Commenting upon issues such as society or politics in fashion can be extremely tricky: fashion is a commercial venture after all and rarely designers are allowed to make their points in such matters especially when they are part of big and powerful groups and conglomerates. Yet there are ways to cleverly comment and prompt people to think a bit about what's going on in the world. An example? Comme des Garçons' all red Spring/Summer 2015 collection.
While pointing towards "roses and blood", the keywords of the show, the designs hinted at deeper meanings as if Rei Kawakubo was using a metonymy to reference the current state of the world.
Fashion weeks unravel for over one month in the major world capitals, they are a sort of movable feast of global proportions, but the truth is that there is more horror than glamour on our sad and messed up planet. The list is long from the ebola outbreak in West Africa to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, the curse of terrorism and the recent events in Hong Kong with pro-democracy protestors being confronted by riot police.
The red colour and the fractured, soft or deconstructed and reassembled shapes and silhouettes Kawakubo sent out on Comme des Garçons' runway pointed towards an entire gamut of emotions.
The red roses that opened the show referenced a strong passion and the throes of love, but soon the roses unwrapped turning into red ribbons and leather tongues, almost like a shredded skin peeled off the human body, revealing pulsing muscles underneath. Soft tubes called to mind human organs; white appeared for a brief time though it looked splattered with blood. Mixes of materials - thick and thin, layered and puffed up, ruffled and blown up, twisted and flattened, shiny and matte, padded and sculptural - created tactile dichotomies.
Mysterious Little Red Riding Hood characters also appeared on the runway wearing oversized plastic transparent, red and black (the Grim Reaper?) hoods that gave an even more ominously sinister touch to the collection. These figure actually called to mind scary red riding hood-like characters like the young girl/assassin dwarf in the 1973 thriller-horror film Don't Look Now directed by Nicolas Roeg that actually revolved around psychological pain generating horrific visions.
Horror is in a way part of this collection: Japan has a tradition of tales of mystery and horror with spirits such as the Oni, gigantic creatures with sharp claws that devour humans, the Yuki-Omna, a doomed snow woman, the Rokurokubi or neck-stretching creatures, and the Nukekubi, monsters with detachable heads. Who knows, maybe they were on Kawakubo's mind or maybe she was simply trying to provoke some cathartic mental pain by making us think about the blood-soaked period of history we're living in.
In the classic world Greek tragedies were supposed to purify the audience throughout a cathartic process and while it may be a bit hard to ask fashion to provide a catharsis for the entire world (fashion is first and foremost about money and Comme des Garçons has also got a "Red" perfume and a series of 5 fragrances made with red flowers, woods, fruits and spices...), maybe the idea behind this collection suspended between horror and beauty was to push people to ponder about our society and world and remember all the innocent civilians killed in the name of religion, justice, nationalism or political affiliation.
Maybe contemporary fashion has got some real (social) power (apart from financial power) but we need more fearless designers to make sure it is projected on the runway and arrives in the shops carrying its core message to us, ordinary consumers.
As a follow up to yesterday's post about light and technological fabrics, let's look at the shadow theme as tackled by Anrealage's collection during the Parisian catwalk shows.
Considered as a sort of refreshing arty installation or fashion performance by many editors, the show was the Parisian debut for the Japanese label created by Kunihiko Morinaga (who has showed since 2005 in Japan).
The title of the collection - "Shadow" - provided hints towards the actual moods and inspirations revealed in a moment of magic with two models in a simple white dress and a trench coat standing in front of lamps projecting strong lights. The models firmly kept their hands on the garments they were wearing and, when they took them off, there were outlines of their hands imprinted on the dresses thanks to the photosensitive fabrics employed.
The white simple basic and sculptural white garments that followed were at times showcased with black cut out pieces with motifs borrowed from nature (think branches and leaves from a mysterious forest) or from industrial design (grids and circular elements). Once removed these cut out jackets and coats left a shadowy imprint of the pattern on the fabric underneath.
Variation was provided by asymmetric dresses in black and white and delicate coats with intricate broderie anglaise-like techno ruffles matched at times with a laser cut parasol (similar to Lines Lab's Sombra sunbrella), and leather pieces decorated with metallic studs and pearls.
More dresses in photosensitive fabrics closed the show: architectural drawings seemed to appear on some of them when beams of lasers hit the right spots, revealing what may have been an architectural inspiration among the arty chiaroscuro of the rest of the collection.
Though Anrealage's Spring/Summer 2015 collection may be filed under the "environmental garments" label as the pieces were modified by the changes that occurred in the spaces surrounding the wearer, the theme of change and the interplay between light and shadow effects point towards transformative architectures like Jean Nouvel's Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, characterised by a façade that can transform itself when hit by a different setting of lights.
Among other iconic structures that play with the light and shadow themes and the theme of changeability there is the Nakagin Capsule Tower designed by Japanese architect Kurokawa Kisho, a 14-story tower conglomerate of 140 individual detachable and replaceable capsules that function as apartments and business offices.
The cut outs motifs call instead to mind the private villa by a lake designed by architect Alexander Diem in Western Austria, with its distinctive wooden façade with cut-out shapes inspired by the patterns of the region and symbolising food, harvest, and fruit (as the panels are variable and may be kept open or closed as required, the façade offers the possibility to protect one's privacy while creating also variations to the structure).
While this collection may have some links with architecture, it has also got strong connections with the history of fashion as heat-reactive pieces and transformative elements are not new. We have seen heat-activated garments on Alexander Wang's A/W 2014 runway, but, before that, Cinzia Ruggeri used in her Spring/Summer 1982 designs the same trick. In both these cases the designers played with colours, while Anrealage's collection is more based on printing shadows in black on stark white pieces, so it is quite different from the thermo-chromatic experiments we may have seen so far on the runways (though the principle is the same).
Though more minimalist than Wang's, Kunihiko Morinaga's collection should therefore be praised for providing a fresh moment of creativity on the runways by showing the process and the idea behind a collection rather than just the spectacle, while proving that, in future, technology will actually be more wearable, but also more conceptually friendly.
The Parisian shows end in a couple of day's and it is now a bit easier to spot the main trends for the next Spring season. One of such trends is pointing towards light and technological fabrics.
In London we have seen Richard Nicoll who, sponsored by Walt Disney and inspired by Peter Pan's fairy Tinker Bell, opened his show with a flapper slipdress made with an optical fibre-based fabric by Studio XO, well-known for making costumes for performers à la Lady Gaga.
There were further hints at the future in his iridescent designs like miniskirts and anoraks, but the rest of the collection revolved around a sporty mood (Nicoll collaborated with activewear brand Sweaty Betty) thanks to casual shorts, long camisoles, soft knits and jersey tops, functional all-in-ones with a touch of menswear tailoring about them and relaxed (though at times bland) satin evening dresses.
Nicoll's optical fibre dress was nothing new to Italians, though: in Milan, fashion designer Federico Sangalli has actually been experimenting for a while with an optical fibre-based organza, creating the "Light My Night" gown, a dress that gradually lights up becoming more brilliant in the dark.
During Milan Fashion Week, Sangalli took part in an event that mixed theatre and fashion (another trend that we will hopefully analyse in a future post) and paid homage to the divine Italian actress Valentina Cortese.
For the occasion Sangalli came up with an installation at the San Babila Theatre in Milan employing optical fibre fabrics and getting inspired by starry skies and by the stars of the performing arts (Sangalli has a long-standing history of collaborations and projects with Italian dancer Luciana Savignano and American dancer and choreographer David Parson).
The designer also invited the public to see his seamstresses at work at the vintage sewing machines, looms and bobbin lace pillow (that they still use in his atelier) in the space linking his atelier to the San Babila Theatre.
"A lot of people just talk about traditions and innovation, but I try to actually combine these words and put them into practice in my designs, that's why I wanted to give people the chance to see real craftspeople at work," Sangalli told Irenebrination.
During Milan Fashion Week Mrs Cortese donned a Sangalli cape to recite L'Amore (Love) by Giovanni Testori at the San Babila Theatre (rumours say we will wear it again for the opening at La Scala, so keep your eyes open if you're around...).
"Mrs Cortese is 94, but she is a lioness on stage," Sangalli states. "She has an innate chic about her that you can tangibly perceive; her gentle manners fill you with tenderness and compassion and she is still capable of finding amazement in the ordinary."
Mrs Cortese found her futuristic cape by Sangalli unusual and beautiful, but these technological fibres are considered by insiders as pretty challenging as they are quite hard to sew (there are other brands who tried and miserably failed...ask around). Yet it looks like genuine craftspeople with a long experience in classical ateliers can easily work them. "I do believe that traditions can make us see the future in a clearer way, but they can also help us making it come true by suggesting us how to employ the innovative possibilities it offers us at their best," Sangalli concludes.
Looks like we need a couple of lessons from the past to actually be able to create the future...
Image credits for this post
Images 2 - 5 and 7 and 8 Courtesy/Copyright Federico Sangalli
One of the most striking things about the various fashion weeks at the moment is definitely not the circus of beautiful people and assorted fashionistas gravitating around these events, but the constant and precise references to art that most designers use in their collections. Yet there are various levels and layers of connections at the moment between art and fashion. Take the Collezione Maramotti, located in the historical headquarters of the Max Mara company, in Reggio Emilia, Italy.
The late visionary entrepreneur Achille Maramotti, founder of Max Mara, started it. A keen collector, Mr Maramotti would visit galleries and artist's studios and buy pieces he liked.
He would then put them on display in his office, in the meeting room of the Max Mara factory or employ them as arty landmarks in the public spaces of his factory to make sure people would get visually inspired (Maramotti also wanted his employees to keep updated with what went on in the art world and would send them on trips to see exhibitions and biennale events).
Maramotti collected artworks for 40 years and, after he died, his family continued to expand the private collection with further paintings, sculptures and installations, opening it to visitors in 2007 (admission is free but visits must be booked).
The family also kept on investing in new pieces, organising exhibitions and awards (the two-yearly Max Mara Art Prize for Women, in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery in London) and, when possible, supporting contemporary artists and their researches. The new pieces acquired for the collection are indeed bought directly from the artists, so the collection is based on a family's passion rather than on arty trends.
Specific exhibitions located in the temporary spaces of the Collezione are usually dedicated to 21st-century works and artists. The current one - "Scene: Photographs of the 1980's New York Art Scene" features a selection of portraits of artists, gallerists, critics, dealers and personalities by Jeannette Montgomery Barron.
Barron arrived in the late '70s in New York and her images are a testament to an exciting cultural moment, they provide an insider's view into the life of some of her subjects, while telling the personal story of a young photographer who was just starting out.
The selection at the Collezione Maramotti focuses on American art from the Eighties and Nineties with portraits of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Ross Bleckner, James Brown, Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Moira Dryer, Fischli & Weiss, Peter Halley, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Annette Lemieux, Luigi Ontani, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, David Shapiro and Cindy Sherman (among the others...).
Though some of these artists went on to become iconic figures with cult status, there is a casual freshness about Barron's portraits. Most times her subjects look indeed as if they were caught in intimate moments of meditation, rather than posing for a photographer.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Barron studied at the International Center of Photography in New York. She published several books, among them a volume about Keith Haring, and more recently In My Mother's Clothes, a moving portrait of her late mother and her struggle with Alzheimer's through still life images of her clothes and accessories.
The volume accompanying this exhibition is a sort of scrapbook including images, envelopes, letters, messages and cut outs form magazines and newspapers - in a nutshell a compelling diary in an arty format.
How did you get to know the Collezione Maramotti? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: My husband is an art dealer and introduced me to the Collezione. Director Marina Dacci was really interested in my work and wanted to maybe acquire some pieces. Then the acquisition turned into a show and the show became a book. Working with Marina was great and I also met the other members of the family including Luigi and Ignazio Maramotti. Their family is very involved in the arts and they want to keep up with the tradition of collecting that Achille passed onto them.
Was it hard for you to select the images that had to get in? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: The choices were made by Marina Dacci and I completely trusted her. She naturally wanted to include portraits of some of the artists who are part of the permanent Maramotti Collection, but she also selected other photographs and images of key players in the art world from around the '80s. They used for the exhibition quite large prints, around 40 x 40 inches, and they didn't frame them so it looked like a very elegant installation with no barrier between the visitor and the pictures. In some cases it almost felt as if you could step into the photograph. The book was a different matter, though, and I worked with my editor at Powerhouse Books in this case. At tmes I wish I had been able to put every portrait I ever took in it, but of course I couldn't.
What did these picture represent to you? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: They take me back to when I started out, so this exhibition represents also what prompted me to become a photographer. I began working as the still photographer on the set of a movie, The Loveless, that my brother Monty co-directed with Kathryn Bigelow. It was shot in Georgia, the star was Willem Dafoe, but there were a lot of underground and downtown people, struggling actors and musicians working on it. Then I went back to New York and, through my brother, I met the artist Francesco Clemente and photographed him. I really liked the photographs I took that day and decided to do a series of artists' portraits. Every artist I photographed would usually say that they had a friend I should also photograph, so one image usually led me to the next one. Some of these images like Ross Bleckner's portrait were instead the result of assignments I got from magazines.
The publishing rhythms have been accelerated by the Internet and digital photography, what was it like getting an assignment from a magazine at the time? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: When you got an assignment, you would go to the magazine office and they would give you all these little Xeroxed articles so that you had some information about the person you were going to photograph, but now you just go on the Internet and Google them. Besides, you had to take enough films and at times you had to use Polaroids to see if what you were shooting had the correct exposure. It took a lot of time figuring these things out and you hoped and prayed the photograph would come out well. You also had to rush to the lab and see what you had and then take it to the magazine, so things were a lot slower. Nowadays, you take a picture and you can instantly check out if it looks fine and online magazines can immediately publish the images as soon as you send them.
Technically speaking, what do you regret about your early photographs? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: If you look at them closely you will spot a lot of flaws in the negatives. Now it's easier with digital cameras to see where you get it right or wrong, but at the time it took a lot of work in the darkroom. The technical part wasn't what bothered me, though, as I just wanted to take my photographs and do very natural portraits.
What fascinated you about the art scene in New York at the time? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: I love being around creative people - any kind of creative mind from a painter to a fashion designer making a wonderful dress. I've always been fascinated by visiting them in their studios and homes, seeing how they put their lives together or what kind of books they read, I get a lot of energy from that, it stimulates me in a good way.
Were you ever intimidated by some of your sitters like William Burroughs? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: I was intimidated, sure, and there were times when what I was doing felt a bit surreal as well. But I was also flattered to be able to take these portraits, it made me try harder and keep doing what I was doing focusing on my work. I was busy living my life as well, and after working on these portraits, I went on with other projects I had in mind, so I put them away in a box and didn't look at them again until a couple of years ago and it was suddenly surprising to step back into that world.
Do you have any outrageous stories about some of the sitters in your portraits? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: I don't really have any outrageous stories about the pictures, but there were times when I felt I really hadn't got what I wanted and once I forgot to put the film in the camera! I do have a favourite photograph though - Robert Mapplethorpe's portrait. I was nervous because I was taking a picture of another photographer and I was scared that, if I couldn't do it properly, they were going to think I was a fake, but he was sweet, relaxed, nice and curious about my work.
Who was the most sensual person you photographed? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: Bianca Jagger.
And the most unpleasant person? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: She's not in the book!
In one of your images there is Peter Halley in a suit designed by Rei Kawakubo standing in front of one of his most minimal paintings. Did you ever work in the fashion industry? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: I did work for Comme des Garçons. I was hired by them to go to Paris and photograph in 1991 Dennis Hopper and Matt Dillon for Six Magazine. I did meet Kawakubo and she was at the shoot as well. I didn't keep I touch with the company, but I would love to get another assignment like that actually or I would like to reuse the pictures for a fashion collection collaboration.
How did the exhibition at Collezione Maramotti go so far and what have you been working on recently? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: The show appealed to a lot of different audiences and there was a very good attendance. I was extremely happy to see that a lot of young people in their twenties seemed interest, that was absolutely great. I've become addicted with taking pictures with my phone and using Instagram a lot. I've also been working a lot on colour projects with a 35 mm digital camera that I can take everywhere since it's not bulky. I often do a project and then wonder how I can turn it into a book, as I really love books. At the moment I'm not sure if this work will ever be a book. It is definitely a travelogue, though, but we'll see.
Do you think you do have more pictures like these gems hidden around the house? Jeannette Montgomery Barron: Yes, I probably do!
"Scene: Photographs of the 1980's New York Art Scene" by Jeannette Montgomery Barron, Collezione Maramotti, Via Fratelli Cervi 66, 42124 Reggio Emilia, Italy, until 28th September 2014.
Image credits for this post
1 - 3 The Collezione Maramotti building and spaces; Courtesy Collezione Maramotti
Famous global brands and companies may have the power to reach out to a large numbers of consumers and push their products via bold advertising campaigns. Yet times have changed and, thanks to the Internet and to the fact that more people get a chance to travel these days, many consumers are acquiring very personal and distinctive tastes. Quite a few of us love for example to learn more about the genesis of a product, which means not the mere inspiration behind it, but the actual working processes that brought a designer to come up with a unique piece. If you're among such a group of consumers, you should get to know Lines Lab.
Founded by Clara Brito and Manuel Correia da Silva in Macau, a city famous for being the first and last European colony in China, Lines Lab (some readers may remember them from previous posts here and there on this site) is indeed one of the design studios to check out in Asia.
It is actually incorrect to define Brito and da Silva as a design studio: a must see according to the New York Times, Lines Lab was recently dubbed by Monocle magazine a "creative agency" positioned on the global Lusophone Top 20 ranking.
Brito and da Silva offer indeed a wide range of services and develop audaciously creative projects revolving around urban architecture (da Silva designed telephone booths and outdoor benches), design and fashion.
Among their latest products there are the MIRamics ceramic lamps inspired by the Chinese plastic red lamps in traditional markets in Macau and Hong Kong; Sombra, a Tyvek umbrella characterised by lace-like laser cut details inspired by old shop gates in Macau and designed for sunny days, and the "Super Heavy Light" collection of silk scarves with ethereal digitally printed concrete graphics developed from Lines Lab's experiments with urban furniture.
Yet Brito and da Silva aren't stopping to developing their own products: their final hope is to see one day a flourishing group of small to medium sized brands thriving on the Asian market. To this aim they recently launched the MunHub, a platform dedicated to innovative brands and companies.
Promoting exchanges among the creative minds while encouraging the multi-disciplinary interaction between different brands and their consumers, Lines Lab may be heading a clever and quiet revolution that - based on a unique mix of fashion, architecture, design, art and communication - may soon spread from Asia to the rest of the world.
What's the MunHub platform about? Manuel Correia da Silva: In the last 5 years our brand built a lot of experience in Asia and we felt that it was the right time to come up with an innovative initiative - a programme of commercial activities for other brands. We built a business format - the MunHub - that selects and promotes creative design and luxury product brands that want to start on the Asian market. As a brand we know how hard it is when you're starting out and in this way we can offer people the chance to share a network and have access to events. Since we originally come from Portugal and are based in Macau we have been looking at brands from Portuguese speaking countries, but this is not a must and we are open to others as well, while we are mainly focusing on cities like Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore and Beijing because of our connections there.
Can you tell us more about the Design Market @ PMQ (old Policeman's Married Quarters) in Hong Kong? Manuel Correia da Silva: We first took part in this event in August and we will be going again in October and November. The Design Market @ PMQ is actually the first kind of event where Lines Lab is not being presented on its own, but in conjunction with further brands from the MunHub platform. For a medium or small sized company to establish itself in Asia is very hard because you find yourself in a huge market and these sort of events allow people to get to know the brands from this side of the world and the brands in return get to know their consumers.
Do you feel that consumers are getting more interested in smaller brands? Manuel Correia da Silva: Consumers are probably feeling a bit bored with the big fashion brands because globalisation has made them all look the same, so everywhere they go they find the same shops and the same products. This is where emerging brands end up carving their own niche and their own spaces, receiving the attention of consumers especially in the cities. But you must make sure you have quality and you offer consumers something innovative and different. Quite often consumers want to know the story behind a product or want to discover the processes you have been using to make them. They want to engage with the designers and hear how things are built for example. At times this happens for environmental issues; at others because they are genuinely interested in seeing what's behind a particular object.
Can you take us behind the creation of Lines Lab's "Super Heavy Light" collection of silk scarves? Manuel Correia da Silva: The idea for this digitally printed scarves came from a working process behind another product. I also design street furniture and, while I'm not into the design of buildings, I do like working with ideas for the pavements and the streets. Throughout the years I've been designing benches and equipment for public spaces, mainly in partnership with a few architects. In some cases I worked with concrete and, quite often, when you deal with different materials from the ones you usually employ for fashion objects and accessories, you start wondering how to apply such a material to another object or product. Just before we came up with the scarves we had developed a line of bags in Tyvek, a cool material that we used for our Sombra umbrella as well. The two things suddenly came together when we started playing with Tyvek: we filled one of our Tyvek bags with concrete and let it dry for some time there. As the material dried the bags turned into sculpture-like formations and we realised you could still see the imprint the Tyvek had left on the concrete, as the fabric had become a sort of mould. Then the material started to crack and suddenly we had elements that belonged to a piece of fabric, such as a stitch, with more architectural elements like a crack. In a nutshell, the two materials had started living together and we were so enthralled by the surfaces, colours and details that we took pictures of the macro-details. We wondered what we could do with the pictures and, since we had worked our way from Tyvek to concrete, so from a soft to a hard material, we decided to work the other way round and go back to the fabric, applying the digital prints on silk. That's how the scarves were born.
How do you feel about being acknowledged by important publications such as Monocle? Manuel Correia da Silva: The Monocle article was sort of a surprise as we were not expecting it, but it was really nice as for some media it is difficult to understand what we do or what we are. Macau is a very small town and there are a lot of people who don't know that they still speak Portuguese here. It was therefore nice to see that they had done an in-depth research and that they took us in consideration, dubbing us "a creative agency". We actually never thought about ourselves in that way, but maybe that's what we are!
Are you planning to take part in any events in Europe? Manuel Correia da Silva: We're currently busy with the MunHub platform and for the time being we want to focus on our exposure on the Asian market. We are thinking of going to Hong Kong Fashion Week as well and, in October, we will be taking part in Asia's only boutique designer sleepover - In Bed With Designers - in Taipei City. A number of hotel rooms will be transformed into display spaces for innovative products and creations. But at the moment we don't have any specific events outside Asia in our plans. We feel we still need to do a lot of backstage research and must keep ourselves focused on our Asian appointments if we genuinely want to make a difference in future.
Lines Lab will be at the Design Market @ PMQ, Hong Kong, on 5th and 12th October and on 2nd and 9th November 2014, and at In Bed With Designers in Taipei, from 8th to 12th October 2014. To keep up to date with the brand’s products and with Lines Lab, you can check out the creative agency's site.
At the beginning of September, Gareth Pugh turned his catwalk show into what he defined an "immersive live performance" (sponsored by Lexus) and transported it in a pier near the South Street Seaport in New York, during the local fashion week (off schedule).
The point of the performance wasn't actually showing the clothes, but introducing the many layers that make a collection, its moods and the vision behind it, through a multimedia extravaganza.
Hence the LED screens in a stone circle formation incorporating videos by Ruth Hogben, the dancers fighting and swirling in costumes (animal horns, wings, sack masks...) that mixed folk and pagan, juxtaposing them to technology and modernity, and the climax of the show, an angel-like girl with long tendrils (vaguely resembling a maypole but meant to symbolise a phoenix) floating in the air on a video screen (by the way, the show was choreographed by Wayne McGregor, resident choreographer of the Royal Ballet in London).
The main inspiration of the collection – the spirit of folk – was easier to grasp in his showroom presentation in Paris, but the key to understanding the meaning of certain garments is currently on display at "Simon Costin's Impossible Catwalk Shows" exhibition at The Fashion Space Gallery, London.
Costin is establishing the Museum of British Folklore and one of the moodboards on display in the gallery shows specific inspirations and his own archival images, the starting points for this collection.
Though evoking Sheila Legge, Surrealist Phantom at the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition in London, and calling to mind Leigh Bowery's experiments in mutating the human form, a model with her face covered up and a few designs in a furry fabric, were distant homages to the Burry Man in South Queensferry, though in Pugh's case chiffon flowers or the texture of the fabric recreated the thistle armour that covers this affable monster-like figure.
Garments scattered with pearl buttons or embellished in sequin-like buttons were hints at the Pearly Kings and Queens, while the strips of the Flag Crackers of Craven were recreated in monochrome black or white chiffon rags.
Pugh's geometries were transformed into the shapes and forms of specific folk costumes: a round circle covered with strips of chiffon evoked the mask and black frame of the traditional Obby Oss in Padstow, while the ropes protruding from the sleeves of his sharp jackets may have been references to maypoles (Wicker Man inspired?).
Garments with an optical black and white print pointed instead towards the ships covered in dazzle camouflage during the First World War (this optical camouflage print was recently relaunched thanks to the "Fleet of Dazzle" range made by Patternity in collaboration with the Imperial War Museum in London).
Pugh's semantics was recreated in the geometric coats and dresses, though it must be highlighted that there weren't maybe too many extremely new pieces in this collection. The real innovation stood in the approach to fabrics: rough scarecrow-like sackcloth looked as if it had been made on ancient looms, and pointed towards the luxury that may come from traditions and crafts (is "folk luxury" a new trend?).
According to the legend, the two 'Obby Osses in Padstow meet at the maypole, before returning to their respective stables where the crowd sings of the 'Obby 'Oss death, until its resurrection the following year.
Folk seems to be a credible inspiration for fashion as the construction of the garments can provide designers with great ideas. But there is also another reason why folk and fashion go well together: many folk rites revolve around a cyclical pattern and two contrasting concepts - death and resurrection, just like fashion.
Who knows if Pugh will take further this obsession and interest in British folk. It will be interesting instead to see what will happen if he grows disinterested in the idea of fashion as a commercial venture and if he keeps on focusing more on showing the image and inspiration behind his designs.
Pugh studied fine art and dance in Sunderland, before moving to Central Saint Martin’s in London and his passion for performances, dance and theatre may one day take him away from more commercial collections.
Quite often Pugh has proved that his theatricality works better on the stage or on film than on the runway (leaving aside his first rather messed up experiments like the one we saw in 2011 in Florence), and the loss of the fashion world may be the gain of the performing arts. The time has come to bring back a bit of Leigh Bowery's outrageousness on stage and this could be an attractive prospect for a designer who, tired of the usual fashion presentations, is looking for new challenges and for more innovative ways to express himself.
Up until a few years ago specific fashion trends would be back on the runways after roughly ten years. The fashion rhythms have changed, though, and while the industry is still set on cyclical terms, trends tend to come back every five years now (see also yesterday's post).
Take Fortunato Depero. The Italian futurist was back in the news in 2009 when quite a few museums celebrated the 100th anniversary of Italian Futurism (the Futurist manifesto was published in 1909). For the occasion the Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (Mart - Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto) launched a special exhibition in which they tried to look at the influence the Italian Futurists had on the German and Russian avant-garde movements.
Depero actually remains the Italian Futurist with the strongest connections with fashion, as he created costume designs, theatrical sets, but also illustrations for adverts and, after the war, when he fled Italy to escape his association with Fascism (the passion of the Futurists for dynamism, new means of transport and the cult of speed naturally attracted Fascism to these artists who were rehabilitated in the following years), he designed scenes and costumes for the Roxy Theatre and for the American Sketches in New York. This was actually his second American experience since at the end of the '20s he had already worked in New York as illustrator for Vogue and Vanity Fair.
Depero created his first costumes in 1916 for a mimic-acrobatic ballet entitled Mimismagia, that featured geometrical designs that could be transformed and integrated elements that lit up and produced noises. In the same year he met Diaghilev, who commissioned him the scenes and the costumes for the Ballets Russes' Le Chant du Rossignol, with music by Stravinskij, and for Il giardino zoologico (The Zoological Garden) by Francesco Cangiullo with music by Ravel. These projects didn't see the light in the end, but the drafts Depero left us showed the great innovative and creative forces behind his work.
Depero resurfaced during Milan Fashion Week thanks to Piazza Sempione: the brand, recently acquired by the Sinv Group, celebrated its return to the Milanese runways with a special presentation at Palazzo Ponti, an event launched in collaboration with the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (Mart).
The Spring/Summer 2015 collection has a strong link with the historical archive of Fortunato Depero as it borrows from the painting "Rotazione di ballerina e pappagalli" (Rotation of Dancer and Parrots, 1917). The work was on display during the presentation and the collection was showcased in three-dimensional theatre vignettes with backgrounds inspired by Depero's works.
"Rotazione di ballerina e pappagalli" was inspired by kinetic energy and Depero painted it while he was working for Diaghilev. In the painting the mechanised ballerina pirouettes in a sort of constantly accelerated vortex-like movement, drawing around her bold shapes and generating vibrantly vivid colours such as blue, red, yellow, green and pink, while the giant parrots add to the piece a fable-like visionary dimension.
Piazza Sempione's Spring/Summer 2015 collection focuses on quality and details, the heritage of the brand founded in 1991 by a family of Italian entrepreneurs well connected with the world of art.
Clean lines, a precise cut and simple and stark shapes prevailed in the functional and practical separates (poplin shirts, squarish tops and Capri pants...) that had a masculine touch about them and that incorporated prints of a section of Depero's painting. The basic dresses, still characterised by a geometric rigour, featured at times three-dimensional white-on-white embellishments and decorative patterns that recreated Depero's lines with sequins. The main fabrics were cotton canvas and organza.
Depero's visionary and dynamic figures have recently appeared also in the Missoni A/W 2014 Campaign by M/M Paris shot by photographer Viviane Sassen.
Models clad in graphic designs are standing among archaeological ruins next to bizarre figures made out of geometrical forms, and looking like rigid and mysterious, yet colourful and playful alien-like robots.
While some of the colour combinations in the models' clothes call to mind Depero's futurist waistcoats (there are actually a few Futurist garments by Depero and Giacomo Balla in the collection of Rosita and her late husband Ottavio Missoni) and the palettes employed for his Campari and Strega adverts or his covers for fashion magazines, the robotic figures look as if they may have stepped out of the costume drafts for the Chant du Rossignol costumes, from Depero's Balli Plastici (Plastic Ballets) or from his mechanical ballet Anihccam del 3000.
Sassen injected in the images all her trademark passion for forms and shapes, objectifying the human body and allowing the graphic designs donned by the models to create a correspondence with the abstract robotic forms.
The result looks sophisticated, but also fresh, ironic and fun, creating bridges between art and fashion in an unusually inventive way that looks at the past while projecting the shoot in the future.
Last but not least, since your eyes will have been satisfied at the end of this post, here's something for your ears: if you're looking for music with a Depero twist, check out the recently released album "DangereuXorcisms" by NAD (Neu Abdominaux Dangereux), digitally distributed by Kutmusic.
A mix of futurism and avant-garde music, the album blends jazz,electronica, vintage spoken samples and musical quotes from film and TV soundtracks. The cover is also inspired by Depero (like the band's debut release - "Ghosts" - that came out 25 years ago). Looks like we're living in very Depero times and you'd better enjoy them.
If you're not a Catholic, but you have visited the sacristy of popular churches and cathedrals in Italy or museums of traditions associated with specific churches, you may have seen walls covered with silver hearts or medallions representing body parts like a disembodied leg, arm or hand.
These objects are called ex-voto and are little tokens showing how a believer’s vow (voto) was fulfilled. Usually vows involve prayers or fasting in return for a cure and the silver figurines represent a healed part of the human body.
In the past the healed person would also donate his or her own picture and maybe a drawing, painting or illustration that visually recounted the great danger he or she went through, but it was also popular to donate further tokens like a chopped braid, crutches and prosthetic limbs as well.
Ex-votos were already rather common in the classical world when they were made in materials such as clay and terra cotta, but the silver ones are more elaborate and at times also engraved with letters such as "PGR", "Per grazia ricevuta" (for a grace received) or "VFG", "Voto fatto grazie" (a vow was realised, thank you).
Ex-votos often appeared also in the history of fashion: we saw them quite a few times in Jean-Paul Gaultier's collections for example, and some fashionistas may even remember how the designer sent out during his Spring/Summer 2007 runway a model covered in a series of ex-votos that formed a sort of rather bizarre and sensual religious armour.
In December 2009, in one edition of Bizet's Carmen at Milan's Opera directed by Emma Dante, Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili donned a costume with ex votos pinned to her chest; heart-shaped brooches similar to traditional ex-votos appeared in Dolce & Gabbana's A/W 2010 collectionand ex-votos were used as complements for a window shop in a New York-based Paul Smith store.
Like it or not, ex-votos will be back in fashion come next Spring: while Pope Francis was away visiting Albania on Sunday morning, ex-votos were indeed reappearing on the Milanese runways courtesy (of who else but) Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.
The main inspiration was actually the Spanish domination of Sicily and the show opened with a model in an all-black bullfighter's jacket matched with hot pants. More models followed in duchesse satin and brocade bolero jackets (at times paired with cyclists shorts and flat slippers) decorated with intricate embroideries. Velvet cummerbunds, ruffled flamenco dancer's polka dot dresses with embroidered carnations and castanets decorating the buns were further obvious references to this main inspiration.
But there was another strong sub-theme to the Spanish semantics, religion. Used and reused by fashion, religion reappered in the silver and gold ex votos appliqued or printed on dresses and tops, while a golden corset with a Sacred Heart hinted at elaborate statues of the Virgin Mary. The show closed with the usual gang of girls dressed this time in a white shirt and red high-waisted shorts with floral embroideries or with the occasional appliqued ex voto. In a nutshell it was a bit like toreador almost meets his death "a las cinco de la tarde" and his girlfriend rushes to church to pray for his miraculous recovery.
The ex votos weren't calculated to mock, though, but to sell (religion on the runway acts as opium for the masses of consumers...): quite a few people aren't familiar with these religious tokens and there were those among the foreign media who interpreted the bleeding Sacred Heart decorations as hinting at hopeless romance. Others instead didn't know what to do with the Barbie-like dolls dressed like the models and carried around in a majolica tile case.
There is actually an (almost) logical reason behind them: Sicily is famous for the Opera dei Pupi (Puppet Theatre) and the dolls were a Barbie-like reincarnation of the traditional puppets, a hint revealed in a hand-painted skirt with a puppet theatre stage (who knows maybe some fashion editors who works as consultant for Moschino and suggested the Barbie-themed collection there also works for D&G? Anna Dello Russo?).
The main references in this collection - Spain, Sicily, ex votos, mantilla-like capes as thick as theatre curtains and the operatic soundtrack pointed towards Bizet's Carmen directed by Emma Dante (by the way, she comes from Sicily as well).
Who cares, you may say, if D&G borrowed ideas and inspirations, the value of a collection stays in the execution and there was plenty of craftsmanship here. In fact the most annoying thing about this collection wasn't the reference to opera, and not even the fact that ex votos - usually employed as thank you notes to a saint and left in a church to tell stories of survival from tragedies, accidents and illnesses - were employed as marks of luxury rather than as signs of devotion (but you can buy ex votos at antiquarians and on market stalls in Italy and freely wear them in an even more controversial and sacrilegious way if you want...).
The most annoying thing remains the fact that this inspiration has resurfaced in the history of fashion quite a few times. So maybe the ex voto should be banned from the runway not for religious reasons, but because we have seen them too many times and, rather than being proof of controversy, they are becoming proof of design laziness. That said, now Madonna knows what she may wear if she ever re-releases "Like a Prayer" (after all this year she celebrates the 25th anniversary of the hit). Amen.
Please note:if you're ever invited to a wedding in a Catholic church in Italy avoid the most elaborate Dolce & Gabbana's Spring/Summer 2015 ex voto looks: you don't want the other guests to think you're part of the interior design of the church or you're a statue of a saint who has suddenly come alive...
A long time has passed since my first piece inspired by the images on Rijksmuseum's Rijksstudio, but sometimes it takes time to find the materials to make what you have in mind.
This time I moved from prints and photographs, collecting images of rocky landscapes with something sublime about them.
The first picture is an imaginary landscape portraying a group of Lunar Mountains (1874) by James Nasmyth, Vincent Brooks Day & Son and John Murray, while the second print is a picture of the glacier Grindelwald (1763 - 1785) by Charles Melchior Descourtis, Caspar Wolf, Graaf Kalitcheff and Rudolf Samuel Hentzy, probably derived from a series of 43 prints with Swiss landscapes, edited by J. Yntema in Amsterdam in 1785.
The first picture shows instead Castle Berg in Melville Bay, Groenland (1869), by Dunmore & Critcherson, John L. Dunmore and George P. Critcherson, and the second photograph - by William England, Son & Co Marion - shows a glacier in Switzerland (1863-1865).
So there were two elements I wanted to get in my creation: a rocky landscape sculpted by time and weather and figures moving in that rough and sublime space.
The former was provided by a rather unusual configuration of Moroccan rocks with holes created by wind and water; the miniatures added the narrative element to evoke the challenge that nature poses to climbers.
It will take me more time to do a new piece maybe, but, knowing that I can always find endless inspirations while browsing the Rijksstudio collections on Rijksstudio, fills me with joy.
Many fashion designers and houses showcasing their collections in Milan went back to the '70s for inspiration. This was also the case with Max Mara. The brand actually looked also at its own history moving from a 1971 advertising campaign that featured Anjelica Huston at Milan's Grand Hotel.
Fashion-wise the reference proved very apt since Huston posed in the '70s for famous photographers like Richard Avedon and David Bailey and her elegant yet casual and at times rebellious attitude makes her a perfect source of inspiration.
Max Mara employed this reference mainly in the sophisticated silhouettes of the looks, in the blouses matched with calf-length and wrapover skirts accessorised with boots and floppy and soft cloche hats, in the ample double-breasted suit jackets, pinstripe linen pieces, piped blazers and crocheted patchwork cardigans.
Outwear remains the strength of the company and this was clear in the Alcantara pieces, while variation was provided by a series of designs in a stylised floral print.
The black on white/white on black micro-daisies looked maybe more like dots than floral motifs, but the flowery print in pink/rose/red or green/blue and mustard/brown created an abstract camouflage effect less hard than classic military camouflage and therefore more feminine.
Unfortunately, the prints called back Marimekko's most famous "Pieni Unikko" designs in their multiple colour combinations. The Marimekko effect was reinforced by the head-to-toe approach that successfully broke with the linearity of the collection, but that also made you think.
Though these prints may have a shorter shelf life and won't be as timeless as a Max Mara coat, they modernised the more classic pieces produced by the brand, yet you wonder why the company couldn't come up with a collection less stuck in the past and maybe develop a more innovative print.
The collection by Sportmax, the group's minor line, seemed fresher, more desirable (and therefore more saleable) and, above all, uncluttered by camouflage flower prints...