Recently I have taken to wearing jeans almost everyday. There is a functionality and transformability about them that makes me feel like I can be anywhere, sit anywhere without worrying about getting messed up. There is a comforting sameness and anonymity that reminds me of my old school uniforms. Like my uniform they can also present a challenge when it comes to marking myself with a unique identity, with showing I have a mind of my own.
I have been seeing a lot of Issey Miyake lately, he seems to be a particular favorite among musicians. Recently, at Glastonbury 2017, Solange wore a cherry red mock turtleneck tucked into glossy pants. In the 1980’s Miles Davis wore Issey and Beyonce has played with black and white Madame T’s in her videos. In a recent photo, Rina Sawayama, a singer/songwriter and model based in London wears Pleats Please (and my favorite eyewear designer Percy Lau). Cambridge educated, Rina invites us to explore our online lives through her songs and lyrics. I wore my black Issey turtleneck with jeans when we recently posed together in London.
Pleats are essentially the reduction, withdrawal and diminishment of the fabric into a slim column while still offering the capability to expand and grow in volume. The shirt I am wearing suits the rhythm of my life right now and seems to house the uncertain emotions I am feeling right now, an in-between mood. This is a garment that allows me to have access to and to express profoundly different selves, in different moments and places. My inside becomes outside. It is also a garment that has a mind of its own and therefore requires a transaction, a kind of co-construction to take place. It takes the edge off the aloneness I sometimes feel in the summer after an academic year filled with people, meetings and events. I am reminded once again of how fashion is integral to the expression of identity and affect and why we need it more than ever now.
What sandals are you wearing?
Xiao Li
Yes, this garment along with another created by Issey Miyake called Madame T allows you to interact with it and create new and undiscovered ways to wear the garment. It is very much like the feeling you get when you are "playing" with a friend. I can spend time with the Madame T and it can become a shirt, a short dress, a long dress a wrap and many other renditions. When Calvin and I go out we "play" in the city. When I am "playing" I do not experience myself as alone. An important distinction to make is the difference between the feeling of being alone and loneliness which I need a person to help me with.
What sandals are you wearing?
Xiao Li
Re these sentences of your above post: "… It is also a garment that has a mind of its own and therefore requires a transaction, a kind of co-construction to take place. It takes the edge off the aloneness I sometimes feel in the summer after an academic year filled with people, meetings and events. …" Can you explain how a garment takes the edge off the aloneness you sometimes feel? That is an intriguing thought, but I have no idea how it could be so. Thank you, Lyn.
Yes, this garment along with another created by Issey Miyake called Madame T allows you to interact with it and create new and undiscovered ways to wear the garment. It is very much like the feeling you get when you are "playing" with a friend. I can spend time with the Madame T and it can become a shirt, a short dress, a long dress a wrap and many other renditions. When Calvin and I go out we "play" in the city. When I am "playing" I do not experience myself as alone. An important distinction to make is the difference between the feeling of being alone and loneliness which I need a person to help me with.
Jeans have been my default uniform for ever. Yours look fab.
They have been my summer default.
Jeans have been my default uniform for ever. Yours look fab.
They have been my summer default.
Is that a new haircut? Love it
I noticed the same thing!! Agree, it’s rad 😉
Just some styling experimentation, not a new cut.
Is that a new haircut? Love it
I noticed the same thing!! Agree, it’s rad 😉
Just some styling experimentation, not a new cut.
A CAFTAN!
I can dress it the way I feel…………
ANtiqueGoddess from IG HERE!!!
Yes a magical garment in many ways.
A CAFTAN!
I can dress it the way I feel…………
ANtiqueGoddess from IG HERE!!!
Yes a magical garment in many ways.
antique black silk hapi coat with surprising lining struck through with gold and orange. It knows when I need elegance, when I need sexy, when I need soft heavy comfort.
I am intrigued with your thoughts on pleats. Having been mind blown by the doc Origami Revolution, I am thinking about that which is folded out of view. Its the beginning of something exciting for me – an artist who never stops wondering about the relationship of figure to ground and the space in between.
Thank you again, Lyn. So often there is a thread in what you are pondering that tweaks one in my field!
best,
Suzanne
Have you read Miyake’s book about Pleats Please? Also came across Deleuze’s essay, "Le Pli". I am going to look at the book you mentioned, I love what you are speaking about.
antique black silk hapi coat with surprising lining struck through with gold and orange. It knows when I need elegance, when I need sexy, when I need soft heavy comfort.
I am intrigued with your thoughts on pleats. Having been mind blown by the doc Origami Revolution, I am thinking about that which is folded out of view. Its the beginning of something exciting for me – an artist who never stops wondering about the relationship of figure to ground and the space in between.
Thank you again, Lyn. So often there is a thread in what you are pondering that tweaks one in my field!
best,
Suzanne
Have you read Miyake’s book about Pleats Please? Also came across Deleuze’s essay, "Le Pli". I am going to look at the book you mentioned, I love what you are speaking about.
Thank God we can wear jeans! Imagine how was life in dresses!
Indeed!
I always read everyone that comes in and am sometimes delayed by 2 or 3 weeks in responding but eventually I do.
Thank God we can wear jeans! Imagine how was life in dresses!
Indeed!
Lyn, do you still read and respond to comments here?
I always read everyone that comes in and am sometimes delayed by 2 or 3 weeks in responding but eventually I do.
Jeans have always been my staple even at 66. Thank God I can find my size, because of my hourglass figure. I guess that is the only thing I appreciate the Kardashian’s influence. Jeans are iconic and will always be in style. Also, since I’m an artist, very convenient for painting.
Ah I love a woman with a good sense of humor and a good sense of self❤️
Jeans have always been my staple even at 66. Thank God I can find my size, because of my hourglass figure. I guess that is the only thing I appreciate the Kardashian’s influence. Jeans are iconic and will always be in style. Also, since I’m an artist, very convenient for painting.
Ah I love a woman with a good sense of humor and a good sense of self❤️
As a teenager just about to go to University 30 years short I made a Vogue designer pattern by Issy. I had no concept how hard it would be to make but I ploughed through it and ended up with something that gave me so much pleasure to wear.
As a teenager just about to go to University 30 years short I made a Vogue designer pattern by Issy. I had no concept how hard it would be to make but I ploughed through it and ended up with something that gave me so much pleasure to wear.