In yesterday's post, we explored a necklace with ties to Elsa Schiaparelli, crafted by repurposing various materials. Let's continue this thread and draw inspiration from a 1938 dinner dress by Schiaparelli, to ponder a bit about the art of renewing a design.
The first image featured in this post shows an elegant silk crepe evening dress by Schiap (sourced from the Philadelphia Art Museum archive) with a distinctive element - short, bejeweled, tiered pink sleeves adorned with gem-embroidered detailing by Lesage.
The two-tiered rigid sleeves in this design possess a hybrid quality, reminiscent of a blend between short sleeves and shoulder pads. They elongate the shoulder silhouette, instilling the wearer with a sense of power and status. Despite their brevity, these sleeves command attention, accentuating one's physical presence in space. It's a simple yet remarkably effective technique.
While we can't buy this specific design, we can get inspired by its sleeves and, with a little bit of imagination, we may use this trick to refresh an old dress (or even a T-shirt) and add to a design a powerfully chic and glamorous aura.
The attention on sleeves aligns with current trends: sleeves have been a prominent feature in 2023 fashion and this trend reached a peak in Yorgos Lanthimos's film "Poor Things," starring Emma Stone as Bella Baxter.
The emphasis on sleeves in Stone's costumes, designed by Holly Waddington (and recently displayed at the ASU FIDM Museum in Los Angeles), is unmistakable. In the film the sleeves voluminously expand and extend, resembling inflatable structures, akin to clouds or balloons, offering a more overt contrast to the designs by Schiaparelli seen earlier on in this post.
However, the focus on sleeves isn't confined to the current year, but will extend into the next. In January, the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York will launch its 2024 programming with "Statement Sleeves," a free exhibition featuring approximately 80 pieces from the 18th century to the present day selected from the museum archives (and there are some truly extraordinary pieces there, going from a 1895 skating jacket to Madame Grès' navy blue silk taffeta evening gown with billowing sleeves).
This showcase will explore how sleeves function as "signifiers of status, taste, and personality," underscoring their role in defining a look, both in historical contexts and contemporary fashion, according to a press release.
Whether basic and understated or voluminous, ruffled, sheer, and dramatic, sleeves in various shapes, adorned with a wide array of embellishments, continue to be a focal point in contemporary creations, so join the trend (if you haven't already) by reinventing your two-tiered sleeve à la Schiap.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.