Free for All

Photo Courtesy of The New Yorker

You’ve no doubt heard the Supreme Court ruling that came yesterday, legalizing gay marriage in all 50 States. That’s not the only court decision this week that’s taken one small step for [gay] man, and one giant leap for mankind.

On Thursday, a jury in New Jersey found a group that offers gay conversion therapy guilty of consumer fraud. Based on claims that homosexuality is the result of repressed childhood abuse, the practice has been dismissed by medical groups, and deemed illegal for licensed professionals to carry out in the Garden State. The religious group being charged falsified the procedure’s rate of success, citing only anecdotal evidence and no real statistics. Attorney to the plaintiffs, David Dinielli, said, “This is a momentous event in the history of LGBT rights…the same lies that motivate gay conversion therapy motivate homophobia — that gay people are broken and need to be fixed.” Indeed this is a historic moment in the fight to end homophobic discrimination. However, I would venture to say this is a momentous event in the history of individuality.

Photo Courtesy of Lynley Stace

In an article for The Cut titled, “Marriage Equality is a Win for Single People Too,” Rebecca Traister makes the point that in gaining access to the institution of marriage, the LGBTQ community is, “busting up the institution’s monopoly on adult life.” Citing statements written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, following the ruling, Traister argues that in acknowledging the right of gay Americans to partake in one of time’s oldest traditions, Kennedy shifts his disdain to a different group, making a pariah of single individuals. Kennedy writes, “[Marriage] embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family,” and goes on to say that gay Americans should not be “condemned to live in loneliness.” However, the implication here is that in some way the lives of those who don’t, or can’t, marry are unfulfilled, despite evidence that they live, work, and love just as devoutly.

Photo Courtesy of The Guardian

Whereas before yesterday, it was homosexuals who were barred from the federal benefits of marriage, the “ever-expanding population of independent adults,” may be the new face of marriage inequality. Bella DePaulo, an advocate for singles, cautions, “All those people who are single – whether gay or straight or any other status – will still remain second class citizens,” in reference to “tax breaks and legal dispensations and next-of-kin rights enjoyed by their married peers.” Traister goes on to admonish what marriage has traditionally stood for: “That hold was especially punishing for women, who needed marriage for economic stability, social standing, a sanctioned sex and reproductive life and who also saw their rights, opportunities and identities diminished within it.” In the advent of same-sex marriage, she claims, “The freedom to marry someone of the same sex is the freedom to not have to marry someone of the opposite sex.”

The long oppressed LGBTQ community have made tremendous leaps and bounds towards acceptance, especially as of late. I predict that their continued efforts towards ending prejudice will prove them to be not just crusaders for themselves, but for minorities, women, and any individual that defects what has been deemed “normal” in our society.

Tropical Utilitarian

Photo Courtesy of Fashion School Daily

Karina Garcia’s troops seized the runway as they stormed the beaches of the Academy of Art University’s 2015 graduation fashion show. Garcia presented a collection inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe, Pearl Harbor, and World War II uniforms, that featured the textile designs of Mariana Pazos. Garcia, herself, is no stranger to textiles (or the spring show). Her prints were selected in 2009 to accompany a graduate collection.

Though Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor, and the historic event which took place there, served as a partial muse for the collection, the darkly ironic presence of Japanese themes is undeniable. Yin Yang is alive and well when it comes to the color scheme which is comprised of complementary combinations, red-violet/yellow-green and blue-violet/yellow-orange. Garcia discusses duality when speaking of the color combinations, “…they are placed in order to project two faces in the garments. All front faces of the garments are printed with a hint of navy [in the front and on the back]… the hint of color makes this collection half dark and half printed.” Lightweight navy wool is used as trim, specifically along seam lines to further accentuate silhouette. Though its appearance is stark, it creates a fluid transition from print to print, especially those in the same color way. There are 12 colorways across three textile designs that carry on this fluidity in a transition from bright to dark.

The leafy prints work like camouflage against a Hawaiian terrain. Styled with sun visors and glasses, making the look all the more incognito. Yet their neon vibrancy, like an explosion, focuses your attention. The military influence is more prominent in the garment details. Sleeveless jackets, layered, mid-calf hem lengths, and oversized pocket bags (reminiscent of canteens) nod at pragmatic uniform design. The lapel, missing in the traditional sense, is represented here as cutouts, or outlined by trim, in the shoulders of several designs, and the drop-waist of another. Shoulder details continue to convey the warrior theme as they are exaggerated to appear like the model is wearing armor.

Garcia’s collection displays a master’s understanding of editing and variety that is so often missing from student collections.