Visual Merchandizing Project #2 19 March 2015 Taylor Hall
Edgar Degas Edgar Degas was a painter and sculptor from Paris who was often identified as an impressionist. However, his works are not technically considered impressionism because he “never adopted the Impressionist color fleck” as art historian Fredrick Hartt said. Degas began painting at a young age and by the time he was 18 he had turned a room in his home into an artist’s studio. In 1855 he met Jean Ingres who advised him to “draw lines.” After this encounter he studied drawing at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts before traveling to Italy where he accomplished techniques in high, academic, and classical art. Degas initially painted historical artwork but later was influenced by contemporary subject matter and eventually segued into impressionism. One of Degas’s most famous subject matters was dancers. He showed them backstage and in rehearsal in an attempt to paint “real life.” He wanted to portray his subject’s social status and their profession through physiognomy, posture and dress which is why his ballerinas are all slender and athletic. His use of color and the stroke of his brush were influenced heavily by impressionism as well as modern photography. Degas mastered oil on canvas as well as pastels, which allowed him to use a greater variety of color. It was normal for Degas to repeat a subject many times in his various pieces of work, but each time the painting differed. His most controversial work of art was his La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans, or Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, because many critiques found her ugly or appalling. Degas, however, called her blossoming.
Elements that affected me the most were his use of color throughout his ballerina series, especially his use of red. I also liked the contrast between his paintings of dancers and his sculpture of the little dancer. The ballerinas he painted were poised, well thought out and handled with care, and looked perfect; they were exactly how a ballerina should be. On the other hand, his sculpture was not the prima ballerina that comes to mind when you think about what a dancer is. She is rough in places, there is no skirt to accompany her, and she looks plain. I believe these imperfections are what make her beautiful. Degas does not dress her up in embellishments; he just lets her beauty and charm speak for itself. I included the elements from Degas’s painting into my Dior bust form. When I think of Dior I think of perfection, just like Degas’s ballerinas. I also wanted to incorporate the red that was used so I made the entire body of the bust form red, but added floral/sequin appliques to make it more Dior. For the Margiela bust form I was inspired by the little dancer sculpture because they are the complete opposite of Dior and the ballerinas. I was inspired by Degas’s lack of color in the sculpture so I kept the bust for the same color and fabric that it would normally be. However, I wanted the bust form to be unfinished because the sculpture has no skirt, so I let the hem of the body fray. Like Degas, I did not want to add embellishment to the Margiela bust form because I wanted the bust form to speak for itself. Margiela also does this in his work, so it was a perfect merging of both Degas and Margiela within the bust from. For both bust forms, I wanted the idea of ballerina to show through. In the Dior bust form every ribbon is tied and she is ready for the stage, but in the Margiela bust form the ribbons are not tied and she is unfinished, not prepared.
Work Cited "Edgar Degas Biography." Edgar Degas Biography. N.p., 2002. Web. 13 Mar. 2015. <http://www.edgar-degas.org/biography.html>.
Retailers The first retailer I chose was Dior because that is what I see when I look at Degas’s ballerinas. The silhouette of the ballerina reminded me of the silhouette of a Dior dress. They are both very feminine and accentuate the waste. The Second retailer I made a bust form for is Maison Margiela. When I looked at Degas’s Little Dancer of Fourteen Years I saw the complete opposite of his paintings. She is “blooming” as Degas has mentioned and I saw a dancer who is not complete. I thought that Margiela would be a perfect fit because his garments are not finish, or not finished in the way that we are accustomed to. Essentially, I chose the two specific design houses because they are dialectics of each other. Dior is the essence of couture: every seam is stitched perfectly, the fabric is of the highest quality, and the garments fit perfect to the woman’s figure. Every part of a Dior garment is perfect. On the other hand, Margiela is the complete opposite: garments are unfinished, the fabric may be tattered or torn, and every flaw is revealed. Dior and Margiela are also a good fit for Degas because all three artists were considered new and innovative when they first gained success, and still are today While the designers are both very different and cater to two separate customers, they both have a high-end, usually high profile, client. I think that makes both designers a good fit for Degas as an inspiration because Degas is classic, he is timeless and never goes out of style. I also feel that older paintings, especially works of French impressionism, have a sense of wealth and opulence. I picture women of high society in a Dior or Margiela gown staring at a Degas painting with her champagne in hand.
Dior Bust Form For this bust form I was inspired by Degas’s paintings of ballerinas. In one specific painting the dancers are in a red leotard and tutu. I loved this pop of color and thought that it was very fitting for Dior. The body of the bust form is the red that I saw on the dancers, but the top half of the body has flower petal appliques that over lap one another. In some of Degas’s paintings he has flowers on the dancer’s bodices or on their buns, however I did not want to have a literal flower on the bust form so I opted to have just the flower petal. One other thing that I wanted to do with the body of the bust form was to keep the ballerina shape. Dior usually has very feminine silhouettes so I think that the body of the bust form speaks for both Degas as well as for Dior. A few years back, when Galliano was still creative director, Dior had models come down the runway with giant headpieces, so that inspired me to have the neck block be over-the-top. Degas’s ballerinas usually have bows tied around their buns and I wanted to incorporate the bow into my bust form somehow. I thought that making the neck block a giant bow would be the perfect mergence of Degas and Dior. I wanted my bust form to resemble a ballerina, or at least hint towards being a ballerina, so I made the base be a pedestal for her to stand on. She is “en pointe” and I imagine her being in a music box turning on that pedestal. The base is also covered in the flower petal appliques because I wanted to incorporate them somewhere else to tie into the body of the bust form.
Margiela Bust Form Degas’s Little Dancer of Fourteen Years was my inspiration for this particular bust form. I was interested by how she is not like the dancers in his paintings. She is not the beautiful ballerina we all think of, rather she is just coming in to her dancer “skin.” I wanted to incorporate the corset that she is wearing into be body of the bust form, but I wanted it to emulate Margiela, which is why I show the stitching of the corset and have left the bottom of the bust form unfinished. I also wanted to keep the bust form the same color and material that it normally is because Margiela has made a bust form top and I wanted to keep with the theme of deconstruction fashion. The lack of color in the bust form is also due to the fact that Degas does not use color in his sculpture. The neck block of the bust form is an untied bow. I wanted to still incorporate the bow from Degas’s paintings in the Margiela bust form, but I kept it untied because Margiela is known for having unfinished garments. I wanted to show flaws in the bust form because Degas’s dancer is not perfect and Margiela’s designs are perfectly imperfect as well. The base of the bust form resembles untied point shoelaces. I kept the shoelaces untied because, like the neck block bow, I did not want her to be a perfect ballerina. She is wearing her point shoes but she is not necessarily ready for her performance.