Geoffrey B. Small

[Geoffrey B. Small]

A call to arms: time for independent brands and designers to step up and advertise...

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WE are pleased to present our Autumn/winter 2018 lookbook and ad campaign shot by Guido Barbagelata in Paris which has been running in Many of Them Magazine in Spain, Please Magazine in Japan. and Stylezeitgeist magazine online with many thanks to everyone.


I planned to post this a while ago, but it has simply been too busy--we believe in using this type of imagery for editorial placements and sometimes very tiny ad runs in important independent publications like Many of Them, or Please, and of course SZ which has remained the preeminent media point for serious independent design for over a decade now… even if the size of our company at the moment and the reach and budget of the ad campaigns if any are very small. We also think the work is good and it is really important for independent brands to begin to establish new advertising business models to support not only their brands but also retailers that carry them, and independent media and serious up and coming models, photographers and agencies as well, and it behooves the right models and photographers to appear in our images for their own promotional and artistic interests. But up until now for decades nobody at our size in our market has been doing anything with advertising, not CCP, not Harnden, Carpe Diem and their spinoffs, MA+, Guidi, A1923, and certainly none of the Belgians- and even the 100 million a year annual sales Owenscorp (Rick Owens)- run any serious or major ad campaigns. Most of them can afford it, believe me. Instead, they have chosen to simply continue to just freeload on the editorial and let the multinational corporates pay the bill for them. Not us...












































WE disagree with this 'take all the press and not give back' policy by independent designers and brands who then complain that there is no independent avant-garde media left (when they all have to close-up, sell, or become Raf-style corporate catalog mouthpieces) because nobody advertised with these media when they were trying to stay alive except the LVMH, Kering, H&M, Zara, Nike, Adidas, Prada, DG and Armani gang of companies.. Like Milan in the 1970's the independent part of this industry needs to work together and be intelligent about things today. We need to first to be able to put out beautiful image work and get it out there into leading independent print/online platforms-- even if to a tiny, exclusive- but leader audience. And believe me, there are some very good creative people and media outlets coming up now that have nothing to do with mainstream fashion media. But they need funding, they need work, they need material, and they need to build staff and resources. And if the independent designer brand industry gives them nothing, then they have no other place to go than the corporates. This is what happened to BoF, which has now replaced Fairchild as the industry daily bible but is running on LVMH early investment funding and clearly is a mouthpiece for such in so many ways, and it's a shame. Now is the time for all independent brands and designers to support independent media that reaches even a relatively small exclusive- leadership audience (like SZ does) which is now greatly influencing the entire industry more and more--then allow innovation and excellence in design and imagery to build new visionary brands to a new level of economic size that can eventually do bigger and bigger budgets and cultivate a whole new side of design and fashion media that over time will rival and replace the existing corrupt, dinosaurs that have led us all to the state of mass-media fashion and cultural and productive degradation that we are witnessing and dealing with today...




2018 . 2017 . 2016


GBS banner ads that link to our lookbook campaigns since 2016 have helped to support SZ-mag and t
he important stories and coverage it produces for the independent designer industry. While retailers
have supported the SZ forum for over a decade, we believe it is time for other designers and brands to
step in and step up in regards to advertising and supporting key independent media in the face of global
corporate fashion's monopoly and mainstream fashion media outlets.





AS the world contemplates "regime-change" for Venezuela this week, perhaps it is time to consider the same for corporate fashion and the lazy, corrupted media that has blindly supported them, completely bought and paid-for by LVMH, Gucci, Kering, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgia Armani, H&M, Zara, Adidas, Nike, Chanel, Hermes, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent ad votimum...


For those that know what is going down inside Conde Nast worldwide and others like them, this is already happening.


Now is the time for all independent designers and brands to step up and put some of the money they have made benefitting from small independent media coverage back into the people who have been working so hard to support them, and back into the retailers that have carried them and bought their works, by advertising their collections and their points of distribution... and for independent media in turn to continue to cover and support independent designers and brands more than ever. Sitting back and expecting media to cover you for free is simply playing into the enemy's hands and the continuing spiral of media banality and neglect of real design and real designers out there working at making a difference. If you are a designer or a brand sick of stupid streetwear and dj celebrity corporate fashion taking over, join us and put your money where your mouth is and start fighting back.


Thank you for reading.


Best wishes,


Geoffrey


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[Geoffrey B. Small]

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ONE of the greats has passed. In tribute to Karl Lagerfeld whose contributions to the metier are too vast to begin to mention, we post the photographs of our 2006 “Toussaint Louverture” collection for Numero Magazine in Paris, which we were honored to have had the opportunity be chosen for and shot by him.

I never worked with Karl Lagerfeld personally. I found out he was watching us like many others when we were pioneering our Napoleonic-style collection work. We did our usual small, private little defile show in Paris one season with a great collection that was dedicated to the founder of Haiti, Toussaint Louverture. We were on our 5th Napoleonic theme collection and hitting the apex of our 18th and early 19th century period work technically. By that time, our Napoleon-influenced style was all over the industry and Dolce & Gabbana were coming out with a massive commercial rip of it in Milan, so our focus was to make and show real pieces of that period cut from original and authentic patterns that we had found in our intense research, to contrast against the Italian industrial fake garbage that the competition was coming out with.

But in the real world, there were huge race riots and fires all over Paris after Sarkozy's comments about the deaths of 2 immigrant kids being chased by police enraged the immigrant communities where it happened, and here I was coming into Paris from Italy as the leader of a new Napoleonic-style in fashion. I did not want to risk any association with what was going on around Paris as being supportive of Napoleon's later empiric ideals or dictatorial views. So, I chose to dedicate the collection to Toussaint Louverture, a black man, who led the rebellion against Napoleon's forces in Haiti, drove them out, and later died in prison in Paris.

Our small, controversial show was covered by a few good magazines including Uomo Collezioni. The Collezioni issue came out a few months after the show, and within a few days I got a phone call from a guy named Serge, who said he was the Chief Editor at a magazine called Numero Homme in Paris. He asked if I had a press agent in Paris, and I told him no I didn't, and that normally, I did not pursue very much fashion press coverage and could not make my prototype pieces available to magazine stylists for photographing. Unlike most other designers I cannot make duplicate samples of my prototypes due to the intense level of handwork and real research required to create just the one prototype. My prototypes to me are gold. Serge was very attentive on the phone (rare for most fashion media people), and then informed me that they wanted to ask me on behalf of Karl Lagerfeld if I would let them use some pieces from the collection they had seen in Uomo Collezioni for a special photo story to be shot personally by Mr. Lagerfeld for the magazine. I asked for some guarantees, and they granted them to me. I sent my pieces, got a note from Serge a few days later, indicating that they were perfect for the project and that Mr. Lagerfeld was very happy with them and the shoot results, and in September 2006, the photos and the story came out in the magazine.


Ironically, while Lagerfeld shot the collection for Numero with only white models, our Paris show was actually dominated by black models. Again, inspired by the heroic founder of the nation of Haiti, the entire production of "Toussaint Louverture" was sold out worldwide, and demonstrated just after the race riots in Paris, that our napoleonic style was applicable to people of all colors and beliefs.


As a side note, I have a lot of respect for Karl Lagerfeld. He was not a fundamentalist designer like Armani or Rei Kawakubo or this writer. That is to say he did not own the company that made and distributed his designs. But he was the pioneer of the non-fundamentalist designer approach and his work with Chloe' and then Chanel in 1982 paved the way for all those big old-name relaunches with a new "designer" at the wheel...Galliano, McQueen, Ford, Slimane, Bailey, Philo, Tisci, Jones, Van Asche, Michele and Abloh et al. that today dominate the industry. In fact, without the Lagerfeld-Chanel business model, Bernard Arnault's LVMH, and Francois Pinault's PPL and Kering, as we know them today would not exist.


For me, Lagerfeld was the best at it though, in a class of his own.


A non-fundamentalist designer must provide a creative image direction for the house that meshes with the inner workings of the company business at all levels, (not at all an easy thing to do if you don't own the business ) and most importantly, generate a ton of press as well. And Lagerfeld did that consistently for over 3 and half decades. He was also a serious student of the game, able to recite chapter and verse in regards to just about any aspect of Paris couture history--by far and away one of the best living historians of the metier during his time. He researched incessantly, and he used that research to stay current for ages in a game that uses up and spits out players by the thousands every season.


For example, when we launched "Brumaire revisited" in 2004, a key story in Sport & Street Magazine covered the collection and our radical new Napoleonic direction and made it visible to the entire inside of the industry. Within just one season, 2 designers were suddenly coming out with 18th century and Napoleonic inspired collections: Lagerfeld for Chanel and John Galliano for Dior and his own line produced with Gibo at the time. But Lagerfeld did an 18th century collection for women at Chanel that never mentioned Napoleon at all, was based upon his own long standing knowledge of the period, and indeed was very good, while Galliano had little to offer in terms of the collection but came running out wearing a Napoleonic hat and outfit to take his bow on the runway. One was subtle, timely and done in its own way by a pro, the other was a blatant copy and grab for press coverage that eventually cost the designer's name quite a good piece of credibility in the industry (before his love for Hitlerism took him down completely). Lagerfeld interpreted. Galliano grabbed and copied.





above: scans of the historic article in Sport & Street on "Brumaire revisited" that first covered our Napoleonic design research movement that singularly led the industry to completely change its look and styling for 3-4 years afterwards and is still influencing many today.





WITH Lagerfeld, there was never any of the costly and wasteful business dealings hung out in public as we have seen with Tom Ford and Hedi Slimane, who both walked out of their jobs in disputes over money and control--and who both lost the best jobs of their design careers on multiple times.


And, as we were all still trying to emerge from the shadows of the tragic loss and suicide of Alexander McQueen year ago, I recalled one clear memory of the day I met Karl Lagerfeld in person...

[Geoffrey B. Small]

IT was in October 1992 in the tents of the Cour Carre' in the Louvre where the Chambre Syndicale used to host the Paris fashion week, and Karl Lagerfeld was the man of the season. He had just finished the fashion world's first Grand Slam by successfully designing and showing no less than 3 major collections at the same time in Paris. He had been asked that season to come back to design Chloe' after a decade, as well as Chanel and his own KL/Karl Lagerfeld collection produced in Germany, and he did all three. I was going to shows that season, and was able to see the historic Chloe' show.

Backstage, there was about thousand people after the show and Lagerfeld had a line of about 25 camera crews and reporters waiting to each get a short interview clip with him. Champagne was everywhere and there was a full bar operation in the backstage area. He took care of each one of them, doing the interviews in 3-4 different languages in rapid fire succession while holding a dark colored drink in his hand. Quite a few times, he would interrupt an interview and greet a person from Paris of lesser importance for a brief moment to acknowledge and thank them for their presence, before getting back to the interview, something which I found very impressive at the human relations level.

And he worked hard at those interviews, almost a full 2 hours, long after the exhausting work of running the show was over. It was way before his dramatic makeover and weight loss, so back then he was bigger and rounder, but I was impressed with his energy and stamina-- also remembering that this was one of only three shows he had done in the same week. When all the TV work was over, I waited my turn as a young student of the Paris game and asked for an autograph and got it with courtesy.

The designer, his press team and assistants packed up and left for the night. On the table in front of me I saw about forty empty champagne glasses and plastic cups all over it. And then I suddenly saw the glass with the dark drink that Lagerfeld had been holding for the past 2 hours in his hand. It was still half full. Out of curiosity, I decided to pick it up and decipher what kind of drink was in it that could drive this legendary iconic figure. I figured some sort of wine, liqueur, cognac or scotch. I sniffed. Earlier in the day, I had witnessed the great Claude Montana backstage in the same tents doing the same interviews totally wasted on cocaine, and yet here was quite a contrast: no booze at all whatsoever in that glass of Lagerfeld's, just Coca-Cola. Lagerfeld was sober and straight as an arrow all that time. Like Armani, who didn't smoke or drink, Lagerfeld was a serious professional and those interviews were all business for him.

No wonder he amazed a ton of people that day. Like I said, he is in a class of his own, and to have our work recognized and shot by him some 14 years later for Numero Homme was a great kick for me...






KARL Lagerfeld was a real pro. A totally professional designer from another age, working right up to the end at 85 in a field today filled by incompetents, fakers, sycophants and corporate hacks.


With much respect, admiration and thanks, our condolescences to all who worked with, and knew him, and our very best wishes for everyone at Chanel and Fendi who must carry on the legacy of their houses now without him. A truly daunting task.


Thank you for reading.


Best wishes,


Geoffrey & the team



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[unwashed]

Thanks Geoffrey, it's was a pleasant read from a professionals' point of view. This gave me more respect for the man.

[treves]

Dear Geoffrey and the team! Thank you so much for sharing your personal stories, observations and insights on such sorrowful occasion. It is deeply touching to read words personal and honest while all you can see around is mostly generic condolences.

Sending you all the best energies and wishes!

[Geoffrey B. Small]

new works: SS2019 first deliveries

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THANK you so much Treves and unwashed for your comments and for reading, very appreciated...


Now we'd like to move on to some current new works from the "On your mark" and "wait" collections that are continuing to take "artisanal" to an entirely new level. So much so in fact, that we have had to recently decline a major fashion media outlet story that wished to lump our work all together with a myriad of "other artisan designers" that for us, was simply unacceptable. There are an awful lot of imposters out there right now, imitating things that we pioneered a decade ago and taking credit for it in the mass media, which is suddenly grabbing at straws now that their corporate streetwear bullshit is starting to be seen for what it truly is... and their ad budgets are going down the toilet. And frankly, it pisses me off.


Unlike Karl Lagerfeld, GBS is a fundamentalist design firm. The designers run the company and run the business at every angle and every detail. And nobody is doing what we are doing right now- not organizationally, creatively or technically, period. Whether or not the mainstream fashion media ever wakes up, gets off their asses and figures that out or not, we don't care. In today's crazier and crazier IG, What'sapp, WeChat and whatever comes next internet-direct world, we don't need them anymore. What counts is product, brain, work and soul. And the best people in the world working together to make it all happen. And we've got them, the real artisans and designers now who are building up to go right at Chanel, Hermes, Gucci and anybody else who claims they are making things by hand or in an "artisanal" or "luxury" manner. On that note, some exciting examples of the latest production work coming out of the amazing GBS Sartoria workrooms at Cavarzere Venezia in Italy, and arriving at our worldwide dealers as described in the captions, please contact them to view or reserve (we cannot reply adequately to PM's)...

new ultra-advanced silhouette extended shoulder double-breasted Varese superlight handkerchief linen
OYJ02 early 1980's Italian reproduction jacket with our own completely hand-built shoulder pad construction
now arriving at Hostem Archive in London and Darklands in Berlin. Coming soon to Eth0s in Shanghai,
Dongliang in Beijing and Secret Service in Taipei.




















ultra-advanced relaxed wide leg antique french navy sailor's reproduction trouser in hand dyed Varese
linen and cotton oxford weave cloth now arriving at Darklands in Berlin.













Spectacular early 1950's handmade reproduction race-car driver shoe cut and made by hand at San Zenone
di Ezzelini in vegetable-tanned black Toscana leathers by Giuseppe Rebesco exclusively for GBS "On your mark"
SS2019 collection, for sure one more in a long line of advanced GBS/G.Rebesco shoe designs
that will be copied by all the others. Coming soon to Darklands 5.0 (Berlin).















Handmade silk supershirt in pure Como silk GBS Botticelli exclusive print raso satin (OYS29)
now arriving at L'Eclaireur Boissy d'Anglas store (Paris), Darklands 5.0 (Berlin), Chapter 1 (Seoul).
Coming soon to Atelier (New York), Dongliang (Beijing), Hues (Fukuoka),
Gullam (Daikanyama), and Leisure Center (Vancouver).

















The OYS19 silk supershirt in pure Como raso satin silk floral print with extreme accident hand-dye
technique performed individually in our workrooms now arriving at L'Eclaireur Boissy
d'Anglas (Paris), Hostem Archive (London), Darklands 5.0 (Berlin). Coming soon to Arts & Science (Aoyama) Atelier (New York),
Gullam (Daikanyama), Liberte (Kobe).



























The new “On your mark” OYJ03 and OYP03 spring/summer 2019 Paris collection handmade suit in
Luigi Parisotto’s crisp and ultra-cool ramie & cotton “Zola” herringbone pinstripe weave suiting cloth
exclusive for GBS, features our classic early 1910’s silhouette with advanced vertical breast pocket
styling along with a myriad of extreme handmade technology details and superb value for money.
Arriving now at L’Eclaireur Boissy d’Anglas (Paris), Darklands (Berlin). Coming soon to Ink (Hong Kong),
Eth0s (Shanghai), Atelier (New York), Provogue (Nagoya), Liberte (Kobe), Cathedral (Osaka & Ginza),
Gullam (Daikanyama), Secret Service (Taipei)

(continued next page)

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[Geoffrey B. Small]

(continued from above)

"wait" SS2019 collection relaxed-living elegance OYWJ22 handmade belted shawl collar leisure design jacket in Luigi Parisotto's
amazing new linen & wool complex weave glen plaid with stunning design corozo-nut buttons by Claudio & Cinzia Fontana created
only for us, and L. Parisotto super 120's "doppio-ritorto" double-twist luxury cotton & silk shawl collar handmade shirt. Now arriving at
L'Eclaireur Boissy d'Anglas (paris), Chapter 1 (seoul), Journal Standard Luxe (tokyo & osaka). Coming soon to Eth0s (shanghai),
Dongliang (beijing), Arts & Science (aoyama), and Leisure Center (vancouver). photo of Adja in Paris by Guido Barbagelata.


























"Artisanal" taken to another level. The new super limited edition OYJ11 extreme handmade architectural
jacket built in our world-famous Cavarzere workrooms using entirely hand woven super soft luxury cotton yarn
fabric created exclusively for us on 18th wooden hand looms by the late Giuseppe "Pino" Colombo and the
Colombo family at Tessitura La Colombina in Badoere di Morgano. Exclusively in all of Europe at
Hostem Archive in London (now arriving). Coming soon to Eth0s (shanghai), Atelier (new york),
Hues (fukuoka), Carrefour (jiyugaoka), and Leisure Center (vancouver).


























Special version of the superlux "On your mark" OYJhandmade hooded blouson in hand dyed L. Parisotto advanced
weave linen & wool plaid check with special linen & cotton lining and spectacular geometric corozo-nut design buttons
by Fontana. Only 3 pieces made in the world exclusively at Hostem Archive in London.



















"On your mark" advanced extreme shoulder OYC02 early 1980's Italian-design raglan sleeve duster coat in iridescent weave Luigi Parisotto superfine luxury cotton high-density poplin cloth with reversible top-collar handstitched buttonhole detailing, and ultra-clean invisible hand constructed fly-front closure. Now arriving at Hostem Archive (london), Journal Standard Luxe (tokyo & osaka). Coming soon to Eth0s (shanghai) and Ripe Ark (utsunomiya).
























(continued next page)

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[Geoffrey B. Small]

(continued from above)

The super relaxed three-piece OYT01set adjustable leisure suit jacket, shirt and trouser combination in Luigi Parisotto ultralight super 120's luxury stripe cotton created only for us hand dyed in our workrooms. Now arriving at Hostem Archive (london), Darklands (berlin). Coming soon to Zovin (shenzhen), Arts & Science (aoyama), Eth0s (shanghai), Atelier (new york), Gullam (daikanyama), Hues (fukuoka), Leisure Center (vancouver), Secret Service (taipei).



















Giuseppe Rebesco's formidable handmade GBS bumper shoe trainer in luxurious Vicentina calfskin uppers and linings with vulcanized black rubber soles designed to last a decade. Just 13 pair being made for the entire world, coming soon to Darklands (berlin)
and Eth0s (shanghai).



















Exquisite pure Como silk blouses in exclusive black angel and hand dyed 16th century Italian Veneto drawing prints only
2 pieces of each made in the world. Now arriving exclusively at Atelier (new york).



















Antique19th century French tailored pullover prairie ruffle collar blouse (OYWS04) in hand dyed exclusive Botticelli floral print pure Como silk raso satin fabric created only for us. Now arriving at Atelier (new york), Darklands (berlin),
Journal Standard Luxe (tokyo & osaka). Coming soon to Zovin (shenzhen), Arts & Science (aoyama), Dongliang (beijing).



















White angel exclusive print Como pure silk raso satin fly-front belted shirt dress and classic narrow-shouldered 19th century cutaway Varese hand dyed linen jacket created only for Atelier (new york) and now arriving.

































Super elegant Botticelli exclusive print Como pure silk raso satin camisole column dress and signature GBS classic handmade narrow-shouldered 19th century cutaway Varese hand dyed handkerchief linen jacket. Just two pieces of each created in the world this season now arriving exclusively at Atelier (new york).


























New ultra-advanced silhouette extreme hand-built shoulder construction peak-lapel women's jacket in Varese hand dyed handkerchief linen with our exclusive in-house hand-made shoulder pads, new special embroidery pure silk bozzolo milano thread stitch design work, massive handworked mother-of-pearl buttons, and Tessitura Mauri's beautiful viscose and cotton striped lining story. Now arriving at L'Eclaireur Boissy d'Anglas in Paris and Chapter 1 in Seoul. Coming soon to Dongliang (beijing), Secret Service (taipei),
and Leisure Center (vancouver).

As stated above, please contact dealers listed to view or reserve (we cannot reply adequately to PM's).


Thank you as always for reading and supporting.


Best wishes,


Geoffrey & the team




P.S. Coming up next: the Paris women's AW2019-20 collections fashion week is starting now…
a word or two on what we are going to be doing there.







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[Geoffrey B. Small]

our message in Paris

A word on what we are going to do this Saturday night in Paris.

SINCE 1979, we have been steadfastly building a new model for the design and clothing industry based upon the human being, ethical production and environmental sustainability and safety. Like many other concepts we have pioneered since then, our ideas have been watched by the industry and then "knocked-off"- copied and lifted in a manner that conveniently suits selfish short-term exploitative interests and always fails to adhere to the true underlying principles and intentions of our original innovations. Today, the word 'sustainable' in fashion and textiles is becoming more than just a lie or a coverup. It is becoming a criminal assault on all of humanity's existence, survival and dignity. While we have promoted the idea of sustainability and adhered to its principles with all of our ability and actions long before the rest of the fashion "pack", today we no longer wish to use the word to describe what we are doing. The word itself has been stolen, distorted, and poisoned and is being used by the very worst of companies, designers and practitioners. When we hear the word 'sustainable fashion' now and who is using it to describe their practices, it makes us sick, literally.


-When multinational corporate brands who have built their empires on mountains of contamination, waste, slavery and carbon emissions that they have created now pass themselves off in the press and become applauded and supported as being ethical and sustainable...


-When the Paris system fashion establishment suddenly tries to do the same after ignoring and banning the industry's leading ethical and sustainability designer firm from its official fashion show calendars for over a decade and a half…


-And when an explosion of individual designers, celebrities and media suddenly label themselves as being ethical and sustainable pioneers with no intention to really practice even the shallowest principles or methods, but rather to profit from humanity's concern and self-promote their own interests in a quick and easy manner…

It is time to say something about it.

ON Saturday night March 2nd 2019, we will present our 107th Paris collection to date entitled "I am not sustainable" as a direct protest and a reaction against the false and immoral use of the word and its meanings by the majority of the fashion and textile industries today--from one of the leading pioneers and true practitioners of the concept. While we will continue to advance and adhere to the work and commitment of our practices, we will not use the word that so many other liars have suddenly and brazenly stolen to describe theirs. "I am not sustainable" will present both a controversial and emotional runway statement as well as raise a fundamental question about humanity itself, and whether our species truly has what it takes to avoid creating its own extinction within this century.


In the meantime, we will remain more true to our commitment and our goals than ever, and cordially invite you to join us in this important protest and statement as we present our most challenging and innovative Paris collection to date. To do so, we have reserved a limited number of spaces for SZ people so if you are in Paris and would like join the presentation we kindly ask that you rsvp immediately to Mr. Lionel Cisinski to secure your place to see the show.


RSVP: Mr. Lionel Cisinski at fashiontherapy@free.fr


Thank you very much as always for reading, understanding and supporting.


Best wishes,




Geoffrey



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[Geoffrey B. Small]

THE actress Tatiana Anisimova leading off last night's controversial GBS's Paris show "i am not sustainable" wearing our signature pure cashmere classic 19th century cutaway outfit from her stunning performance in the "the onion." In a riveting presentation that marked a radical protest against fashion industry greenwashing, models hurled the phrase "i am not sustainable' to the audience and the cameras as a rejection of any further use of the word by the designer and the firm that has pioneered the concept and the movement for almost 4 decades. photo Guido Barbagelata. More coming up soon. Geoffrey & the team

[Geoffrey B. Small]

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Video by Kris Dionisio with many thanks to everyone who helped to make it happen...

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[Geoffrey B. Small]

Catherine Faux's backstage images of "i am not sustainable"

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WHILE mainstream fashion media systematically ignores or avoids many of our controversial anti-corporate Paris presentations, our shows are often honored by the presence of some of the metier's most intelligent and noted photographers and video artists, whose work we respect, admire and welcome as part of our family and our movement including Matteo Carcelli, Guido Barbagelata, Dario Ruggiero, Elizabeth Creseveur, Toru Kitahara and Matthew Reeves among many others. Some are young, brilliant and rising and some are legendary masters. Last Saturday's "i am not sustainable" was no exception. For the first time we were honored by the presence of the veteran french photographer Catherine Faux during our backstage before the show moments before it began. Madame Faux has a long career shooting for the news agency SIPA, Liberation, Elle, Hachette, UNESCO and free-lance and is famous in France for her iconic portraits of people in the film, music and art worlds including Wim Wenders, The Clash, Werner Fassbinder, Serge Gainsbourg, Marcello Mastroianni, Dennis Hopper, Gerard Depardieu, Jane Birkin, Zhang Yimou and Gong Li. Quietly working backstage, she caught an unerringly human and beautiful side of some the amazing people whom we had the pleasure and the privilege to work with that evening before they were all about to execute one of the most radical, daring and powerful performances of the entire AW2019 fashion season. A remarkably refreshing alternative to the typical "fashion-look-only" backstage photography so commonly running in the media these days. With her permission, we are very pleased to share some of the artist's images here on our thread at Stylezeitgeist. With many thanks, Geoffrey & the team

Anastasija and Lera







Paul Bradley, David Wild & Brandon Leung







Nadine and Laurine







Sara and Lexie







Marienne







with Sasha Popruga in front of the video cameras of Luca Lazzari and Showbit







Chloe & Adja








Marienne







Margo







Marienne

(all images copyright & courtesy of Catherine Faux)




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[Ahimsa]

GEOFFREY B. SMALL F/W19 WOMEN’S – “I AM NOT SUSTAINABLE”
Photography by Matthew Reeves.













View more on SZ-Mag

[Geoffrey B. Small]

new story on 'i am not sustainable' breaking in Italy

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WE thank SZ and Matthew Reeves for the superb editorial piece posted both above and at SZ-mag.com. No doubt, both Reeves and SZ are respectively, continuing to show a level excellence in the design and fashion media world now that more and more is standing alone, apart, and miles above the entire industry. And the fact that SZ founder Eugene Rabkin's op-ed and editorial review pieces are being published more and more by mainstream outlets from BoF to hypebeast, is clear evidence that a change is in the air and that finally, some sanity and some real design work and people are getting talked about by people who actually know what they are taliking about--as the multinational corporate streetwear and fake luxury boom cycle begins (thanks to unavoidable geopolitical and economic forces going down in the world today) to go into the bust cycle, where we all know, it belongs.

But we are not alone here on SZ. There are other revolutions in the fashion media now taking place. Like Italy, where (I have been informed by a well-informed long-time media-industry pro) a once almighty force like Conde Nast Italia (publishers of Vogue Italia, L'Uomo Vogue, and others) boasted over a hundred full-time contract iItalian employees on its payrolls has now slashed and burned itself down to around twenty. You can blame social media and IG for this as they all do, but I frankly blame management and top editorial people, for ignoring the new, the creative and the rising independent industry, and the large corporate groups who are now leaving them in droves as advertisers.

At the same time hard core working journalists in Italy are coming out more and more against the corruption, hypocrisy and outright deception and lying being practiced by both the global luxury and fast fashion industry. An investigative documentary shown last year in December on Italian RAI 3 network's "REPORT" continued to show the massive lie and poison our industry continues to spit out and more than ever, and how the media is completely tied up in it. The fact that it came out and was broadcast from Milan, virtually the heart of the global luxury production system is very important, and indicates the beginnings of a paradigm shift in what the consumer is starting to be made aware of...

http://www.rai.it/programmi/report/inchieste/Pulp-fashion-032e6fdc-ff5b-47af-b254-14fc096b4d5c.html

More recently, as we presented our controversial women's Paris collection and presentation "i am not sustainable" fully rejecting the abuse and hijacking of the word by many of the industry's worst violators of the concept, a young journalist from Milan's Basiclymag.com has just put out the first article and review on us and the Paris show to come out in Italy in many years. The fact that this story is now breaking in the Italian media at the independent level is significant. Like it or not, Italy still runs this industry. More than 85 percent of all major designer and luxury brands no matter what city or country they are based in around the world, is producing or should I say delegating the management of the production of their products with Italian companies. If you watch the documentary or have read earlier thread posts here, you will know that far too much of Italian production has been subbed out to poorer lower wage countries… but Italian corporations still run it all. And as the old corrupt media guard of corporate sycophant editors who all looked the other way at this practice which lined their own pockets, now get their pink slips and start to try to figure out how they will survive now as freelancers, a new generation of journalists with a new view of the state of the world as well as fashion, now have an opportunity to take the stage and get a new message out. A message that is more truthful and relevant to what we are all facing.


Giulia Massarenti did not come from nowhere, she worked for years at Conde Nast in Spain, Japan and London, and then the eyeglass colossus Safilo Spa in PR and communications in Madrid handling the group's brands from Dior, Fendi, Marc Jacobs, TommyHilfiger, Jimmy Choo, Elie Saab, Max Mara, to Max & Co., before starting to write pieces for Basicly in Milan. We are pleased to provide a link to her recent story (which we believe to be a pivotal one because it is coming from a new Italian media voice) here for SZ readers now breaking out in Italy with english translation as well as the movement continues to grow…

https://basiclymag.com/2019/03/07/pfw-geoffrey-b-small-show/

photo of Nadine at the show in Paris by Giulia Mantovani from the story in Basicly (click on the photo to see story)


With many thanks to everyone as always,


Geoffrey & the team



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[supercilious]

Hi Geoffrey,
My brother recently gifted me his GBS jacket, it is my first, though I have admired your clothes for a long time
It is made in Italy, but has a detail I’ve seen now and again on your clothing

I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind elaborating on (if there is any beyond aesthetic) intentionality behind the gathered stitches you often do in the tags of garments.

Best