"A complete Gump moment"
Backstage, Rei Kawakubo awaits the people who will come to congratulate her, and to seek an explanation. The founder of Comme des Garçons hardly ever goes out on the runway. She is a tiny woman, a force of will.
An editor asks in earnest about shape, silhouette.
Ms. Kawakubo mumbles something in Japanese, which her husband, Adrian Joffe, next to her, translates:
'She says she couldn’t think of anything new, so she decided not to make any clothes.'
It was a complete Gump moment, as when the Tom Hanks character decided to stop running and return home to Alabama, leaving his followers stranded in the middle of nowhere. What did it mean? It meant absolutely nothing."
Once again, Cathy Horyn's writing in the New York Times Style section is by far the best reason to pay attention to fashion news. I wish she'd do more of her individual profiles.
Also, between Comme des Garçons bascially punking everyone and Rick Owens' decision to showcase his Spring 2014 designs on several gorgeous step teams (instead of on a fleet of emaciated teenaged models, which is unfortunately the norm), it sounds like this might have been the best Paris Fashion Week of all time.
The case for being critical
"Acid wants the gleam, and the rust says it's only being corrosive."
This is from a translation quoted by Jonathan Franzen in his recent piece for the Guardian in which he explains his skepticism about social media and other relatively new technologies. You really ought to read the whole thing. I already knew Franzen was a good writer, and I am now keen to check out Kraus' work too.
Oh, and the actual quote in its native form appears to be: "Die Säure will den Glanz, und der Rost sagt, sie sei nur zersetzend."
The cleverness of others
"The true spirit of conversation consists more in bringing out the cleverness of others than in showing a great deal of it yourself; he who goes away pleased with himself and his own wit is also greatly pleased with you."
-Jean de La Bruyère's "The Caractères"
I really liked this quotation, which I discovered this week via a post on Joanna Goddard's quite popular blog. I haven't read anything by La Bruyère before, but in searching for the source of this particular excerpt I found that you can read the entirety of the book in which it appears for free on Google Books.
So! I might have even more fancy French philosophical gems on hand soon.
That luminous part of you
"Do all the other things, the ambitious things – travel, get rich, get
famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, swim naked
in wild jungle rivers (after first having it tested for monkey poop) –
but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.
Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid
the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.
That luminous
part of you that exists beyond personality – your soul, if you will – is
as bright and shining as any that has ever been. Bright as
Shakespeare's, bright as Gandhi's, bright as Mother Theresa's. Clear
away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous
place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its
fruits tirelessly."
-- From George Saunders' pitch-perfect commencement speech to Syracuse University's class of 2013.
