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D.C. team to compete in ‘dragon boat’ race
ollow the dragon’s head for fitness, fun and friendship! “Bring it home!” rang out as members of the Capital City Drag- ons made their last sprint on a 500-meter practice course. But they weren’t running. They were paddling a 40-foot-long “dragon boat,” practicing for an international com- petition that will be held in Philadelphia later this month. Dragon boat racing started in China more than 2,000 years ago. Today, more than 60 countries participate in the sport, and major U.S. cities from Washington and
F by Robin Givhan
paris — On Saturday afternoon, guests gathered in one of the elegant and an- cient stone buildings off Place Vendome to see the spring 2011 collection of Haid- er Ackermann — a young designer on the rise. The designer had a full house of edi- tors and retailers, and in the last mo- ments before the presentation began, Janet Jackson arrived with her entou- rage and settled into the front row — her hair shorn into a chic buzz, and black, bug-eyed sunglasses perched on her nose.
FASHION
And then the dirge began. A reason- able person would be forgiven for think- ing that a funeral march had started. Sad, slow processions of fashion just like this one have been going on for almost 30 years, pretty much since designer Rei Ka- wakubo debuted her Comme des Gar- çons label in Paris in 1981. In an industry ostensibly fueled by change, this kind of charmless sobriety
has established itself as the lingua franca for fashion’s intellectual set. “I don’t think they’ve gotten out of their bubble and looked around,” said Su- san Foslien, founder of the Grocery Store and Susan of Burlingame — boutiques in San Francisco and Burlingame, Calif. — as she sat in a dimly lit, graffiti-sprayed warehouse waiting for the Comme des Garçons show to begin. She peered over her purple-tinted spectacles. “Where’s the joy? Now is not the time to be a Goth.” Who needs a dour fashion presenta- tion when society is already in the throes of a depressed economy, tattered social safety net and scary security concerns? The unrelenting plodding adds insult to misery.
But while the presentations them- selves are depressing, the clothes, in gen- eral, are not. Some of them, like Ann De- meulemeester’s skinny, black leather pants, fluttering cutaway dresses in black and white, and sexy halters, are the epitome of cool. And the Sacai collection from Chitose Abe was breathtaking. Presented as a still life on dress forms, the collection was a play on trench coats, an obsession with ease and a delightful mix of layers. Abe offered full skirts with rippling hemlines, cropped military jack- ets with attached shirttails, simple dress- es with backs of draped tulle and printed velvet dresses that have a nearly three- dimensional effect. “I’m telling you, this girl is the real
deal,” said an uncharacteristically effu- sive Nancy Pearlstein, owner of Relish in Georgetown. Many of the clothes on the runways here are elegant and compelling. But
Philadelphia to San Francisco have dragon boat teams. The Capital City Dragons, a team for youths ages 12 to 18, began in 2008. Attiyah Jenkins, 13, of Silver Spring is enjoying her first year on the team. She described a dragon boat as “a long and narrow canoe that seats 20 paddlers in 10 rows.” A steers- person navigates the boat from the rear, and a drummer in front, used primarily during competitions, faces the paddlers and helps them keep a steady rhythm with their paddles.
Also, during competitions, boats are
“dressed” with dragon heads and tails, be- cause that mythological creature symboliz- es success and strength in Chinese lore. Before getting into the boat, team mem-
bers exercise to warm up. Once aboard, teamwork is key, because everyone must
KLMNO FRAZZ
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2010 JEF MALLETT
TODAY: Cloudy, chance of rain
HIGH LOW 65 48
ILLUSTRATION BY SELVINA KONG, 11, RESTON
The answer to Monday’s question: C.H.I.P. stands for Canine Hybrid Information Puppy. Kudos to the Barry family, who came up with Computer Hybrid Information Puppy. Teens keep Chinese tradition afloat
TODAY’S NEWS
LYNETTE COOK/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
An artist’s drawing of the planet Gliese 581G, right, and its sun.
Can the Rapunzel planet be far behind?
Scientists are calling it “the Goldilocks planet.” That’s because astronomers
ANN CAMERON SIEGAL The Capital City Dragons, a team that’s open to youths ages 12 to 18, practice on the Anacostia River. The boat’s dragon head symbolizes success and strength.
work as a unit to propel the boat through the water. Isatu Bangura, 14, of the District said that team members get a full-body workout. Back, shoulder, stomach, leg and arm mus- cles are all involved as each paddler stretch- es forward, drives a paddle vertically into the water, then pulls it through the water in one smooth motion parallel to the boat. Dragon boating is different from rowing.
Dragon boaters face forward and paddle on one side of the boat. Rowers face backward and use oars to work both sides at once. The Capital City Dragons’ mixed youth/ adult boat placed first in the intergener- ational challenge division at last year’s Philadelphia festival and 19th overall, out of 149 teams. Not bad for the team’s first competition!
— Ann Cameron Siegal
Check out the Capital City Dragons
If you’re at least 12 and think you’d like to try dragon boating, you can do so for free for the next few weeks.
When: Sundays through October, maybe into November, weather conditions permitting, 9:30 to 11 a.m.
Where: 1900 M St. SE. Meet in the gated parking lot near the white, domed storage facilities.
Fee: If you decide to join the team, it’s $50 per year ($35 for additional siblings).
For more information:
www.ncawpa. org/ccd
say for the first time they have found a rocky planet in another solar system that has the condi- tions needed to support life. The planet isn’t called Goldi- locks; instead scientists refer to it as Gliese 581G, and it’s about 20 light years from Earth’s solar sys- tem. (A light year is the distance light can travel in one year). But it is “just the right size and distance from its sun,” astronomer and “planet-hunter” Paul Butler said last week. Those two measurements tell scientists that any water on the planet would be liquid and that the planet is large enough to have gravity, which allows it to hold an atmosphere around it. That doesn’t mean that life ex- ists on the planet. But even if it doesn’t, scientists suspect that there are a lot more planets like Gliese 581G — just waiting to be discovered.
Facing fresh designs bound by dark threads
hyped up and you can’t wait for the first model to come out.” His show opened with the model Kar-
PHOTOS BY MARIA VALENTINO FOR THE WASHINGTON POST EARLY APPLAUSE: Alber Elbaz’s models had the audience humming by show’s end.
they are mired in the adolescent belief that one must exude darkness to be tak- en seriously. Now that fashion shows are no longer limited to insiders but have opened up to civilians via the Internet, it has become increasingly obvious how much the industry prattles on inside a vacuum. These nontraditionalists seem uninterested in embracing outsiders and nonbelievers. They are speaking only to the black-clad, tribal-tattooed and Frank- enstein-footwear-loving oddballs already in their corner. These designers might be saying something different this season — but they’re telling a fresh story with the same old gestures and sets. Ackermann’s collection, for instance, elicited well-deserved cheers from his audience. He merged the silhouettes of kimonos and tuxedos to create jackets that wrapped sensually around the body, hung precariously off the shoulders and partnered with long skirts that slithered down the legs. It was a dignified collec- tion. But the background music, like something out of a Hollywood samurai film, boomed and clanged as if intent on making sure that the audience experi- enced discomfort rather than joy while looking at the collection. Rick Owens’s work has an exquisite, melancholy poetry to it. And for spring, his long, voluminous dresses, tamed by structured tunics and pullovers, had a calm, regal elegance. He showed them in a setting that could best be described as mystical, as models emerged like mys- terious shadows onto a wide, backlit run- way clouded in special-effects fog. But as the fog grew denser and the lighting more akin to chiaroscuro, one began to long for a little less mood and a lot more forthrightness.
Behind the faces Junya Watanabe’s collection was
awash in nautical stripes, prints of an- chors and the quiet influence of Deau- ville. Models, with their faces shrouded in what looked like white nylon, wore striped knit genie pants, dresses with dropped waists, and deconstructed trench coats. The clothes were energetic and fun.
But it’s hard to get past the faceless mod- els wearing wigs in orange or yellow. Wa- tanabe draws attention to the faces of the models but then hides their features. Without a strong and compelling reason for such a decision — and a purely aes- thetic gesture does not count — this sort of shrouding is an insult. It makes a de- signer look wholly disengaged from the humanity of women. Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, on
Saturday, proved why she has inspired so many designers and launched so many talents into successful solo careers. Her collection was dominated by relatively straightforward sheath dresses and tai- lored jackets and coats cut with an al- most military severity. But draped around the shoulders of the models, like a vagabond’s shawl, were sloppy piles of dresses. Or a coat hung upside-down off one shoulder like a decorative throw. A model in a white blazer turned to reveal three more blazers attached to the back like a strange bustle. It was as if the women carried the ghosts of others — the souls of others — on their person. At times it looked as if a model had been holding someone in an intimate embrace and then that person had simply evaporated, leaving nothing but a memory and an empty frock. One couldn’t help but think of the emotional
SHROUDED:The somber tones of Comme des Garçons were common on the Paris runways.
tumult caused when a widow has to face the personal effects of a deceased part- ner. Is there anything so intimate and sentimental as the clothes that someone leaves behind — garments still shaped by their body and scented with their fra- grance? The presentation suggested that each of us is burdened — or protected — by those who have come before, by loved ones who have died or simply gone away. That was a provocative idea to deliver in a fashion show — a setting that some people willfully refuse to see as a place where anything substantive can be de- bated. One wonders how much more re- ceptive a wider public would be if design- ers, particularly those with such moving commentary, were less introverted and distant. What if a designer like the reclu- sive Kawakubo, who practically speaks in riddles and haiku, were more acces- sible?
Deep insights
Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz is not an aloof man. He is quick to offer a warm, if slightly fretful, smile. In short, he does not engage in pretentious airs, but his work is no less thought-provoking and insightful because of it. “He builds up excitement with music
while everyone is lollygagging around,” said Karen Daskas, co-owner of Tender in Birmingham, Mich. “He gets you
lie Kloss, with her soaring height, gallop- ing down the long black runway at full tilt. Her champagne-colored, pleated skirt billowed out behind her as her long legs punched through the skirt’s thigh- high, front slit. Her slim torso was wrapped in a taupe halter with sparkling jewels at the neckline, and a camel belt cinched her waist. Her powerful, deter- mined, get-out-of-my-way strut sent a clear message: I am here. It spoke directly to Elbaz’s recently re- vised creative philosophy: “I started to think that fashion doesn’t dress the body, but your head, your heart and soul.” The collection included tightly pleated dresses and skirts in rich, jewel tones and iridescent hues. Full-sleeved jackets topped slim skirts that were worn over snug leggings. Crystal baubles adorned other simply cut dresses. There were towering stilettos and elegant flats — for day, for night, for whenever a woman might want to wear them. And for his finale: a group of five black models dressed in a leaf-inspired print — frocks that Elbaz admitted were a bit dis- connected from the rest of the collection. “If I had been a good editor, I would not have shown them,” he said in a conversa- tion the evening after the show. But he loved them, and so he presented them with a distinctive flourish. The black women walked out together.
The audience applauded the black pack — a rarity on the runways — like it was a declaration of civil rights. And then peo- ple began to ask each other: What did you think? What did it mean? Was it a po- litical statement? People were asking themselves wheth- er grouping the models together was cel- ebratory or ghettoizing — no matter that at least one other black model had walked alone earlier in the show. Was the enthusiastic applause weirdly self-con- gratulatory — reflecting an industry thrilled that Elbaz had embraced di- versity, thus letting all those photogra- phers, editors, et ceteras off the hook? Talk amongst yourselves, folks. Without funereal darkness or gloomy
ostentation, Elbaz made a simple, but important, point: “I was trained by Geof- frey Beene and Yves Saint Laurent,” El- baz said. “They both worked with African girls, black girls. Not because it was a po- litical statement, just because they were beautiful girls.” He chose the black models for his fi- nale because they were “just gorgeous women.”
And because, he said, with little pre- tension, “I wanted to see reality.”
givhanr@washpost.com
ON WASHINGTONPOST.COM To see photos from the Paris runways, go to
washingtonpost.com/style.
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