Flexible Thinking
Wearing the same piece but with with a fluid attitude of openness and flexibility can find novelty in new places. The garment itself stays the same, but the rules and roles of wearing it are re-interpreted. Use is intensified; resources are saved; individuality is reclaimed.
Cross-cultural jacket
“I got this [jacket] in Guatemala in the Highland region around Lake
Atitlan. It is typical of a particular village and what the men wear in
that village. And it’s a man’s cos I’m much bigger than any of the
women. Well it was a little bit loud for me at the time and I kept it
for a year before I actually wore it and now I wear it often so I’ve
sort of grown into it’s loudness I guess and I wear it for, like,
warehouse parties in Oakland. It sort of references some of the pin
detail that you have on painted cars and art cars [in the Bay Area]…
they don’t necessarily read it as Guatemalan… It’s sort of a Western
feel to it (sic). So it’s cross cultural in some respects… Back-strap
loom ancient construction in terms of weaving but it’s a modern jacket
in an urban context."
San Francisco - April 2011
Photograph by
Paige Green
