Category: Uncategorized

A Style is No Means to a [Tr]end

Justin & Ersun Leave a comment

Not only in fashion, but in technology, language, behavior, and design, there is a clear distinction between trends and style. Trends are always changing, but style is timeless. Specifically in fashion, trends change with the seasons. New lines of clothing roll out in advertisements as the trees lose their leaves. As celebrities set new bars and companies put out new lines, trends dictate the decisions of society. Perhaps a ploy of a consumerism, trends keep people spending their time and money on conforming to the latest change. New smart phones slip into our pockets with trivial changes in speed or new aesthetic value to the interface, new shoes slip onto our feet as the laces make minuscule alterations, and new words slip between our lips as Internet and TV icons develop fresh lingo. There are stages to this construct, from ignition to burning out. Initially, influential members of society, be them celebrities or anonymous people we cross paths with, set the trend. They update the ever-changing indicators of what is relevant. These individuals or groups hold an incredible power of suasion, and once they define the new “in”–be it with intention or not–the new line is set for the masses. The second stage in the life-cycle of the trend is acceptance. Once adopted by the general public–or a specific community–the trend becomes commonplace. Those who embrace it are seen as aware, and those who do not are irrelevant. The third stage of the trend is death. Trends typically have a short life, but the process of death may vary in length. Sometimes, trends may perish overnight, but in others, the death may be a slow process of decay. Those who are trendy know when a trend is on the decline and jump ship to avoid the look of ignorance. This is the stigma trends create.

Style deflects this.

Styles is a matter of personal choice. True style can withstand the test of time and conditions, and while it may be influenced by both, it is dependent on neither. Style, be it in any industry–fashion, behavior, or design–is a form of expression and art and something that is eternal. It is an outward display of personality and originality and gives a unique edge over the masses who conform to the current trends. Styles cannot be “out,” and therefore, cannot ruin an image. In a broader sense, it is an immortality and speaks louder and stronger than any trend. While trends are means to an end, style is a sustained source of identity. Developing a style is a practice of developing character and forming something that cannot be destroyed. Although many styles may be created in physical mediums–things that can be lost or destroyed–the spirit behind the idea lives on.

Invest in style, it doesn’t go ‘out.’

Functionality Over Taste

Jeannie Marie Leave a comment

This weekend, I attended a conference with a group called InterVarsity, which took place in enemy territory. That’s right, I went to East Lansing, home of MSU. Besides the fact that I was unable to wear anything from the maize side of my closet and I saw a LOT of green, I noticed a few things about the hotel I stayed in.

Pointed out to me by my (new) friend Mary, art student extraordinaire, the conference center and hotel was beautiful. From the way the sinks were designed, to the calming waterfall welcoming guests into what will hopefully be a home away from home, the layout was appealing, stylish, and modern. I noticed small touches, such as the way the comfortable chairs were placed near large windows, were the sunlight could filter in and provide a pleasant atmosphere when having a chat with friends. I enjoyed the placement of a revolving door, optional next to the regular door yet still an instillation that made the institution feel like a hotel. Yes, as Mary said, the architecture was great.

So that makes it artful, right?

When going to wash my hands, I had no idea where to place the complimentary bar of soap. When I found it could be tucked between the faucet handle and the raised edge of the sink, I felt proud…until it slipped of back into the sink.

Put on, slip off.

Put on, slip off.

The fountain, while gorgeous, spanned two stories. The water fell from the main lobby into the garage floor, into a pool with…what kind of sculpture? Really, what is that supposed to be? Did they actually pay money for that?

And why in the world would I want to look at a bale of hay right before I’m supposed to slip into pleasant dreams filled with friendship, laughter and rainbows? Hay is not particularly calming to me. In fact, I really don’t like hay (too many encounters on Rodeo Day. This is what I get for growing up in Texas).

All of these things culminated into a single question that both my friend Mary and another friend of mine Dean posed: Does art HAVE to have a reason?

In this case, I would solidly argue with yes, since a hotel is primarily functional rather than artful. I’m not sure if I necessarily agree all the time, but every time I’ve encountered art, either in audio or visual form, it’s made a clear statement. Deep? Maybe not. But a clear idea, theme, statement, whatever you have it? Yeah.

So I’m not sure what statement the bale of hay was trying to make. But hopefully, it was making a statement, and I just happened to miss it.

Zhan Wang: “My Personal Universe”

AgnesG Leave a comment
My Personal Universe, Zhan Wang
My Personal Universe, Zhan Wang

If you could have a superpower, what would it be? For me, I always wish to be able to stop time, when all my surroundings would freeze and only I could move. And this wish periodically gets stronger when it is the last minute before my exams or before due dates of my papers. Just kidding. Nonetheless, freezing time is definitely a cool superpower to have. As you can expect, just like my other childhood fantasies, the existence of superpowers also got denied by my science teachers back in primary school as I grew. However, an exhibition that I saw in 2012 by the Chinese sculptor, Zhan Wang, made my wish come true by showing the freezing moment of the explosion of a rock.

The exhibition was called “My Personal Universe” and it was held in Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. When I entered the gallery, I was surprised to find myself surrounded by floating and shimmering rock fragments, which were hung from invisible wires. On the ceiling, the ground, and the four walls in the gallery, there were six large screens showing video-clips of the explosion from six different angles. I felt like entering a space where time stopped; however, the videos continuously played in super-slow-motion on the screens kept me aware of what was happening around me.

According to the artist, by suspending rock fragments throughout the gallery, he was trying to recreate the birth of the universe. The explosion reminds people of the big bang theory. To do this, the artist did record the explosion of a boulder on-site from multiple angles. After that, he brought all the fragments back to his studio and made stainless steel replicas of these fragments. He installed these replicas in the gallery in a way that each fragments moved along its own trajectory, and finally formed this fascinating scene of the explosion.

I was amazed by the idea of recreating the start of the universe, and the beauty of the destruction itself. I felt as if I was experiencing the explosion, and I could imagine the tension between all the rock fragments and me. They were moving toward me. They were about to smash my face. However they stopped before they got too close, leaving me standing in the middle of the rocks adrift in the space and marveling at the beauty of this apocalyptic moment.

Interview with a Southerner: Oak Alley Plantation

Sarah Ogar Leave a comment

For Fall Break I went on an amazing (and delicious) mini-vacation with my mom to help celebrate her fiftieth birthday in New Orleans.  Both of us are huge francophiles and relished every French detail that we took in during our stay.

On the Saturday of our trip we ventured out of the city to Oak Alley Plantation, a gorgeous estate that was built to do exactly what it did to us.  It was built by a man to lure his wife away from the thrills of New Orleans.  The guide said the wife was not impressed though my mom and I could barely keep our mouths closed as we walked wide-eyed through every hall and corridor, including the super famous alley of 28 oaks (all of which are 300 years old, which is roughly middle age in oak years).

Oak Alley was built between 1837-1839, as a typical Greek Revival antebellum-era plantation complete with massive doric columns, high ceilings, and stark white chunky crown molding around the edge of the ceilings.

This picture doesn’t do it justice.  In terms of scale, it is the opposite of the ramshackle homes that are still being revived in New Orleans.  The wrap-around second floor porch alone could fit several one-room homes around it.

We also toured their slave quarters where the names of all the Oak Alley slaves were posted on the wall, along with clothes, cooking utensils, and shackles.

Slave quarters are always unsettling to me, especially in light of the fact that 50 feet away lies an entirely different world.  I always feel guilty walking through these things.  Like I need to apologize to someone or donate some of my things to make a better life for someone.  However, it made me glad that they had taken the time to preserve the details about the lives of the people who built Oak Alley and not just those who enjoyed its delicacies.

After the slave quarters, we toured the house, which was magnificent and beautiful with its interior Greek revival style.

This was my favorite room because of the blue and green that seemed to bring nature inside.  I also loved the heavy, sweeping effect of the drapery around the beds and windows.  After learning about the history of the family, involving sickness, death, and amputations, I saw these rooms as more than paint and fabric.

Our guide that day was an amputee.  She later told us that she lost her right arm from the elbow down in a car accident twelve years ago.  But that wasn’t the first thing I noticed about her.  The first thing I noticed was that she was warm and lovely and seemed completely at ease. She had the brightest smile with a prominent gap in her two front teeth and the blackest hair that was elegantly pulled back into an intricate bun.  And she knew a lot about the family history of Oak Alley.

For one, after the Civil War, the plantation was economically not sustainable.  This did not surprise me at all. The sheer magnitude of the 25 acre plantation and the ‘big house’ as it was called could not be sustained by anything besides free labor.  In 1866 it was sold for $32,800.

The house was not restored until 1922, but when it was, a trust was established so that more renovations and also archeological work could be done.  Air conditioning, electricity, and other ‘modern comforts’ were added without changing any of the aesthetics of the house.

When our tour was done, my mom and I decided that we are glad to be out of the era of slave labor, but were grateful to take part in the preservation of architectural styles and human stories, both those of the plantation owners and the slaves.  If you get a chance to ever go, I highly recommend it!

Opposites Attract

Erika Bell Leave a comment

Everywhere I turn I see myself. Well, not exactly. The popularity of reflection/illusion/kaleidoscope photography has been more prevalent than ever. The symmetry, the identical composition, the  trippy shapes are all interesting factors that play into the attraction that is literally of opposites. Professionally this artistic style of enhancing images has added interest in the photograph. From the aspect of fashion photography and selling garments, this double-view is a cheap way to market clothes more than once.  The image below caught my attention because of the way the center of the image branched off to the left and the right, creating this butterfly-woman rocking a white, lace jumpsuit. I’m a closet fashion photography lover (well not really you can catch me in Barnes and Nobles devouring a Vogue any day), and what I’ve noticed throughout time is the standardized composition and atmosphere coming from fashion photography (not including certain amazing photographers). I believe this resurgence of photo-editing and the illusion photography is a great way for these images to add interest and more sales.

trendland.com

I’ve also come across the everyday use of reflection in photography. The photo-editing applications for smartphones has made it so easy and fun to make reflective images of your personal photographs. In the everyday market, this style of doubling your own images puts you at a different level than other images. From Instagram, to Tumblr, to Pinterest, the sharing of images is all about their popularity. Who has the cooler shot?  Who can get the most likes? This mindset brings people to want to download apps like that of reflection photography, so we have something new and unique to present to the people we know.

Thisiscolossal.com

 

“No Harmonies Just Synonyms”

Alex Winnick Leave a comment

Quick, witty, substantive and modest, Noname Gypsy is perhaps Save Money’s most promising, best-kept secret. Fatimah Warner (who goes by the stage name Noname) came out of the same music scene as Chance, Vic Mensa and Milo & Otis, performing at the same YouMedia workshops. However, and there’s no other way to exactly put this, even amongst such a talented group of friends, Noname is unique. As a female emcee, she is already a rarity in Hip Hop, but her uniqueness stems from more than just that. Noname’s music is teeming with pointed social commentary and satire. What’s more, she uses one of the most extensive vocabularies I’ve ever heard from a rapper, and this diction expresses her sentiment. Pioneering her own blend between singing and rapping, Noname will surely be known in the future for her sharp, borderline nasally tone that delivers such rapid and concise wordplay.

The best way to show her talent is by examining one of her tracks, of which there is only a handful. The song “Sunday Morning” starts off with the pair of lines: “All my raps whisper unintelligence/ Unrelenting irrelevance chiseled in the sediment.” Her ability to use so much assonance and alliteration in such a condensed space is impressive and unmatched by many professional rappers. Noname’s music has meaning, it has purpose and it has drive, and communicates through aesthetically pleasing rhymes. The verse continues with her alacrity for explicit social commentary: “What’s that? A massacre/ A mass appeal to apple stores and raffle scores/ I wonder who gon’ win the lottery/ If Google maps can see my house I wonder who is watchin’ me/ Satellite hypocrisy, like right up the block from me.” In just a few lines, Noname calls out large corporations, the government and the technology generation, and does so with rhythm and flair. She then moves into her most loaded critique: “Right up the doctor fees/ Another brown boy down/ Another mother crying cause another brown boy found/ And all you wanna do is smoke weed and write songs.” Noname, like Chance, exhibits tremendous maturity and skill by using her art form to not only illustrate the problems around her, but also explain how her peers react to them. She finishes this already stellar verse with a final statement: “Bang Bang sound like violins/ Poverty was made to door frame all the violence/ Knock knock and guess who’s not there- The Police/ And guess who don’t care- The people.”

Despite her mastery, Noname is still an amateur. She is yet to come out with a mixtape, and has been soliciting donations on her twitter account so she can have the funds to finish her first project. Her feature verse on Chance The Rapper’s song “Lost” has significantly helped her raise an initial fan base, but she is still very much out of the spotlight. It’s been far too long since we’ve had a prominent, noteworthy female emcee though, and my guess is that Noname will fill that void. If you’re interested in independent, conscience, meaningful music with a simple and pleasant sound, Noname Gypsy is your answer.

Noname’s “Paradise”