Yesterday’s post closed with a reference to the Italian Futurists. So let’s move from there today to look at the use of different materials in art and fashion.
Writing about plastic complexes in 1912 in his "Manifesto della Scultura Futurista", Umberto Boccioni stated: “In a Futurist sculptural composition we will have surfaces of wood and metal, either fixed or mechanically mobile for an object, round woollen shapes for hair, semi-circles of glass for a vase, and length of wire and net for an atmospheric level. As many as twenty different materials can appear in the same work in the creation of plastic emotions. To name some: glass, wood, cardboard, iron, cement, horsehair, leather, fabric, mirrors, electric light, etc.”
The Futurists' passion for experimenting with different materials was soon applied to Giacomo Balla and Fortunato Depero’s complessi plastici (in metal, cotton, wool, silk…) and to fashion.
In the "Manifesto della Moda Femminile Futurista", the Futurists wrote: “We open the doors of the couturier’s salon to paper, cardboard, glass, tin-foil, aluminium, ceramics, rubber, fish-skin, packing cloth, string, hemp, gas, and to living plants and animals.”
Balla and Depero’s complessi plastici and Boccioni’s sculptures in polymaterials made in 1911-12 didn’t survive (the only sculpture in polymaterials that survived is Boccioni’s "Cavallo + Cavaliere + Casa"). Besides the Futurists' approach to materials remained bound to the philosophical realm and rarely transformed into proper works.
As the years passed quite a few artists left behind conventional materials and techniques traditionally associated with art, introducing in their works elements borrowed from everyday life.
Art was therefore released from the confines and use of specific materials. Representational restraints were discarded and the compositional field turned into a new universe with no boundaries.
Collage became one of the most innovative techniques for various art movements including the Constructivists and the Dadaists who turned to different materials and re-appropriated them incorporating different elements in their works.
Extraordinary materials revolutionised the world of art, shattering established art codes, becoming the main instruments of many innovative artists.
Picasso and Georges Braque introduced collage and papier collé; Kurt Schwitters produced throughout his life works made with pieces of machines, rags, buttons, wood, banknotes withdrawn from circulation, tram tickets and mirror fragments.
Joseph Beuys turned to fat, wax and felt; burlap, metal, coal and wool appeared in Jannis Kounellis’s works; Alberto Burri used sacks, wood, metal, cellotex and combustion, focusing on the power of density and on the tactile quality of materials.
Using a variation of materials in fashion is the key to create interesting designs.
Quite a few Japanese designers - among them Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo, but also younger ones such as Nozomi Ishiguro - employ in their collections collage-like techniques in conjunction with deconstructivist inspirations.
The idea of collage and original combinations of materials reappeared also in some of the Spring/Summer 2011 collections such as Michael van der Ham’s.
The Dutch-born but London-based designer incorporated in his designs different fabrics (such as velvet, cotton and silk), prints, techniques (from draped elements to embroideries), but also motifs from different decades and eras, combining a sleeve from the ‘20s, with a section of a dress from the ‘50s for example.
Pastiche, collage and montage reappeared in some way also in van der Ham’s Autumn/Winter 2011-12 collection in which he mixed in the same design velvet with Lurex, covering at times the latter with cascades of fringes.
From a visual point of view collages of multimaterials are extremely interesting and inspiring (and, obviously, the main principle behind them could also be successfully applied to accessories and jewellery).
Besides their randomness and chaos could easily symbolise the rather confusing times we are living in and the multitude of inspirations and ideas that hit us every day via mobile phones and computer screens.
Yet, from a sartorial point of view, assembling different materials together without giving structure to a design could also easily lead to the creation of unidentified masses of clothes randomly stitched on the body.
While they may evoke the principles behind Tullio Crali’s "abito scomponibile" ("decomposable dress" - first image in this post), these designs somehow end up lacking the dynamism of the latter, but also lack something else, innovation.
The Futurist's manifesto for womenswear prompted people to dare with dramatic asymmetrical hemlines and colourful motifs or incorporating lights, camera lenses and fragrance-spraying devices inside dresses; Crali introduced instead ideas that were later stolen by fashion designers, from the "anti-tie shirt" for men to blazers with no lapels and pockets and jackets with only one lapel that hid the breast pocket. Yet, the more I look at the contemporary and wearable version of arty collages and the more I wonder, so where are the incredible innovations and are we using such collages to hide mistakes and weak cutting skills?
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