Posts Tagged ‘haute couture’
Yves Saint Laurent and Georges Braque
In the April 1988 issue of Vogue, Yves Saint Laurent was inspired by the stark cubist brush strokes of Georges Braque, as well as the artist’s preoccupation with birds. However, Braque drew birds in one freehand motion. Yves combined both ideas in an evening dress collar. The bird had a free-form outline; wings that conformed to Braque’s proportions; and embroidered, beaded pieces that resembled the artist’s brush strokes.
As a work of engineering, the bird drinking water with its beak immersed in fabric connects to its back wing, which winds around the Christy Turlington’s shoulder. It was a revolutionary work of haute couture. As a work of art, it remains unparalleled.
Filed under: Style
Galliano & Dior: Behind the Curtain
By BarbaraAnne
Is the establishment outraged by anti-Semitism only when it appears in front of the curtain? John Galliano as Mel Gibson, News at 11? The President of Dior fired him immediately saying, “I condemn most firmly the statements made by John Galliano which are a total contradiction with the essential values that have always been defended by the House of Christian Dior.”
Really?
What “essential values” did Christian Dior display when he designed dresses for the wives of Nazi officers and French collaborators during WWII? The same values as Coco Chanel? It was only after the War that the French Minister of Fashion enlisted cotton magnate Marcel Boussac to finance Dior’s landmark 1947 haute couture collection, the “New Look.” Economically, France had to begin competing again in world markets.
Natalie Portman had to say something, and she said what her lawyers told her to say. She will still continue to make money from her perfume contract. Dior will still show Galliano’s designs next week because they want the money. In other artistic media, we rank Karajan as one of the greatest conductors who ever lived, and he was, but he played Bruckner symphonies IN FRONT of Hitler. He was an actual card-carrying Nazi.
So we worship the art, but forgive the past. We worship the artist, but are only outraged when their anti-Semitism goes beyond the boundaries of discretion — when it is in such bad taste, they get caught. Plausible deniability is the name of the game.
That is the game Galliano lost. He will have to pay a price, maybe go to jail — for bad taste. That a designer at his level was this careless is what shocks me. That he is an anti-Semite allows him to join most of Europe. The academic papers, convenient editing of memory, historical revisionism, private dinner conversations, immigration law, and countless silent forms of anti-Semitism continue to prosper.
I am a Jew. I know the steely eyed glance, which lasts only a second, but which communicates quite clearly that the person looking at you thinks you are a little mouse. They wouldn’t think twice about stomping you out if they could.
John Galliano will hire a publicist and “reform.” But for those of us around the world who are truly not racists and anti-Semites, this is a sad day. One of our heroes revealed he was really a monster. One of our geniuses pulled back the curtain.
Filed under: Angst
After the War: Dior
By BarbaraAnne
With France in ruins after the Second World War, Christian Dior felt the fashion world was ready for a new, luxurious style with sumptuous silhouettes and billowing skirts. On Feb. 12, 1947, he held an haute couture show with clothes featuring soft shoulders, waspy waists and full flowing skirts.
They were intended for what he called “flower women,” those who longed to leave their factory jobs and return home, leaving brutality and hardship behind. When the audience saw designs like this 1947 suit, they felt they had died and gone to heaven.
In 1949, Dior created “Junon,” French for the Queen Roman Goddess Juno (Greek equivalent Hera). Its grey skirt was a waterfall of ombréed (shaded) petals, each bordered with delicate dark-blue embroidery. The petals looked like peacock feathers without eyes — oblique references to the bird associated with Juno. With this landmark work, Dior manipulated the symbolism of ancient mythology to 20th-Century tastes. Junon’s timeless beauty shook the fashion world.
Filed under: Style
Black Lace and Givenchy
By BarbaraAnne
The wedding gown Hubert de Givenchy designed for Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina (1954) stunned the fashion world. The strapless gown was the first to have black lace embellishments and embroidered black-and-white flowers on white organdy. Floral templates both stand alone and are linked by chains to form a heirarchy of design balance.
For me, the process is as interesting as the result. Here are pictures of Jean Paul Gaultier‘s ateliers preparing a similar black floral template. Using generations-old embroidery skills, Givenchy’s workshop must have used the same process to bring Audrey Hepburn’s visionary gown to the world.
Filed under: Style
On the Runway for Chanel
By BarbaraAnne
Instead of doing “Lalique, Lalique, Lalique,” as Susan predicted, I’m doing “Chanel, Chanel, Chanel.” Will it pass? Only time will tell.
On E-bay, I saw an haute couture creme silk tunic-jacket from the 2007 – 2008 Chanel Paris runway: the genius of Karl Lagerfeld. My jaw dropped. Look at how he decorates a silk tunic with diagonal flaps ending in a slight fringe, different kinds of pearl buttons, and lace hand-embroidered with starry and zig-zag patterns. The sleeves have three ideas in them alone. He makes it look so simple. This is a masterpiece of both design and craftsmanship. I cannot imagine how many couturières it took to make one. Very few were released to stores — at a retail price of $10,000.
Filed under: Style
Art Appreciation 101: Haute Couture
Abe Gurko of the Huffington Post certainly doesn’t understand Haute Couture and its value as artistic expression. After reading this article I was inclined to leave a comment, which I thought I’d also share here to help out those who just don’t “get it.”
“Haute Couture is the art of fashion, not the function. Few wear Haute Couture, even among those who can afford it… it influences fashion trends rather than defining them. Just as you don’t need to own a Picasso to admire Picasso’s art, neither do you need to own a Dior gown to admire Galliano’s art. Art can be defined in many ways and exists in many forms, and each has its own intrinsic value as “art,” whether it be created from metal, the written word, oil paint or textiles. Those who choose to live their life without appreciating art in all its many manifestations deny themselves a very large part of the simple enjoyment of living.”
Filed under: Style
