Fashion Research Forum -

There is a certain beauty that I miss, a beauty that has called to me since early this year. This has been a reflective year for many reasons: death, anniversaries, marriage. The more I think about this haunting beauty, the more I yearn for it. It’s there in my memories.

Growing up in the Midwest, I always dreamed of leaving. However, this year, I found myself missing home. For me, home is more of an idea than a place. It’s not somewhere I can return, even if I return to the Midwest. My family moved around a lot. Now, spread thin across distance, and distant in our communication, we are many instead of a singular family. Homes, instead of a home. In the absence, I occupy myself with my palimpsest of memories, an internal video I never finish editing. I observe how beautiful the hard years were. Hardship made them beautiful.

Before I go any further, I must define the beauty that has captivated me- the beauty that I now believe to be supreme. I call it “Baseline Beauty.” You find it in your lowest moments. When you try to imagine the absence of beauty, it is the beauty that persists. When everything hurts, it is the one tiny thing that hurts a little less, and that small relief feels like salvation, if only for a moment. The light of this beauty is so much brighter in contrast. It’s hard to fly away from the light. When you do leave- when you fly far away into the day, you think of how gorgeous that light in the darkness was, even though everything around you is so well-lit. It makes you appreciate the shadows. Baseline beauty is inextricably linked to life. It shows that as long as there is life, there is beauty, as though baseline beauty is of the same force as life. It teaches you to recognize life, truth.

A project for The Archaeology of Media: Film, Fashion, Montage course led by Professors Eugenia Paulicelli and Ulrich Lehmann gave me the opportunity to dwell on these thoughts. It is a creative project- the prompt is to create a film or design concept. I am working on composing a film of pictures- pictures that remind me of difficult times and the baseline beauty that I encountered there. Some pictures are a small part of a larger image- brutal scenes, and I took out the piece where I thought baseline beauty might hide. Other images are whole and ok, but one can rarely see the brutality of a moment by just looking at it. In these images, I imagine great disturbance and, therefore, a great, glowing baseline beauty.

This beauty is counter-culture to fast fashion, consumerism, and often luxury brands because the beauty speaks to an individual, not the masses. It comes with stories. It challenges cultural definitions of beautiful and ugly. While Gen Z fashion often embraces the beauty of the ugly, as do some designer labels, once something becomes trendy and capitalist systems consume it, baseline beauty is no longer a part of it because the light of baseline beauty cannot be controlled, forced, or bought. It is wild. It is the beauty found in truth. Especially when the truth is ugly.

Baseline beauty is found in what society defines as flaws. Today, we are surrounded by surgically perfected beauty and technologically perfected images everywhere we look. This abundance of beauty can disguise baseline beauty. However, appreciating baseline beauty nourishes one’s soul. It reminds one to embrace the parts of themself society calls ugly because humanity is not supposed to be perfect. It is the beauty of old and worn-out clothes, the ones that are out of style, stained, filled with history and memories. I encourage you to stand in awe of the presence of the absence of beauty.

I still have a week to work on this project. I welcome any feedback and all discussions. Thank you for reading!

Check out the montage!

As New York prepared to kick off fashion week, students in Archaeology of Media: Film, Fashion, Montage, a combined Graduate Center and Parsons course, visited Parsons’ Textiles Studio. Professor Preethi Gopinath guided our class through the open studio, which has a comfortable atmosphere with natural light and tables covered in colorful projects. “September is Textile Month in New York,” she informed us. Our visit came at an ideal time.

At one end of the studio, students busily worked on projects. “They are working on masks to introduce themselves,” Professor Gopinath explained. “The fabric, not the student, will do the talking.” As our class looked over the shoulders of concentrating students, we understood what she meant. Through the shaping and combining of materials, stories emerged.

The further we went inside the spacious studio, the more we understood that textiles can tell us not only a singular human’s story but also the story of humanity. “Textiles are a throughline of humanity,” Prof Gopinath told us. She explained that by examining thread and understanding how it was made, one gains significant insight into a culture, technology, and beliefs. For example, questions such as: What materials did they use? Where were they sourced? What colors and how did they dye it? And what was the scale? Tell us stories spanning the history of humanity. Furthermore, as the fashion industry becomes less and less sustainable, these stories and traditions are at risk of disappearance. That is one of many reasons why Textile Month is so important- to remember, celebrate, and reconnect.

Professor Gopinath guided us to a section of the room filled with looms. Some were small, others massive. Here, she gave a weaving demonstration peppered with history lessons and anecdotes from recent students. She described weaving as meditative. “Listen to the fabric and respond in the moment,” she repeated advice given to her students. “This is not about perfection,” was another piece of advice she told her students and reminded us. “Perfection is boring and leaves no room for learning.” We’re at school to learn after all.

Learning about thread can impact one’s life and society. We toured the studio, and then Prof Gopinath gave us a presentation on the moving textiles her students produced. Afterward, our class reconvened in a Parsons classroom to discuss. Professors Eugenia Paulicelli and Ulrich Lehmann observed a spirituality connected to weaving. A thread tells the story of generations and centuries; it connects to protect and attaches us to our heritage and one another. Adjacent to this spirituality is Professor Gopinath’s motivation for teaching. She worked in the fashion industry for a long time, she told us. She witnessed the waste and came to Parsons to make a difference. Her goal is to teach students to think of textiles in a fresh way. She encourages students to connect to their heritage, and she teaches sustainability. This education will impact the fashion industry or wherever students may go after leaving the classroom.

Professor Gopinath left the class with the message: “If you think sustainability, you will make an impact.” It is easy to get caught up in the largeness of what we need to do to prevent climate change and save the planet. But it begins simply, with thread, with a thought. To begin thinking about textiles and the planet in a fresh and sustainable way, join in the celebration of Textile Month. There are many exhibits and events which are open to the public, such as Threads of Connection: Textile Dialogues in a Changing World — New York Textile Month Additionally, a calendar of all events can be found at New York Textile Month. As New York celebrates fashion this week and month, let’s not just appreciate appearances; let’s think about textiles differently.

The Absence of Beauty: Class Project 1

A Visit to Parsons Textiles Studio with Professor Gopinath