Abbie Hoffman arrested in flag shirt: “I only regret that I have but one shirt to give for my country.” October 1968
I assume readers will agree that apparel can be a powerful tool of political and social dissent, such as the Communist / anarchistic subtext of Surreal fashions (see my earlier post). Costume has likewise been leveraged in political upheavals many times; for example Caroline Weber recently illuminated fashion politics in the 18th century with her tremendous What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution. I’ll concentrate on the antics of the Yippies in the 1960s.
Often indistinguishable from the less political hippies, the yippies (so-named to mimic an exuberant exclamation; afterwards the acronym Youth International Party was assigned) also cherished their long hair and thrifted clothes as protests in-and-of themselves against their buttoned-up, conservative parents and contemporaries. This is beautifully illustrated by Hair the Musical. The cast tries to explain to the authority figures, the “straights,” why they keep their hair long — is it a homosexual thing, or what? Though the lyrics leave this question largely unanswered, around 2:17 of the film clip below (1979– on the cusp of another big hair decade), the tune temporarily mimics the Star Spangled Banner, explicitly presenting hair as a political statement: “Oh say can you see… my eyes? If you can then my hair’s too short!”
Though the hippie culture was amply documented, it was still a subculture — specifically, a youth culture. In his seminal work Do it!: Scenarios of the Revolution, Yippie co-founder Jerry Rubin has a chapter “Don’t Trust Anyone Over 40,” the thinking that with few exceptions, people over 40 are too entangled in the economic systems rigged to favor the wealthy, and too enmeshed / invested in their achieved middle class quality of life to reject it. Often accused of being Communists, the Yippies actually favored communal but somewhat anarchic societies where people governed themselves. In Steal This Book, Abbie Hoffman devotes much page space to methods of obtaining goods and services for free, some of which were legal (clothes swaps, etc.), and some of which were technically illegal (stealing outright, deception). He justified the illegal methods because the Yippies believed in free necessities like food, clothes, shelter, information, and even entertainment. Woodstock (August, 1969) was a perfect example of a successful peaceful temporary community where people exchanged goods and services without money. When you consider the size of the crowd — 500,000 for 3 1/2 days — the absence of rioting and violence in favor of cooperation and generosity. There was a combination of colorful, flowing clothes, and nudity, satisfying psychedelic and au naturel aesthetics.
Woodstock campground by Burk Uzzle
Woodstock nudists, by Burk Uzzle
Outside special events or “happenings” like Woodstock, college campuses were hotbeds of hippie and Yippie protest activity. Yippies rejected institutional and commercialized learning (education should be free), and record numbers of students dropped out as they became disillusioned with the corporate management of their educations, preparing them not to be critical thinkers so much as model employees in the assumed next step of getting jobs, striving for management positions, jockeying for increased salaries, buying homes, etc., etc. The “straights,” terrified of the crazy-looking homegrown insurgents, treated student protests like another Vietnam: by sending in troops.
This was exemplified in the People’s Park, an unused plot of Berkeley-owned land (appropriated by totally sketchy eminent domain, evicting residents to do so) that students and non-students turned into a communal park — with 100% donated materials, food, and volunteer labor — in 1969. In effect, they re-claimed the land in a reverse eminent domain. The University retaliated after several months by fencing the park off and ultimately leveling it. When outraged students and community members tried to storm the park to reclaim it, tear gas and even bullets were used by the Berkeley and university police. Though this could be considered guerrilla warfare, it is startling how obviously unarmed the hippies and yippies are in this military confrontation:
Peoples Park fence, 1969
Peoples Park confrontation, 1969
The more draconian the police beatings, macings, and shootings were, the more outraged moderate young people became, so that Jerry Rubin actually thanked police and extremist right-wingers for galvanizing and mobilizing would-be fence-sitters for the Left.
Anti-war demonstrators at the Pentagon, October 1967
As rag-tag clothes and unkempt hair were essential to the lifestyle of hippies and Yippies, so was nudity. A symbol of the natural body, unencumbered by material possessions, it was also a form of rebellion against the repressive sexual politics of the 1950s. Yippies sometimes used the naked body as part of a spectacle, an extra “fuck you” to the uptight straights. From Jerry Rubin’s Do It!:
“[Sharon and Robin] dressed as waiters at a big feast of liberal senators at the Hilton…. Expecting their dessert of apple pie and coffee, instead were served pigs’ heads on platters. Then Robin and Sharon stripped and stood radiantly naked before the thousands of middle-class people. Horrified women hid their eyes. Men giggled and stared. Shelly Winters threw her cocktail at them. Some women began beating naked Crazie Sharon’s beautiful thighs with umbrellas….”
I mean, just look at the absolute disgust and horror of those onlookers! Though public nudity has once again subsided into designated spaces, one has to wonder why the naked body is so offensive to so many.
Sharon or Robin at liberal senator dinner, c. 1969
To backtrack a bit, the Yippies were founded by adopted New Yorkers Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989) and Jerry Rubin (1938-1994), among others, in 1967, an offshoot of the less radical hippies. They set out to garner as much media attention as possible to their disappointment with America’s foreign agenda and domestic capitalist system. After organizing a protest rally of the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago — it was a protest of the entire electoral process, not any specific candidate or party — the Chicago police, acting under Mayor Daley‘s draconian orders, engaged in drawn-out warfare with peaceful rally-goers, employing tear gas, baton beatings, barbed wired jeeps, and large guns. Though Time Magazine noted, “Not so innocently, many [protesters] were equipped with motorcycle crash helmets, gas masks,… bail money and anti-Mace unguents,” these were protective measures, not offensive weapons, and were a direct result of the threat of violence from the oppressive mayor who denied many protest permits and gave “shoot to kill” commands at previous student protests. Furthermore, most protesters were armed with nothing but signs and flowers.
demonstration in Grant Park, Chicago, August 1968
After disrupting the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, eight token protesters (Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Black Panther Bobby Seale) were arrested and tried for conspiracy and inciting to riot. During the kangaroo court trial of these “Chicago Eight,” Abbie and Jerry used costume to humorously — and effectively — illustrate their discontentment with the American government and court system. After enduring an outrageous miscarriage of justice under Judge Julius Hoffman, Abbie and Jerry started rebelling even more aggressively than their normal unbathed and long-haired selves: they came to court one day wearing judge’s robes, and underneath were Chicago Police uniforms, mocking the kangaroo court they were forced to participate in (“Our attitude is basically satirical,” said Yippie Keith Lampe). Look at Abbie’s impish grin in the costume of a Chicago Policeman — his wild hair and beaded necklace identifying him with his subculture in the midst of the joke — even while in the midst of a rather serious trial where fellow defendant Bobby Seale was literally bound and gagged:
Abbie Hoffman in Chicago police uniform, spring 1969
And In front of the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), Jerry Rubin dressed as a Viet Kong solider, and as an American Civil War soldier while handing out copies of the Declaration of Independence:
Jerry Rubin in HUAC hearing
To other HUAC hearings (he was investigated twice), Jerry tried to dress as Santa Claus (“to reach the head of every child in the country”), but was barred from defaming the Christian idol. He was, however, allowed to wear a full-on guerrilla warfare costume (toy machine gun included!), which he did multiple times, dressing as the revolutionary outcast he felt himself to be:
Jerry Rubin, at HUAC carrying a toy plastic machine gun in Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 1968
More than stoned theatrics, farcical costume was deliberately employed to attract mass-media attention to the Yippies’ anti-war, free-speech, anti-corporate agenda. But where did the Yippies get their inspiration? The Boston Tea Party was an early American event where costume was used for political purposes. The Boston colonists rebelled against their controlling motherland England, and the conspired monopoly of the East India Company. In December, 1773, Boston colonists, dressed as Native Americans, boarded three taxed tea ships and threw the goods overboard, as protest against taxation without representation. Costume was critical for multiple reasons: first, it created a spectacle that demanded attention; but though the outfits garnered interest to the group event, they also disguised the individuals from identification in an act of vandalism.
depiction of Boston Tea Party, 1773
Traces of the Yippies can then be seen in the historical costumes of the contemporary costumed Tea Partiers too, obviously from the opposite end of the political spectrum. The Yippies’ desired “free market” — literally free essential services — is twisted into the Tea Party’s desired “free [corporate] market”:
Tea Partiers protesting higher taxes in Santa Barbara, CA, April 4 2011
And though the costumed element is not as consistent thus far, Occupy Wall Street shares a great deal with the Yippies. It too has a nebulous but anti-corporateagenda, there is general anti-war sentiment, and there are a few people dressing up to illustrate their points. Zombies are being equated with blood-sucking corporations and bankers, and some veterans are donning Guy Fawkes masks, a symbol of the Anonymous group that started OWS:
Occupy Wall Street zombies
Occupy Wall Street Guy Fawkes mask
While anger over injustices was most certainly a prime component of the Yippie movement, humor was the preferred method of communication. Abbie Hoffman specified: “The YIP is a party — like the last word says — not a political movement.” While localized rallies and sit-ins and happenings and marches are important, life itself should be a living theatre of protest. Costumes, perhaps, have a place in the former, while clothes with a conscientious message can be used every day to express one’s participation (or non-participation) in ingrained systems (see my previous post on Collecting Clothes with a Conscience). Politicize your clothes!
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And if you’d like to hear more, I’ll be elaborating on this topic this at 10.45am on Friday (October 14) for Fordham’s (free!) “The Art of Outrage” conference in New York’s Lincoln Center. If you have Friday off, come on down!
Who doesn’t love pictures from old Hollywood? For fashion and costume aficionados, (and legions of tumblr mavens), there is no greater source for seductive and informative fashion images. The National Portrait Gallery’s current special exhibition Glamour of the Gods pays homage to these great photos with an exhibition of 70 images from the collection of historian and photo archivist John Kobal. The photographs are all from the period between 1920 and 1970, and feature familiar faces such as Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. Many of these pictures have been previously published in Kobal’s collections of images, such as Hollywood Glamor Portraits: 145 Portraits of Stars, 1926-49, but seeing framed prints from original 8×10 negatives in a gallery setting made for a true experience of immersion in the glory of celluloid style.
Louise Brooks by ER Richee, 1929
The exhibition was crowded during my visit, with spectators of all ages admiring the photographs in a worshipful manner. The deep indigo and pale blue walls and dramatic lighting added to luminosity of the photographs and their subjects, arranged chronologically by decade around the perimeter of the gallery. Among the converastions of visitors were excited comments of recognition and favourite films, stars and of course, costumes.
Clarence Sinclair Bull photographing Clarke Gable and Vivien Leigh for Gone with the Wind, 1939 by Fred Parrish
The information panels accompanying the images all included two distinct texts, one regarding the sitter and film which it was taken to promote, and one explicating the photographer’s work and relation to the subject. These texts were truly enlightening in that they provided background information about the the careers of the stars, and in many cases noted the costume and production designers as integral to Hollywood image-making.
In addition to the photographs themselves, the exihibition displayed some of Kobal’s books, as well as a showcase of photographer’s proofs with notes for retouching. I was particularly pleased at this inclusion was significant in showing that behind all the seeming perfection and beauty, there was then, as now, technical intervention to help beauty along.
A video slideshow of the photographers at work was also a fascinating element of the exhibition, providing behind the scenes glimpses of the theatricality of the process as well as the product of the sessions.
Marilyn Monroe By Ernest A. Bachrach Modern platinum print from the original negative, 1952
By the conclusion of the exhibition my eyes were bleary with the haze of glamour – and having been a visitor to the pantheon of Hollywood stars and characters that were and continue to be, truly divine.
The exhibition runs until October 23, and a series of events and a photographic competition have taken place in conjunction with the show. Online, a wealth of material is available regarding the exhibition and a full image list is downloadable. For even more engagement with Hollywood glamour, the National Portrait Gallery has devised an interactive site where you can upload your own photographs and give them the star treatment by adding period frames, effects and even your own celebrity autograph!
In 2008, Heather looked into the New Yorker September fashion issue which profiles the return of the stiletto, specifically drawing attention to Roger Vivier, French fashion footwear designer who is said to be the creator of the stiletto heel.
The September 1st issue of theNew Yorker (the big fashion issue, with the Marc Jacobs interview) did a little profile on the return of the stiletto (and points out that yes, it never really left) in their regular “On and Off the Avenue” column. Specifically, it pointed to Roger Vivier’s ‘Rose ‘N Roll’ platform sandal with “a five-inch heel shaped like a thorn” as evidence of the new stiletto/platform crossbreed shoe that will gain greater popularity than either the straight stiletto or the straight platform.
For those interested in a little more eye candy, check out this video of a recent exclusive Vivier shopping night in Paris (including some shots of the re-introduced pilgrim pump from the 1960s).
For those not familiar, a brief history explains why this stiletto platform hybrid innovation is so apropos for Rodger Vivier.
Though he had previously garnered attention for his innovative work on the platform in the 1930s, Vivier – a French shoe designer – began to be recognized for his work during the 1950s. He had studied sculpture and also designed models for manufacturers across the globe, including “Pinet and Bally in France, Salamander and Mercedes in Germany, Rayne and Turner in England, and Delman in the United States.”[1] In 1937, Vivier opened his own design house in the Rue Royale, but continued to design for Delman.
That same year, Delman rejected a Vivier design for being “an orthopedic-style, cork soled platform shoe,” which he quickly offered to surrealist designer Elsa Schiaprelli. She then included the shoes in her 1938 collection.[2] During the war, Vivier went to the US, continuing to work for Delman and branching into hat design.[3]
In January of 1953, Vivier was invited by Christian Dior to begin designing shoes for the newly formed Christian Dior-Delman company.[4] Vivier, with his name included on the label, worked for Dior for the following ten years.[5] His innovative shoe designs astounded and beguiled women, and his elaborate decorations featured pearls, feathers, lace, tulle, rhinestones, intricate embroidery by Rebe, cascading crystal beads, and other decadent trimmings.[6]
Most famously, however, Viver became known for the style and shape of his heels. Though it is unclear who first introduced the Stiletto, Roger Vivier is usually credited with inventing it.[7] Calling it “talon aiguille” (or needle heel), it was reinforced with steel and finely tapered.[8]
Using his early training in sculpture and applying the principals of aerodynamics to footwear, he created other amazing heel shapes, including: the shock heel, the comma heel, Punchinello heel, the bobbin or spool heel, and even a heel made of a ball of rhinestones.[9] He also created innovative toe shapes, including the needle toe, the chisel toe, the square toe, and a turned up toe. [10]
The comma heel (1957, LACMA)
(1961, Metropolitan Museum of Art, CI)
In the 1960s, Vivier continued to provide shoes for a variety of designers including, Pierre Balmain, Guy Laroche, Nina Ricci, Cristobal Balenciaga, Emmanuel Ungaro, Madame Gres, and Andre Courreges.[11] Most importantly, however, was his partnership with Yves Saint Laurent, which lasted from 1962 through 1970. For YSL, Viver created a silver-buckle pilgrim pump that would become one of histories most copied shoe (Retro examples of the pilgrim pump are visible in the first video). [12]
For more on the shoes in the collection of the metropolitan museum of arts, costume institute read this. Here too is a video of a recent exhibit (including some amazing shoes by Vivier) at Le musée international de la chaussure.
Recently I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Petra Slinkard, Textile & Fashion Arts Curatorial Associate from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, about their current exhibition Material World. This show was organized by Niloo Paydar, curator of Textile & Fashion Arts, with the assistance of Petra. The show will remain on view through February 6th, 2012. For those who will not make it to the Indianapolis area, be sure to check out the link at the bottom of this post to see the newly launched exhibition video.
M:What was the initial inspiration for the Material World show?
Petra: The textiles in Material World were chosen for their opulent surface ornamentation, assembled to illustrate the relationship between materialism and wealth. Divided into sections, the exhibition highlights elaborately decorated furnishings and garments adorned with metallic threads, beads, shells, pearls, rhinestones, feathers and other exotic objects. The exhibition set out to explore how embellished textiles, clothing and accessories indicate the prestige, luxury, beauty and power of individuals within very different cultures; conveying complex concepts of diversity, abundance, and status. Representing cultures from Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and the South Pacific, Material World features more than 50 works from the IMA’s textile and fashion arts collection.
M: Could you speak a little about the history and scope of the costume and textile collection at the Indianapolis Museum of Art?
Petra: The Indianapolis Museum of Art is celebrating its 128th year as one of the largest and most comprehensive encyclopedic museums in the United States. One of the first items to be purchased for the collection was in fact a textile, in 1888 with major collecting in this area beginning with a large purchase of 100 Chinese textiles and costumes in 1906. These strategic acquisitions exemplify the IMA’s early commitment to collecting textiles and clothing. Today, the textile and fashion arts collection comprises approximately 7,000 items and represents virtually all of the world’s traditions in fabric.
(For more information on the collection, please visit here)
M: Garments and textiles from geographically disparate cultures are paired side by side throughout the exhibition. Was materiality the sole underlying principle used to determine the grouping of these items, or were some pieces arranged according to other less formal properties?
Petra: The materials used to embellish individual objects and the significance of each was the primary reason for groupings. However, the exhibition begins with an introduction to the types of materials presented, and transitions into a space dedicated to the juxtaposition of royal and religious garments and furnishings. For instance, in the center platform of the second gallery, a Chinese Imperial robe, from the late 1700s, early 1800s; a Yoruba King’s ceremonial robe dating to the early to mid 1900s and a court gown owned by Princess Maria Maximilianova Romanovska designed by Charles Fredrick Worth, from about 1888 are placed together. Although created for the nobility of very different cultures, the garments produced were all worn to communicate status, power and beauty, illustrating the common importance of materiality within each culture.
M: In western culture, the sartorial manifestation of wealth and status is linked with the ideas of fashion, luxury, and very often, couture. What has the reaction from exhibition viewers been like when they see some of the lavish global garments and textiles on display next to couture items, in a way that might challenge the hegemony of western fashion?
Petra: The reaction of exhibition viewers has been wonderful. Many people are delighted and surprised to learn how many commonalities exist between varying cultures and our own. While the execution and display of luxurious garments may differ, the allure of owning and wearing sumptuous clothing and furnishings is universal. I think the exhibition design aids in enlightening museum goers to our similarities instead of focusing on our differences.
M: Are there any materials in the show that stand out for either their universal value among different cultures, or perhaps their surprising worth in terms of the way that we are used to evaluating them today?
Petra: For me, the universal appeal of mirrors and metallic threads stand out. Regardless of culture or time period, people seem to be consistently fascinated with shiny objects. Inherently rich in symbolism, mirrors have traditionally been thought to evoke magical powers and provide protection. But how the concept of psychological protection coupled with aesthetic appeal is reappropriated into contemporary designs, are for me, very interesting. A mirrored dress designed by Halston from 1981 and a three piece, pant suit from about 1964 made of spectacular fabric of dyed metallic threads by Chanel, are exhibited among pieces from Indonesian, Moroccan and Pakistani cultures, exemplifying this collective allure.
M: Some of the clothing is displayed on full mannequins, while other pieces lay flat or have invisible mounts. How did the exhibition team decide how they wanted objects to be presented?
Petra: When designing any exhibition, our first concern is always the safety of the objects. This show in particular, posed a few challenges due to the range, in addition to the tactile nature of the objects. Each had to be displayed in a way that allows the viewer to see materials up close while discouraging them from touching. Once secure mounting was determined, aesthetics were addressed. We strove to display objects in the most visually appealing manner, while arranging each in a way to promote the thesis of the exhibition.
M: What is the date range for objects in the exhibition, and did you find that time had a strong influence on the social value of some of the materials utilized to create objects in the show?
Petra: The earliest piece in the exhibition is a feathered Peruvian tunic from the 15th century and the most recent, a feathered skirt by Miuccia Prada for Prada from the Spring 2005 collection and pair of shoes adorned with feathers from 2007. Sumptuously embellished clothing has been worn for centuries and continues to be worn today. The intrinsic need to adorn one’s self is everlasting. In fact, the recent trend for feather hair extensions comes to mind. In my opinion, the technology used and the availability of materials are the two main factors affecting the choices people make in how they adorn themselves today. The social value placed on materials is simply a component of a particular zeitgeist.
There is an upcoming lecture at the Indianapolis Museum of Art on Thursday December 8th, 2011:
Lecture: The History of Beads
7:00 pm, IMA, Tobias Theater: FREE for FAS Members
Join author and curator, Lois Sherr Dubin for a talk in the Toby Theater on the history of beads. Dubin will investigate how beads have been used throughout history and around the world as talismans, status symbols, religious article and a medium of barter.
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Images:
1.) Exhibition view, Material World, Indianapolis Museum of Art.
2.) Pierre Balmain (designer), French (1914-1982), Ballgown, fall/winter 1953-1954, silk embroidered with metallic threads, pearls, sequins (Lesage embroidery); length: 59 inches. Mr. and Mrs. William B. Ansted Jr. Art Fund. 2004.50
3.) Skirt for young woman, Iraqw people, 1940-1980, leather, glass and brass beads, metal bells. 35 x 67 1/2 in. Textile Arts Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore P. Van Vorhees Art Fund, Anonymous Art Fund and Gift of Mrs. Berniece Fee Mozingo, Helen W. Russell, Mrs. Louis Burckhardt, Mrs. Sylvia Orell in Memory of Colonel and Mrs. F.J. Keelty and Ruth Grummon. 1998.77
All images are courtesy of the Indianapolis Museum of Fine Art.
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Special thanks to Petra Slinkard, Candace Gwaltney, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art!
Brit Pop, by Raul G. Acrylic and permanent marker on canvas
My recent visit to the National Portrait Gallery was expressly to view and review the current photography exhibition Glamour of the Gods: Hollywood Portraits. After an intoxicating and nostalgic look at all the glitz and romance of cinema stills, I took a breather from celluloid fantasy and strolled over to see this years BP Portrait Award exhibition. Next week, I promise you a review of the cinema portraits – and costume design as portrayed in them – but this week I aim to share my transcendant experience of looking at the real clothes of real people right now, as portrayed by contemporary portrait painters. Of course my eye was as ever on clothing – and for this reason in particular the show was a standout. To depict dress-as-portrait or fashion-in-contemporary-lives were surely not the aims of the painters or the exihibition organisers and judges. But for today’s fashion-aware audiences, and tomorrow’s fashion researchers, this show offers a wealth of information – faithfully and poignantly rendered.
Little Sister, by Tim Okamura Oil on canvas
The BP Portrait Award competition and exhibition, held annually for the past thirty-two years, is billed as the ‘most prestigious portrait competition in the world.’ The works represent an array of artistic styles, and virtuosity reigns – with most of this years fifty-five finalists offerring highly representational images displaying immense technical skill and emotional breadth. Aside from a handful of semi-nude or nude portraits, all the sitters were pictured wearing clothes. And all the sitters are people who had a portrait of them in their clothes painted in the past two years. Seems like a rather mundane observation in retrospect, but it illuminates the value of these portraits as documents of fashion.
He Who Dares, portrait of AP McCoy by Jennifer McRae Oil on linen
Aileen Ribeiro and Lou Taylor in particular are among the dress historians who remind us that historic portraits are invaluable sources of information on historic dress, textiles and fashion. Before the inception of photography in the mid-nineteenth century, the painted, drawn or engraved portrait was the only visual record of dress. When we picture Queen Elizabeth 1 (not Cate Blanchett as…), it is most probably a painted portrait of her made in her lifetime that we imagine. In a hundred years, or even ten, when we are reminded of say…Lady Gaga – and something she fantastically wore – it will surely not be a drawing or etching of her we call to mind. Pity though – as wouldn’t it be nice to have known how Boldini might have represented her?
Flora MacGregor by Jo Fraser Oil and charcoal on canvas
Photography is everywhere, proliferated by digital technology, and there are so many photographs of what so many people are wearing in so many places in the world right now. I take it for granted that images of club kids in 2010 in Japan will still be online whenever I may be looking for them. So, it’s really grounding to know that while anyone can record what they were wearing in 2011 with a tap of a fingertip on a smartphone – there are also people observing and recording by more studied means- and by doing so portraying clothes not as a matter of fashion, but as a matter of fact about who we are.
Yndia in Kente and Antique Dress by Noel Bensted Oil on canvas
The people depicted in most of this year’s portraits are notably not notable in the celebrity sense – although an imposing George O’Dowd makes a particularly flashy appearance in one. Some of the exhibit captioning provided biographical information of the sitters or the relationship to the artist. But this information was for me secondary to the initial impression made by the clothes, hairstyles and facial types portrayed.
The portraits that illustrate the post, are the ones whose fashion information factor was particular high – or where the sitter’s relationship to dress was a key part of the image.
In these images ethnicity, culture, occupation, gender, age and class are all addressed by what people are wearing. A striped sweater, a pair of Crocs, Kente cloth, Converse All-Stars and racing stripes all have their tale to tell. Instead of offering my musings on these portraits, I hope you will offer me yours.
Venus as a Boy by Wen Wu Oil on canvas
Thanks to the National Portrait Gallery and the BP Portrait Award Competition, the contemporary painted portrait, anachronistic though it may be, will be a portrait of fashion which was always up to date.
Following the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, the winners and selected entries will subsequently tour to:
Admiring the Snake Goddess at the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Crete
Following on from my post two weeks ago on the fashion-centric reading material I stuffed in my carry-on, I wanted to share some images and musings from three museums I visited on my recent trip to Greece.
Bronze pins of the Geometric and Archaic Periods, 8th-7th Century BC
It has been quite a long time since I looked very closely at Greek vases and statuary, or reviewed the names of Ancient Greek garments as I learned them in an Art and Fashion class at FIT, but as I wandered the Archaeological Museum in Athens, these images and terms came back to me. Himation, chiton, fibulae, amphora…the geometric period and then the splendor of the black figured and red figuredclayware.
Attic red figured lethykos. Woman folding a himation. 480-470 B.C.
While it is well-known that these vases often featured erotic scenes (you can buy calendars, playing cards, coasters, etc. featuring these images at most souvenir stands in Greece – even at the airport!), I was as usual turning my eye towards representations of dress and to reflect upon just how little clothing changed over such a long span of time. Certainly there are differences in the representations of dress, as refelected also in the changes in stylistic technique, but the basic garments for men and women were virtually static for 500-1000 years. Perhaps that is just how it seems to us in retrospect, but in the age of fast trend led fashion, it is hard not to be incredulous at women wearing the same sort of dress for centuries! What is less surprising is the enduring influence that Ancient Greek Fashion has on contemporary fashion, and I was reminded of this as well while wandering what seemed miles of glass cases brimming with vases. From the Greek key design or meander and Medusa head used a a logo/trademark by Versace, to the influence of draping and drapery as seen in Greek statuary, that never really leaves the catwalk for very long.
The Greek Goddess look in the Early 19th century
The Goddess look, inspired by the Ancients, and the rediscovery of their art treasures, has long fascinated fashion – from the Empire style of the early 19th century, to the red carpet and awards show dress of the moment.
Kate Moss and Marc Jacobs at the Costume Institute Gala 2009
This is a topic well-examined and illustrated by the Metropolitan Museum’s exhibition Goddess: The Classical Mode in 2003.
The second museum I visited, the Museum of Greek Folk Art was a real gem – and the sort of place that almost seems a secret – because no one else is there. During my visit, one museum guard followed my husband and I from floor to floor greeting us at each gallery as if she had not seen us just second before.
The museum itself was a feast of folk costume, regional textiles and embroidery, jewellery, household objects and photographic documentation of peoples and customs of mainland and island Greece.
Along with the displays, texts in Greek and English caption almost every item on display, so a careful visit can leave you reading for hours! By the time we left the galleries, my head was so full of new information about the diversity and history of Greek textiles and their meanings that I needed to sit and have what might have been my fifth iced coffee of the day.
19th Century Embroidery from Crete
Other than the buzz of new knowledge, I was also however a bit saddened that this wonderful museum, in the center of tourist Athens, held seemingly little or no interest to the hordes of visitors swarming around the Acropolis.
My last stop on the cultural circuit was the Archaeological Museum of Crete in Heraklion, famed for its holdings of Minoan art, most of which were unearthed at nearby Knossos, which I also visited.
Votive robes made of faience with decoration of crocus flowers. Knossos, 1600 B.C.
The Minoan Snake Goddess, though rather less demure than her later Hellenic counterparts, is one of my most favorite icons of fashion. With a tightly girded waist (perhaps the first “corset” in dress history), full bare breasts, a long tiered ruffled skirt and towering headdress – not to mention serpents for accessories – she was surely an icon of style as well as more traditional aspects of femininity such as fertility and domesticity. While the Snake Goddess is perhaps not emulated by starlets on the red carpet, or pinned to the mood boards of couture designers, her influence has been felt and I like to trace all waist-cinching garments back to her! The display case that holds two versions of Snake goddess figurines also displayed two ‘votive offerrings’ to the goddess which were stone representations of dresses. Seemed to me like a fitting way to revere the divine feminine! I have long desired to make a Snake Goddess costume, and while discussing it as a possible Halloween costume for this year with my friend hosting us in Crete, she reminded me of the Athens Olympic opening ceremony, which begins with a costumed performer as the Snake Goddess, and traces all of Greek art history in a slowly moving and graceful tableau.
Costumed performer as The Minoan Snake Goddess at the 2004 Olympic Opening Ceremony in Athens
If you don’t have a trip to Greece on the calendar, watch this stunningly designed tribute to its cultural history – which is sure to doubly enrapture those with an affinity for dress history, costume and icons of style.
In trolling through all the mountains of Fashion Week photos several seasons ago now, I stumbled upon Todd Lynn‘s Spring and Fall ready-to-wear collections for 2011. They caught my attention because, unlike the standard erogenous zones, these focused on the neck — that is, the neck was almost always covered or partially obscured. Stiff collars make heads look like they’re floating, soft furs cuddle faces, asymmetrical flaps of leather strapped to half the neck by way of the armpit (another oft-ignored zone).
I love neck-centric clothes — especially for women’s wear, clothes all too often focus a few inches down, on the breasts. The neck is still highly sensual — soft skin, elongated, smooth lines, one’s throat is rarely touched except by lovers… or aggressors. Because the throat is also highly vulnerable — veins are close to the surface, and essential air is usefully transported from the nose and mouth to the lungs. If these processes are tampered with — via constriction or severing — serious or even fatal damage can be done. But shall I backtrack?
As Harold Koda noted in the Extreme Beauty catalog, an elongated neck implies dignity, poise, and authority across all cultures. It further distinguishes itself as a unique focal point of beauty in that it is not an indicator of youth, as, say, pert breasts and lustrous hair are. Though it is difficult to stretch the neck, drooped shoulders give the illusion of a longer neckline. The Ndebele women of South Africa and the Padaung women of Burma wear heavy coils that weigh down the collarbone, angling it up to 45º (the natural angle is close to 90º); the coils simultaneously stretch the neck vertebrae and slope the shoulders to blur the shoulder line into the neck. These coils also form a protective metal barrier around the weakened throat like armor:
Ndebele woman with neck band and neck ring, 1996
Padaung woman with stretched neck, 1979
The neck as a focal point in fashion also transgresses genders, as it is equally useful to men as to women as a pedestal on which to drape symbols of wealth, authority and beauty. Historically, bishops and kings have been just as likely to adorn their necks as women. Note the triangulated silhouette of the Cardinal’s cape, obscuring his shoulders and drawing the eyes to the apex, his neck and head; the heavy medals and necklaces advertise these men’s wealth and authority:
Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1540
Cardinal Luis Maria De Borbon and Vallabriga by Goya, 1800
Though in daily life necks are covered by soft material, 16th century menswear was influenced by armor design — a sign of masculine strength and virility — which subtly implies the vulnerability of the neck and the necessity of covering it. In the pictures below you can see how armor and soft cloth mimicked each other in skirt, faux pleats, squared-off toes, etc. Though Henry’s neck is not protected by metal, in both portraits (above and below) he clutches a glove and a dagger, indicative of duels and violence:
German composite armor, 1550-60
Henry VIII portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, after 1537
John Galliano employed both the triangulated shoulder illusion of male robes, and the extending Afro-Asian neck coils in his otherwise European-tailored suit and choker for Dior‘s FW97 collection. Todd Lynn conceived a more pared-down, monk-like version for his coat that obscures and therefore highlights the neck:
Galliano for Dior, FW97
Todd Lynn FW2011 RTW
From the 16th through 19th centuries, corsets were constructed with shoulder straps that similarly triangulated a woman’s shoulders. Rather than extending the clothes from shoulder to chin, clothes were cut away from that area, exposing the flesh of throat, upper back, and shoulder top to lengthen that same line. These necklines perhaps don’t scream “danger!” at first, but the fashionably exposed necks certainly contribute to the pervading sense of unease viewers experience while watching Dracula films, am I right?
detail of Princesse Albert de Broglie, née Joséphine-Eléonore-Marie-Pauline de Galard de Brassac de Béarn by Ingres, 1853
Dracula and Mina from Bram Stoker's Dracula film, 1992
Just post-French Revolution, a small but highly visible group of radical dandies — the Incroyables — took to winding neck scarves up the length of their necks and even over their chins; it has been speculated that this was a symbolic protective measure of that part of the body that had recently been targeted by the dreaded guillotine. Compare to the structured high collar in Todd Lynn’s collection that captures some of the aggression and unease present in the turn-of-the-19th century example:
Point of Convention detail by Louis Boilly, c. 1797
Todd Lynn FW2011 RTW
Vampires and slashers share a similar modus operandi: both are sexual, aggressive, and violent, usually focusing on or around the neck which, as I hope I’ve already conveyed, embodies sensual vulnerability. The collar from Alexander McQueen‘s “Dante” collection (FW97) is protective in its height, but aggressive in its angularity; its plunging slashed neckline is further exaggerated by the dramatic upward sweep of the starched-like collar. Similarly, Todd Lynn’s blood-red ensemble covers the neck, shoulders, and chin, but exposes a slice of flesh just below:
McQueen Dante collection, FW96-97
Todd Lynn FW2011 RTW
All this to say, I’m ready for more neck-centric fashions. Who’s with me???!!
Originally posted by Heather Vaughan on November 26th, 2008, this incredible Jalou Gallery resource is a must see! Give this database a try and let us know your thoughts.
Jalou Gallery has the entire L’Officiel de la Mode available online for researchers (The searchable database is an excellent resource for Fashion Historians). While I don’t really read or speak French, I found the site to be extremely intuitive and easy to use (you can even print out the articles you need in their original layout (complete with images).
You can also view the issues, as if scanning them on a microfische by clicking the “Plein Ecran” link. Seriously, this is an amazing useful resource. From the Plein Ecran view, you can zoom in by clicking on the “Freme” link (once the page is fully loaded) and read the text, look for references and much more.
Searching for key suppliers of textiles, little known designers, as well as the well-known ones yields fantastic results.Quirks and French notwithstanding, this is an amazing tool and one I plan to use extensively going forward. For more (including some great images), check out this blog, Design Typlo le Blog. Give this database a try and let me know what you think in the comments section below.
Although it is often the larger exhibition space and the Valerie Steele and Patricia Mears organized shows that capture the spotlight at the Museum at FIT, over recent years the Fashion and Textile History Gallery has also housed some really interesting shows. These exhibitions function dually as an exploration of a concept, while simultaneously providing an informative overview of fashion history through time.
The current exhibition on view: Sporting Life, runs through November 4th and is the work of Jennifer Farley and Colleen Hill, who were recently announced as Richard Martin Exhibition Award Recipients by the Costume Society of America. This award celebrates their recent co-curated show Eco-Fashion: Going Green.
Sporting Life explores the symbiotic relationship between active sportswear and fashionable dress over time, and as usual, Farley and Hill provide a well-researched pairing of informative wall & label copy alongside over 100 objects from the formidable permanent collection of the museum at FIT. The exhibition begins with a telling quote from Bradley Quinn’s Techno Fashion: “From sportswear, fashion has learned to protect and equip the body, while from fashion, sportswear has learned to decorate the body and tailor clothing to follow its shape.” This reciprocal influence is demonstrated throughout the show as technological innovation alters the structure and properties of the textiles that are used to create garments, and social change dictates the aesthetics and ideals that shape them.
Apparel, accessories, textiles, and periodicals illustrate sixteen different sports from roughly 1890-2011. On display are items such as the above-pictured blue cotton twill gym suit from 1896 with bloomer trousers, a black wool bicycling ensemble from 1888, and a quintessential Norma Kamali gray cotton knit tunic and knickers set from 1981. Some of the older pieces feel appropriately anachronistic, while others, such as a Claire McCardell activewear ensemble from 1945-55, appear as if they could be found in a fashionable boutique today.
There are many objects on display that merit time and contemplation, and some personal favorites were the Yohji Yamamoto wool gabardine coatdress from 2001 that channels a Victorian Women’s riding habit, as well as a Women’s linen duster from ca. 1900, that demonstrates the importance of the duster in an era of open automobiles.
The swim section is fun and vibrant with a charming grouping of bathing caps and slippers, and an impressive chronology of swimsuits that include four Gernreich pieces from 1963-71 that refreshingly does not feature the monokini–although label copy ensures that viewers do not forget this scandalous contribution to fashion history!
Whether you are an equestrian at heart, cyclist, or ski-bunny—the show has something that is sure to capture the interest of everyone. The grouping of objects also sometimes mixes the high and the low such as a pair of Manolo Blahnik Stiletto boots from 1994, which subvert and embrace the aesthetic of a neighboring pair of L.L. Bean Hunting shoes from 1984.
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There are Sporting Life talks & tours taking place on Monday, September 26, at 6pm, Wednesday, October 12, at 10:30am, and Wednesday, October 26, at10:30am. Please see the museum website for more info.
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Sportswear has been a popular topic of interest at Worn Through also. Click on the following links to read Tove‘s musings on Bathing suits, Morals and Technology or Bicycle Chic and Athletic Aesthetics. Monica wrote about a Sportswear symposium and exhibition that took place at the Goldstein museum in 2008, From Sportswear to Streetwear: American Innovation, and Heather wrote about Olympic Fashion and History, as well as compiled some athletically inclined reading suggestions that you can find here.
Earlier this summer I watched the tremendous documentary Herb & Dorothy (2008) which follows a ridiculously adorable, now elderly, couple (Herb and Dorothy Vogel) who started collecting art in the ’60s and amassed one of the finest and most extensive of modern and contemporary art in the world. The twist here is this: Dorothy was a public librarian and Herb was a postal worker, subsisting on public servants’ salaries. Dorothy paid all the bills — their modest rent-controlled Village apartment, phone bill, etc. — and Herb’s salary was entirely devoted to their shared passion: collecting art. By 1992, they had amassed just under 5,000 works (all stored within their one-bedroom apartment!!) when they decided to donate it to the National Gallery for public consumption (they’d had offers from some of the largest art institutions, but chose to donate their collection to the National Gallery in part because it was free to the public).
Compare this story to another, published in June’s New Yorker, about Walmart heiress Alice Walton. Ms. Walton (third wealthiest woman in the world) has been aggressively collecting American art to open a museum in her hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. Ms. Walton has been compared to other “great” female patrons of the art like Isabella Stuart Gardner and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, both of whose institutions I enjoy with some regularity (the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum and MoMA, respectively). And here lies my conflicted relationship with art patrons.
Alice Walton in front of Crystal Bridges American Art Museum construction
As Americans, one of the results of a consumerist mentality is that we have become collectors (see Monica’s previous post on this). Traveling thousands of miles by boat or even plane, our ancestors packed light, and even the wealthy did not have a lot to spare. Over time though, a substantial part of the American dream has become the accumulation of monetary wealth, and amassing a lot of things. Collecting things could be the habitual accumulation of “stuff” — unimportant things that we look at in our homes / backs of closets and say “gee, I never used that. Huh.” In the extreme, these people are labeled “hoarders” such as Homer and Langley Collyer who died in 1947 literally underneath 130 tons of collected (and booby-trapped!) items in their Harlem brownstone.
policeman searching for dead Collyer bodies
Collectors (with a capital “c”) take a more deliberate approach, honing their accumulation to a specific type of object, say, vintage bicycles, train models, cars, salt and pepper shakers, or clothes. Because fashion still lives in that nebulous region of is-it-or-isn’t-it-”art,” private fashion collectors have only recently been given gallery space to share their textile collections with the public. Exhibitions like Rara Avis: The Irreverent Iris Apfelat the Met (2005 – 06), or the upcoming Daphne Guinness at FIT. Ms. Apfel is known for her trademark humungous circular glasses and her free mixing of “high” designer and “low” retail, ethnic, antique, and contemporary sartorial elements, all within the same outfit. Ms. Guinness is recognizable by her towering, heel-less platforms, severe black-and-white hair, and her penchant for extreme silhouettes; I believe she wears haute couture or designer garments and shoes exclusively. Both women are buh-diculously wealthy, and therefore even my joy at fashion exhibits is tainted with the implicit suggestion that only the expensive wardrobes of rich women are worth displaying / studying / emulating.
Iris Apfel
Daphne Guinness
Long-time street fashion photographer Bill Cunningham is refreshingly unimpressed with social standing (so often intertwined with financial worth); one of my favorite Cunningham-isms from the outstanding documentary Bill Cunningham New York is when Bill ignores the paparazzi-mobbed Catherine Deneuve because, simply, “she wasn’t wearing anything interesting.” !! The tragedy is that this is funny precisely because we all expect natural beauty, fame, and fortune to be the only justification necessary to report on people, in print or in pictures.
Even less formal outfit posting bloggers, usually the young and distinctly un-wealthy, often couch consumerist subtext in their blogs, offering photos of themselves in what may or may not be interesting, but is usually vaguely trendy, and oh-so-thoughtfully including notes about where they purchased the various pieces of their ensembles (skinny pants: H&M; tank top: F21; shoes: Steve Madden), insinuating that you too can run out to all our “local” box stores, buy these various items, and be as well-dressed/quirky as Susie Bubble. A typical post might be:
Especially “helpful” bloggers thoughtfully include links directly to shops where followers may purchase precisely the same outfit or components of one (there was one such link for the shoes in the above post). In contrast, if I were to follow the dominant formula, one of my own daily outfit posts (which I have recorded for about 3 years now, but not blogged) might look like this:
Worn August 6, 2011
Tank: no-name brand, purchased at Goodwill; skirt: possibly purchased at Joyce Leslie in the late ’90s; subsequently modified into asymmetrical bunches with safety pins; belt: cummerbund from thrift store modified to tie with 2 red ribbons in back; necklace: from a sidewalk vendor near Union Square c. 2000
Because you will never find precisely the same garment or accessory as I used, and because I layer and modify so frequently, the point of publishing my own outfit posts could only be to provide general inspiration / amusement, and perhaps to show how easy and cheap (not to mention ecologically sound) DIY fashion is. I recognize that not everyone is comfortable sewing or even manipulating her clothes, but H&M and Target are not the only cheap, colorful option for a fashion-forward, person with serious budget constraints. There was a particularly upsetting moment in Fast Food Nation (the 2006 film) when a hard-up African American girl says she doesn’t believe she can afford to loose weight because (low-calorie) Subway sandwiches are too expensive to eat daily (McDonalds was cheaper, and therefore her preference). The girl had been so imbued with the fast food lifestyle that her idea of healthy food was still wrapped up in a corporate mindset, the question was no longer “how can I prepare healthy, inexpensive food,” but “what chain advertises low-calorie options?”
Thrift stores abound in most communities and you can often find unusual items for dirt cheap in them, not to mention supporting the local community. Alternately, many cities have young designer markets (New York has several of these, and I recently stumbled upon on in my hometown in Cambridge, MA) where you can find some cutting edge designs for reasonable prices. etsy is pretty terrific too, as an online community of artisans, many are willing (even delighted) to work with you on a customized garment or accessory.
I suppose my point of this rant is that all too often, the middle and working class just seems grateful for the crumbs of “high” culture the wealthy are willing to put in a museum, usually after their own deaths; or for glimpses of the revered elite hobnobbing in their thousands-of-dollars finery, for us to drool over wistfully, understanding we’ll never obtain it without marrying an oil baron. Meanwhile, the national appetite for luxury goods — clothing and otherwise — is astoundingly increasing at a rapid pace, even while unemployment continues to rise at its own alarming rate. People who care about and/or collect fashion don’t have to subscribe to this luxury market to pursue our study and love of clothes. I understand the impulse to buy, I’m not living off the grid or anything. But think about where your money is going, how hard you worked to earn it, and if you’re like me and your closet is your own special curated Collection, do you really want your dollars circulating in the big box stores that put small, independent designers on the ropes, and which contribute to the fast fashion bubble? Let’s take a page from those adorable Vogels, who developed relationships with local artists, and even with their modest salary, nurtured some of the great artists of our time.
