130318 – Chit Chat – Sarabande Foundation, London

Over the course of 45 minutes, Thom Browne the NY Fashion Designer gave nothing away. Unusually, Tim Blanks referred to a set of notes because he wanted to make sure that everything was ‘precise’, but his teasing questions did not seem to bring forth the answers one would expect to hear from a Designer whose work has always been based around theatrical uniformity, the conversation produced no further information than that already found in previous interviews and articles.

Maybe my expectations were too high as I was hoping that the conversation might have been biased to the recent FW18 Women’s show in Paris, 10 days ago.With a strong reference to Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun, 16 April 1755—30 March 1842, the female Neo Classical portraitist of Marie Antoinette, the Collection was seen through the eyes of her take on the 21st Century. The show itself was staged in the Hotel de Ville within la Salle des Fêtes, in the style of La Galerie des Glaces at Versailles, and also one of the main buildings at the forefront of the French Revolution. Models wore couture tailoring, the exaggeration of body proportions, boned and hooped garments reminiscent of the court fashions during the reign of Louis 16th and his Queen Marie Antoinette, with their gold hair matching that of the Neo Renaissance interior space.I would have been intrigued to find out if this was an intentional part of the story, or just coincidental?

I have had the opportunity to attend several talks/presentations across various subjects, but I find that my bias and enjoyment has been those given by Architects & Historians, with Fashion trailing behind, as the preparation, information and audience engagement on the prior rather than the latter are exemplary. The so called chat presentation becomes just that, an informal conversation which could easily be held in the front room, meandering across a series of questions with no clear direction or answers.

Perhaps the Fashion related ‘In Conversation’ pieces would benefit from taking a different angle. Rather than the informal chat around a coffee table, the Designer presents a selection of Design pieces and describes the process of how the end result was achieved. How did the pieces originate? Who and what determined the changes? How the fabric was chosen? How did this piece affect other pieces within the same Collection? How are the Show pieces then refined and adapted for production, made commercially viable and wearable? And more importantly how does the team work together throughout the process?

Surely the audience would feel more engaged with learning about this process and gain a better understanding how each Designer works, as the majority will have some connection with the topic of discussion, either as a student or worker in the industry.

At the end of these conversations, the bland chat puts a greater pressure on the audience to ask lengthy, irrelevant and more intellectualised questions as counterpoint. Where the questioner no longer continues the initial dialogue this leaves the conversation as it started, undirected and without conclusion.