A faux fur dress with words from the sexually notorious book “Venus in Furs” shaved into the fabric; a tableau re-enactment of Adam’s temptation by a naked Eve, who wore nothing but a transparent shift; models with black masks painted around their eyes; jackets that unzipped horizontally; a skirt that had the word “body” printed on the front and “soul” on the inside, visible only when the model flashed the audience; a soundtrack that intoned the mantra “she knows nothing about fashion” over and over.
This was no ordinary fashion show. Nor was it a decadent Paris runway spectacle by fashion’s bad boys John Galliano or Alexander McQueen. Instead the venue was the Chicago Cultural Center, and the show was part of the first major event produced by Fashion and Identity, an educational group co-founded by Chicago fashion journalist Barbara Glass, who serves as the organization’s ambassador.
Glass, Chicago Social fashion editor and fashion reporter for NBC-Ch. 5, launched the non-profit organization with psychologist Merilyn Salomon in the fall of 1998 at an informal lunch meeting of journalists, retailers and educators. The purpose of the group was to get people thinking about the issues underlying clothes, appearance and style, and to resist surrendering to the dictates of fashion’s empire. Of particular concern to Glass was the influence of the industry on children and teenagers.
“Designers and the media perpetuate stereotypical images of perfection and imply that you don’t fit in unless you’ve got the right clothes, the right body, the right look. But a person’s identity is about more than being `pretty’ or `perfect.’ It’s about diversity, intelligence and enjoyment.”
Nena Ivon, spokeswoman for Saks Fifth Avenue, praises Fashion and Identity: “It makes us think in new ways about our business and our lives. It reminds us that `fashion’ influences the life we lead, everything around us.”
The creation of Fashion and Identity is part of a new trend on the Chicago fashion scene–the emergence of alternative events that are not part of the benefit circuit of black-tie dinners and formal fashion shows. Entrepreneurs like Mark Gill are throwing multimedia entertainment events, boutiques such as Softcore and Phoebe 45 are sponsoring fashion events at unexpected venues, and designers including Amy Zoller are producing their own shows. Fashion and Identity enhances the hip vitality that’s on the rise here.
The recent Fashion and Identity symposium’s opening–“Corporal Identities”–was the creation of Paris-based design team Evans and Wong and blended fashion and performance art. At a cocktail party that preceded the rest of the symposium’s events that weekend of Oct. 15-16, guests could bid on a collection of “identity boxes,” art objects constructed by celebrities and designers to reveal aspects of their own personalities. Contributors included Barney’s window dresser Simon Doonan, Blackbird restaurant major-domo Donnie Madia, and designers Cynthia Rowley, Nicole Miller and Diane von Furstenberg.
Besides contributing a box, von Furstenberg flew to Chicago to attend the symposium. In a chat before her presentation, von Furstenberg, whose wrap dress in the 1970s made her a fashion legend, explained her take on the night’s theme. “Of course we use clothes to express ourselves. They are a tool we use to project who we want to be. But they are only a complement to one’s identity. Ultimately, you cannot hide behind fashion. To know a person, I always look past the clothes, into their eyes.”
The symposium continued the next day at the Cultural Center with panel discussions, including “Ancient and Contemporary Meanings of Body Adornment”; “Designing Identity: The Role of Transformational Body Rituals in Healing the Body and Self”; “Fashion and the Communication of Changing Identity Across the Life Cycle”; and “What Should I Wear?”
An evening reception and free-floating panel discussion at Saks Fifth Avenue closed out the weekend. Panelists included the Chicago Tribune’s self-admitted twin pillars of rumpledness, film critic Michael Wilmington and magazine writer Rick Kogan. Wilmington spoke of the influence of Hollywood style on the masses while moderator Kogan expressed bewilderment, even alarm, that people–especially men–care so much about clothes.
“My father (hard-boiled Chicago journalist Herman Kogan) never talked about clothes. He had suits. They got old. Then he bought new suits.”
The panelists and audience asked dozens of eclectic questions. “Why do women read fashion magazines?” “Are men more interested in clothing today than they have ever been?” “Do fashion trends come from the top down or up from the street to the market?” “Who decides what is beautiful or fashionable?” “What is the link between sex and fashion?” The most oft-asked question was “Why did Gwyneth Paltrow’s famous pink dress (from the Academy Awards) cause a sensation, and what did it symbolize?”
When one panelist suggested that men loved Gwyneth Paltrow’s dress because it was falling off her body, some in the audience murmured disagreement. Some participants insisted that many people are puppets of the media, wearing what they see in movies, television and magazines. Others argued the opposite, that fashion rises spontaneously from the street and then penetrates pop culture.
Glass and Manny Bencomo, a Chicago retailing veteran and the chairman of Fashion and Identity, declared the weekend a success. “This is exactly what we wanted,” Glass said. “A diverse group of designers, scholars, retailers, writers and students exploring the historical, psychological and intellectual issues of fashion.”
Bencomo said education and inclusiveness are important to the group, so all the symposia will be affordable.
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For more information about Fashion and Identity, call 312-944-5172.
