"YOU'RE SO GOOD...BUT HERE IS NO GOOD ANY MORE.  HERE IS NO GOOD.

IT'S TIME TO GO."

PRADA SS11 BEIJING SHOW /

JAN '11

RECONSTITUTING A BRAND IDENTITY TO ACCOMMODATE THE DEMANDS OF CHANGING CONSUMER MARKETS;  A SHIFT IN GLOBAL ECONOMIC POWER PRODUCING THE RETHINKING (AND REDESIGN) OF CONTEMPORARY EUROCENTRED FASHION SYSTEMS. 

A YEAR AFTER THE SINO-GENERATED CAMPAIGN VISUALS OF SS10, PRADA RETURN TO CHINA TO CEMENT THEIR RETAIL PRESENCE BY RE-STAGING A LOOSE CONSOLIDATION OF THEIR SS11 MENS  & WOMENS READY-T0-WEAR COLLECTIONS, WITH THE ADDITION OF SEVERAL PIECES EXCLUSIVE TO THE BEIJING SHOW.  2010 ALSO SAW THE WELL-DUE BREAKTHROUGH AND INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS OF A SURGE OF ASIAN MODELS, MOST OF WHOM APPEAR IN THE RE-STAGED SHOW, REFLECTING THE CONTINUED COMMITMENT OF THE BRAND TO ADAPT AND TRANSLATE ITS SINGULAR VISION TO THE TRANSFORMING MAKE-UP OF GLOBAL CONSUMER IDENTITY.    

THIS ALSO FOLLOWS A RECORD 31% SURGE IN REVENUE FOR THE PRADA GROUP LAST YEAR, DEFYING THE PESSIMISTIC PROJECTIONS OF ANALYSTS DURING RECESSION  AND THE "WORST ECONOMIC SLUMP IN DECADES" FOR THE LUXURY GOODS SECTOR (HULMES [REUTERS], 2011).  HAVING GIVEN THE ALL-CLEAR FOR AN INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING ON THE HONG-KONG MARKET SET FOR JUNE/JULY THIS YEAR, THE PRADA GROUP WILL BE LISTING APPROXIMATELY 15-20% OF THE GROUP ON THE HONG KONG STOCK EXCHANGE (JUCCA [REUTERS], FEB 2011) - ENTICING A TREND (IN TRUE PRADA FASHION) AMONG INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS TO FLOCK TO HONG KONG RATHER THAN NEW YORK, LONDON OR MILAN TO LIST PUBLIC SHARES (COOKSON [FINANCIAL TIMES], FEB 2011). 

TO CONSIDER:    'INSTITUTION.'

THE BOWERY IN TWO INADEQUATE DESCRIPTIVE SYSTEMS /

MARTHA ROSLER, 1974-5

FACTUM MACNAMARA /

CANDICE BREITZ, 2010

_

MEDITATIONS ON MORTALITY & THE CONVENTIONS OF MASCULINITY, FRAMED WITHIN THE INTERSUBJECTIVITY OF IDENTICAL TWINS.  

BIG THANKS TO SIMON FOR TAKING ME TO THE OPENING AT THE WHITE CUBE LAST YEAR, HELPED GREATLY WITH MY MAJOR PROJECT.

  

"DESPITE ITS ORIGINS IN A RADICAL REFUSAL OF INSTRUMENTAL MEANING, SYMBOLISM APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN ABSORBED BY MASS CULTURE, ENLISTED IN THE SPECTACLE THAT GIVES IMAGINARY FLESH TO  THE ABSTRACT REGIME OF COMMODITY EXCHANGE...THE GOALS OF A CRITICAL THEORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY OUGHT, ULTIMATELY, TO INVOLVE THE PRACTICAL, TO HELP POINT THE WAY TO A RADICAL, REINVENTED CULTURAL PRACTICE.  OTHER MORE POWERFUL CHALLENGES TO THE ORDER OF MONOPOLY CAPITALISM NEED TO BE DISCOVERED AND INVENTED; RESISTANCES THAT UNITE CULTURE AND POLITICS.  SYMBOLIC REVOLTS ARE NOT ENOUGH, NOR IS A PURELY INSTRUMENTAL CONCEPTION OF POLITICS.  THIS...IS AN ATTEMPT TO POSE QUESTIONS THAT I TAKE TO BE ONLY PRELIMINARY, BUT NECESSARY, STEPS IN THAT DIRECTION."

- ALLAN SEKULA, "THE TRAFFIC IN PHOTOGRAPHS" (1981), FROM PHOTOGRAPHY AGAINST THE GRAIN: ESSAYS AND PHOTO WORKS 1973-83

ONE STEP CLOSER TO COMPLETE AUTONOMY.

GOODBYE WORLD!

BTV AW11 /

THE DIVINE AGNES B @ UNION

REGARDING THE ROLE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN REGION AS "THE ENGINE ROOM OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY", AND THE INCREASING CHINESE MILITARY PRESENCE:

"IT'S ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL THAT IT REMAINS STABLE - THAT IT REMAINS GOVERNED BY INTERNATIONAL LAW,"

- MICHÈLE FLOURNOY, U.S. UNDERSECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR POLICY, FEB 2011

/

"[CHINA IS]...THREATENING AMERICA'S GLOBAL ECONOMIC SUPREMACY. THIS CHALLENGES THE WORLD ORDER THAT HAS PREVAILED SINCE THE END OF THE COLD WAR."

- JUSTIN ROWLATT, 'THE CHINESE ARE COMING' EP. 2 (BBC), FEB 2011

/

THIS MONOLITHICITY OF REPRESENTATION IS SYMPTOMATIC OF AN INABILITY OF WESTERN NATIONS TO COMPREHEND AN INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK OF POWER OF WHICH THEY ARE NO LONGER THE CENTRE.  FLEXIBILITY, NOT JUST OF INDUSTRY, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY OF ATTITUDES IS NEEDED.  AN HETEROGENOUS APPROACH TO THE QUESTION OF GLOBAL CHINESE IDENTITY/POWER MIGHT HELP TO OVERHAUL THE STAGNANT, COLD WAR ANXIETIES AND COLONIAL SOUR GRAPES FLAVOURING 'INTERNATIONAL' POLICY.

TOP 5 /

i-D ONLINE

DAVID KOMA x TOPSHOP /

i-D ONLINE

SMALL DEATHS ARE THE SADDEST.