01.28.2024 — 02.28.2024
LABEL NYC
Mini Retrospective + Sale | Reimagining the archive from 1992 - 2010 after 15 years
Reimagining of the archive shot by aliana mt. - MORE SOON!
Lauren Powell Projects is proud to announce an exclusive mini-retrospective and limited archive sale showcasing the 15-year journey of Label, the “anti-brand” conceptual clothing line that left an indelible mark on the fashion landscape from 1992 to 2010.
In the throes of the DIY era of the early '90s, visionary Laura Whitcomb birthed Label in Los Angeles, wielding its iconic logo inspired by Southern California's generic food packaging’ stark design which had become a potent symbol of dissent and post punk cipher. Jean Baudrillard's exploration of consumer logos reaching religious veneration stature drove Whitcomb to deeply examine the system of consumer branding’s psychic hold over culture. Generic packaging's stigma and its rejection of the cult of status represented a potent democratizing tool. She transposed the generic anti brand into an eponymous label signifying a demarcation from material fetish furthering the conceptual approaches of this period notably addressed in Alex Cox’s Repo Man and PiL. Beyond the realm of mere fashion, Label emerged as a cultural force, challenging hierarchical structures, championing democratization, and presciently anticipating the encroachment of corporatization on independent culture.
Label began by appropriating revered consumer symbols creating psychic springboards that retooled their symbolic currencies offering a semiotic for new value systems. These systems, progressively unveiled through each collection, underscored the need to build like minded communities that foresaw and actively confronted the encroaching hegemony of the burgeoning corporate era. Label appropriated renown logos and iconic uniforms of quotidian life transmuting them into new meanings. This recasting offered self and collective liberation by its wearer offering a prescient example of Baudrillardian simulacra not as passive symbols but as active tools.
Label was both a boutique and gallery, extending its ethos through art events that addressed themes of resistance while also focussing on limited runs and one of a kind pieces. Despite achieving cult status with broad impact, Label remained intentionally small and independent, resisting a system it sought to dismantle.
This retrospective explores Label's historic achievements during the 1992-2010 period, including the first-ever global sportswear brand collaboration, a
model that high-profile designer brands still copy today and set the bar for what became ironically an industry standard. The rare archival pieces on display bear witness to the 15 years Label operated in New York. It also covers Label's notable collaborations as well as its influence on emerging talent in downtown New York city. While other brands have copied Whitcomb's early '90s work, the vast body of her designs offers an autonomous language through a signature style of cut and unexpected detail which is timely remarking on the cycles of fashion.
The exhibition and archive release was largely spurred by the reciprocity between the Label anti brand and the program and objectives of Lauren Powell Projects. Both represent the very spirit of the DIY era, to challenge the calculated strategy of the industries they sought to overcome, advocating for spontaneity-over-calculation, while elevating the marginalized to have a resisting voice.
