story

hello????????????????

I’m getting a library card today, I’m so excited! i’m mostly typing this because I’m waiting for the library to open, but as my fingers hit the keys, I’m realizing the librarians in NYC are really rude sometimes. They deal with a lot, prayers UP but I don’t want any trouble, I just need more books, I’m freaking out. not enough art. it’s not good, no one is making or sharing good art (sorry)

books I’m reading right now: 

no explanation = i haven’t started reading it yet or i don’t have anything to say yet because i’m so early in the book!

- Fashioning The City - Agnes Rocamora 

- *Fashion Zeitgeist Trends and Cycles in the Fashion System - Barbara Vinken - started reading on live 

*Absolutely no shade to miss Barb but this book is problematic I’ll get into why

- (Re)collecting the Past: Fashion, Wardrobe, and Memory - Carolyn Jean Babula - slay phd dissertation about memory, nostalgia, past fashion and how people wear it now, SO good and interesting, perspectives from curators etc.

- Menswear Revolution - Jay Macauley Bowstead - one of my favorite books yet about masculinity constructed in high fashion contexts and personal styling throughout contemporary history, so much on Raf, Hedi, Rick Owens, Helmut Lang, etc.

-  Mediating the Human Body - Leopoldina Fortunati, James Katz, Raimonda Riccini 

- Fashion-able Hacktivism and Engaged Fashion Design - Otto von Busch

- Luxury Fashion Branding - Uche Okonkwo

- Fashion-ology - Yuniya Kawamura - slay such a good book so far about consumption as strategic use of symbols, fashion systems, etc.

- Old Clothes, New Looks Second Hand Fashion - Alexandra Palmer and Hazel Clark

- Fashion A Very Short Introduction - Rebecca Arnold - Haven’t started but I love Arnold

* Barbara, Barbara, Barbara… hindsight is 20/20 but I was not feeling the transmisogynistic discussions in this book or the misrepresentation of Ball Culture. in the book she talks about how ball culture is of the past like breakdancing and Madonna.. it was written in 2005, YouTube comes up in 2006 and Youtubers like Luna and Ballroom Throwbacks begin uploading Ball History and contemporary Balls… proving it wasn’t a dead culture after Madonna made Vogue at all (why would it be? it’s an underground longstanding subculture, why would mainstream status eliminate it…). Years later, Pose is one of the biggest shows on television and HBO has a ballroom inspired dance competition show, Beyond Say has an album with Kevin Aviance, Rupaul’s Dragrace is referencing ball culture on national TV as one of the most awarded television shows on air, etc. etc. I’m sure looking back now she would regret the misrepresentations in this book from an ethical, sociological and cultural standpoint, but it was disappointing because it shows someone can’t meaningfully understand or discuss culture and its relationship with fashion if they would’ve anticipated the end of Ball culture or somehow interpreted the end of Paris Is Burning as the “End” of ball culture… that isn’t how culture works otherwise, why would it be the case there??? Anyway :)