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About the Author
—
Steven Heller is the
cofounder and the cochair of the MFA Designer as
Author
program at the School of Visual Arts. He writes the Visuals
column
for the New York Times Book
Review and the Graphic
Content
blog for T-Style; is editor
of AIGA
Voice; and is a contributor to Design
Observer. He is the author, coauthor, and/or editor of more
than 120 books on design and popular culture, including the forthcoming
New Ornamental Type (Thames
and Hudson). More information can be found at his homepage.
See
all
Daily
Heller
posts here.
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War and Fashion
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by Steven Heller
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How long is an appropriate time before a costly war becomes pricey
fashion? In the case of the Vietnam War, which split Americans as it
joined Vietnamese together as one nation, it has been just over thirty
years since the end of the war and the beginning of Viet Cong chic. Dogma Vietnam,
a gallery in Ho Chi Minh City, caters to nostalgia for the war of
liberation that doubtless most of its customers have only read about in
history books.
This "Home of Revolution" is also an online store specializing in urban fashion, posters, flags and patches.
Perhaps it is no different than the "Army/Navy store culture" in the
U.S. and Europe. But for anyone who grew up during the turmoil of the
Vietnam War era, it is difficult not to experience a little unease
seeing these posters on t-shirts and shoulder bags.
(Thanks to Johanne Daoust.)
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Reader Comments
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"the times are a changing..."
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By
wmpopper
December 03, 2009
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