these hips are big hips
they need space to
move around in.
they don’t fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips.
they don’t like to be held back.
these hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
these hips are mighty hips.
these hips are magic hips.
i have known them
to put a spell on a man and
spin him like a top!
Lucille Clifton, “homage to my hips” from Good Woman, 1987.
During the Salone del Mobile in Milan this year, Vestoj took part in the A Casa project, a lovely do every day of the week where creative people from all walks of life came together over lunch to talk about the important and the trivial. Vestoj had a room dedicated to our second issue, where people could read, browse or just rest their weary feet. Have a look at these pictures, courtesy FBR, or log onto these links to find out more:
The notion of dressing up is not strictly limited to an image of high heels, lipstick and tuxedoes; in the context of crime, extra attention is paid by ciminals to personal appearance, and, in a sense this is an act of ‘dressing up’, or ‘disguise’. In a disguise there is a conscious act of decorating and furthering one’s personal appearance beyond the conventional social requirements, reflecting the shame of the act of the crime itself. Eliminating identity or prospective identification through the anonymity of disguise potentially eliminates the shame of the act of crime, or exposure to the regulations of the law.
The following is an interesting case of disguise, where the Caucasian suspect dressed up and an African American man to elude authorities, raising further issues of racial stereotypes and crime.
Historically clothing distinguishes and categorises individuals socially, so it’s no surprise to see how in contemporary Oakland, US, this system is taken to the extreme. Here clothing acts as a marker for rival gangs, and consequently care in dressing can be a matter of life or death. Read here for the full story:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/20/MNGP3NM6D91.DTL
Group dynamics and dressing reflect a conformity or common language that ‘protect’ or ‘strengthen’ a group of people from shame or social vulnerability. A collective identity such as the Lo Lifes in New York City who define themselves by only wearing clothes by Ralph Lauren reflects the use of a brand as a means of defining a group. Here the brand values and imagery of Ralph Lauren is re-appropriated to fit its new context: