Contrary to being fickle, fluff, and superficial, fashion is
one of the most important, although under rated art forms of all
time. Beyond requirement to protect us from the elements, and
cover our nakedness, fashion goes a step further, and merges the
practical necessity of every day living, with the higher minded
aesthetic of art for arts sake. Largely Impermanent, reactionary,
and now, fashion is as brave as the ready to wear moving body
that displays it's motif.
There was a time when men wore skirts, even today with kilts, and
masculinity was not questioned. Today, when a man buys a Jean
Paul Gaultier ‘manskirt,’ he is not only
acknowledging fashions historical perspective, he is immediately
making a political statement. When Marlene Dietrich first wore a
suit with pants and tie, she caused an uproar with her lesbian
proclivities.
Fashion can box us in, through the adherence of conformist
stereotypes, or it can breathily liberate us, such as with the
early freedoms of the flappers, beats, mods, greasers, surfers,
hippies, punks, rude boys, riot grrrls, metalheads, glams, goths,
fetishists, and more.
Fashion says out loud, without us having to say a word, who we
are. Or, it can hide us like a chameleon as we bridge
stratas of society from day to night and back again. It is
a form of art that is purely global, that can be shared, that can
be as daring as life itself. It is as important as we want it to
be. And it is ours.
To be a great fashion designer then, is to be an artist of the
purest form. An artist who manifests thought to action, from mind
to body, in the literal sense. It is one who can not only make
you feel great and confident by the clothes he or she designs
that you may wear, but that can influence a generation. Maggie
Barry is one such designer. I had the fortune to catch up with
her, Hollywood’s hottest designer to the stars, after her
sold out show and red carpet party this spring.
Bruce Edwin: You obviously had a lot of rock and
roll in the show, does rock influence you a lot as a
designer?
Maggie Barry: We’re in Hollywood, so I
guess if I were in Paris, I’d be inspired by something in
Paris, but I’m in Hollywood, and I work with music, and
rock, and just growing up, I’d ask my self ‘Why am I
in this business in the first place?’ It was because of all
of my music icons, that made me want to make clothes. I
didn’t think about clothes that real people wore, I thought
about clothes that had memorable moments, so that’s why I
always think in terms of ‘Is it legendary?’
‘Will it make a good picture?’ ‘Will I remember
it forever and not hate it later?’ ‘Does it have
fun?’ And I always approach any thing that way. If I was
going to make a sweater I think that way. So that’s kind of
how we do it, and we’re lucky that we have a grassroots
market that we are free to do what we want.
Bruce Edwin: That’s great.
Maggie Barry: Yeah, it’s very
freeing.