Why I like fashion

It's a new delight for me. I used to think fashion was frivolous, not anything (God help me!) serious people should care about.

Then I started watching Project Runway. And got hooked. Of all reality shows (at least in my experience), it's the fairest. To viewers, I mean. You can see the fashions the contestants design, just as well as the judges on the show can. You can see who does well, and who does badly. You can develop your eye, as I did. You can learn to see how fashion can be art. You can hear the judges -- expereinced fashion people, some of them top designers -- talk about the work they're seeing. You can see that their standards are high, and their judgment artistic.

And finally it came to me. Fashion can be exciting because it's a place where art, commerce, craftsmanship, and sexuality all come together. Which, if you ask me, is hot. And (as I hardly need to say) that's not a place where classical music very comfortably lives. Though why shouldn't it? It certainly did in past centuries. Handel's opera companies in London -- artistic (just listen to the music), commercial to the hilt, and with a lot of sexual excitement about some of the singers (the prima donnas, and, inevitably, the castratos, who were infertile, but as sexually potent as any other man).

Why can't classical music do that now?
September 23, 2008 2:23 PM | | Comments (5)

5 Comments

By Eric Barnhill on September 23, 2008 2:13 PM

You would very much like Virginia Postrel's book "The Substance of Style" if you haven't read it, and would probably also look forward to her upcoming book on Glamour.

By suzanne vendil on September 25, 2008 12:03 AM

That makes me so happy! The two things I love: fashion and classical music (I'm a classical pianist).
People take fashion for granted and don't realize that it's another form of visual art that you just happen to wear on your body. There is a lot of thought and inspiration behind fashion. Most classical musicians do not follow fashion, for a number of reasons. That sounds sort of presumptuous but just look at the number of responses to this post! Our inability to keep up with fashion reflects how we are unable to keep up with the times.

By Holly Hickman on September 26, 2008 3:02 PM

Greg, I don't know if you saw this article, "Symphony in Black," in the April issue of Esquire magazine ("Man At His Best"), but it highlights 12 men who are redefining classical music, and classical orchestra wear. You can view it online here: http://www.esquire.com/style/fashion-story/symphony-in-black

I thought it was sexy.

By Janet Shapiro on September 29, 2008 10:14 AM

Yes but...

Fashion also leads to maxed-out credit cards, poor body image, and life-threatening eating disorders.

Hi, Janet. I think you're implying that these things are more prevalent than any good things about fashion. Do we really know that? How about the downsides of classical music? Leads many people to waste their lives in careers that will never take off, makes people helpless socially because they spend all their time practicing when they're young. Fills peoples' minds with nonsense about popular culture. Now you'll probably object, which leads to my point: Good and bad sides of things often get weighted subjectively, depending on one's preconceptions. Certainly I thought everything you thought about fashion, until I learned more about it. Have you seen the Project Runway shows where they do makeovers for normal people? The boost in their self-esteem is something to see. And it's not shallow. The clothes designed for them aren't gaudy or ridiculous. The people actually look better.

By Lyricist on October 1, 2008 4:49 PM

"...because it's a place where art, commerce, craftsmanship, and sexuality all come together..."
nice shot!

Leave a comment

Resources

Age of the Audience 
Conventional wisdom: the classical music audience has always been the age it is now. Reality: It used to be younger -- dramatically younger, in fact. Here's some evidence -- actual texts of old studies, links to NEA studies -- plus my blog posts on this subject. more

earlier resources

Things I like

Lucinda Williams, Little Honey 

Her most joyful album, but also her roughest -- very frayed, vocally, with edgiest band she's ever had. I don't know if I trust the joy (and I'm sad to say that), but she sounds like she's earned it.

Mantra for the arts 

From a New York Times Sunday piece on Wong Karwai, describing how he made his early film Ashes of Time:

"Mr. Wong was in a corner watching on a monitor. Every so often, in his measured way, he...called out to his cinematographer, Christopher Doyle, 'Is that all you can do?'

"Mr. Doyle, now a longtime collaborator of Mr. Wong's, said in a recent telephone interview that he heard that question as a constant challenge. 'It should be the mantra for all people in the arts.'"

more things

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Sandow published on September 23, 2008 2:23 PM.

No glamour at the Met was the previous entry in this blog.

Met opening -- the performance is the next entry in this blog.

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