Perfect Balance?

Mary Pings talk was interesting in many ways but it left me with a few questions. The main thing that stayed with me after the talk was how she seemed to work on two different sides of the fashion system. This seemed to be her way of challenging the system in some way and creating questions about how it works. In this quote from the interview Francesca Granata did with Mary Ping explains some of her reasons for making two different collections:

I began Slow and Steady afterwards – it was post-September 11th. I spent a lot of time thinking about fashion my whole life, and I had this idea about commenting on it. So I thought, Let’s just try it as an experiment…..Whereas my signature line is more personal. It’s really more about my interest in designing clothes. It’s more of an indulgence.”

In my opinion it felt like the two collections, Slow and Steady Wins the Race and Mary Ping Signature Collection were made by two different people or at least under very different manifestos. One of the collections (Slow and Steady) is challenging the current fashion system and the other one follows its rules. One of the things that we discussed in our recitation was her choice of models for her signature collection look book and how those choices did, in my opnion, not seem to reflect how she had been talking about breaking down boundaries in the fashion world.

  When thinking about this talk afterwards I would have like to know more about why she is making both types of collections. The world she has created is very interesting for a fashion student that would like to work in a place that is not following all of the fashion system rules. But the questions I have are, is she contradicting herself by doing it or has she found the perfect balance of how to stay alive in the fashion world without having to compromise?