Ben Howard; Gracious

Growing up in a society today, where it becomes frequently harder to find uniqueness in anything within a continuously experienced ‘been there, seen that' culture, there are moments in life when you stumble upon something truly magical that represents the ability and power to connect with something.

What i personally love about Ben Howard; particularly in his song 'gracious' is his ability to metaphorically capture the beauty in stillness and isolation filling it with melodic echoes of his pure and individual voice. When i listen to Ben Howard, I’m brought back to memories of a child staring out the car window in the darkened light watching the desolated English country side flicker before my eyes embracing the sheer beauty of untouched nature and solitude, which for me is exactly what Ben Howard's voice and melodies convey; and coincidentally as frequently stated in his online biographies; 'making melodic rusty folk music, with progressively darker lyrics'.

The Beauty Of Sophie Calle

"Green is beautiful. Because every time I like something, I'm told it's green. Grass is green, trees, leaves, nature too... I like to dress in Green" (Extract from 'Blind')

A few weeks ago, while browsing in the Whitechapel book shop, I came across one of Sophie Calle's many fantastic collections of work exhibited in a coffee table book, entitled 'Blind' that she collaborated in 1986. Although I wasn't fortunate enough to see 'Blind' in an exhibition, The publication was enough to completely en-captivate me into trance of sheer beauty and admiration for such an incredible group of inspirational people as well as further admiration for one of the most innovative and interesting photographers of my time; Sophie Calle.

Sophie Calle exhibited 3 different types of people who contracted their condition; people visually impaired from birth, people that lost their sight over a gradual process and people who became blind in a short period of time. The book consists off series of portrait photographs with a narrated description aside each one accompanied with a further picture of what they defined as beautiful.

Their responses to what their take on ‘beauty’ was, consisted of incredibly intricately detailed and touching responses and in addition to Sophie Calle’s powerful photography, it was enough to completely blow me away, and further question my own take on what beauty was.

I am not one to constantly conjure moralistic values from frequent occurrences in life, but Sophie Calle’s exhibition of ‘Blind’, enforced me to further support the well know statement that ‘Beauty’ is stronger ‘within’ rather then things that may appear to be ‘visually beautiful’. I am by no means undermining the existence of visual beauty however ‘Blind’ just distinguishes the fact that beauty can exist in all aspects of life; beyond our conceptions. Beauty is only a perception that can be seen in so many different perspectives.

"I saw my son in a dream. He was 10 years old. He was in pyjamas. He looked at me and smiled. He walked towards me. I thought it was very beautiful." (Extract from 'Blind')

Is fashion a competition or an attempt at an exhibition of originality?

 

While being intrigued, looking for inspiration and influence with the on goings of Fashion week, I started to think about what is considered as 'fashion', and what it takes to successfully become part of the ever growing fashion industry today that has such a huge and influential impact on so many of us.

 My view on the influence of fashion at present is that there seems to be a consistency in the fashion industry of strict limitations that are seemingly enforced in order to achieve a desired outcome. A prime example of this would be the implementation and discussion of what is 'trending' or what is 'in' at that present moment in time.  Now, I say this with caution, as every designer is unique in his or her own way and I am by no means criticising curators of the fashion world, as for so many of them, I have such admiration and respect for, such as Karl Lagerfield, Mark Jacobs, Alexander MQueen ect. However my point is, is that I sometimes see followers of fashion losing their sense of individuality, and seemingly consuming a market followed by somewhat identical characters attempting to conform to what fashion represents at that particular time of year/ season.

Now every garment in its own right, possesses a sense of complete individuality, and what I find; is one of the sole purpose s in taking an interest on the on goings of fashion, is not just the acknowledgement and admiration of beauty,  it is how we as consumers, can find a way to replicate aspects that we have favoured or what has been seen as popular and well received during the course of fashion week.

So the thing I find myself questioning is; are these design concepts an attempt at originality? (As who knows who came up with the original idea to implement it in the first place) Or is it a competition in beauty on who can do it best through original and unique means?

Julia x