STYLE! IT! TAKES!
is more than a new form of catwalk,
STYLE! IT! TAKES! is looking for aesthetic ecstasy changing the world.
This venture is aiming to unite the forces of arts, revolution, music, érotique, dance, gymnastics, photography, fashion and desire to get better results.
To get an idea what it’s all about, here are some comments on 17 very basic topics:
STYLE! IT! TAKES! is looking for aesthetic ecstasy changing the world.
This venture is aiming to unite the forces of arts, revolution, music, érotique, dance, gymnastics, photography, fashion and desire to get better results.
To get an idea what it’s all about, here are some comments on 17 very basic topics:
Birth
STYLE! IT! TAKES! was born out of experiences of alienated wage labour.
STYLE! IT! TAKES! started after deciding to never work again.
Female worker Geraldine Hoff Doyle at a metall press during World War II. Not knowing it, she later became the icon for the famous ‘We Can Do It!’ motive which has been a propaganda poster for more working effort in American war industry. Playing the cello and being afraid of injuries due to this dangerous work, Geraldine left factory after 2 weeks working. So she’s been a real working class hero. :-)
Gender
Named after an amazing song written by two amazing guys dedicated to an amazing artist,
STYLE! IT! TAKES! turned these references into a very female project.
The same goes for the curator, who grew up male, turned female - and likes it.
Since femininity fortunately never is finished, it’s an everlasting process.
Gender Rules & Queerness
STYLE! IT! TAKES! often joins forces with femininities.
It’s not about putting something over something else, it’s about offering an alternative to the ruling patriarchal gender system and male-dominated club cultures by creating something different and opening new spaces for and celebrating our arts, beauty & fashion, femininities, friendships, loveships & lesbianisms of all kinds.
Everybody supporting or liking this is invited to join.
Popsimonova wearing her own fashion design and
Some of our lovely participants & guests at STYLE! IT! TAKES! # 1 & # 2
(first pic by Nora Below, the others by Ruby Venezia Kainu)
one of our nice guests, the musician C-drik at STYLE! IT! TAKES! # 1
(first pic by Nora Below, the others by Ruby Venezia Kainu)
Cheers, lovely ladies! Fashion designer Thea from Degenerotika and Popsimonova,
both wearing Degenerotika dresses and outfits
+&+GregOr+Marvel+(Friendly+Society)+@+Style!+It!+Takes!+%23+2+by+Ruby+Venezia+Kainu+-2.jpg)
Fashion designers Jenny from Knoth Kouture (second from left) and Guests dressed up and
Gregor Marvel from Friendly Society (right) with guests and friends were joined by a kitty ^^
Femininity & Girlism
Some people are against some kind of femininity they declare as childish or only suitable for little girls. Typical examples are pink stuff, glitter, flowers in the hair and so on.
STYLE! IT! TAKES! loves cute and playful things. We also love the mind-boggling adventures of Alice in the books of Lewis Carroll and ask: what is so bad about little girls anyway?
Nothing. Right. (^.^) ♥ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ
Alice and the Looking Glass
With thanx and love to Princess Chloe Cupcake (Jellyfish Sundae) for endless inspiration -
you are amazing!!! ♥
Beauty
There’s people who hate the artificial side of making-up and dressing up. STYLE! IT! TAKES! loves the point of creativity, changing and shaping your ‘natural’ body the way you want, wish or feel – and experimenting with this. It is one of the most amazing and individual parts of culture.
STYLE! IT! TAKES! doesn’t think something is beautiful, but things have been made beautiful.
Nothing. Right. (^.^) ♥ Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ
Alice and the Looking Glass
you are amazing!!! ♥
Beauty
There’s people who hate the artificial side of making-up and dressing up. STYLE! IT! TAKES! loves the point of creativity, changing and shaping your ‘natural’ body the way you want, wish or feel – and experimenting with this. It is one of the most amazing and individual parts of culture.
STYLE! IT! TAKES! doesn’t think something is beautiful, but things have been made beautiful.
This is great.
Fashion Designer Thea B. Adora from DEGENEROTIKA (Photo by Jarka Snajberk)
Desire
After thousands of years of heterosexual male domination and about 40 years of even opposing gay cultures dominating over lesbian cultures (and here also butch / boi identities over femmes, lipstick lesbians and girly girls), STYLE! IT! TAKES! thinks it’s about time for a new age. We like to celebrate our co-operations and positive female relationships, bringing our female friends along, having a drink, holding hands or a whip, chatting about what matters, dressing, making or lacing up together, dancing, kissing or having all kinds of sex and stuff... being in love...
Desire
After thousands of years of heterosexual male domination and about 40 years of even opposing gay cultures dominating over lesbian cultures (and here also butch / boi identities over femmes, lipstick lesbians and girly girls), STYLE! IT! TAKES! thinks it’s about time for a new age. We like to celebrate our co-operations and positive female relationships, bringing our female friends along, having a drink, holding hands or a whip, chatting about what matters, dressing, making or lacing up together, dancing, kissing or having all kinds of sex and stuff... being in love...
Italian girls got all the fun: Strawberry, Dolly & Ily in front of a club in Milano while fellow Stu strikes a somehow uncomfortable pose... (^.^) (by Kellyproject)
Pic top left by Paula Klaw (the sister of Irving Klaw, the famous Betty Page photographer) / Movie Star News
Class & Origin
While many people in the art and cultural scenes are afraid of the poor and proletarian parts of society, STYLE! IT! TAKES! is afraid that the poor and proletarian are excluded from cultural life.
Pic top left by Paula Klaw (the sister of Irving Klaw, the famous Betty Page photographer) / Movie Star News
Class & Origin
While many people in the art and cultural scenes are afraid of the poor and proletarian parts of society, STYLE! IT! TAKES! is afraid that the poor and proletarian are excluded from cultural life.
We also know that cultural life has no borders and appreciate this. That’s one of many reasons why racists and fascists will always be kicked out wherever we are.
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Gothic Tribal Fusion dancer Namjira wearing a headscarf at STYLE! IT! TAKES! # 2 (by Lux Artifex)
Huh Yun-Hee and Elke Graalfs, performers for AMF Korsets, backstage at STYLE! IT! TAKES! # 1
(by Nora Below)
*
So far artists, designers, djs and photographers with US-American, Spanish, Yugoslavian (Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian...), South-Korean, Swedish, Belgian and Czech origins have taken part in this project...
Money
While some people are complaining about prices of underground events and at the same time German politicians at last are discussing minimum wages between 8 and 10 € / hour, STYLE! IT! TAKES! thinks it would be a nice idea to get a bit more than about 0,10 € per hour preparation time. We know we are workers, too.
Gothic Tribal Fusion dancer Namjira wearing a headscarf at STYLE! IT! TAKES! # 2 (by Lux Artifex)
Huh Yun-Hee and Elke Graalfs, performers for AMF Korsets, backstage at STYLE! IT! TAKES! # 1
(by Nora Below)
*
So far artists, designers, djs and photographers with US-American, Spanish, Yugoslavian (Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian...), South-Korean, Swedish, Belgian and Czech origins have taken part in this project...
Money
While some people are complaining about prices of underground events and at the same time German politicians at last are discussing minimum wages between 8 and 10 € / hour, STYLE! IT! TAKES! thinks it would be a nice idea to get a bit more than about 0,10 € per hour preparation time. We know we are workers, too.
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Revolution
A further reason why STYLE! IT! TAKES! only refers to politics in terms of ‘revolution’ is that everybody knows that politics and politicians are completely corrupt and out of date.
Concerning the question what do we mean with revolution, it was an anarchist woman who put it all to one important point:
“If I can’t dance, then it’s not my revolution!” (Emma Goldman)
“If I can’t dance, then it’s not my revolution!” (Emma Goldman)
(the quote is not exactly from her, but she wrote something very similar in her autobiography)
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Wedding couple in Mansoura (Egypt) getting married amid revolutionary street fight clashes
(Egyptian Revolution, 7th of March 2013)
(via Egyptian revolutionary Facebook group ‘Operation Egypt’, photo by Darwish photography)
...nearly unneccessary to say that STYLE! IT! TAKES! loves this spirit...
Happy Marriage!!!
♥♥♥
(via Egyptian revolutionary Facebook group ‘Operation Egypt’, photo by Darwish photography)
...nearly unneccessary to say that STYLE! IT! TAKES! loves this spirit...
Happy Marriage!!!
♥♥♥
Fashion
While many people think fashion is a snobby, high-nosed Schickeria thing, STYLE! IT! TAKES! believes that creative energy and change (not only in fashion) come from the bottom, not from the top of society. The point that some people don’t have money for clothing at all while others have handbags more expensive than a whole house isn’t a point against fashion itself, but against class society. Many poor people are highly aware of and interested in fashion.
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Namjira (wearing handmade fashion design by Project Little Nemo) dancing at the amazing live concert of
Nora Below (dressed by GregOr Marvel of Friendly Society) at STYLE! IT! TAKES! # 2 (photo by Lux Artifex)
While many people think fashion is a snobby, high-nosed Schickeria thing, STYLE! IT! TAKES! believes that creative energy and change (not only in fashion) come from the bottom, not from the top of society. The point that some people don’t have money for clothing at all while others have handbags more expensive than a whole house isn’t a point against fashion itself, but against class society. Many poor people are highly aware of and interested in fashion.
Nora Below (dressed by GregOr Marvel of Friendly Society) at STYLE! IT! TAKES! # 2 (photo by Lux Artifex)
Furs
Many people worry about people wearing furs.
STYLE! IT! TAKES! fears the fact that many people in society could not even afford a fur coat.
Tizian: Venus with a Mirror (ca. 1555), Two-Hour Sketch by Gil Elvgren (ca. 1940-45, Oil on canvas),
a man licking the feet of a Venus in Furs (Kinsey Institute, 1937)
Style
In opposition to a lot of people (especially in Western metropolises) who are aiming to be hip, always looking for the cool gestures, sounds and places, STYLE! IT! TAKES! is pissed off by this kind of boring, disgusting and egoistic coolness. If you want to see somebody who is really cool and has a real good style, STYLE! IT! TAKES! recommends to take a look at this picture and think again:
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Woman in Egypt pours her water on a tear gas cartridge shot at Egyptian revolutionaries
(she's the one)
Body Shapes & Sizes
(she's the one)
Body Shapes & Sizes
There has been a lot of criticism about modeling and hostility against what has been called ‘eating-disorder-models’ while there is a lot of hate against 'full-sized' women, too. Often the same people who are complaining about girls in sexy dresses are trying to tell other girls to put down their headscarves. STYLE! IT! TAKES! sees beauty in a lot of things and thinks that our bodies belong to ourselves. That’s why we love our artists, friends and guests as they are or want to be and also show their bodies that way. This makes a big difference, not only compared to traditional fashion shows.
(by Falkenberg Photography / Schorsch van Rixdorf / last two by Lux Artifex)
Food
Some people worry about people eating meat or other animal products.
STYLE! IT! TAKES! fears a food production system where you can’t be sure that meat is meat and soy beans are soy beans.
STYLE! IT! TAKES! holiday barbeque in Sisak / Croatia visiting our Yugoslavian friends and artists.
We grilled delicious fish (Scorpaena scrofa, Škarpina, Großer Roter Drachenkopf) and sweet chestnuts (Kesten, Esskastanien) (^.^)
Playing with food
Some people think it’s decadent to play with and decorate food.
STYLE! IT! TAKES! holiday barbeque in Sisak / Croatia visiting our Yugoslavian friends and artists.We grilled delicious fish (Scorpaena scrofa, Škarpina, Großer Roter Drachenkopf) and sweet chestnuts (Kesten, Esskastanien) (^.^)
Playing with food
Some people think it’s decadent to play with and decorate food.
STYLE! IT! TAKES! is opposed to that idea. It can be a nice part of culture.
Funny handmade Onigiri-Automat at a 'Japanese' party in Berlin (thanx to MAGPIE for this ♥)
Water
Water
While some people may discuss the perfect drink or cocktail, STYLE! IT! TAKES! loves water.
You can drink it, you can cook with it, you can use it for washing, dying fabrics, fishes, dolphins and nymphes can swim in it and you can make a lot of wonderful drinks out of it.
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Cheers!
John William Waterhouse – A Mermaid (1901)
Heaven
Since STYLE! IT! TAKES! believes that it’s not about a heaven somewhere far away, but goes with Heinrich Heine’s idea, that the only meaningful way of heaven is starting to create it on earth, it would be a nice start to comment on and spread this manifesto.
Since STYLE! IT! TAKES! believes that it’s not about a heaven somewhere far away, but goes with Heinrich Heine’s idea, that the only meaningful way of heaven is starting to create it on earth, it would be a nice start to comment on and spread this manifesto.
Berlin, in the morning hours (5 to 9 h) of 13th of March 2013
Thanx to Clea Cutthroat & the Wonderheaux Nation, Princess Chloe Cupcake and Strawberry for inspiration.
Greetings and solidarity to the couraged people continuing the Egyptian Revolution for Bread, Freedom, Dignity and Social Justice against the dictatorship of the military and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Greetings and solidarity to the Refugee Camp in Berlin fighting for very similar causes and demands right in front of our doors.
Notes & further reading:
If this wonderful, book loving woman, our door fairy, love and friend Inka, doesn't get you into reading
more books - there may be no help for you at all...
BIRTH: The parole ‘Never Work’ (Ne travaillez jamais) first appeared in Paris in the 1950’s during the days of the avantgarde group Lettrist International (later: Situationist International).
Main book: Guy Debord: The Society of the Spectacle (1967)
deutsch: Die Gesellschaft des Spektakels
The whole story of Dada, Lettrist / Situationist International and Punk altogether:
Greil Marcus: Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century (1989)
deutsch: Lipstick Traces – von Dada bis Punk, eine geheime Kulturgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts (Hamburg 1996)
To read more about Geraldine Hoff Doyle (mostly in German):
deutsch: Die Gesellschaft des Spektakels
The whole story of Dada, Lettrist / Situationist International and Punk altogether:
Greil Marcus: Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century (1989)
deutsch: Lipstick Traces – von Dada bis Punk, eine geheime Kulturgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts (Hamburg 1996)
To read more about Geraldine Hoff Doyle (mostly in German):
GENDER: The venture's name derives from a song dedicated to Andy Warhol by John Cale & Lou Reed from The Velvet Underground named 'Style It Takes' (on the album 'Songs For Drella', 1990).
Further reading: Uuuuh, there’s a lot, for the social construction of gender in general try it with this basic theoretical work:
Judith Butler: Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York 1990)
deutsch: Das Unbehagen der Geschlechter (Frankfurt am Main 1991 / 2003)
GENDER RULES: You don’t have to read to see what’s happening. Just get into a club, jump into a subway or walk down the streets in the evenings or on weekends...
Further reading: Uuuuh, there’s a lot, for the social construction of gender in general try it with this basic theoretical work:
Judith Butler: Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York 1990)
deutsch: Das Unbehagen der Geschlechter (Frankfurt am Main 1991 / 2003)
GENDER RULES: You don’t have to read to see what’s happening. Just get into a club, jump into a subway or walk down the streets in the evenings or on weekends...
FEMINITY & GIRLISM: Lewis Carroll: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) / Through The Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871)
deutsch: Alice im Wunderland / Alice hinter den Spiegeln
BEAUTY: Watch a stylish girl or boy getting prepared for a party or a photo shooting and count the amount of time needed ;-)
DESIRE: Usually we don't care what people are doing sexually in their beds or somewhere else. Coming to that, obviously everybody is free to do what she or he wants as long as it is consensual and having fun with it...
CLASS & ORIGIN: We try to put nobody away because being short of funds. This is much easier when people having some money giving a bit more. A problem with kicking out racists and sexists are the more subtle forms of it. A typical example are the 'intellectual' right-wing people (so-called Nouvelle Droite, culturally often part of the Neo Folk-Scene). But these should be the first to be thrown out.
MONEY: Friedrich Engels: Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England (1845)
English version: The Condition of the Working Class in England (1887)
Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei / Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848)
REVOLUTION: Read & see more about the glorious beginnings of the Egyptian Revolution here in this blog (German & English):
Karl Marx: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen
Ökonomie (3 Teile: 1867 / 1885 / 1894)
English version: Capital: Critique of Political Economy (3 parts: 1867 / 1885 / 1894)REVOLUTION: Read & see more about the glorious beginnings of the Egyptian Revolution here in this blog (German & English):
http://style-berlin.blogspot.de/2012/08/greetings-from-egypt.html
FASHION: Dick Hebdige: Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1979)
Don't forget to have an open eye on what's happening on the streets...
FURS: Leopold von Sacher-Masoch: Venus In Furs (Venus im Pelz) (1870)
FOOD: The person who wrote this manifesto always buys eggs from chickens having enough space to live. It came as no surprise that greedy companies sell these more expensive eggs wrongly labelled 'fairly produced' which in fact were produced under horrible living conditions for the poor chicken. Also soy beans have been poisened or poisening workers planting them. :(
PLAYING WITH FOOD: Playing with and decorating food is NOT the same as throwing away food.
HEAVEN: Heinrich Heine: Deutschland – Ein Wintermärchen (1848)
... we guess Saturday, 6th of July 2013 on Planet Earth!
Update 17th of June 2014:
... and after that lovely experience,
STYLE! IT! TAKES! # 4 under the title "Re-Thinking PUNK"
crashed into Berlin in January 2014.
Now we are already here:
FASHION: Dick Hebdige: Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1979)
Don't forget to have an open eye on what's happening on the streets...
FURS: Leopold von Sacher-Masoch: Venus In Furs (Venus im Pelz) (1870)
FOOD: The person who wrote this manifesto always buys eggs from chickens having enough space to live. It came as no surprise that greedy companies sell these more expensive eggs wrongly labelled 'fairly produced' which in fact were produced under horrible living conditions for the poor chicken. Also soy beans have been poisened or poisening workers planting them. :(
PLAYING WITH FOOD: Playing with and decorating food is NOT the same as throwing away food.
HEAVEN: Heinrich Heine: Deutschland – Ein Wintermärchen (1848)
In CAPUT I of this great poem, Heine wrote:
"Ein neues Lied, ein besseres Lied,
O Freunde, will ich euch dichten!
Wir wollen hier auf Erden schon
Das Himmelreich errichten."
(A new song, a better song,
I want to rhyme for you, oh friends,
We want to build up the realm of heaven
already here on earth)
STYLE! IT! TAKES! # 3 is about to come...
... we guess Saturday, 6th of July 2013 on Planet Earth!
We need electricity, water, umbrellas and you!
Sun and Love will be there for sure...
♥
♥
Update 17th of June 2014:
... and after that lovely experience,
STYLE! IT! TAKES! # 4 under the title "Re-Thinking PUNK"
crashed into Berlin in January 2014.
Now we are already here:
STYLE! IT!
TAKES! # 5
Summer Dream of Fashion, Performances & Music
Berlin Fashion Week * 12th of July 2014 * 19.00 – 5.00 Uhr
@ Panke (Club & Garden), Gerichtstraße 23, 13347 Berlin - Wedding
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& liking us on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/StyleItTakesNightOfFashionPerformancesMusicBerlin
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& liking us on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/StyleItTakesNightOfFashionPerformancesMusicBerlin
♥