Irenebrination: Notes on Architecture, Art, Fashion, Fashion Law, Science & Technology: May 2017

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Marlene Dietrich as High-Tech Icon: Interview with ElektroCouture's Designer-in-Residence Anja Dragan

Movies or film icons from the '30s, '40s or '50s usually provide great inspirations to fashion designers for what regards certain moods, shapes and silhouettes, rather than for their connections with a high-tech visionary world. Yet the people at Berlin-based fashion tech start-up ElektroCouture, founded by Lisa Lang, have just changed this trend thanks to a project inspired by letters from Marlene Dietrich to costume designer Jean Louis.

In the letters, dated 1958, Dietrich wrote to Louis that she wanted to find a way to have a dress that glowed and that could be interactive, "This way I can light up and take the light off at will," she explained. "This will puzzle the people which is good. They will not know if they imagine the lights or if they are there."

The technology was obviously not as advanced as today, and, luckily for Dietrich, the dress was never made since she could have died of an electric stroke had it ever been realized.

Based on sketches of Jean Louis and Dietrich's descriptions, pioneering wearable technology venture ElektroCouture collaborated with their designer-in-residence Anja Dragan and with famous fashion companies to produce an exclusive Haute Couture design.

Swarovski provided indeed custom-made crystals compatible with technical embroideries (e-broidery® technology) by Swiss-based Forster Rohner Textile Innovations, a company that utilizes Osram LEDs. The design, incorporating also 3-D printed elements, can be operated remotely and the production team can switch between several lighting variants.

The special design marks the 25th anniversary of Dietrich's death and was featured in the French-German broadcaster Arte's documentary "Das letzte Kleid der Marlene Dietrich" ("The Last Dress of Marlene Dietrich", by film production company CO2 Berlin; it was aired on Arte on May 7).

Dietrich had a passion for daring designs as proved by her infamous "naked" or "nude" dress designed by Jean Louis (that would then inspire Marilyn Monroe's gown for John F. Kennedy's birthday in 1962...) that caused a sensation when she performed in Las Vegas in the '50s.

Marlene's dress by ElektroCouture will travel the world to be featured in design, costume and technology exhibitions, proving that the past may be holding the key to the fashion of the future.

How did you find out about Marlene Dietrich's letter to Jean Louis?
Anja Dragan: The letters were found by the authors of the documentary, Sabine Carbon and Felix Oehler (CO2 Film) at Marlene Dietrich's archive in Berlin. Their documentary explains the story and shows the entire process of making the dress.

What kind of research did you do to come up with the shape, colour and silhouette of the dress - did you re-watch any films starring Marlene Dietrich?
Anja Dragan: We did a lot of research, but our main source of inspiration and information remained the letters. They clearly define pretty much everything about the shape, embellishment, colour and special effects. Marlene described her vision in detail and even wrote about possible solutions for the technical part. Just think that she may have died on stage if the dress had ever been executed.

Which technologies did you integrate in the dress?
Anja Dragan: We used Forster Rohner Textile Innovations' e-broidery® technology, which integrates lighting into textiles without compromising their washability and drapability. This part consists of 151 LEDs that can be individually programmed in different modes and operated remotely by the production team. The LEDs were covered with specially developed Swarovski crystals. The flowers, created by using layers of laser-cut plastics and textiles, were combined with machine embroidered and with 3D printed floral embellishments.

Which was the most challenging aspect of this project and how long did it take you to complete it?
Anja Dragan: It took us some time to figure out how to hide all the textile cables and assemble the base of the dress in a way that would still keep the technology invisible. There was a lot of sewing involved and therefore the sort of hand-made skills and techniques employed in Haute Couture. In total it took us about 2 and a half months.

Is there a special dress (or accessory) by a famous costume designer (or donned by a famous actress...) you would like to recreate in a high tech key?
Anja Dragan: Not really, but when somebody finds another letter with a new description for its time unrealistic, then...for sure! This project was very interesting because it was like working for an actual order from a modern client. It was not about recreating something that already existed, but it was about making someone's wish (finally) come true.

Is there a film director you would like to collaborate with one day?
Anja Dragan: Wes Anderson and many, many others!

Posted at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What's in a Column-Shaped Heel? That Which We Call Plagiarism

Soon after Chanel's Resort 2018 collection, Stefano Gabbana turned to social media to complain about the fact that Karl Lagerfeld seemed to have stolen one of their ideas - the column-shaped heels of the shoes accessorising some of the looks - and replicated it on the Chanel runway.

One of the highlights of the Chanel Resort 18 collection were indeed the sandals, but Gabbana pointed out that D&G had the same idea for their S/S 14 collection.

It can't be denied that the column sandals already appeared in D&G's collection, but, before that, Miu Miu's S/S 2008 collection featured a pair of shoes with a stylised metal column heel and the same brand's Resort 2015 collection included sandals with colourful straps very similar to the ones seen on Chanel's runway.

So, you're wondering, did Lagerfeld recombined a few elements together and then came up with Chanel's Resort 2018 sandals? It may have happened, after all, a while back Chanel copied a Fair Isle-based designer, but we should remember that column-heeled shoes are not a new idea.

Such sculpted heels were already popular between the late '30s and the '40s and in Italy they were inspired by the reborn myth of the Roman empire relaunched by Fascism. At the time the revisitation of classical Roman dresses and architectures such as columns inspired indeed pleated garments and sculptural silhouettes and accessories.

For example, Salvatore Ferragamo has been producing column-shaped heel sandals and shoes since the '40s and the brand has relaunched the idea for the next Autumn/Winter 2017 season.

Funnily enough, after accusing Lagerfeld of copying them, Gabbana reposted a comparison between Vivienne Westwood's 1989 "Sex" necklace and a choker from a 2003 Dolce & Gabbana collection from the account @whodiditfirst, admitting that D&G had actually copied it, explaining that they "were stupid and ignorant" when they did it.

So what did we learn from this story? That you only admit you copied someone when somebody else copies you? (maybe Gabbana hoped that his confession may have helped Chanel admitting of having stolen the idea?) Well, yes, but the final lesson is that, if you think you have an original idea, you should patent it.

See, if D&G had done it, they may have even sued Aliexpress, currently selling the above version of their column-shaped heel shoe in different colours.

One final note: if you fancy opting for the column shoe trend do so, but avoid ending up looking like one of the etchings out of Masquerade à la Grecque by French architect Ennemond-Alexandre Petitot.

Posted at 06:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Glimpses of Architecture in the Emperor's New Clothes: Prada Resort 2018

Resort collections are about travelling and quite often about showcasing new designs in extravagant destinations. Miuccia Prada, ever contrary, decided to invite people to her home rather than fly with them to a far away exotic location.

Prada's first resort show was indeed held in the Osservatorio space, above Milan's iconic and historical shopping mall, the 150,695-square foot Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Here Miuccia's grandfather opened his first store in the early 1900s.

The Galleria also features Prada's men's store (opposite the brand's first flagship) and the third Prada owned Marchesi Pastry shop (that opened last September after the original one in via Santa Maria alla Porta and the second store in via Monte Napoleone).

The Osservatorio was acquired by the Fondazione Prada as a more central space for contemporary art and photography exhibitions to complete its headquarters, located in Largo Isarco, south of the city centre.

The location for the event seemed intriguing especially for the view that opened onto the glass dome that tops the Galleria's central octagonal space.

The opening numbers probably made some people wonder if Miuccia had gone down the geometrical path while preserving her penchant for black nylon. The deflated origami black blouses matched with tracksuit bottoms that opened the collection called indeed to mind geometrical constructions à la Junya Watanabe.

As the catwalk progressed, though, trademark Prada archetypes started appearing: the first design that re-shifted the attention towards classic Prada-isms was a silk tunic covered in James Jean's illustrations of rabbits and lilies, a reference to the urban Liberty fairy prints the artist created for Prada's S/S 2008 collection (in the past, visual artist and illustrator Jean created also murals for the Prada Epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles, and developed the illustrated video "Trembled Blossoms" for the house). The illustrations were also replicated on silk pyjamas with flared bottoms and on sporty blouses.

The pyjamas were decorated with marabou feathers, a key decorative element of the S/S 17 collection like the large smartphone-shaped Prada rubbery labels that looked like stickers and that reappered on this runway scattered on skirts and tops.

There was an emphasis on transparencies in the Resort collection that gave some of the models (all in braided hairstyles and at times wearing feathered headdresses in an early Kate Moss-meets-flapper style) a sort of "Alice in decadent Pradaland" look.

Contradictions reigned supreme: soft feathers were juxtaposed to hard sequins and crystals; light and transparent materials such as cigaline contrasted with thick black coats and coatdresses, maybe hoping to recreate the architectural contrasts of the dome with its glass and iron structure; natural and technical fabrics were combined together in looks that pointed at a classic Prada dichotomy - feminine Vs industrial.

A sorbet palette of apricot, violet and pink characterised the see-through and diaphanous tops, skirts and slipdresses, enriched with sequinned formations at the neckline that called to mind the decorative elements of Art Deco ceilings.

More trademark Prada elements included bralettes and high socks with an Art Deco motif mainly matched with velcro strapped sneakers or sandals with intricate thin straps imitating the iron structure of the Galleria dome.

Architectural Art Deco echoes were also clear in certain silhouettes that seemed to reference Erté's studies about the female silhouette and his woman interpreted as a sort of androgynous character in an illustration Erté created for the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1929.

This reference is perfectly understandable in connection with this collection: the new woman of Art Deco time was a dynamic figure representing modern times.

The mood of this collection was actually architecturally modernist and went well with the space where the show took place as the glass-and-iron dome covering the 19th-century arcade played created an interesting contrast with the interior space reinvented by Rem Koolhaas' OMA/AMO.

Yet if Prada's collection was modernist, it wasn't certainly new, but could be interpreted as an edited version of Miuccia's own remixes. It felt indeed that the most striking thing about the collection were not the clothes and accessories, but the location and the links and connections between the clothes and the architecture of the Galleria (look at photographs of the internal structure of the Galleria and then at some of the designs in this collection and it will become clear where the motifs for the crystal/sequinned embellished designs came from).

As a whole Prada Resort 2018 was indeed a journey not through the world, but through the archive and the achetypes of the house, maybe as a way to remind consumers that, if you have something that stands the test of time, you should stick with it rather than running after something extremely new every 3/6 months (which makes us wonder what's the point of creating a Resort collection that heavily relies on previous ones...).

There was a final arty note linked with this presentation: Miuccia Prada walks the fine line between fashion and art and this week the Venice Biennale opens, so guests to her show were also invited to the preview of the exhibition "TV 70 Francesco Vezzoli Guarda la RAI" (TV 70 Francesco Vezzoli watches the Italian national television) at Fondazione Prada in Milan's Largo Isarco.

The event is a celebration of RAI focusing on the importance and the influence of Italy's public broadcasting company in the life of the country. Vezzoli tries to show in this event how certain programmes were ritual collective moments for all Italians who religiously gathered in front of the TV to watch them.

The event includes a lot of extracts from programmes and shows, so Vezzoli acted more like an editor here or a remixer. International visitors passing by may not grasp the final meaning of the event, but Italians who grew up with certain programmes will certainly feel nostalgic while watching clips and extracts incorporated in the exhibition (Mina and Raffaella Carrà reign supreme here, and there's glimpses of Cicciolina as well, but shame no Vittoria Ottolenghi and her "Maratona d'estate", a programme that introduced millions of Italian to the art of classical ballet).

Posted at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Depth in the Intricacy of a Textile: Focus on Anna Ray's "Margate Knot" @ "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary, Margate

In yesterday's post we looked at the exhibition "Entangled: Threads & Making" at Turner Contemporary. Let's continue the thread (pun unintended...) for another day by shifting the attention to one of the pieces commissioned for the event, Anna Ray's multi-coloured "Margate Knot" (2017).

This piece is a three-dimensional abstract textile sculpture that looks a bit like a giant sea anemone occupying one entire wall of the gallery. Made by the artist in collaboration with a group of local Margate makers - among them assistants and volunteers - the piece is based on a previous artwork, "Knot", created ten years ago by Ray and based on the forms of under-wires from bras and the children's game Pick Up Sticks.

The "Margate Knot" includes 2,000 sewn fabric elements in sixteen colours, inspired, as Ray states in the exhibition catalogue, by the seaside of Margate, "The red harbour marker posts; the wine coloured and acid green seaweed; the colours of wild flowers growing up chalk cliffs; the brightly painted beach swings; a turquoise plastic ice cream sculpture; the buoys and knotted ropes that decorate the harbour arm."

Seen from a distance, the "Margate Knot" looks like a painting, but with a difference highlighted by the artist: "In a painting, the paint covers and stains the surface of a canvas. In contrast, a tapestry or a piece of knitting or embroidery has surface depth (...) 'Margate Knot' is an exaggeration of the experience of depth: a magnification of the intricacy of a textile."

After this exhibition all elements will be untied and reinstalled as a floor piece in a public performance, but they will still preserve their intricacy. You can read further about this piece on the exhibition catalogue.

Image credits for this post

Anna Ray, "Margate Knot", 2016, at "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary, Courtesy Turner Contemporary. Photos by Stephen White.

Posted at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pioneering Women in Textiles: Last Call for "Entangled: Threads & Making" @ Turner Contemporary, Margate

"Women have played a pivotal role in the production of artworks for centuries and yet, so often, their work has been regarded as of less importance than that of men. The histories of art have often made them invisible," Victoria Pomery OBE, Director of Turner Contemporary, states in the preface of the catalogue for the "Entangled: Threads & Making" exhibition (on until tomorrow at Turner Contemporary).

When she first started working with critic, curator and writer Karen Wright on this project, Pomery didn't intend to feature only women in the exhibit, but, as their research progressed, they came up with a surprising all-women line up.

The pieces included in "Entangled" are naturally very different one from the other and the exhibition comprises sculpture, installation, tapestry, textiles and jewellery from 1918 to 2016, by over 40 international female artists working in the most disparate techniques, from embroidery, weaving and sewing to other hand-made processes.

Wright became fascinated by the various methodologies of making that she witnessed during artist studio visits and she managed to pass her enthusiasm on in this selection of works made in the most disparate materials, including plants, clothing, hair and bird quills.

Rather than an exploration of the works in a chronological order, "Entangled" could be considered as a journey through juxtapositions of colours, themes and techniques.

Among the early 20th century pioneers of textiles and the handcrafted practice there are Anni Albers and Gunta Stölzl's geometrically mesmerising graphic pieces and Louise Bourgeois' "Hand" (2001), an iconic work in stitched up cotton, a material used to symbolise warmth but also vulnerability as the patchwork-like surface evokes feelings of fear and violence.

Hannah Ryggen's "6 Oktober 1942" (1943) tapestry introduces politics since it shows the execution by the Nazi of a group of ten political prisoners, among them theatre director Henry Gleditsch.

A costume for Fokine's ballet "Cleopatre" designed by Sonia Delauney in 1918 is shown in dialogue with Arna Ôttarsdottir's "Jacket with Tapestry", Aiko Tezuka's "Unravelled Fabric" a striking piece that creates a surreal optical illusion with the fabric looking as if it had melted and had formed a fluid pool on the floor, and Maria Papadimitriou's works. The latter produces garments for or with others, and the exhibition includes a collection of Roma coats in extraordinarily bold colours.

Eva Hesse and Susan Hiller represent painters who tried the experimental path in the 1960s and '70s: "Entangled" features Hesse's fragile forms in cheesecloth from 1969 and Hiller's "Painting Blocks" (1974-75), recycled canvases cut up and sewn together to form sculptural blocks.

More recent artists include Portuguese Joana Vasconcelos, with two of her painted ceramic glaze animals covered in handmade cotton crochet; Kiki Smith with her narrative tapestry "Sky" (2012); Norwegian Ann Cathrin November Høibo, who uses a loom to create abstract works, incorporating natural and synthetic materials found on her travels; Sonia Gomes, who draws on the traditions of indigenous cultures in her native Brazil for her colourful, abstract sculptures made by binding different fabrics around wire, and Phyllida Barlow (representing Britain at the 57th Venice Biennale), who recycles bits of timber, plywood and other discarded or everyday materials to create her colourful assemblages such as "Untitled: Broken Shelf" (2015).

"Entangled" also brings together 10 new works, created especially for the show, among them Anna Ray's multi-coloured "Margate Knot" (2017), a work produced by the artist and a group of local Margate makers; an installation ("Old Lake") by Samara Scott that covers in rich textures the museum's lift and that was made using carpets and rather unusual materials such as food colouring and yoghurt; German artist Christiane Löhr's sculpture made with locally sourced horsehair; Ursula von Rydinsgvard's "Thread Terror", a large sculpture in cedar, carved by the artist to suggest thick thread or reams of fabric and Paola Anziché's tubes in raffia, wool, jute and other natural fibres.

In her essay on the exhibition catalogue, Karen Wright highlights how this is a very timely exhibition, considering how women's rights across the world are under constant threat. And while misogyny is rife out there in the real world and on social media, the artists included in "Entangled" show us that liberation is possible via creativity and innovation and the battle for your rights can also be fought through threads and textiles.

Can't make it? Try and get the exhibition catalogue: it is packed with intriguing essays and interviews by Ann Coxon, Stina Högkvist, Siri Hustvedt, Kathryn Lloyd, Rosa Martínez, Marit Paasche, Frances Morris and Karen Wright, that will provide some wonderful insights on the work of some of the artists featured in "Entangled".

Image credits for this post

Installation view of Louise Bourgeois' "Hand" (2001) and Hannah Ryggen's "6 Oktober 1942" (1943) at "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. Courtesy Turner Contemporary. Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of Samara Scott, "Old Lake", 2017 at "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. Courtesy Turner Contemporary. Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. From left to right, Maria Papadimitriou, "Roma Coats", 2010, Anna Ray, "Margate Knot", 2016 and Joana Vasconcelos, "Eboli", 2013. Courtesy Turner Contemporary Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. From left to right, Laura Ford, "Penguins", 2012 and Paula Anziché, "Natural Fibres", 2016. Courtesy Turner Contemporary Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. From left to right, Arna Ôttarsdottir, "Tapestry Two Baseball Caps", 2016, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, "Una Gruesa de Chullos (Destajidos"), 2012, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, "Una Gruesa de Chullos", 2013 and Sonia Delaunay, Costume for Amoun in Fokine's ballet "Cleopatre", Diaghilev Ballet, redesigned 1918, 1909-1918. Courtesy Turner Contemporary Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. From left to right, Lucy + Jorge Orta, "Nexus Architecture",1 of 16, 1997 and Francis Upritchard, "Matisse Hats", 2015. Courtesy Turner Contemporary Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. From left to right, Arna Ôttarsdottir, "Jacket with Tapestry", 2013 and Aiko Tezuka, "Unravelled Fabric" (10m), 2016. Courtesy Turner Contemporary Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. From left to right, Rosemary Trockel, "Untitled (Amaca, red-white)", 2000, and Joana Vasconcelos, "Slash", 2011. Courtesy Turner Contemporary. Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of Phyllida Barlow, "Untitled: Broken Shelf", 2015 at "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. Courtesy Turner Contemporary. Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of Maria Roosen, "After David 2", 2015 at "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. Courtesy Turner Contemporary. Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of Caroline Achaintre, "Bernadette", 2016 at "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. Courtesy Turner Contemporary. Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of Kiki Smith, "Sky", 2012 at "Entangled: Threads & Making, Turner Contemporary". Courtesy Turner Contemporary. Photo: Stephen White.

Installation view of Ursula von Rydinsgvard's "Thread Terror" and Sonia Gomes at "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary. Courtesy Turner Contemporary. Photo: Stephen White.

Posted at 04:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Modernity of Antiquity (May Be Hiding a Disturbing Political Message): Chanel Resort 2018

Fashion is a fantasy and a dream. This is definitively a truism about the most glamorous industry of our times, but so is the statement that says that fashion has strong ties with politics. After all, an election is a bit like a runway show with candidates being valued for their style choices before they even open their mouths to speak. The political dimension of Chanel's Resort 2018 collection seemed confused or, maybe, rather dubious.

Showcased on Wednesday, Chanel's runway officially opened the cruise season that continues on Sunday with Prada in Milan, Dior in Los Angeles, Louis Vuitton in Kyoto and Gucci in Florence at the end of the month.

Chanel's runway took place among fake Greek ruins that reproduced an idealised version of the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis and the Temple of Poseidon on Cape Sounion in the Galerie Courbe at the Grand Palais.

According to rumours, Karl Lagerfeld would have liked to show the collection in a proper historical location in Greece, but the local authorities refused it (in much the same way the Central Archaeological Council in Athens refused Gucci's alleged request to show its cruise collection on the Acropolis).

The set with its crumbling Ionic columns and solitary olive tree sprouting among the rocks, may have been representing an archaeological excavation, as proved by the freshly discovered Venus emerging from a burlap sack (ready to be shipped to a museum or to be sold to a collector?), a copy of Coco's Venus still preserved in her apartment on Rue Cambon (also featured on the invitation to the show).

The designs on the dusty runway were Chanel-ised renditions of classic Greek garments: simple tunics in muted dusty beige, camel and grey tweeds with frayed edges opened the show.

They were followed by designs that evoked in their silhouettes or in the colour combination ancient vases: the striped black and terracotta numbers and the pottery relief knits seemed linked with Athenian vases and their black and red figures.

Long pleated designs evoked chitons, while bringing to mind the lightness of Isadora Duncan; modern-day goddesses were conjured up by the swimsuits matched with long see-through kimono-shaped dressing gowns covered in beads.

The architecture of the Ionic, Doric and Corinthian columns inspired some of the decorations and the silhouettes on a series of white dresses and separates, but the progression from one style to the next was also replicated in the gradually narrower pleats of a trio of burlap skirts, while mythology and goddesses came back in the final fluid numbers in a series of soft shades or in virginal white.

The burlap pleated skirts matched with overdecorated bustiers were also references to Athena, goddess of wisdom, craft, and war, strategically evoked also in the decorative owls (Athena's symbols) on the bags.

Accessories also borrowed from Greece and went from strappy sandals with column-shaped heels in bright and bold shades that included fluorescent tones, to golden armbands, golden laurel leaves and coin details for that Midas-meets-Hip Hop touch.

An inexperienced reviewer may have just identified on this runway a battle between the Apollonian and Dionysian spirits, with no final winner, just a combination of the two elements.

Lagerfeld explained in the press release that "The criteria of beauty in Ancient then Classical Greece still holds true". In a nutshell this collection proved for him "La Modernité de l'Antiquité" (The Modernity of Antiquity), a principle already explored by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli in Valentino's A/W 2015 Haute Couture collection (inspired in that case by the wonders of classical Rome).

There were no apparent real references to modern times and to a France divided between centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen.

Some reviewers actually tried to spot the connection between this collection and the democratic Greek civilisation, but more political messages may have been found in one inspiration for this collection, Chanel's designs for Jean Cocteau's 1922 Antigone (a link highlighted in the show notes).

In that occasion Chanel preferred to put actors in costumes - defined by the critics of the time primitive yet elegant - that clearly resembled her Autumn/Winter 1922 collection. The latter featured heavy woolen coats with jacquard woven patterns, tunics matched with rope belts and large costume jewellery pieces.

There were indeed strong echoes in Chanel's Resort 2018 of the hand-knitted wrap cloak that Mademoiselle designed for Antigone and that featured undyed raw wool in which Greek vase motifs in maroon and brown had been intricately woven; in the same way as the neutral-coloured outfits in this collection called to mind the costumes Chanel designed for Creon and Haemon that were accessorised with hammered metal headbands.

Sadly, Cocteau's Antigone anticipated the passion of the right wing for this character: Antigone was soon afterwards recast as an allegorical figure of a purified France, with many Nazi and Fascist supporters often returning to Sophocles' work for nationalist inspirations and to highlight how the Aryan man found his roots in Greek civilisation. It was only in 1944 that Antigone became a symbol of underground freedom fighters with Jean Anouilh's version of the tragedy.

You got therefore the impression that the final message of this "Mascarade à la Grecque" collection was a dichotomic one: most reviewers thought that Lagerfeld (who strategically opted not to give interviews maybe to avoid getting questions about his political views and remain neutral to be sure his name/brand can sell to wealthy people with all sorts of political views...) was channelling Greek democracy; the Nazi interpretation of Antigone pointed instead to a narrow-minded nationalism (and Chanel's Resort collection also returned to Paris after being on a tour that touched Dubai, Seoul and Havana in the last few years; this was an attempt at boosting the French capital after the terrorist attacks, but it can also be read as a symbolic return to patriotism).

Yet, in many ways, like the Greek heroes of mythology, Lagerfeld sinned of hybris: his Greece remained a cold and idealized fantasy, a place of pastoral beauty that only exists for the very few ones who can afford it and certainly not for those ones written out of history who suffer the consequences of the debt crisis in Greece or who land as migrants on its islands.

There was a final message in the show notes that, read in the wrong context, may assume a dubious meaning: "I'm suggesting going back to move forward," the designer said. "To create the future you have to pay attention to the past."

The artisanal tweeds, the draped and pleated dresses and classical details tried to suggest us that Chanel is a legend as worthy as the timeless Greek myths and, to push such a historical house into the future, you must also look at its history.

Shame that Coco Chanel became a symbol of the far right, and, remembering this, you felt a bit cold in front of this fake Greece that evoked not the ghosts of demoracy, but the spectre of Chanel's popularity among the French nationalist movement. Think that fashion is not political? Well, you'd better think twice.

Posted at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Contemporary Fine Art Rugs: The Carpet Kartell @ Tanja Grunert Gallery, New York

In a few previous posts we looked at the connections between art and rugs or about the latest collaborations between an artist and a rug making company. There seems indeed to be a revival of woven tapestries or rugs and carpets inspired by iconic artworks.

New York's Tanja Grunert Gallery confirms the trend with an event revolving around the works produced by The Carpet Kartell. Established in December 2016 by Equator Production's founder Petra Singh and Henzel Studio curator Joakim Andreasson, this association reunites manufacturers that focus on developing artist-designed carpets.

While there was a strong trend for creating interior design pieces in conjunction with artists especially between the late '60s and the '70s. As you may remember from a previous post, many prominent architects, painters and sculptors - from Victor Vasarely and Alexander Calder to Gérard Schlosser, Erró, Eduardo Arroyo, Matisse, Picasso and Miró - collaborated indeed with famous tapestry producers such as Les Manufactures des Gobelins. Things changed in the following decades, but, luckily, new collaborations were relaunched in the last few years.

It is easy to understand why rugs and tapestries designed by artists have sparked new interest - such pieces seem indeed to reunite diferent disciplines together combining art, crafts and interior design.

The exhibition at Tanja Grunert is an explosion of colours and styles displaying the results of the many technical challenges faced by Equator Production and Henzel Studio.

Founded by Petra (artist) and Ranbir Singh (art collector) in 1985, Equator Production pioneered the sector of artist-designed carpets for today's market. They suspended their activities in 2003, resuming them four years ago with a series of nine carpets curated by art historian Dr. Cornelia Lauf, designed by artists Alan Belcher, Joseph Kosuth, Juliao Sarmento, Heimo Zobernig, Liam Gillick, Emilia and Ilya Kabakov, Jonathan Monk, Emilio Prini and Ken Lum (on display at this event).

Henzel Studio was founded instead by artist Calle Henzel (who in the late '90s started translating his artwork into hand woven carpets) with his wife Asa Henzel. The studio works with contemporary artists of today, and with the artists' estates.

Exhibition highlights from Henzel Studio include a new collection of carpets designed in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation for The Visual Arts and pieces created with Douglas Gordon, Wilhelm Sasnal, Bernhard Wilhelm, The Tom of Finland Foundation and British radical and punk visual artist, performer and musician Linder Sterling (who is not new to the art of rug making as proved by last year's collaboration with Edinburgh-based Dovecot Studio).

There's something for everybody here, from paintings and abstract pieces or collages such Richard Prince's rug, an assemblage of numbers taken from football jerseys, plus photographic renditions like Juergen Teller's portrait of Vivienne Westwood.

But the exhibition is also a tale of materials and techniques: a carpet inspired by a piece by Helmut Lang was for example made with hand-knotted New Zealand wool and silk, its finish achieved through different pile heights, but other carpets show intriguing combinations of threads that recreate fine nuances of colours.

The Carpet Kartell hopes to relaunch further collaborations in this sector while promoting equality: the affiliates of the group are indeed members of GoodWeave, the world's leading international non-profit organization working to end child labor in the carpet industry and providing education opportunities.

Translating art into carpets may therefore work not just on a merely visual and aesthetic level, but may help raising awareness on some of the most challenging social issues in our world.

"The Carpet Kartell – Equator Production and Henzel Studio" coincides with New York's Collective Design Fair, Frieze Art Fair and International Contemporary Furniture Fair and runs until May 31, 2017, at Tanja Grunert Gallery, 524 West 19 th Street, New York, NY 10011.

All images in this post by Daniel Trese.

Posted at 05:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Trends to Avoid: Poverty Chic and Faux-Distressed Luxury Items

Ripped jeans. You just needed these two words to drive my father crazy when I was a teenager. No, actually, there was something that drove him even crazier – these two words accompanied by the actual sight of a pair of ripped jeans on a teenager.

There were two main reasons why ripped jeans were a sacrilegious affront to my father: first, most teenagers would buy new denim pants and then proceed to vandalise them, which was obviously a crime against your family in a time when there were no fast fashion retailers and a pair of pants had to last you for quite a while. Second, while the cuts and tears were not elegant and gave you a shabby look, they weren't genuine since they hadn't been caused by real hard work, and that seemed to be even more offensive to my father.

Fast forward to our days and I'm turning into my father, especially when I see people wearing cheap denim pants with so many cuts and holes in them that they are literally hanging from threads on their legs.

These new versions of the ripped jeans that used to drive my father crazy are indeed ludicrously cut to show large sections of bare skin rather than to prove the wearer was the sole survivor of an apocalypse, was out on an adventurous trip on a lost island for the past 6 months after a major shipwreck, or was engaged in a 24 hour shift in a risky and physically demanding job.

The trend has also extended to other fashion items, such as shoes, reaching a new level of madness with distressed shoes sold at extremely high prices. Maison Margiela's "Future Destroyed" sneakers look for example as if they were slashed with a razor blade and then put back together with hundreds of staples. The shoes are sold on Neiman Marcus site at $1,425.

Apparently this is supposed to be the more luxury version of other semi-destroyed models that have become popular in the last few years (pre-worn details have been all the rage for a while now...) such as Golden Goose's alleged homage to the West Coast's rich skateboard culture - the "Distressed Superstar Sneakers". The latter featured ripped laces, duct-tape reinforcements around the toe area and looked pretty dirty and run down.

Released last year at $585, the shoes were attacked on the social media with many people accusing the brand of "poverty appropriation". The brand simply explained in that case that pre-distressed footwear was their specialty.

Yet it is hard not to find this supposed "Poverty Chic" trend rather cringing. These faux-distressed luxury items are indeed not the result of creative vandalisation, but they are designed and produced for fashion poseurs wealthy enough to afford playing at being "ordinary" like Marie Antoinette dressing like a milkmaid or a shepherdess and acting like a peasant while being surrounded by the comforts of a royal lifestyle at the Hameau de la Reine; or the protagonist of Pulp's song "Common people" who thinks that poverty is cool because she knows she isn't actually poor and can stop acting the part and resume her wealthy life whenever she wants.

You may ask, what do you care about if a wealthy person stupidly splashes their money on a pair of allegedly conceptual and deconstructed, but actually destroyed shoes? In a way you're right, I shouldn't be caring, but then, a while back, I heard a young girl in the street complaining to one of her friends she couldn't possibly go to school in her condition. When she pointed at her shoes and raised one foot to show it to a friend, I understood: her sneakers were completely run down and there was a large hole in the rubber sole. Clearly, those weren't Margiela's and they weren't a style choice, they were indeed the real thing. I guess it would be rather difficult to explain someone in such a position that there are actually people out there who intentionally buy destroyed shoes as fashionable status symbols.

In a nutshell, when you consider real life, you find these artificially distressed luxury designs pretty offensive and rather inappropriate. On an additional note, yes, I may be turning into my father. But then again, you know what they say about your parents being always right.

Posted at 07:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Avant-Garde as a State of Mind (Notes on the Met Gala)

Even those ones who claim they do not care about fashion may feel touched, moved or amazed by a design they may see on the cover of a magazine or on the social media. This simple statement is proved by the comments left by all sorts of people under features about Red Carpet events with celebrities wearing the most extraordinary gowns and outfits.

Yesterday, the first Monday in May, there was one of such events since the Met Gala (also known as "the Oscars of the East Coast" for obvious reasons...) took place. The event officially opened the Met Museum's Costume Institute's annual exhibition.

This year's blockbuster show is entitled "Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: The Art of the In-Between" and it is dedicated to the Japanese designer who in the last four decades or so has challenged and redefined fossilised ideas and ideals of beauty, identity and gender.

It is worth remembering that you can't just get invited to this event (by the way, tickets this year were $30,000 each; tables $275,000; this year the event supporters were Apple, Condé Nast, Farfetch, H&M and Maison Valentino), but must be approved by Anna Wintour and Vogue.

This means the gala turns into a show about trending cool and beautiful people who at times end up looking, well, slightly ridiculous. This often happens because celebrities wear designs offered by the brand that has invited them, even when said design doesn't seem to do them any favour.

This year people invited were encouraged to go down the avant-garde path and explore it, and some of them did so with mixed results. The bravest ones opted for Comme des Garçons: Pharrell Williams (event co-chairman) was in Comme des Garçons Homme, with ripped jeans spelling "Rei" on a knee, a plaid shirt-cum-blazer and a motorcycle jacket partially covered in pins; his wife, Helen Lasichanh, was instead trapped in a red jumpsuit with no sleeves/armholes out of the CdG A/W 2017 collection.

Michèle Lamy (Rick Owens' partner) was engulfed in an oversized red frock; Tracee Ellis Ross opted for a Comme des Garçons asymmetrical blue coat dress, while Rihanna and Caroline Kennedy (former US ambassador to Japan) opted for two designs from the A/W 2016 collection, made with floral fabrics that looked salvaged from an upholstery shop, but that actually came (as you may remember) from a Haute Couture factory in Lyon.

Bizarrelly, the few ones who opted for Comme des Garçons seemed to limit their choices to the latest collections, sadly nobody went for the subversive tailored suits from Comme des Garçons' A/W 2013 collection or for something even more iconic like the pieces from the S/S 1997 collection "Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body".

Most of the other celebrities invited went between the classic (Anna Wintour played it safe in a Chanel gown; apparently the last time she wore Comme des Garçons was in the '80s, something that reveals us a lot about her thoughts on the avant-garde...), the elegant or the merely obnoxious.

Madonna was in Jeremy Scott's camouflage (may have been avoided in our complicated aggressively political times ...); Kendall Jenner was barely clad in a slashed La Perla gown and Bella Hadid in an Alexander Wang crystal mesh catsuit, but none of the designs left much to be imagined; Priyanka Chopra was wearing a classic Ralph Lauren trench with a massive train supposed to be conceptually cool.

Nicki Minaj must have been forced to wear the puzzling caped black and red dress designed in collaboration with H&M that was cinched at the waist by a belt characterised by a buckle representing a cringing Darth Vader-like head of Rei Kawakubo; Kim Kardashian's almost plain white Versace gown looked rather banal; whoever suggested to Solange Knowles to wear Thom Browne's long penguin padded coat with matching ice skating boots must have thought this was the first Monday in December and not the first Monday in May.

Cynthia Erivo seemed to sprout a jacket from her Thom Browne's gown, as if she had wrestled for a while with a man and a woman's wardrobe, and eventually came out wearing them both; Gucci's Alessandro Michele was in the same dichotomic gender mixing mood as he donned a skirt (matched with an Oriental jacket and accessorised with hybrid leather punk slippers) as a Comme des Garçons homage that actually didn't look like a radically rebellious kilt but verged more towards granny chic.

Even more puzzling was Katy Perry in a red trench by John Galliano for Maison Martin Margiela Artisanal. A decorated veil covered her head and at the side of her face she seemed to have a new version of the Frisian oorijzers (ornamental metal ear pieces), the iron bands with ornate spirals or flat squarish ornaments on their ends that originally served to display family wealth. Maybe this was an attempt at creating a transnational look, but it wasn't certainly a new idea since Walter Van Beirendonck revamped them during the show for his menswear A/W 2016-17 collection.

This display of random madness may have happened since Comme des Garçons does not pay celebrities to wear its clothes, and most invitees are paired by Vogue (or, as stated earlier on, by the brand they are invited by), with a design to wear, so if they look incongruously ridiculous it is often not their fault.

In this situation, though, some of these celebrities looked even more out of place, as if they were trying too hard to look avant-garde. In some cases it was maybe a mistake to transport a CdG design directly from the runway to the red carpet, forgetting that, while they are on the runway these designs are objects you can study from different points of views (material, shape, form and function...); when they end up on the red carpet, well, they seem to lose their purpose, being employed just to give more value to a celebrity.

In a way wearing some of these designs as seen on the runway, without giving them a personal twist, didn't seem too genuine or convincing. A while back SANAA's Kazuyo Sejima donned a Comme des Garçons' padded skirt from the Autumn/Winter 2010 collection at a Venice Biennale awarding ceremony, matching it with a simple plain black shirt, and managing to look edgy, demure and striking.

There are actually people out there such as artist Suzanne Golden or fashion reporter Lynn Yaeger, genuine Comme des Garçons fans, who incorporate what ordinary people may think as outlandish CdG pieces in everyday outfits and who do so in a fun way.

It was while thinking about them that you realised that, apart from the fact that "avant-garde" and "celebrity" are two words that do not always get along well, "the avant-garde" is often a state of mind and an attitude and not a dress or a costume, a design that money can buy or that you can borrow for one night.

The proof of this statement? What Rei Kawakubo chose to wear for the night, a white jacket and black skirt with sneakers, that proved there's nothing more avant-garde than creating your own uniform and sticking with it even at the most glamorous event on the planet organised in your honour.

Posted at 04:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Notes on International Workers' Day: Design & Manufacturing in a 1971 Casa Vogue Quiz Game

Today it is International Workers' Day (or Labour Day) and, to think about the concept of labour in the creative arts and in the manufacturing industries, let's look at an interesting quiz game that Casa Vogue (interior design supplement of Vogue Italia) included in a 1971 issue that reunited the two aspects.

The game was actually a short feature with several large pictures in black and white. The photographs juxtaposed artworks with industrial parts and asked readers to spot which items according to them were supposed to be art and which objects belonged to the industrial landscape.

The feature was a fun way to prove that, quite often, it is not possible to neatly separate one world from the other: artists often borrow interesting shapes and silhouettes from the industry sector; at the same time the manufacturing industry would be dead without artists, designers and creative minds.

The first image in this post included ceramics by Ettore Sottsass, artworks by Getulio Alviani, and Joseph Beuys' "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, no, no, no, no, no" (Ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, nee, nee, nee, nee, nee), comprising a stack of felt squares housing at its centre a magnetic tape recording on a reel-to-reel player. The pieces were photographed together with ceramic and epoxy resin insulators.

The second image included a selection of anti-vibrating rubber plates, grids, assorted industrial waste materials and linoleum tiles pictured with a canvas by Paolo Scheggi and with Shusaku Arakawa's work "Living Room".

The arch in the third picture is a work of art by Giuseppe Uncini, an Italian artist famous for his works in concrete and iron, and the piece is juxtaposed to concrete elements and abrasive and diamond cutting discs.

This game of shapes and silhouettes, textures and materials, was also a way to ponder about the role of artists and creative minds and people working in the manufacturing industries, and analyse the dichotomy between aesthetic form and practical function, while prompting readers to think about technology, crafts and arts, and reminding them that all sorts jobs are important, especially (we may add...) when they are rewarded with decent and fair wages.

Posted at 04:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Irenebrination: Notes on Architecture, Art, Fashion, Fashion Law, Science & Technology

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May 2017

May 10, 2017

Marlene Dietrich as High-Tech Icon: Interview with ElektroCouture's Designer-in-Residence Anja Dragan

May 09, 2017

What's in a Column-Shaped Heel? That Which We Call Plagiarism

May 08, 2017

Glimpses of Architecture in the Emperor's New Clothes: Prada Resort 2018

May 07, 2017

Depth in the Intricacy of a Textile: Focus on Anna Ray's "Margate Knot" @ "Entangled: Threads & Making", Turner Contemporary, Margate

May 06, 2017

Pioneering Women in Textiles: Last Call for "Entangled: Threads & Making" @ Turner Contemporary, Margate

May 05, 2017

The Modernity of Antiquity (May Be Hiding a Disturbing Political Message): Chanel Resort 2018

May 04, 2017

Contemporary Fine Art Rugs: The Carpet Kartell @ Tanja Grunert Gallery, New York

May 03, 2017

Trends to Avoid: Poverty Chic and Faux-Distressed Luxury Items

May 02, 2017

The Avant-Garde as a State of Mind (Notes on the Met Gala)

May 01, 2017

Notes on International Workers' Day: Design & Manufacturing in a 1971 Casa Vogue Quiz Game