I found this to be a stimulating reorientation of traditional assumptions. Your emphasis on gilding as an act of preservation struck me, especially in how it inverts the usual sense of wasteful action "gilding a lily" implies (here I'm thinking of Shakespeare, King John, Act 4, Scene 2; "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw a perfume on the violet... Is wasteful and ridiculous excess"). I am sure that Hamisky is consciously playing with Shakespeare, but I'm curious what your thoughts are concerning the intersection between "preservation" and "waste." In fashion, just as in the art world, does the act of gilding subtract from the natural allure of ephemeral beauty? Does "trapping" a moment somehow diminish its value? Is painting the lily not just a wasteful, but a suppressive act?
I feel like the connotations of gilt in the present political climate cannot be ignored either. As we navigate the present ecocide created by capitalistic consumption, preserving and sustaining feel both political and necessary. Recent calls by billionaires and politicians to return America to a "Gilded Age" seem equally germane: can we reclaim gilt as a veneration of the sacred when its metaphor is conceptually linked with the suppression of the working class? Is it ethical to distract from the suffering and poverty of the proletariat with a thin veneer of gold? Curious to know your thoughts.
I found this to be a stimulating reorientation of traditional assumptions. Your emphasis on gilding as an act of preservation struck me, especially in how it inverts the usual sense of wasteful action "gilding a lily" implies (here I'm thinking of Shakespeare, King John, Act 4, Scene 2; "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw a perfume on the violet... Is wasteful and ridiculous excess"). I am sure that Hamisky is consciously playing with Shakespeare, but I'm curious what your thoughts are concerning the intersection between "preservation" and "waste." In fashion, just as in the art world, does the act of gilding subtract from the natural allure of ephemeral beauty? Does "trapping" a moment somehow diminish its value? Is painting the lily not just a wasteful, but a suppressive act?
I feel like the connotations of gilt in the present political climate cannot be ignored either. As we navigate the present ecocide created by capitalistic consumption, preserving and sustaining feel both political and necessary. Recent calls by billionaires and politicians to return America to a "Gilded Age" seem equally germane: can we reclaim gilt as a veneration of the sacred when its metaphor is conceptually linked with the suppression of the working class? Is it ethical to distract from the suffering and poverty of the proletariat with a thin veneer of gold? Curious to know your thoughts.