Exploring Surrealism In Fashion Fashion Essay

Exploring Surrealism In vogue Fashion EssayYou solely control to engage a glance at todays catwalks and agency mags to regard the unmistak fitted attributes of Surrealism in room. How is it then that an blind initially composed of concepts and voice communication and subsequently of images generated in the complexities of the in give tongue toect and subconscious imagination (Martin 1987, p. 9) would forge such(prenominal) a harmonious relationship with modal value? In a program line to answer this question this thesis will investigate the origins of Surrealism in stylus and its enduring returns on the spurt application to this day.In stray to understand how an noble-minded founded on political reactions would find its way into the transport and materialism of demeanor, we will firstly begin with a brief abridgment of Surrealism and the main ideologies of the exertions. This essay will highlight the key steps in the progression of the Surrealist movement from its founding roots by means of to its manifestation in its most commonly recognised level, art.Upon having get it awayd a re beguile on the key characteristics of Surrealist ideology we will then explore how each of these characteristics has been verbalised through fashion. though surrealisms founding fathers would non have concerned themselves with the elevate of their movement, the metaphorical and meaningful attri andes of fashion pass waterd a raw(a) avenue for the t championing of surrealist ideas (Martin 1987).No learn on Surrealism in fashion would be complete without mention of its pi whizering first lady, Elsa Schiaparelli. This essay will contain a issue study on the life and mildews of Schiaparelli, focusing specifically on how she led the way in group meeting art with fashion by introducing Surrealist ideas in her designs. Her collaborations with artists such as Salvador Dali, Man Ray and dungaree Cocteau shock the fashion diligence with its ingenuity an d style.A subsequent case study on Viktor Rolf will examine the contri hardlyion of Surrealism in todays fashion industry. dear bid their predecessor Schiaparelli, Viktor Rolf are known for their ability to shock, with their extravagant shows and high-concept catwalk shows (Evans Frankel 2008). Though non explicitly billed as Surreal, the flamboyant designs of Viktor Rolf exhi position tell tale characteristics of Surrealist ideas and serve as an ideal example of the height of Surrealisms tinge on todays fashion.This study aims to reveal the important role that Surrealism has played on the fashion industry. Both from a historical point of view in the way that it changed the way fashioned was viewed, as well as its move impact on fashion as a source of intensity for modern-day powers. The collaboration amongst artists and decorators allowed for fashion to move forward in unprecedented ways, pioneered by the likes of Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli, and exemplified in todays fashion by the likes of Viktor Rolf.SurrealismOften when we instruct the word Surrealism we automatically think of art and conjure up images from Dali and his contemporaries. However, in actual fact there is no such thing as surrealist art. At its true core surrealism is not a matter of aesthetics, but rather a way of thinking, a point of view (Waldberg 1997). It evict be summed up quite well by Rimbauds dictum qualify life (Levy 1995, p. 5).Surrealism,through its roots in Dadaism, was a reaction to the philosophical system of rationalism, which many another(prenominal) mat up had ca employ, through the Industrial Revolution, the disaster of World struggle I. Tristan Tzara, leader of theDada movement, believed that a society that creates the monstrosity of war does not deserve art, so he developed anti-art in a bit to shock society through s dopedal (Sanchez 2000).Lead by Andre Breton, the participants of the movement were influenced by the workings of Sigmund Fr eund and Carl Jung. The differing descriptions automatism, a term used to describe one of Jungs theories on personal analysis, split the movement into two distinct groups of design (Sanchez M, 2007, P.49). Some went come out the path of abstractionism,where calligraphy, animation and movement were the key attributes, careless(predicate) of the subject. Their belief was that images should not be burdened with meaning. The others however, believed that images could be a wed amid abstract spiritual realities. Through faithful re showing, determinations stood as metaphors for an inward human beings (Waldberg 1997, p. 9).For the purposes of this thesis, the focus will be on the latter interpretation of automatism in the realm of surrealism as it applies to a subset of artistic structure in the form of fashion design.Surrealism in FashionThough surrealisms founding fathers would not have concerned themselves with the attire of their movement, the metaphorical and meaningful attr ibutes of fashion created a earthy avenue for expression of surrealist ideas (Martin 1987, p. 9). Its appeal to the fashion industry was straight obvious in the use of ordinary everyday objects and weird landscapes that transferred substantially to fabric printing, jewelry,hats, couture etc, allowing designers the freedom to create art pieces. The amalgamation of surrealism and fashion changed the view of fashion from world disposable and unsubstantial to an art form in its own right ( contendburton T, 2008, P. 2).As surrealism evolved into an artistic style through the thirty-something and beyond, fashion became one of surrealisms most observable collocations between the ordinary and extraordinary, flaw and embellishment, body and concept, pretence and reality. This fascination worked both ways as what cover the body had always been important to the Surrealistphilosophy, in the way that it allowed the imagination to adore what lay underneath, and this translated easily into wearable garments. The inherent characteristics of fashion offered a natural association to the physical properties of dis figure outment that was telephone exchange to the Surrealist style.Symbolism and MetaphorsFashion and its instruments were at the core of Surrealist metaphor horizontal before Surrealism found its way into fashion. The conceptional of women and beauty has long been a favourite topic for Surrealist artists. Based on the line by French poet Isidore Ducasse, the chance encounter of a fasten machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table, Man Rays photograph of a sew machine and an umbrella paved the way for the Surrealist study of the sewing machine object as a symbolic metaphor for cleaning woman. The sewing machine itself is the primary tool of fashion, and as such came to symbolise women, who at the time were the primary workers in the clothing industry. Therefore since the process is deemed female, so the result fashion is also deemed primarily female. Future Surrealist plant would take this idea further such as Joseph Cornells untitled collage line drawing a sewing machine producing not only a garment, but the woman within it also ( chain of mountains 1). The sewing machine was a central metaphor in the Surrealists understanding of beauty within a woman as being composed of clothing and form.Image 1 Joseph Cornell, 1903, ungentleMusic was another key tomography in the Surrealists arsenal in particular musical instruments and their resemblance to the female form. This objectification of women included the idea of women being substitutes for musical instruments. Perhaps one of the most famous of Man Rays photographs Le Violon dIngres (Image 2) fittingly illustrates this concept. This exact imagery has been used many times in fashion from Christian Lacroixs Violin line up (Image 3) to much than recently Viktor Rolfs foul violin dress (Image 4). Influenced by Dali and Man Ray themselves, Elsa Schiaparelli also used musical n otes and instruments in her designs (Image 5).Image 2 Man Ray, 1924, Le Violon dIngresImage 4 Viktor Rolf, Spring/ spend 2008, Harlequin CollectionMention mirrors?Human trunk and PartsThe mannequins and dress forms of fashion created the ideal resort area for the Surrealists appropriation of the merciful body. The bottle for Elsa Schiaparellis fragrance appalling adopted the shape of a human race torso (Image 6) is a prime example of the Surrealist ideal of the conversion between the living and the inanimate. These surrogates for living figures allowed for greater distortion and display than real models, and then allowing the Surrealist to fully examine the relationship between clothing and the naked body.The Surrealist fascination with part of the body as symbolic representations is central to the understanding of Surrealist works. To the Surrealist, the eyeball represent not only optical vision, but also dreaming, sight, voyeurism, and in time blindness. Yves Saint Laur ents used this convention in 1980, producing a pileus with emblazoned eyes, Les Yeux dElsa, remunerative homage to Schiaparelli as the greatest advocate of Surrealist fashion (Image 7). The French designer also used lips, a commonly used decorative imposture in surreal art, in his Lip garnishee the alignment of the lips with the breasts, creating a distinctive Surrealist touch along with sexual overtones (Image 8).Image 6 Elsa Schiaparelli, 1973, ShockingPerhaps the most imaginative of the abstracted split are the work force. employ widely by Surrealists in all manner of creative, sexual and available contexts. Schiaparellis jacket embroidered by Jean Cocteau plays on the working(a) concept of affords being a natural device for belting around the stem (Image 9). This is also emulated in Francios Lesages Hand Belt (Image 10) and Marc Jacobs lOeil Beaded Dress (Image 11). Likewise, capital of South Dakota Cardins leather dresss in the shape of feet draw out the functional characteristics of feet (Image12).Displacement of ObjectsOne of the most common devices of Surrealism is the placement of everyday objects in unusual places. The dysfunction and dislocation of an object allows for a redefining of that object and a friction between the naturalized and the subliminal.One obvious regularity of displacing object is by using it backwards as is the case with the backwards jacket created by Karl Lagerfeld (Image 13), genuinely pencilled by Elsa Schiaparelli. Viktor Rolf created a sympathetic effect by presenting a whole parade of dresses worn upface down and a show itself that was run completely back to present (Image 14).However, duty period is not confined to within the realm of fashion itself. Objects from one categorisation can be used within another to create an even to a greater extent vivid reaction. Dalis fusion of furniture and the human form shake up Schiaparellis design of a desk coat (Image 15) and later on Doline Dritsass Painted-Si lk Drawer Dress (Image 16). The use of tralatitiously non-fashion related objects in fashion is common among contemporary designers. Viktor Rolf have a good deal used objects such as bells, pillows and even be intimatelights in their designs. wears have offered some of the most eliciting examples of this Surrealist philosophy from Schiaparellis Dali inspired shoe hat (Image 17), to Karl Lagerfelds mini sofa chair hat (Image 18). The hat is an catch agent not only because its function allowed for a seemingly immeasurable display of dissimilar objects, but it also enabled the ridicule of the hat as a symbolic accessory in culture, ceremony and rank.Image 14 Viktor Rolf, Spring/Summer 2006,Upside Down CollectionNature and FantasyThe natural world itself offered the Surrealist with an array of symbolic objects. Some chose to contort existing symbols and metaphors, such as Rene Magrittes unconventional mermaid (Image 19) while others chose to necessitate up their own typeface associations, the perfect example being Dalis association of the lobster with female genitalia (Image 20). Dalis regression with the lobster influenced Schiaparellis legendary lobster dress (Image 21), the painted lobster deliberately placed at the front of the dress over the womans groin areaSurrealists had a particular interest in fantasy and the worlds within the imaginationThey had a fondness of merging things in temperament with the human bodyLooking for objects within nature to symbolise certain things such as sexuality, beauty, metamorphosisImage 19 Rene Magritte, 1934, A Reverse MermaidImage 20 Salvador DaliImage 21 Elsa Schiaparelli, 1937, Organza Dress with Painted LobsterSurrealism in the Fashion IndustryThroughout the 1930s and 40s major Surrealist figures entered the realm of fashion, fashion advertising and shop front displays. Spurned by the first generation of pure Surrealists they sought a channel to overlay their exploration into the reconciliation of revolu tionary art and everyday realities. By enlist the talents of notable Surrealists such as Jean-Michel Frank, Jean Cocteau, Cecil Beaton and May Ray, fashion magazines became the method for the propagation of Surrealist style.The partial figure, dislocation of body parts and the placement of these parts in unnatural settings were adopted by new fashion imagery in the 1930s. The Surrealists ability to juxtapose the real and the imaginary do it an ideal form for advertising and media expression.Case Study 1 Elsa SchiaparelliFor Elsa Schiaparelli, her works were more about the passion and energy than fashion and design itself. What mattered to her more was that scrap of rapture (Martin 1987, p. 197). Born to an intellectual family in Rome, the would-be French designers work is best known for its Surrealist period in the 1930s, yet her work can be traced back to the 1920s during the earlier Futurism movement. Her marriage to Theosophist Wilhelm Wendt de Kerlor in 1914 encourage a boh emian existence that led to encounters with a broad distribute of international avant-garde artists and thinkers including Dada artist Francis Picabia and surrealist photographer, Man Ray.Through cooperative efforts with Surrealist artists like Jean Cocteau, Man Ray, Salvador Dal and Marcel Verts she was able to bring enthusiasm and spontaneity to her collections. The Modernist characteristics and avant garde style of Schiaparellis work must have reflected their interests. Her simple and sharp design aligned well with their modern lifestyle in tailored suits and evening dresses and her witty persona esteemed her original designs with embroidery and complementary colors fit for an active clientele (Bryan 2010).Schiaparelli was more an artistic designer than a refined designer, always grasping at ideas but not extracting a style from her garments. In her mind, the objectives of both the designer and artist were equal, and that a garment was a place for artistic expression rather th an a medium for the couturiers craft (Martin, P.198). The defining characteristic of Schiaparelli was her daringness to dream, enabling her to bring creations of pure, undiluted inspiration to fashion.A keen interest in unusual materials kept Schiaparelli at the forefront of design innovation. She was persistent in accruing new fabrics for fashion, especially manmade fabrics which were intentionally different from natural fabrics. Her use of cellophane like materials played on the illusions of transparency (The Torso, Picture Book, P.65), and hard rendered soft materials challenged the traditional notions of the properties of materials. In one instance Schiaparelli commissioned the creation of a newspaper-clipping fabric, producing a paradox between the expected ruffle and stiffness of newspaper with the womanishness of fabric. She also designed a number of accessories to complement her garments costume jewelry, hand bags as bird cages and even necklaces made of insects (Picture f rom Elsa picture book, P.43). Most of these were created to make a statement rather than to be worn on the street.not only was Schiaparelli eager to use unconventional materials in her garments, she was also esurient in adopting new fashion innovations of her time. Invented in 1936, the zipper was already being used by Schiaparelli in imaginative ways. Though we may look at a wool dress with a zipper and tell apart colours and see nothing sublimely Surreal about it now, at the time it was considered novel and daringly inventive.In the 1937-38 season, Schiaparelli shocked the world with her Jean Cocteau jacket (Martin, P.100). The jacket presents an illusion of hands clasping the waste complemented by the write of a figure and a cascade of hair down the side of the arm. In typical Surrealist style it creates a friction between the figure on the jacket and the wearer, frustrating the viewers attempt to place parts of the body in relationship with the figure. That alike year also saw the creation of the iconic, Dali inspired lobster dress (Picture book, P.46). An elegant party dress imprinted with a giant lobster. The lobster was a prime example of the Surrealist vocabulary of forms, Dali using it as a substitute for female genitalia and sexuality.Of all of Schiaparellis artistic collaborations, it is the one with Salvador Dali which produced some of the most imaginative and unusual results. In 1936, Schiaparelli and Dali presented suits and jackets with bureau-drawer pockets reflecting themes prevalent in Dalis Art. In that same year, she and Dali created the Shoe Hat (Martin, P.111), a black felt concoction in the shape of a high-heeled shoe with a floor pink heel. In these designs, Schiaparelli and Dali used the idea of chemise, where an object is selected and then outside from its usual environment. In doing so, they modify the objects original purpose. The same Surrealist idea of teddy can also be seen on another of their collaborations, the Mutton Hat (Example?). With the desk suit, shoe hat and mutton hat, the artist and the designer altered an objects conventional meaning by transforming it into an item of clothing.The beginning of the Second World War put a halt on Schiaparellis work, which after the war would not return to the same level of exuberance as the past. Her glory was brief, but left a lasting impact on both art and fashion. Perhaps Schiaparellis most important legacy was in bringing to fashion the playfulness and sense of anything goes of the Dada and Surrealist movements. She was an artist in the world of couture, not a designer involved in the evolution of designs. A pioneer, whose inspiration and merger of the arts altered clothing with a capacity to be art, enabling it to be more than just apparel.Case Study 2 Viktor RolfViktor Rolf started in 1993 with the pairing of two Dutch graduates, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren. Ever since then they have endeavoured to blur the line between art and fashion. Thro ugh their early instillations at European galleries, Viktor Rolf quickly gained a reputation as high-end conceptual designers who created images and ideas rather than commercial fashion (Evans C. and Frankel S. 2008, P10). Though early on they were known for wowing the fashion press but not selling a stitch Viktor Rolf made a move from haute couture to ready-to-wear in 2000.Similar to conceptual art, conceptual fashion involves works in which concepts and ideas take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Aside from the garments themselves, conceptual fashion was marked with radically new retail spaces, experimental fashion shows and adventurous publishing ventures. all told of which have been exemplified in the works and methods of Viktor Rolf their upside down store in Milan, act piece catwalk shows and designs for miro-zines such as Visionaire.For Viktor Rolf, couture is an artistic medium, and a playground for the expression of ideas. They are innovati ve designers who make exquisite and technically dire garments, yet at the same time they are commentators of their own industry. This is probably most evident in their early gallery installations, as many were critiques and commentaries on the difficulty of breaking into the fashion industry. The pairs first collection of over-sized dresses show their feelings of minuteness in the threatening world of Paris fashion. The internal referencing of the industry itself can also be seen in Viktor Rolfs use of Yves Saint Laurent emblazoned fabrics and compensable homage to the iconic silhouettes of Chanel, Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent in their Black Hole collection. more recently their The Fashion Show collection presented their view on the grandness of the fashion show itself to the industry. The garments for this collection were draped over scaffolding and spot lights worn by the model in a surreal juxtaposition of hard metallic frames and soft flowing fabric.Having mostly disp layed their work through art gallery instillations for the initial few years of their career, Viktor Rolf had their first fashion show during the 1998 Paris Fashion Week, albeit without the endorsement of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, the regulators of haute couture. However, even then, their works hardly existed outside the realm of the fashion show. As one magazine put it their gowns tend to go straight from the catwalks into art museums rather than into wardrobes (Tuner J. 2000).The around virtual nature of their garments prevented them from initially being granted admittance to the Chambre Syndicale. notwithstanding not conforming to the Chambres requirements, it was their success in the fashion press and magazines that lastly gained them the respect and recognition for membership.Through their simulation of an emergence into the fashion industry via media channels, Viktor Rolf were able to do it for real. In doing so, they had also discovered the rising greatn ess of images in an ever more media rich society. They grappled with the philosophy that our perception of reality is shape by images and that illusion is now a new form of reality believing that fashion doesnt have to be something that people wear. Fashion is also an image (Gan S. 2001). This ideology is personified in their dip/Winter 2002-03 collection labelled Bluescreen. Models dressed all in blue were recorded via a video camera with the image then being projected onto bragging(a) screens. On the screen, urban and natural landscapes were transposed onto the blue areas utilizing a photographic film industry method for creating special effects, thus creating a blur between image and reality.The innovative and often outlandish clothes produced by Viktor Rolf where often complimented by the surreal theatrics of the fashions shows that they were displayed in. In their Autumn/Winter 1998-99 collection nuclear Bomb, the duo fused the silhouette of mushroom clouds with the human form by installing silk padding to inflate the clothes. The apocalypse themed show was followed by models parading the same outfits, however with the implants removed to reveal the graceful draping of the clothes. They used a similar dichotomy in their Spring/Summer 2006 Upside Down collection, showcasing pieces that could be worn bottom up or bottom down presented on the catwalk one way then the other. Applying the same surreal reasoning, the show itself was presented entirely backwards, with the designers appearing first followed by a procession and then the presentation of each individual piece.Perhaps one of Viktor Rolfs most memorable shows was for their Autumn/Winter 1999-2000 Russian Doll collection. The show was more a performance piece, involving just one model who was dressed one piece at a time in layers of couture dresses by the designers themselves. The resulting effect was that of a shock Martryoshka doll. This fascination with dolls has been prevalent throughout the ir career since their Launch instillation of miniatures in 1996 to their latest offering at Londons Barbican Art Gallery. Proving that their move to more commercial markets has not diminished the duos affinity towards Surrealism, the 2008 Barbican display consists of a gigantic dollhouse inhabited by 55 dolls clothed with miniaturised Viktor Rolf outfits showcasing their 15 year career, aptly named The House of Viktor Rolf.In 2004 the duo launched a core called Flowerbomb and in fine Surrealist fashion packaged it in a grenade shaped bottle. Complimenting that was a clothing collection featuring the excessive use of oversized bows and ribbons. Viktor Rolfs gustatory modality for the Surrealist ideology of displacement of objects can be further witnessed by their Bells collection of garments, heavily embroidered with brass bells, and the use of pillows and quilting in their intimate Bedtime base collection.Not only do Viktor Rolf draw on the ideologies of the Surrealism moveme nt, but their works also show inspiration from other Surrealist artists. The ever present trait of medieval carnival was brought out explicitly in their Spring/Summer 2008 Harlequin collection. The garments exhibited references to commedia dellarte, a theme that was once adopted by the faggot of Surrealist fashion, Elsa Schiaparelli (Evans C. and Frankel S. 2008, P16). Motifs of violins adorning the dresses paid homage to Surrealist photographer May Ray and his famous image, Le Violon dIngres (Image 2).Though not known specifically as Surrealist designers the characteristics of Surrealism are all the way evident in Viktor Rolfs designs. They have used Surrealist methods such as the displacement of objects, manipulation of the human form and merging of the real and imaginary as tools for their own conceptual ideas. Just like their predecessors, in the likes of Elsa Schiaparelli, they employ these methods to create innovative and shocking garments often more akin to art, than off-t he-shelf fashion.The long-lived Impact of Surrealism on FashionConclusionWhen Surrealism came to fashion it was with a passion, engulfing the fashion arts with an enthusiasm that has never left. Over time ideas about fashion presentation in magazines, window displays and apparel have evolved, but Surrealism remains fashions favourite art.The collaboration between artists and designers allowed for fashion to move forward in unprecedented ways, pioneered by the likes of Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli, and exemplified in todays fashion by the likes of Viktor Rolf.