The other day in class I showed my students a documentary called "The Art and Sport of Fashion", which was made somewhere around 1987. Did you see the Brenda Dickson "Welcome to my Home" video circulating the internet about four months ago? This fashion documentary is better (or worse if you are not inclined toward FANTASY and GLAMOR). The costume designer from Dynasty is featured as well as the costume head from Miami Vice. Models catwalk to Huey Lewis and the News. Eurotrash accessory designers preen in their own creations made from preserved turkey feet and scorpions. Sequins and chiffons are everywhere. There was one point in the documentary that every student burst out laughing it was so absurd and over the top. The art vocabulary for the day was Kitsch. I kid you not. Most seemed to have fun with it but there were some (boys) who couldn't deal with "fags or fashion".
Occasionally I feel like both an educator and an entertainer. Their education is not deprived nor is money misspent. Students walk away from my classes thinking about art in new or different ways than before they enrolled. They begin to see art everywhere as I do, which is what I really teach. If I choose to illustrate Kitsch by showing a vulgar, pretentious documentary 21 years old, I do so because it is fun and memorable as well as a valid learning experience. These students of mine believe, as I used to believe, that the forces of style and beauty are not just contemporary and youthful but eternal. After watching this trashy bit of dated fashion who also modeled itself as being contemporary, young and eternal, maybe they will gain a new perspective. As for the students who did not like the documentary they will nevertheless always remember the word kitsch.
This is my goal in any case. I find that I must pick up on as much knowledge as they must in order to successfully complete the course. It is strange and ironic that as I grade their competency, they evaluate mine.
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