Trend forecasters say shell necklaces have come back in fashion after they reappeared on Prada's men and womenswear's A/W 17 runways. Yet shells have always been "en vogue" and on the Vogue covers as well. In yesterday's post we looked, for example, at the recent Vogue cover painted by John Currin and we mentioned iconic images by famous illustrators and painters.
Let's look today at some of them that featured shells: designed by Georges Lepape, the cover for the July 15, 1931 issue was inspired by Botticelli's Aphrodite, interpreted in this case by Lepape as a stylised goddess standing on a seashell surrounded by sprays of sea foam that hinted at her mythical birth.
The second cover, for July 1, 1933, shows once again Aphrodite in a tridacna shell rising from the sea, as illustrated by Eduardo Garcia Benito. Aphrodite in this case looks like a modern goddess characterised by an aesthetic borrowed from contemporary art.
The third and last shell-inspired cover for this post is a beach fantasy by Miguel Covarrubias that appeared on the July 1, 1937 issue.
It shows a female figure in a white swimming costume athletically leaping over a nautilus shell, while below a man fully clothed in a tuxedo and top hat sits buried in sand. The title of the magazine projected in bright blue from the sky contributes to give the composition a further surreal touch. So, "shells en vogue" or "shells on Vogue"? Well, you decide which ones you prefer.
Comments