BEAUTY: Clothing--Federico Cina

Regular readers of "Oh, By The Way" know of the many reasons I find fashion design so compelling. As someone who finds the arts in general to be nourishing and vital, I think of "fashion" as "costume"--as a way to convey an idea or a concept. I appreciate what some designers do the same way one appreciates what an avant garde sculptor or painter or performance artist does. And in a way, these designers are performance artists. For me, it is not about what is hanging on racks in stores, but what these artists are creating and the ideas and concepts they are working with as an influence on their marvelous creativity. It is moving sculpture. It is theater. Fashion and clothing at this level serve as a kind of visual shorthand. A piece of clothing in the hands of a designer can evoke a place, a region, a country, a specific time or an entire era, a work of art such as a novel or film or painting, a class of people, even a social, financial, or spiritual element... and the combination of such pieces of clothing, as well as their harmony or contrast, can tell a fascinating story.

But every now and then, a designer tells a story that is deeply personal, and when that happens, I can't help but be touched. And new designer Federico Cina (he launched his brand only last year) mined his own life to come up with not only a collection but a philosophy for his brand's DNA. For virtual Milano Moda Uomo, he created a sweet SS '21 collection which references the trajectory of his entire life. To fully appreciate this story, please enjoy both videos here.

In a moving, poignant video exclusive to Milano Moda Uomo, he spoke about growing up wanting to leave the confines of his native Romagna to explore the world only to realize that he missed the authenticity and natural beauty of his home. I love hearing of his journey in life as well as in his creativity to synthesize the elements of his past and the history of Ramagna (including the storied Romagna printed cloth) with the idea of wearable clothing for 2021. It's quite beautiful.

And the second phase, the realization of his journey in this lovely, nostalgia-tinged vision of his childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and family. I was extremely moved when the three versions of himself came together at the end...

https://www.federicocina.it/

"Personal" by Tony Hoagland

I was going to wait until next April 2019 to post this for National Poetry Month, but it's too good...we need it now.

Personal
By Tony Hoagland

Don’t take it personal, they said;
but I did, I took it all quite personal—

the breeze and the river and the color of the fields;
the price of grapefruit and stamps,

the wet hair of women in the rain—
And I cursed what hurt me

and I praised what gave me joy,
the most simple-minded of possible responses.

The government reminded me of my father,
with its deafness and its laws,

and the weather reminded me of my mom,
with her tropical squalls.

Enjoy it while you can, they said of Happiness
Think first, they said of Talk

Get over it, they said
at the School of Broken Hearts

but I couldn’t and I didn’t and I don’t
believe in the clean break;

I believe in the compound fracture
served with a sauce of dirty regret,

I believe in saying it all
and taking it all back

and saying it again for good measure
while the air fills up with I’m-Sorries

like wheeling birds
and the trees look seasick in the wind.

Oh life! Can you blame me
for making a scene?

You were that yellow caboose, the moon
disappearing over a ridge of cloud.

I was the dog, chained in some fool’s backyard;
barking and barking:

trying to convince everything else
to take it personal too.


Hoagland's poem brings to mind a great quote:

“I think that life is so important and, in its workings, so upsetting, that nobody should be spared, but that it should be rammed down their throats from morning to night.”
--J.R. Ackerley

Can I convince you to take it personal too? Because, really, there is nothing else...

BEAUTY: Photography--Bina Altera

Photogrpaher Bina Altera writes about her touching series "Immemorial" in a moving, eloquent way:

"I try to resist strong attachments to physical things, yet I experience a visceral reaction when I lose something that has meaningful associations. In creating Immemorial I wanted to examine such attachments and find others who also hold onto personal possessions so tenaciously. I asked my friends and family to share these items with me as well as their stories and explanations of why these objects are important to them. I then borrowed the chosen objects so I could photograph them in the context of a still life.

During the time I’ve been working on this body of work I observed that all of us hold onto things and invest meaning in the things we possess. What varies is the degree to which we do so. I am most intrigued by objects that represent a person’s legacy, a memory, or a way to hold onto people after death. They may be symbols of life lessons, for example; the gold brick belongs to a photography teacher for whom it represents a good picture, development, potential, and one’s contribution to the earth. The teacher awards it to a student. The baby teeth were given to me by a seven-year-old girl; while a seventy-five-year old women offered a lock of hair from her three-year-old daughter who is now forty-one.

In trying to visually represent the experience I had with these objects I first asked myself to reflect on the experience of collecting them. Surprisingly, this process was very intimate. Private moments were confided to me; I listened to stories about loved ones and was entrusted with items that were very special. I felt as if I were listening to secrets from the past. The treatment of the photographs reflects my experience of hearing these personal stories. These objects became characters on stage performing a narrative.

These objects serve as footprints or markers in one’s life. They have been kept as part of one’s possessions over a long period of time and are special and powerful to each individual. Some objects are used as part of altars, or are tucked away in paper bags in drawers. These objects become part of the individual and are tangible embodiments of a personal memory."

I still have a lot of my parents' personal belongings but perhaps the most meaningful is my dad's wallet and my mom's purse. I left them exactly the way they were when they died. My mom's still has gum and cash and a nail file and it smells like her and I can't change a thing about it, and my dad's wallet has cash and photos and a tiny photocopy of a drawing I did when I was about 5 years old. It is of some animals in a zoo. My dad died a year and a week before my mom, and when I discovered my little drawing folded up in his wallet, she told me he never took it out, just transferred it each time he got a new wallet.

http://binaaltera.com/