When I moved here in 2003 it was about finding the newest, hottest thing, and now it’s about finding the oldest thing you can’t believe still exists. It’s finding pieces of Tokyo’s past that haven’t gotten the wrecking ball yet, and documenting those. | | | | Miuccia Prada backstage at the VH1 Fashion Awards, NYC, Oct. 1998.
(Catherine McGann/Archive Photos/Getty Images) | | | | | | “When I moved here in 2003 it was about finding the newest, hottest thing, and now it’s about finding the oldest thing you can’t believe still exists. It’s finding pieces of Tokyo’s past that haven’t gotten the wrecking ball yet, and documenting those.”
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| | rantnrave:// Loved PRADA resort. The collection brought together the spirit and visual cues of modernism, sport, tech, and performance, all along a spectrum of present-future-past. No better time, then, to bring back Prada's tessuto nylon or the work of artist JAMES JEAN, who drew some marvelous illustrations of faeries and satellites for Spring 2008. The sport element appeared in sneakers (future), knee-length pleated skirts (past sport), and ribbed socks knit with graphics (now and then). The use of transparency in the collection was like a window in to underlying structure—the armature of the body, the clothes beneath—echoing themes evident in the surrounding architecture. The pale pastels seemed destined for the outer limits of atmosphere, the clean room, or the upper heights of the vaulted iron-and-glass ceilings inside the GALLERIA VITTORIO EMANUELE II, where the show took place. I'm sold… Had a great conversation with HIGHSNOBIETY editorial director JIAN DELEON Friday. We were picking up a thread about how the parts or components of fully realized products are now seen as their own desirable brands. Think VIBRAM soles, LAMPO zippers, and GILDAN tees—once thought of as wholesale parts or blank components, these have risen to their own cultural prominence. Jian made a good analogy to autos or skateboards—where communities of fans pore endlessly over the details of their favorite things, and where parts or components “under the hood” become emblematic of value, performance, or status in and of themselves. These "parts" also lend provenance to a thing. When you can identify a part or component of something, you point to provenance, reinforced by people's awareness of the supply chain and networks of labor/trade that bring it all together. Loved GARY WARNETT's thoughts on the matter, yet paths to provenance aren't always a direct line. It's less about some ultimate metric of quality in a VIBRAM sole but the fact that it's identifiable. Perhaps VIRGIL ABLOH selling screen-printed RUGBY flannels for $550 is in direct lineage to RALPH LAUREN selling the artifice of American affluence. It's picking up the pieces and making your own legacy—expressing the reach through time that is provenance, and the simultaneous erasure of it. It was on display at Prada, too. Looks for the twenty-first century… COMME staff... BRITNEY SPEARS ensembles on EBAY... ADIDAS puts datamoshing on your feet, and NIKE gives away pairs of the VAPORFLY ELITE, designed to break the two-hour marathon. | | | - HK Mindy Meissen, curator |
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| For the first time, the show was held at Fondazione Prada’s Observatory in Milan, a venue that was also an inspiration for the collection. | | |
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| Ms. Kawakubo does not stick to the middle ground, pushing her work beyond form in this Costume Institute exhibition. | | |
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| An interview with The RealReal founder and CEO Julie Wainwright, who is renowned in startup circles for a variety of things, including her role in winding down the e-commerce company Pets.com during the dot.com era; being one of the bigger personalities in the industry; and launching what’s become one of the fastest-growing consignment startups among a handful that received funding roughly six years ago. | | |
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| “[California] is a place that takes personal liberty and the idea of freedom seriously and this has been translated into the designs and technologies born there,” says Justin McGuirk, curator of a new exhibition at The Design Museum exploring California’s modernist movement and its enduring influence. | | |
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| Imagine ordering a T-shirt online and being able to click one of two options: made in the USA or produced overseas. | | |
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| Lev Tanju's brand blended luxury with pally affordability-and mom jokes. | | |
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| This month, our Spotlight shines on Paris-based Marine Serre, whose work has landed her a design job at Balenciaga and a place in the final round of this year's LVMH Prize. | | |
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| Pedestrian or cyclist, it’s the world’s most visible hue. | | |
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| Derek Blasberg explores Tokyo's art, design and fashion scenes. Featuring Takashi Murakami, Hidetoshi Nakata, Rila Fukushima and more. | | |
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| Uniqlo’s new home represents the company’s desire to become a more hi-tech operation - and rewire its staff at the same time. | | |
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| The Comme des Garçons designer’s closest friends and collaborators reflect on her spring/summer 2014 “Not Making Clothes” collection. | | |
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| In a landmark bout of activity, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced last month that it is, in fact, watching celebrities, athletes, and other influencers on Instagram. | | |
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| After frames are designed in the US, they’re typically sent overseas to be produced at one of the largest manufacturers in China and then imported back in huge quantities to be sold. | | |
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| In recent years, the mineral formations that were once the exclusive domain of fringey New Age circles have become a booming mainstream business. But can it last? | | |
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| On the heels of a contemporary art revolution in China, Max Mara brings classic Italian tailoring to an avid Shanghai following. Molly Langmuir hits the city's experimental, cash-infused gallery scene and discovers four boundary-breaking new talents. | | |
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| Mobility and rootlessness have become aspirational touchpoints--waves that some brands, like Apolis and the experimental LOT-2046, are all too happy to ride. (833 words) | | |
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| Emma Cleveland is one of 10 student finalists competing for a Kering mentorship and $10,000 to launch a collection. | | |
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| The inability to pay looming, massive debt bills is dealing the final death blow to many retailers, but only after years of decline. | | |
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| The role of creative director at a fashion house is so all-consuming even some men struggle for work-life balance; for women, it’s harder still to balance such responsibility with family duties and face down sexist attitudes. | | |
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| “From Mobutu to Beyoncé,” a new photo exhibit at the Bronx Documentary Center, conveys the pattern’s fluidity across cultures. | | |
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| © Copyright 2017, The REDEF Group |
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