In 2001, Icelandic artist Björk wore what has now become one of the
most infamous red carpet dresses. Designed by Macedonian Marjan Pejoski,
the frock referred to as the “swan dress,” was meant to symbolize
fertility, a notion further reinforced by Björk as she left a trail of
eggs down the red carpet. While most viewed the dress as outlandish,
perhaps it was not so unfamiliar to our eyes. A few years earlier in
1997, Annie Leibovtiz photographed then-budding actor Leonardo DiCaprio
seemingly cuddling a swan that has looped its neck around that of the
handsome film star for Vanity Fair.
A contemporary of Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau, Elsa Schiaparelli’s
transgressive designs were often the result of a
direct collaboration with the surrealists. Schiaparelli’s August 1936
collection, designed alongside Salvador Dalí, featured suits with
pockets that resembled miniature bureau drawers, paired with black suede
gloves adorned with red patches of snakeskin to suggest the red colored
nails underneath the gloves. In 2009, Commes des Garçon released a
selection of loafers, that seemingly revealed the contents underneath
the shoe, also showcasing red-painted nails.
Iconoclast designer Elsa Schiaparelli is most remembered for infusing a
sense of wit and irony into her designs. The House of Schiaparelli did
not cease to exist during the occupation of Paris, however, during this
period Schiaparelli herself was in New York and left the designing to
her associates who remained in Paris. In 1944, Schiaparelli made her
return to Paris to much acclaim and would continue to design until 1954.
A photo from 1949 depicts the Schiaparelli eyebrow hat, a red satin cap
with a brim that droops, obstructing the face save for an eye-hole.
For Vogue Italia’s February 2012 cover, photographer Steven
Meisel photographed model Laura Kampmann wearing a similar hat by Ellen
Christine Millinery.
The House of Worth is considered the most influential and
widely-recognized house of the nineteenth century. Founded in 1858 by
English designer Charles Frederic Worth, it is often suggested that the
couture house produced its best work under the helm of Gaston-Lucien and
Jean-Philippe, Worth’s sons. An exquisite dress designed by Charles
Frederic’s successors and dated at 1898-1900, showcases Art Nouveau’s
influence on fashionable dress of the period. The S-curved gown features
swirling curls of black velvet woven onto a ground of white satin; the
black tendrils emulating the vogue for decorative ironwork popularized
in Art Nouveau design. For Valentino’s Spring 2013 couture show,
designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli cited secret
gardens and wrought irons gates among their sources of inspiration,
showing a diaphanous white gown paired with a floor-length tulle cloak
with embroidered black “ironwork.”
One of the three founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, John
Everett Millais, would create some of the most well-known imagery of the
Pre-Raphaelite movement which looked to Quattrocento or 15th-century
Italian art. Shakespeare often served as inspiration to the
Pre-Raphaelites, famously depicted in Millais’ 1851-52 painting Ophelia which portrays Shakespeare’s tragic figure of Ophelia from Hamlet Act IV, Scene vii. In this scene, Ophelia is driven
out of her mind after learning her father was murdered by her lover
Hamlet and she is found dead in a stream. For Jean-Charles De
Castelbajac’s FW 2013 collection, the designer reappropriated several paintings in his collection, including Millais’ Ophelia.
At first glance, the cage crinoline appears constricting and oppressive
to its wearer, however, the understructure was widely adopted and met
with praise in the middle of the 19th century. Previously, women
achieved a great expanse in their skirts by layering petticoat upon
petticoat, ultimately weighing down the wearer. The cage crinoline,
however, was light, flexible and engineered to allow a greater freedom
of movement for the wearer. The crinoline could be mass-produced,
allowing for a greater number of women to achieve the fashionable
silhouette of the period. For Alexander McQueen’s SS 2013 bee-themed
collection, Sarah Burton appropriated the cage crinoline on top of,
rather than underneath, the skirt. The collection featured
hyper-feminized silhouettes reminiscent of the 19th century and explored
ideas of protection, veiling and constraint.
The gigot sleeve, also called the leg-of-mutton sleeve, experienced two waves of popularity in the 19th century, much like the bustle. The voluminous sleeves first came into popularity in the late
1820s-early 1830s, placed directly below a sloped shoulder. The
resurgence of Le Gigot occurred in the 1890s with the expanse of the
sleeve placed directly at the shoulder, a sharper and perkier sleeve
than the sleeve worn in the beginning of the century. In 1988, Christian
Lacroix, a designer whose design philosophy is rooted
in historical dressmaking, created a bodice with one sleeve resembling
the gigot of the 1890s, perhaps a comment on the trend of
the exaggerated shoulder of the 1980s.
As one of the three founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, John
Everett Millais, would create some of the most well known imagery of the
Pre-Raphaelites, including Christ In The House Of His Parents and Ophelia.
The reform movement looked to Quattrocento or 15th-century Italian art,
producing narrative historical painting which typically featured a
female protagonist, referred to as a “Stunner.” Often reappropriating
historic painting or photography into his clothing, designer Jean-Charles De Castelbajac printed Millais’ 1851 painting, The Bridesmaid, obscured by a large, black cross, directly onto a flowing caftan-style gown in his FW 2013 Inspiration.
For Dolce and Gabbana’s FW 2013 collection, the design duo continued to
draw inspiration from the island of Sicily. In the Sicilian province of
Palermo, the Cathedral in the town of Monreale is considered one of the
greatest extant examples of Norman architecture in the world; the
interior of the cathedral is renowned for the exquisite mosaics lining
the walls. Dolce and Gabbana payed homage to the cathedral,
incorporating imagery found in the mosaics directly into their
collection. The collection featured a clean, straight-cut top void of
any embellishment apart from the printed mosaic depicting the Sicilian
King William II offering the cathedral to the Virgin Mary.
The representation of the dragon in Chinese dress was
historically reserved for the emperor and his circle since the beginning
of the Song Dynasty. More recently, the motif has become a pervasive
element in traditional Chinese dress styles. For the 1934 film Limehouse Blues, costume designer Travis Banton dressed Anna May Wong, one of Hollywood’s first Chinese film stars, in a black cheongsam-style
gown embellished with gold and silver sequins forming a dragon motif.
For the SS 2013 Emilio Pucci show, Peter Dundas
reapproriated historical elements of Asian dress into his collection;
utilizing woodblock prints, kimono-style sleeves and the depiction of a
gold dragon motif on a similar straight, black long-sleeved gown.
Robert Campin is often acknowledged as the first of the great Flemish painters, praised for his most-well known work of art, The Mérode Altarpiece, which is housed at The Cloisters at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Alexander McQueen looked to Campin’s The Thief to the Left of Christ, in
his FW 1997 collection entitled It’s a Jungle Out There. Often finding
inspiration in the grand and historic, McQueen printed Campin’s painting
of the crucifixion onto a jacket, dismantling and then re-piecing the
image to achieve a patch-work style garment.
This peculiar scarf and muff set, housed at The Costume Institute at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, represents the fashionable use of birds
in 19th-century dress, which often featured bird components of feather
plumes or a bird used in its entirety as seen here. The accessory set is
also thought to draw attention to the wearer’s own swan-like neck; a
strong feature of the period’s beauty ideal. In 2001, Icelandic artist
Björk wore what has now become one of the most infamous red carpet
dresses. Designed by Macedonian Marjan Pejoski, the frock referred to
as the swan dress, was meant to symbolize fertility, a notion further
reinforced by Björk as she left a trail of eggs down the red carpet.
What is 0ld is New Again!
You will see all the best work of photographer Vaughn Stewart and the 3 Male models and the interview I completed with Richard Cohen on the Spring Issue for Anolie Magazine!!
