Are Swans In Fashion’s DNA?

Valentino 2014 Swan next to Bjork 2001 Oscars dress

Geese are silly, storks sling babies over their beaks, and ducklings are ugly, but swans are always elegantly swanning, albeit paddling furiously just under the surface while looking so serene.

“Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” the eight-episode series now playing on FX and Hulu, perhaps introduced the “Swan” into today’s vernacular — referring to writer Truman Capote’s coterie of uber-wealthy and connected society women whom he famously befriends and later betrays in published excerpts previewing his posthumous roman à clef “Answered Prayers.”

While some rave over the fashion in the series, I expected much more wow factor, which is sorely missing. There is, however, a fashionable silhouette that symbolizes the era. Many of today’s current fashions – silky fabrics that are not skin tight, often with trapeze sleeves and an easy ’60-’70 flow over the body, are, at least to me, “swan adjacent.”

Anna Pavlova — Photo Bettmann Archive

How did we arrive at this moment? “You have this long history of women and swans, going back to ‘Swan Lake’ in the late 19th century. [Dancer] Anna Pavlova’s ‘The Dying Swan’ exerted a major impact on [fashion] designers,” Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of MFIT, told the NY Post.

Did this 1905 photo of ballerina Anna Pavlova, who first danced “The Dying Swan,” influence Macedonian fashion designer Marjan Pejorski to create perhaps the most famous swan dress of the 21st century?

Marlene Dietrich as Leda & The Swan – Photo Getty Images

While Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Swan Lake” is a classic that is still performed everywhere, the 2010 psychological thriller “Black Swan” is a new spin on the oft-performed staple. Then there is Leda and the Swan from classic Greek mythology, with Marlene Dietrich once wearing a Travis Banton-designed Leda-inspired get-up to a 1935 costume party.

Bill Cunningham Swan Mask worn by Isabel Eberstadt – Photo Museum of the City of New York

A recent episode of “Feud” – shot appropriately in black and white to represent a film documentary — featured Truman’s infamous Black and White masquerade ball at the Plaza Hotel on November 28, 1966. I did not spy anyone wearing what IRL journalist/author/socialite and Warhol muse Isabel Eberstadt wore — then milliner Bill Cunningham’s unbelievably fantastic black and white swan mask – now visible in the permanent collection at the Museum of the City of New York.

Björk’s swan dress & egg

The next major swan appearance is one that we all witnessed – Icelandic singer/songwriter/producer/actress Bjork’s 2001 Oscars red carpet “egg-dropping” performance. Bjork, a good friend of Marjan Pejoski, plucked this bird right off the runway of his Fall 2002 Ready-to-Wear collection. The collection featured various zoological creatures, including white and black swans and peacocks.

Alek Wek on the runway

Ultimately, she chose the final dress seen on Alek Wek to make her appearance much panned and lampooned at the time – now iconic and unforgettable. Nearly 20 years later, the dress is part of The Met’s Notes on Camp 2019 exhibition.

Another View of the back of Valentino Swan

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery — for their Spring 2014 haute couture show, Valentino swooned over Swan with a tulle and feather creation bearing more than a passing resemblance to the Pejorski dress; however, it featured the swan head in the back; instead of resting over the chest.

Dior Designer Claims Swan Dress Wasn’t Inspired By Björk’s Oscar Dress – Photo courtesy Dior

Several years later, Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri was also bitten by swan fever. She, however, wanted it known that it was not in homage to Bjork when she sent a similarly Swan-headed tulle creation down the runway at her 2022 Cruise collection in Athens Panathenaic Stadium, closing out a show featuring plenty of post-pandemic sporting attire.

“In actuality, Chiuri was looking deep into Greek mythology and channeling the story of Aetolian princess Leda, whom Zeus seduced in the guise of a swan(!), and more particularly, a striking photograph of Hollywood legend Marlene Dietrich dressed up as Leda in the 1930s. So there you go!”

Emma Elizabeth Davidson, Dazed.com.

In late 2023, outside the fashion world, Emmy-winning journalist Catherine Herridge, formerly of CBS News, predicted that we might witness a 2024 “Black Swan” national security event – defined as an unforeseen and consequential event –and was promptly fired. Hmmm, what do they know that we don’t?

Naomi Watts’ Babe Paley Attends the Black and White Ball — photo credit FX

Meanwhile, I will continue watching the rather dull “Capote vs The Swans” primarily for moments like in episode 5, when the character playing author James Baldwin advised Truman to “defy the foul fowl” and disclose all swan indiscretions to keep his writing career alive. Spoiler alert: Tru decides to sup on Central Park swan instead of eating crow. Yuck!

Of course, for Truman, spilling Swan’s secrets leads to his exile from La Cote Basque — his one-time refuge being inclusion in the Swan’s personal life and the swanky social scene he adores, thereby hastening his demise into loneliness, alcoholism, and self-destruction. Now that’s a “swan song” he should have seen coming.

Laurel Marcus

OG journo major who thought Strunk & White's "The Elements of Style" was a fashion guide. Desktop comedienne -- the world of fashion gives me no shortage of material.

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