Patssi Valdez and the Importance of Fashion in her Artistic career with Asco

Last week I attended ‘Paper Fashions: An Evening with Patssi Valdez’ at Nottingham Contemporary as part of their event series coinciding with the current exhibition ’Asco: No Movies' on show until 5th January 2014. The event began with Valdez in conversation with Lucy Bradnock from the University of Nottingham, and culminated in a fashion show presenting paper dresses that Valdez had been working on in the weeks before, collaborating with Nottingham artist Kashif Nadim Chaudry and local fashion students.

Valdez was the only regular female member of the Chicano artist collective Asco, who were based in East Los Angeles and active from 1972 until 1987. During the talk, Valdez asserted that, at the time, she honestly felt like an equal part of the Asco group, but looking back now she admited it was difficult being a young woman in general in this period and in many senses felt restricted, censored, repressed. For me, the talk with Valdez was most interesting in the way that it discussed her relationship with fashion during her time as part of Asco in a way that revealed the importance it had in expressing the underlying social, economic and political concerns of this female Chicano artist.

Being a teen in the late '60s and early '70s and growing up in East L.A., Valdez explained that she had an interest in fashion from an early age, but due to her family’s poor financial situation, she could not afford to buy the clothes and shoes she so much desired. This, it becomes apparent as Valdez and Bradnock get further into discussion, had an important connection with Asco’s attitude to re-using and incorporating found materials as part of their performance. Valdez was very much drawn to the idea of making spectacular gowns and costumes out of found objects and scraps of fabric. She was influenced by the theatricality of the fashion industry she had seen in fashion magazines as a teen and recreated this in both her costumes and her performance in front of the camera. Having fun and experimenting with style should not be limited to those with financial privilege. This was an important message for Valdez to portray. Valdez admitted that she felt disengaged by the visual representation of Mexicans and Latinas in the media - only ever seeing them portrayed in the context of labour and poverty. It seems that Valdez’s theatrical performance and play with fashion as part of Asco was an attempt to create a diverse view of Mexicans and to change perceptions, especially where finance and class were concerned.

The runway show after the talk showcased four extravagant and highly impressive gowns made from paper and embellished with craft objects such as gems, rope, glitter and gift-tags. As the models crept along the catwalk in these delicate and highly elaborate designs, I was thinking about how Valdez’s experiments with cheap and widely available materials had transformed them into luxurious and exclusive looks. Earlier it had been discussed how a paper fashion show had originally been the idea of fellow Asco member Gronk, who had executed it with Valdez for the first time in the '70s.

I have to admit that I had expected much more emphasis on the significance fashion and style had in Asco’s overall ambitions throughout the evening. Hardly any discussion was based in Asco’s use of fashion to experiment with concepts of gender and sexuality, for example, and I felt the concept of creating and showcasing stunning outfits made from inexpensive materials was not explored enough in terms of its economic and social message. Overall though, it was a pleasurable evening and I appreciate the rare opportunity to hear from an inspirational living artist such as Valdez. 

Left: Patssi Valdez dressed as 'The Universe’, Day of The Dead.

Right: The Black Queen, from Patssi Valdez’s 'Paper Fashions’, 2013

(Image credit to http://www.patssivaldez.com/archives.swf and Nottingham Contemporary)