Flicking trough the French edition of Grazia magazine (more about it later on) I found a page with a picture headed “O.F.N.I.”, that is “Object Fashion Non Identifié”.
The unidentified fashion object in question was a pair of black leather gloves with lacquered red nails by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. "Ironically chic!", "Fun!" "Tremendous!", fashionistas may cry. "Fatal!" Grazia proclaims. "Pilfered!" I will add.
Many of us know that Schiaparelli did a pair of black gloves with red leather inserts where the nails should have been between 1936-1937.
In the last few years there have been many “tributes” to Schiaparelli, but the Autumn/Winter 09 – Dolce & Gabbana docent – is definitely the season for doing some serious Schiaparelli pilfering.
Open any fashion mag and you will be confronted by D&G campaigns shot by Steven Klein portraying what I could only define as photocopies of Schiap’s designs, fancy headdresses, Surrealist Dali clock necklaces, leg of mutton sleeves and glove scarves included.
What annoys me the most about such things is that they reveal how many designers are lacking fresh and interesting ideas.
It's amazing how something done in the mid-to-late 30 is still fashionable in 2009 and that in the third millennium we are not able to produce anything so memorable, but have to go out and, erm, "study the fashion archives" or "pay tributes" to previous fashion designer.
Another thing that annoys me is the fact that maybe some fashion designers think we are so ignorant and gullible not to recognise where some things came from.
Taking inspiration from the “O.F.N.I.” column on French Grazia, I will launch on this blog the “I.P.F.O.”, that is “Identified Pilfered Fashion Object”, a post in which I will analyse how some fashion designers pilfered, that is “paid homage to”, the work of other designers.
PS If you're dying to reproduce Schiap's gloves, get a pair of cheap gloves, fake nails/scraps of coloured leather and a bit of glue. That should save you quite a bit of money and also provide a little bit of silly fun.
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