(Still from The Hurt Locker, 2009 - Image from allmoviephoto.com)
In a society that is obsessed with style, superficial judgement is the name of the critiquing game. Style is defined as the newest and the most inventive, the most shocking and statement-making, usually reserved for the "it" moment girl or outlandish celebrity. "All this leads to the narrower type of intellectual individuation . . . the strangest eccentricities, to specifically metropolitan extravangances of self-distanciation . . . in its being a form of 'being different' -- of making oneself noticeable" (George Simmel, Individuality and Social Structure, 1971). The media has diluted style down to its ability to draw attention. We have forgotten that style is not just mere removable and interchangeable facades. It is an expression and admission of a statement; it is a mission to say who we are upon first glance -- instantaneous personality.
Fashion trends are nothing more than a grouping of such style missions by designers, some more poignant than others. The military trend that has been so prevalent throughout designer collections for the past couple of years was originally aimed at addressing our reflective support of justice. This feeling eventually turned into our eventual disgust and angst. The blasé attitude that we have recently felt in the pangs of our economic downturn is slowly disseminating, as confidence in a new age is rising. We no longer wear the face of righteous revenge, we wear the strength of man's perserverance. Designers have reflected this societal shift, from the post 9/11 collections of Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein to the now clean and minimal evolutions of Phoebe Philo's Celine and of Reed Krakoff, who both tip a hat to strength in menswear references.
(Images from style.com and NY Magazine)
M. I. A.'s true genius lies in her ability to transform the music video genre, stylistically combining cinema and emotive soundtrack. The video creates a hyper reality of grainy documentation, and the music only plays to it. It is as if M. I. A. places an emphasis on her message and storyline over her own medium of music. This cross-over categorizes modern artistic expression where photographers are becoming filmmakers and musicians are becoming directors. M. I. A. answers: "With a nose to the ground, I found my sound."
How then do we explain the context of the video below? In my mind, it is completely out-of-sync with the world we are living in today (and more importantly the world where designers are influenced) because it has no style. Its only message echoes irrelevant, past glamour; nineties raw sex was forgotten years ago. Designers have progressed. Can the rest of us evolve already?
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