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 |

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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