ARTH701 Project : The Fusion of Contemporary Art and High Fashion _Irene Lai by irene lai (Yiching)

The Fusion of Contemporary Art and High Fashion: Cindy Sherman and her Untitled #299 from COMME des GARÇONS series

Irene Lai ARTH 701 : Contemporary Art Professor Margaret Wilkerson August 20, 2021

This paper examines the fusion of high fashion and contemporary society through the lens of contemporary artist and photographer Cindy Sherman, who has collaborated with numerous high fashion brands since the 1980s, via her work Untitled #299 (Fig. 1)1, one of her works in the COMME des GARÇ ONS series in the A/W 1994 collection (Fig. 2)2, to see how contemporary art influenced high fashion in a novel way in the Nineties. As a graduate student majoring in Luxury and Fashion Management, I am especially drawn to fashion-related topics. I have chosen the collaboration of Comme des Garçons and Cindy Sherman in the 1990s as my research theme because I assume that the fusion between art and fashion might be playful and groundbreaking. By looking at Untitled #299 from Sherman’s COMME des GARÇ ONS postcard series, it is evident that high fashion is not always centering around beauty aesthetics. It could be a communication between the artist and the audience.3 In the 1990s, the mainstream of high fashion was inevitably challenged by different voices. To Sherman herself, fashion and garments are the medium for her to express her concepts by interpreting in parodic way of her unconventional aesthetics.4

Chloe Esslemont, “A brief history of Cindy Sherman's relationship with fashion” (DAZED, September 12th,2019) https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/45967/1/cindy-sherman-fashion-collaborations-inspirations-comme-desgarcons-supreme 2 SASORI BOOKS, “CINDY SHERMAN & COMME DES GARÇONS POSTCARDS SET,” accessed August 20, 2021, https://www.sasoribooks.com/product/cindy-sherman-comme-des-garcons-postcards-set 3 Aria Darcella and Benjamin Galopin, CR MUSE: THE MANY FACES OF CINDY SHERMAN THE CONTEMPORARY ARTIST'S WORK PROVES THAT FASHION IS MORE THAN JUST DECORATION—IT'S A TOOL OF COMMUNICATION (CR Muse, September 11th,2018) https://www.crfashionbook.com/culture/a23060253/cindysherman-fashion-art-photographer-selfie/ 4 Betsy Sussler and Cindy Sherman, “An Interview with Cindy Sherman,” Bomb No 12. (1985): 31. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40423120 1

The definition of high fashion refers to Haute Couture, which means bespoke garments in French and has been used as a general term of tailored and extravagant clothes in the fashion industry worldwide, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary5. Consequently, we easily associate high fashion with expensive gowns, French chic style, and gorgeous design.6 In the 1990s, the high fashion world was still dominated by beautiful aesthetics featuring elegance, French chic, and skinny style, whereas Sherman’s COMME des GARÇ ONS series seemed out of tune with this term and had been perceived as breaking the general rules in the high fashion realm.7 The bizarre looks with unflattering expressions, clownish make-up, the floppy wig, and theatrical props used in this series thoroughly subverted the common stereotype of traditional high fashion, namely, the beauty aesthetics. This crossover shocked the fashion press and caused a sensation among the fashion professionals and communities, triggering a series of redefinition of fashion as well as starting an adventure in fashion merchandising campaigns. Relatively, this work of art could be seen as one of the pioneers that paved the way for the collaborations of art and fashion, spawning diverse faces for high fashion campaigns afterwards.8 Thus, the 1990s was described as a new period of reaction as

Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “haute couture,” accessed August 20, 2021, https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/haute%20couture 6 Jessica Glasscock, Bridging the Art/Commerce Divide: Cindy Sherman and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons (Grey Art Gallery, n.d.) https://greyartgallery.nyu.edu/2015/12/bridging-the-artcommerce-divide-cindy-sherman-and-reikawakubo-of-comme-des-garcons/ 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 5

high fashion industries converged with pop culture and social trends such as identity, gender, sexuality, and politics.9 Cindy Sherman, an American contemporary photographer, was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey in 1954.10 She is now in her sixties. She attended State University at Buffalo, New York. Although majoring in painting at first, she shifted to photography major after she studied a class in Photography.11 Sherman found that photography was much more vivid than painting, which was just copying a specific figure, landscape, or other still object which she felt bored and dull.12 In addition, photography was a faster way to produce a piece than painting.13 She enjoys working alone because of her introvert personality that makes her feel more comfortable in her studio14, thus, she always sets only one character for her oeuvres.15 Even though the genre of Sherman’s production is known as self-portraiture, Vinken states that “Sherman has always stressed that she does not make self-portraits.”16 She just likes to tell a story in a way of dressing up and playing different roles.17 To put it precisely, her works of art are acting rather than merely self-portrait and appropriation. She acts as a

Hanne Loreck. "De/constructing Fashion/Fashions of Deconstruction: Cindy Sherman's Fashion Photographs.” Fashion Theory 6:3 (2002): 266. https://doi.org/10.2752/136270402790577604 10 METRO PICTURES, “Cindy Sherman,” Accessed August 20, 2021, https://www.metropictures.com/artists/cindysherman/biography 11 Ingvild Goetz, Karsten Löckemann, and Sammlung Goetz, Cindy Sherman (München;Ostfildern;: Hatje Cantz.,2015), 89. 12 “Cindy Sherman - Nobody's Here But Me, BBC Arena, 1994.,” YouTube video, 4:07. Posted by “KunstSpektrum,” August 5, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7K_sb2E0sE&t=558s. 13 Goetz, 89. 14 “Cindy Sherman - Nobody's Here But Me, BBC Arena, 1994.,” YouTube video, 9:15. 15 Goetz, 90. 16 Cindy Sherman quoted in Barbara Vinken, “ Cindy Sherman. Woman as Image: The Artist is Present?”, Ingvild Goetz, Karsten Löckemann, and Sammlung Goetz, Cindy Sherman (München;Ostfildern;: Hatje Cantz.,2015), 128. 17 Ibid, 128. 9

wide variety of characters for herself, dressing up by herself, doing the makeup and styling on her own, so her job is not merely a photographer, but also a model, an actress, a stylist, a makeup artist, a set decorator, and a self-employed art director. Laura Mulvey even defined Cindy Sherman that “She is not a photographer but an artist who uses photography.”18 Growing up with pop culture and in the first television generation in the 1950s, Sherman was influenced by media greatly. Hence, she appropriates a lot from advertising, film and television, yet she translates the original pieces into a new idea in her own way, mostly referring to sarcastic and parodic methods, not just simply copying.19 Sherman is also a significant member of the Pictures Generation who contributed a lot to make photography a part of art in the US. Another critical member, Richard Prince, is the first one introducing the notion of “rephotography”, which is a sort of appropriation, to the art world and fashion photography, and Sherman jumped on the bandwagon in the 1970s.20 Sherman is famous for the notion of the Male Gaze which is ubiquitous in her early works before the 1990s due to her personal experience walking down the streets in New York.21 One of her iconic artworks in the early stage is the black-and-white photograph series “Untitled Film Stills” (1977-80) featuring the vibes like Hitchcock movies, nostalgia,

Cindy Sherman quoted in Laura Mulvey, “A PHANTASMAGORIA OF THE FEMALE BODY,” in CINDY SHERMAN (lammarion/Jeu de Palme.,2006), 284. 19 Goetz, 55. 20 Roberta Smith. 1996. "Features: Art After a Fashion," Vogue, Vol. 186, no.1 (1996): 165. https://0-www-proquest-com.library.scad.edu/magazines/features-art-afterfashion/docview/879303924/se2?accountid=13730 21 “Cindy Sherman - Nobody's Here But Me, BBC Arena, 1994.,” YouTube video, 6:00. 18

and American Film Noir in the 1950s and 1960s with the Male Gaze element inside.22 She was influenced by the daily female characters such as housewife, freshman girl, superstar, and mistress, but not referred to a specific movie character or clip. Sherman interpreted the pictures by the notion of the Male Gaze to reflect the female stereotype in the 1950s and 1960s. For instance, her Untitled Film Still #6 (Fig. 3)23 depicted a young girl revealing her underwear, laying on the bed, with the camera’s shutter release cable on hand, and posed in a seductive posture. This image implied a message of viewing the female as a subject and narrated the visually sexual stereotype from the public in the Sixties.24 In 1980, Sherman extended her works to color photographs that brought in more vivid visual impacts to the viewers, creating a lively atmosphere for specific themes. Her Fashion series are mostly in the color photograph genre and had been mass produced in the 1980s.25 Her relationship with fashion originated from her childhood that she received a great amount of old-fashion clothes from her grandmother, and soon she fell in love with playing dress-up. This chance embarked her adventure on treasure hunting among thrift shops and let her put on different types of clothes. Based on this special experience, Sherman shaped her own taste on fashion that has nothing to do with trendy style or pretty looks endorsed by the mainstream media, however, she defined fashion as a power to affect society or awareness,

22 23 24 25

Goetz, 55. Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Still #6. 1977. https://jstor.org/stable/community.27359998 Cindy Sherman et al., CINDY SHERMAN (Flammarion/Jeu de Palme.,2006), 240. Ibid, 287.

and this ideation turned into her tool to voice her ideas among fashion brands after she was invited to shoot for Dianne B., a New York based fashion brand in 1983.26 Dianne B. gave Sherman enough spaces to create her photographs with clothes in the store regardless of sales. In one of her interviews with the author Betsy Sussler, Sherman said, “Some of Dianne B.’s stuff was really bizarre. I was real interested in what the clothing was bringing out of me and some of it was a retaliation against fashion, as well as humor.” Sherman thought maybe she could make fun of these clothes for being pretty, chic, and skinny stereotype.27 She performed in those weird clothes as a parody and became popular among the fashion communities, so it was natural that she has been invited to other fashion collaborations since then.28 It was the photograph series Sherman made for the fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar in 1993 that captured Rei Kawakubo’s eye, and spawned Sherman’s COMME des GARÇONS postcard series in 1994.29 Rei Kawakubo, a Japanese fashion designer, who is also the founder of the high fashion brand Comme des Garçons, meaning “Like the Boys” in French, is based in Paris and Tokyo.30 Rei Kawakubo is famous for her deconstruction theory and unconventional ways on fashion design that she is not the fan of decorative aesthetics. Her debut in Paris fashion week

26 27 28

Chloe Esslemont, “A brief history of Cindy Sherman's relationship with fashion.” Quoted in Betsy Sussler and Cindy Sherman, “An Interview with Cindy Sherman,” 31. Chloe Esslemont, “A brief history of Cindy Sherman's relationship with fashion.”

Ibid. CATWALK YOURSELF, “Comme des Garçons biography,” Accessed August 20, 2021, http://www.catwalkyourself.com/fashion-biographies/comme-des-garcons/ 29 30

in 1981 hit a success yet shocked in Western high fashion culture at the same time31. Kawakubo’s eccentric taste for haute couture such as Japanese avant-garde and rebellion, with the dark silhouettes, asymmetrical cut, and theatrical hemline and padding (Fig. 4)32(Fig. 5)33(Fig. 6)34, thoroughly reversed the expectation of traditional fashion. It seems almost predestined that Sherman’s grotesque way met the taste of Rei Kawakubo immediately. Sherman was welcome to use any clothes from the A/W 1994 collection sent by Comme des Garçons with her props in her own way, even making jokes of them. The goal of their collaboration did not target sales figures either, it was just an opportunity for contemporary art to interpret high fashion.35 One of the works in the COMME des GARÇ ONS series is Untitled #299. The garment Sherman wore in this image, a semi-transparent one-piece pants, with asymmetrical silhouette and deconstructed fabrics seamed together, revealed the obscure tattoos on her skin. She put on a messy wig and had her makeup like a drug-addict with dark circles under her eyes. Sherman also had piercings in her navel, nose and mouth, a cigarette in her hands, a bandage-like piece in the place of the crotch under the garment, and long sleeve gloves. Moreover, she sat with her legs open, which was not perceived as the pleasant look for a

Jessica Glasscock, “Bridging the Art/Commerce Divide: Cindy Sherman and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons.” 32 VOGUE, “ FALL 1992 READY-TO-WEAR Comme des Garçons Look 23,” Accessed August 20, 2021, https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-1992-ready-to-wear/comme-des-garcons/slideshow/collection#23 33 VOGUE, “ FALL 1992 READY-TO-WEAR Comme des Garçons Look 27,” Accessed August 20, 2021, https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-1992-ready-to-wear/comme-des-garcons/slideshow/collection#27 34 VOGUE, “ FALL 1993 READY-TO-WEAR Comme des Garçons Look 3,” Accessed August 20, 2021, https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-1993-ready-to-wear/comme-des-garcons/slideshow/collection#3 35 Jessica Glasscock, “Bridging the Art/Commerce Divide: Cindy Sherman and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons.” 31

lady; at the same time, her facial expression was a sly, sarcastic snicker. In addition, her finger pointed to her head like mimicking a gun shooting at herself, delivering a provoking message to the audience. Overall, she looked like she had bad hygiene and showed an attitude of taking the piss out of the world. The elements of tattoos, piercings, cigarette, and a gun gesture depict the rebellious character against glamorous beauty, which is supposed to be decorated by delicate lip stick, fine jewelry, and adorable accessories that were always seen in fashion magazines. The background lighting was set up in dusky red tone, evoking the mood of a crime scene or a suspense film. Sherman’s glance made the viewers feel a cynical sense, which was the narrative of the opposite angle from the Male Gaze. The settings staged by Sherman formed a strong and sharp contrast to the luxurious clothes from high fashion, to highlight her negative aesthetics on interpreting high fashion.36 It is obvious that fashion is not only about beauty aesthetics for Sherman, instead, it is the medium for her to tell the stories in a humorous way. The meaning behind this work is to reveal the social issues of gender and identity. By performing through her body with the clothes, Sherman mirrored the social problems of identity, gender and sexuality that are happening in the popular culture. She wanted to import the messages and raise awareness among the high fashion communities in a metaphorical way.37

“Johanna Burton on Cindy Sherman's Untitled #299,” YouTube video, 0:27. Posted by “The Museum of Modern Art,” January 19, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctLlNUCJc1A&t=3s 37 Hanne Loreck. “De/constructing Fashion/Fashions of Deconstruction: Cindy Sherman’s Fashion Photographs,” 260. 36

She applied her bizarre philosophy on her other fashion moments such as MAC cosmetics, Cover Girl series for French Vogue, Balenciaga, and so on, to make fun of those brilliant brands with eccentric expressions yet questioning the Male Gaze at the same time. Ultimately, there is always a story under the whimsical surface, and it seems that Sherman succeeds in telling stories via the motifs in high fashion by introducing her ugly beauty to fashionistas over the past three decades.38 By examining Cindy Sherman’s work Untitled #299 from COMME des GARÇ ONS Postcard series, high fashion could be in odd, bizarre, and different look, showing its inclusiveness from a wide variety of social phenomena. The traditional stereotype of skinny model size and pleasant makeup are no longer the golden rule in the contemporary era. Since the 1990s, the COMME des GARÇ ONS Postcard series AW 1994 collection has paved the way for high fashion brands and contemporary artists in this increasingly diverse world.

Goetz, 134.

List of Figures

Figure 1. Cindy Sherman. Untitled #299, Postcard series for Comme des Garçons, A/W1994. 1994. Color print, 6 x 9 in.

Figure 2. Cindy Sherman. Cindy Sherman x Comme des Garçons postcards series, A/W1994 collection, 1994. Color print. 6 x 9 in.

Figure 3. Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Still #6. 1977. Black-and-white photograph, 38 1/2 in. x 27 5/8 in. (97.79 cm x 70.17 cm)

Figure 4. Comme des Garçons A/W – RTW, 1992. Look 23.

Figure 5. Comme des Garçons A/W – RTW, 1992. Look 27.

Figure 6. Comme des Garçons A/W – RTW, 1993. Look 3.

Bibliography

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METRO PICTURES, “Cindy Sherman,” Accessed August 20, 2021, https://www.metropictures.com/artists/cindy-sherman/biography SASORI BOOKS, “CINDY SHERMAN & COMME DES GARÇONS POSTCARDS SET,” accessed August 20, 2021, https://www.sasoribooks.com/product/cindy-sherman-comme-des-garcons-postcards-set Sussler, Betsy and Cindy Sherman. “An Interview with Cindy Sherman.” Bomb No 12. (1985): 30-33. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40423120 Sherman, Cindy.“Untitled Film Still #6.” JSTOR, Accessed August 20, 2021. https://jstor.org/stable/community.27359998 Sherman, Cindy, Régis Durand, Jean-Pierre Criqui, Laura Mulvey, Germany) MartinGropius-Bau (Berlin, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Jeu de paume (Gallery : France), and Louisiana (Museum : Humlebk̆, Denmark). Cindy Sherman. English-language ed. London;Paris;New York?;: Flammarion/Jeu de Palme. 2006. Sherman, Cindy, Ingvild Goetz, Karsten Löckemann, Cindy Sherman, Ingvild Goetz, Karsten Löckemann, and Sammlung Goetz. Cindy Sherman. München;Ostfildern;: Hatje Cantz, 2015. Smith, Roberta. "Features: Art After a Fashion." Vogue, 1996, 164-164, 165, 184, https://0www-proquest-com.library.scad.edu/magazines/features-art-afterfashion/docview/879303924/se-2?accountid=13730. VOGUE. “ FALL 1992 READY-TO-WEAR Comme des Garçons Look 23.” Accessed August 20, 2021. https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-1992-ready-to-wear/comme-desgarcons/slideshow/collection#23 VOGUE. “ FALL 1992 READY-TO-WEAR Comme des Garçons Look 27.” Accessed August 20, 2021. https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-1992-ready-to-wear/comme-desgarcons/slideshow/collection#27 VOGUE. “ FALL 1993 READY-TO-WEAR Comme des Garçons Look 3.” Accessed August 20, 2021. https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-1993-ready-to-wear/comme-desgarcons/slideshow/collection#3 14