Volution, Fashion & Semiotics[Book 1: Theory]

Compiled, Created and Composed by:

+++Yoad David Luxembourg

Design and Layout:Yoad David Luxembourg

The ‘Volution’ Photographs by:Yoad David Luxembourg

© Intellectual property, all rights reserved, yeah! All of them!+++ Yoad David Luxembourg 2006

This publication may not be reproduced, copied or transmited, in formor by any means, in whole or in part, without author’s permission.

November 2006

Contents:

Book 1- Theory

Foreword: Tithenai 4[Thesis]

Chapter 1:Overture 6[A Fashionable Argument]

Chapter 2: The Volution 9[A Concept]

Chapter 3: The Volution & Fashion 15[The Volution in Fashion land]

Chapter 4: The Volution & Semiotics 29[You Can walk the (cat)walk but can you talk the talk?]

Chapter 5: Finale 39[Functions of Fashion]

Back word: Flöchten 46[Twist]

Book 2 - Practice

The Volution: [The Collection] 4

[The Concept] 5

[The Studies] 7

[The Evolution] 23

[Fashionable Arguments] 39

[The Philosophy] 52

‘The Volution’“Fashion is a language. In any other language words carry a meaning,words are used to communicate, words are used to express. In Fashioneveryone is busy screaming and shouting, Expression has become suchoverkill, that no one ever takes the time to speak.”

Yoad David Luxembourg__________________________________________________________

Considered as a high edge conceptual designer, Yoad David Luxembourgplaces his attention on crossing borders and breaking boundaries whereever they can be found. His work, interdisciplinary, is composed out ofelaborate mixtures of philosophy, psychology, photography and the manyfields of art and design.

In 2005/6, after graduating with honors from the Design Academy inEindhoven, Yoad David Luxembourg continued his journey through theworld of design, this time completing his MA studies in fashion designat Utrecht’s post graduate school of the arts (MAHKU) The resultingcollection and the theoretical work that supported it have marked himas one of Holland’s most promising design/fashion talents in 2006.

___________________________________________________________

“…Fantasy. Something that Luxembourg with his sum of 20 designsmade in test cotton knew all about. Models- running around like monkeys,aggressive looking outfits and heads- tucked and covered with the sameunbroken color; all played a large role and a strengthening componentat the presentation of his collection. With a theme like “Volution”, wheremodish quality has escaped, Luxembourg embodied the pleasure ofcreating and the innocence of a talented student with guts.”

Source:Good2b.com web portalwww.good2b.nl/nieuws/art5221/Mode+van+afstudeerders+2006.html

“With his playful monkey collection made out of test cotton, Luxembourgdefinitely had the intention to shock or at least to astonish. He did asurprising anti fashion statement that forces you to think. In that perspectiveLuxembourg jumps literally and figuratively from the total level ofgraduated talents this year. His design background comes from the designacademy Eindhoven. This collection came into existence during hismaster studies in Utrecht”

Source: Items MagazineThe Items End Exams Selection issue, the best of 2006, October 2006, page 72

Study Nr. 8 - Ardiphitecus Kadabba

Foreword: Tithenai.[Thesis]

Thesis: Latin, from Greek, from tithenai, to put.

A: Thesis ÊÊn. pl. theses

1. A proposition that is maintained by argument.

2. A dissertation advancing an original point of view as a result of research, especiallyas a requirement for an academic degree.

3. A hypothetical proposition, especially one put forth without proof.

4. The first stage of the Hegelian dialectic process.Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth EditionCopyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

B: Thesis

n.

1: an unproved statement put forward as a premise in an argument

2: a treatise advancing a new point of view resulting from research; usually a requirementfor an advanced academic degree [syn: dissertation]Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

How to read the text;

1- Read it.

2 - Try and read it more then once. Be patient with it - Other levels and aspects in the textwill appear the next you go along.

3- Try reading it in different tempos, for example; aggressively and then calmly.

4- Try reading it aloud or even whisper it softly as you carry on.

5- Don’t forget to enjoy the text and to let your mind flow and imagine how the views andconcepts that are presented in it could motivate you and inspire you to develop your ownoriginal points of view in the future.

Overture image: Tombok internet recruiting

Chapter 1: Overture.[A fashionable argument]

There is a growing discussion in the Dutch fashion world that I have recently becomeaware of. This discussion evolves around the following 2 words and their meanings:

Vormgeven and Ontwerpen.

Both Dutch words refer to the actual act of designing, but as the latter is translateddesigning, the first is translated as giving form (something like styling)…

Which brings us to the following question as it is being discussed in the academic fashioncircles here in Holland:

Do mode design schools teach their students to become mode ontwerpers or modevormgavers?

In other words are fashion students taught to design a fashion collection or to stylize it?

Another aspect of that question can be seen at the job market (see overture image); howmany students who graduate as fashion designers work as fashion designers and howmany opt for being stylists? How many companies in the market advertise a job vacancyfor a designer and how many for the same job vacancy use the term stylist? And this isjust a tin tail sign of a certain aspect of fashion that I have been troubling myself with inpast weeks.

Another part of that same aspect lies within fashion magazines - which are filled from a-z with adverts and dreams. There, page after page, we see beautiful bodies, faces, objectsand places, and people who have it all, and are made to believe that by wearing certainproducts or buying cer tain apparel we can become beautiful, popular or sought after. Weare made to believe that these objects will help us to become or to communicate whateverit is that we want to become or communicate and that those glossy dreams could be ourstoo.

Of course this might be very interesting to those who understand and are aware of what’sgoing on in consumer’s minds, and of course that naturally many others (mostly teen agedconsumers) are swept off their feet by all of those media and marketing techniques, butis this what fashion design really about?

“Television and magazines tell you how to live your life but not how to use your brains”(Natasha Bedingfield- perfect day)

As for me, beyond being very “anti” and against the fashion that is celebrated in all ofthose magazines and through the ins and outs of the consumption culture, every time Ifind myself reviewing one magazine or another, a great sensation of loss sets in. Yes that’strue, I feel that I am wasting my time - 27 years old and still haven’t made my way intosome pop culture publication, received some mass media recognition, or reached my full

potential as a design concept. All I have done so far is study.

Hmmmm…. Study. I am reminded of Joris Lindhout, a fellow student from the previousyear who began his thesis with the very beginning of his work. In his writing “BeyondGeorge Stringwood” he stated; “I spent the last years searching for an appropriate meansof expression, and I know that what I have found is the right thing. I am finishing of aperiod of searching and through this writing I want to re-research the process I wentthrough”.

I won’t explain the elaborate chain of events that brought me to the door steps of thefashion design department at MAHKU complex in Ina Boudier Bakkerlaan. But I will tryto explain the conditions, factors and symptoms that have brought me to present and pursuethe main question of this work. The same question that echoes in the mind of many fashionprofessionals, and which’s answer eludes the minds of everyone else; what is fashiondesign?

For me and for almost every body else I know, fashion itself is a very intangible thing andat the time when I started this study I hadn’t had the slightest idea that I will end up writingabout it. A few months later however, I got tired and confused from tackling up the bigquestion and opted for a much simpler question by just trying to figure out what is fashiondesign for me?

And I came up with the notion that the design part of fashion design, today’s fashiondesign, is not really design.

In fact, the more that I have looked into the matter, the more I realized that fashion designitself is not actually fashion design, but is just fashion. An applied life style, an assortmentof applied life styles, which are all subjected upon the public via the communicativemanipulations of marketing and branding techniques and which have nothing to do withdesign, or with quality, but just with a name.

A name that makes you feel!

Feel wanted, feel belonged, feel special, feel smart, feel different, feel superior, feelpowerful, feel sensational, feel classy, feel good!

Or even just feel.

But don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to talk about the difference between supply chainmanagement and demand chain management, or marketing strategies and brainwashtechniques, or even about brands, labels, consumer behavior, post modernism and themovement of mass individuality.

Well, maybe about post modernism and the movement of mass individuality, but justmaybe.

What I want to do is to focus on something deeper than that, something that I feel ismissing, but in the same time many are made to believe that it’s there and always was

there, in the fashion world. I want to focus on that special something that the verymentioning of its presence will sell clothes by the dozen and that the fashion world couldnot do with out.

What I want to do is to focus on Design.

Stripped!

From all that mambo jumbo, glam culture, spot lights, make-up artists, top models, KateMoss and Giselle Bundchen.

Stripped!!

From all those paparazzi photographers, Helmut Newton, Terry Richardson, Erwin Pennand adobe Photoshop.

Stripped!!!!

From all the PR managers, creative directors, marketing divisions, retail stores, demandchain managements and publicity stunts.

What I want to do is to focus on Design,

Just Design.

Chapter 2: The Volution.[A Concept]

The Volution stands for Visual Solution (path), a form of a visual study.

A visual solution is a visual path that constructs and represents a sequence of progressthrough successive stages of time or process.

A volution may as well visually represent a series of numerous products or studies thatare all related to one another by a progressing process of development and/or evolution,or as I would like to refer to; the process of De-volution.

The origin of volution is therefore in the process of de-volution itself. The volutionhighlights certain parts of this process in order to represent its progress.

A volutionary sequence could move in a straight linear line, along a collapsing structure,or be formed as a pyramid. (Just like genealogy family tree)

Since most volutions are visible through long periods of time. Many volutions are structuredin hierarchical or chronological order, while all other volutions are arranged in an orderof causality.

When viewing a volution one could detect which subjects are the first in the series andwhich subjects are the last, or in other words the 2 ends of the progressing sequence.

When looking at a volution one is able to follow the development of the various productsor subjects through the successive stages of their de-volutionary process.

The BMW Roadster series, with its 70 years of production sets out to the perfect exampleof a volution.

Arranged in a chronological order it is a linear line with a start – the 1930 Wartburg model,and an end- the contemporary Z8.

In between the Wartburg and the Z8 you may also find models 315, 328 & the 328 MilleMiglia (thousand miles) model, the 507, and the Z3.

All these subjects are related to one another by a progressing process of development andevolution, but also when looking at the whole series we are able to follow the developmentof the various models through decades and witness their de-volutionary process.

The Z1, although being similar in its design, model was left out of this series for reasonswhich I will later elaborate.

Fig.1 - BMW Roadster Volution 1930 -2003

Index:The Wartburg: Based on the earlier BMW dixi model, this particularlyattractive chassis design was presented as the 2-seat sporty Wartburg.Its tapered rear portion drew public admiration, being reminiscent ofthe sports cars and racing vehicles of the time.

315/1: BMW’s second generation of roadsters and the first of the BMWautomobiles. Deep cutaway doors and swooping mudguards lent thelow-slung roadster a racy appearance, with elegantly spatted rear wheelsadding a further aerodynamic touch. The dashboard with its white faceddials was stylish, and the comfortable single seats provided ample roomfor two people

328: The bodywork of the 328 had remarkably clean and sleek stylingfor its time. The integrated headlamps set a trend which was to survivewell into the fifties. The handful of 328 models with streamlinedaluminum bodies even became a styling model for an entire generationof sports cars in the postwar era, including the Jaguar XK series.ÊÊ

328 Mille Miglia: Proceeding from the 328, BMW then developed thisroadster for the 1,000-mile race in Italy in 1940. With its lightweightconstruction and aerodynamic streamlining, this car raced in the 1940Mille Miglia and achieved a top speed of 139 mph. taking positions 1,3, 5 and 6 in the finishing line.

The BMW 507: the undisputed star at the 1955 Frankfurt Motor Show,with its beautiful light alloy bodywork, strong frame, and a 150 hp V8power unit. Today, the 507 is one of BMW's most sought after collector’scars, as well as the design inspiration for contemporary roadsters. It hasbeen said that BMW lost money on every 507 made, had BMW beenable to reduce production costs, there would undoubtedly have beenmore 507 sales. Perhaps this was the reason that prompted BMW tocease the production and development of new roadsters for the next 40years.

Z3: Following the success of cars like the Mazda Miata, BMW predicteda vibrant market for a roadster model, and designed the Z3 in 1995. Inretro perspective while creating the Z3, BMW used design elements ofthe 50's BMW 507 roadster. The designers gave the Z3 a plush interior,better equipment options and a more powerful engine, but its realpopularity came from the James Bond movie Golden Eye – When theZ3 got lots of press from the controversy of James Bond, a British agent,driving a German car.

Z8: First featured in the James Bond movie The World is Not Enough,the Z8 was one of BMW's most beautiful and best performing roadsters,with classic sports car lines and a 400 hp engine. The sleek, flowinglines that look great from any angle are again reminders of classic BMWroadsters like the BMW 507 or even the 328.ÊThe appointments aresuperb, from the soft leather interior, the art deco steering wheel, to thesculptured rear view mirror and brushed metal trim.

So what do we learn from the volution presented above?

1- We learn that a visual relationship exists between each an every model of this series, beyond the fact that they are chronologically ordered.

2- We can focus and point out what makes a BMW, a roadster. And what are the specific visual elements that distinguish the Roadster line from other car designs.

3- We can follow the development of those specific visual elements that make up thevisual language of the BMW roadster and extend their de-volution, as shown hereunder;

Fig.2 - BMW Roadster visual language index

Wartburg 507

315/1 Z1

328 Z3

328 MM Z8

1- A visual family: We can really see that there is a visual relationship between all thesubjects. Take notice on the 2 generation gaps; 1940-1956 and 1959-1996. The 507 isquite different then the 328MM, but still a part of the same language. The Z8 far moresimilar to the 328MM then the Z3, however the Z3 really deserve its position as the stepin between the 507 and theZ8, serving as a compromise between the 2 designs.

The Z1: Although this innovative, sporty, open two-seater prototype is of historicalimportance to BMW's roadster lineage, the Z1 is not a part of the family. The Z1 is theformal predecessor and the origin of the Z3 in the production line, but design wise thiscar still lacks the visual elements that make a BMW 2 sitter car a Roadster. It is morelikely that the creation of the Z1 was inspired by the existence of cars like the MazdaMiata (the same car it was meant to compete with in the market) then a genuine followup to BMW’s own roadster legacy.

2 - Defining elements: 3 elements of the roadster’s car design serve a phatic functionbetween the individual subjects of the series themselves and other sporty 2 sitter cars.And they are;1. the shape and position of the air intakes2. the shape and position of the wing profile3. the door curve/swoop at the drivers/sitter section

The presence or absence of these elements may include or exclude a subject in or out ofthis family. As shown with the Z1, which has; no air intakes, no wing profile and a lumpydoor curve.

3 - The extended development & evolution of roadster language:

Conclusion:

A volution does not only expose the visual language and relationship that exists betweenthe numerous subject or products in the series, but also in to some extant reveals theinspirations and visual references that have guided designers through their work andmotivated their choices of design.

Its true, one could have chosen any BMW car design or any other car manufacturer forthis matter, but by focusing on the roadster and its 70 years of production, one can beenlightened by a visual language and a story that looks at BMW car designs and designin general, from a wider perspective.

But there is more to the volution then just BMW car designs. The volution is a concept!And the things is with concepts, especially when it comes to design, is that you can do alot with them- you can use them passively; in order analyze and reflect upon existingsubjects, objects and systems (as seen in our previous case subject), or actively as a designmodel; in order to develop and construct subjects, objects and systems, as we are aboutto see with our the chapter.

Chapter 3: The Volution & Fashion.[The volution in fashion land]

In the previous chapter we were introduced to a design concept/design model known asthe volution. At the basis of this concept lies the following proposition:

“A volution may as well visually represent a series of numerous products or studies thatare all related to one another by a progressing process of development and/or evolution,a.k.a. the process of De-volution.”

This particular proposition is of dear importance when we try to cross over from car designinto fashion design. If the world of car design is dominated by manufacturer design serieslike VW Golf (Golf 1; Golf 2; Golf SDi; TDi; GT; GTI and so on) and BMW 5 series orroadster series, the fashion world is dominated by the fashion collection.

The fashion collection itself is basically a series of wearable items whose creation wasinspired or based upon a theme or a color c ard in some cases. The series size is variable:from student’s mini collections of 3 item to commercial collections of a few dozens (likein the case of the Dutch fashion designer, Frans Molenaar, a 130 pieces).

So at first hand it appears that the volution and the fashion collection share at least onething in common; they both are series of numerous products which are inter-related.

But are there any fashion collections that operate as or accommodate the volutionaryprinciples?

Can some fashion collections be in fact volutions?

What could this mean?

In this chapter 3 of my writing, I would to like answer those 3 questions by taking a betterlook in fashion and do 2 things that will support the volutionary concept/ design model:

1. To see where and if volutions can be found in the fashion world.2. To create a volution of my own in the form of a fashion experience that, whilebeing guided, in it’s creation, by the volutionary principles and elements, will alsoperform as a volution at it’s end.

With the first of these 2 tasks, I will be dealing with in here. With the 2nd of these 2 tasksI will be dealing with in my practical project.

Anyway….

I put 2 collections to the test from 2 different areas of fashion design, hoping that at leastone of them will show signs of a visual language or of visual elements that serve a phaticfunction and signal that a relationship between all of its numerous items exists. Onecollection is from Yohji Yamamoto, one of the more celebrated fashion designers on this

planet. The other collection is from Diesel, a very well known and a leading design giantamongst fashion brands world wide.

Both are from the same year yet they are very different from one another; Yohji’s is men’swear collection and Diesel’s is a ready to wear collection, Yohji’s is for the autumn andDiesel’s is for spring. And finally, but this is more of a personal opinion, the dieselcollection looks far more cooler and casual then Yohji’s intimately tailored like suits.

Both collections are over 40 suits, a too greater task to handle, so I havedecided to focus on only a fraction of items from each collection, theseitems are shown on the next pages in figures 4A and 4B.

Figure 4A: Yohji Yamamoto Men’s wear -–Fall 2003(13 items out of 54)

On the next page; figure 4B: Diesel ready to wear - Spring 2003(16 items out of 64)

Being the spring chicken of fashion design that I am, at first sight both collections appearto me as a mess, as a messy, chaotic, composition of colors and shapes, modeled by cuteand gorgeous boys.

Figure 5A: Yohji Yamamoto, men’s wear 2003 – first impression.

Figure 5B: Diesel, ready to wear 2003 –first impression.

So as we can see and also as mentioned a few pages before, both collection are adherentlydifferent, figures 4A-5B show us just how much those 2 collections differ in form andcolor, but beyond form and color, there is a bigger, a deeper difference- structurally.

A careful look at the various visual elements in the items of Yohji’s collection reveals thatmost of those items could be categorized and placed into visual groups and families,according to similarities in details, color, shape and other visual elements that serve aphatic function i.e. that the presence or absence of any of these elements may include orexclude other items in or out of those families. These can add up to a strong visual similaritybetween the different items of the same group, like in the case of items Nr. 94, 97 & 100,or items Nr. 102 &105, where the variation in the patching is restricted into formation andcolor alone. Or to suggest another visual relationship, like in the case of items Nr. 71, 75,78, 69 & 72, where a relationship is then established around variation in size and thedifferent usage of patching, which seem to expand from a side line detail (71) and intoa full sized pattern design element (69).

In the chapters ahead we will continue to examine the structure of those visual families/groups,but right now however, this is where we see the first signs of a relationship and a progressingde-volutionary process which is so necessarily needed in order for us to label the collectionas volutionary.

Through the use of colors and the variant repetition of elements in the different outfits,the various creations can be combined and bonded into a one visual sequence, somethinglike a super family or a visual species. While the general form of the outfits remains thesame, this connection, which is manifesting itself in the use and application of patches,their size and their color variations on each item and serve as the phatic function of thegroup, can be visualized as a red thread- a connecting red line, which ties up all the itemsof Yohji’s collection together, as seen in the following adaptation of figure 5A.

In comparison the collection made by Diesel is constructed from individual styles andwear forms that have no apparent connection between one another, other then thecollection to which they all belong and its color card. Ironically when translating bothcollections into a simple graph diagram, in the diesel case we are left with a flat horizon,while in Yohji’s case we are left with mountains and hills.

Figure 6A: graph Diesel

Figure 6B: graph Yohji

Index:

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Volutionary step Nr. in Diesel’s collection

5 4 3 3 2 2 2 21 1 1 1 1

Volutionary step Nr. in Yohji collection

These 2 graph visualizations are based on the simple observation which states that whilethe individual items in Yohji's collection can represent different stages of the same de-volutionary process, the individual items in diesel’s collection can only represent each abeginning or an end to one.

So, so far, we have seen a growing amount of evidence/ interpretation that the 2003 men’swear collection by Yohji Yamamoto does partly operates as or accommodates some of thevolutionary principles.

Continuing with this line of thought and after further investigation into the items in Yohji'scollection, 2 types of volutions that were embodied in that collection are revealed. Thesevolutions vary from each other by the type of patching used; in one volution (69-78) itvisually supports the form of the items and is built along their structure of pattern design,while in the other volution (25-105), although being contained to the borders of the patterndesign, it is visually ‘disrupting’ the items structure .

Figure Nr.7A: the ‘69-78’ volution

Please note that in both volutions I have marked the successive stages of the de-volutionaryprogress of the patching in red.

Figure Nr. 7B: the ’25-105’ volution

Like in the case of the BMW roadster volution, after examining the volutions in figuresNr.7A and 7B we reach the following conclusions:

1. That a visual relationship exists between each an every one of these items, beyondthe fact that they are arranged in an order of causality.2. According to its phatic function, we can point out what makes an outfit a memberof this group. And what are the specific visual elements that distinguish the items of thiscollection from other fashion items.3. We can follow the development of those specific visual elements that make up thevisual language of the Yohji Yamamoto fall 2003 collection and extend their de-volution,as shown hereunder in figure Nr.8

Conclusion:

When I took a look in Yohji's collection in total, I was surprised by the totality of visualrelationship that exists between all of its items. It appears that much in the same waymodern paleontology thinks about the origin of mankind, the visual families, whichcompose Yohji’s collection, progress and evolve from one generation to another, brakeoff into different tribes and clans, create unique ‘permutations’ and might even stem outas a whole from an earlier un-shown item.

Anyway, earlier in this chapter I have presented the following questions:

1- Do fashion collections that operate as or accommodate the volutionary principles exist?

2- Can some fashion collections be in fact volutions?

Figure Nr. 8 holds the answer for both of these questions. As the following 5 observationssuggest:

1- Figure Nr. 8 is a visual study that constructs and represents a sequence of progressthrough successive stages of a process.

2- It also visually represents a series of numerous products that are all related to oneanother by a progressing process of De-volution.

3- This visual sequence moves along a collapsing structure (which resembles a genealogy family tree) and is arranged in an order of causality.

4- It is possible to detect which subjects are the first in the series and which subjectsare the last, or in other words the 2 ends of the progressing sequence.

5- When looking at figure Nr.8 we are able to follow the development of the variousproducts or subjects through the successive stages of their de-volutionary process.

So Yohji Yamamoto’s men’s wear collection of fall 2003 does in fact operate as oraccommodate the volutionary principles as described to us in the beginning of chapter Nr.2 and as visualized in figure Nr. 8. It is quite clear that by working with a rich and adeveloping process, Yohji has made the creation of this collection far more interesting forhimself before making it interesting for others.

Considering this and when taking the creation of the volution from my practical projectinto account, we are then presented with our proof and therefore can finally conclude thatsome fashion collections can in fact be or become a volution.

But what could all this possibly mean?

I believe that design is like wine- It all depends on the process. And that the quality of theproduct is measured by the totality of that process.In wine making this means: choice of crop, harvesting, crushing, pressing, fermentation,clarification, aging and bottling, as each one of these actions and processes affects thequality of the final glass or drop of wine.

In design making the totality of the process then means the consolidation of aesthetic,

functional and many other aspects of the object being designed, which requires a considerableamount research, thought, modeling, application of meaning, literative adjustment andironically - redesign. Again each one of these actions and processes affects the quality ofthe final product, object or design.

The strongest observation that connects the 2 fields together, the one of design makingand the one of wine making, is that on both of those accounts the resulting products appealnot only to the senses, but also to the intellect, as The narrator of wine-loverspage.com(http://www.wineloverspage.com/taste/intro.phtml) explains:“What's the point in tasting wine?

This is a reasonable question, if wine evokes for you the image of a wine snob, pinkyextended, mouthing fancy talk.

Certainly no similar mystique surrounds Pepsi-Cola, iced tea or milk.

But wine is different.

It's the only beverage I know that appeals to both the senses and the intellect.”

Surely “the image of a snob, pinky extended, mouthing a fancy talk” over collectabledesign classic or an expansive fashion item is an image, which in the design world andsome of its social circles, is frequently seen.

The narrator of wineloverspage.com then carries on with another insightful observation:

“If you take the time to look for it, every glass of wine contains a lesson in history,geography, agriculture, botany; sometimes anthropology, religion, psychology and more.”

History, religion, geography, anthropology, psychology sometimes even agriculture andbotany tend to endlessly provide themes, inspirations and visual and intellectual referencesto many of the creations attributed to the world of design today. In such a world whereeach creation requires a considerable amount research, thought, modeling, application ofmeaning and literative adjustment, each creation by it self then becomes a lesson “inhistory, geography, agriculture, botany; sometimes anthropology, religion, psychologyand more.”

So once again, both in wine making and design making, it is the totality of that processthat is responsible to the quality of their attributed products.

How can this help with applying meaning to our previous investigation? Well, as seenabove with the comparison of Yohji Yamamoto and Diesel, both collections and the thinkingbehind them are very different, but it’s not the subject that makes them different, it’s notthe products that make them different, its not the shapes and its not the colors, it’s theprocess of designing itself and the totality of that process that makes the difference.

We all know that Yohji Yamamoto is a fashion designer and that Diesel stands for designersclothing and that naturally there is a well constructed thought behind both of their creations,but let us consider the underlying approaches to design that were used in the creation ofthe collections mentioned above:

The Diesel approach to design shows more intuitive, associative, play with details withoutbecoming more then a mere repetition or a reference to a pre-existing style, motive, astarting concept or a mood board- as a playful set of clothes.

The Yohji approach to design shows a serious development of design themes and detailsin a structured manner that remains self dependent and free for its self. And in such a waythat allows observers and people to connect more deeply with his work and reflect uponit, thus becoming serious fashion design.

This connectivity which surrounds serious design is not a connectivity which is based onaesthetic values or the wishes of consumer’s heart but is a connectivity of the mind whichis based on the consumer’s or the observer’s ability to imagine, to connect, to interpretand to come up with some sort of understanding of the underlying thought and attentionthat were given to an object or a design.

In other words, this connectivity does not depends what you might like to wear, or not,but depends on what is interesting for you to discuss about or what sparks up your creativityand imagination.

Maybe that is the reason why the work of serious fashion designers, like Vivienne Westwood,Hussein Chalayan and Yohji Yamamoto is also displayed in museums and other culturalestablishment, while the works of Diesel, G-star, Zara and H&M is displayed in shoppingcenters alone.

‘Educational value’? No. The ‘Added value’ would be a better term to describe thisconnection; the same connection that makes people think and talk about a subject or evenappreciate it and cherish it in their mind for long periods of time, the same connection thatmakes 1+1=3. And the lack of it in Diesel’s collection serves as evidence that in the fashionworld something else, other then fashion design, dictates why and what things are createdand that 2 types of ‘fashion’ exist;. The Diesel-like ‘Pop(ular) fashion’ and the constructedand serious ‘fashion design’ as presented in Yohji Yamamoto’s work.

In the next chapter I will try to define the difference between those 2 types of fashion byventuring even deeper into the theory of the volution and investigating the metaphysicalforces that are work behind it.

Chapter 4: The Volution & Semiotics[You can walk the (cat)walk but can you talk the talk?]

In the previous chapter I took a better look into the fashion world in order to see whereand if volutionary fashion collections exist.

‘Volutionary fashion collections’ meaning: “series of numerous products or studies thatare all related to one another by a progressing process of development and/or evolution”

In this chapter I will focus on the one word, on the one aspect, from that whole definitionwhich holds the key to our understanding of the volution and that has really made thedifference between those 2 fashion collections and their underlying approaches to designin our earlier investigation.

And no, that one word is not; “de-volution”; is not “series”; is not “process”…

That one word is “related”

And as we are about to find out it’s the aspect of ‘Relationship’ that played the greatestrole in determining that:

- The Diesel ready to wear collection of 2003 “is constructed from individual stylesand wear forms that have no apparent connection between one another, other then thecollection to which they all belong and its color card.”

And that:

- The Yohji Yamamoto men’s wear collection of 2003 is constructed from individualstyles and wear forms “that are all related to one another by a progressing process ofdevelopment and/or evolution.”

So let’s take another look at the aspect of relationship in both of these collections and seehow these 2 statements could be visually translated:

Figure NR. 9A

Diesel: The dash lined rectangle represents the spring of 2003 collection and its color card(which opens up as a bubble within that line). Every thing that is in it is a part of thecollection and its color card. So as we can see the only thing that connects those 7 outfitstogether is the fact that they are all inside that rectangle and that the only thing that servesa phatic function is the color card. other then that there is no relationship between them.It doesn’t matter in which order they appear, if they are all grouped up together or extremelyspaced out apart, or even if there are a few more or a few less types of outfits in there withthem, the only thing that makes them a part of the same group is the fact they are presentin the same dashed rectangle.

Figure NR. 9B

Yohji Yamamoto: Again the dash lined rectangle represents the collection of autumn 2003and its color card (which opens up as a bubble within that line). Every thing that is in itis a part of the collection and its color card. But beyond that fact that that these 7 outfitsappear all in that same rectangle and therefore a part of the same group, there is somethingelse that binds them all together and serves a phatic function:

The 3 outfit in the middle, which resemble one another in shape, yet differ from oneanother in color, form the central group; The central and the left groups share the sameoutfit structure (3 part outfit + hat), yet differ from one another in color, patching formationand in the type of head wear used. All in all there are various visual elements and detailswhich repeat and reappear in all of those 7 outfits. This visual similarity & repetitioncreates the relationship that connects those 7 outfits together as a visual family. If you re-order the family members differently you may affect the structure of their relationship oreven brake up the inner groups, but the 7 outfits will still visually remind us of one anotherand therefore belong to the same visual group, family or collection - even if there was nodashed rectangle around them.

So as we have just seen ‘relationship’ is the magic word.

It is the magic word when searching for a progressing de-volutionary process in fashioncollections.

It is the magic word when constructing volutions, as seen in my practical project.

In fact one can now state that the act of searching for a de-volutionary progress and theact of constructing volutions are both actually a part of the same act, the act of creatingor defining visual relationships.

But what does that mean exactly?

In order to answer that, we must sharpen our perception and venture even deeper into thepractice of creating a volution with yet another set of diagrams:

Items 1-5 (from left to right)

First I must make it clear that beneath the act of creating or defining and visual relationships,there is actually one key mechanism that does all the work and that is ‘the establishmentof meaning’.

In our current case this means that in order to relate the 5 items above to one another andto create a volution, we must first create a meaningful contextual relationship for all ofthem.

This meaningful contextual relationship is created by working with details. When we lookat each of the items above we slowly start to notice that besides the repetition in colorsand their general shape, there are also some other ‘meaningful’ lines, forms and patternsthat are repeated in the designs.

In the following diagram I have marked out those meaningful lines, forms and (flowery)patterns:

These marked out lines, forms (red) and patterns (yellow) are getting their meaning duringthis repetition, which makes them evolve from an assortment of nice details into the forcethat binds all of the items above together i.e. a contextual relationship.

How does this happen? Very simply;

Items 1, 2 & 3 look very similar to one another; this similarity is generated by using aslight color variation with shades and tones and by repeating the same outfit design in all3 of them. However if it is a system of identity (things that look like one another) thatbecomes the phatic function and makes those 3 items belong to the same group, it is thesystem of difference (things that look different from one another) that creates the contextualrelationship between them:

In item Nr. 1 we can see that a shoulder and a collar patching are present in 4 spots, initem Nr. 2 the use of those patching is repeated but with a variation in size and place; 1on the right shoulder, one on the right collar, one over the left chest and one at the edgeof the left sleeve. In Item Nr. 3 the patching is repeated (while only the colors have changed)and its presence expended as side line element over the right leg.

The balance between the systems mentioned above creates a play with differences, howeverin order for this play to become the contextual relationship, this variant repetition mustlook as a result of a constructed and inevitable change - and therefore convincing and notas a result of an accidental or a random alteration and therefore cheap or superficial.

As the following, left to right, volution suggests:

The right side collar patch in item 1, has been ‘extended’ horizontally towards the rightshoulder in item 2, the left side collar patch in item 1 has been ‘extended’ vertically andhad ‘slid’ down over the left chest in item 2, the left side shoulder patch in item 1 has‘slid’ down towards the edge of the left sleeve in item 2 and finally the right side shoulderpatch in item 1 did not experience any transition in item 2.

Moving on with the series to items 3, 4 & 5 - As you have probably noticed before, item5 doesn’t resemble any of the first 3 items, however it does share a common element withitem 4, the gray flowered pattern, and item 4 on his part shares a common element withitem 3, the patching on the jacket and a corresponding side lined patch element to thetrouser’s length. So as a matter of fact item 4 is the step in between, the transition fromone style to another, of items 3 & 5.

The contextual conclusion of all this transitioning is that before us lay a progressingprocess in which the design of each item is related or originated from the items before it,starting with item 1 on the left side. And that a visual relationship of de-volution connectsall of these items together into a visual family.

Conclusion:

When looking for a contextual relationship, our items don’t get their context directly fromthe repetition of those ‘meaningful’ lines, forms and patterns in them but receive theirvalue from the balance between the ‘similar’ and the ‘different’ that the repetition of those‘meaningful’ lines, forms and patterns create.

In other words, in each item we see a repetition of similar elements but it’s not the repetitionalone that gives them their meaning and creates the contextual relationship between allof those items, it’s the fact that in each item those elements are repeated or applieddifferently, that does the job.

This play of differentiation between the various items must then looks inevitable enoughand convincing enough in order to create the suggestion that a contextual relationship, orin our case that a progressing sequence of development and evolution exists. As presentedin the volution above.

Ladies and gentlemen! I have a very important announcement to make:

I am very glad to inform you that if you have understood the explanation over theestablishment of meaning and contextual relationship, which is so necessary for the practiceof creating volutions, as presented above, then by now you also posses an understandingover few of the mechanisms and terms which are at work behind our ability to communicatebetween one another with languages and signs.

Yes that’s true ladies and gentlemen, applause to yourselves!

Much in the same way that those items got their value in the volution presented above,signs and more specifically, words, get their value from a system of differences and dependin their meaning on what surrounds them. Here is a small example:

A: “This is a nice spot”

B: “I think I can spot it”

It very clear from this example that the meaning, or the context, of the word ‘spot’ insentence A is very different from the meaning, or the context, of the word ‘spot’ in

sentence B. in sentence A the word ‘spot’, as understood from the rest of the sentence,refers to a place or a geographical location and in sentence B the meaning of that sameword and again as understood from the rest of the sentence, refers actually to a physicalaction that is done by searching out and finding something with your eyes.

Let’s look at another relationship, this time between the meaning of the sequence ‘to spotout’ and the meaning of the sequence ‘to point out’. Of course that the actual actionsreferred to in this example are quite similar, considering that both words define someaspect in the act of finding or looking for something. However the contextual timing ofthose 2 actions is different; you can not point out to something unless you have spottedit out before.

So again those sequences of words get their meaning not from being similar to one another(‘to xxx out’) but by being different from one another (‘point’ vs. ‘spot’).

My final example of this linguistic process will be demonstrated with the help of thefollowing visual items (or as we term them after 75000 or so years of cultural development- letters); S, O, T & P, of course in their current formation and as far as I know; they arevoid from any meaningful relationship (what the hell does ‘sopt’ mean?) but when usedin the flowing order- S P O T, we suddenly understand the meaning behind their order,this meaning is created due to the fact that, in their design, they are all different from oneanother. If they were all similar in their design – S, S, S & S they would still mean (andagain as far as I know) nothing. Further on however, as concluded in the analysis of figureNr. 9B, if we re- order those items differently we affect the structure of the relationshipthat exists between them and subsequently change their meaning;

S T O P

So am I starting to make any sense over here? Finally.

This linguistic process of establishing a meaning in which a sign, a visual element or aword gets its meaning or its value, not from its own existence, but from the entire systemof relationships within which it exists, is only one aspect from the larger concept or modelof semiotics, as developed by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure in his work from1916: ‘Course in general linguistics’ which was published after his death.

At the time Saussure’s ideas have been classified under the general term of structuralismin the field of the human sciences, however, last century, with the emergence of the post-modernism and post-everything in general, this model, in its post-structuralized form, hasbeen used in order to pave the way in our understanding of languages and post-moderncultural and language-like systems, like design, advertising, marketing media, film, politicalor religious propaganda and many more.

There are many other aspects of semiotics, structuralism and post structuralism whichmight be interesting to mention, how ever when it comes to the volution there is only one

aspect which the mentioning of it in our investigation is a must! And that is aspect ofsemiotic systems.

We will catch up with that aspect as we go along. Right now however, let’s carry on andtry to catch up a bit with the world of fashion by translating the contextual relationshipbetween the items of figure Nr. 10 into words and linguistic elements and then presentingthem next to each other:

Slow… Slowly… Slower… Slowest… stop!

In this translation from visual to ‘literal’ we have 5 similarly looking items (words),repetition of meaningful elements in each one of these items, a system of differentiationand variation between all of those repetitions and finally a contextual relationship thatsuggest an action.

Please note that items 1-3 resemble one another visually, yet are visually different fromone another in the same time.

Please make another note that item 5 doesn’t resemble visually or contextually any of thefirst 3 items, however it does share common elements with item 4, the letters S & T, andthat item 4 on his part shares common elements with item 3, the letter sequence S L O W.So and once again item 4 is the step in between, the transition from one style to another,of items 3 & 5.

Visually and in parallel to each other, this is how those items and the items from figureNr. 10 correspond:

Slow… Slowly… Slower… Slowest… stop!

Figure Nr. 10A

So what have we got ourselves here? We got ourselves a statement! Or a meaningfulsequence, or a sentence, or even a syntagm, if that’s how you want to call it. Either wayit is an ordered set of signs or visual items that were combined together and constructedinto a context according to certain rules, or in our case play of differentiation.

Makes you think a lot about the term ‘fashion statement’, does it?

Anyway, the vague term ‘syntagm’ is yet another semiotic term of interest for us since itforms the basis to many of the semiotic systems which appear in our daily life. The

syntagm itself is the result from the combination of the semiotic term ‘paradigm, with aset of rules, as Tony Thwites explains in chapter 2 of his book ‘Tools for cultural studies:an introduction’; page 39:

“A syntagm is an ordered array of signs combined according to certain rules.”

“A paradigm is a set of signs, any of which are conceivably interchangeable within agiven context.”

“Paradigms are not fixed; they are determined by the criteria of the context and topic.Elements of the same paradigm can be substituted for one another in a given syntagmaticcontext. In the 2 statements ‘the cat sat on the mat’ and ‘the dog sat on the mat’, ‘cat’ and‘dog’ both belong to the paradigm of domestic mammal. If the cat is mine and the dogbelongs to the people next door, I may decide that they don’t belong to the same paradigmat all (which would be my pet), and wonder what next door’s dog is doing on my cat’smat?”

“…If we broaden the paradigm set from domestic mammals to just mammals, we start toget the possibility of less and less likely syntagms” (the whale sat on the mat). “The furtheraway we move the less likely the syntagms we get. If the paradigm set is simply nouns,we have possibilities like ‘the Generalization sat on the mat’. If we broaden out evenfurther… we might just end up with nonsense (the mat sat on the mat).”

“A syntagm then, is the result of using a conventional rule to combine a series of elementsfrom various paradigms:”

“Elements of paradigms + rules = syntagm”

In other words:

a syntagm is the contextual meaning that was created as a result of using a conventionalrule when trying to make sense out of a series of elements from various paradigm sets.

Tony then goes on and shows us the variety of activities and subjects that could be describedin this way, as presented in following table

Elements of paradigms + rules = syntagm

Words Grammar Sentence

Ingredients Recipe Edible dish

Clothes Codes of dress Uniforms

Item on menu Sequence of courses Dinner

Playing cards Rules of game Sequence of play

Letters, numbers, operators Algebra Equation

Paper folds Origami Paper animal

Conclusion:

Looking in retro perspective into the semiotic establishment of meaning and of contextualrelationships and its linguistic processes, when it comes to our ability to communicatebetween one another with languages and signs, we first select our paradigm and thencombine its elements into a meaningful syntagms or a sentence.

In our current field of investigation, this form of linguistic processing would then meanthat we first select the items, outfits or other visual elements and then combine them,according to a certain contextualization, into a volution or into a fashion statement, as thefollowing table portrays:

Elements of paradigms + rules = syntagm

Set of items Play with differences Volution/ De-volution

Set of outfits Contextualization Fashion statement

The absence or presence of such rules determines the difference between those 2 typesof fashion and their underlying approaches to design that I have mentioned some 3000words ago.

As you might remember at the end of chapter 3, I have stated that 2 types of ‘fashion’exist; The Diesel-like ‘Pop(ular) fashion’ and the constructed and serious ‘fashion design’as presented in Yohji Yamamoto’s work.

I have also concluded that:

The Diesel ready to wear collection of 2003 “is constructed from individual styles andwear forms that have no apparent connection between one another, other then the collectionto which they all belong and its color card.”

And therefore:The Diesel approach to design shows more intuitive, associative, play with details withoutbecoming more then a mere repetition over or a reference to a pre-existing style, motive,a starting concept or a mood board- as a playful set of clothes.

And that:

The Yohji Yamamoto men’s wear collection of 2003 is constructed from individual stylesand wear forms “that are all related to one another by a progressing process of developmentand/or evolution.”

And therefore:The Yohji approach to design shows a serious development of design themes and detailsin a structured manner that remains self dependent and free for its self. And in such a waythat allows observers and people to connect more deeply with his work and reflect uponit, thus becoming serious fashion design.

The big question now is which one of the following linguistic terms, describes theDiesel case subject of ‘pop fashion’ and which one of these terms describes the YohjiYamamoto case subject ‘fashion design’ - ‘Paradigm’ or ‘Syntagm’?

In order to answer that, we should try to re-describe those 2 collections and their previousvisualization from figures 9A and 9B in the suggested above semiotic terminology.

Diesel: The dash lined rectangle represents the spring of 2003 paradigm set of the colorcard which has opened up as a bubble within that line. Every thing that is in it is an elementof that paradigm set. So as we can see the only thing that connects this set of elementstogether is the fact that they have all been selected and placed into that rectangle, furtheron since there are no rules of combination between them, they are all conceivablyinterchangeable with one another. It doesn’t matter in which order they appear, if they areall grouped up together or extremely spaced out apart, or even if there are a few more ora few less types of outfits in there with them, the only thing that matters is the fact theyall are present in the same paradigm set.

Yohji Yamamoto: Again the dash lined rectangle represents the autumn of 2003 paradigmset of the color card which has opened up as a bubble within that line. Every thing thatis in it is an element of that paradigm set. But beyond the fact that these 7 elements haveall been selected and placed into that rectangle and that at some point they have all beenconceivably interchangeable with one another, there are also rules of combination betweenthem that create the phatic function which binds them together i.e. there is a set of rulesthat combines the elements of this paradigm in to a contextual syntagm of a visual family.

So ‘Pop fashion’ gives us sets of paradigm, and ‘Fashion design’ gives us meaningfulsyntagms, or as Bill Hick’s friend Jimmy Pineapple would say: ‘Case - f**king - closed!’

Chapter 5: Finale.[Functions of fashion]

In the previous chapter we were introduced to the concept of semiotics. And saw how itcorresponds with the practice of volution creation, and how semiotic systems can be usedto describe a variety of activities and subjects in the world around us, including the subjectsof volution and fashion design themselves. However, since there are a few more termsand areas of semiotics that we still need to discuss, we have not yet finished with thisconcept.

As Tony Thwites explains in chapter 2 of his ‘Tools of cultural studies’ the object ofsemiotics is the entire system which gives any individual sign or item their meaning.Semiotics is therefore not concerned with individual or specific acts of sign use, but withthe systems in which those acts of sign use operate. For example; it is not interested ineverything that can be said in English, but in the structures of English which allow us tosay these things. In other words; we are not interested in the shear volume of things andstatements that could be said in English, but in the regularities and the rules that canproduce those statements.

If statements follow rules then the knowledge of how those rules work would actuallyallow us to produce any number of possible statements and therefore will actually allowus to communicate with one another too. Now, this is true not only to English and othertypes of verbal languages but also to the way meaning is assigned with advertisements,to the process of extracting an emotional reaction from a crowd during a theater play ora film, to our body languages and how lovers can show their affection and their love foreach other, its true to the birds, who use vocal signs in order to find a paring mate and toreproduce and its true to the bees, who communicate and cooperate by smells and sequencesof dance. All these systems of communication have their own rules.

We’ve even got top notch scientists who are at this very moment trying to break the codesof communication with squids, and the last thing I have heard is that monkeys have finallydeveloped their own small vocabulary like language too. Then when I come to think aboutit, our whole culture depends on one, and one thing only; and that is our ability to cooperatewith one another by using various systems of communication and to understand what theirsigns and signatures mean.

So if sign usages are rule bound, as understood from the above, and as Tony Thwites,Ferdinand de Saussure and many other structuralists and post structuralists suggests, thenwe can separate any domain of signs, or any form of language, into 2 conceptually distinctareas:

Parole (the French word for- utterance, talk or speech)And Langue (the French word for- code, system or the language)

Allow me to elaborate:

Parole is a given act, or artifact of language, such as a spoken theatrical monologue, a

conversation, a post card, a novel, or even a master essay like the one you are right nowbusy with.

Langue is the system which enables such acts of parole to be produced.

Therefore Language = Langue + Parole.

Now I know that it sounds a bit like our 2 previous terms; paradigm and syntagm,

Elements of paradigms + rules = syntagm

But if you will check it our again you will notice that langue’s definition is closer to theterm of ‘rules’ then to the term of ‘paradigm’.

Anyway, as you might remember some 8500 words ago I have mentioned a certain questionthat was being discussed in the academic fashion circles here in Holland:

“Do fashion design schools teach their students how to design a fashion collection or dothey teach them how to stylize it?” (Mode ontwerping vs. Mode vormgaving?)

This question is of utmost importance right now and in order to explain you why I willhave to revise it again and re-define it with the use of semiotic terminology:

‘Do fashion design schools teach their students how to use the ‘langue’ of fashion in orderto create ‘parole’, utterance, talk, or a speech with a series of meaningful syntagms, ordo they just teach their students how to select interesting and playful paradigms?’

Some 8500 ago words I have asked another question:

What is fashion design?

I think that now I have my answer:

Fashion design is a language.

It all fits in, if you can remember in my ‘design is like wine’ argument, I have mentionedthat the process of design requires the consolidation of aesthetic and functional aspectsof an object. Therefore the process of fashion design must require the consolidation ofaesthetic and functional aspects too.

If so what could the functional aspect of fashion design be? Or of an outfit?

Well, if fashion design is a language, then the fashion collection is a sentence and theoutfit, that single fashionable outfit, is then a word.

What is the function of a word?

Meaning!

After all have you ever spoken or herd a word that had no meaning?

Really try to think; try really hard, when was the last time you have herd a word that hadno meaning? Not a sound, not a humm, not a squeak, but a real word, an actual constructedalphabetical sequence of letters. When was it? When was the last time?

I, myself, have never in my whole life herd or spoke a word that had no meaning, or nocontext, what so ever. But In the language of fashion, I have herd them and seen them toomany times - In fashion magazines, on the catwalks, on television, in movies, in shoppingwindows, on the streets, in parties and generally through the ins and outs of consumptionculture, with some real hard core cases in Milano and Berlin.

There is a lot of remembering to in this chapter, especially now when I realize that allthroughout this essay I have been actually dealing with that certain aspect of the fashionworld that has been troubling me design wise for a very long time. It was the aspect ofwords that were void of meaning.

And as I said in the beginning of this essay, while trying to figure this out I slowly beganto realize that the design part of fashion design, today’s fashion design, is not really design.And that fashion design itself is not actually fashion design, but is just fashion.

I still stand by my previous statement from chapter 3:

There are 2 types of fashion in the fashion world, 2 types of ‘parole’, meaning less andmeaning full and we can refer to and define them with any of the following syntagms:

‘Pop fashion’ & ‘Fashion design’.

‘Styling’ & ‘Designing’

‘Superficial’ & ‘Serious’

‘Fashion design’ & just ‘fashion’

And once again from all my research, from all my diagrams, from all my case subjects,all my explanations and my thoughts, what better question exists then following question,in order to mark the difference between those 2 fashions and their underlying approachesto design:

‘Do fashion design schools teach their students how to use the ‘langue’ of fashion in orderto create ‘parole’, utterance, talk, or a speech with a series of meaningful syntagms, ordo they just teach their students how to select interesting and playful paradigms?’So it’s now the time review then those 2 types of speech, of fashion, and summarize allthat we have discovered during this investigation about them, about their underlyingapproaches to the language of fashion and about their underlying approaches to the processof design.

Fashion design;

Approach to design: a serious development of design themes and details that are selfdependant and free to themselves i.e. that the designer can be as playful, as associativeand as intuitive as his concept or as his statement requires.

Design process: using the ‘langue’ of fashion in order to create ‘parole’, utterance, talk,or a speech with a series of meaningful syntagms - Creating both statements for the societyand the fashion circles and their underlying paradigms for the market.

Quality of design/Totality of the process: process is total; as much as the designer wantsit to be, requires it or feels it as necessary.

Connectivity of the public/consumers: in various levels, from shallow aesthetic or socialneeds to a deep philosophical or intellectual connection. The level or strength of theconnection depends both on; the ability of the consumer to imagine, to reflect, to interpretand to develop his own understanding of the underlying thought and attention that weregiven to an object or to a design; and the ability of the designer to communicate his ideas.

Who does the talking?The designer- communicates his idea, statements and concepts.

Discussion/Interaction: is based on the individual’s intellect, interests and the things thatinspire them and spark up their own creativity, ingenuity and imagination. The discussionmay carry on beyond the boundaries of the collection book, the fashion show or a seasonalcatalogue. It is being continued by those who feel the cultural significance of the designerand his work, in museums and other cultural establishment who wish to continue thediscussion in order to edify and inspire the public.

The wine factor: like an expansive glass of wine appeals both to the senses and the intellect.

Semiotic equivalent: the meaningful syntagm.‘The fat cat sat on the mat, stretching his sexy paws lavishly’

Pop fashion;

Approach to design: intuitive and associative play with details, as a playful set of clothesis created without becoming more then a mere repetition or a reference to a pre-existingstyle, motive, a starting concept or a mood board. The designers can be as playful, asassociative and as intuitive as the market suggests or can be.

Design process: selecting interesting and playful paradigm sets from the langue of fashion.

Quality of design/Totality of the process: process is not total; it is as limited as the financialminds that run the brand wants it to be, requires it or feels it as necessary.

Connectivity of the public/consumers: is based on the aesthetic values or the wishes ofthe consumer’s heart which are motivated by its social needs; and on the ability of the

fashion brand to make a strong presence in the market and to manipulate the consumer.

Who does the talking?The fashion brands and the fashion labels, which produce and distribute these elements,do the talking.

Discussion/Interaction: is based on what the consumers might like or not like to wear andin most cases has nothing to do with the design, or with the quality of thinking that wasinvested in the designed products, but with the name and the image of the distributinglabel. The discussions start and end within the same season.

The wine factor: alcohol consumption

Semiotic equivalent: the paradigm set.‘Cat Mat Fat Rat Tat Flat Sat Bat Pat Hat Shat’ & ofcourse ‘Sex ’

Fin.

So this is where the story ends. I have got my answers.

However although this is where it ends, with a systematic description of the 2 fashionablefashions, such an essay, or discussion, cannot end without some sort of a philosophicalcontemplation, a teaser, or maybe even a short philosophical wink into our current socialfabric and its cultures of consumption…

The German philosopher Nietzsche suggested we humans have the tendency to inflict ourselves by an eternal recurrence of same sameness.

In the western culture as each generation wanted to be the new, as each generation wantedto be the rebel, each generation had its own power struggle against the establishment ofthe generations before it. Each generation had its own style, it own agenda, its own fashionstatements and its own signatures- The Hippie in the 60’s, the Punks in the 70’s, the Neo-Romanticists in the 80’s, the Ravers in the 90’s, and in the 2000’s?

Something else is happening. The repetition led into variation the variation led into progressand the progress led to post modernism which in turn led to a crisis in consumer’s identity.

If in the decades before people wanted to fit in the society, now they want to fit out of thesociety. If people have so far used a system of similarities and identity in order to definewho they are and their where they belong, after the post modernistic crises of consumeridentity, there is a new system in use; a system of differences.

You see, the social texture of western societies is much like the linguistic processes thatwe have been talking about. People look for the definition of themselves in others; theylook for the relationships, for the phatic functions. Governments, organizations, onlinecommunities and even street gangs can serve the phatic functions in our society. Howevertoday it is also quite clear that you don’t need to dress up in a certain way in order to havea political opinion or to fit in a social group. You can wear what ever you want wear; you

can do what ever you want to do; you can say what ever you want to say; in fact thesedays we are encouraged to be more and more of an individual in the western culture.

That is also where the classical target group slips out of the picture. The classic all dressedperson by one brand has too little identity and individuality; we are more and moresearching for new ways to underline our individuality - variety is the new virtue.

The new consumers are therefore aware and intellectual; you can’t tell them what to wearanymore, you can’t tell them what to say anymore. They can choose their own words bythemselves, make up their own meaningful sentences and syntagms, they can select theright fashion item for their paradigm sets that will fit the syntax of their social lives andeverybody theses days wants to be an individual.

Perhaps this is the greatest challenge of designers and fashion brands alike, to be able toconserve the quality of design & the totality of its process and to make from every paradigma micro syntagm, as they are now dealing with the intellect and the awareness of the 21st

century consumer audiences, which speak up for themselves and make up their ownstatements of fashion.

The question is - What will the next decade bring?

And so with this short adventure in my mind, I am reminded in the work of 2 very goodfriends of mine, Ari Versluis and his colleague Ellie Uyttenbroek. In their book ‘Exactitudes’(see finale image) they portrays 58 identity groups of people. At first thought you mightthink that these people have all been collected at a local community center, in school, fromlocal football club, or have been specially dressed up, but you will be surprised. In thetime that I have spent with Ari and Ellie I have learned that those identity groups areactually groups of individuals people, items, from different places, from different ‘langues’,from different backgrounds, from different paradigm sets, but yet and apparently all dressup to a common code, all share the same syntagm, - and everybody wants to be anindividual.

Finale image: ‘Exactitudes’, Ari Versluis & Ellie Uyttenbroek.

Back word: Flöchten.[Twist]

Der Ästhet

“Wenn ich sitze, will ich nichtsitzen, wie mein Sitz-Fleisch möchte,sondern wie mein Sitz-Geist sich,säße er, den Stuhl sich flöchte”

Morgenstren

The Aesthete

“If I would sit, i do not want to sitas my sit meat would like to,but separated from itin the way my sitting mind would sitthere, the whole chair will twist itself.”

Morgenstern

Bibliography / Source list:

Books:‘Tools of Cultural Studies: Introduction’Tony Thwites (with Lloyd David & Warwick Mules), Macmillan Education 1994.‘Industrial design’ (the world of art) by John Heskett, Thames &Hudson Ltd. 1985.‘Exactitudes’ by Ari Versluis & Ellie Uyttenbroek, 010 publishers 2002,www.exactitudes.com.‘The complete World of Human Evolution’ by Chris Stringer & Peter AndrewsThames &Hudson Ltd. 2005.‘From Ape to Adam’ Herbert Wendt, Thames &Hudson Ltd. 1971.‘BMW: Driven to succeed’, Haynes Publishing 2006.

Internet:Wikipedia – www.wikipedia.comOnline wine tasting course - www.wineloverspage.comBMW World - www.bmwworld.comFirst view – www.firstview.comDictionary.com – www.dictionary.comTombok internet recruiting – www.fashion.tombok.com

With special thanks to:Bibi Straatman - bibi@irq.orgPeter Leferink - peter.leferink@tiscali.nl

Contact:

+++ Yoad David Luxembourg;Tel: +31 (0) 648196407E-mail: fortune_chickens@hotmail.com

More information on:http://www.mahku.nl/default.lhtml?cat=names&id=256&nav=fashiondesign

and on google.

Online volution show at:http://www.mahku.nl/video.lhtml?filename=mahku2006_1_david.mp4&credits=YoadDavid Luxembourg

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+++Yoad David LuxembourgNovember 2006

This publication may not be reproduced, copied or transmited, in formor by any means, in whole or in part, without author’s permission.