Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Class No.8...séance de photo de la mode & YSL

...so, last week was Fashion History. We ended up with a quiz - one class did well, the other class - not so much. We also had the opportunity to visit the Foundation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent. The was a small but very strong show based on his revolutionary 1960's boutique "Rive Gauche." The premis was to bring couture to the streets of Paris. To produce clothes that weren't limited to the wealthiest of women - although they were still fairly expensive (!) The exhibit was loosely set up like his original Rive Gauche boutique, with racks of clothing, a colorful red palette and hanging Noguchi lamps. Even the life-sized painting of Yves that appeared in the original shop, greeted you as you entered the 2 small rooms. There was a charming video interview with e couturier and I was pleasantly surprised that the students walked away with a lasting impression. On camera, when asked about the future of fashion, YSL responded: "I don't think about the future, I design in the present."



Despite the nasty, pouring rain, all of my students made it there and the excursion seemed to be a success.

As for this week - once again we are plagued by less than perfect weather. I, for one, adore the cool and drizzly afternoons but they don't lend themselves to much besides classroom work. On Monday, we discussed fashion photography and different approaches. I, then, arbitrarily divided them into teams of 3-5 where they would choose the photographer (some students are also taking photography), the model, the stylist and creative director. On Tuesday, we went over historic aspects of clothing design that affect contemporary design. They had a few more minutes to plan their shoot locations - one constraint was that it had to be within a short distance of the classroom. One class had some success yesterday and the other class will shoot today. The results ...soon.

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