When reflecting upon the process of writing the blog I found difficulties in remaining within the word limit due to the extensive information found when using academic sources. Although as a result, this enabled me to develop my skills in writing concisely. I also found that looking for reliable sources, in the form of books and journal articles, was time-consuming but valuable as the research allowed me to explore my chosen topics in depth.
I took inspiration from Johnson (2017) in terms of how to lay out a blog and how to utilise academic sources.
Presented below is the portrait, ‘Adele Bloch-Bauer I’ otherwise known as ‘the woman in gold’, painted by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. A dominant artist of the 20th Century, a progenitor of the Vienna secession and Art Nouveau movements formed in 1897 (Payne, 2000) and a member of the Wiener Werkstätte (Brandstätter, 2003).
Fig.1. Gustav Klimt -‘Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) Oil on canvas, 138 x 138cm.
Klimt distinctively decorated his works through symbolism to convey hidden ideas (Aurier, 2006) of which were influenced by the organic forms of the earlier Arts and Crafts movement (Klimt museum, 2018). His portrayal of Adele Bloch-Bauer incorporates the use of geometric shapes contrasted with soft circular free flowing lines; this could be to convey her wealth and power whilst simultaneously representing her femininity.
Fig.2. The Church of San Vitale, Klimt took influence from the Byzantine mosaics, Ravenna, Italy.
The painting of the young Jewish woman was commissioned by her husband- a successful industrialist, (Lauder, 2006) thus contextualising the decadence of the portrait. The oil painting was from Klimt’s “golden period” (Vergo, 2001) and was his response to the Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna, Italy. This influence is apparent through the richly decorated attire and use of gold leaf, both of which are connotative to opulence and wealth suggesting the subject is of great importance. Additionally, Kallir (1986) stated that the Vienna succession artists’ turned to the recently established middle class for sponsorships, with Brandstätter (2003) claiming the artistic renewal enticed the social support of the liberal minded upper classes. In which case would explain the elaborate colour palette and splendour in which Klimt represented Bloch-Bauer.
Fig.3. A Pastiche painting by myself of Gustav Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ (1907) that depicts Klimt’s “golden period” and represents the influence of the Byzantine mosaics on Klimt’s work.
When considering the cultural significance of the clothing, it is clear to see the impact of ancient civilizations on the aesthetics of the portrait. The use geometric shapes and the eyes on the dress demonstrates Egyptian influences with repeat coils showing Klimt’s influence from Mycenaean art (Whitford, 1990). Schweiger (1984) stated the importance of antique Egyptian collections held at the Palais Stocler as part of the Wiener Werkstätte.
To add to this, Klimt designed dresses as part of the dress reform movement whilst at Wiener Werkstätte (Fig.5), following the medical dangers of tight corsets and the development towards female liberation (Partsch, 1994). The ornamental attributes of Klimt’s fabric designs are also evident when analyzing ‘Adele Bloch-Bauer I’ and Neret (2015) claims the decorative designs were used to ‘enhance the monumental dignity’ of the subjects.
Fig.4. Emilie Flöge in dresses from a series of loose dresses designed jointly by herself and Gustav Klimt at the Wiener Werkstätte (1906).
Furthermore, from 1905 onwards, hand printed and painted textiles adorned the fashions (Brandstätter, 2003). As conveyed in Klimt’s portrait, the use of flat geometric patterns derived from stylization based on natural forms and abstraction is apparent (Völker, 1990). It is clear to see the impact the Vienna succession had on Klimt’s depiction of Adele Bloch-Bauer. It could be argued that the portrait indicates the high social status and cultural capital of the subject through the use of ornamental decoration to convey her privileged upbringing and sense of the awareness regarding culture (Gustav Klimt.com, 2011).
Word count: 470
References
Aurier, G.A. (2006) Symbolism in Painting: Paul Gauguin. In: Lewer, D (Ed) Blackwell Anthologies in Art History Post- Impressionism to World War 2. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. p.76.
Brandstätter, C. (2003) Wonderful Wiener Werkstätte Design in Vienna 1903-1932. London: Thames & Hudson.
Partsch, S. (1994) Gustav Klimt Painter Of Women. New York: Prestel.
Payne, L. (2000) Essential Klimt. London: Parragon.
Schweiger, W.J. (1984) Wiener Werkstätte. London: Thames & Hudson.
Vergo, P (2001) Between Modernism and Tradition: The importance of Klimt’s Murals and Figure Paintings. In: Bailey, C.B. (Ed) Gustav Klimt Modernism in the Making. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc. p.19.
Völker, A. (1990) Textiles of the Wiener Werkstätte 1910-1932. London: Thames & Hudson.
Whitford, F. (1990) Klimt. London: Thames & Hudson.
FIG.4 Klimt, G. (1906) Emily Flöge. [Photograph]. In: Brandstätter, C. (2003) Wonderful Wiener Werkstätte Design in Vienna 1903-1932. London: Thames & Hudson.
FIG.5 Wiener Werkstätte archive (1911) Wiener Werkstätte ladies’ dress [Photograph]. In: Brandstätter, C. (2003) Wonderful Wiener Werkstätte Design in Vienna 1903-1932. London: Thames & Hudson.
The green silk faille, chenille circa two-piece day dress made in 1865, France or England can be considered a key discussion when it comes to historical sustainability in textiles. The dress was designed for the upper class and it is now held in The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto (Fig.1)
Fig.1. Bata Show Museum, (2018) Emerald Green Dress – English or French, c. 1860-1865
Fig.2. The Museum at Fashion Institute Technology, (2010) Two-piece day dress – Green silk faille, chenille – Circa 1865
Arsenic green dye decorated the attire of Victorian Britain (Bartrip, 1994) and was a by-product of the mining industry that was itself innocuous but when combined with other elements became lethally toxic (Anderson, 2011). Favoured for its radiant colour, durability and inexpensive production, the use of emerald green dye continued undeterred with no concern of the harm it was causing to the people and environment at the time. The pigment, known as Emerald or Scheele’s green was created in 1814 in Schweinfurt, Germany at the Wilhelm Dye and White Lead Company and was constructed with copper sulphate, oxide of arsenic, potash and acetic acid (Pigment Through the Ages, 1999).
Fig.3. The illustration ‘The Arsenic Waltz’ as seen in Punch (1862) depicts the fatal danger of arsenic in clothing and artificial flowers.
By 1870, the sickening of dye-workers and the occurrence of fatalities was connected to the lethal use of arsenic dyes (Holloway and Chase, 2010). The process of dyeing such textiles has historically been one of the most discernible forms of pollution (Lawrence Keane, 2010). This statement is supported by evidence from Gorden and Hill (2015) who claim workers suffered from skin irritation, to harmful effects to the eyes and respiratory system through inhalation of the toxin or contact with the skin.
Fig.4. London and Paris Magazine (1840) Arsenical Green Fashion Plate.
As well as the toxicity of the dye used in the green dress, another concerning issue of production was the process of manufacturing the garment. As stated by Meier (2014) industrialisation and mass production reshaped Victorian fashion and with this also came the risk of fatalities.
As mentioned the green dress was constructed with silk faille, a material produced from the chrysalis of silkworms (Fletcher, 2008). The silk worms would have been cultivated and the silk filament would have been extracted by steaming to kill the silk moth which challenges the ethicality of production. Additionally, child labour was used in the 19th century with children expected to work in poor and hazardous conditions (Tozer and Levitt, 1983) using primitive technology. As a result, workers were forced to use labour intensive and time consuming hand-operated looms, thus adding to the risk associated with the emerald green dress.
Fig.5.The Ten Hours Act of 1847 – Child Labor in England During the Industrial Revolution.
Word count: 386
References
Anderson, S. (2011) James C. Whorton, The Arsenic Century: How Victorian Britain was Poisoned at Home, Work and Play. Social History of Medicine, Volume 24, (Issue 1), pp.196-197.
Bartrip, P.W.J. (1994) How Green Was My Valance?: Environmental Arsenic Poisoning and the Victorian Domestic Ideal. The English Historical Review, Vol. 109, (Issue. 433), p.895.
Emsley, J. (2005) The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Farley Gorden, J. and Hill, C. (2015) Sustainable Fashion Past, Present and Future. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Tozer, J. and Levitt, S. (1983) Fabric of Society a Century of People and Their Clothes 1770-1870. Wales: Laura Ashley Publication.
Images
FIG.1 Bata Shoe Museum, (2015) Emerald Green Dress – English or French, c. 1860-1865 [Online Image] Available at: http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/fashion-victims/ [Accessed 25 March 2018].
FIG.3 London and Paris Magazine (1840) Arsenical Green Fashion Plate [Magazine Print] In: Matthews David, A. (2015) Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present. Bloomsbury Visual Arts, London
FIG.5 Bellamy Foster, J and Clark, B (2018) The Ten Hours Act of 1847 – Child Labor in England During the Industrial Revolution. [Online image]. Available at: https://monthlyreview.org/2018/01/01/women-nature-and-capital-in-the-industrial-revolution/#lightbox/0/ [Accessed 30 March 2018].
Today Italy is amongst Paris, New York and London as the fashion industry’s top four global cities, as stated by Steele, (2003).
Fig.1. Dolce & Gabbana Fall Winter 2018/19 Women’s Fashion Show.
It was during 1952 that formal links between the Italian fashion and textiles industries and internal Italian sponsorships from textile manufactures were made (White, 2000). The “birth” of Italian Fashion was at the Sala Bianca in Florence in 1951 with Giovan Battista Giorgini organizing the show (Steele, 2003). Rome soon became the center of the couture or ‘alta moda’ in Italy due to the designers’ preference, but despite Florence’s beautiful setting, it was in 1958 that Milan Fashion Week was founded.
Fig.2. The History of Fashion Week. (2018)
The semiannual Milan fashion event was pioneered by The National Chamber of Italian Fashion; a non-profit organization (Nazionale della Moda Italiana, 2016). The event takes place in the heart of the city with public show viewings held in the 15thcentury Piazza Duomo, Castello Sforzesco courtyard as revealed by Fashion Week Online (2018).
Fig.3. Valentino fashion show at Salla Bianca, Palazzo Pitti, Firenze; Milan Fashion Week 1964.
Fig.4. Models in Florence, February 12th 1951.
Global fashion weeks are a means for publicity and each city has individual characteristics that sets them apart from one another (Lea-Greenwood, 2012). Italy produce high quality garments at high speed that are difficult to reproduce and this design heritage, creativity, culture and tradition is prominent at Milan fashion week (Zargani (2013). Whilst Paris is praised for its haute couture; New York for its urban apparel and sportswear and London for its innovative vitality (Gilbert and Breward, 2003).
Fig.5. Vogue, (2017) Anna Wintour Reflects on Milan Fashion Week Spring 2018 | Vogue.
Milan is the frontrunner in prêt-à-porter fashion (Steele, 2013) with a focus on creating elegant evening gowns with luxury fabrics. White (2000) described them as simple, elegant and seasonally stylish in shape and this tradition of decadence in Milan is still evident when analyzing the collections during fashion week. Although it could be argued that designers such as Dolce and Gabbana create a juxtaposition between Italian tradition and innovation as seen (Fig. 6) with the use of drones flying down the runway with handbags.
Fig.6. Handbags on flew down the runway by drones at the Dolce and Gabbana show. Vogue (2018)
“Decadence is what goes down well in Paris. Milan is the present and the future.”
– Modenese, B (2003) Fashion, Italian Style. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Fig.7. The Dolce and Gabbana show AW18 at Milan Fashion Week.
Italy’s most influential designers adorn Milan Fashion Week and these entrepreneur-designers unlike the dressmakers who preceded them (Segre Reinach, 2006) bring glamour, sophistication and contemporary influences to the catwalk. The likes of Dolce and Gabbana, Armani, Valentino and Versace in particular, convey modernity through elegant designs (Turner, 1997).
FF Channel, (2017) Versace | Spring Summer 2018 Full Fashion Show | Exclusive. [YouTube]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wIn5vVwLeU [Accessed: 2 March 2018].
Gilbert, D and Breward, C. (2003) Fashion and the city. Social interaction and creativity in London and Milan In: D’Ovidio, M and Vicari Haddock, S (2010) (eds) Fashion and the City. University of Milan – Bicocca. p.117.
Gilbert, D. & Breward, C. (2006) Milan The City of prêt-à-porter in a World of Fast Fashion. In: Segre Reinach, S. (eds.) Fashion’s World Cities. Oxford: Berg. pp.123-124
Lea-Greenwood, G (2012) Fashion Marketing Communications. 1st ed. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
Steele, V. (2003) Fashion, Italian Style. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Turner, L. (1997) Gianni Versace Fashion’s latest Emperor. London: Chameleon Books.
Vogue, (2017) Anna Wintour Reflects on Milan Fashion Week Spring 2018 | Vogue. [YouTube]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_hDgH_KoSI [Accessed: 2 March 2018].
White, N. (2000) Reconstructing Italian fashion: America and the development of the Italian fashion industry. Oxford & New York: Berg.
Zargani, L. (2013) The Intangible Quality: Makers strive to protect what “Made in Italy” represents to the rest of the world. WWD: Women’s Wear Daily; Los Angeles, Vol. 205. (Issue 38), p.2.
Images
FIG.1 Dolce & Gabbana (2018) Dolce & Gabbana Fall Winter 2018/19 Women’s Fashion Show. [YouTube]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sojFG6a0PE0 [Accessed 30 March 2018].
FIG.5. Vogue videos (2018) Vogue’s Anna Wintour On the Best Moments of Milan Fashion Week [Online Video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lHCRQPxTpY[Accessed 12 March 2018].
Hello, my name is Leah Giles and I am a 21-year-old fashion buying student. My avidity for fashion was reinforced during my A level study of both art and textiles and after a visit to the V&A museum to see the compelling ‘Savage Beauty’ exhibition by the British designer Alexander McQueen, my admiration for fashion was heightened.
Fig.1. McQueen’s ‘Savage Beauty’ exhibition at the V&A in London, (2015).
“I want to be the purveyor of a certain silhouette or a way of cutting, so that when I’m dead and gone people will know that the twenty-first century was started by Alexander McQueen.”
– Alexander McQueen (2011) Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. New York, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
McQueen was an artist, designer and visionary who transformed the face of fashion (Bolton, 2011). Starting as an apprentice at Savile Row, before long McQueen’s ‘natural capacity’ as described by Knox (2010), led him to become one of the most influential designers of my time. McQueen was renowned for challenging conventional limits and many of his works demonstrated his ability to empower women through fashion. Although as mentioned by Frankel (2011) his AW 1995/96 collection ‘Highland Rape’ was mistakenly interpreted, as it was claimed he was exploiting women through exposure. However, McQueen later explained how the collection conveyed his own personal heritage, history and psychology regarding Scotland and for me this is apparent.
Fig.2. British vogue | Inside Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty (2018)
For me, the most memorable of his works was his No.13, Spring Summer 1999 collection finale. As stated by McQueen (1999) the installation was inspired by artist Rebecca Horn’s ‘Dreaming Stones’ (2016) whereby “two shotguns fire blood-red paint at each other”.
The model was spray-painted by two mechanical car robots to create a mesmerising and dramatic show that gripped audiences and conveyed McQueen’s limitless ethos.
“He is the only designer to make his audiences react emotionally to a show.”
– Blow, I. (2012) Vogue On Alexander McQueen. Alhambra House, London: Quadrille Publishing Limited.
Fig.3. McQueen’s No.13, Spring Summer (1999) collection finale
Fig. 4. Rebecca Horn’s ‘Dreaming Stones’ (2016)
Another aspect of design culture that captivates me is the influence the suffragette movement had on fashion. Women had successfully won the right to vote in 1918, Purvis (2016); and the post war boom of the roaring twenties meant that for the first time women had complete freedom of movement (Bromley and Wojciechowska, 2008).
Fig.5. Baumer, L. (1928) Punch, or the London Charivari magazine illustration.
The flapper or the independent young modern woman, as described by Palmer (2017), dressed in a dropped waistline to eliminate the natural contours of the female figure and was celebrated for their boyish bob haircut (Bryde, 1986). Fashion is still a visual form of expression today; this is particularly apparent when analysing street style. The liberal dressing of women in the twenties was interpreted as defiance against traditional gender roles according to Roberts (1993) and it could be argued that millennials also use fashion as a way of expressing individuality and as a form of identity.
Fig.6. ‘Minuit Sonne’ dress designed by Drecoll. A evening silk dress with diamante decoration, imported from Paris (1926) and sold in ‘Lord and Taylor’ in Fifth avenue in New York.
Fig. 7. 1920’s dropped waist flapper dress
Word count: 462
References
Blow, I. (2012) Vogue On Alexander McQueen. Alhambra House, London: Quadrille Publishing Limited.
Bolton, A. (2011) Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. New York, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
British vogue (2018) Inside Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty | British Vogue [Online Video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8TzBItATow [Accessed 12 March 2018].
Bromley, I. and Wojciechowska, D. (2008) Very Vintage- The Guide to Vintage Patterns and Clothing. London: Black Dog Publishing.
Byrde, P. (1986) A Visual History of Costume – The Twentieth Century. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd.
Fox, C. (2012) Vogue On Alexander McQueen. Alhambra House, London: Quadrille Publishing Limited.
Frankel, S. (2011) Introduction. In: Bolton, A. (ed.) Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. New York, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p.20.
Knox, K. (2010) Alexander McQueen Genius of a Generation. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Palmer, A. (2017) A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in the Modern Age. Vol.6. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Roberts, M.L. (1993) Samson and Delilah Revisited: The Politics of Women’s Fashion in 1920’s France. American Historical Review, Vol. 98. (Issue 3 June), pp. 661-662.
FIG.2 The metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2011), Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty [YouTube] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P13oZsD-t4s [Accessed 8 February 2018].
FIG.5 Baumer, L. (1928) Punch, or the London Charivari. [Drawing]. In: Doan, L. (1998) Passing Fashions: Reading female masculinities in the 1920’s. Feminist Studies, Vol.24. (Issue 3), pp.671.
Feature image Met Museum (2011) Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty. [Online image]. Available at: http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/ [Accessed 29 March 2018].
Fig.2. The Church of San Vitale, Klimt took influence from the Byzantine mosaics, Ravenna, Italy.
DESIGN CULTURES- CULT1200 