» HADOUKEN « everything that rises must converge
A few years ago, I judged a book by its cover. Fifty years since losing her battle with lupus at the untimely age of 39, American author Flannery O’Connor was back in the spotlight, showcased in every independent bookstore’s window display. Her most recognized work, Everything That Rises Must Converge, received most of the attention. And how could it not? Penned during the final decade of O’Connor’s brilliant life, the nine short stories that make up Everything That Rises are viewed by most literary critics as her finest work.
O’Connor’s examination of civil rights era race, class, religious and generational convergence in then-newly integrated south is absolutely compelling. Weaving narratives around characters whose hubris is too severe to allow grace and compassion to enter their lives, O’Connor is at the height of her powers when shining a light on the “human element” of the tragically flawed. It goes without saying that nearly every character in Everything That Rises is flawed beyond reproach.
At the time of my purchase I knew next to nothing about O’Connor. And while I have grown to appreciate her work, it’s still the cover that gets me. Every time I look over at my bookshelf my eyes are immediately drawn to it, an arrow piercing a dove, meeting at mirrored, inverse trajectories, seemingly at odds with everything we learned about asymptote theory in pre-calculus. And that beautiful dusty blue water colored background—if you’ve seen it and managed not to succumb to its beauty, well, maybe you just don’t give a shit about book covers, I suppose.
As men’s international fashion month heads into Paris, its most influential quarter, I’ve been thinking a lot about the actual meaning behind this title. Everything that rises must converge: as any two or more properties rise toward greater consciousness—in O’Connor’s case, race, class, religion and culture—said properties shall, at some point, find themselves unified at the summit with those who have made the same ascent. As we have seen from the reports coming out of London, Florence and Milan (as we do each season), there certainly seems to be a group of editors, buyers and tastemakers who have done more than just rise and converge. Hell, it seems like they just crammed into an elevator and made a blood truce on the way up.
I guess what I am saying is, seriously…everyone loved the Prada show? All of a sudden, like that, we are all fans of corduroy? And the ‘70s is no longer a divisive style epoch? Because Miuccia says bell-bottoms are dope that means bell-bottoms are, indeed, dope? I call bullshit.
It is very important to make a distinction between “fashion enlightenment” (as this “convergence theory” supports) and the commoditization of taste (about which I have written in depth times before). With the former, it is sufficient that enlightened folk, by virtue of their collective experiences and aesthetic preferences, may agree on “best in show” honors; however, with the latter, it is necessary. Why? Fear. While editors are afraid of pissing off advertisers and losing hundreds of thousands in advertising revenue buyers are afraid of pissing off vendors and losing credit terms (or worse, losing customer loyalty). As per the tastemakers, or as the dean of Parson likes to call them, sentient bipeds, these are usually the least discerning people in the industry and are perfectly happy cosigning any brand that pays them to wear something “fashionable.”
What a quandary! How can we know what the industry collectively thinks when faced with the moral hazard of commoditization and even bold faced lying?
Fashion exit polling.
I have been saying this for years. The only way we will ever be able to truly get a pulse on what the industry thinks is by conducting anonymous fashion exit polling after each show. Just think, a safe haven for critical thought, a way to communicate peer assessment to designers and merchandisers. Better yet, this can be easily implemented online. Every showroom could provide editors and buyers with a simple questionnaire built to extrapolate information to help with current production and future design.
Getting to the top of the mountain was the hard part. Now that we are all here I think we can agree that having a little chat every once in a while is much better than simultaneously hurling ourselves off the summit only to scale the whole damn thing again each and every season.