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Here’s the third installment of Ariel’s court fashion series, and once again to get all the updates on her case and to find out when the next benefit will be, check out the Denver ABC website.
Note the shard of glass fan… We’ll be selling accessories made from glass shards to benefit Ariel’s court fee’s, they’re a little pricey, starting at $200 for a necklace, and significantly more for the glass fans, but they are genuine Democratic Headquarters glass, so they are totally collector items.
I can’t even explain how great it’s been dressing Ariel, it’s really reinforced my passion for… um fashion, just in the sense that having the opportunity to share clothes and style with someone is so warm and intimate. It’s such a great way to make and deepen friendships, I just love the whole process! I can see why fashion is at the heart of so many gift based indigenous communities, it’s because caring for someone’s image is the collective celebration of that person’s agency and self mythology and in that sense it is a perfect metaphor for the intersection of individuality and collectivism.
Ariel and I were discussing the fucking maoists walking back from this photo shoot and she remarked that fashion parties are perhaps a uniquely anarchist activity, something that would be difficult to imagine happening in any other political persuasion, and I think it’s because of the reasons above. It’s because both fashion and anarchism are this perpetual discussion of combining d.i.y. or die egoism with consensus decision making and concerns for personal image within the greater community. That and because everyone knows how much queers love looking sexy! psh… But yeah, the next court date is in late December, so keep supporting Ariel and buy one of our glass shards!
So, as you’re probably aware, the main reason why I started this column was because I am concerned with the representation of anarchists not only in the media but on the streets, and in this case, in court. As I’ve written before, anarchists tend to fall into the same semiotic traps time and time again, whether it’s the practically compulsory hyper-masculine all-black uniform at mass demonstrations, the déclassé “hobohemian” neurosis or the broken record that is punky punk punk fashion.
While these fashion choices are often portrayed as based on necessity, more often than not, they are nothing more than a desire to fit in and feel a part of a subculture. With such a diverse politic as anarchism, being interpreted and enacted in thousands of different cultures around the world, not to mention the contributions of anarcha-feminism and queer anarchism, it’s totally unacceptable to let one or two subcultures dominate the look and the feel of this movement. It’s not like subcultures don’t have their place and don’t have anything to offer to anarchist fashion, it’s just that we should be aware of how often we pigeon hole (wait, why is a pigeon in a hole!) ourselves and how exclusive these representations can seem to the uninitiated.
So, when Ariel approached Kate and I to see if the Free Boutique could help her dress for her court dates (stemming from these allegations), from my end of things, I felt inspired to help because it was such a good opportunity to subvert the media portrayals of anarchism and of course to help my friend look mahvelous!
For this first look, we decided to go for something more reserved, merging Ariel’s own punk aesthetic with something more formal and appropriate for court, while still maintaining personal autonomy and disregard for conservative court fashions. While elements of her love for le punk remain in the boots, and a little in the pants, we wanted to push the look into more experimental territory, confusing gender lines and creating an elegance that is unique and confrontational.
At first, I wanted to really go for this MMM inspired shiny black top with giant villain shoulders and have her wear this large circle-a pendant, playing off the whole anarchist villian/evil tranny thing, but Kate reminded me that when Marc Jacobs dressed Winona Ryder in court, his inspiration was, not surprisingly, “innocence” and that we should probably tone it down… like a lot. Which is what we did, as you can see, and I think it turned out beautifully. It gives her an air of a sophisticated bank robber, a classic classic look to be sure. As well, in this case, it’s obvious that the overdressed look is the only route that can subvert the sobriety and bad fashion that is seemingly demanded in court without reifying the court’s power over us and undermining our agency as adults. Transcendence by the Free Boutique.
It might be a little difficult to spot in these photos, but that lovely necklace there was made by my friend Madi and her jewelry project faht:::stik, and is a beautiful collection of found scrap metal interlaced with turquoise and copper wire. “Exquisite. Rare. Bricabrac. faht:::stik”
And this is just the first installment, her next court date is November 5th, Guy Fawkes Day ironically, and we are already thinking capes, capes and more capes!
Walking out into the media frenzy!
For more into about her case, email friendsofariel@riseup.net or check the Denver ABC for updates, also please donate some cold hard cash to help with her legal defense, it ain’t cheap you know!
Wow… I just read the saddest article in this week’s New Yorker about the exhumation of the mass grave in Spain where Federico García-Lorca was killed. I never knew very much about Lorca before this article… For those that are unacquainted: he is considered the greatest Spanish poet, was a prolific playwright, as well, and was one of a very few people at that time to live openly as a gay man. I guess I had no idea how brutal the fascists were in Spain, but along with the hundreds of thousands of people they outright murdered, there were as many, if not more, people put into concentration camps – not to mention the dark fact that many of those who escaped to France were by and large picked up by the gestapo and put into German concentration camps. The site where Lorca was murdered by the fascists, and where his body lies still, remains, at this point, completely unmarked, and though there have been several plaques put out, each has been removed or destroyed.
Lorca was such a beautiful person, here’s a quote and a poem for you to remember him by:
“The artist, and particularly the poet, is always an anarchist in the best sense of the word. He must heed only the call that arises within him from three strong voices: the voice of death, with all its foreboding, the voice of love and the voice of art.”
Sonnet of the Sweet Complaint
Never let me lose the marvel
of your statue-like eyes, or the accent
the solitary rose of your breath
places on my cheek at night.
I am afraid of being, on this shore,
a branchless trunk, and what I most regret
is having no flower, pulp, or clay
for the worm of my despair.
If you are my hidden treasure,
if you are my cross, my dampened pain,
if I am a dog, and you alone my master,
never let me lose what I have gained,
and adorn the branches of your river
with leaves of my estranged Autumn.
Speaking of fashionable o.g. anarchists, I recently ran across these pics of Ba Jin. I particularly like this first pic, it’s a little blurry, but I think that’s a white trench over a white button-up, and of course, the round glasses are a classic. As you perhaps have noticed, I’ve been wearing my round glasses as of late; I wore them in junior high and decided to bring them back after finding them last week during spring cleaning. Since I’ve started wearing them again, I’ve discovered that there are a lot more fashion critics in the world than you might have thought… harry potter, a hunky, young orville redenbacher, harry potter circa germany ‘32, gandhi, and harry potter on his way to a carnival are some of the imaginative fashion comparisons I’ve received thus far. What I’m really going for, in case you budding sartorial critics are curious, is definitely something more in the way of Ba Jin in this top photo…
Anyway, Ba Jin was an amazing fellow. He was a participant in the May 4th Movement, is considered one of the greatest Chinese language writers for his Torrents trilogy, and was a survivor of torture and persecution by Maoists because of his anarchist affiliation. The only book of his I’ve been able to find in English is Family, but it is absolutely incredible. What I love about this book is the way he writes about the effect of the family on anarchism, and how politics are often derived from the personal experiences that we go through and the personal relationships that we form. I think that when we anarchists discuss the family, we tend to dismiss it as the most fundamental building block of the state, and in particular the homophobic mechanisms of the state, which I agree with. Because of legislation on the meaning of family, and zoning laws that only allow for a particular number of “family” members to live together, the state has decided what is and what is not a family, and most of the time that’s based on an erroneous concept of what is “natural” — the patriarchal nuclear family and the definition of family as relating to biology explicitly. But, when theorists dismiss the family outright it tends to leave radicals to fend for themselves in dealing with the complex interactions of familial love versus radical independence.
Clearly situations arise when dealing with family, when you ought to cut your losses, before wasting a lifetime feeling oppressed and unable to live your own life. But in many other situations, family can offer a support network that helps us learn a great deal about ourselves and helps to deepen our politics. Especially given the fact that family, contrary to the state’s definition, isn’t based on biology, but rather on the bonds that are created and reinforced through our formative experiences as we grow older, and thus our idea of family may extend out to include or completely rely on other members of our community. These formative experiences can happen anywhere, but only in a community that’s inclusive of a wide variety of ages, because as social beings we need those reflections of ourselves as youngsters and oldies to feel whole. The problem is that these experiences almost never happen in the “i’m gonna live forever” 18-to-25 year old anarchist culture. That type of youth culture will always end up feeling hollow and fleeting, because at the end of the day, we need those deeper community bonds, otherwise we will end up ‘growing out of it’ eventually.
Which is why a book like Family is so important. If we aren’t thinking about families and understanding them through the lens of anarchism, then every graduation, birthday, holiday or what-have-you will be weirdly guilty from an anarchist perspective; which they needn’t be at all, given that these can all be community building experiences that offer potential for radical growth. Aside from my experiences with anarchist youth culture, I feel like I personally became an anarchist through the influence of my family, especially my mom, who has always worked to create a family based on community rather than biology. She has always been both a diligent neighborhood organizer and a radical therapist for me, my dad and sister, our extended relatives, her best friend and her best friend’s kids and anyone else who fell into her spider’s web of motherly love! Growing up in this environment has taught me everything I know about community organizing and feminism, and I’m proud to be her sunny son!
Yay! Ba Jin! And happy birthday mom!
I recently had the opportunity to interview Bruce LaBruce for the first issue of Cake and Eat It, an anarchist lifestyle magazine that is coming out this spring. Bruce is a true gem, he helped to start the queercore movement with his zine J.D.s (click here to read issue #1 online), his films are simply to die for, and he is a wonderful fashion photographer to boot! Here is one of my favorite shoots by him, there’s not a lot of fashion going on here but it’s fun nonetheless:
and here’s a little sneak peek from the interview, the whole thing will come out this spring:
In your opinion, what does a queer anarchist direct action look like and what are some of your favorite ways to upset power dynamics whether interpersonally or politically?
I think civil disobedience is a good start, although I have to confess I’m a bit of a coward when it comes to participating in any action that might involve me getting arrested. Living in Canada, any infraction can be used as an excuse to prevent you from having access to the US, so I’ve always avoided getting any sort of criminal record. It’s important for me to travel with my work and represent it personally. For me the very act of making sexually explicit gay movies is a kind of direct action, particularly considering that I try to get them shown in fairly mainstream and non-gay contexts. Ever since I made punk fanzines and experimental super 8 movies in the eighties, I’ve treated the use of explicit homosexual material as an act of aggression and subversion. I’ve also used it to represent the fringe elements of a largely conservative and assimilationist gay movement, so I’m all about questioning any sort of homosexual orthodoxy. Otherwise, I do think that things are so monumentally fucked up in the world right now that the occasional brick through a window is supportable. I also support pranks (as long as they don’t involve celebrities), public indecency, sexual transgression, weather-inappropriate dressing, insubordination, disestablishmentarianism, vagabondage, insolence, trespassing, promiscuity, and love, love, and love.
What’s the juiciest rumor you’ve heard lately?
Oh I don’t know. Nobody ever tells me anything because I have such a big mouth.
What’s your favorite flower?
The peony. My grandmother grew them. Here name was Gertrude. We were very close.
It’s cute when guys… [fill in the blank]
…want to fuck you even when you’re old.
What’s been your favorite movie to make and why?
My latest movie, Otto; or, Up with Dead People, was the most fun to make because it was my biggest budget so far by about a factor of five or six and I had a longer shooting schedule than ever before. I had a better camera package and a bigger crew, so I had a lot more to play around with. It was more fun because for the first time I wasn’t trying to make something out of virtually nothing, which is my usual M.O. Although that can be satisfying also.
I felt that Otto was all at once devastatingly beautiful, somber, intellectual and hilarious, what were some of your biggest influences in creating this tone? In particular how did Gogol or Maya Deren play into your creative process?
Actually I started out looking at the cartoons of Charles Addams, Edward Gorey, and Aubrey Beardsley. Then I re-watched the great American Indie horror films Night Tide by Curtis Harrington and Carnival of Souls by Herk Harvey, both of which have that great melancholy, haunted quality that most modern horror films don’t have. Then of course I re-watched all the Maya Deren films, which have that great spooky, avant-garde atmosphere, like a dreamscape. She and Gogol were both born in the Ukraine, so I guess there’s that deeply Russian sensibility that I relate to for some reason, the despair and angst mixed with heavy spirituality and dark humour. I think I have to visit the Ukraine!
Are there any films in the works that we can get excited about or is it all very hush hush?
All I can do is tell you the working title: Gerontophilia.
Since you don’t seem to have any gossip to feed us, what message would you like to give to the next generation?
I hear that Anderson Cooper is into Blatinos.
I’m still waiting until Paris fashion week, (and specifically Gareth Pugh’s first menswear collection!) to give you the Boulevardier’s take on all the commotion, but one designer I must discuss early is (obviously) Vivienne Westwood. Now, I’ve been hesitant to bring up Viv before in this column, mostly because I have a rather conflicted attitude toward her on an anarchist level and her designs on an aesthetic level, as well, but this collection is really a treat and I think you will agree.
I find these designs so amazing because she has truly made me reconsider my former disdain for work clothes. I can recall (albeit vaguely) lambasting the very notion of work clothes at various parties and salons to small crowds of horrified onlookers, often atop a chair or counter… but it turns out that I was utterly mistaken. Sorry. Here is the perfect blueprint for what a radical mansy should wear when tending to the community garden on your La-La-Land project, fixing a roof on your dilapidated punk house, building a seditious greenhouse or just generally building more lofts to cram more anarchists into your Casa del Squalor. The point is that even though these clothes are functional, and allow for and promote maximum efficiency in the work place, they are exuberant, joyous and confrontational -everything we are looking for in menswear. And to top it all off, the collection is titled Do It Yourself, and for me, dear reader, that seals the deal.
DO IT, DO IT, DO IT! Come on mansies, let’s see these work clothes in action!
As well she has a few real gems when it comes to formalwear; I am constantly seeking out potential ways to move the suit in a more radical direction, without looking idiotic, and a few of her pieces really hit the mark. I especially like the branch on the shoulder, this is something I will undoubtably be wearing in the upcoming weeks.
Now I will warn you, that a lot of the pieces in this collection are so hideous that I shudder just thinking about them, but that’s the magic of Viv I suppose, she sort of occupies this space between disaster and miracle, and I think that goes for her politics as well. On the one hand, she is definitely the most outspoken and radical major fashion designer out there, her support of Leonard Peltier is wonderful and she has these little moments of brilliance in her interviews and whatnot that are very thought provoking. For example, she has said about her latest collection, and the clothes she made for the punks in the 70’s, that she was shocked that anyone would buy them, ”Why don’t people tear their own clothes if that’s what they want? Why buy a torn T-shirt from me?”‘ And seriously. She has a point! Just look at the above clothes! Can anyone say FREE BOUTIQUE? Who would pay her absurd prices? It’s really a small miracle that she is so wealthy, but I suppose that lies in her genius for fashion.
And there’s the issue of anarchism, which she has sort of renounced and sort of celebrated. Basically her politics are a mess, and it would just be nice for someone who has given anarchists fashion inspiration for the last 40 years to kind of own it. I mean when are we going to have our own Granny Anarchy! That said, I also like the fact she is all over the board and is willing to say ‘fuck you’ to the entire world including the anarchist community. And even more than that, I happen to love anarchist-friendlies. Let’s face it, a lot of conventional anarchists are bores, and we don’t want everyone to think the same in Anarchia, we just need more people that are not hostile to anarchy, why not Dame Westwood!
