a different kind of fashion
A different kind of fashion show…
There’s the intensity of doing something 1 time and getting it as close to perfect as possible. Sixty seconds a look is your shot; a three second pause pose at the end of the catwalk is the only time the model isn’t walking increasing the likelihood of blur in the photo. A photo that will potentially populate magazines, knock off brands and fast fashion. Ten minutes is the average length of a runway show. 364 days, umpteen hours, often thousands of yards of fabric, much of it wasted in the process, not to mention the footprint, both carbon and water, to get the materials to the sewers and designers, all for a matter of seconds. Most fashion is not what you would call sustainable by any means.
And yet the chaotic buzz of activity behind the scenes, teamwork however dramatic, clean flow on the runway, the composition of design edges and colors in looks, the epitome of a grand reveal, lures me like a bee to honey or Carrie Bradshaw to shoes. It’s not the brands or even the designers I follow, it’s allowing my eyes to scan incoming concepts critically through a lens that filters, churning my subconscious into my own creations from gathered street finds.
To my right on the coffee table shelf is Numero, Vogue, V and W magazines from 2006. When I first got to New York, I would sit on stacks of magazines in the back of a bodega, skimming through editorials like it was seas glass on Martha’s Vineyard beaches. $18 was an investment paired with a $2 falafel from Mamoun’s. Books with photographers Ralph Gibson, Bert Stein, Marc Baptiste, Richard Avedon and Mario Sorrenti are used as my physical Pinterest and mood boards, spread out on coffee table before a client comes to my studio.
It’s been hard to economically marry these two lives of mine. Eye with heart. Fashion and photography with ethical values of justice and deep devotion to Earth. Capitalism wants you to believe they’re separate.
What if they’re not. What if it caring was couture. One of a kind and collectively shared. What if fashion was artistic messaging that inspired us to be fully who we are with gifts of service for the world.
Imitation of Christ, a collaborative platform for fashion, art and environmental responsibility led by designer Tara Subkoff has been exercising this vision for some 22 years. I was honored to shoot their “Oil as Death” protest performance in front of Senator Chuck Schumer’s house in collaboration with New York Communities for Change.
A different kind of protest…
After so many protests, I started to question the impact. I started getting bored and then guilty for feeling bored from a poorly facilitated protest with people taking more selfies than anything. As an activist, art is a tangible tool for us to engage with while in the streets. The aesthetics of a message are important not just for those we want to impact or for the potential press but for ourselves. For our morale and joy. Protests with fashion, art, dance, music, singing, faith leaders, prayer, drums, saxophone, gospel, intentional silence - now that is an embodied ritual.
“Oil as Death” felt like that. And as a result I felt Alive with purpose.
Harper’s Bazaar Published the protest.
Photo on landing page: Alison Lee Photography LLC