Anatomy magazine online by Alexander Al Kafi

THE ANATOMY THE ANATOMY

THE ANATOMY

EDITOR’S

NOTE

The project is about creating a personal version of an exisiting magazine or a new one. I focused on creating a new that combine a magazine and a book, I was inspired by the layout of ‘interview magazine’ and the book ‘fashion now’. I tried to give my personal interpretation of it with a title ‘Anatomy’ because being a deep person I like to go in profound of things in order to discover more like the studies of anatomy in science, in this case fashion. I picked up the major designer that made a revolution in the fashion industry during the 80’s as well as the talented photohraphers from the same era. Overall, it was a fun project and i learned a lot. Thank you. AL KAFI

A N A T O M Y M

THE ANATOMY

Index ISSUE 1

80’s big names

FASHION&PHOTOGRAPHY INSPIRATION 4 JEAN PAUL GAULTIER 11 VIVIENNE WESTWOOD 19 CHRISTIAN LACROIX 24 ISSEY MIYAKE 31 THIERRY MUGLER 36 CLAUDE MONTANA 43 AZZEDINE ALAIA 48 HERB RITTS 56 BRUCE WEBER 61 VICTOR SKREBENSKI 66 GREG GORMAN 72 BIBLIOGRAPHY 76

THE ANATOMY

inspiration

THE ANATOMY 10 July 2013 - 16 February 2014. Discover the creative explosion of London fashion in the 1980s in a major exhibition at the V&A. Through more than 85 outfits, Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s showcases the bold and exciting new looks by the most experimental young designers of the decade, including Betty Jackson, Katharine Hamnett, Wendy Dagworthy and John Galliano. The 1980s changed fashion for good. The style circus of London Fashion Week was conceived in 1984, with the decade’s designers drawing inspiration from the street predominantly for the first time. The symbiotic relationship between the era’s adventurous club wear and innovative catwalk shows has been documented in a V&A exhibition, Club to Catwalk: London Fashion in the 1980s. The V&A say the show “traces the emerging theatricality in British fashion as the capital’s vibrant and eclectic club scene influenced

a new generation of designers”. The fusion between nightlife and fashion in the eighties is depicted through cherry-picked items by the ground-breaking designers of the day, and via the popular culture publications which gave them a platform. It was during the 1980s that fashion flourished into one of the UK’s most bankable industries. An unlikely supporter of the sector’s efforts was Margaret Thatcher: “Fashion is important because it raises the quality of life for people who take the trouble to dress well”. Far-removed from staid Number 10, however, Club to Catwalk conveys to us the fashion renaissance fuelled by an explosion in sartorial creativity by Britain’s teens and twentysomethings. Designer Georgina Godley reminisced that “young London was all about taking risks”, and many of her contemporaries deliberately appealed to this youthful, daring clientele .

introducing

the

80â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

THE ANATOMY

80’s BIG NAMES JEAN PAUL GAULTIER / VIVIENNE WESTWOOD / CHRISTIAN LACROIX ISSEY MIYAKE / THIERRY MUGLER CLAUDE MONTANA / AZZEDINE ALAIA

FASHION

THE ANATOMY

Jean Paul GAULTIER 13

THE ANATOMY

l’ENFANT Jean Paul Gaultier is a French designer, best known for his eponymous design house and his seven-year tenure as head designer at Hermès. He showed his debut collection in 1976, having raised substantial finances with his partner Francis Menuge, but did not establish his own design house until 1982 with the backing of Japanese consortium Kashiyama. Gaultier soon became known as “l’enfant terrible” of fashion because of his penchant for challenging the then-standard views of fashion; reworking them and infusing ideas of his own. Gaultier soon became known as “l’enfant terrible” of fashion because of his penchant for challenging the then-standard views of fashion; reworking them and infusing ideas of his own. His work has been characterised by a stylistic consistency since his very first collection. Many of his collections show women adopting masculine attire, or men wearing

TERRIBLE skirts, corsets, and dresses with trains. “People reacted much better to me in the UK, which was where it was all happening,” he told The Telegraph in 2010. “Jean Muir was big at the time here and she was fabulous, as was Zandra Rhodes. You could see the craziness in the British people, but I couldn’t move because I’d already started in Paris.” In September 1985 he opened his first boutique on 6 Rue Vivienne, Paris. He became internationally recognised when he designed the costumes for Madonna’s Blond Ambition tour in 1990. The conical bras and basques he created for her now rank among some of the most iconic designs in history. Gaultier has since said he had no idea that they would become so important. “I was a fan of Madonna’s so I was pleased to collaborate with her for that reason - not because it would be good for my career,” he told The Telegraph in 2010. He designed stage costumes again for Madonna for her 2006 Confessions tour.

THE ANATOMY

Jean Paul Gaultier gets into an 80s groove for spring/summer 2013. Talk about showcasing your greatest hits… French designer Jean Paul Gaultier brought his to the runway, with a collection he dubbed a tribute to iconic 80s pop stars. Gaultier looked to the artists who not only topped the music charts during that decade, but also influenced fashion and popular culture. And, just to emphasise who inspired the collection, the show’s notes listed the likes of Madonna, Annie Lennox, Boy George, Grace Jones, David Bowie, George Michael, Sade, Prince and Abba. Basically, this was a dream line-up of entertainers with unique style and influence. Gaultier looked at iconic attire worn by these individuals and gave each his personal design twist. The show kicked off with model Sessilee Lopez dressed as Grace Jones. She and four other models took Jones’ androgynous style dressed in black – tuxedos, separates and a jumpsuit. Next came Annie

THE ANATOMY Lennox dressed in her striped ensemble a la Sweet Dreams days…well, it was model Hannelore Knuts with flaming red hair. Two more models walked the runway in striped suits, and a third wore black leggings, shirt and tie, and topped the look with a white jacket. Having dressed Madonna on her iconic Blonde Ambition Tour, it would have been a bit absurd not to have the queen of pop’s influence centre stage, and in true Gaultier style she did courtesy of seven all-black looks. There were conical bra dresses, slouchy tops teamed with fitted knee-length skirts and cropped leggings, and signature Gaultier-designed corsetry. The looks were perfectly accessorised with out-of-bed 80s hair. For super-entertainment, the David Bowie homage played out in bodysuits with star detail, and there were long fitted dresses worn by crooner Sade, with hair slicked back and oversized hoops. The surprise of the show was supermodel Karlie Kloss in a Boy George tribute. Accessorised with dreadlocks, Kloss was followed by three more models and their take on the eccentric musician’s irreverent style from back in the day. And, no one could have ignored the Michael Jackson influence during that decade – laden with leather jackets.

THE ANATOMY

Vivenne WESTWOOD 21

THE ANATOMY The early 1980s marked a turning point in McLaren and Westwood’s career. McLaren was obsessed with music and Westwood, for the first time, began to see herself as a fashion designer. But she needed new direction: ‘We wanted to get out of that underground tunnel feeling of England, that dark feeling.’ McLaren said, ‘Do something romantic. Look at history.’ The shop was again remodelled and settled on its final apotheosis of World’s End. The interior became a lurching galleon with small windows, a low ceiling and a sloped decking floor. The fascia had a drooping slate gable and a large clock displaying 13 hours, the hands travelling rapidly back in time. Out of it came Pirate, McLaren and Westwood’s first catwalk collection. It was shown at Olympia in spring 1981, to a blast of cannon fire and rap music by McLaren. The clothes evoked the golden age of piracy, an age of highwaymen, dandies and buccaneers. As in Punk, the garments were unisex. The collection immediately entered the mainstream.

Dame Vivienne Westwood’s popularity knows no bounds. Her punk attitude is more alive now than in the movement’s Seventies heyday and her outspoken, Union Jack waving Englishness (with a few added safety pins and tea stains), is undiminished. Cutting edge but classic, her collections are unflinch-

ingly rooted in her interests and beliefs, whether it is human rights or classical fiction. Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in Glossop, Derbyshire, on April 8, 1941 She began designing clothes in 1971 with the opening of her first shop, Let It Rock, at 430 King’s Road. In 1974 it was renamed Sex.

LA DAME 22

THE ANATOMY

THE EARLY YEARS 1

The Pirate Collection of 1981 was Westwood and McLaren’s first catwalk show. This offered a romantic look which burst onto the London fashion scene and ensured this collection’s place in history.

Witches, 1983-84 - Visit to New York, met Keith Haring. His art looked like magic signs and hieroglyphs. Therefore – collection ‘Witches’. - Hip hop, styling of garments stopframe look, white trainers customized with three tongues, pointed Chico Marx hats.

Nostalgia of Mud, AW 1982-83 Colours: Mud. Raw cut sheepskin. - Bras – underwear worn as outerwear. Inspiration: Peruvian women wearing bowler hats and full skirts, dancing with their babies tied on their back. Collaboration with Malcolm McLaren ceased.

THE ANATOMY

THE PAGAN YEARS

1988 – 1992 During this period Vivienne’s heros changed from punks and ragamuffins to ‘Tatler’ girls wearing clothes that parodied the upper class. A chance encounter inspired one of her most important and influential collections, the Harris Tweed collection of Autumn/Winter 1987. “My whole idea for this collection was stolen from a little girl I saw on the tube one day. She couldn’t have been more than 14. She had a little plaited bun, a Harris Tweed jacket and a bag with a pair of ballet shoes in it. She looked so cool and composed standing there.”

IT'S A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE. A PRACTICE. IF YOU DO THIS, SOMETHING WILL CHANGE, WHAT WILL CHANGE IS THAT YOU WILL CHANGE, YOUR LIFE WILL CHANGE, AND IF YOU CAN CHANGE YOU, YOU CAN PERHAPS CHANGE THE WORLD. VIVIENNE WESTWOOD 24

THE ANATOMY Harris Tweed, AW 1987 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 88 - Tailored and childish look inspired by Royal Family continued. - Inspiration: British fabrics, especially wool which had provided all the uniforms of the British Empire. Black velvet. 18th century corset. - Fine twin sets now fashion.

Voyage to Cythera, AW 1989-90 Inspiration: Watteau, Comedia del Arte and Ballets Russes. - Tights worn without skirts. Inspiration: man who forgot his trousers.

THE ANATOMY

Christian LACROIX 26

THE ANATOMY

THE

PRIEST

Every era has a designer who perfectly embodies its ethos. Halston defined the disco days of the late ’70s with velvet hip-huggers and slinky silk shirts. In the early ’80s, Giorgio Armani draped working women in beige power suits. But the next moment belonged unmistakably to Christian Lacroix, a couturier from Arles, in the South of France. His pouf dresses and embroidered jackets became status items for a new generation of luxury shoppers, who spent much of the decade swimming in money and looking for a way to live it up and show it off. “The effect is of a costume party where everyone has a good time,” Bernadine Morris, then the fashion critic for The New York Times, wrote in 1987. Though it’s been years since Mr. Lacroix was at the center of the fashion universe, the news last week that he is making a brief return to designing, putting together a 15-piece couture collection for Schiaparelli to be shown in Paris this summer, was greeted by society chroniclers and his former customers with a mix of admiration and amused nostalgia as they recalled those heady times. “Nouvelle

society

always

went

after the newest something or other, and Lacroix was the flavor of the moment,” John Fairchild, the former editor of Women’s Wear Daily, said from his home in Gstaad, Switzerland. Tom Wolfe, the author of “Bonfire of the Vanities,” the 1987 novel that brought into the vernacular

THE ANATOMY

OF FASHION the phase “social X-ray,” said: “In the ’60s and ’70s, it was considered a sin to dress in an extreme way, and then that was gone. It was the Reagan revolution.” The dominant ethos, when Mr. Lacroix popped up, was, to quote Mr. Wolfe, “We’re going to show we have money.” Nobody’s clothes did that

quite like Mr. Lacroix’s. In Arles, bullfighting was popular, and friends and colleagues recall that he was greatly influenced by the matadors’ outfits. Also, by costumes from the theater and opera, for which Mr. Lacroix designed over the years. Anh Duong, the artist, walked in

THE ANATOMY Then the photographer David Seidner introduced her to Mr. Lacroix, and in short order she was modeling for him and running around town outfitted, she said, like a princess in a fairy tale. Around this time, editors began to descend, and retailers clamored. “His clothes were decorative and colorful,” said Dawn Mello, the fashion consultant who at the time was the president of Bergdorf Goodman. “They were different than anything happening in the American collections.” Blaine Trump can still remember her first Lacroix.

many of Mr. Lacroix’s shows — first when he was designing for Jean Patou in the mid-’80s and then when he sprung out on his own, aided by an $8 million investment from the luxury titan Bernard Arnault.

“Before I met him, I was a struggling ballet dancer,” Ms. Duong said. “I had no money, I was 21 and I would go out every night to Le Palace, which was Paris’s equivalent of Studio 54.”

“It was a long gown with a purple skirt and a shawl that wrapped around it,” she said. “It wasn’t that outrageous. I’d been married a few years, and was finding my way in New York. I’d just started God’s Love We Deliver, and New York was a lot of fun. There was that whole Le Cirque moment, and Lacroix was the look. Women dressed for lunch, women dressed for dinners.” In October 1987, Mr.

THE ANATOMY Lacroix and Ms. Duong arrived in New York for a giant event that Bergdorf’s gave in his honor. Ms. Trump was a host for the affair, which was held at the newly opened World Financial Center downtown, and nearly every social X-ray who’d ever appeared on the party pages showed up. Donna Karan looked upon the crowd and told a reporter that it was like being in a room of Picassos. An American Ballet Theater gala the following year drew numerous socialites in Lacroix. There was Georgette Mosbacher, visiting from Texas, swanned around in a sleeveless gold pouf she had bought at the designer’s salon in Paris. Meanwhile , Mr. Lacroix’s ascent continued. Anna Wintour put one of his jeweled jackets on her first cover of Vogue. Socialites flocked to his salon to have him customize outfits. “It was highly decorative and ornamental and apparently frivolous,” said David Patrick Columbia, the editor of New York Social Diary, “yet incredible and com-

plicated detailed work went into this thing that evokes frivolity.” But perhaps because of this, detractors began to emerge. They saw a parade of trussed-up trophy wives and argued that the designer was atavistic, oblivious to the realities of women who were not simply partying but working.

THE WORLD NEEDS SOME EXCITEMENT FROM FASHION. CHRISTIAN

LACROIX

Speaking to The Times in 1987 about Mr. Lacroix, Gloria Steinem said: “I don’t get it because I don’t like it. Women really have changed things. Perhaps Lacroix is part of the backlash.” “The dresses were beyond beautiful,” said James Reginato, Vanity Fair’s society-scribe-in-residence. “But there was nothing minimal about them. There was a Marie Antoinette quality to his clothes, and then the guillotine came down.” By the mid-’90s, bloom was coming

the off

Lacroix’s rose-adorned dresses. On the BBC’s slapstick television show “Absolutely Fabulous,” Jennifer Saunders played an overthe-top fashion show producer whose love of Lacroix was invoked as a symbol of her being out of touch. And designers like Dolce & Gabbana and John Galliano at Dior began to nip at Mr. Lacroix’s heels with equally embellished wares. By this point, Ms. Mosbacher had donated her prized Lacroix to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “They were pretty costumey,” she said last week. “The pouf skirt was the style of the moment. It only lasted a moment.” “I had the little bolero jacket with the heart,” she said. “That was when I was insecure and didn’t know who I was.” Thanks to brand extensions and infusions of capital, Mr. Lacroix hung on for a surprisingly long time. But by 2009, it was clear his haute couture business was on the verge of shutting down.

THE ANATOMY

Issey MIYAKE 33

THE ANATOMY

THE SENSE OF 34

THE ANATOMY

The Concepts and Work of Issey Miyake Miyake’s unwavering approach to creation is the freedom to have ideas, unconstrained by any preexisting rules or framework, and to be able to make them realities through a tenacious process of research and experimentation. Miyake works in a manner that not only advances his own ideas but also cultivates skills in the people around him, constantly pushing both the tradition and the evolution of design. Miyake’s first encounter with design was in his home-town of Hiroshima in which were two bridges: to live and to die, situated near the epicenter where the Atomic Bomb hit. (Built in 1952, and later renamed: to Create and to Go.) Walking over the bridges, watching them, was his first encounter with a design’s ability to inspire powerful emotional responses; and hope. When the World Design Conference was first held in Japan

in 1960, Miyake, who was a student at the then Faculty of Graphic Design at Tama Art University, sent a letter to the head office, questioning why clothing design was not included in the program. His focus on clothing as design instead of fashion gained attention. Shortly thereafter, he began designing his own clothing. Art director Jo Murakoshi approached him to create clothing for the Toyo Rayon (now Toray Industries, Inc.) calendar, 1963 edition. Miyake presented his first collection, Nuno to ishi no uta (Poems of cloth and stone) after graduating from Tama Art University in 1963. In 1965, Miyake traveled to Paris. After studying haute couture, he worked as an assistant at two fashion houses. He witnessed the May 1968 Paris riots, an event that inspired a determination to create clothing for a wider range of people. The following year, 1969, he moved to New York. While working in an American ready-to-wear, he was inspired by the future potential of Japan.

On left : Beautiful woman’s torso becomes a bodice. This super realistic expression was realized by taking a cast of a body with the help of a mannequin manufacturer. Although it covers the body, at the same time it makes us conscious of the body’s existence, and it even stirs a feeling of voluptuousness engendered by the contrast between the inorganic plastic and the suppleness of the wearer’s body. This is one of Miyake’s best-known works. This work was shown at the finale of the autumn/winter Paris collection in 1980, marking the start of the body-conscious fashion at that era. Miyake introduced a series of works including a bustier made of rattan and vinyl in 1982 and his “Silicon Body” in 1985. These works were the main exhibits in the “Issey Miyake Bodyworks” exhibition, which toured worldwide from 1983 to 1985.

AVANT-GARDE 35

THE ANATOMY

THE ANATOMY In the 1980s, Miyake furthered his exploration of the body’s motions and form, enthusiastically taking on the challenge of designing garments using materials other than cloth: plastic, paper, and wire. He called his creations from this period “Body Works.” The American art magazine Artforum featured a Rattan- vine Body created by Miyake on its February 1982 cover—the first time clothing had been featured on the cover of an art magazine. Miyake also used computers to incorporate a variety of jacquard patterns and textures into his work. In 1988, he presented an exhibition ISSEY MIYAKE A-ŪN at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. The exhibition focused on Miyake’s explorations with new kinds of cloth, while also presenting his work as a whole. In the 80s, while he pursued textile research, he also started work on a new type of clothing that accommodated people’s needs day-to-day. In 1981, he launched the brand Plantation, which offered beautifully designed, practical modern solutions without losing the essence of handcrafts. The brand, which uses mostly natural materi-

als, features simple and comfortably loose designs and remains popular today. ISSEY MIYAKE PERMANENTE, which was launched in 1985, was based upon original shapes and fabrics used in previous ISSEY MIYAKE Collections and intended to be a line of classic, long-lasting clothes. Miyake believes in creating clothing that addresses the demands of the times by combining traditional techniques from Japan and elsewhere with cutting edge technologies. His work is collaborative, and his staff, over the years has included many talented people including Makiko Minagawa and Tomio Mohri, as well as Akira Onozuka, Naoki Takizawa, and Tokujin Yoshioka.

tail for the Frankfurt Ballet Miyake was inspired and attempted to create pleated clothing that would move, using a new lightweight knitted material and introducing a new technique called “garment pleating.” Traditional pleated clothing is made by pleating fabric, then cutting and sewing the individual garments. Here, an oversized piece of cloth was cut and sewn in the shape of the desired garment and then sandwiched between two layers of washi paper and fed into a heat-press.

Miyake’s spirit lies in his ability to explore a single theme for many years, using evolving materials and processes. His clothing speaks to the hearts of its wearers, and invokes feelings of joy and happiness.

This experiment lead to further changes and adjustments and in 1993, the line PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE was born. The label offered clothing as a product that was easy to to wear, care for and to travel with; PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE was the perfect, elegant, yet practical and affordable solution for the needs of a modern woman, translating effortlessly from work to play to suit her diverse needs.

Miyake began to experiment further with pleats, in the hopes of expanding the possibilities of the medium. When William Forsythe came to Miyake asking him to create clothing for his new production The Loss of Small De-

A quarter century after witnessing the May 1968 protests in Paris, Miyake had accomplished his goal by creating clothing as universal as “jeans and T-shirts” which suited both the times and the needs of women, everywhere.

THE ANATOMY

Thierry MUGLER 38

THE ANATOMY As he has been referred to, Thierry Mugler is an instinctive designer who never looks for inspiration. According to Thierry Mugler, “intellect is the servant of the spirit.” He strongly feels that his clothing is modernistic and not futuristic. Clothes of today should have nothing to do with the past. They should create elegance with simple form and structure and add defined shape to the body, volume, form and simplicity. When one has found a method of self-expression, one evolves with it. His clothing attracts a woman of strength and elan. Thierry Mugler was born in Strasbourg, France in 1948. He made his first outfit for a girl friend at the age of 14. He joined a ballet company, the Opera du Rhin, then moved to Paris at 19. In 1968 he started working as a window dresser in a Parisian store “Gudule”. He visited London and Amsterdam. In 1970 Mugler worked as a free-lance designer. In 1971 he returned to Paris. He showed his first collection for women called “Café de Paris”. Azzedine Alaia joined him and helped to

THE PROPHET 40

THE ANATOMY design his creations, until the late 70’s. In 1972 the design firm “Moonlighting” employed him as a designer designer for their Italian ready-to-wear. In 1973 Mugler started designing under his own label in partnership with Alain Cardeuc. In 1976 Mugler showed a collection of Atric gold gathered boots. The “Punk” look was in, so Mugler applied this street look to his collection for 1977. In 1978 he showed broad-shouldered suits similar to the Military French coats, made in gabardine and leather. In 1979 he launched his line for men. During the 80’s, Thierry Mugler was part of a trend. Along with Montana and Alaia, Mugler depicted women as wicked Hollywood murderers, bondage retailers of illicit sex, or Mae West clones. He made his models wear narrow girded loins, tight skirts, wide aggressive shoulders, revealing corsetry

worn as armour plating with a bruised face, amounting to a travesty of womanhood. In 1984 Mugler celebrates 10 years of the existence of his house by organizing a “Super Paying Show”. This was a resounding success, 6,000 people assisted in the celebrations. In 1985, he created the costumes for the musical “Emilie Jolie”. In 1989 Mugler gave birth to the “New Age Man” look, his message was to relax and be refreshed by a new set of priorities and not to try to impress people. His women’s wear collection included a bright green Lycra bat-wing dress with Perspex wedge shoes.

thigh-length boots, show-girl plumes, diamante bras, and a special group of outfits which took inspiration from the shape of cars of the time. In 1990 several prominent designers created outfits based on famous paintings. Mugler took as his inspiration, a Picasso acrobat painted in 1930. Thierry Mugler is one of the few French designers to own their own factory, where dresses are made from prototypes perfected in the workshops. A good many of his designs are made to order, for the celebrities who make up his clientele list. In 1998, he was the first designer to create his virtual fash

THIERRY MUGLER IS ABOUT THE POWER OF GLAMOUR AND WALKING STRAIGHT INTO THE FUTURE. HE’S BEEN A GOD FOR SUCCESSIVE GENERATIONS IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY. HE FUSED POP AND HIGH FASHION, TOLD A STORY IN STYLE AND COMBINED FANTASY WITH REALITY. NICOLA 1989-1990 Mugler presented a collection of dresses in acid colours,

FORMICHETTI ion show on the computer so that it can be seen on the net.

OF FUTURISM 41

THE ANATOMY

THE

MUGLER

Mugler usually designs 2-piece outfits with a jacket feature, full sleeves, masculine cuts, emphasizing the waist and hips to create a perfect body. He often uses solid colours as a sculptor would. He THE MUGLER STYLE Mugler usually designs 2-piece outfits with a jacket feature, full sleeves, masculine cuts, emphasizing the waist and hips to create a perfect body. He often uses solid colours as a sculptor would. He often uses pointed angles on collars, hems, sleeves, waist and hips. He does use a lot of prints but at times uses patches of leather. He uses less of accessories and headgear. He tries to create drama into his clothing but usually the devil features, example gelled hair in the shape of horns. Mugler also designs clothes for men but often uses bright colours for them like orange, yellow, etc. which is unusual for men’s clothing.

STYLE

Fabrics: Jersey, vinyl, Lycra, Gingham and Leather are his favourites. He says “Fashion is a movie. Every morning when you get dressed, you direct yourself”. He has earned a reputation for misogyny which he dislikes and says “when people say that my clothes are against women, it is because they are not easy to wear. You have to be in a good shape to wear my clothes and I like to design for such women - the clothes are more beautiful that way.” Mugler’s quest is always to shape a perfect woman but underneath this glamorous exterior, his clothes are very well-structured and engineered, and of course sexy. Angel perfume toppled Chanel No. 5 from it’s number one slot in the french fragrance market in 1998. So in early 1999 Muglier created 5 innovative beauty products under the name of Secrets D’Angel. The range includes a face cream, two sprays for body, hair and face and two masks for face and hair.

THE ANATOMY

Claude MONT A N A 45

THE ANATOMY

THE PIONEER

Claude Montana in the late 1970s and 1980s threw down the gauntlet of high fashion with outré silhouette’s and an aggressive style that made him the enfant terrible of fashion. Artist & courtier of brilliant fashion. Padded shoulders and leathers dominated his collections. The same style renewed the shoulder-accented horizontal of Constructivism. His signature silhouette tapered down to a tiny waist and narrow skirt; he often referenced the rough trade of deviant machismo—chains, gauntlets, and studs. Inspired by punk, motorcycle gear, military uniforms, and S and M, Montana’s style was provocative, widely imitated, and irresistible to larger-thanlife eighties stars like Diana Ross and Grace Jones

Claude Montana, alongside his peers Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier, defined the hard-edged Parisian power-dressing of the 1980s with his bold, swaggering shoulders, dark inspirations, and clothes built for a woman who didn’t “care about comfort, just about her look”

THE ANATOMY For Montana, who had no formal training, designing was visceral. “Fashion to me is instinct,” he said. “You have to do what you feel without analyzing.” Claude Montana said in an interview in 1989, “I’m like a battlefield inside, a mass of contradictions.” Few designers have been attacked as Montana was, sometimes for his “gay-clone” proclivities for leather. This is very interesting. In the 80’s the use of leather used this extensively was very unorthodox. It still had a gay sub-text. This was before, gay culture/style had been appropriated by the mass media/culture. It is significant what mass retailers today like H&M, have watered down, once avant-garde designs/ style. The formerly avant-garde styles today are quickly assimilated by the big corporate entities. Because there are no copyright laws, big retailers can copy a pattern/design, and because they don’t have to pay for R&D, can mass produce styles very cheaply and make fashion trends overnight. Claude Montana didn’t have this disadvantage when he was creating these avant-garde clothes in the 80’s. You couldn’t purchase knock-offs of these clothes. Very few people were in the know. These fashions are much more acceptable today to the general public (Bourgeoisie). Exclusivity breeds envy, accessibility breeds acceptance. Leather, S&M , these were part of the gay subculture of fashion in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s. When gay men in the 50’s and 60’s were wearing leather & chaps, it was considered alternative. The

THE ANATOMY gay leather bars of the 60’s and 70’s, are the inspiration for today’s interest in chaps, and leather? Leather & S&M, chaps, were seen as subversive, and immoral. As soon as certain people appropriate something , it is no longer subversive. See how relative morality is. Morality and fashion is what the majority say it is at any given time in history. Trryany of the majority. Claude Montana’s shoulder pads were attacked initially for being misogynistic. The shoulder pads and severe cuts are very much the opposite. It is the gay man’s admiration of strong women. Gay men identify/admire strong women. His clothes make one think of Joan Crawford in a good way. Joan Crawford is a gay icon for a reason. Joan Crawford dressed all in fabulous black, sat at the board of Pepsi, with a room full of male executives, and told them where to go.This is what Claude Montana is referencing. Women who have the confidence to stand up to a male dominated society. This is what his clothes represent. The leather jackets for women that he borrowed from menswear—bikers and the military—caused strong controversy in the American press and market in the 1980s when Montana appropriated them. This is hard to believe today. A decade later, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, and Byron Lars were working with similar looks to no protest. Claude Montana’s designs from the 80’s have few rivals today for the precision of cut, or the sensuousness of appear-

THE ANATOMY ance, the feminininty, with such bold aggressive masculinity interwoven. The luxurious use of fabrics more varied than leather alone, and the continuous mastery of a fashion design that always intersects between the abstract forms of art and the conventions of clothing. Constructivism is a strong influence on Montana’s work. The Russian Contructivists of the early 20’s designed very severe lazer sharp set designs for the stage, and used the same aesthetic in their clothing. Claude Montana by the 1990s preferred a more austere clothing design. Like Constructivist drawings for the stage, Montana’s designs come to life in the mixture of proportions, often with exaggerated shoulders or collars, almost invariably with a very narrow waist, and the spin of a peplum over a narrow skirt. Claude Montana maintained his precise, approach to fashion. His fall 1995 Paris womenswear collection was presented in stunning, futuristic white. Women’s Wear Daily (17 October 1995) applauded the line’s “sharp edges, swirling seams and strict silhouettes,”concluding “nobody beats Montana for his precision tailoring.” Many imitators, few rivals. Claude Montana’s principal aesthetic contribution is the silhouette; nonetheless, his materials, beginning historically with leather, and his color palette are beautiful and sensuous. What became the power look in women’s clothing in the mid-1980s is derived from Montana’s aesthetic, so convincingly was it as an option for assertiveness without sacrifice of the female form. Claude Montana went bankrupt in 1997. This is how true artists end up. He wasn’t a business man. So what. He was an Artist. Fearless.

THE ANATOMY

Azzedine ALAIA 50

THE ANATOMY

Famously shy and infamously independent, Azzedine Alaia is one of the world’s most respected fashion designers. Held in the highest esteem for his startlingly honest approach, he has been resolute in not bowing to the pressures or demanding timetables of the fashion industry’s annual diary instead crafting and showing his creations in his own time. Known for his signature bodycon silhouettes, his talent for producing discreet luxury has seen his empire become one of the most prestigious and respected of his generation. Born on June 7, 1939 in Tunisia’s capital city, Tunis. In 1957, he

THE ARTISTRY OF ALAIA

THE ANATOMY

moved to Paris and worked for some of the biggest names in the fashion industry at the time, including Christian Dior, Guy Laroche and Thierry Mugler. Alaia possessed a passion for the arts from a young age, eventually studying sculpture in the local École des Beaux-Arts in Tunis. In the late Seventies, he opened his first atelier in his small apartment - from where he created gowns for the fashion glitterati, such as Marie-Hélène de Rothschild and Greta Garbo. In 1980, he showed his first ready-towear collection. In the same year a Bergdorf Goodman buyer reportedly stopped someone in the street that was wearing an Alaia leather coat and demanded to know where it was from. This led to Alaia being stocked in America and eventually the opening of a stand-alone store. In 1984, he was voted Best Designer of the Year and Best collection of the Year by the French Ministry of Culture. His career continued to grow from strength-to-

strength as his work was featured in editorials by influential fashion publications. In the mid-Eighties, Alaia popularised the stretchy body-conscious silhouette, accentuating the bust and cinching in waists. After the death of his twin sister in the mid-Nineties, Alaia refrained from the fashion spotlight - preferring instead to cater for his devoted clientele out of his Marais workspace, which was simultaneously used as a workshop, boutique and showroom. In 1995, Alaia designed supermodel Stephanie Seymour’s wedding dress - reportedly took 1,600 hours to make. He claims to have turned down the Legion D’Honneur in 2008 - France’s most prestigious honour: “You know Sarkozy offered me the medal? I refused,” he told the Business of Fashion in July 2011. “People said that I refused because I don’t like Sarkozy, but that’s ridiculous. I refused because I don’t like decorations - except on women. My dress

on a woman - that’s a beautiful decoration.” In July 2007, he bought the Prada group out of the ready-to-wear line of his business, leaving them in charge only of footwear. Later the same year, luxury group Richemont bought a percentage of the business. July 2011 saw Alaia’s first catwalk show in seven years, for which he was given a standing ovation. The event attracted a star-studded front row, including Donatella Versace and Sofia Coppola. In July 2012 it was announced that Alaia was set to open a store in Paris in March 2013, his first since 1992. True to form, the emphasis is reportedly on keeping the building a lowkey shopping destination in its relatively secret location. His designs have been worn by everyone from American First Lady Michelle Obama and Carine Roitfeld, to Grace Jones and Lady Gaga. Alaia currently resides in Paris, France.

THE ANATOMY Azzedine Alaïa had been zipping, stuffing, and encasing curvacious glamazons into his second-skin dresses in defiance of women’s lib for 15 years before he staged his first New York City fashion show on this day in 1982. It was the unofficial kickoff of the season: The evening of new fall fashion began with the opening of an Irving Penn photography exhibit at the Marlborough Gallery (a collection of pictures themed around skulls, bones and dust that the

late legendary fashion photographer said “don’t have deep significance”) and was followed by Alaïa’s show at Bergdorf Goodman, where the line stretched around the block to catch a glimpse of the designs from a diminutive, five-foot-one Tunisian man who was to play no small part in ushering in the structural, sex-is-power look of the ’80s. And fittingly (no pun intended), the second floor of the department store had been transformed into a giant tent made of spandex. “Fashion-

THE ANATOMY able, party-going New Yorkers seem to have finally forsaken their midcalf culottes and prairie skirts in favor of a new interpretation of the high-heeled attitude of another era,” the New York Times reported. “In fact, they seem to have collectively put on their elbow-length gloves and stepped not-too-quietly into the night.” The fashion-andart crowd was out in full force: Richard Avedon, Robert Mapplethorpe, Egon von Furstenberg, Zoran, Andy Warhol, the usual flock of mod-

els and fashion editors and French interior designer Andrée Putman. It was Putman, who looked so good wearing one of AlaÏa’s first leather coats while walking down Madison Avenue two years earlier, who was stopped by a buyer for Bergdorf, shared the name of the designer and the rest is fashion history. “For him, the ultimate woman is a Parisian in a little black dress walking very fast, all legs and shape,” Putman was overheard saying as the show began.

THE ANATOMY

80’s BIG NAMES HERB BRUCE VICTOR GREG

RITTS WEBER SKREBENSKI GORMAN

PHOTOGRAPHY

THE ANATOMY

Herb 58

RITTS

THE ANATOMY Herb ritts was born in los angeles in 1952, and grew up living and working among the celebrities of the day. In 1970, he worked as a sales representative for the family business selling rattan furniture, often to movie sets. this job allowed ritts to travel and to pursue one of his interests,

photographing

his

friends.

Rittsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hobby soon became a self-taught career. the photographer himself attributes his first success to shots of actor richard gere taken on a desert excursion that ended with a flat tire. it was the tender machismo captured in the photograph of the young gere â&#x20AC;&#x201D; rising star of the 1980 movie

THE ANATOMY ‘american gigolo’ — that launched ritts’ career as a commercial photographer. Ritts looks back on the late ‘70s and early ‘80s as apprentice years, mastering his craft and developing a personal aesthetic photographing men’s and women’s fashions. simultaneously, he was building his reputation as a celebrity portraitist.

while working for ‘interview’ magazine in 1985, ritts exhibited his photographs in a gallery setting for the first time. since then his career has escalated, moving from fashion photography for the top national and international fashion magazines such as ‘harper’s bazaar’, ‘vogue’, ‘elle’, ‘vanity fair’, and ‘rolling stone’.

THE ANATOMY

Bruce WEBER 63

THE ANATOMY

Bruce Weber’s relationship with Fashion photography Weber’s fashion photography first entered the limelight in the late 1970s in GQ magazine, where his photographs frequently graced the cover page. Nan Bush, his longtime companion and agent, was able to secure a contract with Federated department stores to shoot the 1978 Bloomingdales catalog. In the late

1980’s and early 1990’s his controversial advertising images for Calvin Klein brought his work into the public eye. His simple black and white shots, featuring an unclothed heterosexual couple on a swing facing each other, two clothed men in bed, and model Marcus Schenken berg barely holding jeans in front

THE ANATOMY

of himself in a shower, launched him into the national spotlight. His photograph for Calvin Klein of Olympic athlete Tom Hintnaus in skimpy white briefs is now an iconic image within the fashion world which judging by the following quote was not Hintnaus’ original intention: “I worked so hard to be the best pole-vaulter in the world and I ended up being more well known for putting on a pair of briefs.”

Redefinition Male

of Beauty

Men’s fashion photography, at the time, was still somewhat stiff and mannered, featuring lots of tuxedos, fisherman’s sweaters, and steely expressions, with an omnipresent whiff of Aramis. Weber’s snapshot-like images of Aquilon, by contrast, had a spontaneous, unguarded quality that gave the viewer a sharp jolt of voyeuristic pleasure. To his detractors, Weber’s work was smut, plain and simple. Weber countered that hat he was doing was simply modernizing men’s fashion photography. “I wanted to shoot a guy in underwear in the same way women had been photographed all these years, with voluptuousness,” he said. Besides, he added, “we have to get rid of models wearing the glove, the cane, and the flower. No one dresses like that.” Soon, he was regularly shooting editorial pages for GQ and the various editions of Vogue, as well as steamy ad campaigns for

THE ANATOMY Calvin Klein Underwear. By 1982, As his fame grew, and the eighties marched on, Weber’s focus on golden youth also drew controversy. Bruce Weber was an undeniable cultural force, and he played a major role in the de facto redefinition of the male beauty ideal. In 1988, Vogue declared that he had “helped reestablish the male nude as a public figure.” In his wake, nothing less than a gym body would do. Weber’s much-imitated images of adolescent horseplay and camaraderie have become some of the most striking emblems of contemporary fashion photography. But Weber has also turned his attention to the darker side of masculine identity and myth-making,

THE ANATOMY

Victor SKREBENSKI 69

THE ANATOMY Born in Chicago in 1929, Skrebneski studied painting and sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago and at Lázló Moholy-Nagy’s Institute of Design in Chicago. There he showed some of his photographs to Harry Callahan, who complemented Skrebneski’s unique cropping and urged him to visit magazine editors in New York City. “ It wasn’t a decision of mine to switch to photography, it’s just what happened. Photography was something I fell into and decided I wanted to do for the rest of my life, because I liked it.” He spent a few months in New York and Europe in the early 1950’s. Shortly after returning to Chicago to pack his possessions and move permanently to New York, the then 23-yearold received the first of many assignments from Marshall Field’s department store. “Marshall Field’s kept pouring out the photographs that I was doing, so I figured, I’m going to do the same thing in New York, so why not just stay here? And that’s what I did, says Skrebneski, who established his Chicago Studio in 1952. Although most publications credited with making a fashion photographer’s career are based in New York, Skrebneski continued to flourish in Chicago where he chose to stay

and shoot ads. Attracting the attention of influential tastemakers, New York began to come to him and he was soon shuttling between the world’s fashion capitals. Frank Zachary, Town & Country’s influential editor-in-chief from 1972-1991 once noted of Skrebneski, By 1962, Skrebneski had become the exclusive photographer for Estée Lauder and continued that relationship for 27 years. His long term relationships with other clients include, Grosvenor Furs, I. Magnin, Saks Fifth Avenue and Town & Country Magazine. He has continued to work for the fashion industry, photographing for Ralph Lauren, Chanel and Givenchy. One need only visit his LaSalle Street home and studio, housed in a former coach house where Skrebneski has lived and worked for over 60 years. Long considered a Chicago icon, the street outside bears a sign that reads, Victor Skrebneski Way, while inside, the walls are lined with iconic photos of the fashionable and notorious who posed for him. Amongst the framed images is one of close friend Hubert de Givenchy with his muse Audrey Hepburn, while another of Iman and David Bowie was taken shortly before their wedding.

THE ANATOMY

THE ANATOMY His elegant photographs grace the walls of Ralph Lauren Stores around the world. In addition to his commercial work, Skrebneski is well known for his studio portraits, such as his “black turtleneck series”of celebrities, Bette Davis, Orson Welles, Truman Capote and Andy Warhol to name a few. “Photographing celebrities is easy,” he says, “they’re very cooperative.” He has an enduring love for what he calls the “big modern movements.” -surrealism, cubism, dada - and the artists and photogra-

phers whose work has defined these movements. “His photographs represent a classicism in life style - a desire for order, which has been missing in our chaotic times. He imposes an order on life through art,” says Frank Zachary, Editor in Chief Emeritus, Town & Country Magazine. “Black, white and gray are my favorite colors.” Many of his commercial photographs are in color and much of his own work is in black and white. Motion blur is another Skrebneski signature. “In the fifties I started to use motion

THE ANATOMY in my photographs. I would use a slow shutter speed and have everything blurry. I love blurry.” “In fashion, concentrate on the face to make sure the girl is beautiful. In portrait photographs, concentrate on the face to get the character of the person. “What I do is instinctive; it isn’t plotted and planned. It’s just compiling everything that I have ever seen into a thought and I use that thought when I need it. “A photograph is about seeing - it is observation.” Skrebneski says very little about his own work. “I avoid

talking about my photographs and the way that I work. I’m passionate about my photographs - I prefer not to explain the images. My favorite photograph is the next one.” His works have been shown in Museums and Galleries in London, Paris, Hamburg, Modena, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans and Chicago and are in the Permanent Collections of Museum of Modern Art in New York, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, George Eastman House and Museum.

THE ANATOMY

Greg GORMAN 74

THE ANATOMY American Photographer Greg Gorman Born in Kansas in 1949, the photographer Greg Gorman now works at the heart of America’s, and the world’s media scene: Los Angeles.

has attained the consummate mastery of light and lighting which also distinguishes the studio photography of Horst P. Horst, G. Hurrell, and George Platt Lynes.

Here he presents a retrospect of 30 years’ work. Except for the frontispiece, these are all black and white photos. Revealing deep-rooted humanity as well as masterly craftsmanship, they attest to the photographer’s compassion, empathy with his subjects, irony and playful wit. His earliest work, done in the 1960’s, was a stroke of beginner’s luck that made him decide to become a photographer.

In Gorman’s studio portraits, the play of light lends faces and bodies to ethereal quality as if they glowed from within. His work looks back on a long tradition which has evolved from early 20th century fashion and portrait photography.

His recent work, by contrast, is distinguished by meticulous attention to planning and executing the prints. The works shown here have been selected on the basis of iconography, that is, they are thematically ordered yet in such a way that backward glimpses enable us to follow Greg Gorman’s development as an artist. Many of the works shown in this anthology date from the 1980’s and even more from the 1990’s. Starting with early photos that mark Gorman’s beginnings as a photographer, such as the untypical snapshot of the young, as yet unformed, Jack Nicholson and the photos taken by Gorman at concerts, the relatively few 1970’s photos show a clearly traceable development from snapshot as the quick product of chance to sophisticated compositions reflecting the graphic idiom of classic black and white photography. Gorman is part of the classical tradition. During the 1970’s and 80’s, he concentrated heavily on details of facial features like eyes, etc. Dominant motifs like the mouth or the scream pursue us throughout the book. In recent years Gorman

Gorman does not ask his “fellow players”, and this is truly a game played by the photographer and his subjects, to live it up in an extroverted way, as the Dutch photographer Corbijn does. Nor does Gorman, unlike Annie Leibovitz, stage his subjects.They are not searching for a lost identity nor are they building up a tentative new one as permanent mirror fixtures. No, his photographs have the quality a mark of all great portrait photographs of allowing the subject to unfold his or her own personality in front of the lens. We should always bear in mind that photography began as alchemy, a magical process. Particularly in the field of portrait photography, where the here and now is caught and transfixed, it has retained that magical quality. Most of Gorman’s subjects are people in the public eye actors, artists and architects people in the public at large and the readers of this book have already invested with their own personal idea of them. We experience them only in films and in the icons of photographic illustration. They and their bodies are figments of our imagination in a modern mythology. Photography is the projection of a figure, evoked, it is true, by reality yet, like all photographs, these are, in reality, fiction.

THE ANATOMY Photography is a medium with its own intrinsic reality beyond the bounds of all discussions of truth and lies. The affinity for photography of those who are active in the related medium of film is typical of photography. Classical in form, Gorman’s nudes are informed with a neo-classical aesthetic. These figures move like dancers yet are freed of all meaning. They are sensuous and their sensuality is not devoid of abstraction. They might be reliefs by Canova or Thorwaldsen. The whiteness of their skin is like marble, sculpted by the black of stark shadow. The protagonists of these nude photographs, T. Ward, for instance, feel completely comfortable with nakedness. In Gorman’s nude portraits, the dialectical tension between intellect (face) and sensuality (genitals) has been resolved. As for Gorman’s

iconography, he is perceptibly part of a classical tradition. A case in point is “Aaron, Red Rock”. This is a figure of a youth in a squatting pose that is a reference to 19th century art historical tradition and specifically Flandrin. Numerous fin de siecle

THE ANATOMY photographers took it up. A work like â&#x20AC;&#x153;Speedyâ&#x20AC;?, too, shows more than a nodding acquaintance with 19th century academies and the Grecism of turn-of-the-century photography. By contrast, Gorman demonstrates a deftly ironical touch capturing the porn star Jeff Stryker, who is legendary for

his build. There is certainly much of the traditional face-on portrait here but viewers are expected to imagine the rest, the sexy body. We have to add what is really relevant in other cases, too. Guess the rest and supply it applies to other portraits here as well.

THE ANATOMY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER SS http://www.ifashion.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4869 JPG LIFE http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/jean-paul-gaultier ALAIA http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/azzedine-alaia-biography http://onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=5189 MIYAKE http://mds.isseymiyake.com/im/en/work/ http://www.kci.or.jp/archives/digital_archives/detail_198_e.html CLUB TO CATWALK http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-from-club-to-catwalklondon-fashion-in-the-80s/ MUGLER http://www.fragrancex.com/products/_bid_thierry--mugler-am-cid_perfume-amlid_t__brand_history.html LACROIX http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/fashion/recalling-the-lacroix-era.html?_ r=0 WESTWOOD http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/v/vivienne-westwood-designs/ http://www.viviennewestwood.co.uk/w/the-story/the-pagan-years http://www.vogue.co.uk/person/vivienne-westwood MONTANA http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Claude_Montana http://www.examiner.com/article/claude-montana-outr-80-s-high-fashion HERB RITTS -Male Nude with Tumbleweed, Paradise Cove, 1986 madonna true blue 1986 - Brigitte Nielsen with Netting, Malibu, 1987 http://pleasurephoto.wordpress.com/tag/herb-ritts/ BRUCE WEBER On the set for “Obsession for the Body”, Calvin Klein, 1986 Montecito, California- Bruce Weber-1989 Boy Box Rebellion: Bruce Weber: The Chop Suey Club (1989) White. Calvin Klein Underwear, 1983. From the Calvin Klein Historical Advertising Archive; Photo © Bruce Weber http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Bruce_Weber VICTOR SKREBENSKI / PAGEDEBORAH HARRIS & MARCUS ABEL Ultimo Ad 1984. Wayne Clark 1984Photographer&#160;: Victor Skrebnesk picture page 69 ; Cindy Crawford, Dayle Haddon & Unknown Model for North Beach Leather. Shot by Victor Skrebneski. http://inspirational-imagery.blogspot.it/2013/08/80s-ads_27.html ARTICLE : http://lucieawards.com/13/honorees/victor-skrebneski.html GREG GORGMAN Grace Jones , http://voices.mydesert.com/2014/02/06/fine-art-fair/ article http://www.younggalleryphoto.com/photography/gorman/gorman.html pics of ANDY WARHOL1984/BETTE DAVIS1988/TONY WARD 1988 BY GORMAN page 74