Having focused on architecture and hairstyles in yesterday’s post, let’s focus back on fashion today in connection with and artist that has something to do with architecture, French Sculptor, painter and film-maker Niki de Saint Phalle.
The artist, born in 1930 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, worked as a fashion model when she was a teenager, appearing on the cover of Life magazine and in Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
Though this is the most evident connection between the artist and fashion, we could detect others in her use of colours and materials.
De Saint Phalle first
developed a passion for art after a nervous breakdown, creating a series of Shooting Paintings.
The latter consisted in shooting with a rifle polythene bags filled with paint enclosed under the plaster surface of the pictures.
Influenced by the work of Antoni Gaudí she started experimenting with different materials such as polyester and papier mâché on wire frameworks, creating very colourful pieces.
The artist is well-known all over the world for her giant female figures that she called “Nanas”, made of papier-mâché, yarn and cloth.
In some cases, such as the 1966 installation "Hon - En Katedral" ("She - A Cathedral") made in collaboration with artists Jean Tinguely and Per Olof Ultvedt, de Saint Phalle's sculptures were employed to create fantastic architectures.
De Saint Phalle also designed the sets and costumes for theatrical productions in the '60s, including a ballet by Roland Petit and an adaptation of Aristophanes' "Lysistrata", and wrote a few films, among them Un rêve plus long que la nuit (1971), featuring costumes by Greek painter and set designer Marina Karella.
One of Niki de Saint Phalle's most popular attraction is her wonderland garden, also known as the Giardino dei Tarocchi (Tarot Garden) based in Garavicchio, Tuscany, that features sculptures inspired by the symbols of the Tarot cards (Karella also created one piece featured in the garden).
Often considered as naive or purely playful and decorative, Niki de Saint Phalle’s pieces are actually extremely fascinating.
Visiting the Tarot Garden is a bit like getting lost in a sort of magic place in which walls and pillars characterised by sinuous shapes are covered in unusual materials such as mirrors and colourful glass and ceramic elements that create imaginative architectures from fantastic worlds.
Now let's move to fashion and see how the integration of specific elements in different materials can recreate sinuous shapes and movements and an alteration of the human body.
At the latest Central Saint Martins’s MA show that took place during London Fashion Week, the 22 collections presented seemed to favour geometrical shapes and body-morphing elements.
Body alterations were interestingly achieved through hidden bangles and rings, pleats and oversized rosettes, tufted elements, twisted cobweb knits and furry textures.
Students to keep an eye on included the two designers that shared the Harrods Design Award, Jackie Lee with her jersey tailored pieces, and Lilly Heine, who presented a collection based on layering decreasing squares of fabric and creating through them three-dimensional mille-feuille-like designs.
On the list of the ones to watch there was also Rok Hwang, recipient of the L’Oreal Professionnel award, with a series of maxi dresses in a black, blue, brown and nude palette decorated with graphic star shapes.
Amy Stephenson managed instead to integrate in her collection different materials, using them to change the shapes of her designs while giving them a sort of Niki de Saint Phalle quality.
Stephenson's jersey dresses in neutral and muted shades featured multi-coloured armour-like pieces or bangles and necklaces that proved instrumental to the designs.
The fabric of the dresses was indeed knotted to the glass pieces that, pulling the material in one direction or another, changed the shape and silhouette of the designs, creating sinuous movements and draped motifs.
To discover more about Niki de Saint Phalle, check out the exhibition that recently opened at the Château de Malbrouck, near Metz, France (until 29th August 2010), and that features over 100 works, including her shooting paintings and mosaic sculptures.
In the meantime, you can watch this video (in French) to get into the mood for visiting the exhibition or get further inspirations.
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