IN FASHION HISTORY

WOMEN’S DRESS as an ART:

4 greatest collabs in fashion history

Once upon a time, French monarch Louis XIV, who otherwise known as the King of Couture, pronounced the following words that became the holy gospel of truth in fashion for centuries to come: “Fashion is the mirror of history.” Our clothing has, indeed, always been a reflection of our society and history, always reacting to every major social movement, be it war or rethinking of human sexuality and gender.

What can immortalize the women’s beauty better than delicate artistic skills? Let’s delve into the past together and discover some haute couture masterpieces, created with world-wide famous knights of the brush.

Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali “Lobster dress” (1937)

When roaring 20s had passed the baton to a new decade, there followed a new verge of aesthetic shock for couture lovers. Now all of the gossips, mixed with shock and delight, swirled around the Italian-born French couturière Elsa Schiaparelli. Her garments represented the cat-in-the-hat and were practically screaming Schiaparelli’s rebellious character. Despite a worth-delight tailoring skills, Elsa preferred to walk to the beat of her own drum. And so, Paris had nothing to do expect to cordially welcome the eccentric designer into their fashion circles with her fuchsia shade evening gowns, frivolous clasps and buttons shaped as astrological signs, and shabby shoes on top of the lady-like hat. It was therefore not surprising that Schiaparelli’s whimsical designs caught the eye of an equally whimsical surrealist, the genious-to-the-veryabsurd painter Salvador Dali. Elsa Schiaparelli (up) and Salvador Dali (left)

The Spanish artist met Schiaparelli un the beginning of the 30s during one of the many secular Paris events. Unsurprisingly, the duo instantly got very close and ventured into a crazily flamboyant, what was to become historic, collaboration. While it is difficult to choose the most outstanding piece of the collaboration between the two, the most popular one was and still undoubtedly is the appetizing Lobster Dress. The lobster motif came from the theme that Dali had previously cultivated in his own work, which included 1936’s Lobster Telephone and was influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud. That’s how a sculpture-looking column gown with lobster art printed onto the silk organza dress was conceived by master silk designer Sache. A-line evening gown with a sheer coral inset below the bust that creates a slight empire-waist silhouette. Incidentally, the lobster dress made several reappearances in the 21st century, while being particularly loved by Miuccia Prada.

Scott Paper Company and Andy Warhol Souper Dress (1966)

The end of the 1950s marked the birth of pop art culture that was initially intended to make luxury pieces more affordable. Leading American fashion companies then strived to collaborate with artistic trendsetters who were capable of predicting the crush list of the youth around the globe.

In fact, most objectively successful fashion project was launched by America’s largest marketer of sanitary issues – in 1966 Scott Paper Co. introduced disposable clothing as a promotion gimmick with a sleeveless shift selling for $1.00 and sold 500,000 dresses in 8 months. That new line became a hot potato in the fashion industry, because of the canvas, inspired by Andy Warhols’s Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962). Not long after future the company expanded its line to include bell-bottom jumpsuits, evening gowns, aprons, men’s vests, children’s dresses, and even swimming trunks.

Prada and Christophe Chemin Spring-Summer 2016

Collaborating with artists is popular even today and the very eloquent example is Prada’s Spring-Summer collection 2016. In January Miuccia Prada and her design team plucked Berlin-based Frenchman Christophe Chemin out of near obscurity to create ink and pencil illustrations for the upcoming collection of the brand.

The self-taught artist drew a series of mythic images from classical sources and the 20th century, depicting Jeanne d’Arc, Che Guevara, Nina Simone, Hercules and more famous people from here and beyond. Those couples were locked in tight embraces, seeming to ballet and brawl at the same time. However, the most eccentric and feverish one is a welcome-for-spy-on passionate kiss of Cleopatra and James Deane. All of those canvas fantasies, merged with a cloth folds, pulled heartstrings of either tempted art lovers or just curious passers-by.

Yves Saint Laurent and Piet Mondrian 1965

Until 60s, all of the skirt and dresses fell below the knee have been waiting to get kinky. This dream was granted by a British designer Mary Quant, who for nowadays is known an inventor of mini length. As we know, every life-changing piece of wardrobe evolves through many interpretations. The legend of post-World War II couturière Yves Saint Laurent did it really well. He had the ability to seize trends and render them iconic. The Mondrian collection, represented in 1965, proved the aforesaid statement.

As a vauyrist, Yves Saint Laurent had invariably captured the ambitious artists to transfer their work into his gowns. So back to that season, he was inspired by the leading contributor to De Stijl art movement Piet Mondrian. The basic form used by the group was rectangle; the basic colors: red, blue and yellow. Thus, Saint Lauren created a simple cut jersey shift dress falling straight from shoulder to knee and it was used as a canvas for exhibiting the work of Mondrian. Many years later French designer continued to engage with modern art and contemporary pop culture, namely with Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenshtien.