RODARTE

GOOD MEN

That simplistically masculine look:


CARL SAGAN




ROSEMARY'S BABY MALE WARDROBE:

Men and Women

PURPLE FASHION MAGAZINE teamed with Terry Richardson to shoot Vincent Gallo (whose beauty literally scares me- makes my insides freeze up and my tongue melt into bubble gum gloop that fills my jaw) to comment on the androgyny in women's fashion from the otherside. Is it harder for dudes to be fashionable? Is it not easier for a dude to be more fashionable than the rest of the dudes by comparison? So much goes wrong with Fash-men. Do they lack their own masculinity? Do they seem to debase their nature by embracing one that isn't their own? I feel like fashion is reaching an age where women who embrace their own feminity deliver a greater beauty than those who twist it, or deny it, or over-expose it: those who dress up in a costume of themselves. A simple, femininity for women, and a simple masculinity for a man can be as fashionable as costumes from Macaullay Culkin and Seth Green's Party Monster are extravagant. They even seem more fashionable than a trying plea for acceptance into the looking good world than are a lot of heavily planned outfits. Not that dressing up is not exciting.... but is it exciting only because it is a betrayal of the true self? A couple of passages from the novel I'm reading give me a satisfaction in understanding my thoughts on the matter of gender-bending:

In Milan Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being, Sabina is said to think, in the dictionary of Misunderstood words of her own feminity: page 89:

"Being a woman is a fate Sabina did not choose. What we have not chosen we cannot consider either our merit or our failure. Sabina believed that she had to assume the correct attitude to her unchosen fate. To rebel against being born a woman seemed as foolish to her as to take pride in it."

And the bowler hat, that inescapable masculine motif: page 86:

"Once, during a visit to her studio many years before, the bowler hat had caught Tomas's fancy. He had set it on his head and looked at himself in the large mirror, which, as in the Geneva studio, leaned against the wall. He wanted to see what he would have looked like as a nineteenth-century mayor. When Sabina started undressing, he put the hat on her head. There they stoof in front of the mirror (they always stood in front of the mirror while she undressed), watching themselves. She stripped to her underwear, but still hat the hat on her head. And all at once she realized they were both excited by what they saw in the mirror. ... But suddenlt the comic became veikled by excitement: the bowler hat no longer signified a joke; it signified violence, violence against Sabina, against her dignity as a woman. She saw her bare legs and thin panties with her pubic triangle showing through. The lingerie enhanced the charm of her femininity, while the hard masculine hat denied it, violated and ridiculed it. The fact that Tomas stood beside her fully dressed meant that the essence of what they both saw was far from good clean fun (if it had been fun he was after, he too, would have had to strip and don a bowler hat); it was humiliation. But instead of spurning it, she proudly, provocatively played it for all it was worth, as if submitting of her own will to public rape; and suddenly, unable to wait any longer, she pulled Tomas down to the floor."




Are these funny? Depressing? Exciting? Dead?

Almost all of my favourite everything comes from artists who push the limits of their gender: think Kevin Barnes (favourite musician) (front man of ofMontreal) think David Bowie....think Prince's genius masc/fem. move out of a shabby contract... I LOVE ANDROGYNY WHEN IT MEANS LIBERATION! WHEN IT MEANS FORWARD MOMENTUM! OH, I LOVE IT BEYOND LOVING IT! Now I think Liza and her pant suits, and I am still loving it, but not aaaaaaaaaas much as those dudes I idolize. Patti Smith and her androgyny...... I.... love it. I do. But it also represses- it also humiliates. Is it only one way that it can go and liberate? Are these males liberating both male and female? Is it because Adam DOES and Eve IS? Is that why its the males that make it go forward and the females get lost? Is that even the case?

Is androgyny not us approaching a level where we do not pay as much attention to our bodies as we do our souls? We are all human. We are all human. If this is really what androgyny is about, what about all of those that subconsiously interperet it as humiliation? Degradation? Is it not a step forward and a step back? Double step? How can the majority of us leave the idea of public perception behind and trust our inner instincts? I'm not saying it's wrong to push the boundaries: I think it's exactly right to do that given its for progress instead of repression. Why do I feel since I cut my hair Mia Farrow short that my clothing doesn't exhibit my girlishness enough? Why am I repressed by my androgynous wardrobe when I once felt so liberated? Is gender real? Is body severed compeltely from soul? Is it wrong to dress like a man, so long as I'm not interperted as depricating myself? Must I just believe, as the wearer what I wear is for non-mutilating reason, and that be the be all and end all? S>?

SHOE GAZE 1:

Big thanks to Urban Outfitters for putting into demonstration Jeffrey Campbell's SNICKERS in perfectly modern display: this violet-haired chick is putting these platform wedges on the front of my brain lobes. The 60's-70's babe/sidewalk seperater vibe they give off is impossible for me to resist. It's worth knowing that
.com (where I snagged all of the pictures without the vibrant haired lady) sells them (slightly different colouration) for 30 dollars less, and they're available now rather than on pre-order. There's also the SNICK, if you want some studly buds on them- but you'd sacrifice a lot of the classic babe aura that come with the latter.








Gemini (S/S 10)(first shoe) and Asteria (last shoe)(S/S 10: 829 USD) each have 3 rusty thin warehouse-nail resembling heels: 2 detachable. Each whispers: "Industrializa". Check out the Admire, too- a drape leather wedge boot. All the beautiful things that we make out of cows. All those damn beautiful 'spensive things. (680 USD)

LOOK GOOD!

They tell me fashion won't love me back, and never to spend invisible money that I need to save, but look at all this! Imagine how good I'd look...



Etsy designer: RawHemline

ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/shop/RawHemline
BLOG: http://rawhemline.blogspot.com/

SEA URCHIN DRESS: 145.00


Good grief, I LOVE RawHemline. Not only is this Aussie uber communicative, look at these pieces! I do believe this, the Sea Urchin Dress, encapsulates the sort of feeling that each piece is conceived of. I would venture to call this feel a cross between delicacy and earthiness. Wearable fantasies. Absolutely romantic, and with that elven edge. If you check out her blog, and the shop, you'll totally make the Dark Crystal/Last Unicorn connection as though it was something on the tip of your tongue when you first saw the dress here. TO DIE FOR. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Also- she has been underselling herself! Super reasonable cost. Urchin is one of the most expensive pieces available.







Etsy Designer: artlab

ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/shop/artlab

ArtLab is a fashion design and fine arts studio based in New York City. ArtLab is run by one individual who studied Fashion Design at both F.I.T., Parson's School of Design as well as Fine Arts at Brooklyn College. She is inspired by industrial landscapes, abandoned spaces, and her dreams. She makes dope clothing from beyond the present in a realistic way, but goddamn! How can I actually justify spending so much on avant garde garments while not living someone remotely reminiscent of New York or London?

BUSTLE OF LYSYSTRATA: 120 USD
I want to make a film just to star these.

STAR TREK PRINCESS DRESS: 280 USD
Washed silk, snap closure sides.

CIRQUE DE SOLIEL TUNIC: 320 USD
Piece work to form strips (two cut and sewed fabrics)







Anzevino & Florence Crimp Dress: 226 USD
Available @ 80's PURPLE

http://www.80spurple.com/shop/product/111691/129/anzevino-florence-women-s-crimp-dress-black






Mink Pink's "Space Odyssey" Dress:

Available (not all sizes at all vendors) at:
( ++ : Foreign shipping and then domestic fees)

Polyvore: http://www.polyvore.com/mink_pink_dresses/shop?brand=Mink+Pink&category_id=3#foo

URBAN OUTFITTERS: 91 CAD ++

SHOPBOP: 93 CAD ++

ASOS: 105 CAD ++

KARMALOOP: 77 CAD ++

NIKABUTIK: 84 USD ++
http://www.nikabutik.com/mink-pink-space-odyssey-mini-dress-in-gold.html


This dress, is fucking intricate, cosmic, and realistically futuristic.
The spiral print and allover slits with rolled edges make it look as though your body's just come from somewhere extraterrestrial. Asymmetrical neckline = this season's lil' deuce coup. Elbow-length sleeve = superbly flattering. Oh, and she's lined with this sheer black fabric that shows beneath the slits. T'die for.

•31" long, measured from shoulder.
•Fabrication: Metallic jersey.
•75% polyester/20% cotton/5% spandex.
•Hand wash or dry clean.
•Imported.

I feel as though MINK PINK figured it time to make this image:

into a that is suitable for a young adult that no longer wants to dress like a teenager home for the summer.

Jane Aldridge, fashion blogger, of SeaofShoes Comme des Garcons skirt & Zara Crop Sweat Top combo:





30 Second (brogue and) Pony Hair Wedges (shoe)Show:

(20seconds)
(10 seconds)
(0 seconds)


FINSK, BCBG (via Jane Aldrige of SeaofShoes http://seaofshoes.com/), Comme des Garcons + TAO stud brogues (SeaofShoes),

A: Re-master the remaining ugliness with your muse

AES + F, yes, turns ugliness into something new, not quite beauty, however, through the collaboration of their energies. Collaborative Art that works seems to almost ALWAYS hit the target that all three are going for with a better accuracy, if the process is executed without any dillholes. You! All of you! Find a collaborative art project, a group that will meet regularly to create if you haven't one yet. Be in a band, be in an art threesome, find a co-director. You will know if you are compromising your vision, or if you are compromising the partner (s) ' visions if you are. Find people you work well with, and DO! CREATE! LIBERATE! (this sounds so "Gypsy Interchangeable Leg Jeans" http://www.gypsyjeans.com/ (So funky, so sexy...) but, I mean it, I mean it, I do! Good things involve variety, and I mean quality good, disagree? Well, disagree if you must- but think of a play and an actor monotonously "reading" lines memorized and someone who uses tonal changes, or all those albums that have been released that have 10 versions of 1 song playing.... or... you know what? Anyways! ....

Good example of doing this is the AES + F group, who seems to share my romance with post-apocalypse, though, in a style that just LOOKS russian. Reminds me of a movie I saw at the International Film Festival in Montreal last summer: Morphine. The graphic images are glossed over to make them tolerable, but it has a double effect, because they look glorified. Anyways, if I had to break this feast for eyes into a dichotomy, I would split it into two categories: variations of "Warriors for the Future" and "The Disembowled Who Gave In."

http://www.aes-group.org/default.asp



A




ARZAMASOVA, TATIANA

Was born in 1955, graduated from Moscow Architectural Institute (MARCHI) – State Academy in 1978. Lives and works in Moscow.
Was occupied in conceptual architecture. Award winner «Grand-Prix» of a jointly OISTT and UNESCO competition «Theatre of Future». Participated in conceptual architecture exhibitions in London, Paris, Venice.






E






EVZOVICH, LEV

Was born in 1958, graduated from Moscow Architectural Institute (MARCHI) – State Academy in 1982. Lives and works in Moscow.
Was occupied in conceptual architecture. The prizewinner of the OISTT competition «The Tour Theatre» in Stockholm. Participated in conceptual architecture exhibitions in Milan, Frankfurt-on-Main, Paris. Worked as art director in animation film (6 films), as director in puppet animation film. Also worked as art director in film.






S




SVYATSKY, EVGENY

Was born in 1957, graduated from Moscow University of Printing Arts (department of the book graphic arts) in 1980. Lives and works in Moscow.
Was occupied with book and advertising design, poster and graphic art. Participated in international poster competitions, exhibitions of book illustration and design, graphic art.

Artists united as AES group in 1987. In some projects since 1995 AES group collaborates with photographer Vladimir FRIDKES (AES+F group).




--------------------------------------------

+F




FRIDKES, VLADIMIR

Born in Moscow in 1956, lives and works in Moscow.
Works as a photographer of fashion. Published in magazines: VOGUE, Harper»s Bazaar, ELLE, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Sunday Times Style and others.
Since 1995 collaborates with AES group.