Slow And Steady Wins The Race

[softgrey]

art or fashion...you decide...

http://www.slowandsteadywinstherace.com/index_all.html


click on each category to see images and read about each edition of slow and steady wins the race...

click on the name for an overview and history...

very interesting conceptual work...very ...

 

[softgrey]

ABOUT SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE

How come experimental ideas only exist in the high-priced avant-gardian realm? How come The Gap and H&M only provide trickle down basics?

Slow and Steady Wins the Race transposes these two different arenas into each other.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race is a new clothing label, presented as a bimonthly clothing diary, cataloguing ideas that are focused on a specific and fundamental characteristic of clothing design.

With each issue Slow and Steady Wins the Race, intends to slowly open the cap on a more democratic dissemination, promotion and appreciation of clothing.

The mission of the label is to push and produce interesting and significant pieces from the simplest and most inexpensive fabrics and materials.

Only one hundred copies of each issue will be printed and distributed to magazines and select stores and only one hundred pieces of each style will produced.

 

[Spacemiu]

oh i lvoe there stuff

 

[TriniFashionPho]

Hey I do that with my sleeves when i'm lazy lol.

conceptual yes but also still functional many of the pieces.

 

[softgrey]

NEW CONTEXT

If one were to take a moment to pause and breath, one would realize the density of information, material and history the world has accumulated and fashion's immense contribution to those realms.

The last fifty years has seen fashion's rapid growth, influence and far-reaching arms wrapping in, out and around culture and society.

And with each passing year, new faces and new ideas pop into existence, which in turn sprout, float and germinate into more categorical stuff. As a result, a decided amount is kept and a more considerable amount is laid to waste.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race is a quiet reaction to this fact.

Its aim is to yield a limited number of fresh pieces in a regulated pace throughout the calendar year. This accelerated pace is a commentary on modern fashion's temporal nature. The costs and quantity of production are purposefully kept low to help promote the idea of a democratic and grass-roots distribution.

Through this visual and social metaphor, Slow and Steady Wins the Race hopes to have its ideas and products reach a wide audience and foster the appreciation and creative progression of clothing design.

 

[softgrey]

i love the bags...

 

[clay]

Very cool! Thanks SG!

 

[softgrey]

you're welcome clay...

 

[cerfas]

I love this stuff.
A great balance of art & fashion. I think the pieces are really successful for what they are, strong concept, but also desirable as objects.

 

[helena]

I really like the bags - I like the idea of playing with a status symbol by making it up in a low status fabric. its sort of like challenging the strength/integrity of the original designs.... I think the balenciaga bag & the birkin are the strongest designs.

thanks for bringing this up softgrey

 

[fab_fifties_fille]

Oh wow, thank you very much for posting that soft!

I absolutely love the stuff, the idea behind the bags especially

The lines between art and fashion in cases like this are definately blurred

 

[shapeofthings]

Slow and Steady is Mary Ping, right?

 

[cerfas]

I thought I saw something connecting her with Slow & Steady once, but ...I was not positive

 

[Spacemiu]

Slow and Steady is Mary Ping, right?

Yes, she designs the line. But it is not the same as her signature line.

 

[travolta]

wow thank you thank you soft! they are my first independent label i am really attracted to. i'm surprised something like this hasn't happened already.

With each issue Slow and Steady Wins the Race, intends to slowly open the cap on a more democratic dissemination, promotion and appreciation of clothing.

The mission of the label is to push and produce interesting and significant pieces from the simplest and most inexpensive fabrics and materials.

this really is very smart. you are right about how "avant garde" innovations are rarely trickled down. i actually do think the GAP is a pretty smart mainstream store, and H & M for that matter in terms of style-excluding innovation. just the other day i saw online a hussein chalayan shirt that had a duel function..and all it took was a snap and voila short sleeve and sleeveless. i wish all of my clothes were so versatile! an item with multiple functions is something i'd definately pay big bucks for! again..this is another reason i love what issey miyake is doing...with things like pleats please.

anyways, i really liked the Pockets...it is one of the strongest ideas. also the Prints, because it highlighted the process and evolution of the garment..although i wish it would have various placements and to me it comes off as a vector sternum-skeleton..too abstract and too limiting. the Bag is cute, and if launched at say urban outfitters i can see it being very novel to people, but it would wear off. the designer underwear was cool just because i would love to own it!

overall, i like the conceptual clairty-the idea of icons in culture/ aesthetics and symbols..and it is feasible to link it to inexpensive fabrics and materials and simple but innovative construction.

 

[Arturo21]

Very interesting, thankyou, softgrey.

These things are beautiful. It's refreshing to see something like this at least every once in a while in the world of fashion.
I admire the project, and the entire aesthetics of the label as a whole.
This is the single piece I liked the most:

Does anyone know how/where these items will be distributed? Or how/where they are made? Fit?

<edit> maybe this answers my first question:

Slow and Steady Wins the Race
331 East 65th St, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10021<

t 212 472 7753
f 212 472 7754

[email protected]



website design: Project Pro

 

[Arturo21]

Another question..how are designers taking this?

The seventh issue of Slow and Steady Wins the Race is about the modern phenomenon of total designer branding and its expansion into underwear. This also marks the special second anniversary of paying tribute to the strong visual identities of fashion labels.

The designers showcased are Calvin Klein, Chanel, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Marin Margiela, Comme des Garçons and Viktor & Rolf. The ‘Classics’ include Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Gucci. The ‘Avant-Garde’ kit includes Martin Margiela, Comme des Garcçons, and Viktor & Rolf. And a special tribute kit is reserved for Calvin Klein, the pioneer of designer underwear.

Positively? Negatively?

So many questions

 

[cerfas]

I wonder what pricing is like --or if these things are still being made? If anyone finds something out, post info here ! :>

 

[Frances]

I think it's very interesting work- great concept.

 

[jennifer~]

Slow and Steady is Mary Ping, right?

From an online boutique, Ooga Booga,

Conceived and produced by fashion designer Mary Ping, Slow and Steady Wins the Race is a limited-edition catalogue of thoughtfully conceptualized ideas that focus on different specific and fundamental characteristics of clothing design.

An alternate bio from the Victoria & Albert Museum shop suggests that she prefers (or preferred, at the time of the brand's conception) to conceal that fact, but the gaps can be filled in easily...

The conceptual clothing line, Slow and Steady Wins the Race, was founded anonymously in 2001 by a designer (b. 1978) [named Mary Ping, who staged her eponymous debut collection simultaneously], aged 23, fresh from university [CSM?]. The company designs according to an anti-consumerist manifesto and aims to create compelling garments from the most inexpensive fabrics and materials. To minimise the waste of the fashion cycle Slow and Steady’s designer severely limits their collection’s production and concentrates on affordable, timeless pieces.

I've discovered her bags recently and I'm very obsessed with the Ultimate, a canvas hybrid of Hermes, Balenciaga, Gucci, and Chanel (maybe more). It's half ugly/half harmonious.

(oogaboogastore.com)