A fashion show for the rest of us. Forget haute couture and the runways of New York or Paris. A person could actually wear these clothes. Real people.
Real people can buy these clothes as well, direct from the designers, at the 46th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show November 11-13. The event, held in-person at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, features an art to wear fashion show, “Real Looks: Simple to Sizzling,” taking place at 1 PM on Saturday the 12th with clothing and accessories created by artists included in this year’s presentation.
If mention of the word “craft” brings to mind old-timey creations from the late 19th century Arts and Crafts Movement – a response to the Industrial Revolution – dark, frumpy garments, heavy, wooden furniture, butter churns, clunky shoes and dusty antique shoppes, think again.
“Within the category of ‘Fiber Wearable,’ clothing and art to wear have evolved to be more sophisticated, tailored and sustainable,” Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show Manager Nancy O’Meara told Forbes.com. “Artists are adding a variety of materials – there is more of a use of found items, repurposing and recycling, i.e. yarn, fabric, glass, clay, etc. and incorporating or remaking into new forms.”
A countermeasure to “fast fashion” which has increasingly come under fire for its labor practices, waste and unsustainability. A 2020 report by Princeton University states that the fashion industry is responsible for more annual carbon emissions than international air travel and maritime shipping combined and consumes one tenth of the world’s water used for industry.
Beginning in the early 2000s, “fast fashion’s” churn and burn strategy of producing increasingly more and cheaper styles, hooking consumers into shopping for clothes like shopping for groceries, proved massively effective and equally disastrous to workers and the environment. “Fast fashion” has resulted in a 400% increase in the global consumption of clothing in just the last 20 years.
“Slow fashion focuses on work made by hand, incorporating a dedicated process, with artistic design and creation, using the highest quality materials,” O’Meara said. “The results are art to wear creations that will stand the test of time as opposed to more mass-produced fashion.”
Fashion by Valerie Mayen. Mayan is participating in this year’s Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft … [+] show in the “Fiber Wearable” category.
Valerie Mayen
Up close with the artists
More than 500 artists from across the United States apply for 195 available spots in the Show. Each submits digital images of their work to a panel of five judges, experts working in fields connected to craft and design.
All artists are on site at the Show during all show hours, presenting their newest work, giving attendees an opportunity to meet the makers, learning more about their backgrounds and methods. Every item on display is for sale and the artists receive 100% of their sale proceeds.
“Each piece is unique and has a story to tell. Understanding the process and passion behind each individual work of art makes a difference,” O’Meara said. “Having the chance to meet and speak with the artists creates a story that gives buyers a bridge from artist to art to utilizing or displaying the crafts in their home.”
Extra face time with artists at this year’s Show can be had via a 30-minute guided tour where three selected artists will share their work and inspiration with guests. While the fashion show is included with each general admission ticket ($20 for a single day adult), the meet-and-greet comes with an additional charge.
A portion of each year’s proceeds is dedicated to the purchase of a craft object for the Museum’s permanent collection. Thanks to guest support, the Craft Show has contributed more than $14 million over a 45-year period to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
