined together to create fabulous street actions that inserted lesbians into public life, forced political change, and redefined dykes as the coolest, most ferocious, girls on the block.

Photo by Carolina Kroon."




Supreme SS13 Fuck Denim Jacket & Tote

[hharrissonn]

Resurrecting this thread because it’s my favorite, someone post something

[hharrissonn]

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Junya Watanabe Menswear SS19




Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar

[ivanmuh]

I never saw the movie but from the clips they had the sound design seems like what you would expect. You know, inspired by djs, i put in bass bombs and the res following the pitch...blah.. But really, these guys want their jobs and will do anything to keep fresh blood out. They all looked to be in their forties.

Veqtor, are you saying you could still hear that whining? They cleaned it all up supposedly.

[BeJimmieBOB]

I think Id have to go with Costume National. I like the general styling and theyve certainly put out some great stuff over the years, but theres just too often something off about the execution of their pieces. Either the fabric is just plain wrong some of their techno fabrics especially just plain suck, or the color, or some detail that just ruins the piece. The fit too, can be really unpredictable. I picked up some awesome looking boots a few years back, but of course, it turned out to have tons of quality issues. But still, I have a fair amount of picked over? CN pieces in my wardrobe, thanks to the Yoox sample sales.

[hharrissonn]

Junya Watanabe Man x Nike LDV (Daybreak)


Junya Watanabe Man x Nike Waffle Racer


Sacai X Nike LD Waffle

Very cute callbacks, love it. I ended up getting the white/grey pair.

[hharrissonn]

Child of God, Cormack McCarthy, 1st Edition, 1973

Child of Hell Sweater, Supreme, Fall 2015

[hharrissonn]

Apologize for mobile YouTube video screenshot photo quality.

Spoiler:

D&G Mirror Detail Embroidered Mesh Dress w/ Slip, 1990's
Source Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC2cs9ta3ZQ


Craig Green Mirror Detail Embroidered Pants, Spring Summer 2020