LITERATURE ON T-SHIRTS

It is fashionable, prestigious and fascinating to be a clothes' designer. Naturally, you need to have an interest in it. Over the last few years shows at which the work of Azerbaijani designers has been displayed have become fashionable and an everyday thing, although they are not always interesting. The series of events at the Natavan Gallery under the title "Fashion Room" allow us to observe the step-wise development of the works of Azerbaijani designers and draw the relevant conclusions.

Making culture popular

This time the collection of exclusive T-shirts and tunics was exhibited by the designer Ali Sahin, creative footwear with a hand-decorated inscriptions - from the Baku Gift House… At first glance this is nothing special, just simple clothing and simple footwear… But this is only at first glance and, if you don't look properly to spot the idea. Ali's idea is to popularise Azerbaijani literature in a very simple, but at the same time in an extremely up-to-date form! How come that such a good idea never occurred to any of the designers before? It would appear that nothing could be simpler - a cotton article, a photograph and a name!

Such a remarkable idea only occurred to Ali Sahin. I very much wanted to talk to him about it and at the same time to learn whether he was going to develop his idea any further, for example, by printing subjects or famous personages from our classics on T-shirts and tunics? Just imagine what a way this is to popularise cultural values! What interest our young people are taking and what demand there is for the items that are available! Nizami, Fizuli, Huseyn Cavid, Samad Vurgun, Cafar Cabbarli, Rasul Rza and Nigar Rafibayli, Mikayil Musviq could be on be on the T-shirts… To begin with, portraits of the classics and their names would attract attention purely visually, but then they would stimulate interest of a purely cognitive nature! People are already talking about this. Here are snippets of conversations that I have overheard: "What did Nigar Rafibayli write? Whose wife is she? Oh, Rasul Rza? I've never heard of him…" And then there is another question: Don't they have T-shirts with Natavan on them here? What about Mahsati Gancavi? I really love Mahsati's poems!"

Inspiration fuelled by these conversations has allowed fantasies relating to the subject of the unobtrusive and aesthetically pleasing popularisation to go even further. In this way it is possible to stimulate an interest in the classical miniature and in the works of contemporary artists and composers! Then there are football players! Well, true enough. Let's recall the numerous T-shirts bearing the symbols and slogans of foreign countries we see on our teenagers during the summer season. Sometimes the idea is taken to the absurd. Perhaps from the point of view of a joke, this makes one laugh, but from the point of view of healthy logic, it is not funny at all. It is much better and more interesting to see the faces of our classics, to recall their names and then read through their works. This may become an absolutely tangible contribution to the development of the Azerbaijani fashion industry.

It would be extremely pleasant if people in Milan, London, Paris, New York, Prague, Munich, Warsaw, in Sicily and Las Vegas, enjoyed wearing these T-shirts with the names of our famous writers, poets, artists and composers on them. We know who Alfons Mucha is, for example, or Kafka or Shakespeare, Strauss or Mozart. So, let people throughout the world know who Vaqif Mustafazada, Niyazi, Uzeyir Hacibayov, Azim Azimzada are! Just imagine how marvellous it would be to see famous Europeans with colourful personages on their T-shirts. For example, Pierre Richard or Monica Bellucci? You see, everyone would start asking who they were and what it was about. Well, the stars would have to reply that these are famous people and say who the author of these characters was. What would happen if prominent people appeared at a press conference in a T-shirt like that? How many of the media would write about it? We like to imagine what would happen.

Nice, but important trifles

Why do people like to fill their homes with pleasant things, but things which are not functional in an everyday context? Little pots of flowers, little dolls, women's jewellery, little frames, little postcards! And all this is the result of working with the quilling [paper filigree] technique which people in Europe and Korea are currently engaged in. Quilling as a decorative applied art was forgotten for some time by mankind, but now it has returned to our life again. It is believed that European monks in the 14th century invented it from the remains of gilt cuttings from book pages, twisting it into a quill and making mosaics out of it.

They managed to make an attractive picture which looked as it was gold-plated. Quilling was popular and was regarded as an applied art for some time. The Russian word for quilling sounds somewhat coarse, because it means paper-twisting, but this is the essence of the work. Strips of paper and plastic or metal rods with a sharp tip are really needed for this type of work; these strips are twisted around them, subsequently imparting to them the necessary shape.

 The strips of paper may be of different colours and shades, even two-tone. For many centuries in a row high society ladies in England and Germany busied themselves with this art. They say that many works in quilling technique by Princess Elisabeth are kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London! It would be interesting to see what they look like! But, judging from the works displayed at this exhibition by students at the Applied Art Centre (set up with the joint efforts of the Prince's School of Traditional Arts of Great Britain and the Directorate of the State Historical and Architectural "Icari Sahar" conservation area), these compositions consist of just a few elements.

The Eastern quilling masters create very complicated compositions, weaving hundreds of fine details into a single subject. To the honour of those studying at this school, many of them are splendid masters working with silver, wood, semi-precious stones and batik. These are magnificent hand-crafted works such as decorative designs for sports footwear for young schoolchildren and teenagers. You may say it's a trifle. May be it is, but then children get so many positive emotions and enjoyment out of it!

What is more, it provides an opportunity to move away from the stereotypical mass-produced items and thereby help our children to develop good taste and an ability to express themselves through clothing, footwear and accessories. For the masters in decorative applied art, it provides an opportunity to cultivate skills in producing items with fresh designs, which will not only be found interesting in our country, but abroad as well. It would be good if patronage of the arts became fashionable. Then many issues regarding the introduction of new creative ideas would be resolved more simply, and, what is most important, more swiftly!