HIGIENIC DRESS LEAGUE
"Half Rope" is a collaborative image by the Hygienic Dress League.
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Show reveals the absurdity of some's pursuit of beauty
Beauty, fashion and the extremes to which individuals are willing to pursue material possession and perfection are the subjects of the latest exhibition at the ARTS at Marks Garage.
HYGIENIC DRESS LEAGUE
On view: Opening festivities at First Friday, 5 to 9 p.m. tomorrow, will include models, performances and disc jockeys. The show continues through Feb. 25.
Place: The ARTS at Marks Garage, 1159 Nuuanu Ave.
Admission: Free
Call: 521-2903
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Staging the interplay of photographs, sculptures and performances is the Hygienic Dress League, whose collaborators are artists from the University of Hawaii at Manoa art department: Fred Bannan, Eli Baxter, Dorota Bilica, Steve Coy, Anson Tsang and Joe Wilson, who claim to be originals from Detroit, Seattle, Kaimuki, Pauoa and Vallejo, Calif.
Eli said the group aims to deliver fun "yet slightly disturbing commentary" on the relationships between advertising, media and fashion.
"Everywhere you go, you see it all around you, these ideals that are impossible to achieve," she said. "The question is, How far can it go until it becomes ridiculous?
"The show also deals with consumerism to a point, the unending appetite of the consumer and how media gets people to consume things and want things."
Through extreme designs, including codpieces, the show is intended to be provocative, opening eyes to the deceptive nature and at times painful pursuits associated with achieving ideal beauty. Eli said the intent is not to be negative, admitting she is not immune to the call of the boutique window display and the eye-candy allure of fashion photography.
"Sometimes I think fashion is really humorous, but I wonder why I want to have that ridiculous, beautiful pair of shoes that torture my feet.
"I've been doing art for 10 years, dealing with issues of the body and constraints placed upon it. I've been thinking about this for a long time but thinking about it a lot more over the past two years because fashion is so big. It's in the air. You can't get away from it."