Daniel Lismore: Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Already Taken

“Think: clothing as theater and spectacle!”

You better fasten your seat belt as this is pretty much visual overload or the visual feast to end all feasts. If one’s body can be considered a canvas to paint upon and clothes could be considered the paint, then Daniel Lismore is one of the greatest artists if not portraitist ever to walk the face of the earth.

Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Already Taken serves as a catalog for a show that was mounted at the Savannah College of Art and Design last year. This exhibition is nothing short of one of most astounding and arresting presentations of self-expression that can be imagined. This reviewer was woefully ignorant of this man’s existence and history but after reading and literally examining this book, a fan, an admirer and an awestruck spectator has been hatched.

This is not a fashion book for every fashion reader. This is a book that will appeal and be most appreciated by those who possess a sense of fantasy, a wealth of fashion history knowledge, and a sense of theater. It is only then that the reader will be fully equipped to understand the references and inspirations that Lismore uses and draws upon to achieve these mind boggling assemblages.

All of this is augmented and enhanced when the reader becomes aware that these are his clothes that he wears and as he states, these clothes are “his armor.” Just as a tease you might be able to see the ghost of Marie Antoinette or Alexander McQueen, the tribes of Kenya or a Mongolian warrior—it is just beyond the scope and imagination of us mere mortals and fashionphiles.

If you search for a book that will stimulate your mind and your senses, then Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Already Taken is a must have. The book is a conversation piece as well as a tome that deserves the attention of those who fancy themselves aficionados and cognoscenti of fashion. Think: clothing as theater and spectacle!