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The highly anticipated return of Project Runway,
featuring designer Ari Fish, Thursdays,
at 10pm ET/PT, on Lifetime Television.
Photo Credit: Mike Yarish/Lifetime Networks, 2009
Ari Fish scares me. Not in a weird or bad way, mind you. I have just never met anyone in the art biz that is so completely sure of themselves as Ms. Fish is, and that is....arresting. Sadly for me, she is in Berlin now, and Lifetime was not able to facilitate a phone call as they have with the other seven designers I have had the pleasure to interview (see links at the bottom of the page). My interview with Ms. Fish had to be by email—yet one more step away from the best type of interview: face to face.
Over the phone, I can at least hear a voice. I can hear what’s being said, what isn’t being said, and how it’s said. These are all important clues for me to be able to tease out the essence of the designer, and transmit what I think she is trying to say—not only what she’s trying to say with her work, but also what she has at her core. Mind you, this is done in about 20 minutes (more for Malvin), so it isn’t anything but my own personal impressions. For example: Gordana has a real desire to help and give back, and Malvin, well, he’s just amazing to talk to. I can’t even reduce that interview to a couple of buzz-words. Althea, she’s a bright young star bursting with life. All these things I try to inject into my stories, so you get a better, more 3-dimensional portrait of the designers. It’s better, in person, where body language can be observed, and it's nigh impossible by way of text.
So, here I am, trying to formulate questions, with the handicap of not being able to hear how it’s answered. Yes, I can ask follow-up questions, but that has to be in a separate email. Ari is too much for a few email questions. I really had no idea that this was the case until I did my research.
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Erika Macke models her designer Ari Fish's red carpet look
in the premiere episode of Project Runway, Season 6 on
Lifetime Television. Photo Credit Mike Yarish/Lifetime Television
On Project Runway, Ari was cast as the odd one. Her design in the Red Carpet Challenge was really out there, but if you look closely at the critique, you see that Nina Garcia cut her off in the middle of her explanation. She was dismissed. I can see where there may be times where one might get dismissive in one's life, but these designers have been carefully vetted, and have portfolios that support their entry into this competition. No one should get the reaction that Lindsey Lohan gave Ari Fish. No matter what she thought about the design, any decent performer should be able to keep such rude outbursts under control. Where did she get her design training? I have to wonder, do the judges get to see the designers portfolios at all before they judge? If not, then why not? Information is power. Oh, and did I mention that Lindsey Lohan comes off as just plain rude?
So Ari, powerful soul that she is, weathers the critique, and she has now been well on her way to her future, for almost a year. You should definitely take a look at the designer’s exit video. It’s a really nice music video farewell that seems to capture Ari’s brief time well. Then go on to actually research what she does, and you’ll have a chance to “get her”.
Ari is a very accomplished artist. She draws, she makes ceramics, and unlike most artists I know, she’s selling. I'm not quite sure how much, but she seems to be supporting herself—but then again, she's only 26. Right now, she is squatting on her URL name on the internet, but she will have another, active site —omnitorious.com—that launches in October. She has in the past been misquoted, and for some reason, she’s been the butt of some remarks on the web pages that can only reflect on the education level of the person making the comment. Do they not teach proper critique skills in college anymore? It's appalling. Since this was a written interview, I think it best to present the interview as is. I can’t hope to add my personal insights gained by my impressions of her in conversation.
PROJECT RUNWAY: SEASON 6 DESIGNERS
The highly anticipated return of Project Runway, now in
its sixth season, premieres Thursday, August 20,
at 10pm ET/PT, on Lifetime Television.
L to R: Top Row: Mitchell Hall, Ari Fish, Nicolas Putvinski,
Louise Black, Malvin Vien, Shirin Askari, Ra'mon-Lawrence
Coleman, Christopher Straub, Gordana Gehlhausen
Bottom Row: Irina Shabayeva, Johnny Sakalis, Qristyl
Frazier, Logan Neitzel, Althea Harper, Carol Hannah
Whitfield, Epperson
Photo Credit: Mike Yarish/Lifetime Networks, 2009
BSE: How are you finding Berlin, and how are the Berliners finding you? My first reaction when I heard you here there was that it was the perfect place for you.
AF: Berlin is what you would hope the future would be like. Not in that like spacey kind of way, but an ideal that you project into the future. It's clean, safe, beautiful, hard and easy respectively, and I have met some of the best and most talented artists and musicians here. I already feel as though I have a family in Berlin. My work seems to be well received here. People are so imaginative and reserved at the same time here, and I think that makes for a perfect combination.
BSE: So you went from painter to ceramics, to fashion. Where did you get your patternmaking education?
AF: I taught myself. I do have to give some credit to my ceramics background at the Kansas City Art Institute. Ceramics really helps you look at things entirely differently. You understand the idea of a very specific process and order to achieve a final result. There are so many steps to consider in ceramics, mixing the clay, hand building, accounting for shrinkage, firing, mixing your glazes and them putting them on in a certain order and firing them onto the clay in a particular order. This type of education not only helped me with pattern making but in understanding what it really means to persevere. One wrong move and your piece could be totally ruined, if that happens, don't give up, try and try again.
BSE: Are you still doing Urban Noise Camp, or is that off while you are in Berlin? Where did you perform? Any interesting experiences to relate?
AF: While I am in Berlin I am working on costumes for the ever amazing, ever talented, Mark Southerland. He's got an Urban Noise Camp performance coming up in October and I am making him a very top-secret costume that I cannot discuss at the moment. You just have to wait and see. There are so many interesting experiences to relate about participating or even observing Urban Noise Camp, just go and watch and you will understand. But to try to put it into words would be futile.
Note: Urban Noise Camp is performance art group combining music and costume.They are not too far divorced from Art of Noise in musical concept--that of questioning what sounds qualify as musical. Urban Noise Camp's Costumes involve "wearable horns"—the brass musical kind, not the cattle kind. Yes, they look a bit Suessical, but that is the charm. They are wonderful pieces on their own.
BSE: How did you get so fearless? (I am referencing your Nina "force field").
AF: My Mother is a major influence in my life. She has taught me to be myself even in the face of resistance, to stand for something and fight for it, if need be. She has sacrificed so much for my siblings and myself, and seeing her work so hard and be such a powerhouse, no woman or man can compare. So honestly, Nina Garcia has nothing on my mother. If I can face my mother, I can sure as heck stand in front of Nina Garcia and absorb whatever she throws at me.
BSE: The stuff you showed at your casting session was very conceptual, and also wearable….very unlike other things in your portfolio that had a rather Mardi Gras look to it—the ones from the 18th street show. Tell me about those, and that show.
AF: That's not part of my personal portfolio, or whatever you want to refer to it as. That was a collaboration between Peggy Noland and I called (it) By Birth. It had nothing to do with Mardi Gras, McDonald's, Clowns, Chiefs, Royals, or Cirque Du Soleil, and yet had everything to do with those things. That's the best way to describe, it I think. I have to thank West 18th Street for allowing me to really go wild for those summer fashion shows. It's truly a breath of fresh air to be able to partake in such a massive event.
BSE: I love your thoughtful design elements—like the credit card pocket in the collar. It’s a very small, yet huge thing that lends itself well to daily use, and makes one want to wear your work. This seems to be in direct contrast to the things I saw in the 18th Street runway photos. Is this the meat of your work, or do you lean naturally to the more theatrical?
AF: See above. Your views can be blamed on publications poaching photos from the internet and assuming things that aren't accurate, unfortunately. Yes, I do design for the wearer in mind, not just the wearer but the actual person, who they are, what they want to be and how their life can be made easier through clothing design. It's a simple concept that a lot of people have forgotten to really consider.
BSE: Who buys your work (aside from galleries)?
Musicians, artists, actors, actresses, private collectors, the person at the grocery store buying peanut butter and jelly, the motorcycle enthusiast, the Buddhist, the atheist, the postal person, the teachers, the janitors, the outdoors enthusiasts, the cooks, the independently owned and operated business owners, the corporate guys, and the transients on the streets. There's more to this list, and I apologize if I have left anyone out.
BSE: I understand that you are hoping to get people to let go of all the silly and unnecessary rules that they live by, by shaking them up with their clothing. I hear you here. If I go to another event that is simply a sea of little black dresses, I am absolutely going to have a meltdown. Still, do you not fear that you will lose the very audience you hope to reach by being dismissed as being too “out there”?
AF: Not at all, I have been told that my entire life. I’m sorry to be so frank, but when the hell did normalcy ever change anything? Honestly, think about that. Without someone being 'out there', you all would still be in caves scared of your own shadows. My design attracts the best of the best, and that's exactly the type of clientele I'd like to attract. So I am more than content.
BSE: Artist Peregrin Honig has said that "It takes massive confidence to pull off an original Ari Fish." Can you hope to get your message across to anyone that does not already “get it”? Is that even your mission?
AF: It's not my mission to solely spread a message, and I think that would be a sad and complicated existence for anyone. My mission is to help people one person at a time, and if clothing design helps, than that's great.
BSE: You said in your interview with Reality Wanted that “I am not very impressed by clothing design for the most part. I will only say that I am impressed by Gareth Pugh or Nick Cave's designs, but other than that, fashion is just a not so fancy word for not being naked.” I see why you like Pugh and Cave, since they are verging on performance art, as is your work. Still, the comment seems to show contempt for fashion. If this is so, what at leads you to fashion in the first place? Your drawing and ceramics are wonderful. Why move to fashion? Fashion is terribly hard to sell--and the performance art/fiber art pieces are even harder. I know first hand. Why move to a medium that's harder to make a living on?
AF: Do you know what fashion really means? You can define it however you want, look it up in the dictionary and let Webster define it for you, but I don't waste my time with that side of things. Objects are only hard to sell if people don't want them, I don't have a problem with selling my creations and I don't have a hard time making a living because I have priorities and I am surrounded by people that understand this and encourage it. I wish whoever is struggling my best, because if it is a struggle, you might be looking at everything all wrong.
BSE: You have even said that you describe your design aesthetic as un-wearable. How will you market "un-wearable" fashion?
AF: I actually never said that. I personally believe anything can be worn, a car, a lampshade, a live animal, so it makes sense that I would never say this.
BSE: Where can we purchase your work--aside from Berlin? Can we buy an Ari Fish here in the US?
AF: My website, omnitorious.com launches next month, and you will be able to browse through past and current collections and inquire about purchasing a garment directly from the site. Also, feel free to e-mail info@omnitorious.com for further inquiries and wholesale orders.
Ari Fish scares me because she challenges me to reexamine my own theories of selling art and fashion. Could it be that if I could muster the same level of absolute belief that my stuff would sell—not just the truth that my work is gorgeous and amazing (Because it is, and I have the awards to prove that at least some others think so too) but the surety that people with both taste and the money to back it up would magically appear to buy it—would it fly off the shelves? If this were true, wouldn't all artists be succesful? Ari Fish's firm stance on her work is unsettling for that very reason. She challenges our ideas in so many ways. You see her work, and it's not like anyone else's. In fact, you wonder who might wear it. Then the idea that she's way out there is challeneged by the fact that she knows, wiith every fibre of her being, that she's making clothes for everyone--and they're selling. The two ideas together are not usually seen paired, and it's scary—but maybe it's just me.
More interviews:
Project Runway Designers Unveiled
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