DressSpace

The new generation is trying to find a way to be childish.

The need to grow up quickly has deprived them of their childhood, the youngster schedule is filled with too many engagements leaving them with no time to dream and laze about.

“ALERT, WE ARE LOLITAS”

From Japan to Italy the last temptation of teenage girls is to dress up like dolls. Little princesses. “Rococo style” dressed girls are increasingly popular, but there is nothing erotic about them.

There are different variations around.

The “Gothic” is the most popular one, but we also find a sailor-like stile or those who dress in all white.

“The Lolita style,” – expert in J-pop culture Professor Takamasa Sakurai explains- “could be considered as a rereading of the French rococo style. Full dresses with frills and lace, bows, jewels, rings and accessories of any kind as long as they are “kawai-i”(cute).

Those who wear such items, which can be quite pricey, essentially do it to feel like a princess.

KAWAII

Is a sophisticated, quite simpering style, which aims to turn the young girls into charming little princesses.

Colours are dolls like, nearly to symbolize an eternal youth.

GOTHIC

The gothic variation, created by the Japanese musician and stylist Mana for his brand MOI-MEME-MOITIE, is characterised by the colour of the clothes  which is strictly black and the dark make up with black eye shadow and dark shade lipstick.

This is the Lolita style more predominant in the western world.

COSPLAY

A phenomenon, a hobby, an amusing madness.

There are plenty of definitions for this game, in between art and dressing up, which in the last two years has been a constant presence in any Italian festival dedicated to the animation cinema and comics.

The aim is to dress up as the main characters of the ANIME, the Japanese cartoons.

OKATU

A bit more than a fan: totally passionate, obsessively interested, extremely competent in anything related to the Japanese comics and animation series. Since at least twenty years they are very numerous also in Italy: they know everything, they have seen all and often they communicate among them only: internet swarms with websites, blogs, and discussion forums for raving okatu.

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After being staged in the most prestigious museums around the world, the exhibition dedicated to the best names in Italian fashion has now landed at the splendid Villa Genovese Zerbi in Reggio Calabria, open from July the 12th till August the 31st.

The wonderful show Cinquant’anni di moda italiana (Fifty years of Italian fashion) tells the story of the main protagonists who made Italian fashion famous over the years, beginning with the birth of glorious high fashion in 1950 up to the present day. On display on artistic manikins by Bonaveri are representative creations by each Italian famous designer. This captivating journey through fashion history includes the biggest names in High Fashion and prêt-a-porter, with creations closely linked to the movie industry, such as the cassock dress created by the Fontana sisters for actress Ava Gardner and then worn by Anita Ekberg in the movie “La dolce vita” (Federico Fellini- 1960), not to mention the famous pajama-palazzo created by Galitzine and worn by Claudia Cardinale in “The Pink Panther” (1963), or the legendary Empire style dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in “War and Peace”(1956), entirely created by the Italian designer Gai Mattiolo who obtained a nomination for the Oscar for the costumes used in the film.

Of course, male high fashion is also on display, such as the tuxedo created by Litrico and worn by Rossano Brazzi (1958) and the one designed by Brioni for the invincible  007-James Bond, alias Pierce Brosnan, for the movie “Die Another Day” (2002). The personality of each desiger is instantly recognizable trough their creations, such us the typical masculine cut of Giorgio Armani’s “Regimental” woman’s dinner jacket, embroidered in blue and gold (1991), as well as Gattinoni’s  bottle -shaped” dress with jaïs and paillettes (1991), or Versace’s unmistakable glamorous style in the dress made of “Jungle effect” printed silk jersey (2000), the rich embroidery and hand-painting of Gai Mattiolo (in the picture, a model worn by Carla Bruni).Furthermore, various accessories linked to celebrities: the first round-shaped evening bag created for Jacqueline Kennedy (1975) by Helietta Caracciolo, the necklace worn by Nancy Reagan and the earrings created for Hillary Clinton, Roberta di Camerino’s “Bagonghi” handbag, one of Grace Kelly’s favourites (1959), the sandals worn by Madonna in “Evita” – exact copies of those made by Salvatore Ferragamo for Evita Peròn, as well as the Audrey Hepburn style “ballerina” shoes from “Roman Holiday”.

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CUTTING AND SEWING: TAYLORS BORN IN PREHISTORIC TIMES

The first clothes found in a cavern in Caucasus.

Linen fibres dating back 30 thousands years.

The first clothes date back to over 30 thousands years ago, to the Upper Palaeolithic, when men where still living on hunting and fishing and they just started to move out of Africa to migrate towards the Est. Some vegetable fibres about 2 cm long have been recovered in the Dzudzuana Cavern in the Caucasus region, in the Republic of Georgia. The threads used to interweave were trapped in 86 clay samples. They testify the human ability to spin, interlace, weave and even stain: dressing has always been an inherent human character.

The discovery is a confirmation of the inborn tendency in humans to use clothing  to communicate and adorn themselves, using them non only for protection but participate to beauty, to aesthetic.

I WOULD HAVE NEVER IMAGINED MY ART WAS SO ANCIENT

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Naomi Klein’s prophetic bestseller while the world is in flames, from Genoa to New York
In summer 2001, the thick volume written by the Canadian journalist Naomi Klein (No logo. Global economy and new contestation) became a bestseller also in Italy. It had been published in the United States the year before and was instantly labeled as “the Bible of the anti-globalization movement” with millions of copies sold all over the world.
And now, with a recession that is even worse than the one in 1929, turbo-capitalism seems (stress on the word “seems”) to be on the wane and no-one in the world today that would never dare proclaim (with the usual insolent attitude) that the free market is perfectly capable of self-regulating itself, a book such as No Logo proves to be somewhat predictive.
One of the major merits of the author is that she has succeeded in bringing to light the multinationals’ modus operandi (still the same today) in the many Third-world countries, with their continued economic exploitation of, and disrespect for the most elementary human rights, perpetrated out of the consumer’s sight.
[…] many common citizens had decided to take part in the manifestations against the Western economic policies after reading No Logo, with the same spirit that had been moving them towards bio and Equo solidal purchases and refraining from buying their children footballs sewn with the sweat of children, maybe Indonesian.

A few key words to keep in mind: crucial consumption, sustainable development, pacifism, environmentalism.
These people, unlike others who came to Genoa dressed up in their uniforms and ready for street fighting, had no idea what they might find.
Only two months later, the whole world stopped to watch another live coverage of the events on September 11, 2009. In regard to terror, or better, terrorism, Naomi Klein was soon accused of connivance with the Twin Towers attackers.
In the meantime, all those crusades against luxury, which had broken out during the crisis in Greece and elsewhere, seem to have placated. Another turbulent autumn seems to be approaching and we are asking ourselves when will contesters wear the global teen uniform described by Naomi Klein in her book “No Logo”.

LA STAMPA

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NEARLY ONE YEAR TO DECIDE

Every morning women spend 16 minutes to choose the right outfit. This makes 287 days in a life time.
The study, that quantified 16 minutes sharp, has appeared on the Telegraph and was commissioned by the retailer Matalan. 2.491 women from 16 to 60 years old were involved. The time spent, in between discouragement and passion, in front of the wardrobe, more than by the substantial age difference is influenced by the occasion: the first 16 minutes become even 52 if the choice is the dramatic one to prepare the suitcases. A good half of an hour for a Christmas party and similar events and just 20 minutes if at stake there is a night out. In total 287 days of a life time spent choosing what to wear. Nearly a child birth. Sarah Jessica Parker, alias Carrie, and the others were not ashamed. They were even exaggerating. Heaps of clothes and shoes before being sure that it’s the right outfit for work, for a date or even for the simple walk in Central Park. From ‘Sex and the City’, but even Holly in Breakfast at Tiffany wasn’t joking, to Andrea in “The devil wears Prada” to the teenager in “The last Kiss” and Maria Callas when she was setting her mind at it.
The best comes when in the evening, after going to bed, a flash of inspiration arrives: “Yes, tomorrow I will wear the blue dress”. It’s even better than a sleeping pill. You can now think about setting the alarm fifteen minutes later.
Thus do they all. Whoever denies it, lies.

CORRIERE DELLA SERA

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This picture comes from a recent article (June 18, 2009) in La Stampa, an article in whichFrancesco Scisci describes the youth of Japan, particularly young males between the ages of 20 and 35, as individualists with little interest in having a career, who neglect work and don’t think about starting a family or a steady relationship. The majority of these young men have incomes below 2,000,000 yen per month in forward contracts and no prospect of steady employment. According to Scisci, they often earn less than women and live at home with their mothers.

Scisci writes that these Japanese males spend a fortune on cosmetics, use blush, get manicures, and are very preoccupied with hairstyle. They buy bras and other “extreme” clothing. Sex is not a common practice for them (condom sales are in a steep decline),  Scisci claims that this demographic prefers a platonic relationship carried out over the internet or on a park bench.

Even cuisine has undergone a revolution: the traditional filets of raw tuna have given way to salads and deserts—“Italian tiramisù,” says Scisci, “is a favorite.”

Sisci’s opinion is that this generation’s identity crisis is due to an erosion of Japan’s ancestral values and the country’s loss of economic supremacy.

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