Call for Collages- Clothing is the theme for Issue 6!

Clothing is something we encounter everyday. It can allow us to make statements (personal or even political), sometimes we us it to differentiate ourselves from others, while other times it aligns us and allows for group identification. The way clothes are made and who makes them, how and with what materials are also related issues that this theme allows one to explore. Maybe one of your parents sewed clothes you have worn or maybe you sew your own. Anything in this broad-ranging theme of clothing allows you to explore these and even other issues and ideas.
To parallel my own thoughts and investigations into clothing the next (the 6th!) issue of la colle, the collage zine, will be devoted to clothing. This year I am trying to sew any new clothes or purchase them from companies with fair trade policies after reading about the GAP’s use of slave labor to make skirts this past fall. Maybe you’ll just make a collage, but maybe this theme will bring to your attention larger themes related to clothing.

Does fashion factor into this theme? It can if you want. As Radu Stern has written in the fabulous book Against Fashion: Clothing as Art, 1850-1930, "...fashion appears to be not just a consequence of capitalism, but one of the factors that contributed to its rise." (some additional excerpts from the fantastic book are posted here)

Here are some related links and books related to this theme that I’ve come across lately that might offer some inspiration:
Andrea Zittel’s Smock Shop http://www.smockshop.org/
Lisa Anne Auerbach http://www.stealthissweater.com/
Jean Shin, Projects 81 http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2002/projects/projects81/81_current.html
Cat Chow http://www.cat-chow.com/
Garment/research http://www.garmentresearch.org/wpress/
The Object of Labor Art, Cloth, and Cultural Production Edited by Joan Livingstone and John Ploof

When preparing your submission keep in mind that the zine is photocopied in black and white on legal paper. While there is room for one center-fold (or I guess two if you think about the cover) 8 ½ x 14 other collages will be reproduced on 8 ½ x 7 spaces.This issue will come out sometime this winter, so submit you clothing collages by December 1, 2008. You can send your collage (a hi-res, 300 dpi image) to my yahoo address juliejeanus or if you prefer to mail it, e-mail me and I’ll send you my mailing address.

Also feel free to pass along any clothing-related songs, books, exhibitions, websites or exhibition reviews you’ve written along. If you submit a collage you will receive a free issue of la colle in exchange for your contribution.