Rando Report: Georgian Elections and Tbilisi Fashion, A Great Video from a Rome Label, and More
A Chloë Sevigny Halloween costume, the Tory Burch-meets-Sopranos flats on Poshmark, etc.
The Rando Report are things that I’ve been reading and seeing…
Elections In Georgia and Tbilisi Fashion
This past weekend, The New York Times published a piece about artists in Georgia who are suppressed by the Georgian Dream Party’s policies. In its 12th year, the party has won again in a disputed election. (Major protests are going on as I write this). The party’s culture-stifling bills are similar to Russia’s: as of September, there is a “family values and protection of minors” bill that makes it illegal to promote LGBTQ+ events or lifestyle, which could include pride marches. (Regardless, the marches have always been contentious in Georgia). There is also a “Foreign Influence” bill, which means that “legislation requires nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and media outlets that receive more than 20% of their funding from foreign sources to register as organizations ‘pursuing the interest of a foreign power.’” On the surface, this might sound harmless, and as the argument from the Georgian government goes, the bill means there should be transparency regarding international funding. However, a clause allows The Ministry of Justice to dig into the personal lives of organizers, including sexual orientation and political beliefs.
From 2016-2018, I covered the fashion industry in Tbilisi for Vogue. This was a time when the organizers of the local fashion weeks of the small Caucasus country began to reach out to invite international guests. This was also when Georgian Demna Gvasalia, then the creative director of Vetements and now of Balenciaga, came onto the scene, often pulling post-Soviet references from his childhood. The country quickly became a source of curiosity and a new universe for the fashion world.
From New York, Georgia, which borders the Black Sea, is a world away, typically with a brutal layover in Turkey. From the South, it borders Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in the South, and in the North, it is entirely bordered by Russia. The country also has an ancient history, and its language is unlike anything I’ve ever heard. There is no Slavic or Turkic influence. It was also one of the first countries to adopt Christianity, and the Georgian Orthodox Church has a palpable influence.
The small country, once part of the Soviet Union, has a violent past marked by civil war and annexed territories. (Talk to anyone who grew up there in the ‘90s, and they will say there was no electricity for days due to an energy collapse). And yet, like many countries marked by tragedy, there is a vibrant plexus of design and art. People dance for days at the techno-drenched Bassiani, a Soviet swimming pool, where there are also drag shows. (In 2018, protests erupted after the club was raided by police forces who claimed there were sales of drugs.) A vibrant queer community exists—and at the time of my visit, it felt rich and fun, although I can’t speak to what it has now become. (There was a fabulous gay bar called Success run by local badass Nia Gvatua). And funny enough, like many post-Soviet countries, there were not one but two dueling fashion weeks!
Like almost everywhere with a fashion week, the LGBTQ+ community is inextricable from the local creative scene, and that was evident while I was there. Designers have already felt a crunch due to the government’s policies. As for another term with the same party in power that is tightening its grip even more? I’m interested to see if there will be a massive “brain drain” of remaining designers in Georgia. Something I always remember is that often, out of despair or struggle, there comes great expression, a rediscovering of one’s roots, and then a remixing of those roots. I’ve contacted a few designers on the ground, so let’s see what they say and see what happens.
Note: The user
recently posted her recent chokha purchase and a small piece I wrote on the country's national garment a few years ago. Fun fact: The chokha appeared in Rei Kawakubo’s Comme des Garçons Six magazine in a shoot by Brian Griffin, who traveled to Georgia during the ‘90s.
When I Watch This, I Feel Like I’m in Rome, but I’m Not…
Speaking of Georgia, several years ago, I met the Rome-based designers Luisa Orsini and Antoine “Tine” Peduzzi of TL-180 in Tbilisi. (Luisa is half-Georgian and has connections to the country’s capital.) They churn out incredible body-skimming knitwear, mean slip skirts that cling to every curve, and great leather bags. It’s a true It Girl label but with the romantic, cigarette-huffing, wine-guzzling glaze of Rome.
This past week, they released a video of the actor Jazz Berger grooving and moving in a sun-drenched apartment while ferociously reading a funky script—all in TL clothes. I loved the video! Here, we see a woman in motion—a woman living in clothes. We need to see clothes in movement, bursting with life, especially when it comes to those pieces from TL-180, which are made to hit the pavement—or cobblestone.
I’m over studio shoots. They feel flat. They feel commercial. Instead, I love seeing people out in the world, or at least pretending to be, in whatever they are modeling. On Instagram, I saw an ad for a Zara campaign for pre-worn clothes. The campaign was a series of voyeuristic, bird’s-eye window shots that showed models biking, crossing the street, and walking the dog. City things! The people were moving and functioning in the pieces within a familiar space. Zara or not, this is some semblance of world-building.
Sure, this sort of shoot isn’t reinventing the wheel. It’s fine, if that. Plus, open any mid to late ‘90s Vogue, and you’ll see some Lindbergh or Elgort spread where women walk, hail cabs, or pretend to eat croissants—and those are incredible. (Or look at that great DKNY 1994 book!) And yes, these are Vogue shoots, but I enjoy when brands give the clothes context and construct a universe in an everyday aspirational way.
That Absolutely Insane Phoebe Philo Shoe…
My mother called me to say that my article about the Khaite peep toe was crude and that I needed some online decorum. Well, she hasn’t seen the latest Phoebe Philo shoe that shows extreme toe crack. (This photo was taken from the Telegram channel CopyMe. Where did the user get this? Napishi mne…) This shoe is obscene, it’s rude, it’s flagrantly nasty. Just look at the low-tide vamp! And, of course, I love it. Philo’s perverse Mary Jane is pushing toe freakdom to the limit. Those piggies are unhinged.
If anyone has leads on who is designing footwear over at Camp Philo…let a girl know.
The Best DM I Received…
On Instagram, the user charlottteshelton sent me a photo of herself wearing a full gray look with black leather bag and a pair of red shoes, and then a photo of Chloë Sevigny at The Last Days of Disco premiere in 1998. It turns out Charlotte had bought the red shoes at the last Sale of the Century—and guess what? They were the same shoes that Chloë wore to the actual premiere. Full circle, baby!
People who reach out or stop me on the street to say they bought something at these sales are my favorite part of these projects! It’s wonderful to hear how shoppers truly grind their clothes down and feel connected to their purchases beyond just how the pieces look. There are real-deal experiences behind those threads!
The Second Best DM I Received…
Writer Sasha Mutchnik sent me a photo of her newest purchase: leopard-print pony hair Tory Burch flats with that gargantuan medallion slapped on the toe. What an incredible remixed version of the ubiquitous flat! And I had yet to learn this wild iteration existed. It’s like some Brighton Beach babe put the flat in a blender and added some oomph. Or maybe it got a more-is-more makeover from The Sopranos. Either way, Sasha said she got them on Poshmark for a good price.
Now, it’s no secret that I love these flats. I wear the prim career girl-beloved Tory Burch flat with all of my baggy, low-slung cargos, jeans, and trousers. I have long argued that the Reva or Claire shoe and the Louis Vuitton Neverfull are wardrobe classics—and it is up to us to take them and reinterpret them into our own radical looks.
I need help with:
My body is changing rapidly–more on this later–but I need low-slung baggy pants. I’ve been living in a pair of men’s Levi carpenter jeans, cropped Da-Nang cargos with a bitchy, kicky flare, and my man’s corduroys. Then again, maybe I don’t need anything. Three’s a charm…unless you have some suggestions!
Watch NEVERWORNS here.
Have you tried JNCO
Liana privet!
THESE shoes https://www.phoebephilo.com/en_gb/mary-jane-pump-105-black-polished-leather
image from PP's first campaign, last year
here is head shoes designer in PP - https://www.instagram.com/stephanie.saris/