The fashion runway has always been more than just a place to show the press new clothes. It’s been about depicting art and sending a message. This is why many pieces from famous collections aren’t ready to wear, they are not meant to be worn in everyday life. the fashion shows are more like theater than actual showings of clothes on some occasions. Designers like Alexander McQueen became famous for focusing on the runway as a stage really making the runway a show, an event you couldn’t afford to miss.

I was reading an article from Highsnobiety where Dior jewelry designer  Yoon Ahn posted a close-up of her Android Ring. The futuristic ring was designed for the Dior Men’s Pre-Fall 2019 collection by artistic director Kim Jones. This one ring perfectly sums up the whole collection, this ring looks like it was stolen off the set of 2001 a space odyssey. It’s gorgeous and elegant and futuristic, yet you wouldn’t dare wear it to work for example. It’s a work of art and you can tell is more than just your everyday ring.

I thought the best way to do this blog would be to list possible inerview candidates and list them into two groups, Unrealistic ( This is just for fun) and realistic.

UNREALISTIC:

• Virgil Abloh – creative director and designer for Off-White and Louis Vuitton

His resume speaks for himself, many hate him and many love him, yet he remains one of the most impactful designers of the decade.

• A$AP Rocky- Rapper, Actor, Model

The most stylish man in the world hands down, a man who helped bring fashion to rap and made designers such as Raf Simons and Midnight Studios mainstream. His knowledge on fashion and the fashion industry would make him an amazing person to interview.

REALISTIC:

• Owen Hyatt – Youtuber, graphic designer

Owen Hyatt is a Boston native and is one of Ian Connor’s designers. His following on youtube is still relatively small and i believe this interview could be possible.

 

This is all i have right now, more research will be done. Sorry Meservey!!

Fashion, like many things is inspired by many other forms of art; photography, movies,etc. So this begs the question, Is any thing really original? My answer? Hell no. But that’s OK.

All art essentially is a remix, Artists like filmmaker Quentin Tarantino take pride in this. He copies some scenes SHOT FOR SHOT because he loves those shots and adds them into his own movies and gives them a almost nostalgic feel. it’s almost impossible to have completely original ideas nowadays, everything has already been done. Many traditional fashion snobs demand something groundbreaking every season and can’t appreciate that many times designers take old pieces and remix them in a way.

A perfect example of this is the brand Balenciaga. Last season Balenciaga featured a large bag that looked a lot like the famous IKEA bags. Many people were outraged and said the design team at Balenciaga were lazy for doing something like this. I see it as finding inspiration in unorthodox ways, which is were some of the best art comes from.

Like it or not, instances like this are going to keep happening. It’s up to us to either accept that or to keep complaining.

At almost the midway mark of “Ametora”, the book has focused in on Kensuke Ishizu, one of the most famous early Japanese men’s designers. The book focuses in on him creating his brand VAN after college and the high’s and low’s of his brands success and the backlash it faced due to it’s popularity with “wild teens”.

Ishizu’s brand “VAN” become one of Japan’s most famous brands ever and people loved anything to do with the brand, even wearing stickers and bags with the brands simple logo. This type of branding is reminiscent of “Supreme”, both brands built hardcore fan bases and these fan bases coveted anything and everything these brands logo’s were on.

The book has loosely focused on different figures in Japanese fashion history and the social effects clothing had during that time. In this part of the book especially, again, the book dives deep into “the ivy style”. This style is really what started Japanese fashion.

Ironically enough, Japanese style started based on American clothing, yet now japan influenced and inspires American designers and now Japan is the style capital of the world.

In the beginning of my book, it mainly focused on the rebellious teens  bringing the fashion scene to Tokyo,Japan. It was right around the time the Olympics were being held in Japan, 1964. Police would attempt to scare of these teens because they saw them as potential treats to  European tourists arriving for the Olympic games.

The book then begins to focus in more. It gives us the backstory of Kensuke Ishizu, the famous tailor, designer and founder of VAN. He is known to fans as “The Ivy Godfather”, as he was an integral part of bringing the now famous ivy league school style to the streets of Japan.

VAN began to produce a full line of East Coast college style in the late 1950s, meant to be worn together in total coordination. This alone was innovative, as the industry was before divided into tie-makers, shirt-makers, pants-makers, jacket-makers and socks-makers. No one had ever attempted to make all items under a single brand. After studying Gant, Brooks Brothers and other classic brands, Ishizu was able to create extremely faithful recreations: oxford button-downs, high-water khakis, duffel coats, navy blazers with emblems, high-buttoning tweed hunting jackets, striped university scarves, and tons of madras.

Along with Ishizu’s help, the locals of Japan moved away from farmer clothes to dress shirts and ivy league uniforms. The social effect of this was although fashion was growing, many people still believed that fashion was feminine and if a man thought too much about his outfit he would slowly start to “act like a women”.

What was once a replica of American style, is now one of the most diverse and eclectic scenes in the world. I’m of course talking about the Japanese fashion scene. Japan now makes better american style clothing than Americans do. For decades and decades, the world looked to Europe for fashion and style. The markets of Milan, Paris and London were the fashion capitals of the world. But post-WW2, the Japanese have dominated the fashion world and really shifted the culture.

I chose this book because i think it will be an interesting look on fashion, my blog topic and how fashion affects culture all around the world. I first found out about this book because of a GQ interview with the author. The book is very highly regarded and i’m excited to begin reading it.

Some people might not get fashion, or why people care about it. It’s not that difficult really, fashion, in the mainstream sense, matters because famous people ( mostly rappers) say it matters. These are today’s influencers. Look at the big sneaker brands, Athletes aren’t getting shoe deals any more, it’s rappers. Because they are the influencers, they control today’s culture and kids like me idolize them and take their word as gospel.

I know this sounds ridiculous, because we’d like to think we’re not so easily influenced. But, fashion has seen a meteoric rise in popularity in the last decade due to people like Kanye West and A$AP Rocky. These artists constantly name drop brands such as Supreme, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior, etc. in their music. It’s through these mentions, as well as their own fashion style that kids everywhere now love fashion. I can tell you first hand, I have knowledge about the fashion industry BECAUSE of Rocky and Kanye, these were my teachers.

The fashion world owes so much to these rappers, these rappers openly sponsor these brands and LOVE them, yet receive no love in return. Popular brands like Gucci have now primarily started making “street wear “ fashion, that means their market is young people who like fashion. 20 years ago this was definitely not the case.

Its time the fashion world acknowledged these rappers.

Unfortunately, the best things in life aren’t free, they’re about $630. Ah Gucci Jeans, one of my grails- a grail is a street wear term, it refers to a piece/item that is someones dream piece and is one of their favorites ever- i probably will never be able to afford it, but a boy can dream, right?

Now onto Non-affordable dream item #2, the Supreme X CDG Work Jacket ( For future reference, when i say “blank” X “blank”, that means the two brands had a collaboration, they both worked together to make a collection or a specific item). This jacket has been worn by the likes of Ian Connor and Lil Yachty (Mr. Meservey, you should probably google who these people are now). This work jacket on the re-sellers market will cost you a whopping $600.

 

Last and certainly not least, One of my grails, the Supreme Micro stripped Cardigan, funny enough although i really can’t afford it- as i make about $110 a week after taxes- i have this cardigan and i love it. I know what you’re thinking, what dumb ass spends $240 on a cardigan? ( Not kidding, that’s how much i spent). Now this piece is a collectible and is very rare as well as very famous because Playboi Carti ( you’re gonna want to google him too) wore it for the cover of vogue.

In conclusion, yes i spent this much on a damn cardigan, and yes i love it.

Why do people wear clothes?

Most people wear clothes to cover their body, no creativity, no inspiration, just as a necessity. Many people wear clothes to show off wealth and/or social status, throwing on an expensive brand with no regard whatsoever to style. Simply thinking about the thousands of dollars they’ve spent on an outfit. And finally there’s the niche group of people who wear clothing simply because they just love clothing so much, they have a love for it that can not be described. No rhyme or reason to say why they love it, they just do. And that’s where i fit in.

To add to my point about the people that wear clothing just to show off wealth and status, –or as they are called in the fashion world, “Hypebeasts”– i have no problem with people that spend what other people consider ridiculous amounts of money on clothing, hell i do it myself sometimes. But what i do have in issue with is people buying some logo sprawled, hideous jacket that just screams “I AM EXPENSIVE” and has no artistic taste, and is made for the sole purpose of stating power over others by advertising someones wealth and class.

When i say stating power over others, that may seem like a hyperbole but i can assure you its not, i would know. Some people look down on others and think they are better than others simply because they spend more money on clothes than them. This is a real issue, the issue of classicism through clothing.

PS: Don’t get me wrong, i love my designer clothing, just don’t throw it in my face when you get a pair of overpriced ugly balenciaga sneakers.