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Deconstruction Revisited

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  • Faust
    kitsch killer
    • Sep 2006
    • 37852

    Deconstruction Revisited

    I wanted to start this thread (at laika's behest), because deconstruction has been absolutely central to the kind of fashion SZ champions. I would like this thread to be a repository of knowledge, pictorial and textual.

    I will start with an interesting, if not always accurate NYT article by Amy Spindler from 1993. Lots of anecdotes about the Antwerp School.

    Coming Apart

    ORIGINS: The term first described a movement in literary analysis in the mid-20th century, founded by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. It was a backlash against staid literary analysis, arguing that no work can have a fixed meaning, based on the complexity of language and usage. SO WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH FASHION? The Oxford English Dictionary defines deconstruction as "the action of undoing the construction of a thing." So not only does that mean that jacket linings, for example, can be on the outside or sleeves detached, but the function of the piece itself is reimagined. The term as applied to fashion was first coined by Bill Cunningham in Details magazine in 1989, and, he said, "it stuck." PIVOTAL MOMENT: Martin Margiela's show in a vacant lot in Paris in October '89 for spring '90. It was the cusp of the new decade, and he saw such relevance in that moment that he plastered "90" on his fashion pieces. With that clear statement, finally, press and buyers fully understood that deconstructionism had arrived. SARTORIAL FAMILY TREE: Comme des Garcons' Rei Kawakubo is mom; Jean-Paul Gaultier is dad. Mr. Margiela is the favored son. And Coco Chanel is that distant relative everyone dreads a visit from, but once she's in town, realizes they have of a lot in common after all. WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Linen laces to close jackets and to cinch waists. Crisp white shirts. Asymmetrical cuts. Unfinished hems. Ad-hoc empire waistlines, made with thin belts. Recycled pieces. Perfectly fit shoulders, but loose in form. Elongated sleeves or trouser legs. Exaggerated cuffs. Fabrics that are crinkled, folded, fringed or pulled apart. SEX QUOTIENT: Singularly noncommital. Not loose, not tight, not androgynous, not studiously sexy, not even studiously monastic. The wearer brings the attitude. GEOGRAPHY: Born in, raised in and rebelling against one place: Belgium. Mr. Margiela believes a link is that all the designers are from the north. "We're completely different from Italian and French designers." WEIRD CYCLICAL NATURE OF FASHION: Karl Lagerfeld borrows from deconstructionism for his haute couture collection, leaving the ladies feeling breathlessly avant-garde with a bit of tattered tulle. This, in turn, leads to new respect for the Belgians. PARALLEL MOVEMENTS: In art, the heavy social critiques in this year's Whitney biennial. In theater, Peter Sellars's direction of traditional works. In dance, Saburo Teshigawara's noise dance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In architecture, "The Decon Seven": Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Bernard Tschumi and the Coop Himmelblau firm.
    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

    StyleZeitgeist Magazine
  • zamb
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2006
    • 5834

    #2
    Nice,

    will have to visit the archives to contribute to this one...........
    “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
    .................................................. .......................


    Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

    Comment

    • alex.a
      Senior Member
      • Aug 2008
      • 217

      #3
      this is like food for my brain ... thanks ill go to bed a little bit more intelligent tonight

      Comment

      • theetruscan
        Senior Member
        • Jan 2008
        • 2270

        #4
        A link that is unlikely to be widely agreed with, but was a fun read:



        Shared for the 60s reference, not the newer stuff.
        Hobo: We all dress up. We all put on our armour before we walk out the door, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re trying to be someone else.

        Comment

        • laika
          moderator
          • Sep 2006
          • 3787

          #5
          Originally posted by Faust View Post
          I wanted to start this thread (at laika's behest), because deconstruction has been absolutely central to the kind of fashion SZ champions. I would like this thread to be a repository of knowledge, pictorial and textual.
          thank you for this!

          is this thread to be limited to deconstruction in fashion; or shall we also include references to architecture and other aesthetic and/or philosophical phenomena?
          ...I mean the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art whose other half is the eternal and the immutable.

          Comment

          • zamb
            Senior Member
            • Nov 2006
            • 5834

            #6
            “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
            .................................................. .......................


            Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

            Comment

            • Faust
              kitsch killer
              • Sep 2006
              • 37852

              #7
              Originally posted by laika View Post
              thank you for this!

              is this thread to be limited to deconstruction in fashion; or shall we also include references to architecture and other aesthetic and/or philosophical phenomena?
              Anything you want, as long as it's interesting. I am having the seasonal SZ flu again - sick of all the where2kop/lookatme and not enough interesting discussion.
              Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

              StyleZeitgeist Magazine

              Comment

              • fenrost
                Banned
                • Mar 2009
                • 623

                #8
                great thread.



                surprised issey miyake wasnt mentioned

                Comment

                • Faust
                  kitsch killer
                  • Sep 2006
                  • 37852

                  #9
                  Why do you think he should be mentioned? Yohji wasn't mentioned in the article, which is strange. But we can correct that error.
                  Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                  StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                  Comment

                  • Aleks
                    Senior Member
                    • Feb 2009
                    • 475

                    #10
                    One excellent book that discusses deconstruction is Breaking The Mode by Sharon S. Takeda and Kaye D. Spilke.
                    It includes specific examples of iconic Issey, Comme, Yohji, Margiela, Gaultier, Junya Watanabe, etc etc. One of my favorites in this book is this Hussein Chalayan Dress.

                    Comment

                    • fenrost
                      Banned
                      • Mar 2009
                      • 623

                      #11
                      yes master yohji.

                      i suppose that the concept of de-construction become popular from literature post colonial independence, (method to interpreting true meaning of the text). many of the writers began writing in the colonisers (english) language. of course, writing in english one are still repressed by the colonial rule, which then came out in various forms..

                      thus, my first thought was issey miyake, his work implicates deconstruction, perhaps that dwell certain level that his a hiroshima survivor.

                      Last edited by fenrost; 08-05-2010, 11:45 PM.

                      Comment

                      • Macro
                        Senior Member
                        • Apr 2008
                        • 351

                        #12
                        I also think due praise should be given to Giorgio Armani, who is internationally credited for deconstructing a man's suit, inspired by the mediterranean need to dress with elegance and lightness. Don't forget the Italians ;)
                        every man has inside himself a parasitic being who is acting not at all to his advantage

                        Comment

                        • clay
                          Senior Member
                          • Sep 2006
                          • 284

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Macro View Post
                          I also think due praise should be given to Giorgio Armani, who is internationally credited for deconstructing a man's suit, inspired by the mediterranean need to dress with elegance and lightness. Don't forget the Italians ;)
                          Actually he merely took what he learned ( like all great designers do)
                          from his previous employer. Cerruti..... Read the GBS thread on Fabrics First for a bit of his history.

                          Comment

                          • clay
                            Senior Member
                            • Sep 2006
                            • 284

                            #14
                            Macro you are 100% right though:

                            " the mediterranean need to dress with elegance and lightness "

                            Comment

                            • jewelster
                              Junior Member
                              • Aug 2010
                              • 3

                              #15
                              Originally posted by theetruscan View Post
                              A link that is unlikely to be widely agreed with, but was a fun read:



                              Shared for the 60s reference, not the newer stuff.
                              Very nice information indeed. Thanks for also sharing this one. I've learned a lot from it.

                              Also thanks to Faust. I've also enjoyed reading your post.
                              Discounted Jewelry

                              Comment

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