issue 19 final

06 07
THURSDAY
APR. 18
2024
HAUTE COUTURE with a side of
AUGMENTED REALITY
A Century of San Francisco Style at the de Young
earth month spotlight
HIGH-END FASHION IS A HOAX!
SCENE
ELINA GRAHAM
Staff Writer
The recognizably dreamy notes of Glenn Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade”
played as viewers gazed upon mannequins modeling a range of
designs in the de Young museum’s latest exhibition, “Fashioning San
Francisco: A Century of Style.”
This exhibition explores the evolution of women’s fashion in San
Francisco by highlighting legendary collections and designers of the
20th and 21st centuries. According to their website, this is the museum’s
“first major presentation of [their] costume collection in over 35
years.” In addition to Christian Dior, Comme des Garçons and Vivienne
Westwood, more than fifty designers’ works are on display — for
many pieces, this is their first showing.
“‘Fashioning San Francisco’ is a rich presentation that asserts the
case that San Francisco does, and has always had, style,” stated Thomas
P. Campbell, director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San
Francisco in a press release.
The exhibit also collaborated with Snapchat’s parent company,
Snap Inc., to invite viewers to use augmented reality (AR) to see themselves
in this historical legacy.
Greeting visitors as they entered the room, a
mannequin was dressed in Jeanne Lanvin’s “Veilleur
de Nuit” evening gown of the Spring/Summer
1924 collection. With a dropped waist and a full,
calf-hitting skirt evocative of the 18th century,
this hundred-year-old “robe de style” has a
silhouette Lanvin popularized in the
1920s.
Further down the narrow
halls of the exhibit is a room devoted
entirely to shoes. From the
1998 patent Prada Mary Janes,
to Rei Kawakubo’s embroidered
leather “Cut Out Cowboy” design
from the 1999 Fall/Winter
collection, many styles have once
graced the streets of San Francisco.
The main exhibition wing featured
styles ranging from experimental clothing
to suitwear, including Richard
Tam’s ostrich-feather headdress, mask
and fan that accompanied a printed
paisley silk Valentino evening gown,
and a honeycomb inspired jacket
designed by Junya Watanabe for
Comme des Garçons in 2015.
Many of these pieces
were gifted to the museum
by San Francisco
philanthropists
and fashionistas.
Christine Suppes,
author and founder of digital couture publication Fashionlines,
donated more than 500 articles of clothing to the museum. Suppes
wore many of the ensembles to black-tie galas and balls.
“‘Junon’ and ‘Venus’, the two Dior ball gowns, stood out to me for
sure,” said junior media studies student Alley Garland, whose interest
in high fashion brought her to the exhibition. “They were absolutely
stunning and it was incredible to look at all of the beading and detail
gone into every part of each dress.” These pieces were found in the
formalwear section, among other couture gowns by the likes of John
Galliano for Christian Dior and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel.
Outside of the main showing room was a wing dedicated to the
“Little Black Dress” design, known in the fashion world as a staple in
a woman’s wardrobe. The term now suits a range of styles, as seen by
the distinctive and unique dresses on display, including the black silk
velvet “Soirée de Paris” gown designed by Yves Saint Laurent while he
worked for Christian Dior. This gown was available to virtually try on
in the exhibit’s special augmented reality (AR) room post-exhibition
viewing.
Similar to how Snapchat filters work, a viewer could stand in
front of one of three mirrors and virtually try on three iconic designs
by Yves Saint Laurent, Kaisik Wong and Valentino. The real works
were all on display upstairs, but this installation gave museum-goers
the opportunity to snap a photo in a designer gown.
Junior media studies student Ella Brohm said
“I thought the [AR] was kind of a weird addition.”
On the other hand, Garland enjoyed the installation.
“The AR experience was so fun! It was a little silly
but my sister and I laughed the whole time and took
a bunch of photos,” she said.“ I thought it was nicely
done and it actually looked like we were wearing
the clothing. It’s definitely the closest I’ll ever
get to wearing haute couture.”
“I hope visitors see the impact that women’s
fashion has had on society,” Garland continued.
“You can see the evolution of fashion
simply through the complexity, form and use
of color in them. Fashion is a huge part of expression
and these designers capture a wide
range of femininity that is really neat.”
Fashioning San Francisco: A Century
of Style is on display at the de Young
museum through August 11. Tickets
can be purchased on the museum’s
website, students can get a discounted
ticket with valid student ID.
Editor-in-Chief: Megan
Robertson, Chief Copy Editor:
Sophia Siegel, Managing Editor:
Jordan Premmer, Scene
Editor: Inés Ventura
While the exhibit is centered around historical fashion, it also showcased more contemporary pieces, like Edwin Oudshoorn’s Spring/Summer 2020 Spellbound gown with
detached sleeves and pin. Photo by Samantha Elina Graham/SF Foghorn
According to the SF Museum of Fine Arts’ Textile and Conservation Lab, each of the tens of thousands of sequins seen on the Dior “Venus” gown (seen above) are individually
swabbed as part of their conservation practice. Photo by Samantha Elina Graham/SF Foghorn
REMI BRANDLI is a junior
media studies major.
High-end fashion brands are
aligning themselves with social
movements to attract larger audiences,
yet their output is insulting to the
communities they are supposedly
representing. While major brands
receive attention and money, true
activists fight for a level playing field.
We as consumers must divert
our attention and money from
corporations that are: reinforcing
racist tropes, destroying the
environment, and doing so all
the while claiming to be forwardthinking.
RACIST TROPES
According to brand executives
themselves, Banana Republic was
initially created as an imagined, exotic place, “like Shangri-La, Middle
Earth, Westeros, or Wakanda,” as stated in their 2021 rebrand campaign.
The inspirations and descriptors of the new fashion line included
aesthetics such as “safari meets tuxedo,” according to the brand. Even
Banana Republic’s name is rooted in the colonization of Latin American
and African countries according to Fast Company. The fetishized appeal
of the “safari” seeps from the dark history of imperialism into the modern
day.
In their 2024 advertising, you will find only two Black models and
two Asian models sandwiched between their five white counterparts—a
lacking attempt at promoting racial diversity. Companies are utilizing
these models merely to place them in an imagined exotic world, tokenizing
them based on their race.
It extends beyond Banana Republic. De Beers Jewellers tokenized
Lupita Nyong’o, a Mexican-Kenyan actor, as a model for their “Where it
Begins” campaign. The name of said campaign is “a visual nod to De Beers’s
South African origins … and ongoing mining activities in Botswana,
Namibia, and South Africa,” states Nancy Friedman in an article exploring
the company’s history. Notably, none of those countries are Kenya.
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
The De Beers Diamond Co. and Marc Jacobs neglect to
consistently update their codes of ethics in terms of resource
extraction. Both companies follow the UK Modern Slavery Act,
as posted on their websites under their codes of ethics. The 2015
legislation aims to make provisions “about slavery, servitude and
forced or compulsory human labour and about human trafficking,”
according to the bill.
While adhering to this legislation is admirable, it is not enough
to claim compliance and then not consistently update consumers
on ethical sourcing of materials in areas known to exploit laborers.
Recent updates regarding these brands’ ethics are not available. De
Beers’ last statement was in 2022, and Marc Jacobs’ was in 2018.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
While sustainability in fashion can be possible, current
industry business models are resistant to it. The industry’s lack of
transparency makes assessing sustainability difficult. According to
the Harvard Business Review of unsustainable fashion practices,
most corporate social responsibility reports “do not accurately
quantify the full carbon emissions profile of fashion brands.”
Further, attempts at sustainable fashion have struggled in the
existing business models which prioritize rapid-consumerism..
The McKinsey Global Fashion Index has tracked “a burst
of pent-up consumer demand,” boosting global industry revenues up
between 6-21% in the years 2021 and 2022. This boost is paralleled by
the rise in the fashion industry’s “carbon impact range” by 6%, according
to the Harvard Business Review. While corporations continue to prosper,
our planet is dying in the name of trends.
DIVESTMENT
We must boycott brands that preach values of transparency they do
not practice, brands that exoticize and fetishize models as representation
and diversity, and brands that put money towards the oppression of other
humans. Luckily there are tools to help us with this.
One of my go-to models for sustainable consumerism is Nabihah
Ahmad. A student at Columbia University, Ahmad is a “Bangladeshi-
Muslim American from Queens, NY,” as described in her Instagram post.
Her startup, SSQRD, is focused on remodeling modern fashion and hosts
the website Ethos, which filters for ethical brands and products.
Functioning under values of transparency and community, the
startup is “a movement aimed at breaking down the barriers created by
traditional corporations,” according to the Ethos website. Ahmad comes
from a family of garment workers in Bangladesh, and is motivated to
create change on behalf of her family.
With a wide list of fashion, skincare, makeup and fragrances, many
products are tagged as “Black-owned,” “Palestinian owned,” or other
notable identifiers, encouraging consumers to support sustainable
businesses and marginalized business owners.
There is an added layer of transparency with the “Caution” label,
identifying products and brands with problematic elements, such as alleged
forced labor practices and fiscal support of Israel. Ethical consumption
of fashion and beauty is possible, by supporting transparent, ethical
brands and entrepreneurs. Ahmad is just one example of fashion moguls
whose values align with the greater community. SSQRD is a great way to
promote and support brands and businesses that operate on humanitarian
principles, not just profit.
Editor-in-Chief: Megan Robertson, Chief Copy Editor: Sophia
Siegel, Managing Editor: Jordan Premmer, Opinion Editor: Chisom
Okorafor
Graphic by Mariam Diakite/Graphics center
OPINION