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"Gothic" is an
epithet that evokes images of death,
destruction, and decay. Not simply a
word that describes something, such
as a Gothic cathedral, it is almost
always a term of abuse that implies
the dark, barbarous, and gloomy.
Such negative connotations have made
the gothic an ideal symbol of
rebellion for a wide range of
cultural outsiders. From its origins
in 18th century gothic literature of
terror to its contemporary
manifestations in vampire literature
and cinema, the gothic has embraced
the powers of horror and the erotic
macabre. Throughout its history,
fashion has been central to our
vision of the gothic. The Museum at
the Fashion Institute of Technology
(FIT) will present Gothic: Dark
Glamour, the first exhibition
devoted to the gothic in fashion,
from September 5, 2008 through
February 21, 2009.
Set in theatrical mise-en-scene
suggesting iconic gothic settings,
such as the labyrinth, the ruined
castle and the laboratory, more than
75 ensembles will be on display.
Although popularly identified with
black-clad teenagers and rock
musicians, gothic fashion is
represented in this exhibition with
looks by designers such as Alexander
McQueen, John Galliano of Christian
Dior, Rick Owens, Gareth Pugh, Anne
Demeulemeester, Anna Sui, Olivier
Theyskens, Ricardo Tischi of
Givenchy, Jun Takahashi of
Undercover, and Yohji Yamamoto, as
well as sub-cultural styles, such as
"old-school goth," cyber-goth, and
the Japanese look of Elegant Gothic
Lolitas.
"The dark glamour of the gothic has
made it perversely attractive to
many designers," said Dr. Valerie
Steele, director of The Museum at
FIT and curator of this exhibition.
"John Galliano told me that he saw
the ‘Gothic girl’ as ‘edgy and cool,
vampy and mysterious,’ while Rick
Owens said that whenever he saw goth
kids, he felt as though they were
his children. But other designers,
such as Olivier Theyskens and Ann
Demeulemeester, reject the gothic
label, although they acknowledge
that their work may display a
certain dark romanticism."
An introductory gallery will focus
on the origins of gothic style,
which have inspired both designers
and goths. The Victorian cult of
mourning, for example, will be
illustrated by actual mourning
dresses, veils, and momento mori
jewelry. The main gallery space will
be designed as a labyrinth,
featuring iconic themes such as
Night, with black evening dresses;
the Ruined Castle, with fashion
inspired by gothic images of the
Dark Ages, ruins, and fragments; and
the Laboratory, where futuristic
fashion "monsters" are created.
Other themes include Veils and
Masks, Mirrors, and the Haunted
Palace – the last of which draws on
Edgar Allan Poe’s architectural
metaphor for a disturbed mind.
Source: The Museum at F.I.T
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GOTHIC: DARK GLAMOR EXHIBIT |
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SPECIAL EVENT:
September
5th, 2008 through February 21st,
2009
Hours:
Tuesday - Friday: Noon - 8pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm.
Closed Sundays, Mondays, and legal
holidays.
@ The Museum at
F.I.T.
7th Ave at 27th
Street,
N.Y.C.
View Larger Map |
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Ages: All Ages
Admission: FREE
SUBWAYS:
to the
28th Street/7th Avenue station, walk
1 block South to 27th Street.
[click here for
Subway map]
Official Website:
http://www.fitnyc.edu
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On Saturday, October 11th,
I had the immense pleasure of
organizing New Goth City's first
ever "Meet-up" and "Field Trip"
to the Fashion Institute of
Technology's Gothic: Dark
Glamour Exhibit. I'd first like
to thank the impressive
hand-full of New Goth City
Citizens that made it out on
such a bright and sunny day. The
rest of you probably didn't get
your "permission slips" signed
by your parents in time, right?
Likely story. Lucky for all of
you absentees I'll be organizing
a second field trip to the
exhibit in a few weeks...yeah,
it's that good! It was an even
more of a special treat to have
us darklings roam the gloomy lit
exhibit halls among Day-Crawlers
and students on assignment
research. Our group, in a
strange sort of way, became part
of the exhibit...walking
mannequins amongst the stiff
ones, if you will. "Oh!
Look! Real Goths!" I
overheard whispered on at least
three separate occasions as we
strolled curiously amidst the
dark fashions and those who
were dark-fashion-challenged.
For a brief moment of time it
felt as though we were being
celebrated for having such a
daring sense of style. It was
distinctively much more fun as a
group than going alone.
As for the exhibit itself, it
was quite a striking endeavor.
It actually made me proud and
feel privileged to be part of
our sub-culture! Someone at
F.I.T. saw it fit (get it?
Fit..) and thought it a good
idea to showcase the Gothic
sense of Fashion for a full six
months...that, my friends, if
you think about it, is very,
very important! The mere fact
that the nation's top fashion
college recognizes our fashion
as a certified style, and sends
its students to study it,
denotes that we have advanced,
on some level, from a
sub-culture to an actual
culture. Not that I feel we need
to be validated by the
mainstream, far from it, but
honestly, I never really liked
the coined term of "sub-culture"
when referencing to Goths. It
sounds too negative and too
close to "sub-human," which is a
total contradiction in terms if
you really think about it. No, I
enjoy Goths being seen as a
borderless global community with
its own art, music, fashion, and
history...that is what
"Culture" embodies after all!!!
*steps down from soap-box*
I'm not going to go into any
great lengths in describing the
outfits, the decor, or the
layout...you have to discover it
for yourself if you haven't gone
yet...and for those who have
been to the exhibit, I'm not
going to bore you with my detail
heavy description of it. I will,
however, share with you two
gripes I had with the exhibit on
a whole...I wouldn't be a good
Goth if I didn't. ;)
First, you must understand that
this is an exhibit created
essentially by "non-Goth"
fashion educators and students
to show the "non-Goth" world
(read: Day-Crawlers) the
influence we strange little
gothlings have made on the
fashion world. Understand, this
is not an
exhibit of historical fashions
influencing the diverse Goth
styles of today and the
future...keep that in mind. As
you saunter from dress to dress,
reading the appropriate
information tablets, you will
start to notice a few things.
Primarily, you will notice that
most of these ensembles
are created not by Goth fashion
designers, but rather by
prominent names of the
mainstream, haute-couture
fashion world. Names such as
Givenchy, Calvin Klein,
Alexander McQueen, John
Galliano, are rather abundant
throughout. And while we were
all like: "Ooh! I want to
buy that one," I started to
realize that most, if not all,
of these outfits must cost a
FORTUNE! No self-respecting Goth
could ever afford any of this!
What we were all witnessing here
was how top designers observed
what we Goths painstakingly
pieced together, and even
created from scratch, to
manifest our individual styles,
and tried to make it their
"haute-couture" own. How Rude!
Most of this exhibit was, in
actuality, not Goth fashion, but
rather how mainstream
fashionistas see Goths!
*Gasp!* To tell you the
truth...there were at least four
dresses that arguably did not
belong in this exhibit...you'll
know the ones I'm talking about
when you see them. This, though,
didn't make me angry or
anything...but something else
did. On two of the information
tablets (Again, I'll let you
find them for yourselves) the
quoted designer, one being Ann
Demeulemeester, states that
he/she didn't feel influenced by
Gothic style and rejected the
Goth label. Huh?!? W.T.F?!? Why
put that down, in writing, at a
Goth influenced fashion
exhibit??? But then I took a
good eyeful look around, bathed
within the comforting darkness
and tranquility of the room, and
simply let that issue roll right
out of my mind. No big deal, I
thought to myself, haute-couture
designers are all pompous divas,
and all of this is very
beautiful to me. Ahhh.....
Wait! There is something else
bothering me here...the massive
lack of Men's Gothic outfits!
Out of over 75 dressed
mannequins, there are only maybe
3 or 4 of male fashions. HOW
RUDE! The guys were grossly
misrepresented. As for myself, I
take great and long strides when
it comes to my personal fashion
and style, and quite honestly, I
was looking forward to maybe
getting some new ideas from the
exhibit to call my own...no such
luck. That was the biggest
disappointment, for me anyhow.
But if you think about it, in
fashion as a whole, no matter
which style and/or genre, women
always had much more choice in
clothing than men. It's just a
sad reality. I just think they
cold have made a bit more of a
concentrated effort to showcase
some diverse male Goth fashions,
is all.
I don't want to end this review
on a negative note...don't get
me wrong...I really enjoyed
myself at this exhibit. So much
so that I'm organizing the next
"field trip" to F.I.T. on
Saturday, November 8th! Having
said that, here is my positive
note: Several of my friends
asked me what was my favorite
item in the entire exhibit. The
coolest thing in the exhibit
was, hands-down, the accessory
shadow-box in the first room,
and within that trinket-filled
shadow-box was my favorite item:
the strangest Top-hat I have
ever seen. You have to see it to
believe it!!! It is, in
actuality, a large wire-framed,
quite steampunky, top-hat, and
stitched onto this frame with
more wire are 4 panels of
taught, dry pigskin. So
gross--so cool!!! But wait!
There is more! Split over the
top/front corner of this creepy
hat is an image of a bat that
was tattooed
onto the pig's flesh before it
was dried out and molded!!! You
have GOT to see this
thing!!! It's amazing! I was
hoping that the entire accessory
shadow-box was the exhibit's
gift-shop...something else this
free exhibit dramatically
lacked...how do they make money
on this thing? In any case, I'm
going back on November 8th to
take a picture of that hat!
Who's with me?
All in all, despite any
reservations or issues I have
with this exhibit, I applaud the
Fashion Institute of Technology
and all those involved with
putting it together. It very
respectfully portrayed and
represented the dark romantic
essence of our "culture," and
for that I thank them. If this
exhibit helps demystify Goths
just a little bit (especially to
those three bewildered old
ladies that were wandering about
when we were there) and give
Day-Crawlers a glimpse into our
world, and at the same time give
them a bit more understanding of
us, I thank them yet again.
Maybe if I thank them enough
they'll be so kind as to give me
that cool pigskin, bat-tattooed,
steampunky, Top-hat.
(wink-wink, hint-hint) |
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