The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, September 13, 2007 - 3B The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, September 13, 2007 - 3B Jacobs at Fashion Week: Flop or satire? herbooks have closed on another New York Fashion Week, but as the reviews continue to trickle in, critics only seem con- flicted over the Marc Jacobs show. Jacobs is as inventive as any when it comes to break- ing with tradition - an ele- ment both embraced and highly criticized in the fashion industry - but this year he's left C even long- CAROLINE time admir- HARTMANN ers wondering if he went too far. The show was scheduled to start on Monday at 9 p.m., but an agitated crowd waited for two hours before Jacobs finally took to the runway, an unprec- edented start to any show. The first pieces to march down the white-tiled steps were draping black gowns, covered in tulle or cut high up the leg - eve- ning looks typically reserved for a finale effect. Spectators watched in confusion, sus- pending judgment on the back- ward order while large-scale video screens flashed images of each model in nothing but bra and panties. It became increasingly clear as the show progressed that it lacked any obvious focus or cohesiveness, expect perhaps the familiar tone of irony ever- present in Jacobs's work. The variety of pieces was said to represent the range of people in the designer's life, but this explanation is insufficient to explain the unexpected juxta- position of styles for an indus- try veteran. There were loose, knee-high stockings, sheer and intricate- ly embroidered, worn under a dull and almost formless dress; tufts of colorful strings emerg- ing from flower prints and hemlines falling down to the floor; highly exaggerated clas- sic suiting that felt less Jackie O and more awkwardly heavy, as if overpowering the model; and jersey-like mini dresses with athletic numbers stamped on the front. Accessories like metallic gold, pom-pom adorned booties and whimsical headpieces only further com- plicated the ensembles. Somewhere between the glittery, devil-horn headband and a party hat bizarrely remi- niscent of a Halloween witch's costume, Jacobs lost his audi- ence. It would be easy to say the collection explored popular notions of female sexuality with the constant allusion to undergarments, or that the deconstruction of familiar shapes harks back to pre- feminist ideals. Too easy, in fact, for a designer who rarely offers a spoon-fed message. Then there's the obvious reality that Jacobs might just be having an off year (rehab does take its toll), but certain pieces in the collection suggest otherwise. Extract the retro- kitsch, pastel-heavy looks, and Jacobs's distinctive magazine ads immediately come to mind, ads that have remained popu- lar and provocative for several seasons. Or look closely at the gown Chanel Iman wore down the runway, elegantly draped and beautifully understated, despite the all-over flower appliqu4s. And Jacobs wasn't the only one to emphasize lingerie as an essential part of the outfit - Doo Ri's collection had simi- lar undertones, only far more subtle. Jacobs wasn't alone in recalling the housewife cul- ture of the '40s and turning it glam; Bill Blass's retroadesigns were just executed ins more contemporary style context. Jacobs's presentation isn't completely out of line with this season's prevailing run- way trends, but it's undeniably over-the-top. To be honest, I was disap- pointed when I first saw the photos, but now that the initial shock has subsided, I'm hesi- tant to dismiss it as distaste- ful or irrelevant. Jacobs's Fall 2005 collection was received Giving NY's Fashion Week a run for its money. with far harsher criticism, only to have single-handedly predicted the following year's obsession with the bubble shape. It would be foolhardy to presuppose upcoming trends before the industry has even had time to digest the lat- est round of garments, but my inclination is that Jacobs intended his hipster edge to transcend the literal, stylistic approach and enter more dan- gerous territory. Jacobs's Spring 2008 collec- tion goes beyond his typically overstated irony. The effect is no longer menacing or whimsi- cal; it's just plain silly. What we assume must be an attempt to dictate style is perhaps a not-so-veiled effort to poke fun at the elitism surrounding the fashion industry. Jacobs rejects the conventional - though undoubtedly arbitrary - runway norms in favor of an off-kilter spectacle. Let the pretentious crowd grow frus- trated for hours. Why not flip the show backward and elimi- nate all points of reference? The exaggeratedly plastic faces of the models look like those of toy dolls, bobbing down the runway in costume and their half-naked bodies on film, suggesting a stab at the industry that's playful rather than bitter. Though the point Jacobs makes may come at the expense of a wearable collec- tion, the sacrifice is a worthy one, especially when it drives the very community he's mocking to such impassioned, analytical extremes. "I love that reaction of love or hate," Jacobs once said. "It's indifference that bores me to death." - E-mail Hartmannat carolinh@umich.edu. FROM LEFT'COURTESY OF NO LIMIT, FILE PHOTO, G UNIT, FILE PHOTO Is hip hop morally responsible? Ask these guys. A symptom, not a cause By ANTHONY BABER Daily Arts Writer For any lover of hip hop it's always difficult to watch writ- ers and artists verbally attacked on "The O'Reilly Factor." But you know it's getting bad when the black community starts to turn against the music. For months now political activists like the reverends Jesse Jackson, Sr. and Al Sharpton have been building a movement against hip hop for its graphic, often sexist lyrics, its glo- rification of drugs and the frequen- cy of words like bitch, ho and the n-word. But is theirs a reputable cause to save our souls, or is it just wasted time and effort? Some of the blame goes to Michael Richards and Don Imus, ignorant white men who didn't know where to draw the line. But it doesn't stop there: It's come to the point where hip hop is blamed for any situation where a black per- son has done something wrong. Michael Vick fights dogs; it's hip- hop culture's fault. Teenagers involved in shootings; they got it from rap lyrics. There is basically no separation between messages in the rap scene and the customs we have taken from black culture. Vick wasn't involved in dog fighting because of hip hop; he was taking a sport common to the rural south and making money for him and his friends. Black youths aren't in gangs and shootingsabecause rap music tells them to do it; both have been a component of urban com- munities for decades. These are negative aspects of black culture that needed to be stopped a long time ago. Rappers aren't the only ones calling women bitches and hoes. These words were common speech long before hip hop was mainstream, but no one ever told other people to stop using them. Thus hip hop has become a scapegoat for the problems that have plagued black culture for decades, and if you want to change what's in it, you have to start at the source. It's not as simple as rappers, athletes and pop figures dressing more professionally and young black men squeezing polos and button-ups into their wardrobes. I don't believe this is the fault of rappers, because I see them as nothing more than pawns that fit into the music industry's image of an acceptable black man. They've got money, expensive cars and homes and are easy for kids in urban neighborhoods to relate to. But few of them have stepped on a college campus except to per- form, and when they talk, you hear mostly nonsense - and everyone loves it. "Rap artists have come to me with lyrics about history, politics and the environment, but they do not get a contract," Jesse Jack- son told the Michigan Chronicle. "Unless they go into self-denigra- tion, they can't get a break." For the most part, Jackson is right. And Sharpton pushes the issue even further, calling for the withdrawal of public funds from entertainment companies that "won't clean up their act," as reported by The Washington Post. It's not the rappers who need to change, but the industry and its consumers. As long as a certain subject sells albums, rappers will include it in their rhymes. But while we're waiting for rap to find a new inter- est, let's try and fix the issues in the black community. There are plenty of instances where black women degrade themselves. Kids don't embrace the idea of selling drugs just because a rapper told them about it; many are unedu- cated about real-life issues and need guidance. And odds are a rap song isn't the first place a child has heard "bitch," "ho" or the n-word. Taking it out isn't going to stop people from saying it. Kids can't see R-rated movies under the age of 17 or buy "Grand Theft Auto," so if you can keep these video games and movies away from your &ildren, why can't you stop the music? At least share some insight with your chil- dren about what they might be hearing. Tell them a woman is not an object, that there are plenty of legal ways to make money, that there are offensive words you shouldn't use and that half of the rappers they listento are justlying to make money. If you think kids are adopting rappers as role mod- els, step in and show them another option. The worst part of this is that the political leaders in the black community have other things that should be their focus. Figureheads with . so such media influence should support mentoring pro- grams in urban communities so kids are in class preparing for col- lege and notin the streets pretend- ing to be thugs. In fact, for those who really want to make change, start with Jena, Louisiana, and fight for the six black students who are about to spend up to 20 years of their lives in prison for basically nothing. 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