I was not going to post today, but instead spend time reading all of the website articles that tell one how to design the most legible and alluring blog site. P. S. It is all above my head----way above my head. Therefore, I feel inclined to mention a discussion I had with my mother the other day.
I mentioned how tragic it was that people go through
life without noticing the details. "Like what?", she asked. I responded, "Like if you are standing in line waiting to check out, why aren't you looking at the hem of someones skirt or pants or the color of their handbag? Why aren't you noticing the texture of their hair. I name it "Pure Oblivion" and some people live in this state. I think it is s a shame, others would say, who gives a damn? I give a damn and I will tell you why.
There is so much to take in from the moment you open your eyes in the morning until they fall shut at night---there are a billion things to see, notice, observe, on which to form an opinion, and I think it all matters. Not that one needs to express that opinion to anyone, but at least take the time and exercise the skills that are necessary in forming a solid opinion or thought on a matter whether it be as important as life and death or as trivial as "is this the right blue for my front door?"
Everyday design surrounds everyone in the form of coffee cups, newspaper baggies, etc. and people go through their day not noticing that someone took the time to develop the right shape, proportion, length, material, to form this functional mundane, and sometimes purely utilitarian product. It may have been an ergonomic engineer or it may have been a graphic designer, but someone took the time to design every shape, color, shadow, incline, decline, landscape, hardscape that one witnesses everyday. We are literally surrounded by design, whether designed using CAD/CAM or designed by mother nature herself. Life is a design, there is a design and whether you choose to acknowledge it or not is one's personal decision.
Back to my main point. Isn't it absolutely tragic that most people go through their everyday life not noticing the role of design in their lives? I re-arrange the furniture and accessories in our home at least once a week. How many times does someone comment or observe? NEVER. They just live in it. To me that is successful. If things flow easy enough that there is no need to make an immediate observation, that is successful design. If things are so jarring that one cannot help but to make a comment---there is a big problem.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Why am I here, you ask?
As the author of the recently published book, LANVIN, offered by Rizzoli International Publishing, I have been urged by many to set-up a blog. As a technophobe, I have post-poned it for as long as possible, but, now it is time. It seems that I am missing out on an important opportunity of growth.
The work of Madame Lanvin gripped my focus one night while in a 20th century fashion history lecture class, while working on my Master's degree in Museum Studies: Costume and Textiles. I had been teaching at the High School for the Fashion Industries, in Manhattan all day since 8am and now, close to 9pm, I was fading fast. As the Professor showed an image of a skin-bearing metallic 1920s dress with a brocaded cape with fur collar over the shoulders, we were faced with the question..."What do you think of this image?" Someone responded, " It looks very heavy, baroque, ornate, overdone, overworked." My hand went up and said,"It is the picture of modernity. If anything was put on any of those surfaces it would slide right off to the slick appearance, unadorned pure line and form." My opinion was confirmed to be the correct one. The surfaces were as slick as Teflon and the only adornment was the fur collar which was expected.
Imagine how horrified I was to find out it was a Lanvin dress and a Cheruit cape. And then to find out that Madame Lanvin, as successful in design and business as she was, had been continually passed over by scholars and curators alike in their exhibition choices time and time again. The anonymity of her personality during her life in Paris had led to anonymity in contemporary institutions and classrooms. I was thoroughly intrigued and thought I would pick up the cause for the forgotten designer. When I found out that we shared the forte' and love of beading and embroidery----it was on. I proposed my thesis topic, it was accepted, and for the next three years, I was on a hunt.
Covering every major museum in the U. S. , whether via computer or an actual visit, I collected the data on pieces that were in various collections and began to process how they could all relate. I spent a week in London and one month in Paris for my first European jaunt. After that, it was library after library, Special Collections, the Costume Institute under Richard Martin, the De Young in San Francisco, and the list goes on and on, literally. But this was a search for information leading to an introduction of the designer as there was no book that gave any substantial overview of her life and style and aesthetic. I was putting puzzle pieces together, which meant "the more I saw, the more I realized, the less I know." Barbara Streisand from Yentl.
I was a man on a mission and gaining access to collections, museums, libraries, etc. was no easy feat especially for those in other countries, to which I ventured. Sadly, I feel, even to this day, the European museums were more forthcoming with the pieces and information and yet it is the American institutions with the best most exciting pieces. If an American woman made a Trans-Atlantic journey to buy fashion, she was not coming back with a LBD, she wanted the show-stopper and so she acquired the best of each house. And yet, I found the American curators over-protective of sharing their holdings and even less flexible about allowing photos of their pieces, some of the earliest pieces, to be shown in the book. All in all, a great dis-service to the people who have genuine interest in the work of Madame Lanvin, to the museum itself, as well as to the comprehensive history of the LANVIN book. After all, as a curator and 'keeper of the collection" your position is to safeguard the collection, but not deprive the public or scholars, or researchers the opportunity to learn from the pieces and share them with the pubic at large. Lesson learned, yet mission accomplished. more to follow...
The work of Madame Lanvin gripped my focus one night while in a 20th century fashion history lecture class, while working on my Master's degree in Museum Studies: Costume and Textiles. I had been teaching at the High School for the Fashion Industries, in Manhattan all day since 8am and now, close to 9pm, I was fading fast. As the Professor showed an image of a skin-bearing metallic 1920s dress with a brocaded cape with fur collar over the shoulders, we were faced with the question..."What do you think of this image?" Someone responded, " It looks very heavy, baroque, ornate, overdone, overworked." My hand went up and said,"It is the picture of modernity. If anything was put on any of those surfaces it would slide right off to the slick appearance, unadorned pure line and form." My opinion was confirmed to be the correct one. The surfaces were as slick as Teflon and the only adornment was the fur collar which was expected.
Imagine how horrified I was to find out it was a Lanvin dress and a Cheruit cape. And then to find out that Madame Lanvin, as successful in design and business as she was, had been continually passed over by scholars and curators alike in their exhibition choices time and time again. The anonymity of her personality during her life in Paris had led to anonymity in contemporary institutions and classrooms. I was thoroughly intrigued and thought I would pick up the cause for the forgotten designer. When I found out that we shared the forte' and love of beading and embroidery----it was on. I proposed my thesis topic, it was accepted, and for the next three years, I was on a hunt.
Covering every major museum in the U. S. , whether via computer or an actual visit, I collected the data on pieces that were in various collections and began to process how they could all relate. I spent a week in London and one month in Paris for my first European jaunt. After that, it was library after library, Special Collections, the Costume Institute under Richard Martin, the De Young in San Francisco, and the list goes on and on, literally. But this was a search for information leading to an introduction of the designer as there was no book that gave any substantial overview of her life and style and aesthetic. I was putting puzzle pieces together, which meant "the more I saw, the more I realized, the less I know." Barbara Streisand from Yentl.
I was a man on a mission and gaining access to collections, museums, libraries, etc. was no easy feat especially for those in other countries, to which I ventured. Sadly, I feel, even to this day, the European museums were more forthcoming with the pieces and information and yet it is the American institutions with the best most exciting pieces. If an American woman made a Trans-Atlantic journey to buy fashion, she was not coming back with a LBD, she wanted the show-stopper and so she acquired the best of each house. And yet, I found the American curators over-protective of sharing their holdings and even less flexible about allowing photos of their pieces, some of the earliest pieces, to be shown in the book. All in all, a great dis-service to the people who have genuine interest in the work of Madame Lanvin, to the museum itself, as well as to the comprehensive history of the LANVIN book. After all, as a curator and 'keeper of the collection" your position is to safeguard the collection, but not deprive the public or scholars, or researchers the opportunity to learn from the pieces and share them with the pubic at large. Lesson learned, yet mission accomplished. more to follow...
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Breaking Into a Bold New Frontier...with reason
I have been urged by many to begin a blog. As one who shuns ever-changing technology, I could not bring myself to explore the world of blogging.
With important events occurring and changing my life, I find it necessary and exciting to start this blog.
My first entries have already been determined:
LANVIN
Petits Mains
The Baroness
The Need to Create
This is just a sample of what I have lined up. I hope that some will find it interesting and others will find it entertaining.
I look forward to writing my first "real" blog.
A Man Possessed
With important events occurring and changing my life, I find it necessary and exciting to start this blog.
My first entries have already been determined:
LANVIN
Petits Mains
The Baroness
The Need to Create
This is just a sample of what I have lined up. I hope that some will find it interesting and others will find it entertaining.
I look forward to writing my first "real" blog.
A Man Possessed
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