Politics of Looking seminar with Gill

-   Cruise collection sits in between the couture collections

-   Couture collections run twice a year in February and September

-   You see something in the runway in February, but you can only buy it in September

-   6-12 weeks wait for ready-to-wear collections

-   Nowadays we have around 12 drops (addition to a collection) a year, instead of the original 2 (a/w and s/s)

-   September is the January of fashion

-   November is when the cruise collection hits

-   Inside Fashion “The cruise the limit”

-   Designing for cruise is just as important as haute couture, generally it is lighter weight

-   Gucci collection, new director Alexander Mikeal

-   Cognitive – looking is not just physical but cognitive

-   I see but I do not observe

-   What you see and what you can understand can give depth to a collection

-   Black trousers – you see a school child wearing them you would observe and recognise that it is uniform

-   Our eyes have not changed, but the culture has changed which makes us think and observe differently

-   Gaze – Lacan – pleasure, curiousity, envy, desire

-   Relationship between fashion and gaze – important for your essay

-   Male Gaze – Laura Mulvey – Narrative on visual pleasures (in cinema) She viewed the male gaze as something sexual. Make the woman subservient because that is what men do (sexism)

-   Self Identity – Subjectivity – vulnerable and can cause anxiety. Acknowledgment that this can happen

-   Alexander McQueen – his collections were all about his lack of confident and he put it onto others.

-   Aesthetics – seeing and knowing – visually pleasing and visually affective

-   Ambivalent

-   Looking with a different pair of eyes. Your culture, how you’ve been brought up can affect how you view things

-   Your philosophy evolves as..

-   “Panopticon” – Was a prison. The idea behind was so you can see all the sides, the prisoners know they’re being watching and was incentive to behave better

-   Self conscious and self awareness – About how other people make you feel. Good or bad by the response from peoples faces

-   1 camera for every 11 people

-   Think of fashion designers who use their collections as a voice

Voice of fashion/textiles

-   Rik Owens “backpackers” – environment, people as accessories

-   Alexander McQueen “highland rape” – political, heritage

-   Moschino – political comment about fashion industry

-   Vivienne Westwood – environmental and political

-   Alexander McQueen “spray paint dress” Fordism culture

-   Vivienne Westwood “punk” – rebellious

-   Sonia Delauney

-   Italy – Glamour, style, high quality, pope, catholic, gay, etc. Dolce and Gabanna take inspiration from the wealth and church

-   Viktor and Rolf “the Russian doll” Always do a collection on a concept “no” collection – saying no to the fashion industry

-   Who uses technology to have a voice in collections? Hussein Chalayan – conceptual

The fashion industry is around 60%-70% influenced by women

But mainly run by men.

20s era, flappers, rebellious and freedom, loose fitting dresses.

Hippies, peace love, freedom

Punks rebelled against the establishment and politics

Hip Hop

Mods and rockers:

Mods, Italian type style trousers, parkers -  Beatles

Rockers – leather, big greasey hair – Elvis, any rock and roll

Rastafarian – Jamaica, hence the colours.

Egalitarian – similar to equality but in a society where things are all equal – non specific.

Models and race – cultural differences between womens body types

Garments activated by voice – Ya..

Hussein Chalayan – dissolvable fashion