Entry 7: Reflection

During the three weeks I spent in New York City, I experienced many levels of inspiration and authenticity amongst a wide spectrum of creative industries. In this final entry I aim to recognize and reflect on my experiences as forms of immersive learning and identify these encounters with my fashion discipline and future career goals. Furthermore I will summarise my opinion of how and why New York City is a creative hub for artists.

Before travelling to New York I undertook research through a multitude of platforms. As part of this unit I was required to formally source literature on New York, in particular the Garment District, in addition to attending a number of presentations. Secondly, I initiated personal research through travel books and magazines and thirdly, I held personal preconceptions of New York formed by popular culture initiated by television shows, movies and photographs. Through this process I conceived a vision of what I expected the city to be. Only until actually being in the city and interacting with the culture was I able to fully experience what I had read, seen and heard. This notion can be referred to as immersive learning, whereby “A methodology in which the researcher seeks to observe events and the behaviour of people by taking part in the activity him- or herself. The idea underpinning this approach is that to fully understand a community or activity, rather than interviewing people or observing from a distance, one has to become a member of the community and perform an activity” (Castree, Kitchin and Rogers, 2013, 362). This definition perfectly summaries my time in the city as I began to interact with it through its various facilities and spaces just as any New Yorker would.

Although my previous entries were specifically tailored to my discipline in fashion, the creativity was abundant through a mass of diverse platforms. I witnessed dance, music, television production, landscaping, architecture, visual art, historical displays, busking, sporting events, local people, theatre and live concerts all engrained with an extremely high level of creativity. For some of these expressions I found the creativity was rather unexpected in comparison to others. For example, when attending an art gallery such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum I held an assumption that it would entail a strong creative presence. On the other hand, it was only when attending the Chelsea Highline that I learnt about the way in which the site was designed, and how the original tracks were thoughtfully entwined with the vegetation that I understood how creative landscaping and architecture could be, from what I once presumed was mostly a logical practise. A similar instance occurred at the Natural Museum of History. What I expected to be an informative and artefact based display was turned into a very visual experience by the copious and extravagant exhibits and dioramas that completely enhanced my experience as a visual learner. Moreover, the beautiful fact of New York is that creativity does not need to be sought; it has a mysterious way of unexpectedly appearing even in the most unlikely place.

With such an abundance of art, talent, inspiration and individuality it is unsurprising that New York City is constantly labelled as a metropolitan hub for creative culture.   In many of my posts I compared New York to my home city Brisbane, Australia. For a number of reasons I find this comparison interesting and would like to draw on this idea further. One of the major factors that I believe hinders Brisbane, and supports New York is wealth that can be inserted into the creative industries sector to financially sustain its growth. Fortunately, New York celebrates the artists that emerge from their city and thus the creative industries are continually contributing to the city’s economy and creating jobs at an increasing percentage each year (Keegan et al. 2005). Fashion historian and scholar Elizabeth Currid (2006, 331) said, “From fashion designers to film directors to musicians, New York’s greatest strength is in its ability to harness its artistic talents such that they contribute greatly to both the local culture and economy and the global marketplace”. Whereas, Brisbane relies on the support of governments that are unable to facilitate high levels of expenditure. In addition to private funding, universities in New York cater to the community by providing exhibits to encourage a creative culture. A fine example I witnessed at the Fashion Institute of Technology and is something I believe QUT could take on board, even to a much smaller scale and across all industries in an attempt to provide the public with a creative engagement.

After completing my studies at QUT with a bachelor of Business (Marketing)/ Creative Industries (Fashion) my career goal is to work as a marketer for a fashion house. After visiting New York City I am overwhelmed with the amount of choice and capacity available for this type of career. With only one year left to graduate I was feeling somewhat deflated about the prospects of my future career before taking this study tour. However, upon entering the city I discovered so many established local designers including household names Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein resided head quarters in this city, each made up of a vast team of marketers.   Requiring individuality and creativity, it is essential that I be surrounded by inspiration both directly and indirectly to enhance my career. In my opinion, New York supplies these inspirations better than any other city I have travelled to including fashion capitals London, Paris and Milan. After experiencing the city as a whole I am truly excited to know that there are plenty of opportunities awaiting. It is safe to say that experiencing this level of creativity has not only inspired me to continue working hard in my studies but to also begin perusing the companies I would like to work for in a post graduate position. This subject was one that cannot compare to any others that I have completed. I would describe it as a course summary in that it related to so many subjects I have taken and through physical experience I was able to practice a greater understanding of taught theory into these learning opportunities. It has provided me with a new perspective on learning and therefore I intend to be more open to unexpected forms of creativity and trust that I can involve these inspirations into my own work.

Bibliography:

Aldenton, Samantha. 2014.” Supermodels give Moschino campaign fast food fix.” Accessed December 20, 2014. http://www.wgsn.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/content/board_viewer/#/54556/page/1

Castree, Noel, Rob Kitchin and Alisdair Rogers. 2013. “Immersive Learning.” In A Dictionary of Human Geography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Currid, Elizabeth. 2006. “New York as a Global Creative Hub: A Competitive Analysis of Four Theories on World Cities.” Economic Development Quarterly 20 (4): 330-350.

Fashion Institute of Technology. 2014. “Museum.” Accessed December 4, 2014. http://www.fitnyc.edu/museum.asp

Keegan, Robin, Neil Kleiman, Beth Seigel and Michael Kane. 2005. Creative New York. Accessed September 5, 2014. http://nycfuture.org/pdf/Creative_New_York.pdf

New York City Ballet. 2014. “Fun Facts.” Accessed December 1, 2014. http://www.nycballet.com/Season-Tickets/Nutcracker-Additional/Fun-Facts.aspx

Entry 6: Willamsburg

This morning I ventured to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to find it was full of creativity and inspiration for artists in more ways than one.  With an abundance of  quality street art, both commissioned and not, gentrified apartment buildings, visually enhancing street features, ethnic diversity and open spaces such as parks.  All of these features create a creatively enhanced environment attracting artists and members of the creative industries.  The support for these members of the community is outstanding and the only place I believe comes close to comparison in Australia is Melbourne.  The main street, Bedford Avenue,  is decorated with vintage op shops, or what the Americans call, ‘thrift shops’.  I am an avid vintage shopper, as I find it beautiful that unwanted clothing can be revived by a new owner and it also serves as a great source of design inspiration as the styles do not follow the current trends.  Additionally and most importantly, vintage stores are an essential aspect of sustainable fashion which is becoming incredibly rare with the rise of fast fashion.  One student that joined me argued that op shops have now become a fad and no longer serve their original purpose, to provide cheaper clothing for struggling people.  However, I like to look at this valid point more optimistically.  Yes, many vintage stores have created a luxury name for themselves, reselling designer goods retaining high end prices.  And others, are less sophisticated and do offer heavily discounted clothing to people in need. Both versions continue to recycle clothing, which alleviates the issue of mass waste and discourages consumers to buy trend based fashion that is hugely detrimental to the environment including mass production and waste, unsafe chemicals and unethical working conditions and wages to name only a few.  Aiming for a career in the creative industries, Williamsburg is a place I would enjoy living as it is holds a vastness of stimulus to inspire ideas.

Willamsburg Street Art

Entry 5: FIT Museum: Dance & Fashion

After recently attending George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, it was particularly interesting to view the Dance & Fashion exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Technology.  A I mentioned in a previous entry, I have not learnt much theory in relation to dance and fashion and it is an inspiration stimulus that I had not considered.  Often we learn about interiors, visual art, world events and even music as influential factors in fashion.  However, in my opinion dance has been slightly overlooked.  Now that I have learnt the strong relationship the two have, I am surprised that this theory has not been integrated into units I have studied. Our guide was very knowledgable and mentioned many of my favourite designers such as Valentino, Ralph Lauren and Oscar de la Renta.  Whilst visiting some of the art galleries, when artists names were mentioned I was often unaware of who they were.  But when visiting FIT each time the guide mentioned a designer my attention was instantly drawn and I could easily recognise the costumes’ designers through aesthetics, design techniques and colours.  I find it wonderful that a fashion university is able to facilitate these exhibitions to the public and it’s students.

Entry 4: The Metropolitan Museum of Art: #DeathBecomesHer

Today I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The amount of content in the museum was outstanding and slightly overwhelming.  Despite this, I prioritised what I saw, one of which was the very new Anna Wintour Costume Institute.  Named after one of the most influential figures in contemporary fashion, I was very excited to see the exhibition as I expected it would be of a world class standard.  It was named #deathbecomesher and was dedicated to black dresses worn by women in Europe and America during the nineteenth century as an symbol of mourning.  As I had learnt during my studies, black is an iconic colour for fashion.  Often black garments were worn as a visual symbol of grief and mourning of the deceased in addition to representing status and taste.  Due to the high death rates, these gowns become so common that it became a core aspect of couture fashion.  Although I was aware the majority of theory that was provided in the exhibition, it was wonderful to see the actual garments accompanied by familiar theory.  From what I had only studied in photographs, it was a completely different experience to observe the dresses in person.  I was able to admire the smallest details and embellishments that could never appear on a photograph.  Apart from the Valentino exhibition at GOMA in 2010, it is quite rare for Brisbane’s galleries and museums to have large fashion programs.  As a fashion student, these are always enjoyable and I think it is wonderful that at such an acclaimed gallery provides costume centre that acknowledges fashion as a form of art and will constantly cater to fashion enthusiasts.

Mourning dress displayed in exhibition

Entry 3: George Balanchine’s The Nutcraker Costume Design

This evening I attended George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at the Lincoln Center.  Not only is this a well known performance, it also has a strong reputation in regards to costumes.  I was amazed by the large quantity and diversity of costumes that were worn during the performance.  It was clear to see that the outfits not only created another form of entertainment, it also worked with the dancer’s movements to enhance their performance.  For example, one costume contained bells, so that when the dancer’s were moving it would jingle and sway with the performer.  I have not previously studied in the area of dance and fashion so I searched to New York City Ballet website to find more information about the costumes in the performance.  I found an entire page dedicated to facts regarding the costume design which I found fascinating, therefore it can be suggested that the costumes are highly valued by the ballet company and assumably the audience. The amount of detail that goes into the costumes is quite incredible,  the bodices of some dresses worn in the performance were decorated with small cameo pictures of New York City Ballet Founders including Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine.  Before attending the ballet I did not consider how beautiful the costumes would be and was pleasantly surprised.

Entry 2: MoMA

Previously, I did not consider visual art to be directly linked to fashion. When visiting the Museum of Modern Art I found some interesting correlations between art styles and how these concepts have evolved and are depicted in the fashion industry. For example, we spent some time discussing Andy Warhol’s piece Campbell’s Soup Cans. I enjoyed viewing Warhol’s work first hand, as it is such an iconic piece. The group discussed popular culture, which resinated closely to many aspects of contemporary fashion. Firstly, the popular culture movement often followed an idea that advertising was a visual medium for art. This is a constant aspect of fashion, for example, all brands are heavily branded with logos, prints, labels and slogans which are often clearly displayed on garments. In this way fashion, similar to this art style, can become superficial and thus more focused on selling a brand or an idea rather than the work, or garment, itself.  Warhol’s works often focused on relatable and accessible themes which is apparent in the artwork we viewed.  The Campbell’s brand is a recognisable household good that a mass audience can identify with.  I recently wrote an essay on Jeremy Scott’s collections for Moschino which ties into the correlation between pop culture and fashion as it featured strong satirical McDonalds and Barbie themes with heavy branding. For myself, this gallery emphasised strong similarities between art and fashion and how many concepts of visual art have been employed into fashion design and branding. I had not previously identified these strong ties and was able to appreciate the art works to a higher level because it related to my field.

Moschino Fall 2014 Campaign

Entry 1: Retail Variety and Visual Merchandising

Spending over a week in New York now, I am beginning to see the strong creative culture absolutely everywhere. From the art galleries to the subway, there are creative people and groups immersing themselves in the arts. In turn, New York provides such a strong level of celebration for these people as it is engrained into their culture and society.   Naturally, as a fashion student, one of the first things that has caught my attention is the shopping. In New York shopping is not merely a mundane activity to fill in time, it is a sight in itself for any tourist.   I was very underprepared for the exhaustive amount of stores and ranges. The department stores in particular such as Barneys holds such a multitude of options that it is truly overwhelming. This kind of choice is a foreign concept for myself; in Brisbane there is such a small variety of labels and collections provided to consumers. Here is the opposite and instead of shopping for necessity, it becomes a leisurely activity to observe and enjoy the beautiful designer collections that are not available at home. In this way, the stores become more like a gallery rather than simply a department store. This is further demonstrated by the extraordinary level of visual merchandising implemented in stores and their windows. These windows often include lights, electronics and live performances, heightening the interactivity between the consumer and company. This fashion marketing technique creates strong consumer loyalty and I have never witnessed it to this level. I believe these excessive displays are due to the strong demand and large population and are used as a competitive advantage. Here there is a wealth and appreciation to support these designers that would not necessarily succeed in Brisbane or even Australia.  Secondly, stores have a greater need to differentiate themselves from others due to a saturated market.

Window Display at Bergdorf Goodman Department Store