Vigilanz
A Search for Identity in Fashion Design
Concept for the 2006 – 2007 Collection
By Anna-Kirsten Krambeck
Faculty of the Fashion Department / Prof. Veronique Branquinho
University of Applied Arts, Vienna
Submitted on June 22, 2007
Stefan George as My Historical Starting Point
Stefan George (1868 –1933), a largely forgotten poet today, served as my historical personage and as a provocative starting point. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, however, George and his circle represented a significant artistic and intellectual movement. In the sense of Adorno’s cultural critique (“George und Hoffmannsthal. Zum Briefwechsel” 1955), this movement essentially focused on the question how individuality could be preserved in an age, in which there was a flood of industrially produced consciousness and mass consumption that served as culture.
George and his circle attempted to accomplish this with a distillation, in which occidental idealities were merged. George emphasized the primacy of mind over man’s biological and social condition and aimed at reshaping life through art, which was exalted to a sacral worthiness. He considered himself the “Keeper of the Eternal Flame.” In his poetic vision of a “new realm,” Hölderlin-like hopes were revived for an intellectual rebirth of a new Hellas. An imperious, aristocratic attitude towards life (Nietzsche), the stringent opinions on art held by French Symbolists (Mallarmé, Baudelaire), the cult of aesthetics of the English Pre-Raphaelites, ideas of a heroized antiquity—all of these can be found in George, merged with a Roman-German heritage. This highly stylized design for life and culture attracted fervent admirers (the Stefan George circle), but also his most vehement critics. In retrospect, it must be said that the ongoing development of modern society has passed him by and has relegated him to just a footnote in cultural history.
Nevertheless, in conjunction with the question of how subjectivity and identity are cultivated and defended in a mass society homogenized by the culture industry, George’s approach represented an extreme reply. A radical differentiation was introduced by means of a highly intellectual, aesthetic and even ascetic ideal of perfection that stood athwart the pleasure-driven needs of mass consumption. Subjectivity and identity are preserved by this defiant protest.
Dandyism
If a bridge to fashion is to be found in George’s aestheticized, intellectually elitist shaping of identity, the effort will ultimately arrive at the phenomenon of Dandyism. In his bearing and outward appearance, a dandy attempts to present himself as unique and unmistakable. For this reason the many, small and often valuable accessories that are to be found on or around his clothing are so important. A “narcissism of differentiation” is cultivated with painstaking care down to the most minute details in order to set himself apart from all others, to prove that he is at odds with “prêt-à-porter” or “off the rack” fashion consciousness. He wants to raise himself above the rest with an identity that only exists once.
It is surely no coincidence that Karl Lagerfeld made reference to one of literature’s most famous dandies in conjunction with a photographic collection (“A Portrait of Dorian Gray”) in 2004. In his stylish self-manifestation, Lagerfeld himself appears to me to be a fascinating embodiment of Dandyism in our times. French magazine L’Express called him the “last dandy in Paris.”
In addition, Lagerfeld seems to have lively inner ties to Stefan George. In the Berliner Zeitung of 25/11/06, there was a review on the opening of an exhibition entitled “One Man Show,” in which he displayed his photographs of his star model Brad Kroenig. In commenting on his model, Lagerfeld wrote: “Stefan George would have said that he is a kind of ‘ideal example of humankind’.”
It was gratifying for me to see that Stefan George not only has not been completely forgotten, but has also been remembered and cited by a modern cultural icon like Karl Lagerfeld.
Lost Boys / Punk Cultures
With George and Dandyism, I have described two forms of shaping identity. In the language of psychoanalysis, they could be characterized as forms of a “positive identity,” i.e., a way of shaping identity that is oriented to the idealized values of our culture: beauty, intellectuality, purity, clarity and harmony.
However, shaping identity can take much different directions.
Parallel to reflecting on George, forms of expression in the art and culture of the present have also occupied my interest, in particular appearances from the Punk culture and the Lost Boys culture. What we encounter there is the exact opposite, in the form of “negative identity”—to borrow the language of psychoanalysis once again. The ideals of intellectuality, beauty and purity, the occidental values and principles of form seem to have become obsolete, dissonant and worn out. Their own outward appearance is presented as disordered and neglected, reflecting their vision of themselves inwardly. They are apparently living as if they were down-at-the-heels at the margins of society; they apparently do not want to belong to a crowd, to whom “prosperity for everyone” has been promised and who have been left to live in the “refuse“ of their affluent society. Their clothes are torn, their faces half disfigured by piercing, their hair dyed in dissonant, strident and garish colors—in other words they present themselves as outcasts, as pariahs.
This self-portrayal as “losers” or “outcasts” is a counterpoise or “counter-scenario” to the values of this society as well as a social critique and provocative differentiation manifested—even inflicted—on their own bodies. This counterpoise or “counter-scenario” of a “negative identity” not only immunizes them from a feeling of personal failure, but also reverses the position of the Lost Boys with their defiant protest to a feeling of superiority. In other words, by resisting the tide of the mass culture, they feel that they have acquired a “real” identity—at least in their own minds.
Although the outward appearances of “positive” and “negative” identities are extreme opposites, at their core they do have similarities. This can be found in that they both cultivate a concept of identity and self-esteem by refusing to be assimilated into the mass culture.
Between “Positive” and “Negative” Identities – The Process of Determining Identity in My Collection
I think that my generation has difficulty in determining its identity. The former major concepts of life and the world (religion, philosophy of the Enlightenment, the Nation), which lent form and content to the search for identity and were thus useful in that regard, have become fragile and can no longer contribute. They now only provide fragments that are assimilated into shaping identity. Unlike in former times, each individual is more frequently called upon to become the creator in shaping his or her own identity.
The polarity between “positive” and “negative” identities as described above is anchored in the consciousness and even more in the unconsciousness of each individual. The realm of memories from the story of our lives lies between these two poles. Emotional, intellectual and aesthetic experiences too numerous to comprehend are associatively linked with one another. They represent mental networks that take on various visualizations, depending on the focus of our attention.
The creative process moves within the area thus defined. It tries out new associations again and again, joins new and different parts together and more often than not rejects the results. It makes headway with various constructions and deconstructions in order to come up with an appropriate form of identity in the end.
This creative process demands a particular attentiveness, an associative wakefulness directed inwardly. This I have pursued with my collection. It is entitled Vigilanz - A Search for Identity in Fashion Design.
Notes on Creating My Collection
What would I wear if I were to meet Stefan George today?
My entire collection has evolved in light of this question.
I will come back to this question at the end.
In my documentary series, “Take a picture every day, and you will know who you are,” it is noticeable that the combinations of articles of clothing have been pretty well thrown together seemingly at random. Nevertheless, this randomness has been implemented with a certain consistency and assuredness, from which a cohesive aesthetic has resulted.
The dandyish-narcissistic note is expressed as a statement in the black and white striped material, which forms a unity despite its high-contrast facets. The colors black and white in a striped pattern call to mind opposites and contrasts.
To find the various facets of my inner self by means of faith in my own perceptions was of major assistance to me as a guide during my work on this collection—with Stefan George and the Lost Boys in the background. I selected material by steadily but quickly running my half-opened eyes over the surface of the fabrics and trusted to my intuition. All of the fabrics that first caught my eye became a part of my combinations, without asking whether they matched or not.
This resulted in combinations that seemingly evolved at random for days on end. They were discovered and rediscovered, again and again, until a choice was made from all of the available possibilities. I documented the decision-making process with photographs.
For the cuts used, I combined both coincidentally occurring designs with my need for clear outward forms.
My collection displays various aspects of my search for a way to mirror the many facets of my inner life and identity:
• The “dress and jacket outfit with blue slacks” is reminiscent of the desire for an intellectual standard for ideal beauty (cf. “positive identity” in Stefan George).
• The “lusty bosom jacket” is meant to be audacious and provocative and found its reference in the expression “negative identity” of my generation today (cf. remarks on the Lost Boys).
• The “overalls” are intended to point to the protective, fragile inner core of the identity.
• The “silhouette of a coat” refers to a need for harmony rooted in childhood.
The choice of which articles of clothing I would use as a starting point for my designs resulted from experimenting with my own wardrobe in the above-mentioned documentary series, “Take a picture every day, and you will know who you are.” The articles of clothing used therein are bound up with memories and emotions that were to be expressed in the designs.
To give one example:
I chose the “raincoat” from a childhood photograph, in which my mother is wearing a similar coat. In the photograph, she is lovingly and protectively bending over me as I am lying in a baby basket on the hood of our family’s car. I tried to integrate the memory and the feeling that I associate with that coat into my own design.
So what would I wear if I were to meet Stefan George today?
Stefan George’s will to have his whole life compressed into that one ideal identity can be strongly felt. Order and certainly were to be found by cultivating an intellectual-spiritual unity with the aid of discipline and stringency. However, are not all of our personalities simply a mosaic formed out of memories, out of clear, unclear and blurred perceptions that are linked by emotions—even those of a contradictory nature?
If I were to meet Stefan George today, I would have to present myself to him by showing him the various parts of my collection piece-by-piece, petit à petit. I would like to tell him that there is not just one identity, complete of itself—only various forms of identity. Identity is a developmental process throughout a lifetime. It requires creative awareness of the internal and external worlds in order to perceive these forms and to give them expression.
eleny
….da war ich noch schlank wie ein plüschbär…………….