embodiments + condiments

now taking orders

2005-12-14T06:18:00.000-08:00

announcing the new web presence of

~ fabrication per specificiation ~

if you have a chance, please take the time to place an order. your patronage will be most appreciated.

warmly, the management

threading the needle

2005-12-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

so i'm still very much confused how this project will unfurl. i had three budding attempts to address the idea of secrecy, all of which are sort of floopy and unoriginal.

1. clothing reincarnation, clothing incognito, if you will. the idea that the memories attached to a particular object may be altered, transferred, or retained through an indistinguishable transformation of the object. you would take an object that possesses significant meaning, but because of changing circumstances you want to disguise the form. for example, say you have a sweater that was given to you by an ex. at the time, it held many fond and important memories. after the breakup, you can live without the ex but the sweater contains so much a part of yourself and your 'past life' that you dont want to throw it out. however, your current relationship sort of makes it awkward or unacceptable to wear this sweater. you may, however, be comfortable wearing the sweater incognito -- unraveling it, using the yarn for mittens and a sock, or cutting it apart for a scarf fringe, or a tablecloth. similar idea: melting down a piece of jewelry and reforming it into something new. though the material is the same, will the changed piece hold the same sort of meaning? what's changed and what's the same? sweater -> unraveled -> dyed -> reknit -> felted -> mittens. will wearing the mittens be the same as wearing the sweater? how may this secret history be public or private? process history vs. material experience. it's a different idea than, say, quilting or patchwork, where the form lends itself to asking questions about collective history and what the different materials mean.

so, if you take your favorite shirt, and put it in a blender, and make a deconstructed skirt or hat or socks, how does your perception of it change? has its previous life come to an abrupt end and a new life started? or how can the idea of continuity in materiality follow through

2. 3. okay, these are sort of lame. i'll just say 'invisible ink' or 'hidden layers' and leave it at that.

another idea hit me this afternoon. this idea of personal attachment to our clothes. the intimacy. the idea that 'my wearing this particular item of clothing is very significant because, well, it's mine and there are a lot of psychological connections to it.' it would be strange, somehow, to think of other people wearing some of our clothing. different dimensions:

- which clothes? i think it's important that the intimacy is attached to the actual object (and not a copied design or the 'same model'). the jeans with the stains, the pilled sweater, the coat-that-i-found-in-portugal. it's the feelings associated with the individual instantiation.

- which other people? would you be more uncomfortable if your intimate clothing were worn by someone you know, or by a stranger? i have a skirt that i got from my mother. would i be more twisted or resistant to having, say, a fellow medialabmate wear it one day, or a more random 'clothing swap' partner i found on the internet? does it matter if i see them in it in person? photographs? getting compliments on it from other people? finding the same pleasures in it that i do (silky lining, warm colors, unique construction)? this other life on another body -- ideas of jealousy, longing, incompatibility, or distrust in terms of what is intimately yours being adopted by someone else.

- how long? would a day be enough? a longer amount of time for the 'other's' influence to take over (either perceptible or non)? is it more i'm-missing-the-object than the-object-misses-me?

- how much should the other person know? is it enough to say 'this sweater was worn before,' and leave it at that? or something like 'this sweater is the last gift to the other person from her grandfather before he passed away'. how much of the story will affect the circumstances? maybe too much information is too much information, but ambiguity might mask the intensity of the materiality.

some fodder for thought. i really need to formulate my strategy now.

scenarios

2005-12-08T14:14:00.000-08:00

initial thought: a secret undergarment that contains identifiable features when it's concealed or obscured, but turns up blank or with a 'decoy' appearance when it is exposed. for example, perhaps you can feel safe wearing a personally edifying but publicly embarassing undershirt, but if for any reason your sweater has to come off (temperature, force, circumstance) the shirt will not reveal its secret appearance. i guess i can try doing this with thermochromic ink or photochromic ink, but can also be something like a pattern which becomes incoherent or illegible with induced wrinkling, spinning, or vibration.

where to go from here?

secret messaging. i hate to go down the path of 'hug shirts' or 'warmth from a distance' or things like that. they're cute for a second, but then there's this weirdness emanating from the fact that a computer (yes, admittedly instructed to do so by a human, but only if you trust it as so) is hugging you and not a real person. you can argue email is also 'text on a screen' that is reflective of a real person typing it (almost all our communication is mediated), but it can carry the nuance and personality and control of the other that haptic experiences cannot (imho) recreate. cellphone vibs are potentially okay because the buzz tells you a real person is there waiting to talk to you. you also dont want monitoring systems, like getting a vib everyone time your loved one enters and exits their home.

secrets you share: something that you pass along, like an accessory, that keeps a collective secret. all those who have it in their hands for some amount of time add to the secret.

heee. you could have secret asynchronous notifications that appear only in very secret situations. for example, perhaps the inside lining of your pants turns purple if you have a new voicemail from a certain special someone (which you'd only see if you're de-pantsified). or the inner lining of one's bra. or the inside surface of a belt. secret messages in very secret *places*. on the body.

or secret *spaces*. it's only visible if you're safe in bed. or safe in the bathroom. or safe in this very hidden corner of your grandparents' attic. this haven of security. for example, maybe your pjs only have a special pattern when you're tucked in your bed, but if you bring the same pjs to sleep at lab or sleep somewhere else, they're not noticable in that secret way. it gives a special relationship to you, in clothes, in a particular location. this might be plausible only if it's you + your spaces (you can define the relationships explicitly), or if gps is really reliable and you can safely display particular things in particular areas or radius.

not only is it secret display, but also function? one guy that was surveyed wore ladies' long underwear only because the store was out of men's small sizes, and they were still warm and fit well. it can be a secret silhouette or design. for example, a bra that can turn into a unisex tank top, or briefs that can turn into boxers. now it's starting to sound like 'looks like a pump, feels like a shoe.' ai ya.

here's a scenario. someone whispers you a secret, or IMs you, or txt msgs, something that is yours alone and not meant to be shared with anyone else. you already have a mechanism to remember it, replay it in your head, save it on your cellphone, encrypt it, etc. thinking about.. 'omg i can't wash this shirt -- justin timberlake brushed against this shirt!'. or joking not to ever wash the right hand that prince charming kissed. that sort of secret event that transformed the item in the eye of the wearer, but not without any noticeable or perceptible change to outsiders. it might be nice to have something that melds this physical occurence with a secret display. example: your father hugs you and says, 'im so proud of you.' this might be a really really memorable thing. on the inside of your shirt, it might carry the traces of where you were touched or embraced, with an internally recorded date/time. recorded audio? just a breath? maybe only the sight of the trace (which fades to obscurity, but can be recalled easily) can act as simple and effective indicator of that interaction.

time for class.

defining

2005-12-08T14:12:00.000-08:00

secret (via google):

not open or public; kept private or not revealed; "a secret formula"; "secret ingredients"; "secret talks"

clandestine: conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods; "clandestine intelligence operations"; "cloak-and-dagger activities behind enemy lines"; "hole-and-corner intrigue"; "secret missions"; "a secret agent"; "secret sales of arms"; "surreptitious mobilization of troops"; "an undercover investigation"; "underground resistance"

unavowed: not openly made known; "a secret marriage"; "a secret bride"

communicated covertly; "their secret signal was a wink"; "secret messages"

not expressed; "secret (or private) thoughts"

hidden: designed to elude detection; "a hidden room or place of concealment such as a priest hole"; "a secret passage"; "the secret compartment in the desk"

privy: hidden from general view or use; "a privy place to rest and think"; "a secluded romantic spot"; "a secret garden"

confidential: (of information) given in confidence or in secret; "this arrangement must be kept confidential"; "their secret communications"

something that should remain hidden from others (especially information that is not to be passed on); "the combination to the safe was a secret"; "he tried to keep his drinking a secret"

indulging only covertly; "a secret alcoholic"

information known only to a special group; "the secret of Cajun cooking"

mysterious: having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding; "mysterious symbols"; "the mystical style of Blake"; "occult lore"; "the secret learning of the ancients"

mystery: something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained; "how it got out is a mystery"; "it remains one of nature's secrets"

the next to highest level of official classification for documents

i like the communicated covertly (messages), indulging covertly (fetishism), and the veil of mystery.

sworn to secrecy

2005-12-08T13:44:00.000-08:00

so i think i have a problem space defined. just chatted with prof c for a bit and the word of the day is secret. no, really. it's 'secret.' an interesting twist about clothing is that not all of it is strictly worn as a sociological measure -- sometimes we wear clothing that we know for sure will not be seen by anyone at anytime, but still appeals to us for a particular reason or another. some examples of secrets + clothing:

wearing a subversive or possibly controversial message or pattern underneath the public layer, to add a shield or psychologically protective layer. example: prof c wearing an 'anderson for president' shirt underneath his suit and tie when meeting the homeland security committee. it would never be exposed, though it perhaps balanced out his mental state or helped him through the event.
wearing underwear that's particularly silly, sensual, or comfortable. there's instances of women buying luxurious or patterned or differently cut underwear. there's also wearing of 'granny underwear' on days when you don't feel like anyone will notice, or this guy here: I'm wearing black briefs. I never wear black briefs except when I know that nobody's going to see me in them. They are also warmer (at least in my view) than, say, boxers on a day like this, under jeans. So, they're perfectly sturdy designer brand boxer briefs and they look like hell, but I've got no date today, so they're safe to wear in private. Boxer briefs are much hotter.
cellphone or pager silent/vibration mode. only the wearer has a secret notification for just them that's invisible to others. the existence of a communication issecret.

thinking of the idea of secrecy. there's a sheer rush when there's something only you (or a precious other few) know about, or even something like a joke on the world around you who has no idea. there are several elements of secrets: the acquiring of it, the harboring of it, and the possible leakage of it. it's that risky element (no matter how large or how small) that makes the experience all the more valuable or personal. if you wear a sexy underthing, even if you have no plans to show them to really anybody, it's that miniscule chance that someone may see them that gives a thrill at the back of the mind. maybe you'd be embarassed beyond belief if anyone really did see yourself in them, but it may still be an amusing fantasy to entertain.

small risk factor:
wearing dirty socks or underwear. someone asking you about an already publicly displayed thing (maybe a piece of jewelry or a pattern motif) that has an secret story.

high risk factor:
wearing embarassing or inappropriate kinds of clothing. causing others to think of you differently.

unthinkable risk factor:
wearing something that is life of death. a highly controversial statement. something that reveals something extremely secret part of identity (i.e. being exposed with a seriously secret crossdressing fetish), exposing yourself as a traitor, as a cheater (illicit relationship), something to crumble your foundation of life.

brainstorming

2005-12-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

the results from the survey have been fantastic to read. they've confirmed my belief that we all possess neurotic relationships with our clothes. there are so many facets of this complexity, from comfort and warmth, to mood and disposition, to memory and love. i wanted to approach the sense of clothing from the psychological perspective, rather than from the usual sociological perspective (clothes as language, how we signal qualities about ourselves to each other, how we form social associations, etc.)

some themes:

the pragmatic.

comfort

convenience

the sentimental.

tokens

 My favorite thing that I am wearring is my wedding band. Its very simple, its gold, it feels nice, it reminds me of my lovely wife.

the self-conscious.

body-image

mood

perception from others

 The shirt I'm wearing, I remember got me particular compliments from a really attractive girl. Major ego boost!

the material

color

fabric, composition

Wearing leather makes me feel cool, which makes me laugh to tell you! It indicates a bit of sensuousness, a sharp look, and prosperity.

the memory

places

found these on sale in the downtown Vancouver store one year.

this shirt has also seen me through all of europe. i wore it at a huge music festival in hungary. i remember drinking sangria with these hungarians we met. it was this perfect temperature, and dusk was falling, and the festival was on this island in the middle of the river. when i finally went to sleep last night the shirt reeked of cigarettes.

people

I remember wearing this particular shirt when I was in a meeting and decided the people I work for are crazy. Now in the mornings, on days I put on the shirt, I'm reminded of that. Curiously.

times

 My Elephant and Castle tee shirt: It's black, it is from one my favorite NYC restaurants and it brings back memories of when I was alone (unpartnered) in my life and I found cozy places where it was okay to have a table for one. I can put on my tee shirt and think of the soft lighting, the tasty food and scrumptious deserts and the busy world of NYCity moving around outside me.

the secret

I also love my silk undershirt (even though you can't see it). It's real warm, lightweight and is this fantastic magenta color.

the inseparable

 They have taken me to hell-and-back-to-heaven again and I don't know what I'd do without them.

the invisible

personal contribution

 does my engagement ring count? it's not, to me the typical, boring ring. my husband designed it himself and it was made by a local artist. it's my third ring by her. the stone is blood free, very sparkly and he didn't pay retail for it. i feel like all of those things add up to something that on teh surface looks kind of boring and traditional, but below the surface is completely original and very me.

the unpredictable

 I remember wearing the jacket during the Media Lab sponsor week. A weak later I received a picture (by email) that one of the sponsor representatives had taken of me, without me being aware of it. It was a really nice picture!

 I found this warm PolarTec hat on the ground one day a couple of winters ago, and picked it up since it looked warm...now it's one of my favorite pieces of clothing.

survey

2005-12-07T08:05:00.000-08:00

hey -- it's been a while.

final project season has begun. if you would fancy it, please do my survey below. it will provide one small step toward a bright future for clothing technology.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=325261587157

you just talk about yourself and your clothes. easy peasy.

later today i shall write more about the direction this is going, and plans for the next two weeks in creating the framework and the final constructed garment.

thanks for doing the survey!

joanna berzowska :: xslabs

2005-11-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

hexagram research institute - computation arts

concordia u -- montreal

nonemissive displays (textiles) (change color / shape reaction)
soft computation (stitch/sewing/materials)
intimate tech (wearable on body)
memory-rich garments --- data and ownership -- access to memory

big issues: power control access memory

e-ink -- non luminescent

(grace colbys)

thermochromic inks: luco dye (from color to clear) / liquid crystal

~ 31 deg
high current

shimmering flower -- weaving w conductive threads -- multi layer -- jacquard loom

nitinol (material changes shape with particular arbitrary temperature)
resistive heating (pulses faster or slower) - to raise temperature
vilkas / kukkia : kinetic dresses
shape memory alloys!
autonomous action??
[FELT: thick - insulative -- can do circuitry on both sides of fabric
nature fire retardant
heavy, rigid
handfelting -- can do]
working together with material properties of the working fiber

vincent - peltier junctions - power/current for thermochromic

intimate aspects of body -- traces, connection -- human

leeches project --- modular snap - power distribution

ITP: despina papi....philosophy

gendered clothing + interaction

testing backlinks

2005-11-12T14:43:00.000-08:00

hello.

testing this out.

my last blog post.

goodbye.

assignment 4 :: space intervention

2005-10-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

Choose a space somewhere in the city and use your clothing or worn technology to intervene in what happens there.

view documentation [photos + videos] of the performance.

assignment 3 :: exercising a societal norm

2005-10-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

assignment from last week:

Moving from our case study of gender to general ideas of self and representation, I'd like you to think about Butler's notion of repetitive acts. She'd argue that, while they're done by individuals, they actually entrain the individual within larger regimes of power. For example, I go to the gym (okay okay, it's hypothetical) ostensibly to not puff out and because I choose to be more fit and conditioned. But to a large degree that choice is the result of duress, pressure on me about body image and norms.

That said, your assignment is to design an "exercise machine" that helps you do repetitive acts that condition you toward some societal norm.

after brainstorming for a bit, the societal norm i chose which would require 'conditioning' was that of gendered hairstyles and hairstyle maintenance. the most 'suitable look' for women is a longer length, with frequent trips to one's hairdresser to mimic the most fashionable cut that's paraded in the glossies. gray hairs are to completely avoided or dyed. men, on the other hand, should have a short, neat, professional cut, with elegant salt + pepper (when appropriate), and should not deviate from a classic look.

exercise for women:

purchase a 2006 year-of-hair calendar and put it on your wall/download to your palm desktop software. be sure to keep up with each new hairstyle each month as is dictated by the timetable. comes in two varieties, medium and long length, and gives tips on how to make your style versatile ("wear up! wear down! barrette it!")
subscribe to your hairdresser's rss/xml feed. whenever there's a new cut that's meant to be had, be one of the first on your block to get the fashionable 'do.
if you find a grey hair on your head, pluck a chicken (you cook, don't you?) as a warm-up, and then go to town on yourself.
when relaxing at home, make use of your time by hanging lock-lengtheners (TM) on your hair. they're little weights that clip easily onto the ends of your hair. comes in colorful varieties and enables healthy growth by providing tension on your follicles.
knit (you knit, don't you?) your loose hairs into a wig, to keep around for emergencies such as a bad cut, enrollment into the military, or a lapse in judgment for going 'butch'

exercise for men:

do not go to any salon (they smell funny anyway), and only trust barbers who cut by menu number--stick with #3
wear the patented haircutcap (TM) every week, which records how much mass of hair is on your scalp. when it reaches the length threshold, the cap tightens around your temples to tell you that it's time to get it cut immediately.
if you're over 40, sprinkle some salt and pepper on your 'do every morning, just for good measure.
avoid anything fruity, floral, vanilla, or herbal in your shampoo/gel. get xx-muskyspicy if it's available in your area.
be robert redford.

sewing 101

2005-09-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

on thursday, leslie held of the MIT theatrical costume design shop gave us a helpful sewing workshop. i left with so much more practical sewing skill than i came in with.

it was amusing to see the breadth of sewing machines that materialised in the classroom. people lugged their 50lb vintage singer machines and electronic LCD-screen-bedecked embroidery brothers alike. i fell in the love with the avocado green mechanical monster with mod futuristic styling and an open bottom.

here's what i learned:

general

there are two needles, one upper (visible) and one lower (bobbin, invisible).
always turn the flywheel TOWARDS you. never ever turn it away from you.
thread goes through the tension disks and through the take-up.
thread the needle from front --> back, or right --> left.
when you pop the bobbin in, make sure it spins CLOCKWISE. the bobbin tension is usually okay to leave it alone.
pin perpendicularly to sewing seam (needle can jump over the pins)
a "walking foot" is great for automatically adjusting for tension
sewing machine requires regular oiling for maintenance

stitches

basting

the longest stitch ("4" on the knob)

good for temporary seams, easy to rip out

the stretch stitch is stronger, more durable

zigzag

for stretchy knit fabrics
stronger stitch
set the parameters for length and width of stitch

fabric

the selvage is the finished edge of the fabric piece
the strongest axis is parallel to the selvage (straight grain)
the 2nd strongest axis is orthogonal to the selvage (cross grain)
fabrics are always weak and stretch out on the bias

needles

recommended: schmetz needles
sizes are 9 to 18; 14 is common use, 16-18 for thicker fabrics like denim
need special needle for leather
need ballpoint needle for knits
insert needle into machine with flat side towards the back

hems

first finish edges with a zigzag stitch to prevent raveling
fold once, then twice over, and then hem

zippers

use zipperfoot, which is also handy for sewing wiring or cording
use basting stitch to seam two pieces together
press seam open with an iron
put zipper face-down on the seam
pin in place
sew down, across, and up (U-shape)
wiggle needle to manuever through teeth
rip out the basting seam

invisible hems

use the stitch that looks straight with poking out to the left
first finish the edges to prevent unraveling
fold once, then another in the other direction (accordion-style)
sew so that most of the stitching is on the edge, but the tips of the points barely catch onto the fold of the fabric
use color-matching thread!

so now i'm super-excited. i don't yet have a personal machine, but for now i'll use the ones in the lab and check out the singer store in davis square (it was closed when i stopped by this weekend). hopefully leslie can teach us the basics of patterning and draping in later weeks.

next time i'm at winmil, i'll take a look at their fabric selection and see if i can make myself an easy A-line skirt next weekend...

complication of gender

2005-09-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

so for class, i decided to go with the women's version of the electronic weapondry arsenal belt. it was ideated as a reaction to this:

points and observations:

the humongous majority of people you see with electronic gadgets clipped to their belt are men. business men overrun the pack, with their cellphones, blackberries, and pdas strapped around their bellies. the few women who do similarly are only because of their professional uniform, such as for policewomen or military women. business women, those who may need to get in touch with others with ease and speed, still never tend to wear the 'toolbelt.' phones and things are tucked in purses, to avoid disrupting the female silhouette or to keep the immediate nonessentials out of sight.
men tend to display their gadgets openly. there's a study where men just whip these things out in public, exhibition-like, much more than women do. [there's a study out there, link to it here later]
i liked how the women of early iran (our week 2 reading) wore their garment pins as both feminine symbols and also secret defensive weapons. the same objects that might culturally delineate or commoditise the women could be used for their own personal advantage.

so, the idea was a female version of the toolbelt, one that kept a women's stash of tools or 'weapons' handy and accessible, enabling a feminine sort of secretive power.

so here's the physical prototype of the femininised belt. i got some stretch lace at windsor button and illustrated how it could hold personal electronic objects such as a cellphone, blackberry, or pager. more personal objects that might be needed for immediate access could also be housed on this hidden belt, such as a vibrator or a sentimental object. i liked the image of it being obscured beneath a skirt, invisible, and then exposed as needed for the benefit of the wearer. the woman can be empowered without being encumbered.

an interesting suggestion would be to design a skirt to go along with this garter belt, with strategic slashes and pockets, so one could just reach into the slashes to fetch the cellphone. i like the idea of the woman as enigma, where there's much more than expected behind the surface.

there were a lot of interesting projects presented last tuesday, though the most seemingly successful ones had to do with dealing with issues of hair. hair as a signal of masculinity, or removal of hair as a signal of femininity. it's such a human thing--we're mammals! we're hairy! though how each gender formulates its conventions on how to manage it or display it establishes the weird cultural norms we associate with hair and grooming rituals. control of one's own hair sort of aligns with control of one's own gender. interesting how nefarious areas of hair in particular places on the body really associate with enculturated behaviors, ideals, and expectations.

tending to gender

2005-09-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

okay, so for tomorrow i have to construct some sort of wearable item that 'complicates gender'. everything i think of seems to either be woefully uninspired or completely tangential.

one is a jewel-encrusted belt with hotdogs tied all around it. kind of like a combo toolbelt and belly decoration, juxtaposing a shapely waist with phallic stuff all over it. kind of messy.

another idea which i think would be cute and succinct, but maybe too simple, is an apple necklace. like, taking an apple, drilling an off-center hole through it, and threading a ribbon through it. tying it prettily around a girl's neck is a simultaneous thought of a prominent adam's apple and of the female sexual imagery of fruit and desire. i like the idea of food and the body. maybe i can take a banana, smoosh it, and rub it all over one's tender skin. that would smell really good with a dash of cinnamon.

but i digress.

brainstorming impending...

stuff that's typically male:

businessman stuff: ties, bowties, suspenders, leather belts, pinstripes, cufflinks, oxford shoes
uniforms in general
facial hair, mustaches, beards, hairiness
boxer shorts, men's briefs
phallus (i know i'm making a stretch, here)
low voice, adam's apple
muscular, angular form
manly fragrance
strength

stuff that's typically female:

skirts, dresses
ruffles, lace
floral elements
jewelry, frivolous adornment
heeled shoes
soft materials, silky, drapey
longer hair length
shaved skin
fruit and flora symbolism
sweetness
domestic elements: apron, housedress, gloves
particular headwear: bonnets, fancy hats
breasts, hips, curves

hmmm. i don't know if i'm getting anywhere here. now that i have gloves in my head i have that awesome image in my head of elbow-length opera gloves. mmm.

you know how all those awful corporate monkeys have every known electronic device strapped to their belt? like pda + blackberry + phone + pager + camera all hanging off their waists. kind of like an futuristic sword belt, an array of all of one's tools of power. why don't women do that? is that because we don't have belts? we have more dignity? we carry everything in a bottomless bag? we like to keep a clean silhouette? it would be awesome to have something like miz lara croft, where our digital accessories were conveniently strapped to our limber thighs. think how a computer geek would quiver if he saw a lady hike up her skirt to answer her cellphone. definitely more statement-making than hunting through her bag for the umpteenth time.

more thoughts later.

making oneself

2005-09-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

last thursday was an interesting constrast from the tuesday's critique and discussion roundtable. we were whisked away to a large room, donned our disposable tshirts (i sacrificed my mit beavers shirt; brown never did suit me), and went to wrapping ourselves in layers of gummed paper, mummy-style, to create body doubles of ourselves. cheapo egocentric dressform factory!

method similar to this: gummed paper dress form

i was a huge rush, since i wanted to attend the beginning of class but had to leave for the sigur ros concert (which actually started on time, a reassuring move). i wonder if my form dried successfully before i left. it was a soggy, soggy day, so the hair dryers were indispensible. thank you gemma for crossing my heart!

i may try doing a duct tape model as well. maybe this coming weekend?

thursday concerts may be killing me this semester. why oh why, royksopp, why oh why, beck, do you have to perform in boston on thursday nights?

graphical taxonomy

2005-09-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

so here's what i brought to last night's class. click on it for a larger version, and where you can really see the revealer reveal... ooh la.

chris liked the amorphous, amoeba-like shapes. somehow i have cravings for doughnuts and coffee [cups], all of sudden... :)

the readings for thursday are rather interesting. the 'dressed to kill' paper was pretty speculative, but had a lot of plausible (?) theories based on reeeeally limited information. honestly, i had to pretend i could see the pins in the engraving like the helpful little caption told me i could. and the 'biege epoch' is downright hilarious. i can't imagine the writer, the editor, or the publisher releasing that with a straight face. i mean, i would be impressed if it were actually well-written, but it's bad taste with bad writing! amazingly priceless.

hoping i can make the beginning of thursday's class...

beginning on the right (well-shod) foot

2005-09-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

this will be a quickie since i'm tired and have a full plate of work set out for me tomorrow, but just a summary of tonight's class, where we all introduced each other and presented the taxonomies we had prepared.

for thursday, there are three entertaining (i'm trusting chris on here) papers on clothing and gender to read, and our assignment for next tuesday is to create something wearable or somehow using the body to complicate or redirect gender. i suppose the papers will help, but definitely a tall order at first glance. there was a suggestion to look at particular situations, historical periods, or critical theory papers to narrow it down to a specific problem to address. it can be constructed out of any feasible material, and bring it to class to be modeled by some warm body. for some reason i started envisioning a candy necklace that morphed and grew into this ungodly pastel beard. sweet and icky at the same time.

anyway, i went first tonight on the taxonomy thing, and i guess my presentation was refreshing that it was (1) on real paper and (2) hand-drawn. this sort of exercise, since i ended up being so freeform with it, was a lot more enjoyable to me with pencil and paper. i messed around with the silhouette idea, got a little out of hand, and then really isolated the formal quality of clothing--pieces of fabric that rests on our body while also accomodating our strange extremities. hence, holes for our neck, arms, legs, feet, etc. my attempt was to group together garments on a purely physical basis, and sketched out things that were of common topologies. (jim would be proud, i think.) for instance, things with three holes include cardigans, shrugs, and pants. things with six holes include fingerless gloves. for some of the categories i attempted to think outside of the conventional western-style pieces and make up some of my own that had the requisite topology but a different construction, such as a one-armed sweater, a floor-length revealer, or a wetsuit that accomodates a cellphone. as chris pointed out, i defined a space, and then sought to fill in some of the more imaginative stuff that still can function as clothing that we know.

will scan and upload as soon as possible, tomorrow or thursday.

it was completely surprising and very interesting to see so many different takes on the assignment. even on something so simple, you could see some people's design styles or personal agendas so easy and so quickly.

i do have to find this japanese photographer who takes pictures of people and their amazingly extensive clothing collections. somehow that's what really makes any collection work--relating it back on how it truly defines the collector, the persistent lover.

taxonomies are taxing

2005-09-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

the assignment for today is to create a taxonomy for clothing. taxonomy, "division into ordered groups or categories." clothing, yet a gazillion ways to organise, to filter, to evaluate, to shape. an exercise so simple a middle-schooler can do it, yet the breadth of complexity ends up snowballing with each thick and sticky layer of culture, identity, and gender.

i found some highly amusing references on the web when i googled 'clothing taxonomy.'

my favorites:

tikaro's a taxonomy of boxy clothes features a detailed little venn diagram focused on skater punk (fred perry), british working class (ben sherman), and west coast hot rod (chochie casuals). i like how 'your uncle in the merchant marine' is diametrically opposed to 'avril lavigne.'
every category of goth you ever dreamed of is at corpgoth to perkygoth on gothicunity. i feel most closely tied to the noodlegoth--those on the ramen/macaroni/spaghetti/pasta budget. don't forget the udon and the thai kitchen pad thai.
joho writes about ("taxonomy and tags") how tagging has dramatically killed the conventional rules of taxonomy. take that, aristotle. but seriously, every item can now have an infinite number of definitions and categorizations, which is great, but how can one standardise which tags are more definitive and which are more frivolous?

okay, so back to what i'm thinking, which is everything and nothing at the same time. my first gut instinct was to plot out the x most influential designers (everything from yohji yamamoto to coco chanel) and then trickle down who has inspired who and pretty much link someone like yves saint laurent with a ponytail scrunchie. but i dont have an enormous amount of knowledge about fashion names and history. the book 100 fashion designers, 010 curators, looks like it might be useful in this particular regard. this taxonomy system would not only take care of the actual garments and their sources but also the names and general history that shaped these visions.

another thought is one of purely visual language. the language of silhouette, shaping to (or from) the human body. this one has lots of degrees of freedom--neckline, hemlengths, form-fitting or draping. i might go with this, though it's a design exercise on how to lay them out in a coherent, relating way. however, this is a minimal sort of taxonomy that throws things like context and connotation out of the window. but perhaps it will infer them through the visual spectrum. we will have to see.

and then i just brainstormed a bunch on other sorts of slants i could think about clothing. one strong spectrum was along the lines of protection vs. vulnerability, which types of clothing shield and which reveal. another is handmade vs. machinemade--industrial forms. attraction vs. deflection, inner vs. outer enforcement (expression vs. conformity), preciousness vs. commodity, physical restraint vs. freedom, ergonomic vs. generic form, etc. argh argh argh.

i'm going to try with the visual one and see how that takes. i'm, more than anything, curious about what people will bring to the table tonight.

pattern language @ tufts

2005-09-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

so last thursday, we all went our merry ways to davis square, to witness the latest art exhibitions at tufts university. the one in particular to inspect was the clothing exhibit: pattern language: clothing as communicator.

the website has an interesting flash interface to scope out all the works, which has an amusing feature where you can move around the dress forms at one's whimsy. the spectrum of works was appealing, from historical iconic works on clothes (the felt suit; the yoko ono video) to the futuristic vision of humanity and clothing (the zipper dress; the firefly dress). the first thing that i thought was rather odd was the format of the printed descriptions of each object. there was this weird "need:_____, want:_____, source:_____" assignment on each placard, which either constrained or trivialised what the artist meant to say about each piece. also, a lot of the garments seemed dead on the wall. it was as if butterflies and moths were pinned to a surface, perhaps easier to inspect, but completely robbed of their livelihood and ethereal beauty. the meaning of clothing is so intrisically connected to its relationship to the human body and to others in a social realm. putting certain garments on the wall gave it a look-dont-touch atmosphere that is natural in a museum with paintings, but is unbearable with things you instictively want to touch and feel, or at least see in context on a real body. the projects with accompanying videos were much better to interpret, in my opinion, since you could see how they work in a human context. otherwise, the exhibit seemed quite deadened.

my favorite pieces would have to be the objet un dress (aka zipper dress) by galya rosenfeld and yoko ono's cut piece. the zipper dress focued more on the action of interacting with the clothing--putting on, taking off, reshaping, reforming--than with a particular style or material. the zipper, i can imagine, is very addictive to connect and disconnect, and the wearer's activity is completely enveloping, completely self-constructing. too bad the video was not at the exhibit, though it is viewable online.

and the yoko video is unreal. just the look on her face while some dork cuts off her shoulder seams. reminds me of the cibo matto lyrics...

my heart is like an artichoke
i eat petals myself one by one
though i can't stop plucking off
i can't see my core
i keep asking for you more and more
can you peel my petals one by one?
your hands are like a rusty knife
are you gonna keep on peeling me?

i mean, the other projects weren't necessarily poor. but i feel as though the exhibit could have been presented in a much more engaging way.

downstairs, we came across a spectacular surprise of mei-ling hom's silkworm grind. you could experience it even before finishing the last step on the stairs as the warm, sweet spices hit your nose. these enormous translucent coccoons spun lazily around a huge pile of ground spice, and was mesmerizing on many sensorial fronts.

chris c is my new favorite person

2005-09-09T08:57:00.000-07:00

so it's actually happening -- a course on technology and clothing that's actually contextualised in a social, cultural, global sense, rather than worrying so much constructing heavy, alienating head-mounted displays and compounding wearable gadgets left and right a la robowarrior style. thank you so much chris csik for deigning to your grad students (who knows exactly how far the impact of seamless might go?) and providing a forum on campus to really enrich and enlighten this body of knowledge.

yesterday was the first class. more details on what and where forthcoming.