In a post written two years ago I drew a comparison between fashion and art moving from the works of Flemish artist Jan Fabre and in particular from his installations "Pietas", "Heaven of Delight", "Skull with Budgerigar" and "I had to demolish a part of the ceiling of the Royal Palace because there was something growing out of it". In these installations the artist employed thousands of shells from the Buprestidae beetle and glued them together to create the different forms and patterns for his artworks.
In that post I also wondered if, since the gleaming metallic iridescences of this beetle (produced by the microscopic texture in its cuticle that selectively reflects specific frequencies of light in different directions) are particularly beautiful, it would have been possible to reproduce them by employing some kind of technology in the textile industry.
Two years after that post, two young Haute Couture houses decided to use Fabre's idea in their creations. The beetles and their iridescent nuances reappered in a carapace-like jacket with matching bag by Serkan Cura and as the main theme of On Aura Tout Vu's collection.
Livia Stoianova and Yassen Samouilov created designs with prints of beetles or made with iridescent or transparent fabrics that evoked wing-like textures, then appliqued on their gowns the shells of over 10,000 Buprestidae beetles to embellish their designs, creating spiky motifs around the shoulder area or using the shells as decorative elements.
It is interesting to see that once again fashion is borrowing from art in a very literary way, applying the same material used by an artist in a fashion collection without doing further researches about it (at least Fabre justified his choice of material with the main themes he deals with including the transience of life, eternity and extreme beauty).
There are actually previous correspondences between art and the use of the Buprestidae wings in fashion, or rather in costumes: one of the earliest use of the Buprestidae shells as decorations occurred in the late 1800s. Actress Ellen Terry wore indeed a gown covered in 1,000 Buprestidae wings when she played Lady Macbeth in 1880 (the play was directed by Henry Irving).
John Singer Sargent painted Terry wearing the gown. The costume was reused on many later tours, crossing the Atlantic at least twice, so it was worn down and restored in 2011.
The shiny elytra (the shield-like wings) of Buprestidae beetles are collected once the beetle is dead, so you naturally wonder if these insects will go extinct at some point (it is worth reminding though that many beetles, butterflies and other insects are collected sustainably, so this may not happen). But there is something else you wonder when seeing such collections, why did the young designers behind them use the same material as starting points for the same season?
Maybe we all just go and see the same art exhibitions/installations to get inspired or we are just borrowing things off each other without bothering to find better and more original ideas. So, sho knows if this is just a mere coincidence or another occult fashion correspondence. The mystery remains.
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Those all the above fabric designs are awesome. I can say that it is made perfectly designed for the slim and attractive look.