Footnotes on Wearers
Want to dive further into the theme? We’ve gathered a variety of resources on the topic of wearers, from conversations on stilettos to podcasts on the stories behind your vintage finds.
1. If the letter to her stilettos from guest-editor Nessa has got you thinking about the glitter and glamour of high heels, Wearers Festival has something for you: the upcoming virtual event Glitter & Stilettos - The Fashion Legacy of Latin-American Showgirls on Wednesday, 24 November 2021 at 6:00 PM. In conversation with Mexican-Cuban journalist and researcher Arturo Rico, Wearers Festival are going to dig deep into the history and issues around gender, class, immigration, and race.
2. Speaking of shoes: Currently on display at the Fashion Museum Bath is the exhibition Shoephoria! with over 350 pairs of boots and shoes. The exhibition traces the evolution of shoe styles over the last 300 years with samples from Queen Victoria, ballerinas Margot Fonteyn and Alicia Markova or designer shoes by Vivienne Westwood and Manolo Blahnik. On display until 24 April 2022. Part of the wearer’s experience are the unique and memorable boutiques in which we bought a favourite item. The exhibition Beautiful People: The Boutique in 1960s Counterculture explores some of the most iconic and era-defining stores that contributed to the sixties’ culture of changing attitudes and youthful rebellion, including Biba and Mr Fish (most famous for designing David Bowie’s dress for the cover of The Man Who Sold the World). The exhibition is on display until 13 March 2022.
3. If you missed Wearers Festival’s last discussion with V&A’s Senior Fashion Curator Claire Wilcox on her latest memoir Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes and are still yearning to know more, worry not! A recording of the event is now available on YouTube. For those who want to read more on how the clothes we wear shape our lives, Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, and Leanne Shapton’s 2014 collection of stories Women in Clothes features the voices of 642 women – from artists to dog catchers, dancers to farmers, writers to garment workers. Combining survey answers, personal essays, poetry, photography, and illustration, the authors stitch together the wide variety of stories, bodies and the clothes they wear.
4. It is no secret that we love to see what other people wear around the world. The Instagram account watchingnewyork by photographer Johnny Cirillo shares some of the coolest and most iconic creations from the streets of New York. On his YouTube channel, The Unknown Vlogs, Kofi digs a little deeper into the stories behind the garments and shares why and what people are wearing from London to Paris and Brussels.
5. The feeling of finding a unique and perfectly fitted vintage piece is hard to beat. All the more exciting are the stories of how we found them. On the Pre-Loved Podcast with Emily Stochl, her guests chat about all things vintage, personal style, slow fashion and the stories behind their favourite pieces.
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