Yes, we’ve all been barraged by the same images of SJP (Sarah Jessica Parker), J-Lo, Gio (Giovanna Battaglia), Ha-Bo (Hamish Bowles), Ca-Ro (Carine Roitfeld),  et. al.  But Bill’s editorial pictorial essays are always highly visual and informative, and he always makes sure to give credit where credit is due: singling out those who matter. In this case, he included images of Deborah Harry (who he described as “a voice of the moment”), Vivienne Westwood (“who turned fashion on to punk”), and Zandra Rhodes, (“another fashion punk pioneer”).

And of course, the Queen Bee herself (no, not Beyoncé clad in yet another ridiculously ostentatious gown with never a ending train), but Anna Wintour,  who helped raise  $11.3 million for the museum and greeted guests at the grand stairway, lined by American and British flags made of roses. Undeniably, her considerable muscle and unfailing passion has helped to make this event one of the most high profile and eagerly anticipated on the calendar.

I loved how Bill superimposed a blown up image of Anna, and symbolically placed it at the very top of the stairs, and at the very top of the column, as if to emphasize her ‘reign’ over the event, (if not over fashion as well) while all the other pictures were of mannequins dressed in the exhibition’s punk designs, or guests having fun with elements of the punk costume (studs, zippers, safety pins, moto jackets, graffiti prints, mohawks, etc),

Bea Shaffer and Anna Wintour

– Marilyn Kirschner

The post Editorial: Postscript to the Met Gala appeared first on lookonline.

Taster’s Choice

Elsa Schiaparelli insect necklace

In the best case scenario, a great fashion exhibition will not only serve as tantalizing eye candy, but will be transformative, provocative, enlightening, controversial, inspiring, and will challenge conventional perceptions of fashion, beauty, good taste, chic, and style. The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s ground breaking Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit last year, accomplished all those things and, in my opinion, so did Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Barrel Apfel Collection, 2005/2006.

I dare say that legions of women left the museum finding themselves overtaken with the urge to dust off their most fantastical, over-the-top accessories and, following in the lead of the daring Iris Apfel, pile them on with abandon. Of course, Ms. Apfel’s unapologetically unique, eccentric, holds no bar individual style is not for the faint of heart and may not be everyone’s cup of tea. However, nobody can question her well-informed and high taste level, or her dazzling sense of style. For her part, she has stated, “Taste you can learn, but style is like charisma. You know it when you see it.”

“Ugly Chic” Schiaparelli 1930s

So what is good taste, and who gets to decide if something is, or isn’t? According to the dictionary, it means “satisfying generally accepted social or aesthetic standards”, but there are many points of view. A while back, Azzedine Alaia criticized Vogue-taste-maker Anna Wintour, saying, “When I see how she is dressed, I don’t believe in her taste one second.” And, last summer, Giorgio Armani took jabs at Miuccia, saying she was “clever for her irony … and bad taste that becomes chic, but that her creations are sometimes ugly”. For her part, Miuccia once admitted,”I make ugly clothes from ugly material; simply bad taste but they end up looking good anyway”, referring to 1995’s “bad taste” collection. It featured such styles as Formica check design, which evokes the look of 1970s polyester.

Well, speaking of Miuccia, great fashion exhibitions, good taste vs. bad taste, and beauty vs. ugly, I attended the morning press preview for Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, and it promises to give us something to think about particularly where aesthetics are concerned.

“Ugly Chic” Miuccia Prada fall/winter 2012-2013

Anna Wintour was turned out in a striking geometric coat ensemble by Prada (no surprise there), and Miuccia, while known for her skirts, opted for a brown pantsuit accessorized with a golden hued turban. The best way to describe the color would be to call it a rather odd, if not ugly shade of brown, which is not one bit surprising, since she has always championed “Ugly Chic”, and it just happens to be one of the themes in the exhibit.

There were comments by Thomas P. Campbell, Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as Curators Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton. We learned that the latter two had wanted to do an exhibition that would pair two designers (particularly women) for quite some time. Thanks were given to the brilliant Australian director Baz Luhrmann whose stunning videos (casting actress Judy Davis in the role of Schiaparelli) made the “impossible possible”, and allowed for this ‘conversation’ between two strong and influential innovators to play out. Baz Luhrmann’s wife, Catherine Martin, was lauded for creating the Schiaparelli inspired outfit worn by Ms. Davis, as well as the “moody and mysterious ambiance” of the dinner party. (This was described by Andrew Bolton as a “female version of  My Dinner with Andre except that in the movie the subject was theatre, and in this exhibition the subject is fashion). 

While Schiaparelli and Prada do not see eye-to-eye on everything (the late Schiaparelli felt that fashion WAS art, and Miuccia does not agree), one commonality which plays throughout the exhibit is the way in which they both “used fashion as a vehicle to prove, to confront, normative conventions of taste, beauty, glamour, and femininity” and to “provoke”, in the words of Andrew Bolton. 

Schiaparelli played by Judy Davis and Miuccia Prada

There are many trademark, telling quotes which are blown up and emblazoned on the walls and one of the most definitive, touches on the ‘ugly’ aspect of it all (neither woman could be considered a conventional beauty, and both subverted traditional ideals of beauty)

Prada:” If I’ve done anything, it’s to make ugly appealing. In fact, most of my work is concerned with destroying, – or at least deconstructing- conventional ideas of beauty, of the genetic appeal of the beautiful, glamorous bourgeois woman. Fashion fosters cliches of beauty, but I want to tear them apart.”

Schiaparelli: “I was always being told I was ugly … so I thought up ways of beautifying myself. To have a face covered with flowers … would indeed be a wonderful thing … with some difficulty, I obtained seeds from the gardener, and these planted in my throat, ears, mouth … alas, the result was merely to make me suffocate!”

Some of the decidedly offbeat, unusual elements which were inherent in both their designs, which many would not necessarily deem beautiful, chic, or tasteful in a traditional sense are the employment of surrealism and trompe l’oeil; the use of irreverent, playful prints featuring everything from over-sized ruby red lips and lipstick, to matchsticks, bananas, monkeys, carousels, circus horses, and cherubs (sometimes in garish colors no less); a penchant for innovative, often plasticized fabrics, some with the appeal of a common shower curtain; and the use of bugs and insects on clothing and accessories. Hands down the most macabre has to be Schiaparelli’s Insect Necklace, made of clear Rhodoid (cellulose acetate plastic) with pressed metal ornaments, which features a transparent foundation that creates the illusion that the insects are crawling directly on the skin of the wearer’s neck. (It had been pointed out that while this was macabre indeed, Schiaparelli was never “too heavy-handed: her choice of brightly colored, toy-like ornaments tempers the repugnant effect”).

Prada rats nest hair fall/winter 2009

Among other things, this exhibition perfectly illustrates that beauty, in all its forms, is not only subjective and indeed in the eyes of the beholder, but is quite democratic and comes in many guises. And it should serve to remind us that we needn’t be so hard on ourselves when we invariably fall short of unattainable ideals where physical beauty is concerned. The next time you think you’re having a Bad Hair Day, and can’t be seen in public, take a look at the runway pictures from Miuccia Prada’s fall/winter 2009 collection. She loved the unruly rat’s nest ‘undo’s’ so much, they were shown throughout.

As for my opinion about good taste vs. bad taste, let’s just say that I think Diana Vreeland said it best when she observed, “Bad taste is better than no taste”. Too much of a good thing is, well, too much of a good thing. While something that smacks of universally accepted good taste, might be just the thing for that job interview or board meeting (an Armani pantsuit for example- LOL), there are times when you want to add an element of ‘bad’ or ‘questionable’ taste. Surprising, unexpected mixes (high and low, day and night, soft and hard, masculine and feminine, street and couture, etc) help create an individual, personal look, and good taste/bad taste can be perfect together.

Finally, there is a time and place for everything. A time to be sober and serious, and a time to have fun, be amused, be amusing, and evening shocking! Life is too short not to have fun and fashion provides us with the basic ingredients to do just that. But as style icons past and present – Coco Chanel, Gloria Guinness, Babe Paley, Diana Vreeland, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Iris Apfel, Kate Moss, etc. – well know, the key element is having a sense of the appropriate. In the end, knowing when and where is fundamental.

– Marilyn Kirschner

The post Notes on the Costume Institute Exhibition appeared first on lookonline.

Fit for a (Mc)Queen

In the best case (and admittedly all too rare) scenario, fashion can be elevated to an art form, and the designer, through his or her creative vision, serves as a catalyst to help us rethink conventional boundaries and the commonplace, see unforeseen possibilities, and of course, delight. The word ‘genius’ as it applies to fashion designers, is often overused and abused; but not so in the case of the late Lee Alexander McQueen (1969 – 2010), whose “dazzling creativity and startling originality was expressed through the technical virtuosity of his fashions and the conceptual complexity of his runway creations”, and whose life was tragically cut short.

click here for larger image

His legacy is alive and well and in now the hands of Sarah Burton, with whom he collaborated for approximately 15 years. It was timely indeed, that just days prior to the opening of ‘Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty’ (May 4 – July 31), she can now lay claim to being a bonafide household name. The creation she designed for Katherine Middleton’s royal nuptials, was truly fit for a queen – or should I say, princess or duchess, KM’s official titles. And similarly, the new dazzling, emotional, and quite moving exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, ‘Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty’, (located in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall, 2nd floor), is a fittingly ‘royal’ homage and tribute to the work of a true creative genius.

click here for larger image

FYI, that’s pretty much were the similarities end because let’s just say that out of the approximately 100 outfits and 70 accessories (including many of Philip Treacy’s hats of course) on display (culled mainly from the designer’s London Archives), there were not too many, if any at all, that were as tame, classical and elegantly subdued as KM’s wedding gown. Make no mistake about it: this is a gloriously over the top exhibition, showcasing the definitive, iconic pieces that could easily be considered as the most “powerful” examples of McQueen’s work. It is highly visual and touches all the senses, and I would suggest you go when you enough time to take it all in. I especially loved the way Alexander McQueen’s quotes were used effectively throughout (appearing next to outfits where they best applied), adding context and personal insight. And yes, isn’t it romantic?

click here for larger image

The first quote we see upon entering the first gallery, pretty much says it all, “I’m a Romantic Schizophrenic” because the galleries are divided as follows: The “The Romantic Mind” explores Lee’s technical know how, his way with precision tailoring, patternmaking, draping and dressmaking; “Romantic Gothic” highlights the designer’s infatuation with the Victorian Gothic, and the dualities of life and death; “Romantic Nationalism” delves into McQueen’s patriotic side, his obsession with British history and his love affair with his Scottish heritage; “Romantic Exoticism” explores the influence of other cultures (especially that of China and Japan) on the designer’s imagination; “Romantic Primitivism” deals with the idea of the “noble savage”; and “Romantic Naturalism” touches on yearning for raw materials and his interest in nature themes.

click here for larger image

Getting back to the Royal Wedding and THE DRESS….while the festivities were all over by Friday afternoon, they continued to make front page news and it seemed it was still all anyone was talking about through the weekend (it finally ended Monday morning, when news of Bin Laden’s death became the topic du jour). But within the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alexander McQueen and Sarah Burton were the Man (and Woman) of the Hour. I attended Monday morning’s Press Preview during which time there was a press conference held at the Carroll and Milton Petrie European Sculpture Court with remarks by Thomas P. Campbell, Director, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Stella McCartney; Sarah Burton, Creative Director, Alexander McQueen; and Andrew Bolton, Curator, The Costume Institute. (Talk about a British Invasion!)

Among the highlights:

Thomas P. Campbell: “The world seems to be “experiencing a McQueen Moment’ and we are thrilled, for this exhibition to be part of it, however accidentally. It seems so apt that this exhibit is at the Met, because his work fits so easily within the discourse of art”.

“His work fits so easily within the discourse of art: his references to history, his fascination with the grotesque, his exploration of unorthodox beauty. These are themes we see throughout the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Collections chronicling 5000 years of artistic expression. Great art challenges us, introduces new narratives and recasts old ones. It inspires. Under those terms, McQueen can be considered no less than a great artist. Our curator, Andrew Bolton, has organized an extraordinary tribute to McQueen’s particular genius and he’s been very lucky to work with a team that collaborated with McQueen for so many years (including of course, Sarah Burton, his graceful and highly accomplished successor who provided valuable insight into McQueen’s creative process). Even the mannequins were transformed into a McQueen ideal. I congratulate you all on creating what, quite simply, may be the most spectacular Museum Costume Exhibition ever mounted anywhere”. He then thanked François-Henri Pinault, American Express, and of course Conde Nast and Anna Wintour who helped make this happen.

Stella McCartney: (looking chic in a pale tailored pantsuit of her own design) was next up and said she was “proud to be here to pay tribute to the spectacular mind, hand, and artistry of this unique talent”. She wanted to share a few memories: “When I think of him I think of red roses, our years at Saint Martins School, his 40th birthday, jumping into swimming pools at parties.”

“And the night he asked me to introduce him to Domenico De Sole in the South of France about 10 years ago. He said, “Come on Sir..Let’s start my empire”. And he did!”

“We came from such different backgrounds but being British, we both shared a respect for Savile Row and British tailoring, a similar sense of humor, and similar friends.”

“I think of Lee’s creative soul. His shows were always such events (dramatic, subversive, so beautiful, and much discussed by everyone in the industry). As designers we had much different approaches; while we agreed about some things, there were other things we disagreed about… but and we always shared a laugh: CHEEKY and FILTHY in the best sense of the word. I am so happy to be here to celebrate his magnificent work, to tell him how much I’m blown away by his designs, how much I admire him, and proud I am that he has arrived here- at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City! It’s a very far journey from the East End of London and this is his moment and it’s very well deserved.

Sarah Burton: followed and to say she was short, sweet and to the point is an exaggeration.

Last up was Andrew Bolton who thanked Thomas Campbell, Harold Koda, Sarah Burton and her design team, all those who worked on the galleries, the head treatments of the mannequins and their ‘masks’ which served to humanize them. He thanked Stella McCartney for her helpful and invaluable insights into the London fashion scene in the 90’s when McQueen was establishing his reputation as a designer. And of course, he thanked Anna Wintour.

He went on, “When I began working on this exhibition, it was always my intention to present an interpretive rather than a chronological understanding of his fashions.” He said he was inspired by a tattoo on McQueen’s upper right arm that read, “Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind”, a direct quotation from Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night Dream: the idea that love has a power to transform something ugly into something beautiful. “To me, the quotation captured McQueen’s vision of fashion. Love (the agonies and the ecstasies) was the most exalted of human emotions for McQueen. He once said, “What you see in my work, is my person, myself. My heart is in my work.”

“It was this exposure of himself, this vulnerability that imbued his fashions with a dignity, humanity, intensity, and poignancy. He saw fashion as a catalyst for generating a heightened sensitivity to feelings. Through the sweeping imagination of his runway presentations, he validated powerful emotions.”

“Many predominant themes of a romantic movement are reflected in his collections and the exhibition is structured around them: historicism, nationalism, exoticism, primitive, naturalism. These themes unfold like chapters in a book, intended to evoke a Gothic Fairytale. These romantic yearning propelled this collections. He once remarked, “I am hopelessly romantic” and it was romantic yearnings that propelled McQueen’s fashions in directions both unimagined and unprecedented.”

-Marilyn Kirschner

The post Costume Institute Press Preview appeared first on lookonline.

Metropolitan Museum to Open May 5, 2010; First Costume Institute Exhibition Based on Renowned Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection Gala Benefit May 3, 2010, with Co-Chairs Oprah Winfrey, Patrick Robinson, and Anna Wintour
The exhibition is made possible by Gap.
Additional support is provided by Condé Nast.
Exhibition dates: May 5–August 15, 2010
Press preview: Monday, May 3, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.

The spring 2010 exhibition organized by The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity, the first drawn from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met. The exhibition, on view from May 5 through August 15,2010 (preceded on May 3 by The Costume Institute Gala Benefit), examines how perceptions of American women have changed via their wardrobes from 1890 (corsets) to 1940 (sexy bia-cut gowns) through various feminine archetypes. The Heiress, Gibson Girl, Bohemian, Suffragist, Flapper, and Screen Siren helped initiate style revolutions to liberate women physically, intellectually, politically and sexually in the U.S. and around the world.

Ensembles by European and American designers will be showcased in panoramic galleries designed to immerse visitors in each period. A final gallery with projected and holographic images of American women from 1890 to today will distill these archetypes into the characteristics that define modern American style.

The exhibition will feature approximately 80 examples of haute couture and high fashion primarily from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was transferred to the Met from the Brooklyn Museum in January 2009. Many of the pieces have not been seen by the public in more than 30 years.

Designers in the exhibition will include Travis Banton, Gabrielle Chanel, Callot Soeurs, Madame Eta, Elizabeth Hawes, Madame Grès, Charles James, Jeanne Lanvin, Liberty & Company, Edward Molyneux, Paul Poiret, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jessie Franklin Turner, Valentina, Madeleine Vionnet, Weeks, Charles Frederick Worth, and Jean-Philippe Worth, among others.

The Metropolitan Museum exhibition is organized by Andrew Bolton, Curator, with the support of Harold Koda, Curator in Charge, both of the Met’s Costume Institute. Nathan Crowley, a production designer of films including The Prestige,The Dark Knight, and Public Enemies will serve as the exhibition’s creative consultant, as he did for the 2008 exhibition Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. The design for the 2010Costume Institute Gala Benefit will be created by Nathan Crowley with Raul Avila.

For more information:

Nancy Chilton
The Costume Institute
212.650.2123
nancy.chilton@metmuseum.org

The post “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity” appeared first on lookonline.