T= TEEN-REBEL CHIC

As part of thesis and analysis of T-shirts...I'm basically going to transpire my theoretical analysis from various writers such as Roland Barthes, Allison Lurie, Malcom Barnard and Caroline Evans (from my first chapter) through the case studies of film. I'll basically make clear how the formation of identity via the T-shirt have been enforced from the spectacle of film, especially in how they support and construct an overall narrative.
Firstly, i want to make clear how the T-shirt raised eye-brows to the rebel- teen look, which kicked off in the 50's. Already realising how this topic has been deeply dissected and torn apart from other fashion/ film writers; i want to see how relevant the t-shirt is on more contemporary studies like The O.C for example: Ryan Atwood's character can be instantly comparable to that of Jame's Dean character (Jimmy).

UH OH, FINAL YEAR AT UNI!!

Okay, so it’s first term back at college and I’m really feeling the stress and it has only been two/three weeks. May be I’m being melodramatic, but the prospect of completing a 12,500-15,000 word essay appears to be rather impossible at this present time. Although, having spent a year out in the industry it has been a breath of fresh air: I now know what I don’t want to do as a career and it has definitely made me more mature in my perception of life, particularly my abilities.
Anyways, I intend to use my blog as a canvas for inspired notes and ideas- my mate Mariana instigated me, as she’s doing the same for her thesis. The premise of my thesis is based on T-shirts: how statements and identities are formed through the T-shirt and what impact does it have in our cultural society. Initially, I wanted to take a garment or subject from fashion that is ordinary yet extraordinary the more you analyse and dissect it. For me, T-shirts are a staple item of clothing; everyone from every age, gender and race has at least one.
In the mean time, I shall be keeping my eyes and ears peeled for any info regarding my thesis topic. All thoughts, pictures and movie clips will be posted here...

Factory311 presents, Evolution

The Evolution Team: Shayla, Miguel, Christoph, Sonik, Fiona [me], Kofie, everyone at Barracuda [Brian, Brad, Puffy and Poucette]

The review of the exhibtion, text by Fiona Burke

Evolution welcomes Ditta and she shows her appreciation by sign some of the prints. The night was a success!

The exhibition, ‘Evolution’ is hardly typical; it was as if ‘Alice in Wonderland’ stepped back in time to a fanciful future of strange and peculiar happenings, because the inner surroundings and array of images quite literally fires you through a dark fantastical ‘rabbit hole’: a lavish arena where some of the greatest digital artwork was interspersed with striking pieces of growth and transformation, while vividly illustrating magical realms.

The exhibition remarkably demonstrated that Evolution-our bond to regenerate and our changes in lifestyle- is a rite of passage for life. However, the futuristic lens was powerfully focused on celebrities; its mission was to enlighten and displace celebrities from their ‘natural’ environment, as well as provoking a new and somewhat ‘ordinary’ allusion upon their daily lifestyles.

Factory311’s director, Nicholas Hardy and highly acclaimed photographer, Lionel Deluy curated the surreal concept, whilst picking Sonik Mercury’s brain for interior inspiration. He unlocked a door that was loaded with extraordinary possibilities; an army who were armed to smash all creative boundaries. Biomorphic and plasmatic structures that mirror a body assembled the intimate scene; huge ornate frames mounted the bold digital images- each piece was magnified displaying its fine acute details, while two main visual projectors modified the sliding artwork as if you were in an aquarium.

In keeping with the show’s extraordinary atmosphere, the work was anything but ordinary, as with, for example, the image of Gary Oldman by Adam Spizak. This particular image twisted the viewer’s expectations and reality of celebrities; it drew out and combined elements of curiosity, wonder and irony- who would have thought that Gary Oldman could in fact be depicted as an archangel? Identical to “The Redemption of Uriel”, Gary Oldman found a way to redeem himself.

Just like the display, the turn out from the evening was insane. It was an artistic powerhouse packed with the some of the most talented, rich and powerful people from Hollywood and afar. Without name dropping, we had some very interesting comments from people who starred in the show, along with Ditta Von Teese, who was willing to show her appreciation; her reaction was humbling as she jumped to sign prints and gave time to pose for the paparazzi.

In all, ‘Evolution’ understood that everything about us makes us evolve, including aspects of our past; sometimes it can be a struggle and other times it can be more direct. But because the limited run display was so popular, there are already talks about a second ‘Evolution’ in the making, allowing more people to gain access to a topsy-turvy world where nothing is quite what it seems...

Text written by Fiona Burke

SOME RECENT EXPOSURE

“biology class on art and fashion”. The edgy exhibit is bound to take L.A. by storm.

Inspiration for Evolution came from the brainchild of Factory311, director Nicholas Hardy and the top-notch photographer, Lionel Deluy. While working together for sixteen months, there was inevitability of curating an exhibition. For Nicholas, evolution explains everything so perfectly: “It’s about growth, fight and life...you can’t construct ideas on your own, you need to seek like-minded people”, he explains.

Convening a crew of the most renowned digital artists from across the globe; Nicholas and Lionel are in quest to evoke a profound analogy between evolution and the creative realms, from our bond to change- all through the medium of visual projection. For Lionel, this is an opportunity to investigate and display; he wants to challenge the preconceptions of celebrities, and everything associated with them: “Today, the public perceive celebs as a somewhat God, but they are only human; I want to go deeper and further, to displace celebrities from their recognizable environment; make them shine in a different light, while capturing the essence of evolution”, he said.

The entire spectacle will take place in the L.A store De La Barracuda; consider the space a creative hub, essential to lifestyle: music, art, fashion and networking! Formerly, Barracuda has been accompanied with big names like Nike, Red Bull, Warner Bros, and now associated with Factory311, will surely revolutionize their creative sphere.

Press Release by Fiona Burke
Images courtesy of: Lionel Deluy/Factory 311

Alter-Ego: Superhero

[Photography by Craig Mc Dean]

I must admit I’m not a fan of comic books, but perhaps that’s due to my ignorance. I do, however, find the illustrations and the whole mythology surrounding the ‘superhero’ truly fascinating; how each and every one of us [to an extent] has or carries a somewhat ‘double-life’, a second personality; an alter ego that yearns to be unveiled. I suppose fashion is not the most obvious issue when we think of comics and superheroes, but did anyone else find the ‘superhero’ conversation at the end of Kill Bill 2 quite fascinating? Well, on a whole...Bill compares Superman and his perception of civilisation to Beatrix, he says: “An essential characteristic of the super hero mythology is, there is the superhero and, there’s the alter ego...Spiderman is actually Peter Parker. When he wakes up in the morning, he’s Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become superman”. Fashion and clothes help us make sense of the world: they articulate and construct modes of behaviour, expressions, desires and beliefs.

All clothes are worn for different reasons: to protect, to conceal, reveal or maybe it’s to be part of a social group. Nevertheless, the real bond between fashion and alter-ego- superhero is how it’s centred upon a state of ‘becoming’ someone else, whether it be to conform or disguise. Take Peter Parker from Spiderman: his role, when in costume is to protect his identity but to save his family and friends from his enemies. Another example is X- Men; they wear their costumes to draw attention to team unity. Carrie Bradshaw, on the other hand prides herself on clothes, particularly shoes. When she puts on those Jimmy Choo’s, her alter ego is unleashed: her threads and stamps take over New York’s metropolis- she’s ultra cool, feminine, sexy and invincible. Men love her and women want to be her.
These are symptoms that remain in the heart of fashion and superheroes; it’s a simplified projection of desire: To be powerful and sexy; to be good and honest. The clothes often make the self. Every superman found his cape in his rocket from Krypton and every lady will find their ‘cape’ tucked away in her fashionable wardrobe.

FACTORY311 ON EVOLUTION!

Imagine biology class on art and fashion: We dissect the subject of evolution through snaps and publications whilst considering the method of change through life over generations. It sounds improbable- but it's actually a description of a bold, new and exciting exhibition that is set to take L.A by storm.

Inspiration for evolution came from the brain-child of Factory 311 director, Nicholas Hardy and the top-notch photographer, Lionel Deluy. While working together for sixteen months, there was always the inevitability of curating an exhibition. For Nicholas, evolution explains everything so perfectly: "It's about growth fight and life...you can't construct ideas on your own, you need to seek like-minded people", he explains.

In association with Factory311, Nicholas has convened a crew of big-name artists from Sakki Soni to Alberto Seveso; in quest to evoke a profound analogy between evolution and the creative realms, from our bond to change- all through the medium of projection.

Celebs visually capture the subject of evolution through sheer fervour ; Dita Von Tesse, Marlin Manson and David Lynch are just a few names and faces you'll recognise.

The entire spectacle will take place in the L.A store De la Barracuda; consider the space a creative hub, essential to lifestyle: music, art, film and networking! Formerly, Barracuda has been accompanied with big names: Nike, Red Bull, Warner Bros and now associated with Factory311, will surely revolutionise their creative sphere.

The display officially opens on Friday 13th June

Go to www.fac311.com/events for more information.

Written by Fiona Burke.

ROBERT ELMS

The Way We Wore, is a book beyond the life in threads. It's a memoir, a story narrated from Robert Elms first-hand experiences and how he became obsessed with clothes from such an early age. He has 'been there-done that and literally bought the t-shirt [s]'.

It documents many key themes: three decades of England's social history and London's street fashion- the foremost of these how youth culture and fashion is inspired by the urban and working class lads. Elms provides a careful and chronological analysis of subculture trends: Teddy Boys, Skins, Mods, Punks, Soul Boys, New Romantics and the prelude of Acid House and the rave scene of the nineties- how each variation and new aesthetic was determined by a specific sound. Music acted as a bridge for fashion: it gave it direction. At the tender age of Six Elms states he discovered his love, passion and obsession for clothes. He says, 'I understood that there was a path, a lineage'...to look the part-birthday money was saved up to purchase a Ben Shermann shirt, trips were taken to Kilburn to buy those brogues and stepping into the East End to rumage round for the right Humprey Bogart trench coat.

However, in the latter half of the book we soon discover that elms loses his touch-he appears to be ignorant to new seasonal fashion trends. I blame his age for his lack of integrity. We get an immediate sense of nostalgia- fear of the future as he condemns the new acid house and rave trend- claiming that its 'stylistically uncreative' and that it 'eradicated everything, even the past'.

If you happen to be a fashion historian, guru or victim you will find this book entertaining and useful. It scrutinizes youth and subcultures and its relationship to men's wear. Elm's is very descriptive within his writing and therefore conveys an accurate account of what fashion was like in the latter half of the twentieth century. He believes dress is the ultimate indicator to culture and everything that surrounds it.

The sheer lack of images to support his analysis was quite discouraging. If visuals were included this would give a broader and more factual understanding to his argument. A further displeasure is Elms narrow mind and his snobby attitude towards fads, to which he disapproved- the hippy and rave movement- giggling at their supposed ridiculous attire- and not to mention his narcissist appraisal of his career as a write. In consequence this tone towards his description of dress can often be misleading; he, on occasion fails to acknowledge their social significance and therefore prefers to rant.

Nevertheless we come to realise that in retro-spect the revolution of youths from the second half of the twentieth century working-class Britain and African- Americans integrated together to form new trends and styles, which were eventually publicised by music and various bands.