With that in mind here are my favorite pieces from the Paris Couture Shows.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Paris Fall Couture '09
The single most irritating thing that I hear people say regarding designer's work is, "Oh that's ridiculous, who would wear that!" The fact that I sometimes hear people who are in the industry say that is utterly inexcusable. There are two horrific attitudes that the speakers possess that are behind that comment. First is the misunderstanding, which I have repeatedly hammered home, that fashion is something other than artistic expression. Second and far more disturbing is an attitude of pervasive shyness. Why don't people want to stand out, to express boldly, to celebrate themselves? Anyone can wear anything at any time. Baring any needs of functionality all fashion is in play. The only thing that in actuality stops you from wearing an outfit is your ego. You are letting others control your self expression if your fear of how you will be perceived prevents you from dressing how you want.
With that in mind here are my favorite pieces from the Paris Couture Shows.
With that in mind here are my favorite pieces from the Paris Couture Shows.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The battlefront identified
I've had the same conversation with emerging designers over and over recently and I finally arrived at an answer for the biggest question it contained. Over a coffee with an emerging shoe designer last night I was asked point blank "how does an emerging designer break through into the ranks of the established stars?" That's the entire last year in summation for me and most of the designers I work with. I must have been thinking about her question all night because this morning I had a major piece of the puzzle identified.
The truth is your target is always your client. You first must believe that you have one, if you don't, sweep the floor, turn out the lights and go home. Still here? Okay, who is she or he and why will they buy your designs over other designers? It gets tricky very quickly at this next level of inquiry; where does your client shop? The reason that it is tricky is it introduces the first really serious complication; the buyer. The buyer becomes the gatekeeper to your client and a very strange gatekeeper they often are. It can be downright maddening to try to figure out why buyers buy or reject designers. Some buyers are strictly ruled by the overlords of fashion aka the editors. Others are so terrified of even the slightest risk that no emerging designer has a shot. Another element at store level that has recently added increased difficulty for emerging designers is the erasure of mid level boutiques and the $150 to $400 dollar price point. The luxury market is a self sustaining oasis, the clients at the high end of the market tend to buy no matter what is going on in the world. At the other end of the market the creation of a massive cheap textile production complex has spawned stores and sites that buy and sell so cheaply that no designer of any quality would ever be bought by them. The boutiques that sold merchandise between $150 and $400 were all ready having a hard time competing in today's market and the recession has wiped out hundreds to thousands of those stores all over the globe. Viewing those factors one can easily see how difficult it is to "breakout".
Now we come to my morning revelation which I hope to transform into a tenet of a revolution. It may be several years before the economy improves enough to allow the buyers to relax and take risks on emerging talent, by that time many emerging designers may have been forced out of the business. The time is now, the solution is to promote yourself in ways that are so creative, loud and attention grabbing that they draw the client's attention directly. Everybody busts their ass and spends all their money to get into a magazine, a runway show, a showroom, on a celebrity, etc... to get the attention of buyers who I and my designer friends have repeatedly agreed won't buy them anyway... That's a huge wall. Modern fashion works thusly, buyers buy what editors push. But buyers will listen more to actual flesh and blood customers who say "carry this person and I will buy them". Designers must build grass roots support for themselves the way political movements do. I'm doing my first event like this in August and will let you in on my plans shortly.
Seth F.
The truth is your target is always your client. You first must believe that you have one, if you don't, sweep the floor, turn out the lights and go home. Still here? Okay, who is she or he and why will they buy your designs over other designers? It gets tricky very quickly at this next level of inquiry; where does your client shop? The reason that it is tricky is it introduces the first really serious complication; the buyer. The buyer becomes the gatekeeper to your client and a very strange gatekeeper they often are. It can be downright maddening to try to figure out why buyers buy or reject designers. Some buyers are strictly ruled by the overlords of fashion aka the editors. Others are so terrified of even the slightest risk that no emerging designer has a shot. Another element at store level that has recently added increased difficulty for emerging designers is the erasure of mid level boutiques and the $150 to $400 dollar price point. The luxury market is a self sustaining oasis, the clients at the high end of the market tend to buy no matter what is going on in the world. At the other end of the market the creation of a massive cheap textile production complex has spawned stores and sites that buy and sell so cheaply that no designer of any quality would ever be bought by them. The boutiques that sold merchandise between $150 and $400 were all ready having a hard time competing in today's market and the recession has wiped out hundreds to thousands of those stores all over the globe. Viewing those factors one can easily see how difficult it is to "breakout".
Now we come to my morning revelation which I hope to transform into a tenet of a revolution. It may be several years before the economy improves enough to allow the buyers to relax and take risks on emerging talent, by that time many emerging designers may have been forced out of the business. The time is now, the solution is to promote yourself in ways that are so creative, loud and attention grabbing that they draw the client's attention directly. Everybody busts their ass and spends all their money to get into a magazine, a runway show, a showroom, on a celebrity, etc... to get the attention of buyers who I and my designer friends have repeatedly agreed won't buy them anyway... That's a huge wall. Modern fashion works thusly, buyers buy what editors push. But buyers will listen more to actual flesh and blood customers who say "carry this person and I will buy them". Designers must build grass roots support for themselves the way political movements do. I'm doing my first event like this in August and will let you in on my plans shortly.
Seth F.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Marrying art & money
This post feels a bit like a summation at a trial. I've been having conversations and making statements on the same themes for over a year now and I feel the time has come to lay down something very concrete.
The primary question that a desirous designer has to ask is, "Do I believe in my art, or don't I?" You should answer yes without a moments hesitation or you should quit. The road ahead of you is going to be brutal and vicious and you absolutely must have faith in yourself and your art to survive. You are going to have to an enormous amount of work to do every single day, no money, and sometimes no help, none of this can turn into an excuse. How bad do you want this? You have to get out of bed every morning and say, "I am willing today to go to any lengths necessary to achieve my goals." If you can't do that everyday, move on.
This week I met roughly 12 designers at various fashion events. In my opinion out of those 12, one of them at this time is demonstrating that she has the stuff to succeed. In her junior year in a fashion program she decided she was going to launch her line and go the direct route. At that time, she secured manufacturing she has a comfortable working relationship with. She also began to map out her marketing and press strategies. It is that kind of foresight and the ability to, "plan, execute, plan, execute..." that makes success.
In a sense, what the specifics are of your aesthetic is irrelevant. As long as there exists a type of client for your work you have an opportunity to succeed. The work comes in identifying, reaching and pleasing your client. Oddly enough this is the nature of all commerce, the only thing that separates this from standard commercial fashion is that profit is not the driving force. Not that it is not important but the belief remains "if I make my art to the best of my ability, people will buy it." No concessions are made consciously or unconsciously to the need to sell. If you believe what was just mapped out, then wake up every day prepared to use everything you have to find your client, the stores that cater to them and creating your art and the ability to have it manufactured perfectly and with consistency. If you don't, go do something else that you do feel that way about.
Seth F.
The primary question that a desirous designer has to ask is, "Do I believe in my art, or don't I?" You should answer yes without a moments hesitation or you should quit. The road ahead of you is going to be brutal and vicious and you absolutely must have faith in yourself and your art to survive. You are going to have to an enormous amount of work to do every single day, no money, and sometimes no help, none of this can turn into an excuse. How bad do you want this? You have to get out of bed every morning and say, "I am willing today to go to any lengths necessary to achieve my goals." If you can't do that everyday, move on.
This week I met roughly 12 designers at various fashion events. In my opinion out of those 12, one of them at this time is demonstrating that she has the stuff to succeed. In her junior year in a fashion program she decided she was going to launch her line and go the direct route. At that time, she secured manufacturing she has a comfortable working relationship with. She also began to map out her marketing and press strategies. It is that kind of foresight and the ability to, "plan, execute, plan, execute..." that makes success.
In a sense, what the specifics are of your aesthetic is irrelevant. As long as there exists a type of client for your work you have an opportunity to succeed. The work comes in identifying, reaching and pleasing your client. Oddly enough this is the nature of all commerce, the only thing that separates this from standard commercial fashion is that profit is not the driving force. Not that it is not important but the belief remains "if I make my art to the best of my ability, people will buy it." No concessions are made consciously or unconsciously to the need to sell. If you believe what was just mapped out, then wake up every day prepared to use everything you have to find your client, the stores that cater to them and creating your art and the ability to have it manufactured perfectly and with consistency. If you don't, go do something else that you do feel that way about.
Seth F.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The war for a young designer's soul
Emerging designers are often too young to handle what they are thrust into as they begin to get their collections together and thusly their careers off the ground. Nurtured and protected by the non-competitive environments or institutions they train at they are suddenly dumped into the ruthless and machine like environment of the commercial fashion industry. For those designers that decide to immediately launch rather than accepting a low paying 60 hr a week job working for an established designer, the road is much, much harder, I applaud the bravery of those who make such a choice.
In New York City there exist a few retail establishments that fill the role of transitional incubators and educators. Debut, Hillary Flowers, The Dressing Room, Sohung Designs, NYPull, Subdivision, and a few others. They offer rental/consignment or flat out purchase emerging designers work. Almost more importantly they offer critical feedback on what of a designer's aesthetic sells and what doesn't. They also introduce designers to some of the more nuanced elements of being a fashion designer such as launch parties, working with stylists and art directors, dealing with clients etc... Also organizations such as Underground Runway, NOLCHA, & Gen Art host shows for emerging talent. Despite what seems like a fair amount of available help it is in fact a very arduous road for a designer who goes it alone.
It seems to me it is more the emotional pounding that takes emerging talent out early in their careers. Living in a state of constant fear about rent, food, utilities almost always requires designers to get a 40 hr a week "regular" job. The pay at such positions for someone with only a BFA in design, (if they even had the money to aquire that), is usually so low that they will barely be able to live in a major fashion center and most likley will have to have a fairly long commute to work, and live with roomates, in smaller places, that often are not the healthiest, all of which is additionally draining. All of this saps their energy, erases their time and restricts their ability to design and create. Many of them quickly give up on their dreams while others allow their asthetics to be corrupted towards a blander, more commercial appeal by the pressure of needing money, now.
Now, their is one positive aspect to this, only the strong survive. This is a fairly easy argument to toss over your shoulder as a defense. Howver it ignores two things, these are human beings whose lives and health are being compromised and that is never acceptable if change can easily be made. Secondly, how many brillant but fragile people is it acceptable to lose? The answer for anyone with compassion is of course none. For me it would be better to create an environment that focused on nurture, not devoid of tough love and honesty, but a system with a heart. Their are many, many changes that can be made in how our industry deals with generation next. Many of them are fairly simple but they will take courage, I'm already all in, are you?
Seth F.
In New York City there exist a few retail establishments that fill the role of transitional incubators and educators. Debut, Hillary Flowers, The Dressing Room, Sohung Designs, NYPull, Subdivision, and a few others. They offer rental/consignment or flat out purchase emerging designers work. Almost more importantly they offer critical feedback on what of a designer's aesthetic sells and what doesn't. They also introduce designers to some of the more nuanced elements of being a fashion designer such as launch parties, working with stylists and art directors, dealing with clients etc... Also organizations such as Underground Runway, NOLCHA, & Gen Art host shows for emerging talent. Despite what seems like a fair amount of available help it is in fact a very arduous road for a designer who goes it alone.
It seems to me it is more the emotional pounding that takes emerging talent out early in their careers. Living in a state of constant fear about rent, food, utilities almost always requires designers to get a 40 hr a week "regular" job. The pay at such positions for someone with only a BFA in design, (if they even had the money to aquire that), is usually so low that they will barely be able to live in a major fashion center and most likley will have to have a fairly long commute to work, and live with roomates, in smaller places, that often are not the healthiest, all of which is additionally draining. All of this saps their energy, erases their time and restricts their ability to design and create. Many of them quickly give up on their dreams while others allow their asthetics to be corrupted towards a blander, more commercial appeal by the pressure of needing money, now.
Now, their is one positive aspect to this, only the strong survive. This is a fairly easy argument to toss over your shoulder as a defense. Howver it ignores two things, these are human beings whose lives and health are being compromised and that is never acceptable if change can easily be made. Secondly, how many brillant but fragile people is it acceptable to lose? The answer for anyone with compassion is of course none. For me it would be better to create an environment that focused on nurture, not devoid of tough love and honesty, but a system with a heart. Their are many, many changes that can be made in how our industry deals with generation next. Many of them are fairly simple but they will take courage, I'm already all in, are you?
Seth F.
Monday, June 8, 2009
No one is a fashion expert
So I just spent a lovely late afternoon with the amazingly talented designer Kaytee Papusza. (http://www.papuszacouture.com/) Kaytee was relating to me how a few well known fashion industry people and show biz types recently told her that there was no place in the real world for her designs and that they were the experts on fashion, not her. Not only are they not experts on fashion they don't even view fashion in the proper context. This importantly points out what is wrong with the way these "experts" and the industry as a whole sees designers and designs. We do not use the word expert when speaking of subjective art, because we know it is a laughable concept. How can anyone be an expert judge of sculpture? The variety of types of powerful and astonishingly skilled sculptors renders the idea of an expert impotent. Is there a system in place that allows objective judging between Rodin and Richard Serra? Is Renoir a more talented painter than Raphel?
History measures artists not T.V show judges. There are only two yardsticks for measuring artists, permanence and influence, no other opinion means a damn thing. American Idol judges would not have allowed the Sex Pistols beyond the first round and all they did was change music forever. Project Runway has yet to produce an artist of any magnitude, (though I do still root for Christian Soriano). What this fashion T.V show judge meant was, I am an expert on commercial fashion tastes. Which in twenty years will mean what exactly? They think they are experts because in their hearts they do not really believe that fashion is an art form...which is why they don't get many of the artists working today. Is there a place for her art? Is that what you really meant to ask? Tragic, absolutely tragic.
History measures artists not T.V show judges. There are only two yardsticks for measuring artists, permanence and influence, no other opinion means a damn thing. American Idol judges would not have allowed the Sex Pistols beyond the first round and all they did was change music forever. Project Runway has yet to produce an artist of any magnitude, (though I do still root for Christian Soriano). What this fashion T.V show judge meant was, I am an expert on commercial fashion tastes. Which in twenty years will mean what exactly? They think they are experts because in their hearts they do not really believe that fashion is an art form...which is why they don't get many of the artists working today. Is there a place for her art? Is that what you really meant to ask? Tragic, absolutely tragic.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
On being stupid and talented at the same time
Today, gentle reader I will rant and opine about me. Okay not really I'm just going to say I was stupidly casting about on the E-Sea for a place to host my styling and art directing portfolio when it suddenly occurred to me that I can add pictures to my blog...so I can do it here! So here will be the temporary home for some of my work. Now I just finished my "Brooklyn Woman" shoot and I can't put those pics up till after they get picked up or rejected. Pity that because the shoot was amazing but they will be here in a few weeks. So what follows is my work through April 2009:
Saturday, May 30, 2009
D.I.Y as an aesthetic
Back when I was a younger man there was a great movement that involved buying plain clothes and altering them. The whole punk and goth aesthetic was founded on the idea of re-imagining items that started their lives as banal. The necessity of poverty and stubborn artistic defiance collided to create iconic looks that are still copied today. Well now it's 30 years later and we have tons of new technology and textiles to play with, so let's get busy. I personally am going to be doing some things with a bunch of plain white shirts this summer, what are you going to do?
Seth F.
Seth F.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Wait till you see what I'm up to!
The Brooklyn Woman shoot is under a week away, all of the designers are on board and I have one accessories designer who will let me know today. This week is about permits and models and pulling the clothes and accessories. This shoot has an aesthetic that that I have never seen before on the net or in print. I am more prepared, focused and determined than ever to make every single look that is shot, a salvo in a fashion revolution. In reference to photographs Roland Barthes once said, "is this not the sole purpose of its art?" "To annihilate itself as medium, to be no longer a sign but the thing itself." Those words have haunted me since I read them. That is my ultimate goal as an artist. To create work that is so powerful that it erases the medium on which it is captured.
There is a word seldom used outside of linguistic theory that I love, the word is referent. A referent is the thing that a symbol (as a word or sign) stands for. But as the Zen Buddhist will tell you one of the traps of language is that it creates distance from experience. There is the thing, then there is the name for the thing and that is one too many. Art is the bridge, art gives the opportunity for humans to refer to experience or concept in the purest way possible. Art is a silent, magical language. Fashion is art, not simply commerce. When we refer to designers as artists that is not simply the act of gifting them with elevated status. More so than that it is transferring to them this ability to speak soundlessly of elements of existence that we suffer to express. I'm ready to make art.
Seth F.
There is a word seldom used outside of linguistic theory that I love, the word is referent. A referent is the thing that a symbol (as a word or sign) stands for. But as the Zen Buddhist will tell you one of the traps of language is that it creates distance from experience. There is the thing, then there is the name for the thing and that is one too many. Art is the bridge, art gives the opportunity for humans to refer to experience or concept in the purest way possible. Art is a silent, magical language. Fashion is art, not simply commerce. When we refer to designers as artists that is not simply the act of gifting them with elevated status. More so than that it is transferring to them this ability to speak soundlessly of elements of existence that we suffer to express. I'm ready to make art.
Seth F.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
What are "designer clothes"?
As my network expands and in many practical professional senses ascends, I have noticed a ceiling which I consider to be an illusion. I was recently told there is a "known" fashion photographer who will work with me if the clothes I pull are "designer clothes". The intimation is that the work no matter how artistically successful will not get get published if the designers are artists who no one has heard of. The other examples of this I saw recently were in the March 09 issue of Interview magazine and again in the May issue. Interview, like everyone else in the industry, has begun to feel the growing sense of dissatisfaction with the fashion industry and with fashion media, that exists at street level. This roiling feeling is in fact part of a large sense of dissatisfaction with everything. The fashion media's reaction has been typically blinkered, never have I seen the word "future" used more often than in early 2009. This is the future, that is the future, he is, no wait she is... ad nauseum. Here's what almost everyone seems to be missing, if you've seen it or can predict it there is a strong chance that it isn't the future.
To use the same logic to address the designer clothes issue, the people you want to work with more than anyone are people that nobody has heard of yet. Let me be clear that I am not saying that someone like the delightfully innovative Gareth Pugh can not be considered the future of fashion. Precisely, it is the fact that Gareth has not been universally embraced that shows that he is very much the future. The future is unknown and contains elements that make people uncomfortable. When the future gets here it doesn't get hugs and lovely to see you's, it gets sideways glances and snide remarks about it's being faddish and not really useful. Twitter is the future, people are still saying how it's not really important but in five years it will be obscenely ubiquitous. Nobody saw Twitter coming except for the developers, nobody realized its potential except for it's earliest investors and users and now it's on its way to becoming permanent.
If the fashion media really wants to scoop what's next they need to stop looking at celebrities and millionaire designers and start scouring the nowheres of the world. Take a cue from the sports world, every year someone you've never seen play on T.V gets drafted and ends up becoming a key part of a championship down the road. Why? Because scouts know talent and look everywhere. I have my brilliant young core of downtown and out of town talent I work with and they are my hope for the future. The future of fashion? The future of fashion is living in a dirty neighborhood worrying about the rent, eating ramen, (again), and it's 2am and they are sewing, and sewing, and sewing...
Seth F
To use the same logic to address the designer clothes issue, the people you want to work with more than anyone are people that nobody has heard of yet. Let me be clear that I am not saying that someone like the delightfully innovative Gareth Pugh can not be considered the future of fashion. Precisely, it is the fact that Gareth has not been universally embraced that shows that he is very much the future. The future is unknown and contains elements that make people uncomfortable. When the future gets here it doesn't get hugs and lovely to see you's, it gets sideways glances and snide remarks about it's being faddish and not really useful. Twitter is the future, people are still saying how it's not really important but in five years it will be obscenely ubiquitous. Nobody saw Twitter coming except for the developers, nobody realized its potential except for it's earliest investors and users and now it's on its way to becoming permanent.
If the fashion media really wants to scoop what's next they need to stop looking at celebrities and millionaire designers and start scouring the nowheres of the world. Take a cue from the sports world, every year someone you've never seen play on T.V gets drafted and ends up becoming a key part of a championship down the road. Why? Because scouts know talent and look everywhere. I have my brilliant young core of downtown and out of town talent I work with and they are my hope for the future. The future of fashion? The future of fashion is living in a dirty neighborhood worrying about the rent, eating ramen, (again), and it's 2am and they are sewing, and sewing, and sewing...
Seth F
Friday, May 1, 2009
Look at me, look at me!
Ugh... the part of the fashion world that I hate is that there are all these pretentious people that circle around designers and artist like a pack of hyenas, very often they sound and on certain frightening occasions dress like them as well. I went to two parties last night and although the venues were full of bodies there were very few actual people there, mostly there were created personas. Now as way of warning here is how you can tell you are a pretentious person:
You speak with a voice other than the one God gave you.
You go to parties to get your photo taken and don't actually ever form a single meaningful personal or professional relationship out of going to them.
When someone asks how was your night, your definition of success involves how many parties you went to and who was there.
You attend works to promote or celebrate artists but can't remember a single intelectual or emotional response you had to their work.
You spend 2 hours getting your appearance "just so" for a party and then stay for 20 minutes.
You actually get excited when one of the "party photographers" comes closer.
You spend a great deal of your time at the party explaining why everybody else at the party is so unstylish.
You are introduced to others and you talk more than you listen.
Please don't be the above person. Be yourself, and make real connections with other real people. And most importantly when you are around art, be vulnerable to it, let it work its way on you and see what you feel and think.
Seth F.
You speak with a voice other than the one God gave you.
You go to parties to get your photo taken and don't actually ever form a single meaningful personal or professional relationship out of going to them.
When someone asks how was your night, your definition of success involves how many parties you went to and who was there.
You attend works to promote or celebrate artists but can't remember a single intelectual or emotional response you had to their work.
You spend 2 hours getting your appearance "just so" for a party and then stay for 20 minutes.
You actually get excited when one of the "party photographers" comes closer.
You spend a great deal of your time at the party explaining why everybody else at the party is so unstylish.
You are introduced to others and you talk more than you listen.
Please don't be the above person. Be yourself, and make real connections with other real people. And most importantly when you are around art, be vulnerable to it, let it work its way on you and see what you feel and think.
Seth F.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
New opportunties
I'm working on my next project as an art director. It's a shoot for submission titled "Subversive Sherbet". Location, details and the magazine are confidential as is my preference, but I do want to say how excited I am to do this shoot and to apply all of the lessons I learned from the last project. It's very encouraging to me that I instantly identified the mistakes I made in the last shoot and have already corrected them as I prepare for this next project.
I have two new photographers with whom I hope to be working this summer and as I continue to learn my craft I feel stronger and stronger in my ability to express flawlessly the fantastic images I see in my head. The last shoot is being finalized as we speak and will be submitted by tomorrow. But I can hardly wait for the next one and then the three more I have planned before October. This is my life, it took me till I was 40 to figure out what I wanted to do with my life but now that I have I feel unstoppable. The Universe has blessed me; I am in the perfect place, at the perfect time, with the perfect aesthetic. Perfect :)
Seth F.
I have two new photographers with whom I hope to be working this summer and as I continue to learn my craft I feel stronger and stronger in my ability to express flawlessly the fantastic images I see in my head. The last shoot is being finalized as we speak and will be submitted by tomorrow. But I can hardly wait for the next one and then the three more I have planned before October. This is my life, it took me till I was 40 to figure out what I wanted to do with my life but now that I have I feel unstoppable. The Universe has blessed me; I am in the perfect place, at the perfect time, with the perfect aesthetic. Perfect :)
Seth F.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
1+Resort+09.jpg)
