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| My look on the way to Rihanna's Diamond tour in DC. As you can see my intention was to be seen! |
In my fashion, now a days, you are your own model. While fashion has always been about portraying your best self, in this digital era, not only can people show off to a world wide audience with social media, people have the power to market themselves just as good as any modeling agency could. Social media allows us to highlight our talents in more ways than one, and if you are creative enough, opportunities present themselves with each view of one’s profile, each “like” to one's photo, and each follower one obtains. Social media gives all of us the opportunity to do as Diana Vreeland said, which is to “be ingenious and make ourselves into something else." A new wave of sartorial expression via blogs and sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram has created the possibility to become our own models/entertainers in our own rights and connect with others who enjoy what we can do. We create photo albums on Facebook; Twitter and Instagram have quickly gained momentum as popular social mediums; and the authority of bloggers is continually on the increase. If you took a look at my last two READing Your Style posts (Part 1 and Part 2), the way we experience and interpret fashion changes with each generation, and in my fashion, I find it fascinating how digital media is this generations motivation for having fun with fashion.
This month is the Metropolitian Museum of Art Costume Institute's opening of it's exhibition "Punk: Chaos to Couture" (May 9 through August 14). I thought a good way to celebrate this month would be to take a look at the past exhibitions curated by the legendary Diana Vreeland. I choose to look at these exhibitions because as dress historian, Valerie Cumming, says in her book 'Understanding Fashion History', "Diana Vreeland reinvented costume exhibitions as glossy extravaganzas, fashionable social occasions and introduced the concept of hagiography of living designers. After her death in 1989 there were no more special consultants at the Costume Institute, but she had set a pattern that is still being followed: glamour, erratic scholarship and maximum celebrity appeal. It is a heady mix - fashion as spectacular theater - and its impact has permeated well beyond America." This being so, I wanted to take a look at the 15 exhibitions Vreeland curated and discuss their significance. What perfect way to celebrate this years opening on #IMFblog.
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| Attitude. |
Diana Vreeland lived under the impression that fashion is theater, and in my fashion I tend to agree. Fashion is more than simply wearing the latest designs and being first to wear something outrageous - fashion is all about attitude! A few days ago I attended Rihanna's 'Diamonds' tour. The venue was packed with girls in little skirts and leather, but the pieces that stood out, in my fashion, was anyone wearing neon, and girls wearing colorful fur bolero jackets like the one Rihanna was spotted wearing in Paris last December. I was so energized by the daring ensembles I saw, for I know the amount of attitude and conviction it takes to be explicit in expressing your style. This month will be a month dedicated to how the joy of fashion comes from the theatrics accompanied with a particular look. Having style is about portraying a character, and to pull off a look, one must understand that a bit of dramatization in one's dress is what shows your commitment to being who you are. Like the early generation of punk rockers who strove to dramatize their alienation through their garb to make the statements they felt weren't being heard, the more effort you put into creating a radical look, make you that more intriguing to be heard. In my fashion, fashion is about finding what makes you so intriguing.
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