excerpt from Futurist Manifestos Edited by Umbro Appollonio from
the Documents of 20th Century Art series. NK 600 . F8 A6513 1973.

(a) the timidity and symmetry of colours, colours which are arranged in
wishy-washy patterns of idiotic spots and stripes;

(b) all forms of lifeless attire which make man feel tired, depressed,
miserable and sad, and which restrict movement producing a triste |

q

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Giacomo Balla

Futurist Manifesto of Men’s Clothing 1913 wanness;
(c) so-called ‘good taste’ and harmony, which weaken the soul and
We futurists, in those brief gaps between our great struggles for renewal, take the spring out of the step.
have spent the time discussing, as is our wont, very many subjects.

For quite some time now we have been convinced that today’s clothes, We want Futurist clothes to be comfortable and practical

while they may be somewhat simplified to suit certain modern require- Dynamic
ments, are still atrociously passeist. A goressive
We must destroy all passeist clothes, and everything about them Shocking
which is tight-fitting, colourless, funereal, decadent, boring and un- Energetic
hygienic. As far as materials are concerned, we must abolish: wishy- Violent
washy, pretty-pretty, gloomy, and neutral colours, along with patterns Flying (i.e. giving the idea of flying, rising and running)
composed of lines, checks and spots. In cut and design: the abolition of Peppy
static lines, all uniformities such as ridiculous turn-ups, vents, etc. Joyful
Let us finish with the humiliating and hypocritical custom of wearing Illuminating (in order to have light even in the rain)
mourning. Our crowded streets, our theatres and cafes are all imbued Phosphorescent

with a depressingly funereal tonality, because clothes are made only to
reflect the gloomy and dismal moods of today’s passeists.

We must invent Futurist clothes, hap-hap-hap-hap-happy clothes,
daring clothes with brilliant colours and dynamic lines. They must be
simple, and above all they must be made to last for a short time only

Lit by electric lamps.

Pattern changes should be available by pneumatic dispatch; in this
way anyone may change his clothes according to the needs of mood.

Available modifications will include:

in order to encourage industrial activity and to provide constant and
novel enjoyment for our bodies. Use materials with forceful muscular
colours — the reddest of reds, the most purple of purples, the greenest
of greens, intense yellows, orange, vermillion — and skeleton tones of
white, grey and black. And we must invent dynamic designs to go with
them and express them in equally dynamic shapes: triangles, cones,
spirals, ellipses, circles, etc. The cut must incorporate dynamic and
asymmetrical lines, with the left-hand sleeve and left side of a jacket in
circles and the right in squares. And the same for waistcoats, stockings,
jtopcoats, etc. The consequent merry dazzle produced by our clothes

Loving
Arrogant
Persuasive
Diplomatic
Unitonal
Multitonal
Shaded
Polychrome
Perfumed.

in the noisy streets, which we shall have transformed with our futurist

architecture, will mean that everything will begin to sparkle like the
glorious prism of a jeweller’s gigantic glass-front, and all around us we
shall find acrobatic blocks of colours set out like the following word-

shapes:

Cofeecornhou Rosegreebastocap transpomotocar legcutshop blue-
blackwhitehouses aerocigarend — skyroofliftyellight

barbebbenpurp.

As a result we shall have the necessary variety of clothes, even if the
people of a given city lack the imagination themselves.
The happiness of our Futurist clothes will help to spread the kind of

good humour aimed at by my great friend Palazzeschi in his manifesto

against sadness.
anomoviesphot

Shortly to appear: a Futurist manifesto on Women’s Clothing.

Human beings, until now, have dressed (more or less) in black

mourning.
We are fighting against:

the preceding futurist manifesto was written
in 1913. in the 67 years that have passed since,
what has happened to men’s clothing; How
has his outwand manifestation of his physical
prescence here on earth evolved? Can on
intensive look at man and his costumes designed
to protect him from the natural environment
yeild sociological and psychological insights
into the reasons for the kind of world we live
in? is it possible to promote anarchy thru
changing man’s dress? Dress — n. 1. an outer
garment for a woman or child, consisting of a
skirt and a waist, usually in one piece. 2. cover-
ing for the body; clothing collectively. 3. For-
mal or fashionable clothing. 4. External adorn-
ment or appearance. if color can uplift and
strengthen the soul, why are men denied the
expressive color range of women in dress?

Whatever happened to color texture airy
movement swirling mood-lifting dresses in my
life as man. why has my powers of changeable
image, large color fields, mood creation and
drama been disappeared from my life as man?
Why are men caught up by pants, crotch
destroying, mind numbing, boring blase war
uniforms that limit their responsivity and
sensitivity to forces like sunlight, air, breezes,
the touch of my own bone leg against my other,
the probability of beauty in movement, and
letting myself hang free without a chain of a
trouser rubbing against my balls? Why? Has
there been a conspiracy to divest men of these

possible feelings that are available to the most
insensitive of women. Why has man’s relation-
ship to the world, remained essentially unal-
tered during the last 100 years while at the
same time women have totally changed their
dress relationship to the world by adopting
pants as an optional alternative to dress, said
kiss off to the mongerers of outrage, and as a
consequence totally changed their social
relationships with the world? Why have men
kept on wearing the same dull worn out image
that offers them no emotional or spiritual
benefits save a self abdegating soul denying
conformity to an imprisioning social norm?
Are men stupid or simply brain washed?
Can’t they look around at their everyday world
of people and posibilities, colorful passibilities
for certain people of female extraction, deadly
possibilities for people of male extraction,
and see that by wearing these dark war uni-
forms without medals, that they remove joy

from the world in every way? (Listen here Ma, |

yer boy Johnny can go off to war without even

changing his clothes, just pin these here stripes
on his shoulders, and...

Now Pa, we don’t want to discourage girl
killers at all, but yer Sally will just have to
change out off her skirts if ya want her to be a
fighter.) Why have men been eased out of their
garments of power over the last 1000 years and
constricted to garments of servitude? Why have
only priests of religion, law, and academie

8

Ms. 1913

(First draft of the Manifesto for a Futurist Costume.

Contemporary with the Palazzeschi manifesto,
which is dated 29 December 1913. ed.)
Translation RB

retained the right to wrap themselves in robes
of power? Men have let themselves be stripped
of their mystic power apparel by the new priests
of the faceless gray men in bland flannel suits.

-Who stole your silks, velvets, and furs, o man?

Penguin men worshipping puppet gods, shame-
ful men defaced by mutilated dogs. why is the

new wave old hat? more to come.

Gerry Kelly
january 26, 1980

men’s issues on tap

an anarchistis notebook