cartographers of passions

For the longest time I didn't understand fashion.  Apparel was apparel and struck me as something that is by design mostly functional.   This lack of understanding translated into my own fashion sense.  I'm semi-famously informal rarely going beyond jeans and tshirts although these days my tees come from places like Theadless and a few are of my own design.

My habit of trying to learn about the passions of others by working with them on their projects has resulted in a much richer and broader education than I had anticipated.  Sometimes there is serendipity crackling in the air - serendipity that sometimes I recognize and act on... 

One of the more unusual projects was a helping a startup fashion magazine.  There were only four people and they had no idea how to network their computers.  I volunteered to get that piece working for them, but visiting their office was much more exotic than traveling overseas - these were enormously interesting and curious people who were doing things I had not imagined.   I started helping with a few other things - something very easy to find in any startup -  and found I was a bit better with Photoshop and Quark than they were.  I kept coming in one day a week and ultimately became their unpaid digital art editor.  Such an excellent vacation from my real work and such an education.  

It led to some interesting connections to the fashion world.  Eventually I came to recognize the difference between fashion and apparel and, more importantly, what might motivate people to do fashion.   Eventually these connections helped me notice street fashion - the diametric opposite of how I originally perceived the process of fashion.  I was away from it for several years, but recently thinking about this and some aspects of social media has led to some fascinating and rich threads about potential new frameworks for change in a massive industry.   It is exciting and feels like the music industry began to feel in the mid 90s.

When you start wandering about a new moonscape it is important to find a good cartographer.  

I had caught glimpses of him on his bicycle cruising the streets of Manhattan long before bikes became common in the city.  A thin elderly figure carrying a camera and sometimes stopping for a photograph.  At the time I had no idea that this was Bill Cunningham - one of fashion's important cartographers.  Perhaps the first serious cartographer of street fashion and still, even at 82, vital and important.

He deeply understands why some dress themselves in ephemeral art forms to make statements to themselves, their friends and complete strangers.  Reading and watching his pieces and beginning to take note of what was unfolding on the streets of New York City finally caused me to recognize the difference between fashion and apparel and that it can be a rich form of non-verbal communication.  

He must be excited these days as the bit of the world he loves is seeing an explosion of change at the grassroot level.  Blogs like The Sartoralist are communicating this change as are his own pieces in the fashion section of The New York Times. 

What is "in" and who sets style is not really in the hands of the designers and magazines, but it is more ephemeral and is set by those who wear are wearing it.  He caused me realize there are several feedback mechanisms and started me thinking about what this means with respect to mass customization and co-design in fashion and apparel.  This line of questioning leads to deeper questions and more interesting thoughts.  As a clumsy explorer of moonscapes you can't ask for more.

There is an excellent new movie about him - Bill Cunningham New York - that is making its way around the art film theater circuit. Check it out if you want to understand this bit of popular culture a bit better.

 

 

Comments

[Gardner Campbell]

Fascinating. Highly reminiscent of the "Mod" movement in Britain and elsewhere in the early-mid 60's. The Who set Mod trends by innovating on the Mod clothes they saw their audience wearing--feedback loop indeed. They did the same with dances. Perhaps "fashion" is a dance you wear?

Thanks for the thoughtful insightful piece. Grant McCracken led me here.

[jheri]

I saw him several times when I lived in New York and remember feeling a bit of excitement when he looked at me once - would he snap my photo? He didn't, but the mere sight of him made me think about how I might dress to bring a smile to him - or to myself. He is a great reminder that fashion is not the sole province of designers and buyers.