court fashion and ariel attack! part 1…

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!

jodorowsky and el topo fashion…

The first time I was introduced to Alejandro Jodorowsky was about 5 years ago when I was living with a fellow named Apron John, named for his penchant for wearing apron-skirts, which I still believe is a good fashion move for the 60+, semi-homeless, waify, mumble mouth, hippie population… In fact, I wish I had a picture of him because for mansy fashion you really don’t get much better.  But nevertheless, he had some bootleg tape of Holy Mountain and though it cut off near the end, I was definitely impressed by the film, the sheer inhibition, the strange occult way of processing colonialization and western imperialism, and while the drug references and macho free love didn’t do much for me, the film got him on my list of people to meet in this life, if just for conversation and a tarot reading. 

So with that spirit in mind, I saw El Topo last night, his second film after Fando y Lis (which was so well received, it started a riot, whereby Jodo had to be snuck out of the city, so as not to be killed…)  and is made in the style of a western, but is also a sort of classic coming of age/ guy-becomes-jesus-by-killing-a-bunch-of-gurus-then-looses-his-girlfriend-to-a-woman-that-dresses-just-like-him-then-tries-to-save-a-bunch-of-differently-abled-folk-and-his-son-wants-to-kill-him-but-doesn’t-then-basically-leads-his-differently-abled-friends-to-the-slaughter-then-kills-himself-by-self-immolation-whilst- in-lotus-position story.  But plot aside, as far as mansy fashion is concerned, I really think there’s a lot to work with here especially for the western mansy.  For one, the hat is “well plastic,” as they say, and the leather daddy meets preacher man who also eats the style innards of clint eastwood and a conquistador is a sure path to fashion victory. Personally, I think his female alterego/mother/savior/judas (pictured below) wears the better look for mansies, because it’s better accessorized and the hat is a little more wearable, but both are great…

As for the movie itself… hmmm. I love the cinematography and the general feel of it, there are parts of the movie that are absolutely amazing, beautiful and insightful; and yet, in the end it was perhaps the most intensely homophobic movie I’ve ever seen.  Every gay male relationship was based on rape and coercion and every gay man was a villain. I mean there is a big difference between some good old Genet-esque rough trade and homophobic demonization, seriously, wtf.  I mean, I suppose when you are dealing with something as esoteric as this you could make the argument that the world of El Topo was a spiritual metaphor, and that the gay villains were actually representations of straight homophobic power archetypes and through sexualizing their relations to other men it made their ultimate motives clear… but I don’t buy that or anything similar to that in the slightest.  I ultimately forgive El Jodo simply because, message aside, I think he likes some hot bods and og. man on man love like the rest of us, as he seems to go there time and time again in his films, but at the end of the day, esoterica is no carte blanche for hate speech, in my book.

But I digress… Here’s a couple more great looks from the film. The first incorporates some definite confrontational eccentricity, in the use of the massive belt, fur coat (faux hopefully), cossack hat and you can’t tell in this photo but he carries his holster over his pachacho, naturally. The second look is classic for those on the hippie side of the stick, this is probably the only safe outfit for your ilk in these troubling times.  

Oh and this cowboy in the pink is pretty great too, note in the second photo, the use of the live gila monster as codpiece…

blue jean baby… (the boulevardier is not that bad)

Some highlights from dressing Israel at the Tit-wrench benefit party last saturday…

 

Indigo denim pants, or blue pants as they’re more commonly known, are the epitome of iconographic garments.  Historically they have symbolized a sexualized masculine rebellion from the class warfare of 19th century western miners, farmers and ranch hands, to the teenage rebellion of the 50′s embodied by western fashion icon, James Dean.  While in popular culture they are seen as symbol of western class struggle, their production has always been classically oppressive (which means in every denim related labor struggle from the 30′s to the 90′s the state’s militia was used to kill union organizers and suppress economic democracy). As well, even the association of indigo denim with the American West is a reflection of American eurocentrism, as it ignores the original origins of the garment, which was with sailors in India, not white capitalists, surprise, surprise. 

 

These days, the message of the indigo denim pants is worse.  It has become a symbol of casual homogeneity, American nationalism, and middle class values of simplicity and conformity.  Indigo denim has become almost invisible it is so common.  Far from being a garment that conveys class consciousness, it has become everything from a businessman’s attempt to be “hip” to $300 pre- worn biking culottes with stickers that warn that the rips present when you buy them will become worse over time though you can “repair as you wish for a more vintage and personal look.” 

 

By using recycled indigo denim as fetish gear and as an outfit for erotic dancing, we at the Free Boutique celebrate the radical sexualization of the working class, while undermining the nascent conformity of indigo denim as the benchmark of the status quo.

chichikov utility and mudwear

This last week I’ve been taking a respite in New Mexico and during this time I have realized a little oversight on the part of the Boulevardier when it comes to [deep breath] functionality.  To get to our casita (that’s Spanish for castle), we had to walk about a mile through a field of mud and during the 6th or 7th time I realized I needed to reconsider my attitude toward mud and clothes that can handle the elements.  I’ve been reticent to go this route in the column because I think many mansies use utility as an excuse to give up on all style and appearance, but after walking a mile in some ugly borrowed Xtremist hiking boots, I now see that this needs to be addressed, post haste.  My first inspiration along these lines came while rereading Gogol’s Dead Souls, which I decided to pick up after it was featured so prominently in Bruce LaBruce’s Otto. 

In the book, Chichikov is a sort of dandy-cum-grifter who travels around getting people to give or sell the deeds to their peasants that have died so that he can mortgage them later, a classic recipe for hilarity.  Being a grifter, he is constantly conscious of his appearance and makes every effort to look as upright and sophisticated as possible, something I’ve touched on before in this column.  The peak of his grifter dandism occurs at the end of the book where he’s about to be uncovered for smuggling, fabricating a will and acquiring dead souls on false pretenses, but instead of trying to secure his future he goes to the tailor and buys a suit made of this extremely rare and fashionable fabric, that is like the flames and smoke of Navarino:

Chichikov magnanimously paid the tailor and, left alone, began to examine himself at leisure in the mirror, like an artist, with an aesthetic feeling and con amore.  It turned out that everything was somehow ever better than before: the little cheeks were more interesting, the chin more alluring, the white collar imparted its color to the cheek, the blue satin tie imparted its hue to the collar: the shirtfront, pleated in the latest fashion, imparted its hue to the tie, the rich velvet waistcoat imparted its hue to the shirt front, and the tailcoat of the flames and smoke of Navarino, gleaming like silk, imparted its hue to everything!  He turned to the right- good! He turned to the left- even better! The curve of the waist was like a courtier’s or some gentleman’s as jabbers away in French so that next to him a Frenchman himself is nothing, one who, even when angry, does not disgrace himself indecently with a Russian word, who cannot even swear in Russian, but will give you a good scolding in French dialect.  Such delicacy! He tried, inclining his head slightly to one side, to assume a pose as if he were addressing a middle-aged lady of the latest cultivation: it was a picture to see.  Painter, take up your brush and paint! In his pleasure, he straightaway performed a light leap, like an entrechat.  The chest of drawers shook and a flask of eau de cologne fell to the ground; but this caused no hinderance.  He quite properly called the stupid flask a fool, and thought: “Whom shall I visit first of all? The best…”

At this point in the story he is arrested and thrown in jail, but nonetheless it’s a delightful scene, and a warning for all fashionable mansies to watch your back! Now to return to the mud, Chichikov in his endless hustling, finds himself doing a great deal of traveling on roads, not unlike the ones that I found myself on in New Mexico, and even when his britzka is overturned in a mud pit he still manages to maintain his dignity and would never resort to a hiking boot or other contemporary vulgarities. This is possible for the mansy as well, I think the riding boot can be a perfect substitute for the Xtremist option and the trench coat can be worn as well, so long as it has flourishes that demonstrate restraint and poise, and avoids all goth references at all costs.  Now while I think Rick Owens tends to design menswear for himself, ie: an LA rocker (more on my anti-rocker activism to come!), I think he did a bang up job designing the fashion for Otto and has a few pieces in his other collections that approach this Chichikov idea of utility while maintaining form.

This pieces are clearly more drab than I would prefer for myself, they certainly don’t invoke anything close to “the flames and smoke of Navarino” but still I think they are a good start. Maybe if Rick Owens somehow magically combined with Katy Early’s collection based on the Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, we’d have something to work with…

Oh, and here’s a pic from the sartorialist that I’m in love with, though definitely not mudwear, note the trenchcoat.

highlights from fashion week…

So I’m not really that excited about any collections in their entirety but here are a few interesting looks that caught my eye.  I think in menswear especially, there is a lot more interesting things going on outside of the runway, but it is best to cover all the bases.

 

A/W 09

The collection by Number (N)ine is totally insane but I could really see some crusty punks take this look on. 

Number (N)ine

Number (N)ine

Number (N)ine

 

I’m worried about putting a cane on this column because it’s a very bad idea but this is a perfect prototype for a DIY crocheted jacket. 

Alexander McQueen

A lovely collection and a contemporary interpretation on the Black Panther ensemble, something I’ll be covering more in depth in the near future.

Gaultier

Gaultier

Gaultier

 

A little formal, but a good look for a dinner party or activist mixer:

Walter Van Beirendonck

 

more after the jump…

Viv’s Do It Yourself Collection!

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!

Black Bloc Fashion: Ya Basta! (enough already!)

This week I’ve been following up on the Greek anarchist riots and while I’m inspired by their moxy, I haven’t been terribly impressed at the men’s fashion I’ve seen.  It brings up a serious discussion about anarchist fashion, and one that I will try to pose to my readership as a question rather than a solution, though honestly I’ve had it up to here with the fucking 99′er black hoodie, so I will probably be a little biased. 

To me, one facet of anarchism is the discussion of ends versus means, and never getting into a situation where the ends justify horrible means that will ultimately sacrifice the ends anyway, (read: fuck communism).  I think that is essentially what is happening with the black bloc though, we’ve taken that particular fashion direction for granted and allowed it to dictate all our other fashion choices.  

May 68: a successful riot without a black bloc:

I mentioned before that mainstream men’s fashion was forged in the military and then foisted on the male populace as a nation building technique.  In anarchist circles, the black bloc has the same result.  Obviously, no anarchist has orchestrated this, but the results are the same. Many anarchist men I meet are afraid to wear color, to be non utilitarian, to be sensual or outwardly express their sexuality. Anarchist men’s fashion seems permanently mired in street fighter and militia man, and with it comes the same vulgar credo as the army, “be prepared”.  Is it worth it? Are the victories we’ve won with this tactic enough to justify the effect on our mansies?

Pictures from the Stonewall Riot, note the absence of a black bloc:

Chuck Bass and Sapeurs (Bart Bass is dead!)

Alright, so I might as well tell you up front.  I have a problem. That’s right, an addiction, so to speak.  As an anarchist I try and try to justify this, resulting in schizy posts like this, but in the end, there is really no excuse.  If it’s any consolation, I still do not own a tv and commercials make me dizzy! But seriously, ever since I went on a Rubí telenovela rampage, I’ve been addicted to sweeping melodrama, and since I know how much you love this column, I’m sure you’ll have no problem talking about….. Gossip Girl!!!

And what better time! Bart Bass (Chuck Bass’ father) is DEAD and Chuck Bass is going to, fashionably, lose it! Okay, Okay here’s my theory: Sketchy cop Andrew Taylor kills Bart Bass either because he is getting fired OR because of Dan Humphrey’s article about how B.Bass killed someone in that fake real estate fire OR because he found out some crazy shit about Lily and then, and then, Chuck finds out about it and wants to destroy Lily…?! So my theory isn’t fully thought out yet! Eitherway, my inside sources say that next week’s episode is going to be a real tear jerker! But, let’s get back to the fashion…

An Intro to Chuck Bass Fashion

 

 

Since we’re talking about one of the trashiest shows on tv, let’s not fuck around here. Chuck Bass is a fashion icon because his look is constructed by gg stylist Eric Daman, whose stated purpose in designing Chuck’s fashion is to undermine heteronormative symbology.  To quote Daman, “Girls do it, so now it’s time for the guys to step up and get rid of those ugly T-shirts and square-toed shoes.” Simple, but to the point.

But here’s the real question, what makes Chuck Bass’ fashion so… meow? In my opinion, it is because Daman employs the strategies of confrontational eccentricity to evoke the symbols that we associate with wealth and heteronormativity and twists them in such a way that irrevocably undermines them.  Chuck is too sharp, his look is too constructed, he is too sensual, he is too fashion conscious to be your average straight rich white man. He doesn’t blend in and he doesn’t want to, which sets him at odds with all the other men’s fashion in the show and the constructed masculinity of mainstream men’s fashion in general. That is and will always be the role of Chuck Bass, fashion anarchist… okay, I know that goes too far!

But that is not to say that Eric Daman has originated this approach to fashion, I suspect he is a little more than influenced by cultures like the Congelese Sapeurs pictured here:

Like Eric Daman, the Sapeurs utilize fashion to undermine authoritarian gender roles but take it much further.  Their stance as non-violent, polite, fashion forward gentlemen puts them directly at odds with the militaristic climate of the Congo, and in doing so, demonstrates the radical and anti-authoritarian power of fashion. If you would like to find out more, there is a wonderful site from the documentarian Hector Mediavilla, with music and background stories for the pictures all about the Sapeurs here.

But back to gg! Let’s not forget the best part, his sequin blazer!!! aaah!!!

And here’s one of my Chuck Bass outfits…

xoxo,

the boulevardier

 

Btw, when is Chuck going to give up on Blair and find a nice boy to settle down with! Let’s not forget that in Cecily von Ziegesar’s original Gossip Girl book series Chuck is bisexual and his conflict with Dan Humphrey originates over Dan sleeping with Chuck’s boyfriend Greg, which is a far cry from the waspy “tolerance” in the tv version… Maybe there will be a Chuck romance with Eric Vanderwoodsen? it would be nice to see him step out of the token shadow a little! (Plus, it sounds like Ed Westwick has internalized a little bit of the og Chuck, because last I heard there was definitely something brewing with co-star Chace Crawford…?!)

Semina Culture and Sketchball Fashion

I recently ran across a fantastic article in the latest Another Man about designer Adam Kimmel’s look at Semina as inspiration for his aw08 collection. Semina was a journal put out in the 50′s by Wallace Berman that collected poems, art and literature from all the major beat artists, William Burroughs, Alan Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski, Alexander Trocchi, Michael McClure etc. Kimmel’s goal was to take the way the male beats approached fashion as reflected through their values and translate that into a contemporary collection.

While I think that a lot of his pieces stray quite a bit (sweatpants tucked into socks with a blazer or a navy blue velour jumpsuit come to mind), even more than his particular collection, the highlights seen above, I think his approach is spot on. I love the idea of taking the counter-culture values of the beats and turning that into fashion. From what I’ve read about it since the article, Semina is an incredible journal and Wallace Berman equally amazing, for one, even though he’s in his 80′s he is still an avid dumpster diver!

This approach to fashion reminds me a lot of the anarchist co-ops that I use to live in, combining eccentricity, anti-capitalism and non-chalance to create a look that is astonishing in both style and gall. My friend Uncle Sloshua comes to mind first. Here’s a mansy who pieces outfits together like a roulette wheel of ridiculous male fashion stereotypes: Sicilian cowboy pimp, 70′s traveling salesman, beatnik motorcycle greaser, and the most recent vietnam vet w/cop mustache. Here he is looking particularly dapper and unabashedly sketchy, note the gold belt.

Outlaw Fashion History

Here’s another article I wrote for Louis Vuitton Night discussing the outlaw as fashion role model…

When it is late afternoon and the sun has finally begun to set and the birds have begun to wind down, sitting in their nests, and reflecting on the day’s activities, often the boulevardier will take a cue from his feathered friends and sit, in his customary lounging attire, and perhaps with a glass of wine, and consider radical mansy fashion, and all the implications of being a well-dressed anarchist in today’s society. While often breathtakingly glamorous, the well-dressed anarchist is an anomaly these days, something that might fill the gentle gentleman with ennui. However, being the sophisticated and considerate fellow he is, the boulevardier will never entertain feelings of malaise for more than a picturesque moment and drawing on his knowledge of the history of radical men’s fashion will quickly return to his witty and good-humored self, leaving his self-consciousness to the birds.

But for all the lovely amateurs, let’s consider a few historical points in the history of radical mansy fashion, and why these mansies might fill the boulevardier with bountiful hope and optimism. Radical mansies have a rich history of dressing well, but it is in the interest of the unfashionable to make it seem otherwise. As mentioned before in this column, it is crucial to the construction of a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy to promote the image of man as the viewer and never the viewed, and promote clothes that fulfill this role, whether through military garments masquerading as casual wear, suits that intend on making all men look alike or slovenly ill-fitting outfits that have no place in public and should be used for nothing less than what one might wear to romp in a tar pit. It is for this reason, that the prevalent history of men’s fashion is both written about the rich and boring, and by the rich and boring, and amounts to little more than a discussion of the cut in suit, silhouette of pant and the length or material of the jacket.

It is therefore, with great honor that the boulevardier now introduces the Outlaw, into the history of radical mansy fashion. Outlaw is a very broad topic and often the construction of heroic outlaws serves the same conventional fashion we radicals reject, yet most often outlaws operate outside of the status quo, either in direct confrontation or more subtly. Outlaws can vary from the explicit to the implicit. One of my fashion favorites is bank robbing anarchist Jules Bonnot, whose partiality for fine garments is well known. But another more contemporary favorite is the stylist Dapper Dan in Harlem who became famous for dressing local drug dealers in things like jump suits made from the LV logo and later designed clothes for rappers and celebrities such as Salt ‘N Peppa, Run DMC, and Mike Tyson.