二零零九年香港時尚款式

Andrew Guthrie 與馮偉倫及其他多人的協助下， 已開始了二零零九年香港時尚款式計劃。此計劃將會記錄香港人在二零零九年的時尚風格。由今年七月至十一月，項目將拍攝一百個人的等身全體肖像（立為暫時目標）。項目完成之後，畫像將於畫廊陳列展覽（地址有待宣布）。如果我們已拍了你的寫照，而你並希望拿取一份副本，請以電址郵件方式聯繫我們，寫上你的全名及通信地址，題為 “Photo Request”，寄發到電址郵箱 extraordinarydresscode@yahoo.com。

如果你想為此項目當模特兒，請寫信給我們的電子郵件信箱，寫上你的聯絡資料並附加一張你的小相片，題為 “I Want To Model”，發送到 extraordinarydresscode@yahoo.com。我們力求尋找的模特兒特徵無分差別，徵求特點包括平常或特別，富有或貧窮，年輕的或上了年紀的——我們追求的目標是盡可能密切地描繪香港的人口。

The Hong Kong Style Project 2009, which hopes to take 100 full-length portraits of “Hong Kong People” is not an entirely original idea (but still might fill a need or satisfy a desire), and has been undertaken at different times (in the history of photography) and has taken many forms (from the artistic to the bureaucratic):

American photographer Richard Avedon did a series of portraits while traveling around western USA, “looking for faces he liked”

American photographer Amy Arbus (daughter of the iconic photographer Diane Arbus) worked for The Village Voice in New York City during the 1970s and 80s producing a weekly series called “On The Street”

Japanese photographer Shoichi Aoki began in the 1990s to document wildly dressed teenagers in Harajuku in Tokyo in a series (and magazine) called “Fruits”

In addition, Hong Kong Time Out magazine features a photograph of “street fashion” in each issue. So how will we distinguish our project? It’s all in the subject matter, presenting Hong Kong in all its refined and/or ragged glory, looking for “faces we like”.

links about Hong Kong artist Movana Chen:

video of perfomance/sculpture by Movana Chen outside clothing store Shanghai Tang in Central, Hong Kong

Coincidentally (or fortuitously), in relation to our last post about The Uniform Project, one of our presenters at the City University of Hong Conference (December 8,9,10 2009), Hong Kong artist Movana Chen is currently in an exhibition at the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, in Ansan City, Korea (a short distance from Seoul) titled “Fashion Ethics – Wear Good” which runs from July 23 to October 4, 2009

Here’s something from their press release:

Fashion Ethics - Wear Good will be presenting artworks, costumes, images and installations that either propound ethical messages or follow "ethical" production methods. Participants of 19 teams from 6 countries (UK, France etc.) consisted of fashion designers, architects, installation artists, designers and photographers. Orsola de Castro and Fillippo Ricci uses left over or piece-meal stock fabric; Yun Jin Sun, Hong Sun Young and Chae Soo Kyoung dissemble and reconstruct old clothes donated by various supporters; Movana Chen's installation is composed of paper scraps from document shredders; and Lee Kyoung Jae exhibits dresses made of alternative fiber from eco-friendly materials such as corn or nettle. Of course, some of the works draw their inspirations from the topic of fair trade; Ana Paula Freitas displays bags and dresses made of recycled aluminum can parts produced with third world labor recruited through fair trade, while g:ru, Hong Sung Wan experiments with eco-friendly clothes, also produced by fair trade. Works such as Yoon Mee Jin's architectural costume - a Mobius Strip wrap made of felt - or, Yoon Jung Won's maron doll installation wearing recycled materials reflects in-depth contemplation on the basic action of "wearing clothes" within the context of fashion ethics.

link to The Uniform Project :

Pictured above (click on pic for larger image) is July 22, 23, 24, 25 at The Uniform Project a political fashion project, or fashion project for economic equality, or how to maintain an aesthetic on a low budget project . . .

From their website:

Starting May 2009, I have pledged to wear one dress for one year as an exercise in sustainable fashion. Here’s how it works: There are 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week. Every day I will reinvent the dress with layers, accessories and all kinds of accoutrements, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies. Think of it as wearing a daily uniform with enough creative license to make it look like I just crawled out of the Marquis de Sade's boudoir.

The Uniform Project is also a year-long fundraiser for the Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots movement that is revolutionizing education in India. At the end of the year, all contributions will go toward Akanksha’s School Project to fund uniforms and other educational expenses for children living in Indian slums.