FASHION

FASHION IS LIFE

what I learned when I asked a few questions

By Yuki Sung

Does this say anything about you?

What does fashion mean to people? Well, clearly lots of different things, depending on who they are, how much money they have, and their relationship with clothes. Yes, I believe everyone has a relationship with clothes. What’s interesting is that fashion not only tells us about a person’s identity, but also can create that identity. No matter where you’re from, what you do, what you wear, how you wear it, and how much it costs, you can’t hide behind your clothes. They say everything about you. So I decided I wanted to know more and asked people to take a survey about their relationship with their clothes. What I found out was weirdly illuminating and caught the strange intersection between what we wear and who we are.

FASHION

JOHN GALLIANO'S TRIP TO CHINA

a deepening of a cultural connection

By Frieda Jiang

Style Beyond Belief

John Galliano is a British fashion designer and by far one of the most talented and controversial designers in the world. He was born in Gibraltar and moved to Streatham, South London when he was six. He graduated from St. Martin’s School of Art, the top fashion design school in London, and became an instant star. His style was hyper-romantic and passionate, but he also displayed a meticulous attention to the details of tailoring that set him apart from his experimental peers. He was the head designer of Givenchy (1995-1996), Christian Dior (1996-2011) and his own brand John Galliano (1988-2011) before he got drunk, went on an anti-Semitic tirade in a dive bar, was caught on videotape, and got fired from his job and shunned by all his friends. He later apologized for being blasted out of his mind and everyone forgave him. He has since become the creative director of the Paris luxury fashion house Maison Margiela.

FASHION

GAULTIER IS THE GOD YOU DON'T QUITE GET

an appreciation of the DeYoung's Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

By Ava Barez

OUR MAN
© Pierre and Gilles/Rainer Torrado

Following the Yves Saint Laurent retrospective at the De Young Museum in San Francisco in 2008, Alexander McQueen’s “Savage Beauty” in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011 and “Balenciaga and Spain” also at the De Young Museum in 2011, the buzz worthy “Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk” arrived in San Francisco after previous stops at the Dallas Museum of Art and the Montreal Museum of Art. The exhibition, arranged by curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot, features over one hundred Pret-a-Porter and Haute Couture ensembles along with accessories, sketches, photographs, interviews, runway videos and film clips spanning over three decades of Jean Paul Gaultier’s fashion career. Unlike more conventional museum exhibitions, “The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk highlights Gaultier’s creations in an innovative and lively space. Visitors are welcomed into the space by Gaultier himself, via video, and talking, winking, smiling and singing mannequins; the unconventional space is perfectly fitting for fashion’s “enfant terrible."