Sundown Salon #14: Showdown! - MICHAEL MAHALCHIK

INTERVIEW:

Ingrid Bromberg: Describe a little bit what your fashion is.

Michael Mahalchick: What I will be presenting on the Schindler House runway is a series of clothing I have been working on since Spring of 2003.

I: The first time I saw one was when you wore one to your opening at Canada Gallery this past winter.

M: I started making them earlier, when I got a handy stitch.

I: Is that the curtain repair tool I have seen advertised on TV?

M: Yes, I was making artwork out of clothes. I use scavenged material -- clothes people would give me or I would find on the street. I forced the materials into sculptural forms. While doing this I realized that clothes already have a form so why not work with that.

I: Describe what the clothes look like. You stitch patterns into them, right?

M: There are a couple different types of things I have going. One, where I take the fabric and follow the natural wrinkles or folds in it, and then stitch those lines in, it becomes a skin -- Clothes are like a skin.
The clothes that I use are old, like people’s discarded skin. So that is how I get into this whole Zombie thing. There is a certain cannibalistic aspect to making these clothes.

I: So for this line, are you are thinking of the runway walkers doing a performance?

M: yeah, it is not going to be a typical runway walk. I want them to be more like stumbling zombies than fashion models. These clothes are back from the dead, they are re-animated a little bit, and they are raggedy. Clothes, when they become old, and people throw them away, become rags. So I just take these rags and re-animate them by stitching pieces together. They are Frankenstein-ish, but I like them more as Zombies. Although Frankenstein is a Zombie of sorts too.

I: Yeah, he came back from the dead. And he roamed around and scared people.

M: And then everyone wanted to kill him. So these fashions might not be the most palatable fashions – you might want to destroy them.

I: Are you going to give the runway models special instructions on how to walk?

M: The only instruction will be “walk like a zombie.” I think most people are familiar with how Zombies walk. I am hoping is that I will finish enough pieces to have an army of zombies.

I: Are they nice zombies?

M: They don’t have to eat flesh, even if that is usually a Zombie trait. The models will wear their standard model make-up, not zombie make-up. I hope that the walk, the movement and the raggedy-ness of the clothes will make the zombie point.

I: The first fashion show I saw you in about 10 years ago, you didn’t make the clothes that you wore.

M: That was back when I was a model.

I: This fashion show was an art event; it wasn’t a traditional fashion show. Two people invited you to model -- You were the only person that modeled twice..

M: and they both made knitwear.

I: yeah, the clothes seemed very appropriate to you the artwork that you make.

M: The first was Tina Marrin, who is in also in this show. She made a series of crocheted halter tops for my two buddies and me. Each of them got progressively smaller. I, of course, had the smallest.

I: You were the biggest model.

M: And I had the smallest halter top. I think people asked me to model because I was doing a lot of performance at the time, and I was not afraid to do anything. I don’t get embarrassed too easily. Both the outfits made for me were very exhibitionist – they offered a lot of flesh.

I: What was the other one?

M: Marcos Rosales made me a macramé plant holder dress. It was very tight, and it had a bit of SM.

I: I think I remember you getting a dollar during your runway walk.

M: Yeah, Tom Lawson gave me a dollar – he put it in my underpants. I guess I was enticing in a stripper kind of way. Then that girl came on the runway.

I: Yeah, she tried to have sex with you on the runway.

M: Both of those outfits were very see through and exposing. In lot of my work at the time, I was performing in my underwear. My body is not necessarily any kind of body that you would really covet.

I: It’s not that people don’t covet your body, it’s just that it is not a body that is strongly masculine or feminine. It is in-between. I think that Marcos and Tina made those fashions specifically for you – they didn’t make the fashions first and then find someone to wear them, they wanted to make fashions for you.

M: Both of them were aware of my performances at the time.

I: What were your performances like?

M: I was doing the “Greatest Love of All” performances where I was dealing with issues of the body and gender. Finding pride in your differences. I hate to sound super uplifting and cheesy.

I: You did a lot of pieces where you would sing a pop song cover.

M: The pop song became a narrative for the performance. For “The Greatest Love of All” performance I was dressed in a tuxedo. I removed the tuxedo to reveal pasties on my tits, and I made them spin as I was singing “The Greatest Love of All”. It was a pretty simple idea, I was taking advantage of my man tits, using the song as a metaphor for believing in yourself even when you have a lot of flaws. And, of course, making people feel very uncomfortable. The typical reaction to that kind of thing is “look at that guy’s tits.” People often are not very sensitively to someone’s feelings. There is skill involved in making the pasties spin in opposite directions while you are singing. I think people could see my empowerment. It made me feel not so strange about my atypical body.
I think of the clothes in a similar way as I think of my body. It is funny for them to be in a fashion show because they are nothing like a Helmut Lange jacket, they are not invested in current fashion trends.

I: Putting on clothes is supposed to give you confidence to walk out in the world.

M: or to individualize yourself. This past year I have been making quilt-like works. I fantasize that if there was some catastrophic event you would be able to take these quilt-like tapestries off the wall and wrap them around yourself for warmth.

I: You made somewhat of a traditional artshow at Canada Gallery this past winter. You made sculptures and wall works out of discarded clothes. The sculptures look a little like people.

M: They are creatures of some sort. We leave a little bit behind on all the clothes we discard. The clothes in a thrift shop might have a sweat stain, or a neck ring. So I like to think that part of your personality get imbedded in these clothes. The creatures are the amalgam of all the different clothes and people that were in there. When I make the work I don’t know what kind of shape or form they are going to take until I start making it. It is all determined by the kind of fabric and color. They become very anthropomorphic because people just want to read them that way. They are really just big lumps of clothes.

M: The other day I was thinking about whether my fashions should have seasons. If some of them don’t sell, should I have an end of the season sale, everything 50% off.

I: As opposed to art, clothing looses its value very quickly. In the fashion market they have a new season every 6 months to keep people buying the new clothes.

M: It has to do with making money through continual consumption. My pieces are about rescuing what people are throwing away to make room for the new stuff. I try to sell the designer clothes I find to second hand stores, but I have never had luck, they are out of fashion. But I do sell my art.

If you look at most fashion it is strangely cannibalistic. Now the 80s thing is fashionable. A couple of years ago it was the peasant blouse – a 60s thing. My clothes are 10 years old; they just don’t look it because they I make them something else. They are Frankenstein Zombie monster fashion.

some questions...

01. what is the new black? Nudity is the new black.It’s versatile, makes a statement and comes in all sizes. Plus if you hit the town with this new black people will talk.

02. do clothes make the man?Of Course they do. If you dress like a bum people will think you are a bum. In fact just the other day someone on the street mistakenly put a quarter in my cup of coffee.

03. just what is it about clothing?Clothing offers us the ability to change or identity daily. Monday I
was a bum, Tuesday I was a biker, Wednesday I was a tourist, and today I am a banker.

03. What is the function of fashion?Fashion functions primarily as a signifier.

04. Where does fashion begin and end? Fashion begins when we make a conscious decision tho choose articles of dress in order to communicate. Fashion ends when we
are unable or are unwilling to choose to communicate through clothing choices.

05. do you have a muse? why / why not?I would say that I don’t have a Muse. I find that I am inspired by many different things

06. who is your all time fashion hero?My all time fashion hero would have to be Vivienne Westwood

07. what is the sexiest garment of all?Tighty Whitey underpants because anytime i see them on someone I want to take them off.

08. what is your favorite color right now?Blue

09. what is your biggest clothing turn-off?My Biggest clothing turn off would be sweat pants.

11. what do you consider to be a fashion tragedy?The Murder of Gianni Versace

12. who do you want to wear the garments you make?Fabulous people with self-confidence and a sense of humor.

13. where does your interest in clothing come from?My interest in clothing comes from the fact that
as a material it is extremely plentiful and available and has a direct relationship with the body.

14. what do you look forward to putting on in the morning? The television

15. what do you look forward to taking off at the end of the day?My Pants.

16. what does a person feel like when they wear something you made? Fearless

17. in your whole life what item of clothing made you most excited?My leather chaps.

18. is there a garment you want to make, but haven’t yet? describe. I would like to make a garment encrusted with diamonds

19. is the need and desire to clothe oneself uniquely human? explain.Yes, Animals are perfectly happy without clothes although humans seem to like to dress them up.

20. what is your all time #1 favorite thing about getting dressed in l.a.? You can dress very
outlandishly in L.A.

21. are straight guys dressing more gay & vica versa, if so what’s up with that?I think that Straight men are dressing more gay and vice versa. As being gay becomes more acceptable
we will find fashion options expand for gay and straight alike.

22. what is someone saying to those around them when they are wearing something that you made? They are saying “ I feel like the world offers unlimited possibilities”

23. what item of clothing from your past do you have the strongest emotional attachment to & why?The item of clothing I have the strongest emotional attachment to is my denim jacket.
I bought it when I was 15 and still have and wear it.I think it signifies the moment i began to develope a sense of style that was different from my parents