Always Remember: The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt: A Selection of Panels Created By and For International Fashion Designers

by Paul Margolies (Photographer), Anthony Turney (Introduction)

Always Remember documents an extraordinary collection of panels made for the AIDS Memorial Quilt by and for an international spectrum of fashion designers to honor friends and colleagues who have died of AIDS.
Reproduced together here for the first time in full color, these 79 panels include the hearts and signature handiwork of an international community of such fashion panelmakers as Giorgio Armani, Geoffrey Beene, Bill Blass, Oscar de La Renta, Dolce & Gabbana, Katharine Hamnett, Christian Lacroix, Isaac Mizrahi, Thierry Mugler, Todd Oldham, Rifat Ozbek, Ralph Lauren, Yves Saint Laurent, Anna Sui, Richard Tyler, Gianni Versace, and many more.
Accompanying each panel is a statement by the designer expressing the effect of AIDS on his or her life, what the loss of a loved one represents, and what inspired the panel's design. In Always Remember, the devastating impact of AIDS on the fashion industry is movingly explored.

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1996

Reviews

[Brian Kovesci · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lemme rill quick explain why this book pisses me off.

This book highlights fashion brands’ solicited contributions to the Names Project, also commonly called the AIDS Quilt. My issue in looking through this book is it became blatantly clear to me how the designers and brands were given more emphasis in many cases over the subjects of the panels, both in the panel design and in the book layout. For those of you in the dark, the Names Project, conceived by legendary SF gay hellraiser Cleve Jones, to bring visibility to the scale of the AIDS crisis. Each 3’x6’ panel, which is comparable to the size of a coffin, is made by friends, lovers and families of those who died of AIDS. This project was necessary as a platform to visualize to the world, and to the American government (under Reagan who were happily silent about the epidemic), the scale and toll of AIDS.

This book and the panels it showcases undermines the individual contribution to the Names Project, which gave visibility to everyday people who were killed by the virus. Many of the panels showcase content including the brand name, the studio sites and in one case the brand’s actual product. I can’t accurately convey how cringy this is for feeling like an exercise in self-promotion.

To be fair, many of the panels are for individuals, in keeping with the original intention of the project. However, many, maybe half of the panels, are for general victims and not specific people. It’s just gross.

[Weradi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I drove 400 miles to see a portion of The Names Project, the sections of quilt panels made by the loved ones of persons who died from AIDS-related illnesses, at the MSU field house in Bozeman, MT, in the early 90's. If viewing this doesn't move one to tears, I don't know what will. I read the book at the local library, which is a beautiful display of some of the panels, stories, and the history of the Names Project. The documentary, "Common Threads" won an Academy Award, and is equally as moving. Today, with medicine and better identification and less stigma, many fewer people are dying of AIDS, however, the spread of HIV is still out of control in Africa.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I acquired this book on a field trip with my big brother. When I was 18, he took me down to Washington D.C. to see the AIDS Quilt displayed. It was the last time it was going to be viewed in full because of how large it had grown. I could never put into words what it was like looking at all the panels, seeing inside all of these peoples lives. It was heart-wrenching and life altering. I bought this book as a small reminder of that trip. It doesn't come anywhere near to the experience of seeing it all in person, but it does give you little glimpses into the soul of the quilt itself.