5. History of deconstruction in apparel and the implication of ‘wear-and-tear

~ Some of the new Japanese fashions seemed absurd. They had rips. They focused attention on body parts that the wearer usually ignored. Fashion became a kind of discipline, a transcendental perspective on the body as the wearer observed it responding to the caresses and restraints of the clothing. This was fashion on a sensitivity scale skewed in the direction of increased awareness and subtlety. At the same time it was fun. ~ Leonard Koren 22

History of deconstruction in apparel and the implication of ‘wear-and-tear’ :

Many historical priors of deconstructed fashion exist, a case in point the costly silks woven with slits and slashes on purpose. Slashing was deemed one of the strangest fashion occurrences of the sixteenth-century German Renaissance and supposedly started in 1477. They were derived from the clothes of the ‘Landsknecht’ - German mercenary soldiers whose battle-scarred attire brought slashing into fashion during the Renaissance. Seized upon by royal circles who quickly adopted this flashy new style, it was aped by courtiers across Europe, becoming another kind of uniform. 23

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the 'degraded’ look in fashion emerged through ragpickers who made their living selling discarded clothing . These people scavenged cloth for recycling, utilising the waste that was created by the frivolity of fashion at its most extreme. 24

To adapt an old saying, it was not just what they did, but the way in which they did it that distinguished punk from other subcultural styles. 25 I establish connections between the punk movement and wabi-sabi to show that ‘mistakes’ such as: Rips Tears Holes Loose threads Unevenness Raggedness And other marked departures from conventionality, were displayed with pride and without regrets. Fashion projects an image, and an image that is created by subcultures is more clear, pronounced and encompasses a whole lifestyle rather than a merely clothes and an outfit. 26 It can be argued that the first present-day illustrations of deconstruction in fashion appeared in clothing worn by punks from 1976.

For Dick Hebdige, notable British media theorist and sociologist, the punk’s unique outward appearance created its own definition of an aesthetic taste, 27 which was something I had intended to do since the start of this project.

22 Koren, New Fashion Japan, p.1.

23 Alexander Fury, ‘JOIN THE CLUB’, The Independent, 8 September 2015 in ProQuest <https:// search.proquest.com/docview/1709897453/fulltext/5088EEC1D27D4FF9PQ/1? accountid=28521>[accessed May 17, 2019].

24 Valerie Steele, Japan Fashion Now (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010), p. 109

25 Malcolm Barnard, Approaches to Understanding Visual Culture (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave, 2001), p.189.

26 Yuniya Kawamura, Fashion-Ology: An Introduction to Fashion Studies, Second edition (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2018) p.108.

There was the spirit of do-it-yourself that was prevalent in the community. They were extremely creative consumers with an immensely strong statement, who could produce and initiate fashion. 28 Punks combined production and consumption and broke the barrier between the two stages that used to be separate. 29

A lot of garments by Scottish designer Bill Gibb were influenced by the slashed panels in dresses in Flemish paintings. 30 Zandra Rhodes, an iconic London Designer, experimented with conventional notions of how a dress should be made. Silk was slashed on purpose to put raw cut edges on display. Rips, tears and holes, uneven hems, and pinking the edges brought a dizzying awareness that indeed the times had changed and with it the cultural standards. This was itself a form of revolution, style though it was - making her one of the punk movement’s ‘official’ designers. 31

Rhodes was no anarchist - she was inspired by a non-punk source namely Elsa Schiaparelli’s “Tear” dress from 1938. The dress’s visual potency comes from the fact that this most formal of evening costumes is presented in a ‘deteriorated’ state. Rhodes also designed jersey dresses that were actually torn, also decorated with safety pins.

The Punk movement prized originality, authenticity and individuality, and devised specific visual codes in order to rebel against the cultural mainstream 32 and by constructing a language which was relevant and grounded. The punks appropriated the rhetoric of crisis which had filled the airwaves and translated it into tangible (and visible) terms. 33

The various stylistic ensembles adopted by the punks were undoubtedly expressive of genuine aggression, frustration and anxiety. But these statements, no matter how strangely constructed, were cast in a language which was generally available - a language which was current. 34 Living in the now and basing my project off of current needs, I want my work to speak the same language, reflect the present-day situation, provide a solution and make a fashionable yet ethical statement.

In the next section, I will look at how Japanese concepts have had an influence on/been influenced by Western design philosophies. How much sense does it make to incorporate a ‘Japanese’ concept 35 onto a fabric, that is knitted to be potentially worn by pretty much anyone around the world? And how relevant is this conversation today?

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28 Kawamura, Fashion-Ology: An Introduction to Fashion Studies, p.108.

29 Kawamura, Fashion-Ology: An Introduction to Fashion Studies, p.106.

30 Barnard, ed., Fashion Theory: A Reader, Routledge Student Readers (London; New York: Routledge, 2007), p.102.

31 Carolyn L E. Benesh, ‘ZANDRA RHODES: The art of significant loveliness’. Ornament, 34(3) (2011), 40-45,9, https://search.proquest.com/docview/1013604888/fulltextPDF/ 7858517E3EE34718PQ/1?accountid=28521(accessed 11 May 2019).

32 Kawamura, Fashion-Ology: An Introduction to Fashion Studies, p.116.

33 Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style, New Accents (London; New York: Routledge, 1991), p.87. 34 Ibid.

35 I only quote the word ‘Japanese’ because I believe that it is indeed applicable to anything any- where, unlike popular opinion. It is a stereotype that Japanese designers are frustrated with and speak out openly against.