Trying to reinvent itself as a cool cosmopolitan European capital capable of attracting new (and possibly stylish) tourists, Glasgow forgot in the last few years that, sometimes, the best way to reinvent yourself is to look inward and rediscover your identity rather than trying to copy others.
Maybe Glasgow has finally understood the lesson: looking inside itself in its case meant to finally dig out of the local museum archives 40 prints taken from the 17 volumes of the French magazine Journal des Dames et des Modes and organise around them an exhibition (that opened two days ago), entitled “A La Mode”, at the Scotland Street School Museum.
Inspired by the 18th and 19th centuries journals, the seminal French magazine founded by Tom Antongini, secretary, friend and biographer of poet and writer Gabriele D'Annunzio, and published between 1912 and 1914 (the first issue appeared on 1 June 1912; the last on 1 August 1914) represents together with La Gazette du Bon Ton, founded and published by Lucien Vogel, and Modes et Manieres d'Aujourd'hui, issued by Corrard and Meynial, one of the most famous early examples of illustrated fashion and style publications.
The luxury magazine was aimed at an exclusive readership: it was indeed published in just 1,279 copies and came out three times a month.
The Journal des Dames et des Modes featured fashion notes, poetry and aphorisms written by Anatole France, Jean Cocteau and the Comtesse de Noailles among the others, plus one to five unbound coloured fashion plates per issue.
The plates were illustrated by artists such as George Barbier, Léon Bakst, Pierre Legrain, Etienne Drian, Victor Lheur, Gerda Wegener, Jan van Brock, Armand Vallee, Roger Broders and Umberto Brunelleschi.
The most important thing about the magazine was that, though inspired by contemporary fashion trends (such as Orientalism and the Ballets Russes's costumes), many illustrations included didn't show any specific garments by famous designers of those times.
Indeed, the outfits were in many cases created by the different illustrators working for the magazine who were granted complete freedom of expression.
The magazine became famous for establishing new canons in fashion illustration.
The publication recorded the changes women’s wear (and also men and children’s costumes) went through showing ladies engaged in different activities, from playing tennis to walking on a beach or relaxing in the house.
The fashion plates were vividly coloured using the ‘au pochoir’ printing process, a technique that was rather popular between the early 1900s until the middle of the 1930s in which up to thirty colour screens or stencils were employed to colour into the designs of the copper plate engravings.
Examples of such techniques can be admired in the magazine’s regular feature, the “Costumes Parisienes” section that showed the latest trends in Parisian fashion.
While Barbier remains one of my favourite fashion illustrators, there are two plates from the Journal that I’m totally in love with.
One shows the Paul Poiret-inspired “Pagode” illustrated by Etienne Drian and the other is “Arlequine” by Alberto Fabio Lorenzi, better known as Fabius.
The Italian painter, book illustrator and advertising artist who moved from Florence to Paris where he became a poster artist and where he contributed to French magazines Fantasio, Le Sourire and Femina and to the English journal's Eve and Pan.
I'm totally obsessed with Fabius' "Arlequine" since the lady portrayed looks like some kind of modern and strong superheroine and the design she wears seems to anticipate Schiaparelli’s Harlequin-inspired designs, fashion trends inspired by the Commedia dell’Arte, Vivienne Westwood’s 1989 iconic suit and other Harlequin designs previously explored.
I’m sure some of the illustrations featured in the Glasgow-based exhibition will offer some interesting inspiration to fashion, print and textile designers, but also to illustrators and photographers.
The event will also offer the chance to join different activities and take part in millinery and jewellery workshops.
The most interesting activities organised in conjunction with “A La Mode” are actually the lectures and talks that will focus on the illustrated history of fashion prints, fashion during the Belle Epoque and the collection of fashion prints and patterns of the Glasgow Museums.
I hope that in some ways this exhibition will make the visitors ponder a little bit more on the connections between fashion trends and society.
As Anatole France wrote in the first issue of the Journal: "It is impossible to understand a society if one does not know which fashions are governing it. I believe that any scholar of the revolution or Empire who has not leafed through enough fashion magazines to be extremely limited…”
“A La Mode” is at the Scotland Street School Museum, Glasgow, until 17th October 2010.
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