Culture, Aesthetics and Fashion Discussion

[Deleted member 7575]

I went through standard american public school but had the advantage of being a voracious reader and having a mother who pushed learning on my own so I feel I was able to get a more developed view of the world. I think that has helped me creatively and do to problem solve.

I feel being creative is large in part to being able to take things in and out of context which can only happen with a open mind.

 

[Missoni~Heiress]

do many people here try to channel other cultures? for example... take elements from around the world that you love and try to make it work for you?

 

[Lena]

most of us do, in our subconscious anyway.. including people 'adapting' bits and pieces of nostagia in their style..
we always seem to crave for what is not there, for what we dream of heaving, look at the 'vintage' trend, the hippychic, not to mention ethnik styles e.g. the much popular russian/eastern europe theme from the fall winter 05.06 shows.
we may not have the time or the money to travel to russia, well, we can always buy a top or a skirt.. we cannot possibly recreate the 'happy' mood of the 50's bring in a 'modern' take at the 50s style.

so yes, we do chanel 'other' cultures more than we channel our own

 

[travolta]

thank you cbcb and meme for those intriguing articles.

i found it absurd that MSNBC basically declared autism as some sort of epidemic outbreak, as if it was some kind of infectious disease, or flaw in evolution.
sadly, times have not changed so much, its view is very pessimistic, and short sighted.
i found it interesting that they brought up silicon valley as being 'struck' by this outbreak as being a 'hot spot'

Though more than half a century has passed since Kanner and Asperger first gave a name to autism, there is still no known cause, no miracle drug, and no cure.

how the hell is this quote constructive?? it's sad how disorders are the scapegoat for a society that is intolerant of people who don't contribute to it in the easy 'normal' way,
seen as a disruption the 'order' of things. it's basically opression for those individuals, which leads to a dangerous self-fulfilling prophecy. society has a very bizarre view of maturation: there are all these books about children's cognitive development and 'nuturing' the children in their early years, but people forget that the learning process never stops. a child that exhibits seemingly disruptive behavior is seen as signs of testing his or her environment, it's learning, it's intelligent and it's positive.

[font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif]"In another age, these men would have been monks, developing new ink for printing presses. Suddenly, they're reproducing at a much higher rate." These days, the autistic fascinations with technology, ordered systems, visual modes of thinking, and subversive creativity have plenty of outlets. There's even a cheeky Asperger's term for the rest of us - NTs, "neurotypicals." [/font]

I thought this was insightful, because it comes all down to context and subjectivity.
I think this constructive perspective is not applicable to how society views teeangers and adult's divergent behavior, which is something i hope we will evolve out of quickly.
in contrast, i was quite happy w/ this quote.
[font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][/font]
[font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif]

[font=verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif]"If we could eliminate the genes for things like autism, I think it would be disastrous," says Wilhelmsen. "The healthiest state for a gene pool is maximum diversity of things that might be good." [/font]

[/font]

meme, i think most of my close friends could be 'diagnosed' with asperger's syndrom, and a few who actually have been. i like them because they are creative thinkers.

 

[travolta]

"I sometimes ask myself how it came about that I was the one to develop the theory of relativity. The reason, I think, is that a normal adult never stops to think about problems of space and time. These are things which he has thought about as a child. But my intellectual development was ********,as a result of which I began to wonder about space and time only when I had already grown up."

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."

einstein

 

[faust]

Ok, I'm done with my term paper on keeping fashion design copyright free. I said that I'd post it here for your amusement, but it's too big. So, if anybody has a website and is willing to host a 3000 word paper, we can post the link here for people to read and (constructively) critisize it.

 

[meme527]

faust, you could get a yahoo! account, put the paper in the yahoo "briefcase", and give us access to it. it might work as long as there area not thousands trying to read it at the same time.

 

[meme527]

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant."

i believe this. at least, this is how it works best in my own brain.

thanks, travolta.

 

[travolta]

your welcome meme

 

[Lena]

Ok, I'm done with my term paper on keeping fashion design copyright free.

damn, i never managed to find that article from PV on impossing copyright on fabrics, excuses faust

 

[faust]

faust, you could get a yahoo! account, put the paper in the yahoo "briefcase", and give us access to it. it might work as long as there area not thousands trying to read it at the same time.

thanks, i'll check it out.

it's ok, Lena, but if you do find, send it my way

 

[travolta]

i couldn't resist -- here are a few more quotes

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."

by you-know-who

 

[screenage]

Good post travolta.

Did anyone watch the programme about the autistic school on channel 4 a couple of days ago.

 

[travolta]

thanks screenage

no i didn't watch, did you ? i was speaking to a friend recently about this discussion, and he was saying how in most non urban, technologically unadvanced societies, or those which follow a tribal system -- non linear thinking is very common. it is very humbling indeed to realize that perhaps the pursuit of knoweledge is very limiting, and that no matter what situation or culture you are born into you all eventually end up at the same place. i live in minnesota, but have lived in london and the east coast, and it is interesting to compare the different places. i find most peope in minnesota have adopted a 'simpler' way of speaking 'earthier' and it may be interpreted as simple and naive in thought. but i realize, the simplier your vocabulary, the more you have to express your thoughts in other ways. i find minnesotans rely a lot on pacing, tone, body language in expressing themselves w/ very little words, and this communication is very effective. i find they also come off as more abstract thinkers, from my own experience w/ more artistically minded folk, but i were to compare my artistic friends out east to those in the midwest, i would say my midwest friends are inherently more abstract thinking. i think this goes back to when you have to create a reality and an outlet out of nothing you will have to turn toward creativity.

 

[travolta]

bump

 

[travolta]

if you are interested in this you should check out bob dylan's memoir: chronicles, vol 1.
he speaks about artistic thinking and how living in the midwest (minnesota) influenced his thoughts

 

[Lena]

i couldn't resist -- here are a few more quotes

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

ok, i certainly dont agree with those three quotes..
but then i certainly agree with the two remaining

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
by you-know-who

oh and i havent got a clue 'by you-know-who' WHO?

 

[travolta]

you - know - who is einstein

i guess, those quotes, as you have probably gathered is from an anarchist point of view, and i hope i never come off as too self righteous ...this is a great exercise in conveying one's thoughts effectively -- man it's hard!!

i really like noam chomsky's view on this, to be a quote wh*re

I was attracted to anarchism as a young teenager, as soon as I began to think about the world beyond a pretty narrow range, and haven't seen much reason to revise those early attitudes since. I think it only makes sense to seek out and identify structures of authority, hierarchy, and domination in every aspect of life, and to challenge them; unless a justification for them can be given, they are illegitimate, and should be dismantled, to increase the scope of human freedom.

That is what I have always understood to be the essence of anarchism: the conviction that the burden of proof has to be placed on authority, and that it should be dismantled if that burden cannot be met.

i really hope that isn't too off topic into politics. but then again, isn't the nature of business (fashion) political?

i feel like in regards to fashion this is important, because we obviously see it as some value, and because culture/ fashion dictates, which is the purpose for this thread, it is important to be able to step back and objectively critique, make connections, etc..

http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/rbr/noamrbr2.html

 

[Lena]

*really believe knowledge is a fountain for imagination
*common sense does not stop developing at eighteen, it would have been too pessimistic and 'stupid' to take this as somekind of a 'rule' i dont agree on a political level..

i believe fashion by its sweet self is political (not just the business part of it)
its what i call 'fashion as a socio-economic phenomenon'
and to be honest, this is what attracts me to fashion and its developement,
it's a never ending 'experiment'

 

[travolta]

i agree w/ the core idea of this quote: "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." i think i dislike the way the words 'common sense' is interpreted as some sort of concrete thing -- as if you either have it or do not. it is an abstract construct, but it can have very, real, negative consequences, because we know nothing of human nature. i agree, it would be really dmub to believe this literally

edit: i think i misread you, ah well ....