On Wednesday, the Bata Shoe Museum hosted a lecture by veteran fashion journalist David Livingstone titled, Searching for the Source of Style. I’ve been following Livingstone’s work for years and am always interested in his writing and opinions when covering the fashion industry, its designers, models and business influencers.
Ironically, like many other well-known Canadian fashion writers, Livingstone is from the Maritimes and accidentally fell into fashion journalism after writing his first article on sunglasses. He then became (and still is) fascinated by the notion of “cloth and how the threads of it are connected” together and also the historical roots and research of fashion and design. For him, the opportunity to get into a designer’s showroom and see garments up close is eye opening – this is the intellectual side of the fashion industry.
During the lecture, Livingstone made two points which struck a chord with me. They are: 1) the “imbalance of the historical coverage of fashion” and 2) the rise of the fashion blogger (a question I asked to him during the Q&A portion of the evening).
Historically, menswear has experienced what Livingstone calls a “ghettoization” which means there is a lack of media coverage and representation of men’s fashion, typically submerged by targeted advertising and marketing to and for women. He is tired of the “imbalance” between the genders which makes fashion predominately a female experience versus a “people experience.”
Secondly, Livingstone thinks the rise of fashion bloggers within the industry is exciting and fun – an answer I was happy to hear. To him there is a liveliness to fashion blogging, particularly when the blogger has knowledge of clothing and can differentiate between garments. Fashion blogging is an alternative to traditional print media and as online fashion coverage continues to develop and grow Livingstone says “it’ll be interesting in how things shakedown” within the blogging community in a few years.
Hearing Livingstone express his opinions was educational and insightful motivating me to incorporate more menswear topics in my blog and to further educate myself not just about the aesthetic of fashion but also its historical identity.
N.B.: to read more about this evening and the interesting Q&A portion of Livingstone’s lecture check out Life is Glossy.
Photo taken by Kimberly Lyn
