I have moved!

Im continuing the Narrative of Fashion with a new blog
Hope you follow my writings again!

xx Jenni

Memories

The image from the book, My Mom, Style Icon by Piper Weiss

"Clothing is rich memory. Our childhood wardrobes stay forever with us all, a cogent, biding presence. New clothes mark the stages of our growth. In family households, mothers usually provide the most important helping hand. It is they who dress us and thus acknowledge our change. ‘You’re growing so fast’ is sung in many tones, encouranging and disappointed. Together with her child, mothers articulate a course for multiple transformations. Dressing her child, she studies herself as well, her own history. Dressing her child is in fact dressing herself. The clothed child is also her memory. Dressing her child, she touches her own inner self. She thus teaches her child to be himself, in his clothing. She teaches him to be for himself and no longer for her. In one and the same motion, clothing her child brings him closer to her and lets him move away. In clothing their children, mothers give them the world."

Dirk Lauwaert (The Power of Fashion, ArtEZ) describes clothing and the act of being clothed as a child by the mother, as a meaningful experience that influences the memories that are created since childhood. Also, it emphasizes the desire to nurture and care for the offspring, because simultaneuosly when a mother shows love for her child, she shows love for herself as well. As a mother clothes her child, she also drapes her innerself in the distinct memories that reflect the heritage passed on to the next generation. One of the principles of heritage is to communicate a story or signify a memory. Such awareness of heritage is significant to understand in order to comprehend the culture one lives in, the legacy which one is associated with and finally, the initial understanding of oneself. Stories of a cultural legacy are important in order for people to remember who they initially express themselves to be, which also can explain where they aspire themselves to be in the future.

Clothing as a stimulating dialect and an inspiring performance between different people and cultures is continually narrating the aesthetic and historic path of fashion. Because fashion is undertsood in relation to time, it either embodies memories or establishes the visual manifestations of the tomorrow. Moreover, a garment can sustain a piece of the past, holding certain memories, which can give it a more significant and a meaningful existence. This means that the memory the garment withholds can be understood to give considerably more value to it. 

The contemporary western society comprehends reality through creating structures and compositions on everything, in order to explain it. This also includes the understanding of time and the concept of memories. The past, the present, and the future are all concepts, which structure and rationalize our lives in order to support the theory of time. When we determine life by these concepts, it makes it easier for us to dwell it. In fact, the real reality does not embody time, nor the concept of the past as we perceive it, because it is created and only exists in the structures of society. Probably, we only need to rationalize the past so we can understand the present. In the end, there is no past, only memories of the past. This can be seen as one of the reasons why it is so important for people to create and attain memories, to take pictures on birthdays, to write diaries and biographies, to have a record of the  physical existence and to understand the self through the context of memories.

Walter Van Beirendonck: Dream the world awake

Here are some pictures I took from Walter's exhibition opening at MoMu last Tuesday.
Walter Van Beirendonck: Dream the World Awake runs from September 14th, 2011 until February 19th, 2012 at ModeMuseum. 

Time & Fashion

Fashion is defined as the art of the perfect moment, of the sudden, surprising and yet awaited harmonious apparition -  the Now at the threshold of an immidiate future. Its actualisation, is at the same time, its destruction. By appearing, and giving its ultimate form to the moment, fashion is almost already part of yesterday, decayed, old. 

(The Power of Fashion, Eternity: A Frill on the Dress, Barbara Vinken, ArtEZ Press)

As the quote describes, fashion can be observed as a dynamic narrative, reflecting the characters of time. Through its constant need for renewal and innovation, time becomes an ally, as well as an opponent of fashion, depending if one sees the glass half full or half empty. Fashion can merge different times and era’s together, creating something new, and yet stay in a continual state of rebirth, repeating itself over and over again. Ultimately, fashion only exists in the moment, floating from one time to the next, eternally remembering the old and discovering the new. Time is an infinite amount of moments, and in between these moments, there are visible tides and era’s, which are understood socially by visual language. This language is an expression of our physical identity and the body in the context of culture and time. Because fashion is so deeply connected to time, it becomes its messenger. 

Clothing as a communication tool between neighbors, cities, countries and eventually between cultures is a significant way of manifesting the relationships we have with each other. The way one communicates with others has a significant impact, especially when looking at relationships in a family structure, such as the relationship between a mother and her daughter.  

My grandmother in the 1940's.

This text refers to my current research on the relationship between mothers and daughters, looking at the heritage, the memories and the legacy which a mother gives to her daughter through the context of fashion. 

Basic Instinct

Basic Instinct in Berlin   -   July 1st- July 31st 2011

"The exhibition Basic Instinct maps a range of ideas that originate in fashion, but border on and interact with other disciplines. The work of five leading Dutch fashion designers is linked to product design, architecture and art. The exhibition is an interpretation of today's Dutch creative culture, striving to imagine the future through the present."

VILLA ELISABETH

Invalidenst. 3

Berlin, Germany

For more information visit www.premsela.org

Amber - Arnhem Mode Biennale

"Women are like fashion, ever changing and contradictory. Fashion is like women who have fought, long and hard against fashion, to be taken seriously, on their own merit. But what if we take this attempt at slander and turn it on its head? What if, instead of defending ourselves against this charge, we take it on, like a bull by its horns? What if we start off by simply saying 'fashion is a woman and her name is Amber'?"
- a quote from Introducing Amber by Aronowsky Cronberg

Here are some of my favorite photos I took from the Arnhem Mode Biennale 2011.

Arnhem Mode Biannale 1.6-3.7.2011

http://www.arnhemmodebiennale.com

UNRAVEL. Knitwear in Fashion

Today I visited the latest exhibition at MoMu, Antwerp and it was all about knitwear. The exhibition presented knitwear in a varied and a vibrant way, showcasing items from knitted stockings to sculptural high fashion garments. As the exhibition brochure says, Thermatically, it will showcase the various roles knitwear has played in social and fashion (r)evolutions and will address knitwear's different and fluid associations with comfort, well-being and chic. 

UNRAVEL. Knitwear in Fashion is open until 14th of August 2011.

Here are some of my favorites from the exhibition:

Im happy to be spending the next few months at Momu here in Antwerp!

For more info visit www.momu.be