I presented my paper: “Rich Relations: The Evolution and Uneasy Symbiosis of Art and Fashion” at the Nouveau Reach: Past Present and Future of Luxury Conference on Friday May 12, 2017. : http://nouveaureach.ca/ (Abstract) The new Fondation Louis Vuitton (LV) is the latest incarnation of the corporate/art mega-partnership, highlighting the increasingly uncomfortable relationship between art and fashion. This research explores the cartography between autonomous art culture and fashion commerce and the increased blurring of their overlapping borders. From its earliest roots,Read more
Month: April 2017
Nomenclature in Fashion Sustainability Research
sus·tain·a·bil·i·ty səˌstānəˈbilədē/ noun the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. “the sustainability of economic growth” avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance. “the pursuit of global environmental sustainability” Sustainability; Ethical consumption; Greenwash; Responsible consumption; Organic clothes; Environment; Free trade; Neoliberal economic paradigm; Global apparel industry; Trade policy; Labor markets, Trade liberalization, Green textiles After a read through the available contemporary literature and research, the discourse around fashion sustainability as a whole seems to beRead more
Mark O’Connell Art Portfolio
From my explorations a monograph emerges that can include painting, collage, block prints, drawings, poetry, fashion illustration and text. Upon completion, the series is gathered together and exhibited partially in a gallery, and partially online. This hybrid installation model allows the artwork to be read both as a cohesive agglomeration, as well as a collection of individual art objects and text. I use the form of the art to mediate levels of accessibility for the content therein. The availability ofRead more
Fashion Archival Research
“Fashion brings together creative authorship, technological production and cultural dissemination associated with dress, drawing together designers, producers, retailers and all of us who wear garments.” (Fletcher, Grose & Hawken 2012: 8). During a recent visit to the Archives Ontario facility at York University, I toured the restoration lab and looked at rare photographs, and learned about histories that were not included in the dominant discourse. If you are not familiar with the archive you can learn more about it here:Read more
Stolen Goods: Plagiarism and Fashion Scholarship
“Arsenic Dress”: English or French, c. 1860s The Fashion Research Collection at Ryerson University. Gift The Racked website, recently published a piece on toxic clothing that appears to be an unattributed reproduction of a body of work by Ryerson University fashion scholar Dr. Alison Matthews David. The Racked post even includes a photo of the arsenic dress from the popular “Fashion Victims” exhibition at the Bata Shoe museum in Toronto that Matthews David and Bata head curator Elizabeth Semmelhack co-curated. http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/fashion-victims/Read more
Holocaust Chic: Homophobia, Anti-Semitism and Abject Fashion Marketing. Mark O’Connell
Holocaust Chic: Homophobia, Anti-Semitism and Abject Fashion Marketing @Mark O’Connell 2017, no reproduction without permission “ I hate the word Homophobia. It’s not a phobia. You are not scared. You are an a**hole” Morgan Freeman, Twitter, 2014. Contemporary media engagement results in the constant barrage of information and marketing that is funneled through the myriad channels that stream into devices and apps and into our consciousness. The ability for cognitive registration of any particular item becomes more and more andRead more
