D .-husd 2 0 .. AM AM 0 0 Thurday Mach 6S09-Te* chgnDiy 3 Fashioning campus sty le University students incorporate their unique backgrounds into creative clothing designs Rediscovering our roots By Whitney Pow I Senior Arts Editor America has always been nostalgic for Americans. Beneath all the current social, political and cultural ruckus, there seems to always be an ideal- ized America in our past that we constantly try to revisit. We see this urge to reconnect with the past in our need to go to Encore to update collections of already obsolete vinyl records, to dirty our fingers on typewriter ribbons while we tap on manual typewriters, to pine for the. apple pie we return to as a symbol of America as much as a tasty dessert - Don McLean would agree. We can see this American nostal- gia even more intimately through the clothing trends we revisit. There are closets full of styles that have seen the light of day not once but twice. These styles include bleached bell bottoms, headbands and long, flowing hair as well as checkered shoes, skinny ties and cheap plastic Ray-Bans. Today, it seems like the newest fashion trend revisits blue jeans, plaid shirts, cowboy boots, high- top shoes and red, white and blue - Americana chic. The style surfaced in the late '40s and early '50s and, this time around, we are revisit- ing Americana without irony or kitsch; we are honest-to-god try- ing to emulate the feel of that era in our clothing and, of course, in the way we view and try to present ourselves. Why are we attracted to Ameri- cana? The look is rustic and work- ing-class; it's earthy and grounded, playing off the traditional patterns and colors that symbolize an histor- ical, ideal sense of individuality and the preference of labor and utilitari- anism over the more recently popu- lar trend of cultural froth and foam - everyone's 15 minutes of fame had been spent on superficial carica- tures on realitytelevisionshows and drunken paparazzi photographs. Our attraction to Americana might reveal our efforts to connect with the essentials of living with manual labor and the land - things to sustain themselves. This con- nects people more closely with the products they consume (don't eat out - make your own food; don't throw it out - reuse), re-iterating a growing sense of self-awareness and the individual drive to sustain oneself. F A By NORA FELDHUSEN Daily Arts Writer "Your insides are as important as your outsides. Never forget to celebrate what's Beneeth." That's what Nikeisha Nelson writes on the tag of each of her originally designed and created pieces of clothing. Nelson, an Art & Design senior. knows how to spell - Beneeth is the name of her clothing line. On track to graduate this spring, Nelson is already much more than a student. A freelance graphic designer and fash- ionista, she hasa fewgigs in Brooklynstartingin May. Luck- ily for Ann Arbor, she's sticking around until then to finish her degree, put on a fashion show on April 10 and exhibit her work in one of the School of Art & Design's galleries. As a child, Nelson - whose parents are both from Jamai- See NELSON, Page 7B JED MOCH/Daily By TRINA MANNINO Daily Arts Writer Dani Schumaker isn't the average aspiring fashion designer who turns to Vogue or fashion runways for inspi- ration. Instead, the School of Education junior values func- tionality and environmentally friendly practices in her garments. Schumaker's interest in clothes began when she needed a prom dress in high school. "My mom made a dress for me a couple years before," Schumaker said with a chuckle. "She said that she wasn't going to do it again and that I had to do it. It was very '50s and it was bad, but that's where it started." After improving her skills, Schumaker has begun selling her pieces online, in addition to taking custom orders. On See SCHUMAKER, Page 7B And perhaps our movement toward Americana aesthetics has been propelled by our dissatisfac- ashiioning tion with the present. Maybe it's Lm ericana. all a commodified form of our own guilt after having lived in a notably Starbucks- and cubicle-oriented industrial society, where things nt recession has caused us were made for us instead of by us. nk not as a last option, but Our movement back to the roots ver-present one. While an of individual work ethic due to the ng amount of desk jobs in failing economy could be a way for wers are being cut, more us to come to terms with past cul- re people are planting veg- tural trends - an attempt to move gardens and applying for forward, to change and be aware n, lower-tier jobs in order of who we were and who we would like tobe as a society. We hope to embody the values blue jeans and plaid signify by, well, putting them on our bod- ies. We look back to Americana to find ourselves and our identities in this current period; '50s America is something of a role model - a big sister we look up to as an ideal- ized version of ourselves we have yet to grow into, even if that view is grounded more in unconditional admiration than realism. Fashion trends are more than just an aesthetic statement; they are a way for us to commune with past cultures and future trends. They are a way for us to reconsider our values and reflect our changing mentalities in the way we outward- ly appear, manifesting our renewed belief in America in our un-ironic revisiting of blue jeans, cowboy boots and plaid flannel. By MAUREEN SULLIVAN Daily Arts Writer "Consume Information, Gain Knowledge, Find Truth." This is the philosophy of student-run street-wear line STROKE. The mantra reflects style as a mode of confident personal expression. "To keep it simple in life, you have to be able to enter a situation, whether familiar or unfamiliar, learn from that experience, and in turn develop your own ideas to improve yourself or your work," said Business sophomore Michael Sulaka, co-founder of STROKE. "In regards to STROKE, we try to form our own distinct identity and create our own path to success." This identity is heavily influenced by current popular media and trends. Hip hop is the primary source of inspira- tion, and the creative businesses of music and fashion have never been more interwoven than they are now. Kanye West's line of Louis Vuitton shoes, for example, is almost as highly publicized as his album releases. Though music personalities are launching fashion labels more quickly than remixes, Sulaka and his partner, Art & Design sopho- more Justin Finkelman, believe they have tapped into a unique market in the Midwest through their line of culture-conscious PE T-shirts. Rather than imitating musi- cians, the STROKE team pays tribute to the music that inspires themthrough clothes. Their shirts sport bold block lyrics of rap icons like Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z, juxtaposed with funky and col- orful graphic design. Sulaka and Finkelman view hip hop as having Ladies the power to transcend and blur v *conventional labels. "People are looking for some- B Drafts thing different," Sulaka said. "Kids is l4ght who used to wear Abercrombie and Fitch are now wearing fitted hats and graphic tees. We're all h Platters trying to be unique. There's only 4.995100 so much that Polo can say - that's ! IaWt boring." The duo seeks to make STROKE See STROKE, Page 7B the rece to rethi as an e increasi ivory to and mo etable hands-o DIG FASHION? Write for our Fine Arts staff. E-mail battlebots@umich.edu.