One of the most photographed things at Pitti Bimbo 79 was the wall of balloon flowers at Missoni's stand. It was colourful and fun, and attracted the attention of grown ups and children (especially of those little ones confined to work as models in their family/relatives/friends' booths...), yet it wasn't the most inspiring detail of the stand.
Missoni's Spring/Summer 2015 baby and childrenswear collection will be characterised by the traditional colourful wave and zigzagging motifs of the historical fashion house, replicated on bibs, jumpsuits, leggings, dresses and tops in pastel shades.
Baby wear options were also quite cute, though maybe they focused a bit too much on gender divisions and the pale blue/navy for boys and red/pink for girls stereotypes.
The best pieces out of the collections were actually the accessories and in particular the straw hats and the turban-like headgear.
One baby hat was characterised by a decorative turban-like motif that could be replicated using the tubes made with the French knitting technique.
The best one, though, was a proper turban in white with colourful stripes of yellow, blue, black and pink with a matching top and skirt with geometrical zigzagging lines.
The ensemble looked rather desirable in a Sonia Delaunay kind of way, and proved a hit with quite a few ladies visiting the stand.
Time will tell if, come next season, this will be a fashionable look for kids; in the meantime, the turban (for little girls or grown up women...) could maybe turn into an inspiration for knitting enthusiasts looking for a cool Summer project. Enjoy!
Genuine fashion fans with some knowledge of history know that paintings are a great way to discover exquisite tailoring and dressmaking skills, expand one's knowledge about certain textiles and fabrics and, why not, get the occasional style tip.
Portraits of key figures living in the courts are particularly inspiring as they can act as perfect introductions to luxurious garments and accessories, while conveying specific messages about the social position, status and religion of the portrayed characters, highlighting also the changes in style and fashion attire. These are the main aims behind the exhibition "In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion" at the Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh (on until today).
Exploring the style of the rich and famous, the event focuses on the 16th and 17th centuries and includes several paintings, drawings, and jewellery pieces selected from the Royal Collection, and rare examples of clothing and accessories borrowed from other institutions including The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle; the Fashion Museum, Bath and North East Somerset Council; The Glove Collection Trust and Grimsthorpe and Drummond Castle Trust.
Personal appearance was extremely important for the Tudor and Stuart elite, deciding one's political and professional success, as the courtiers reflected the glory of the monarch through their own attires. Social advance was achieved for most people through the medium of dress, and clothing was therefore fundamental to the making and managing of the social self.
Laws that related to apparel proved the importance of clothing: the first statute appeared in 1337, followed by a 1363 act that indicated social estates and occupations and prohibited specific textiles.
More statutes were issued during the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I: the former enforced five regulatory orders (and was personally responsible for portions of the second 1515 law); the latter introduced twelve, proving that apparel was a key matter for the legislative assembly and the crown as well.
As excess of apparel was deemed a public offence, the orders stated which fabrics, colours and types of garment could be worn at each level of society: "Cloth of gold" (incorporating gold-wrapped thread), crimson-dyed fabrics and certain types of fur were for example reserved to people of the highest status.
Important events such as marriage or elevation to a knightly order meant new costumes and commissioned paintings and, believe it or not, what the sitter wore was often more expensive than the painting itself: in 1632 Charles I paid Sir Anthony van Dyck £100 for a portrait of the royal family, but spent £5,000 a year on clothes. Garments were indeed particularly expensive since it took a long time to make the fabrics and decorate them; rare materials such as pure gold and silver were also incorporated in the clothes.
Specific paintings like a 16th portrait of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's Spanish consort, introduce visitors to exquisite techniques like blackwork, that created geometric or naturalistic designs in black silk on white linen.
But there is plenty to discover about menswear as well: the basic articles of male dress in the 16th and 17th century were the doublet, hose and cloak and, in 1666, Charles II introduced the vest, coat and breeches ensemble, ushering in a new trend that spread pretty quickly and that also introduced the precursor of the modern three-piece suit.
Little happened to the basic construction of the components of the woman's wardrobe - bodice, skirt and gown - over the 16th and 17th centuries.
Miniatures and paintings in the exhibition allow to look at elaborate ruffs characterised by complex layers and pleats, ample skirts and long-fingered gloves (they indicated that the wearer wasn't doing any physical or pratical work). Major changes arrived around the 1670s with the development of the mantua, a one-piece gown that replaced the separate bodice and skirt.
The exhibition also boasts rare accessories like a purse in the shape of a frog and jewellery pieces full of symbolism and set with stones thought to hold magical properties.
The rarest piece remains the Darnley or Lennox Jewel, a gold heart-shaped locket set with rubies, emeralds and diamonds probably commissioned in the late 16th century by Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, in memory of her husband the Earl of Lennox and Regent of Scotland. Allegorical symbols inside the jewel - such as a phoenix rising - allude to the Countess's hopes for the legacy of her family, perhaps through her grandson, born to Lord Darnley and Mary, Queen of Scots, who later became James VI and I.
There is plenty to see in the exhibition when it comes to paintings and rare pieces that will make people think about the changes in the configuration of the body, the way certain designs affected the spaces where the wearer moved and the interaction between people.
Transgression and cross-dressing in the 16th and 17th century aren't really tackled, which is a shame, but there are hints at gender fluidity in a few paintings, considering also that Anne of Denmark and Catherine of Braganza were known for their occasional manly styles, even though they mainly donned adaptation of clothes cut for females with alterations that allowed them to resemble male attire.
One point is missing, though: being very expensive assets, clothes were passed through many hands, from the riches to the poor, eventually turning into rags and, as poet John Taylor suggested in "The Praise of Hemp Seed" (1630), some ended up being processed and recycled and eventually turned to paper, so, there will perhaps be plenty to explore in a future exhibition that may look at clothes "from riches to rags".
As a whole "In Fine Style" is the sort of art and fashion exhibit that could be read at different levels as a history of art, power, beauty, wealth and, above all, the gentility of disciplined physicality.
Image credits for this post
1. Attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, "Anne of Denmark", 1614. The Royal Collection Trust/ (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2013.
2. Joos van Cleve, "Henry VIII", c. 1530-35. The Royal Collection Trust/ (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2013.
3. British School, "James V of Scotland", c.1540. The Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2014.
4. Nicholas Hilliard, "James VI and I", c.1609. The Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2014.
5. Hans Holbein the Younger, "William Parr, later Marquess of Northhampton", c.1538-42. The Royal Collection Trust/ (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2013.
6. Nicholas Hilliard, 'Elizabeth I', c.1595-1600. Royal Collection Trust/ (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2013.
7 – 8. Nicholas Hilliard, Pendant (c. 1600) with Miniature of Queen Elizabeth I (c. 1585). The Royal Collection Trust/ (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2013.
9. Embroidered gloves, c.1595-1605. Courtesy The Glove Collection Trust.
10. Gold thread and yellow taffeta purse in the shape of a frog, 17th century. The Royal Collection Trust/ (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2013.
11. The Darnley or Lennox Jewel, c.1571-8. The Royal Collection Trust/ (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2013.
12. Simon Verelst, Mary of Modena, c.1675. The Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2014.
13. Woman's embroidered waistcoat (1610-20). The Fashion Museum, Bath and North East Somerset Council.
Summer is an ideal time to relax and get crafty, and knitting is a great way to achieve both things.
There are actually quite a few appointments scheduled at the moment that may be of interest to knitting enthusiasts: this weekend (19th and 20th July) the National Museum of Scotland is hosting different events as part of the Edinburgh Fashion Festival (17-25 July 2014; in its third year, despite being run in a rather clueless and random way...).
Organised in collaboration with the Danish Cultural Institute, the exhibition "Knit Works!" will allow visitors to look at contemporary knitwear by Icelandic STEiNUNN, Norwegian Arne and Carlos (well-known for their knitted dolls), Danish Maiken Espensen and Scottish cashmere company Brora (produced in the same Scottish mill for over 200 years; it rose to the attention of a younger fashion audience a couple of years ago after up-and-coming designer Michael van der Ham did a 12-piece capsule collection for them).
Knitting enthusiasts who prefer to actively join in rather than sit and look, can get their hands working at the Nordic Knitathon (on today and tomorrow), an open workshop where knitters of all ages and experience can collaborate to create a giant blanket that will then be showcased at various venues starting from the Stirling Museum and Art Gallery (25 July - 29 August 2014).
Tomorrow during the "Rhythm Knitting" with STEiNUNN the designer will introduce a different approach to knitting by letting her hands be guided by the beat of a drum and teach people to knit without needles; Arne and Carlos will instead demonstrate how to crochet a little flower from one of their own special patterns.
As part of the Summer of Colour celebrations in Margate, fish knitted by local people co-ordinated by artists Emily Tull and Jenny Duff will be appearing across the town to welcome "Coat for a Boat" at Turner Contemporary, an event to celebrate the local fishing industry.
Inspired by Margate’s seaside heritage, artist Dan Chilcott and local makers created an exhibition that includes a full-scale fishing boat swathed in a knitted coat.
If you find yourself in a country where the sun and high temperatures may discourage your knitting practice, just don't dispair, but try working with lighter yarns or travel to a colder place with the Stitchtopia knitting holidays (there is also the patchwork/quilting option available). In a nutshell, there are plenty of ways to knit your Summer away, just don't forget to pack your needles!
Florence rarely disappoints in terms of art exhibitions, and people with an interest in Italian paintings from the 1500s still have a final chance (until 20th July 2014) to visit a unique event featuring works by Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino, currently on at Palazzo Strozzi.
Curated by Antonio Natali, director of the Uffizi Gallery, and Carlo Falciani, lecturer in Art History, "Pontormo and Rosso. Diverging Paths of Mannerism" is a landmark exhibition since it features around 80 works - paintings, frescoes, drawings and tapestries - loaned by museums from all over the world including the Florence-based Galleria Palatina and the Uffizi, the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, the National Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Rather than looking at realism, Mannerists focused on elegance, refinement and style, creating in their paintings artful compositions characterised by distorted poses, twisting limbs and ambiguous figures with a strange kind of beauty that surprised. The Renaissance rules of perspective were also ignored by the Mannerists in favour of the representation of symbolic and visionary landscapes.
Trained under Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo and Rosso represented two sides of the Mannerist coin, they had indeed two different stylistic approaches. The exhibition curators tried to free the artists from the bonds that tie them to categories, restoring their independence: Jacopo da Pontormo (original name Jacopo Carrucci) enjoyed the patronage of the Medici family and became known for renewing the traditional approach to composition; Giovanni Battista di Jacopo, better known as Rosso Fiorentino, was instead more tightly bound to tradition, while influenced by Cabalistic literature and esoteric works.
Divided into different sections in chronological order, the exhibition provides visitors with the chance to take a fresh look at the paintings, most of which have been specially restored for the occasion, and opens with three frescoes from the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata - Andrea del Sarto's Journey of the Magi (1511), Rosso's Assumption of the Virgin (1513) and Pontormo's Visitation (1514), alongside the San Marco Altarpiece painted by Fra Bartolomeo (Rosso's spiritual mentor) and Albertinelli. Andrea del Sarto was twenty-three when he began to work in the votive cloister in the Annunziata, and, in 1511, the adolescents Rosso and Pontormo started to frequent the workshop of del Sarto, but their stylistic differences were already evident.
Moving from del Sarto’s Annunciation, the following section analyses the divergence in form and content between the two artists’ works, as Pontormo was influenced by the legacy of Leonardo, while Rosso was interested in experimenting with the Quattrocento tradition.
The differences became more striking by 1517 when del Sarto painted the Madonna of the Harpies, compared in the exhibition with Rosso's Spedalingo Altarpiece (1518) and Pontormo’s Pucci Altarpiece (1518; this work marks the peak of Pontormo's first period of activity).
While Pontormo opted for a modern style becoming the Medici's painter of choice, Rosso preserved an anachronistic style turning into the favourite painter of the Florentine aristocrats opposed to the Medici and intent on keeping alive the values of the republic. Forced to leave the city in mid-1519, Rosso went in search of work to Piombino, Naples and Volterra where he reached a peak of abstract archaism. Pontormo in the meantime painted portraits of members of the Medici family and Florentine nobles in which he managed to capture and convey the sitters' inner personality.
A section devoted to drawings allows visitors to examine the development of the styles and techniques that the two painters used in their preparatory sketches: some of the drawings illustrate paintings that can't be displayed in exhibitions because of their size (the Deposition and Annunciation in the Church of Santa Felicita) or because they have been lost (the Souls Rising Out of Purgatory and the Flood in the choir of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence).
Among the major drawings by Rosso there are a study of Saint Sebastian in the Dei Altarpiece, loaned by the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, and a design for an altarpiece from the British Museum, these works allow visitors to track the development of his style from Florence to the court of France where he was inspired by Michelangelo. The Madonna of the Holy Girdle from Volognano; the restored Marriage of the Virgin from the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence; the Death of Cleopatra from the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig; and the Deposition from the Cross from Sansepolcro also help visitors following Rosso Fiorentino's travels across Italy and to France.
Pontormo introduced northern European figurative elements and the influence of Dürer in the Supper at Emmaus from the Uffizi, which he painted for the refectory of the Certosa di Galluzzo monastery.
Pontormo’s Supper is contrasted in this section with the Marriage of the Virgin (painted for Carlo Ginori, a follower of Savonarola) in which Rosso introduces important iconographic variations such as the youth of St Joseph.
In late 1523 or early 1524, Rosso moved to Rome where he decorated the Cesi Chapel in Santa Maria della Pace and where he discovered classical sculpture and the innovations of Raphael’s school and developed a sophisticated painterly style.
Pontormo and Rosso responded differently to the events that marked Italian history in the following years - the Sack of Rome in 1527 and the Republican Florence yielding to the Medici after being besieged by the troops of Emperor Charles V.
Two paintings in the exhibition captured the distance separating the two artists - Rosso's Deposition in Borgo San Sepolcro and Pontormo's Visitation in Carmignano (Palazzo Strozzi currently hosts also The Greeting by Bill Viola, a work inspired by Pontormo's Visitation).
As the Medici returned to power in Florence in 1530, Pontormo continued working for them, decorating their villas in Castello and Careggi, and working on the now lost frescoes in San Lorenzo. Rosso never returned to Florence, seeking refuge along with other like-minded exiles at the court of Francis I in France, where he succeeded in achieving his dream of becoming a highly valued court artist. The two tapestries Pontormo designed for Cosimo I are juxtaposed to the tapestry that once adorned the gallery of Fontainebleau, inspired by Rosso’s frescoes, to chronicle the artists' court roles.
The exhibition closes with two editions of Giorgio Vasari's Lives, the first one, printed by Lorenzo Torrentino in 1550, open at the life of Rosso Fiorentino, the second, published by Giunti in 1568, at the life of Pontormo.
"Rosso Fiorentino and Pontormo developed new modes of expression in comparison with the other artists of their time," state curators Natali and Falciani in an interview accompanying the press release to the exhibition. "Their sharp swerve away from the early 16th century classicism of Raphael, and even from what Vasari called Andrea del Sarto’s painting 'without error', took place around 1514, but each painter then pursued the new 'manner' in a different and independent way. They're identical in their determination to innovate, in their intellectual freedom, in their failure to toe the traditional line and in their ability to mirror complex, troubled times in a figurative style with the loftiest poetic content. However, they are very different in the specific nature of their artistic vocabularies. The exhibition's main contribution to scholarship is that it will allow scholars and visitors to explore the differences in the two artists' figurative vocabulary and in the content of their work."
Image credits for this post
1. Jacopo Carrucci, known as Pontormo (1494-1557), "Visitation", 1528; Oil on panel; 202 x 156 cm; Carmignano, Pieve di San Michele;
2. Giovan Battista di Jacopo, known as Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1540), "Madonna and Child with the Young St John the Baptist", c. 1515; Oil on panel; 102.1 x 77.5 cm; Frankfurt, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, inv. no. 952;
3. Jacopo Carrucci, known as Pontormo (1494-1557), "Double Portrait of Friends", 1523-1524; Oil on panel; 88.2 x 68 cm; Venice, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Galleria di Palazzo Cini; Cini 40025;
4. Giovan Battista di Jacopo, known as Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1540), "The Death of Cleopatra", c. 1525; Oil on panel; 88 x 75 cm; Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich - Museum Braunschweig, Kunstmuseum des Landes Niedersachsen, inv. GG 479;
5. Jacopo Carrucci, known as Pontormo (1494-1557), "The penitent Saint Jerome", c. 1529; Tempera on panel; 105 x 80 cm; Hannover, Landesmuseum, inv. KM 132.54.
Horst P. Horst's 1939 photograph of a model in a lace-up corset designed by Mainbocher transcends time, being a perfect example of sensuality, elegance and style.
The image is indeed charged with visual fantasy and eroticism and could be used as one of the milestones to tell the story of lingerie.
The book - written by Colleen Hill, Associate Curator of Accessories at FIT - is actually the catalogue for the eponymous exhibition currently on at the museum (open until 15th November 2014; visit it online at this link) and could be described as a photographic journey through the history of lingerie.
Steele's introduction briefly traces the main changes occurred in underwear from the Middle Ages on, but Hill's short descriptions accompanied by adverts, archival illustrations and images of the garments included in the exhibition shot by Eileen Costa, are an accessible way (especially for students and amateur lingerie fans) to get introduced to this topic.
Exposed opens with a rare quilted petticoat from 1765 and a sky-blue silk corset with decorative ivory ribbons from 1770, but page after page readers will be confronted by handmade bandeau bras, elegant dressing gowns, elaborate peignoirs (that is combing dresses, wrappers and morning robes), whimsical stockings embroidered with playing cards, light combinations (a single garment joining a camisole and drawers), romantic nightgowns, lavish tea gowns trimmed with mink fur and exotic lounging pyjamas.
There are actually fascinating topics linked with lingerie: exploring early underwear is already interesting, but quite a few readers will find more intriguing looking at the architectural importance that some of these elaborate understructures had throughout the decades in shaping and reshaping the female silhouette - think about a bustle from 1880, employed to emphasise the posterior, or a bust supporter from 1905 that reveals the secret behind the "monobosom" silhouette.
The book and the exhibition feature quite a few highlights including a "Delphos" tea gown by Fortuny in a burnt copper shade; a silk crepe chiffon nightgown by esteemed designer of couture lingerie Juel Park (whose clientele included Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor); a 1949 Poirette bra matched with a Dior petticoat, key items to achieve the "New Look" silhouette; Rudi Gernreich's "no bra" made with sheer nylon to highlight the natural look and Erica Tanov's white minimalist linen pyjamas.
Towards the end of the volume the author hints at the transition of lingerie from foundation garment to outerwear, looking at designs such as Fernando Sanchez's dressing gown, that could be used as an evening dress as well, or Suki Cohen's sculptural bodysuit and bolero jacket in stretch nylon and neoprene.
Most of the designs included were made in France, the USA and the UK, and while you wish there would have been a spotlight also on Italian lingerie (Emilio Pucci's 1969 body stocking for Formfit Rogers makes an appearance and an ensemble by La Perla from 2014 gets a mention, but La Perla was sold to an American company in 2008), there are enough contemporary brands included (Victoria's Secret, A. F. Vanderhorst, Agent Provocateur and L.A.M.B. for Hanky Panky) that will get younger readers interested.
The history of fashion is long and features iconic garments and designers, but so is the intimate history of lingerie and Exposed, with its cherry red corsets, yellow silk chiffon nightgowns and pink lace bras and decorative silk appliqué motifs, provides a good introduction.
Yesterday's post focused on inspiration, training one's eyes to beauty and majolica tiles being incorporated in fashion designs.
Let's continue the thread today by looking at finding inspirations without moving from your computer and start from the Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics.
Based in an 18th century palace that once belonged to Maria Louise van Hessen-Kassel, Princess of Orange-Nassau in the historical centre of Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, the museum offers visitors the chance to see a vast collection of ceramics comprising around 35,000 objects and including superb art nouveau and elegant Chinese porcelain pieces, as well as work by artists such as Picasso.
If you can't visit the museum in person, you can still check its archive online, search the collections and even store object details if you register and log in.
Among the future highlights scheduled at the Princessehof there is the exhibition "Time for Tea" (from 6 September 2014 to 31 May 2015).
The event will transport visitors through different countries and times and introduce them to tea culture in China, Japan, and the Netherlands during the 17th and 18th centuries, England in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the Netherlands during the 20th and 21st centuries.
The importance of social tea drinking and of the art of serving tea will be explored through 1,000 items and ceramic objects - sets, bowls and cups, teapots and tea caddies - used for serving and drinking tea.
Some of the highlights? Austere pottery of the Chinese Buddhists, the famous blue-and-white porcelain used by the Ming Dynasty elite, and large teapots from English sets. The event will also be accompanied by a series of events, lectures and guided tours.
The Rijksmuseum's Rijksstudio continues to be a great source of inspiration for creative minds all over the world.
A while back the museum joined forces with Etsy and there is currently an Etsy page available in which Rijksstudio introduces its digital images to use for Etsy.
You will find there some of the most interesting projects made so far by different designers inspired by carefully selected objects from the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
Norwegian Wood came up for example with a shirt and skirt inspired by a necklace from 1750, a lingerie set that moves from a marvellous cabinet from the mid-1600s with mosaic panels incorporating a selection of hardstones and semi-precious stones made in Florence at the Opificio delle pietre dure, and a kimono integrating sections of this cabinet and the painting "The Threatened Swan" by Jan Asselijn (c. 1650), with a fierce swan defending its nest aganst a dog (probably a political allegory as the white swan was thought to represent the Dutch statesman Johan de Witt protecting the country from its enemies).
Masha Reva cut out elements of "Still Life with Golden Goblet" (1640-1660) by painter Pieter de Ring, and printed them onto her white long sleeved dress, achieving a fun and original effect. The white dress looks indeed like a blank page on which a cheeky child applied colourful stickers.
Clara Apolit moved instead from "The Love Letter" (c. 1669-1670) by Johannes Vermeer, representing a domestic scene with an elegantly dressed woman and a maidservant handing her a letter, for the main palette in her knitwear.
There are also some intriguing examples of accessories: the batik motifs on the uniform of one official in the anonymous paintings "Five Javanese court officials" (1820-1870) provided Tovicorrie with original patterns for a calf skin leather clutch bag.
The Etsy + Rijksstudio page also includes shoes and jewellery. The only downside is that, after visiting it, you will be compelled to go online and end up spending hours checking some of the 150,000 objects from the collection of Rijksmuseum's Rijksstudio. But, in a way, that's a small price to pay to get such lovely inspirations...
There are wonderful inspirations for fashion collections all over the world and by educating yourself at spotting beauty and keeping your eyes open you will be able to easily spot them.
In Anacapri there is for example a wonderful little church dedicated to San Michele that has an astonishing feature - the floor is entirely made with tiles representing Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden.
Walking around Capri you will also be able to spot amazing benches covered in majolica tiles forming exquisite images, while the beauty of the benches and octagonal columns of the famous cloister of the Santa Chiara complex in Naples will remain embedded in your mind forever, thanks to the yellow and blue swirls, decorative elements and delicate scenes painted on the majolica tiles in Rococò style.
Fragments of floors and majolica tiles from the 16th century can also be admired at the National Museum of San Martino housed inside the Certosa di San Martino (St. Martin's Charterhouse) in Naples.
The museum collection preserves indeed intriguing examples of tiles with geometrical elements and decorations.
All these inspirations were infused in the Autumn/Winter 2014-15 Alta Moda (High Fashion) collection by Dolce & Gabbana, showcased last week to roughly two hundred people on the island of Capri.
Quite often you feel that D&G reserve these events to just a few people - mainly wealthy clients with some selected members of the foreign press added - because if they invited too many educated Italian journalists, the latter would immediately spot the obvious references in the collections and would therefore be less surprised than their foreign colleagues (and than foreign buyers/clients...).
As much as surprising the opening lavish ball gowns with enormous crinolined skirts were, you couldn't really get out of your mind the impression that they were remixed versions - with embellished bodices and a series of hand-painted yellow, green, blue and red stripes on white background borrowed from classic deckchairs - of the iconic ball gown in Visconti's The Leopard.
The colours of local majolica tiles reappeared on another hand-painted ball gown that wouldn't have looked out of place in the cloister of Santa Chiara; citrus fruits were the inspirations for the jewellery and lemons also reappeared as painted motifs on a striped parasol, while the iconic faraglioni in Capri and the Amalfi coastline were reproduced as tiles on a design hemmed with lynx fur.
Crowns, bejewelled bodices and swimsuits encrusted with crystals were maybe references to the San Gennaro treasure in Naples, but floral day wear, flat sandals with beaded flowers or good-luck charms and straw bags evoked the looks of choice of the famous celebrities that used to holiday on the island of Capri in the '50s - Liz Taylor and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis included (while the stark black dresses with inset bodices were classic D&G's "widow dresses").
While the rich marvel, if you like the looks don't despair at the news that a) you can't afford them and b) there is only one of each of these designs available (and they are already more or less sold out...). Just go around Capri/Naples and take pictures of your favourite majolica tiles, get them digitally printed on fabric, then come up with your own design.
You may not be super-rich and you may not be one of the stars that in the '50s walked around Capri followed by the paparazzi, but you would at least be able to tell people where those tiles come from. In the meantime, remember to keep on educating your eyes to beauty.
Call me a cynical woman belabouring the obvious, but the truth behind a lot of the latest allegedly cutting edge products and collaborations between unlikely entities happening in the fashion industry are dictated by nothing else but money.
A few examples? In June Luxottica announced a collaboration with high profile blogger Scott Schuman, from The Sartorialist. A man whose adverse behaviour at people wearing glasses (not sunglasses) usually materialised in his look of pity and contempt and who would only shoot them if they looked cool (i.e. only if they were Japanese or sported a beard), Schuman has now realised that maybe there is nothing wrong with taking pictures of bespectacled people, especially if you get paid for doing so.
Unfortunately, he still feels embarrassed at the idea, that's why he calls glasses "opticals", considers them as "accessories" rather than as a proper aids to enhance one's vision, obviously only takes picture of stylish people (who probably don't need to wear them 24 hours a day...) looking good in "opticals", and he'd rather be filmed with a pair of random glasses in his hand rather than on his face. Watch the video for the project and have fun (note: the comments have been disabled otherwise they would have been hilarious) and don't forget to wear your most nerdish glasses possibly held together with thick tape while you're near The Sartorialist - he will probably turn into ashes like a vampire in the sunlight, but it will be totally worth it.
The second embarrassing collaboration is Karl Lagerfeld's obnoxious cat Choupette fronting a holiday makeup range for Shu Uemura ("Shupette" - yes, how clever) and getting a deal for a sort of diary book that will include notes of her personal vet and maid (Choupette: The Private Life of a High-Flying Fashion Cat, set to be released on Thames & Hudson in September, obviously with photographs by Lagerfeld himself), the sort of book probably hastily compiled by a ghost writer with tight deadlines in three days (hopefully he/she was paid for doing so). We all felt these two things were absolutely needed in our sad lives.
If you don't find silly enough The Sartorialist's discovery of people wearing glasses and immoral enough the way a cat is pampered like a queen while people out there are starving, the next collaboration is what you're waiting for.
As you may have heard, Adidas teamed up with Marina Abramović for a film project celebrating the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Totally reeking of money and desperation, the project was allegedly made to highlight the importance of teamwork and came out in the form of a short film (accompanied by scary music suggesting suspense and relaxing pretentiousness) conceived as the re-staging of a project performed in 1978 by Abramović and former partner Ulay and focused on the efficient method of transporting stones from one end of a room to the other.
Shame that in a controversial and rather sad edition of the World Cup - that closed yesterday with Germany winning against Argentina - in between overpaid footballers generally misbehaving and acting violently on the pitch and one player per team being hailed as THE hero, the message was completely lost.
So tragic that Adidas splashes money on such useless things in collaboration with Abramović, a woman otherwise best known for discovering the obvious and glorifying it (yes, when you transport bricks in a team you finish the job in a quicker way...but there are further hilarious suggestions that are part of her method in this video for The Guardian), while their workers in Cambodia (Adidas moved production there as the cost of wages increased in China) are still struggling to get a fair wage.
Maybe next time it would be interesting to splash less money on sponsorship deals with footballers (Adidas pays players such as Argentina's Messi over $3m a year) and ask Abramović to state the obvious about human exploitation (what about a film on the theme "one can't work well on bad labour conditions and with low wages"?)
Apparently we - the final consumers - should all be reacting with global excitement and huge expectations about such clever products and collaborations. But maybe the time has come to open our eyes a bit more and start reacting with a more critical attitude to such ridiculous campaigns, products and collaborations constantly thrown our way.
People familiar with the history of Italian radical art, architecture and design know quite well the work of Ugo La Pietra, who was mentioned here and there in previous posts on this site.
You could easily file La Pietra under the "visionary mind" category since he is a figure very much projected into the future, interested in researching new materials and technologies with a childish glee and curiosity and in coming up with interior design projects and architectural theories about urban spaces.
It was therefore surprising to see five of his "Infinite Columns", totem-like ceramic sculptures, appearing in the first Loewe shop that recently opened in the very fashionable Via Montenapoleone, Milan.
The boutique of the Spanish fashion house will be selling garments and accessories, but also smaller versions of La Pietra's artworks. The latter are based on his will to find alternative uses for ordinary objects: some of his "Infinite Columns" are indeed piles of ordinary plant pot-like pieces stacked in totemic formations.
In his heyday La Pietra was known for his futuristic design for Milanese boutique Altre Cose, so this is definitely not the first time his name is linked with the fashion industry.
Yet, while it is exciting to see the artist, architect, designer, theorist and cultural agitator back on the "fashion scene" (and on the exhibition circuit - during the last few months his works have indeed reappeared in quite a few events), this collaboration makes you think.
Loewe is a mainstream brand owned by the LVMH Group and La Pietra has always been a radical mind, so it's only natural to wonder if the mainstream is catching up with a radical past it has missed, if it is simply appropriating it or if the wealthy mainstream is now a viable and acceptable option for radicals and rebels (and in case which other cultural agitators is the mainstream ready to welcome?).
The questions remain, in the meantime, you can get to know more about La Pietra's works at the exhibition "Ritratti di Città" (Portraits of Cities; until 16th November 2014), that features a series of wonderful architectural studies on cities from the 1900s on (and two works by La Pietra - including "Immagine della Città", 1974), at Villa Olmo, Como, Italy.
Look at the following adverts – the first, Gianni Versace for Callaghan, is dated 1974, the Yves Saint Laurent one is instead from 1976. Would you be able to point out the main difference between these pages taken from Italian editions of prominent fashion magazines, and modern adverts?
Yes, you got it: the names of the textile manufacturers (Tessibaldi and Tessuti Bini) and of the yarn mill (Lane Grawitz) appear in both cases. We already dedicated a post to this issue a while back, highlighting how, in the past, adverts often bore the names of the producers that had collaborated to a specific collection to acknowledge their contribution. Sadly, this doesn't happen anymore, in fact things have even become more confusing when it comes to acknowledging the source of specific materials employed in a collection.
There is indeed no transparency when it comes to the textiles and yarns employed by many fashion designers and, while you perfectly understand why some people would like to behave in a secretive way to avoid being copied, there are at times some puzzling situations.
Let's take for example Stella Jean: the young and hip Italian designer is known for her African print dresses favoured by the upper bourgeoisie of Milan (more or less the same people that most times despise African immigrants clad in the same fabrics and working in Italy...) and for her T-shirts with posters of Italian films from the '60s (that may land her in one of those complicated legal quandaries about copyright infringements involving images of celebrities, names of directors and posters by specific illustrators that we'd rather not think about...).
It is not a secret that Stella Jean uses Vlisco fabrics in her designs, yet this is not acknowledged in any place.
Visiting the Stella Jean stand at the Pitti Bimbo fair (held in June) you were indeed told that those were African textiles, but, "not all of them", even though the garments bore just one label stating "Made in Italy", but not one reference to the place where the fabrics came from (most of them were distinctively Vlisco ones).
There are actually further misunderstandings and confusions about the fabrics of these designs (currently favoured by Italian Vogue editor Franca Sozzani, quite often seen in full or pencil skirts or dresses in Dutch wax fabrics perfectly projecting residues of a colonial past into the future): according to an article on The Telegraph, Stella Jean's fabrics are handwoven in Burkina Faso, but you actually wonder which ones are actually handwoven in Burkina Faso since the Vlisco site states the fabrics are made in the Netherlands since 1846; another question that comes to your mind is why the inside label of the clothes doesn't indicate that they are "Made in Italy" using African or Dutch fabrics (what would be so shameful about it, when Viktor & Rolf used red carpet by Dutch manufacturer Desso in their Autumn/Winter 2014-15 Haute Couture collection and acknowledged it?).
It is perfectly understandable that the designer in question may not want us to know where the fabrics for her most popular and most vibrantly rich designs come from Vlisco as ordinary people may buy them from the Internet and recreate the same designs at a more affordable price. But there are some points to make here: boasting about using their fabrics wouldn't be a bad idea since they are high quality textiles and Vlisco has even got an Atelier page that highlights the collaborations between the company and international boutiques or designers.
Maybe Stella Jean wouldn't need to keep the source of her fabrics secret if the cut of her designs were a bit more original and complicated and weren't simply derived from '50s silhouettes (a point of concern as, in the long run, people may start thinking she's a one-trick pony).
Most designs for the children's collection presented at Pitti Bimbo in June were indeed simple and linear mini-derivations of Stella Jean's current womenswear collection and were mainly made with Vlisco's bird-printed fabric known in some countries as "Air Afrique" and even amateur dressmakers may be able to come up with a basic yet ample elasticated skirt for a child.
Maybe to make her pieces more unique, Stella Jean may try and develop a limited edition range of fabrics with Vlisco itself, considering also that the solid consistency of the textiles she uses is the key to the rigid shapes of many of her creations.
Many other prominent designers – and artists as well such as Yinka Shonibare – have so far incorporated Vlisco fabrics in their garments and accessories acknowledging it and, while it's perfectly understandable how the passionate Stella Jean who is half-Italian and half-Haitian wants to pay homage to her identity and roots via the textiles in her pieces, it seems also silly that she may not want to acknowledge on the label of her garments the real manufacturers - be they African or Dutch - of the textiles she uses.