For those of you who are not jewish or just don't know when Channukah is, it started last night. Channukah is a Jewish holiday that usually occurs in December and some consider the "jewish version of Christmas." Channukah is all about the past. It celebrates when the Jews fought the greeks with their army, the Maccabees. The battle was long, hard fought and bloody, but in the end the underdog jews overpowered their grecian enemies. However, their beautiful temple was destroyed in an act of sacrilege and there was no way to keep the menorah (a holy candle holder) burning as they had enough oil for just one day, and it would take eight days to get more oil and return to the site of the damaged temple. The miracle of Channukah was that the oil ended up lasting for the whole eight days it took to replenish their supply. We celebrate this miracle today by lighting one candle progressively each night for eight nights. We also eat the oil soaked soifganot or jelly donuts and latkes, or potato pancakes. We play dreidl, eat gelt (chocolate coins) and children receive presents from their elders. Channukah, and Judaism really is all about the past. But it is the idea of an uninhibited future full of possibilities which makes life great. The Maccabees had to look to the future and pray that their oil would last, and when it did, they knew they has endless possibilities for rebuilding the temple. Envisioning these possibilities is what artists and builders do, they take the past and look to the future. For Channukah, I received a book call 50 Contemporary Fashion Designers You Should Know, by Doria Santlofer from my mom. This book encompasses this belief and is extremely interesting and informative.
Couture is fashion that is the epitome of luxury and exaggeration, couture also is all about the past. Legendary design houses such as Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultiern and Christian Dior comply to the severe demands that a couture design house must have. THese include:
- Design made-to-order for private clients, with one or more fittings.
- Have a workshop (atelier) in Paris that employs at least fifteen people full-time.
- Must have twenty full-time technical people in at least one atelier (workshop).
- Each season (i.e., twice a year), present a collection to the Paris press, comprising at least thirty-five runs/exits with outfits for both daytime wear and evening wear.
Couture has a rich history but modern couture-esque designers such as Mary Katrantzou and Giles Deacon have been able to take that luxe, attention to detail and personalization that is what makes couture couture and use it to make more modern pieces that incorporate bold gowns and sensouse fabrics but also use quirky shapes and details such as buttons or emblems to make the piece theirs. Katrantzou in particular is famous for using vintage inspired prints of scenes such as gardens or type writers and combining them with exaggerated bubble skirts or floor length gowns to combine the delicate and precise past with what she envisions for the future. Some people critique this idea saying couture is all about tradition and following specific rules and guidelines. However, I do not agree. I believe that if couture stayed exactly as it was in the 1950s it would slowly die out and no one would be interested. It is a challenge to find new ways to do couture and I feel that the only way is to move forward in design.
