Yesterday's post closed with a comparison between photography and fashion through an exhibition (currently on in Spain) that highlights some similarities between the traditional attire and costumes of ordinary people and Haute Couture pieces. As proved by that event, photography can be a great source of inspiration since it can open up little known or rarely explored worlds or provide with interesting details and motifs for fabrics.
The starting point for Sportmax's S/S 17 collection, showcased in September during Milan Fashion Week, was the work of Kusukazu Uraguchi and his pictures of women working at sea.
Throughout his life the photographer focused on taking images of the inhabitants of his hometown Shima-chō Fuseda, located on the Shima Peninsula in Mie Prefecture.
Famous for its abalone, sea snails and pearl cultivation, the place was also well-known for the ama, a term that is usually translated as "sea woman" but mainly refers to female divers collecting seaweed, shellfish or urchins, and to pearl divers.
The most interesting feature about the ama is that they do not use oxygen tanks or modern equipment and in Kusukazu Uraguchi's pictures they are usually shown with their clothes clinging to their bodies, diving in the depths or emerging from the sea.
While it is not clear if the photographer got in touch with the ama while making a living from the sale of pearls, or if he worked with pearls because he had a genuine fascination with the work of the ama, the divers eventually became one of his favourite subject, and they were featured also in the volume "Shima no Ama" (The Ama of Shima, 1981).
Mutual respect allowed the photographer to capture them in intimate and poetical moments that show the ama training, passing cultural traditions or enjoying festivals.
The nautical theme for the SS/ 17 collection Sportmax - a label owned by the Max Mara Group - was mainly borrowed from these images.
The sea inspired indeed fishtail parkas and optical prints of waves with graphical fish reminiscent of Japanese block motifs, while porthole-like details were instead created by drawstring pockets or openings on the backs.
Drawstrings are a theme for the next season and in this case they were used to cinch and pull the fabric, designing wave-like and dynamic swirls and formations on tops, pants and skirts, or they were employed to shorten hems and play with proportions, creating unexpected asimmetries, almost a reference to Uraguchi's shots taken from unusual angles.
The sea proved an inspiration also for the accessories: mismatched pair of earrings with a stylized gold fish and a pearl were the favored pieces, while conical straw hats appeared here and there, at times accompanied by bucket-like bags with laser cut oval holes.
The heels of the sling back sandals and mules also called to mind the shape of the buckets and baskets used by the ama, even though they came in blue and red, colours that called to mind porcelain vases and lacquered pieces of the Oriental tradition, an inspiration that was also clear in the circular ceramic ornaments used for buckles and bangles.
The colour palette – combining whites with deep navy, blacks and inky indigo blues with splashes of rich reds – and the light fabrics such as linens and cotton also pointed to the sea, while the fact that the collection included plenty of separates and rather functional and wearable pieces was a reference to the carefree beauty of the divers.
There was also a chance to introduce some evening pieces in an elegant contrast of deep blues and black and embellished with embroideries that seemed to recreate the rough and gritty texture of Uraguchi's photography and the bright daylight reflecting on the rippling surface of the ocean.
Sportmax's collections are designed by an anonymous team and, while the S/S 17 designs could have been edited, it was interesting to see how the team picked Uraguchi's photography as a main inspiration rather than more banal references such as Sofia Loren emerging from the waters in Boy on a Dolphin (View this photo).
It seemed like the perfect way to combine fashion with the roughness of the ama's physical labour, reshifting the discourse on empowered women carrying out difficult, challenging and risky tasks.
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