Politics, War and Guerilla tactics in fashion ...

Politics, War and Guerilla tactics in fashion ...

After researching all of the names on the list, I was really interested to explore and combine the idea of sub culture as well as people who have influenced movements. After becoming fascinated by the new project Militaria, it occurred to me that there was a new emerging sub culture, one which is influenced by the media and politics surrounding us. At a very uncertain time in our history, the concepts of war and economic crisis are bound to affect the work of established designers and artists, as well as up and coming ones like ourselves. I found and researched designers, a makeup artist, a photographer and an icon of this time, all influenced by these fashions. I found Hussain Chalayan, Aitor Throup, Alex Box, Walter Hugo, Vogue and Sienna Miller all displayed fashions influenced by paranoia, militaria, concealment of identity, imposing boundaries and all of which are politically charged. Throughout Britain’s recent history, it is hard to escape from our generation being affected by growing up with the knowledge of these happenings and seeing scenes on the news from 9/11, Afghanistan and, more recently, from Libya. Therefore, from a young age, we have been aware of an element of paranoia, and the presence of military in other countries and our own. Aitor Throups graduate collection from the Royal College of Art in 2006 was entitled ‘When football hooligans become Hindu gods’, had a strong narrative thread running through it and a diverse selection of influences from generic military garments to Hindu symbolism, which were contrasting as notions of religion often fuel war.

Hussain Chalayan, who was born in Turkey in 1970, uses both his experiences of growing up there and living in London to create a controversial collection, which included taking inspiration from Burkhas, exposing intimate parts of the body and concealing the face in a collection which challenged religion and the politics which surround it. After looking at Chalayan, I naturally wanted to research a makeup artist who explores concealing the face, as well as how contrast also exposes and draws attention to it. Alex Box is a renowned makeup artist, and I chose this picture as I believe it is very poignant as the blackened eyes mask and expose certain parts of the face, almost depicting a balaclava or war paint. Vogues March 2010 militaria issue again reinforces the idea of military intruding into fashion as well as everyday lives, showing lines from Chloe and Gucci glamorising a controversial topic, almost showing acknowledgement and support.

With celebrities such as Sienna Miller photographed wearing a military inspired shirt, photographed next to two soldiers, shows the true affect that I believe now to be an idea sparked by movements in war, religion and politics, which has been translated and explored within designers and artists work. Our exposure to a piece of work and how we as spectators are affected and influenced are important factors in Walter Hugos photography, which is exposed onto pavements and glass. This is a for of guerrilla art, presenting politically charged pieces to and audience who wouldn’t otherwise see them, in essence, a form of street art. This idea of pushing boundaries and making people think about politics through art in a guerrilla fashion is controversial, but truly depicts Britains uncertain future, and how each of these artists and designers reflect and translate this within their work.