It did so through extracts from her performances, but also through the costumes and the backdrops for her shows, quite often created by famous artists and designers, that allowed Armitage to experiment in her choreographies with different dimensions.
Art and fashion - from the colourful batik-like prints of the shirts, skirts and shorts designed by Donna Karan's creative director Peter Speliopoulos for Armitage's production of "Itutu" (2009) to the costumes by David Salle and Jeff Koons for the 1989 production of "Contempt" and the tutus by Christian Lacroix for "The Tarnished Angels" (1987) - are for Armitage ways to develop more complex shapes and movements, at times even borrowed from fractal geometry (Armitage has worked not just with artists but with professionals from other fields, including string-theory physicist Brian Greene).
Dubbed by critics as the "punk ballerina" for her attitude that pushed her to tear apart the ballet canon and reinvent it in a modernly vigorous way, Armitage developed throughout the years a special passion for the visual arts that remained a steady constant in her works.
Poise, speed and a raw energy characterised her early pieces such as "Vertige" (1980) and "Drastic Classicism" (1981), that fused together classical ballet with a live punk band and influenced British dancer and choreographer Michael Clark.
During Marc Jacobs' A/W 20 runway show that took place at Park Avenue Armory during New York Fashion Week, Karole Armitage emerged from the darkness. Her performance only lasted for a few seconds, but acted as an introduction to her band of 54 dancers.
While 88 models walked, the performers danced, twisted, contorted, jumped, leaped, shadow-boxed, moving powerfully and energetically, fiercely and violently, wearing Jacobs' designs, from basic pencil skirts matched with practical cardigans and impractical spike heels to slip dresses and lingerie matched with long black gloves.
The audience sitting at the coffee tables watched the parade of models in elegant three-button coats and babydoll dresses in eye-catching pastel colours, wearing tailored ensembles, teddy bear coats or sequinned dresses.
Evening dresses were inspired by couture and seemed constructed with 3D silk handmade roses or with densely arranged ribbons and there was a black sequin column gown matched with white patent opera gloves that called to mind Audrey Hepburn's Givenchy's dress in Breakfast at Tiffany, while two final celestial gowns came in a Fra Angelico palette.
The only problem with these designs was that, while they looked modern, they were essentially retro, they reeked indeed of something already seen on the pages of glamorous magazines in the '60s maybe donned by iconic figures such as Jackie Kennedy and Lee Radziwill, they looked indeed like pastiches of Dior, Balenciaga and Valentino, with some Stephen Sprouse, Rudi Gernreich (see the tops with sculpted breasts) and, above all, Bonnie Cashin added.
Stephanie Lake, designer, curator, auction specialist and caretaker of the Bonnie Cashin archive (and author of the volume Bonnie Cashin: Chic Is Where You Find It), made some comparisons on her @cashincopy Instagram account between an evening look on Jacobs' runway and Cashin's 1970 turkey feather bolero, and between Jacobs' hats and Cashin's "bag hat". Lake highlights in one post that this type of hat was designed by Cashin after a trip to Russia when, aboard a cruise ship in the Baltic Sea, she was so cold that she emptied the contents of her handbag and pulled it over her head.
Upon her return to the States, she turned the impromptu look into an iconic and functional design (the flat hat could be easily stored in a handbag and used when needed) that, released in a wide range of materials, remained part of her collections for around fifteen years.
So, a less superficial look at the collection, reveals a derivation of Jacobs' vision of "Drastic-Classicism", a definition he took from Armitage's eponymous 1981 work, from designs from the past.
In fact, you may even argue that the collection was almost unnecessary as it didn't seem to add any new word to the fashion vocabulary. In the same way, the actual models were redundant as Armitage's dancers proved well enough that the clothes they were wearing were comfortable and practical as they energetically moved in them.
Looking better at the show you actually wonder if the clothes featured in it would have the same impact they had with Armitage's choreography (arranged in just one week time, a remarkable achievement, and certainly another confirmation that there is a trend for the fashion + choreography runway) if they hadn't been accompanied by the dancers.
It felt indeed that the performance of Armitage's dancers activated the clothes on the runway, ending up being much more intriguing than the actual garments (this is actually not the first time it happens, remember Dior's S/S 19 collection and the choreography accompanying it?).
At times the models looked like an unnecessary distraction or a disruption from the actual choreography (Miley Cirus' cameo appearance in a black bra, opera gloves and pants, trailing a zebra-striped coat went almost unnoticed).
Will this be the future of fashion, a performance piece that could be a hit with the audience, but possibly with less emphasis on the actual clothes? We'll see. For what regards Jacobs, he will have to remix Cashin's pieces a bit better next time, and will have to acquire a little bit more grace when he makes a final entrance on stage. Making space for yourself by abruptly moving away the models standing in front of you is definitely not that stylish.
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