September 4, 2013

Vera Wang's Idea: Be Real



Recently an interview with American fashion designer, Vera Wang aired on television. She made an interesting statement about her conception of design and other designers. It was an observation about the reality of matter.
She stated that designers who live in a fantasy world, who live in their heads, who do not make frequent contact with the most immediate moment-- now the present moment, are those who fail to communicate, to address the needs and wants of the consumer. 
Her clients have needs, wishes and dreams of their own and she addresses these things by attentively listening and engaging her design work in that direction. She participates in the 'give and take' of cooperation.

Wang summed up the work of some others by saying, who cares, what is there to care about? What can you contribute to society, to the world through fantasy?
A simply remarkable thought; it pinned down the reason why a film I recently viewed was so singularly bad that of the 15 persons who came to see it, all but 3 left before the film was over. From the point of the spectators, a room full of competent designers and artists, many who appeared in the film made like rubes and ingenues, not underground artists or cultural observers. This, an incredibly accomplished designer, Wang made clear.
This Simple Mind was admittedly the last out the door, leaving the few remaining to chat with its film maker, Yaghoobian.
Yes, it was that bad. Perhaps the host had not pre-viewed the film prior to offering it for a showing?

Died Young Stayed Pretty by aspiring Canadian film maker Eileen Yaghoobian was the film in question. Perhaps Yaghoobian  did not research her topic carefully, had little or no expertise in the subject matter, or gave over the interview process to the persons she interviewed. Those interviewed on camera about being "underground poster artists" did do 98 percent of the talking, and it wasn't all reality based talk either.
Being Canadian it may be that Yaghoobian was overly awed by American southerners who for the first time have a camera and microphone in their face and proceed to vent, or Pacific Northwesterners' regionalism.

But what about the editing process? Yaghoobian reports she spent months at it, and what she was left with is what Vera Wang presciently identified as the lack of reality for a subject that may not matter. This is a film that may be easily overlooked.

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