FASHION PLATE
July 22 – August 4, 2005
The Drake Hotel — 1150 Queen Street West
Presented by Fado
Talk: Wednesday, July 27, 6pm Drake Lounge
‘Clothing Launch’ & Reception: Thursday, August 4, 6pm Drake Lounge
As now existing, fashion is a form of social regulation analogous to constitutional government as a form of political regulation. –H. Spencer.
The artist sits at a sewing machine, beside an assistant at another sewing machine, in a room filled with fabrics, notions and pattern books. The audience is invited in and asked to design an item of clothing, or perhaps an entire outfit, for the artist. They compose a pattern or design and a fabric, translating the image of the clothing on the paper (or in their heads) onto the artist, selecting a style they think will flatter her. Perhaps they design an article from scratch, translating what they like on their body to hers, or ‘sizing up’ the artist’s size, taste, and personal style and decoding it from abstract idea to 3-dimensional design.
The visitor then must cut out the pieces of cloth from which the clothes will be made, using only what means of translation are at their disposal (pictures of pattern pieces, the artist’s body’s presence, the audience member’s own body.) These are then given to the artist and assistant to sew (or are sewn by the visitor) and turned into clothing.
At the end of this two week project, there is a public launch for the new line of clothing.
This project gave people permission to look at me, to literally size me up. In fact, it required them to, to look at me and really think about what they’re seeing. This was the most challenging part of Fashion Plate, I think – for the audience, to be asked to look at me and really think about it; and for me, to be looked at so critically by all the people I encounter. This project in particular asked the viewer to look at me not as a performance artist but as a model - it is they who are the artist/designer.
I asked, for at least a short period of time, for people to think about someone else’s body, regardless of size, about that body in relation to their own and in relation to fashion, which is, after all, a visual translation of society’s rules or standards about bodies.
Before I started this project, I hypothesized that everyone would want to please; that the crux of the performance would be in the conversations and the awkward attempts to guess a correct fit. In fact, one thing I could not predict was that those who were willing to engage did so wholeheartedly, and were not afraid to get their arms around me, to wrap me in fabric, to hold things up to see how they’d look. I thought I’d be more of an active participant in the process than I often ended up being; in many cases, I was asked to stand, lift up my arms, turn around – to be a mannequin.
But the other thing that I could not predict was that the participants, regardless of where they were coming from, seemed to take this as their opportunity to create a fabulous work of contemporary art-clothing, and instead of trying to make something that fit by selecting a simple design, they pulled out all the taffeta and the organza and made the most elaborate designs and really tried to make me into their diva.
One of my favorite art tricks is to set up an unrealistic task, and map the strategies used to try to get there to reveal something real. I usually take on these tasks to learn more about myself (my limitations), but this project set out to present small tasks to others: those who are willing to invest, and I will share with them in return. For this to work, we both had to be willing to be a bit vulnerable. It’s a negotiation – the more they shared, the more I could share, and the more information that changed hands, the more interesting and wearable the end product.
I’m really interested in the idea of disappointed expectations. This project actively provoked disappointment through awkward relationships between artist & audience, model & designer, and plays off subject/object, creator/viewer dichotomies that I’m interested in through all my work.
This project in particular asked the viewer to look at me not as a performance artist but as a model - it is they who were the artist/designer, so there are many possible layers of awkwardness here.
The thing that I find curious about disappointed expectations is finding the truths hidden within – set up an unrealistic task, and map the strategies used to try to get there to reveal something real. I usually take on these tasks to learn more about myself (my limitations), but this project sets out to present small tasks to others: those who are willing to invest, and I will share with them in return. For this to work, we must both be willing to be a bit vulnerable. It’s a negotiation – the more they share, the more I can share, and the more information changes hands, the more interesting and perhaps wearable the end product.
This project isn’t about my expectations being disappointed by the end result, it’s about taking a pile of categorically/chronically/traditionally/predictably disappointed expectations, culminating in nervous-viewer-meets-nervous-artist, and trying to come up with small solutions.
A curious blend of performance and object-making, the most important part of the project for me was what happened between me and the people I encountered every day; the conversations, the connections, the layers of negotiation and the things that were avoided as well as the things that were covered. Each garment tells its own story, but it is the final product; the rack full of clothes, the finished collection – that has the potential to demarcate trends or reveal truths. Everything else in between is just work.
