The Death of Taste, ICA, London November 23-24 2006, examines the work of making, styling and fashioning taste within the context of increasingly speeded-up fashion trends and the constant plundering of the recent past. It combines academics from the fields of material culture, sociology and fashion history with leading figures of the fashion industry.’
The event is organised by the Alistair O’ Neill and Dr. Joanne Entwistle, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, UK and Prof. Alison Clarke, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria.
For more information see http://www.ica.org.uk
2006-11-13
The picture of what Vivien Westwood is wearing and your comment about the recent past is very interesting to me. The metal thing she is wearing around her neck looks like a wine label, but also like a gorget. The gorget was a piece of armour worn around the neck. Soldiers in early Colonial Sydney (1788-1830) wore these in gold coloured metal as part of their uniform. Things similar to these were given to Aboriginal ‘kings’ and ‘queens’ with their name on, and the name of their tribe. eg: King Billy, Chief of the Sydney tribe, usually when there was almost no one left. They are called here “King Plates” and are now rare museum objects. Its interesting how items of fashion are redolent of history and many meanings.
Annie Bickford
Archaeologist, Sydney.