refashion

"I like the more interesting, kinda crazy stuff". This is Cindy Hulej speaking about her special approach in building and embellishing guitars. She decorates them in many ways, from which one is to use a woodburner. Often she ends up having the bodies fully decked out with the most wonderful detailed drawings, showing portraits of e.g. the Beatles or cathedrals. She learned to built from Rick Kelly, owner of the legendary shop "Carmine Street Guitars" in New York ́s famous Greenwhich Village. A place that feels like old New York as many do agree upon. Old means true creative vibes remained here, but yet fresh as I want to add, to not forget about the relentless dedication and constant transformation you can meet when entering the heart of the store, the workshop, where Cindy and Rick are to meet most likely. Cindy became a luthier eight years ago: She walked into the store wanting to learn from Rick and none other. From the beginning on she learned exactly the way Rick built, but did it under her own brand "Cindy guitars". Synesthetes will definitely agree with me that even before a Cindy guitar is played it screams: Rock ́n`Roll! We talked about her very early discovery of punk, about working in an art friendly restaurant, about costumizing a guitar for a Jim Jarmusch movie and the "mystery of the molecules" which goes into all of what Cindy and Rick are doing and which has to do with the special energy of the wood they use plus the history of the shop...

When Giana Pilar Gonzaléz, coming from a background in architecture, learned to program in the early 2000s, she was surprised to realize: techies share their codes to teach other programmers! This open source culture, the newly gained tech skills and her passion for fashion she not much later combined to create the workshop "Hacking Couture". Within Hacking Couture Giana unravels the codes of well known fashion brands - e.g. their patterns, their motifs - using mapping diagrams to make them visual sources for inspiration. This unfolded DNA serves participants to create their own version of the brand, let ́s say even more: Remix Fashion! Hacking Couture is one of the most innovative and complex fashion workshops I know, and at the same time approachable for everyone. This talk deeper dives into 14 years of Hacking Couture, into Giana ́s love for working in hybrids and into the early days of her fashion consciousness, in Panama, as a child.

Under given circumstance (namely the pandemic) I got time to further edit my New York talks. It ́s the best way for me right now reaching states of concentration, which I love. Now I would like to share my encounter with Elena Kanagy-Loux. I was first intrigued by her style, when I was waiting for the talk she was about to give and then captured by her expertise on lace. I could listen to Elena for hours - love her elastic mind and learned a lot from her historical and technical knowledge about lace but also from her perspectives on this valuable and complex handcraft. Moreover Elena has many anecdotes to share and therefore I remember the talk exceptionally well. We touched upon Disneyland and History Bounding, Lolita look in Japan, the best place for hippies in the US, working for Courtney Love, the „shiny moment" of landing on a worst dress list, and for sure a lot about lace. Elena is the founder of the "Brooklyn Lace Guild" in New York City.

Otto von Busch is full time faculty at Integrated Design, School of Design Strategies and point person for the minor in Alternative Fashion Strategies at "Parsons The New School in New York City". I got to know Otto first through reading "The Fashion Condition". It is written by "The Fashion Praxis Collective" of which he is a part. Otto wrote countless texts and books around fashion using different lenses to deep dive into fashions many powerful relations. The majority of his texts can be open sourced on his website, which I highly recommend to do. Otto enthusiasticelly spreads ideas on how to engange in your own clothing in many creative ways and with the same passion he promotes other people ́s approaches. As with the most interviews I did so far, Otto didn ́t know what the topics of our talk would be, and I am likewise open to go on a ride - daring to move into the yet unknown is something I am commited to establish in my dialogues.

Mikaila Brown created her own businessmodel combining her PhD in anthroplogy and her love for fashion: Mikaila Brown is a fashion anthroplogist. In other words, in my words: For Mikailas work with fashion "why" comes before "wow". She is also the creator of "Sidewalk Safaris", a city tour which she describes intriguingly: "We are going to disco deep dive into Harlem, using fashion as ur lense." This walk is to get to know Harlem as the starting point of black fashion in America as much as today`s Harlem and the importance of community in keeping small and diverse businesses. When I met Michala, she was in the middle of launching similar tours in Atlanta and LA. By the end of next year she wants to have them in ten american cities. This talk is recorded in a café in Harlem. We are sitting outside, next to a busy street. It ́s the last stop of our preceding "Sidewalk Safari" and we still are surprisingly energized. Mikailas power is contagius! I decided to publish this conversation, even if the background sounds try to overtake. Meeting Mikaila was an encounter I will never forget, but listen to her nuanced and vibrant speech yourself!