tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34447309365053703632024-03-17T20:03:56.018-07:00Attire's MindPaul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.comBlogger626125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-46507245068221275282016-12-12T17:13:00.001-08:002016-12-12T17:13:42.290-08:00Back, Perhaps. <br />
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It's been nearly two months since I posted anything here on Attire's Mind. Those wonderful few of you who follow this directly, might be saddened by that. I am, myself. <br />
Here is the truth, unwashed and unadorned. I have felt bereft, of late. I have still got a passion for my subject, but somehow, the words seem not to be willing to come in the way they did. Is that simply a case of writer's block? Maybe. Is it that I'm not certain of the direction to go next? Yeah, that's a bit of it. Is it that I have just plain run out of things to say? It's possible, I guess.<br />
I feel so keenly the validity of the Attire language as a symbolic method of communicating between us. I see so clearly that it can, and does effect our perceptions of each other every day, constantly. And I want so much to help us understand that better, in order to better understand each other.<br />
But I'm not certain of the next path. I have thought that a book might be the next step. Perhaps opening to public speaking events might be an option. Or maybe I just need to suck it up and get on with it as I was before.<br />
I'm asking your opinions, and your aid, here. Post directly to blogspot, or to the facebook link if that's easier for you. <br />
<br />
I feel unsure, and need your counsel.<br />
Many thanks, your Faithful Blogger Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-38494992919953887962016-10-26T07:26:00.000-07:002016-10-26T07:28:04.910-07:00One Shot: Wedding Suit 1673 In 1673 the Duke of York married for the second time. This suit, which is part of the vast collection at the V&A is what he wore.<br />
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His second wife was Mary of Modena (1658-1718), whom he had married by proxy in Italy in September. The marriage contract was confirmed in November upon Mary's arrival at Dover. The second ceremony was a subdued affair, as Mary was a Roman Catholic and the union was unpopular in England and at court. Only the Duke's closest supporters attended and there were none of the public ceremonies or processions normally associated with royal weddings. The Duke of York wore this suit at the Dover nuptials.<br />
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The suit is wool, but is covered over nearly all of it's surface with couched silver gilt, and silver threads. Those threads are then wound around narrow strips of parchment, that is what gives the embroidery its 3D effect. Part of what makes this amazingly extravagant suit even more interesting is that the embroidered design is not repeating, even though it is symmetrical. It implies that the floral and foliate design was free hand drawn.<br />
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The style of the suit is one of the earlier iterations of what would emerge as the three piece suit by the 19th century. And it's consistent with the clothing promoted through the courts of Louis XIV and Charles II, though it is of English make. The waistline is above the natural point, and the sleeves of the coat are deliberately short, to allow the fall of the shirt and it's cuffs to be shown off to full advantage.<br />
The cuffs of the coat are red wool, as is the coat lining. It must have been far more dramatic when first made, but the red has faded considerably over time.<br />
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The breeches are very full and have a deep, broad cuff that is even wider than the breeches leg and is attached to the body at regular points to create something like pockets, though that was not the intent. It was simply a way to be even more wildly, and evidently costly in dress.<br />
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The suit has nearly 90 hand made, silk and silver gilt wrapped buttons. More than fifty are on the center front, and ten each for the two pockets, with another 16 on one of the back vents. The huge majority of these buttons serve no function beyond the decorative.<br />
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We are very lucky that this survives. There is so much silver employed here it would have been a prime candidate to be taken apart and the silver melted down. And this thin must weigh a ton. Fortunately the ceremony was in November, so it probably wasn't overly hot to wear.Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-72018864708377481332016-10-23T18:28:00.000-07:002016-10-24T06:50:53.706-07:00Sketchy McSketcherson I've been asked more than once where my interest in apparel, it's design, history and implications comes from. I can only reply that I have been fascinated since childhood. My earliest memories of drawings I did usually involved people in fantastical clothing. I've been drawing people in clothing historical, contemporary and imagined ever since. I thought I would do something different from my usual run and share a number of those with you. Many of these eventually were made real for various of my clients during the years I was doing costume design as a side business. But some are entirely theoretical.<br />
So, sit back and enjoy. You will I hope, get a clearer picture of me and what I'm about here from them; this series of B/W and color illustrations.<br />
The client wanted to be Sheherazade. So here ya go, This is what I designed.<br />
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This is called Mother Harvest. I suspect no one is going to want to present this way. But I love it.<br />
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I wore this my very self in days gone far, far by.<br />
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Narcissus, it was designed for a manifestly self involved client of years ago.<br />
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This is another, maybe, someday design. Night.<br />
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A client was going to a party where everyone had to arrive as their favorite cocktail. Pink Lady.<br />
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I have to be honest, I no longer really remember the client. but it was all about Romeo and Juliet, as I recall.<br />
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Dragonmaster. Honestly I would love the chance to build this in real terms. One day, maybe. <br />
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I made this up as a wedding dress for a client who wanted a 19th century wedding. The wedding dress version was in white, and off while silk. This version was meant to be a traveling costume. Never made. It was identical in cut and decoration to the wedding dress, simply in other materials and colors.<br />
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Ukraine, only a notion, but I'd love to do it one day.<br />
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Caliph, for a long time client of mine.<br />
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A concept for kilted dressing, while I was always en kilt.<br />
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En Visite, for a client of mine who is sadly no longer with us.<br />
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I called this, The Widow. I would love to actually make this for someone, one day.<br />
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Parts of things. I always have something in my head.<br />
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I made this for myself for Halloween, AGES ago.<br />
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A jacket design for 1900. I made this up in dark green velveteen with silver beadwork for a client.<br />
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This item is called, China. Never really made.<br />
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Just a thought. A different manner of men's dress.<br />
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Titled, Gaucho, this was made for a client of mine in the 1990s.<br />
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Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-49393328149129544842016-10-22T05:27:00.000-07:002016-10-22T05:27:45.357-07:00Scatter #123 Geez, we are already nearly through October, the Holiday season will soon be staring us in the face. But before we descend into that madness, let's take a walk in the Scatter Zone again. It's an enjoyable stroll, so take your time.<br />
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Say hello to Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour. This remarkable and lovely lady was the official chief mistress to Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, but remained both a friend and advisor to the king till her death in 1764. Of the many things she championed during her life one that she is most remembered for is her commitment to the arts. She was virtually the poster person for the Rococo style, and her notable elegance expressed itself in an ability to take a type of design that could be overwhelming and make it utterly charming. This portrait is by Francois Boucher, who painted her more than once, and who managed to convey that balance of opulent luxury and grace with which she was credited by her supporters, and vilified for by her detractors. It takes quite a bit of presence and self confidence to be able to carry of such a complex set of apparel choices and not be swallowed whole.<br />
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We dip into history constantly for ideas to use in our current apparel design. And I do find it interesting that this particular concept keeps getting brought out, even though it is manifestly impractical in a modern world context. Used as a part of light duty armor in classical Rome, these sorts of sandals were meant primarily to guard the shins from sword cuts. But I'm showing these to you because I need a question answered. What things would you wear these with that would both balance with them and not look like a costume? Even as pictured here with those embellished shorts we are breathtakingly close to costume land. So, help me out here.<br />
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The world of the couture is a strange, wonderful place. It is rarefied in the extreme, often lovely, sometimes deeply silly. But one thing is supreme; workmanship. The level of craft brought to bear on one garment is amazing. These two ball gowns are by Jacques Griffe, from 1952 and 1953 respectively. Both clearly show the level of astounding skill required to bring couture design to life. In both cases huge masses of silk tulle are employed, and overlaid with arcing shapes in organdy that have enough rigidity to keep their shape on their own. In the first, 14 rows of bias cut organdy have been placed in an ess curving pattern around the skirt of the dress. in the other a total of 128 separate curved pieces of organdy are first embroidered on their outer edges, and the applied to the skirt in rows of decreasing size. My head hurts thinking about how many hours these took.<br />
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This just makes me smile. When skirts for men first started showing up in editorials and on runways there were basically two iterations of the idea that got put out there, kilts and sarongs. It was a clear case of taking culturally accepted and understood forms of male skirting and making them over as modern attire options. What's interesting here is that, now that the skirts of dudes thing has been around a while designers are willing to push it further and assay versions of skirting that are more traditionally thought of as female only. This image from Carbon Copy Magazine is a perfect example. Where a decade ago we would have looked at this and thought it quite avant garde, now we can look at it and think, well why not? Would I wear this look? Yep, sure would.<br />
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One of the very important things about the upper tiers of the design community is that they have the wherewithal to experiment with the latest textiles, and as such can show us the possibilities inherent in them in real terms. While I admit that I think the transparent dress is tasteless in the extreme, it is an admirable thing in one respect. It allows us to see quite clearly what this textile is capable of in terms of drape and fit. We understand right off how it will function used in another way. The same is true for the translucent iridescent jacket fabric the other model wears. We can see the manner in which it will move, and even imagine how it will sound, from this design. So even if I dislike we designs themselves, they still serve an experimental purpose that is laudable.<br />
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Once upon a time there was a man named Junkers Von Bodegg, and in 1609 he owned and wore this very suit of clothes. It's true that very little remains from this period to show us the reality of apparel at that time, and even more rare for men's clothing to survive. Still more rare is that this is not a suit worn by a person of great wealth, who could afford to pack it away when he bored of it. And the final astonishment is that the entire suit survives. The doublet, slops styled breeches, hose and shoes all managed to make it through over 400 years of time so that they could tell us a small tale of life in those days.<br />
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Ya gotta wonder sometimes how things manage to get where they end up. This Greek diadem of gold with a carved glass inset comes from about 450 BCE and was discovered in the Ukraine. It's true that Greece had trade in that direction, but how did this get there? Was it owned by someone who lived in that region, or was it something that meandered here and there to finally stop in that part of what would be Russia one day? I often find things of this sort fascinating, and wish we could get inside the full story. Sadly this is another mystery that will never completely untangle. I've done some looking about and so far have found noting about this beyond its age and place of discovery. Still, it's rather gorgeous, no?<br />
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It is quite true that when we try to imagine another time in terms of apparel, we seldom come close to getting it right, but no period was more extreme in missing the mark than the 1700s. This masque costume for the Ballet of the Triumph of Bacchus is just such a thing. Not only does this not come anywhere near the actuality of the shapes and textiles of the time frame of the Ballet, this is supposed to be a faun. Where it falls flat for us, as observers from another time is that we cannot know all the masses of symbolism that went into this costume. Symbolism played an immense role in the upper levels of art and design or hundreds of years and really reached it's apex during the 18th century. So, while you and I can look at this and see little if anything to connect it to its intended meaning and purpose, to the educated of that time there would have been instant recognition.<br />
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There are many things here to applaud, and some to question. I really like the draping of the bodice and hip line portions of the garment. I even like the dotted netting inset on the side. What I feel needs editing here are two things, really. First, the shoulder strap seems entirely superfluous. It could disappear without the design losing any power. Second is the sheer underskirt. I would have made it in the dotted netting and also used the netting more extensively there to balance the strength of the heavier material around it. In this iteration the single layer underskirt seems weak.<br />
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Our desire to make ourselves remarkable manifests in some amazing ways, and utilizes not only things that are not part of us, but the materials of our own bodies as well. Hair dress is one of the method we have used from our proto-history to distinguish ourselves. This image made me gasp outloud. This beautiful person has been made even more so by the artfulnees of this intricate hair style. I can't imagine how many hours it took to make this happen, but I'm certainly grateful that both the stylist and the model were willing to endure it. It's as though a sea creature were riding on this man's scalp. Or perhaps something more like tree roots taking hold over his head, some strange plant is growing. Amazing work on a lovely person.<br />
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I'm including this in the mix this week for the simple reason that it's lovely. This Italian made dress is a visiting costume from 1904. It's made of silk taffeta, and blonde machine made lace. The design work here is very fine, juxtaposing areas of complete simplicity with complexly rendered areas. I also like the way the bottom section of the skirt has employed ruching to control the volume and ease it into the next section above so that the line is not broken. Absolutely charming. It's from the Collection of the Museum of the Palazzo Pitti.<br />
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The final entry today is a great look at the difference between fantasy and reality when it comes to apparel design. This Jeanne Lanvin design, called "Venitienne" is from 1921. The illustration gives the dress considerably more volume than the actual skirt would be capable of achieving, as is obvious looking at the real dress. It is also shown in the rendering as nearly hitting the floor, where it's clear from the actual gown that it fell to mid calf. But that said, it was the intention of such renderings not to relate in precise detail the facts of the piece, but rather to evoke a sense of it. Till about 1910 fashion illustration was dominantly something that recreated the design with rigorous attention to every detail, primarily so that clients and dressmakers could see and understand the minutiae. By the mid twenties, fashion illustration had divided into two camps. Catalog renderings were still mostly precise in their details, but images for publication in periodicals were much more freely drawn, more an impression, than a fact. <br />
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So, that ends this week's shuffle in my head. Go find some fun! Have a great weekend.Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-82850723695058029712016-10-19T07:13:00.000-07:002016-10-19T07:13:50.538-07:00Balance Point We are a marvelous, sometimes mad race. We destroy, and despoil. We do it for reasons we perceive as important, but history inevitably shows us our folly in that reasoning. It is the madness we routinely expose to light that is the same madness that drives us to create beauty unimagined before. How do we navigate this conundrum? What are we to do? On the one side we manifest such loveliness, such ravishing glory that we are left breathless and bereft of words. On the other side we make nightmares real beyond rational conception. What are we to do?<br />
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It remains of us in our regular, real world lives to find a way to come to terms with this extreme disparity. So, it becomes the really tough part of this whole Attire language thing. How do we manage to make peace between our manifest desires, and the realities of life? What makes it tougher on us all is that we are fed an unending stream of idealized images of what we should choose to be, and what we should want from the world. So many of those images are not only irrational, but nearly impossible to attain, or maintain.<br />
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The system we have built, which spans the globe and produces far more clothing each year than the entire species requires, is the same system which while providing jobs and food to endless millions, keeps them in a near slave condition in order to feed the international need. The truth here is that it is not your need, or mine which is the ultimate goal of that feeding, it is the profits of massive manufacturers, whose goal is to make more money each year. There are two ways to do that. Either they raise their prices, or they have to convince us that what we already have is no longer good enough. They do this through advertising strategies, Changing what we see constantly, and often through the expedient of shoddy manufacture. I don't mean to imply that this is universal. There are many out there, mostly smaller companies, who do put the genuine needs of their clients first.<br />
It is true that we all like the idea of having variation, and range in our wardrobes. There is both practicality, and pleasure in that. When we do not need to wear the same things every day, they will last us far longer. And having a change allows us that field of expression I speak of so often.<br />
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One possible answer is to work with small providers and designers, so your cash spent is going more directly to the makers, rather than to executives and ad budgets. Yes, perhaps that is the best course; to divorce ourselves from the tyrannical sway of mega-corps, and return to seeking out and supporting small makers and cottage artisans, who we will be connected to personally, and whose lives we will know we are enhancing, as they enhance ours. <br />
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Certainly, a growing number of us have become disenchanted with mass market goods, no matter how beguiling their ad campaigns might be. We have willingly given over part of the power of defining ourselves to people we do not know, who do not really have our best interests in mind. Part of what makes it so difficult, this bill of divorcement I suggest, is that the propaganda is so pervasive and persuasive that it is nearly impossible to step aside it. It is not enough that fashion periodicals and media stars present the desired fantasy, but advertisers of all sorts buy into it too. Most television shows present the same ideals to us, and we even have to face it in news programs where any female commentators are almost required to be young, blonde, and nubile.<br />
Another thing that gives this power is that we are at heart tribal creatures, never fully happy unless we are part of a group that accepts us, and the industry plays on that desire endlessly. If we only buy this thing, or use this product, we will become acceptable, beautiful and desired.<br />
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And so, we struggle to find our place, and our peace, between the push to consume at all costs, and the world we actually inhabit. Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-10632262507295333012016-10-17T06:59:00.000-07:002016-10-17T06:59:05.015-07:00Robots? What do we face? What are we looking at? Is the Science Fiction we read as kids about to become the reality of our world? Are we moving into a culture where most of us don't work, because machines do all the labor? The thing is, we can and might do just that. As I was writing this post I came a cross an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that talked about the same thing, and how we are looking at the loss of multiple millions of jobs to robotics and AI over the next 10 to 20 years. Is that a good thing? On the surface it certainly doesn't seem so, especially when the people most likely to be affected are those with the least to fall back on in many senses. In the long term will it be a good thing to have a mostly leisure population? I can't say. I haven't the wisdom to weigh in on such a question.<br />
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I can only say for myself that I wouldn't be comfortable in a world where I had no labor whatever. I couldn't be truly happy in a place where all my needs were met without my intervention.<br />
Here's the thing we should look at. The apparel industry is one of the biggest and most valuable in the world, only supplanted by food production. If those who own the factories and make the clothing could do so without the requirement of human labor, would they? You bet they would. Their new laborers would work 24 hours a day, requiring no lunch breaks, bathroom breaks, pregnancy leaves, or insurance. Sure they would use the new technology. So would most of us in the same position, if it comes to that.<br />
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What does that do to the rest of us? What does that do to the untellable millions who labor unknown in sweatshops and factories making the clothes you and I take for granted? What does that do to the atelier workers who have spent decades learning their craft, only to be supplanted by a cunning robot? What does it do to the truckers whose livelihoods are at stake because driver-less trucks now deliver the goods they once transported themselves? And what does it do to the sales clerks and cashiers who become irrelevant because brick and mortar shops are struggling to survive?<br />
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A double digit percentage of the human populace who works has something to do, even tangentially with this massive industry of Attire. I myself work as a manager in a variety store, but we sell items of clothing, costume pieces, and a small amount of jewelry and make up, so am I part of this process? Yup.<br />
My questions are these, and they are big ones. What happens next? How do we cope? How does our society shift to accommodate this change? We are living on the edge of a technological change that could potentially alter everything we have known about our lives and how we live them. This sort of change will force people to define themselves differently. For nearly as long as we have been around we have in part defined ourselves by our role in society. If no one works, how do we define ourselves? Are we ready for this change? Are we ever really ready for it? Or, are we always ready?Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-2510400886378988722016-10-15T05:32:00.000-07:002016-10-15T05:32:32.927-07:00Scatter #122 Good Morning All!<br />
I hope this finds you well. We are about to traipse down the twisting pathways of my crowded brain pan again, so get yourselves ready.<br />
Are you ready? You are? Good. Here goes!<br />
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When I found this image on tumblr, it had no attribution, just it's tumblr designation. So I've called this on Pondering Luxury. Part of what we have described as luxury since the dawn of our presence here on Earth is the massing of physical things onto a person. Where and how this became a cultural normative is lost in the dim recesses of our ancestral past. But it crosses every cultural boundary, this idea of luxury being equated with more of everything. I suppose that it was most likely something that developed out of the successful hunters and their wearing of parts of their dangerous prey. But however and wherever it began, this is a concept that even now we identify instantly when we see it. Sure, we can now also equate great wealth with a kind of visual austerity, but more is more is still a social and psychological mechanism of great power.<br />
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This dress by Paco Rabanne is from 1968. It's a great exemplar of the kinds of experiments that were going on with texture and materials use at the time. Looking at this now, it's hard to imagine how avant garde this was at the time of its design, but it surely was. Though it's true that clothing covered in feathers was hardly new, its the mixture of plumage with the curving aluminum links that forms thee body of the dress that makes it so. I can't imagine it was terribly comfortable to wear, but how often are we willing to suffer for beauty's sake?<br />
I also love the juxtaposition of the light mobility and brilliant hue of the feathers with the stark rigidity of the metal.<br />
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This next item is called a Phrygian cap and it was one of the great physical symbols of belonging to those who were revolutionaries in France in the late 1700s. The style of cap comes from several eastern European areas, most notably Phrygia, and during the latter days of the Roman Empire it was worn by slaves who had won their freedom. This one is a pretty lavish version, with its ribbon cockade and the embroidered legend, "La Nation Liberte" on the front. The 'red cap of liberty" was always dominantly red, but sometimes, as here had additions to its basic shape, so style and fashion had their way, even amidst the furor of revolution.<br />
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What I found fascinating here is that by the cut and decoration of these garments it looks far less as though the model is wearing clothing she can put on and take off, but that her body has been complexly painted or tattooed. As well, it seems to lose a good deal of the sexual charge it might have through it's looking applied, not worn. As though she were simply as the people of her culture appeared, not deliberately trying to provoke attention. As a side note, the quality of the decorative work is amazing. The very fine lace material has been extensively, and expertly beaded. It's an amazing ensemble, though it's an item of pure fantasy.<br />
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I have not enough vocabulary to express how much it delights me that color is starting to return to men's clothing after so very long an absence. These two images from the 1780s of men's fashion plates give us a look at the kinds of colors and combinations that were stylish at the time. And part of what is interesting to me is that clothing of this sort would not have marked a man as effete in the least. But in just a few decades this sort of dandified apparel choice would be associated with dissipation, questionable sexuality, and a probable lack of common sense. It's also interesting to look at the idealization of the male and how that too has shifted. Minute feet, hands, and heads, with over-large calves and fairly narrow shoulders, drawing the attention to the hipline.<br />
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There are two entirely divergent reasons why I chose this dress today. The first is that the decoration, though polite and ladylike in the extreme is placed directly over the woman's genital area. The flower, in particular, with its concomitant associations of procreation is not entirely subtle. What is really interesting is my second point. The entire costume is ravishing in color, proportion and finish. it's a gorgeous piece of clothing. So much so that the fact of the decorative placement seems to fade out of relevance. And if we had any doubt about where our eye should be going, the gathered draperies in the front and the terminating box bow settle those doubts.<br />
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This image made me smile. As a child of the 60s and 70s, looking at this called up every geeky kid who ever got harassed by his peers in junior high. What makes me smile here is that nearly every part of what marked a kid out as being a dork is present here, but changed up into hipster modernity. The double knit looking trousers, the sweater vest, the plaid shirt and bow tie, all combine to recreate that somewhat painfully dweeby look as something cool and current. Is this the real revenge of the nerds? I think perhaps it is.<br />
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When her father C. W. Post, owner of Postum Cereal Company died, Marjorie Merriweather Post found herself at 27 the wealthiest woman in America with an estate valued at 250 million in 1914. She went on to develop the company into what is now General Foods, and during her life devoted a considerable amount of time and energy to doing charitable work. This did not in any way keep her from enjoying her wealth to its full extent. This diamond an emerald brooch is all the proof you need. The central stone is a 60 karat ovoid cabochon moghul emerald that has been carved with flowers. She commissioned the piece from Cartier (for whom she was a consistent client) and it now resides at the Hillwood Estate Museum, which houses most of her huge collection of jewelry. Yes, please.<br />
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Most of this design I have no issue with, in fact my only issue is with the choice of model, whose very ample frontage is taking the focus away from the garments and placing it on her sternum. It's hard to see anything else, and I'm not even hetero-inclined. It was probably a deliberate choice on the part of the designer to pair this model with this ensemble, but I think it's a failed decision. If the point here is to show the clothes, then this misfires. That is sad, actually because there are things about this set of garments that are worthy of notice. The coat is beautiful, and the dress has its merits too.<br />
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Something that seems to be common to the world's differing cultures is the desire to put women into a headdress of some sort. Where in many cultures men go without headgear, or their choices are wider, all over the world part of what defines societies visually has been the presence of a specific sort of head adornment for women. I think of the headdresses of the various European nations, and how the astute could tell the region and possibly even the specific village where the woman came from by her headdress. Societies through Asia have done the same thing, as do many South American, African and North American cultures. This dazzling example is from Nuremburg, Bavaria and was made between 1650 and 1700. Of course, globalization and world spanning shopping opportunities have diminished the power of these regional headdress styles to the point where they occupy a place for festivals only.<br />
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Here's an example of what to be cautious of in our real world choices. No I'm not talking to the boys about avoiding wearing a see through knitted red dress if they want to. Not at all. If women can play in that particular sandbox, no reason why us fellas shouldn't be allowed to. What I'm getting at here is that if you are going to choose a serious focus pulling garment to wear then it's vital that whatever other things you choose, don't compete for attention. The narrow belt is fine, harmonizing with the scale of the dress. It's that facial scribble that grabs the eye and diminishes the effect of everything else. So choose your accessories with care to make sure they harmonize with the other items worn. You don't want your statement made to be unintelligible.<br />
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As a word in the Attire language the ring is one of the more potent and far reaching in its uses and meanings. Most cultures use rings to establish relationship of one sort or another, mark significant events, or proclaim love. This gorgeous piece of jewelry is a Jewish betrothal ring, possibly from Venice between 1600 and 1800. The body is gold filigree with black, white, blue and green enamel. The casket on the top of the ring opens to reveal the Hebrew inscription, mazel tov. It does sadden me that such charming symbolic expressions of sentiment have mostly faded out of usage. Where jewelry used to be replete with hidden meanings, script, and story, much less is conveyed now.<br />
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I hope you enjoyed this wander down my garden path. Have a great weekend, all!<br />
Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-52147016977066484062016-10-12T06:20:00.000-07:002016-10-12T06:20:04.102-07:00Couture, and Couture The past, the present, and the future. What was the couture? What is it now? What will it be in time? In the 1800s with Charles Frederick Worth, or some might say in the 1700s under the aegis of Madame Rose Bertin, the concept of the couture as an elevated form of apparel design and construction came into being. For well over a century and a half Couture has reigned as the axiom to which all others aspire. And that appellation is closely held by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris.<br />
What did it mean in 1890? What did it mean in 1960? What does it mean now?<br />
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In 1890 the word of the Couture was law. It was the ultimate to which all others reached but could not grasp. Dressmakers and manufacturers cried themselves to sleep because they could not achieve the levels of detail and finish the couture required. Ladies knew on sight who wore what and who wore whom. The clothes quite literally spoke for themselves in their materials, details, and fit. Couture was a significant mechanism for maintaining the social status quo. A lady of means knew in an instant whether the woman she spoke to was on her level, above her, or a parvenu.<br />
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By implementing dozens of ill paid workers, wealthy women could parade themselves in, honestly, quite insanely lavish clothing that was utterly unsuitable for any activity beyond smiling and eating dinner. But what it did do was relate in inescapable terms the wealth and connections of the wearer. A woman wearing clothing that required multiple persons to wash and iron, even to fold and put away, was evidently a person of greater significance than someone else, regardless of her reality. It was the difference between reality and surface that was ultimate, even as it is now.<br />
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By 1960, something has shifted. The young of the society had taken the reins of economic power. So those who assayed Couture were instantly outside of the cool and chic. They were relegated, to a person, to the also rans. Did this stop couturiers from doing what they did? Not a bit of it! What they did was try desperately to court the young. The real problem was that the really young couldn't afford the massive prices of the Couture, nor were they willing to endure multiple fittings and endless fuss. So suddenly the Couture found itself in a quandry, and teetering on the edge of utter collapse. Young women were no longer interested in the sort of effete and rarefied world the Couture supplied. So an answer had to be found.<br />
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In the 1980s, for a short while, an answer was found in the return of women to the Couture as an ultimate label of social and economic status during that period when cash and it's physical manifestations seemed to be king. Suddenly during this "me" generation Couture houses were booming, and all the associated ateliers that supported them were too. Sadly for the Couture, this was a short lived experience. By the 1990s that "me first, give me everything" mindset had been put aside. It became all about bucking the status quo and reveling in one's individuality. Suddenly designers like Rei Kawabuko, Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen , and Yohji Yamamoto took the lead and the couture experienced a surge, if not in real time profits through sales of clothes, then real time profits through sales of accessories.<br />
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That led the way to where we are now. Does the fashion that comes down the runways of Paris, Milan, or London truly define what will be worn? Nope. Not any more. What they still do is reign supreme over accessories purchase. A man or a woman may not be able to afford a pret a porter or Couture Dior outfit, but they can manage to scrape the money together for the bag, the belt, the shoes, or the wallet.<br />
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Sadly, that is what the Couture has come to. It is largely no longer something that ends up on racks in stores. It is a methodology for moving accessories in massive numbers. Fewer than a couple tens of thousands of people on earth can actually afford to purchase, and do purchase couture clothes. Only a tenth of that number are men. So if the Couture is to survive at all it must reach out, as it has done, to other markets that can afford what they supply.<br />
So, 2016. What does the Couture industry do now? Is it an experimental lab where ideas get a chance to burgeon? Yes. Is it a place where the ultimate of design and construction can come together? Yes. Is it a place where art for art's sake is still done? Yes. The really big question is how much relevance it has to the rest of our growing population of people. It was one thing when the couture served a significant section of the upper part of society. It was one thing when it was something other, away, and somehow not connected to us. But social media and changes in how we live have shifted the power center away from Paris, Tokyo, Buenos Aries, London, and Rome.<br />
Society and technology are moving us away from this concept of ultimate design. If we cannot afford it, there are others whose work we can afford that are similarly innovative and interesting, though not as superlatively rendered. And in our disposable, "now and more is better" culture, perhaps the best, isn't actually good enough any more.<br />
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And I must ask, what does that say about us as a culture?<br />
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Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-28693545496844157532016-10-10T06:55:00.000-07:002016-10-10T06:55:41.967-07:00One Shot: Paul Poiret Opera Coat-1912 The influence of Parisian couturier Paul Poiret was far reaching. His inspiration drawn from the east, and from the extravagant fantasies of the Ballet Russes perfectly suited the social changes that were occurring at the time. As women were beginning to enter the work world in greater numbers, and even entering what had been traditionally male professions like medicine and law, the more loosely cut designs for which he was known that allowed greater ease of motion became very popular, and were copied at every level of retail, as well as by dressmakers all over. There was also a languid sensuality to the work he did, which was very much at odds with the prior decades rigid codes of conduct that manifested in rigid and restrictive apparel.<br />
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This wildly colorful and somewhat barbaric design is an opera coat from 1912. The cocoon shape which he popularized allowed a slouchy, casual quality to emerge in the way that women wore them. They seemed merely tossed on, regardless of how elaborate or precious they may have been.<br />
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It is dominantly made of a brilliant canary yellow silk satin, with a bright turquoise silk satin lining and underlay to the trimmings which has sadly faded due to dye instability. The collar is black silk velvet. The major decorative elements are the large panels of gold and silver metallic file' crochet that trim the cuffs, shoulder and sides of the coat. The broad lapels are also faded from what was a pale blue silk satin, to that nearly white color.<br />
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The cut, along with its slight cocoon shape is meant to be deliberately oversized, much like designs being done now. It helps to convey that sense of eroticism that was a part of the Ballet Russes as well as what was perceived as the more open sexuality of the east. As such clothing of this sort was a trumpet blast of change. The coquettish approach was fading away, to be replaced by a more grown up, fully aware sensuality, that would express itself even more frankly in the 20s, and reach it's apex with the bias cut clothes of the 30s. It should be no surprise that our modern notion of the femme fatale began forming at this time.<br />
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This opera coat is a wonderful mix of the refined and the barbaric. The cut of the coat is sexy, and intellectual, but the choice of trimming, in both style and execution has a rude vigor that would have been unknown in decoration of clothing only a decade earlier. It's a nod to the primal parts of us. It also helps express that sensuality that underlies this and so many other pieces from this period.<br />
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It does make me sad that we no longer feel the need for such a lavish accessory as an opera coat. It feels like we've lost a few words from our vocabulary that could still be spoken with verve and elan.<br />
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As a small aside, here is the design as it was rendered by artist Georges Lepape for the Gazette du bon ton, in 1912. There has been a fierce amount of editing of the design details, but the sense of it is communicated very well, and we get to see the color combination as it was meant. <br />
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Thanks to the Metropolitan Museum of New York.Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-75518671312275866452016-10-08T05:37:00.000-07:002016-10-08T05:37:29.746-07:00Scatter #121 Here<br />
We<br />
Go<br />
Again!<br />
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Time for the weekly romp through my noggin. Enjoy your wanderings.<br />
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First on the trail today is this fashion plate from the 1780s. Riding was for a very long time something ladies did only to get from one place to another. It was allowed of necessity. But over time, and especially after the development of the side saddle which became the only ladylike way to ride riding began to be considered one of the few forms of exertion that was not at odds with the behaviors demanded of a lady. So, during the 1700s, and largely due to Marie Antoinette who made riding gear fashionable, specialized clothing came into being that was intended for horseback. It was most often masculine in design, usually aping military regalia. To our eyes this is ridiculous apparel for riding a horse, but it was an absolute revelation to women of the time. The skirts were un-ornamented, and the styling of the coats allowed for a certain amount of playing like the boys do.<br />
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I've written much about the slow changes happening within the menswear sector of Attire. These two designs are a case for it. The left hand image is a design by Helen Anthony, and the right is by Balmain. Both express the growing desire for surface decoration and detail, a level of elaboration unseen since the 18th century. Anthony design gives us a strong dose of the kind of fierce juxtaposition, verging on the ironic, that has become so much a part of current culture. The Balmain design is busy about creating a new formality through its rigidly controlled embellishments that take a commonplace design like a denim jacket and re-imagine it. Sure, both of these versions of new male apparel are out of reach for the vast majority of us, for now. But should the idea take firm hold it will begin to spread out across manufacture at all levels.<br />
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When I came across this image of a newly married couple from 1927 I just got the biggest smile. What a marvelously stylish couple they are. The groom's cutaway coat and striped trousers are of the very latest cut, down to the perfect break of the pants over his shoes. His tie is the newest fashion for neckwear as men's ties begin a slow expansion that will continue for a decade. The bride could've stepped out of a fashion shoot. Her charming robe de style dress has the side volume it requires, but it is narrower than a few years earlier it would have been, in premonition of the leaner lines just about to emerge by 1929.<br />
This image makes me wonder how their lives progressed, and where they ended up.<br />
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Looking at this the association I cannot escape is the novel and film, "The Handmaid's Tale". There is something dystopian and out of step with reality about this. I know I'm struggling to see this without the kneejerk responses we are so prone to. I can tell I'm partly responding to the unrelieved black. Part of it too is the bib front of the dress, the mid calf length and the fullness of the sleeves. All these things combine in my head to create an ultra-conservative, and somewhat misogynistic presentation of woman. I want to get around that and be able to see it dispassionately. The only way I can see this other than as I've described is to separate the pieces, and try to see them in other colors. Amazing how deeply we are programmed to respond to things, and how profoundly it affects us.<br />
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Another menswear experiment. Honestly, just loose the over-long ties on the front and I'd be on board. The most intriguing part is the wrapped legs that operate as shorts. The open wrap allows maximum freedom of motion, and I would imagine creates a pleasing movement of the fabric around the body as the wearer walks. I also like the quietly simplified suit jacket. It has the general shape of a coat we know, without the rigidity that goes with it. it recalls the slouchy, unlined jackets that were popular in the 80s, without the sloppy aspect they so often had. I'm tempted to make a pair of shorts or pants that do what these do, just to see how they feel and move.<br />
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It is a near requirement in modern runway presentations that there be one or more designs that exist only to forward the inspiration and concept that is meant for the collection as a whole. The first image here is an Elle Saab design from the S/ S2017 collection that is the design concept as it is meant to be actually worn. the second image is the concept piece. It is too grand and cartooned to be wearable in a real world setting outside of a pop music stage performance. It does however give you a trumpet blast of what the collection is about, superheros and stars.<br />
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I recently did a post here about how men have also been subject to body modification through apparel. I didn't have room for this example at the time. This is a man's corset, made of pierced leather and canvas, with a steel center front busk on either side of the opening. It's from the 18th century. So just imagine a fellow in a lavishly embroidered silk suit, with his powdered hair and high heeled shoes swanning about in the evening. To be realistic, this corset is pretty tame. It doesn't do much alteration. If you can get this thing closed in front, you're good. There is no additional restriction possible, unlike a woman's corset. There certainly were men's corsets that allowed tight lacing. This is simply not one of those.<br />
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When it comes to envelope pushing Comme des Garcons is right out there on the precipice shoving that envelope over the edge. As a design, this isn't even so much an intellectual exercise, as it is an emotional one. I can't even tell you what sort of emotion it is that is the intended response. Perhaps all that is required here is that we have one, whether it's curiosity or revulsion, approval or dismissal. My take aways here are related to the combination of textures. The bustier seems almost roughly hewn from a block of chalk. The framing garment, which might be a coat, but who can say, is interesting in that it scales up the rough texture of the bustier, while transforming it into something more appealing to the touch. The velveteen has a subtle and intriguing look to it. We want to know what it feels like.<br />
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There are, or rather were many Luna Parks across the USA over the prior century. This image of the La Sousa Clown Band comes from the Seattle Washington version, from 1909. I can't imagine that this group really caught fire with people, considering the deep seated discomfort so many have with clowns. Perhaps it's the facial exaggeration through the make up that is the most disturbing. Plus our observation of clowns is that their entire behavior is emotionally driven, so they can manifest any kind of extreme emotion equally. It's a concept many would find unsettling to say the least. On top of that so many clowns choose an outwardly depressive mien, like these fellows. Hardly an inducement to musical enjoyment.<br />
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This day dress from 1836 or so chronicles one of the more peculiar fashions we ever devised. In our constant exploration of physical proportion, and the shifting emphasis on areas of the body, giving women Popeye the Sailor Man forearms is one of the weirder ideas we've assayed. When you combine that with the fashion for a narrow look to the shoulder line, and a waist that was above its natural position, the body is altered in some unique ways. It combines to make the arms appear overly long, which is helped of course by the huge mass on the lower sleeves. As a side note, sleeves like this were held out with stiffened netting, or pads of goose down or horsehair that could be removed through slits in the inner facing part of the sleeve for cleaning and storage.<br />
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During the French Revolution while the people were taking back power to themselves governmental officials were wearing this. Its semicircular cut is reminiscent of that of the Roman toga, but the cloak was draped over the left, rather than the right arm and pinned in place on the right shoulder, rather like the chlamys worn by the Greeks. It was embellished with blue wool appliqués of palmettes and tridents. Like other cloaks, this one was commissioned by the state in 1798. The fabrics were provided by factories in Sedan and the garments were cut in Paris and embroidered in Lyon. The cloak was worn over a knee-length coat and close-fitting breeches, the outfit being rounded off with a blue velvet toque bearing a tricolour plume. This first uniform for representatives of the people in government institutions was decided on by the Convention in 1795: after much debate it was decided to combine modern dress with an antique-style cloak, the result being close to the design proposed by painter Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) in 1794. The costume was worn officially for the first time on 19 February 1798, by members of the Directory Councils.<br />
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French king Henri III who ruled from only 1574 till his murder in 1589 at the age of 38 was not very quiet about his sexual life and drew around him a large coterie of handsome young men, three of which are shown here in a triple portrait attributed to Lucas de Heere. What is reveals to us is how far afield he and his "Mignon's" got with their clothing. His fellows all tried to copy the King's own style of dress, which was by all reports flamboyant, and considered rather effete. In particular the ribbons, flowers and pearls in their hair, which was
decidedly not a fashion generally accepted in France or anywhere else. <br />
It was restricted to the French court, and especially to those men who caught the eye of Henri. And here, as an extra bit of fun, is he, himself, the King.<br />
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Well, that wraps it up for this week's scatter, my friends. Have a grand weekend!Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-16881319571131034332016-10-05T06:35:00.002-07:002016-10-05T06:35:59.266-07:00The Price Attached We all know our choices have consequences. And most of the time we sail blissfully through our day not considering many of the choices we make, or their full impact on us. And the fact that our days are really an unending stream of choices, one after another, upon reflection, is something that could bring us to a halt, so we tend to ignore it.<br />
The choices we make with regard to Attire and how we utilize it are no less important or resonant than any others we make. And in some ways they are more so. Whether we like to think of it this way or not, we are judging and being judged constantly. We are being scrutinized, categorized and filed away in other people's minds. We may not perceive it as fair, but we do it, all of us do it, all day, every day. What is unfair is taking our perceptions of others through their apparel and creating an instant negative judgement of them without understanding the circumstances behind what we see. And yet, nearly all of us, even those who make a genuine effort to be non-judgemental, end up doing this same thing all the time.<br />
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What it means for us as individuals is that there is a hidden price to be paid out that relates to the choices we make in our apparel. That choice, like it or not, is that we will be judged, compartmentalized, and shuffled into some internal filing system. It's what we do. We've always done it. It isn't fair. It isn't honorable, but it's what we do. Should we work to change it? Of course we should. And honestly I am seeing the glimmerings of that change happening. We are not there yet, though, so we must consider our options. And, honestly, we are working against millennia of inborn patterning about how to survive. We will not let go of this easily. That is especially true considering how much our culture encourages us to judge others automatically. <br />
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In the mean time it is the worst folly to assume that what we choose to comparison ourselves with has no effect on others, and on their reactions to us. It is a wise person who considers these things.<br />
Our Attire is one of the first things people see about us, and like the first words from our mouths do a great deal to form the ultimate impression we make on others. Sure, it's possible to get people to reconsider their position, but it's tougher to change minds than it is to get them to see you clearly right off the bat.<br />
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I am not suggesting for a moment that you decide to turn yourself into some bland cypher of a person with not visual identity of your own. Far from it. I only say this. If you want to walk this world and state your case to those you encounter, do so with full honesty, and a full understanding of what you are about. If you are and want to be seen as a potent business person, then by all means present yourself that way. If you want to be seen as a great artist, then present that. Whatever it is you want to be, create that and serve it up hot. But the most important point is this. You must own it for truth for yourself first. A lie is a lie, and folks out there in the world will see through a deception if you don't believe it yourself. So take care that what you choose to say is the truth for you, whatever that may be.<br />
<br />Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-24498995034700580422016-10-03T06:31:00.000-07:002016-10-03T06:31:05.677-07:00A Singluar Achievement From the most rudely hand woven to the most elaborately complex of weaves, from the most sturdy and workaday to the most fragile and precious, textiles are a part of nearly every thing we do, even minute of the day, no matter who we are, or what our lives are like. As such they are one of the most pervasive inventions of the human mind, and are one of the most singular, and vital developments ever to come into being.<br />
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No one knows of a certainty when, where, or how we developed the notion of weaving flexible materials together to create cloth. Surely though it is a skill we envisaged very early in our tenancy here. Imagine some one of our ancestors, uncountable ages ago, playing with reeds or narrow strips of bark, and finding that if you put them at right angles to each other and then alternated which one was on top, it stayed together as a structure. It was and is just that simple. This notion is so basic, the concept of the plain weave, that it must
have emerged in multiple places at different times, before there was
extensive travel and trade. <br />
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Almost immediately we found it had application to many things. We could make baskets to store and carry our belongings in, head coverings to keep the sun and weather at bay. When there were not enough animal skins to hand, we made cloth to protect our bodies, and adorn ourselves. We soon learned that we could even make entire structures out of cloth that we could take with us wherever we went, making life for the nomads among us far better.<br />
Since those early times fabric became one of the most important parts of our disparate economies. It was and is essential to trade internationally. For hundreds of years gifts of fine wovens were presented to kings and potentates. We made making cloth into an art form through the invention of tapestry. It developed into a method of relating important myths and stories from history that still inform and affect our lives. In fact, since we first thought it up the applications that textiles are put to has only ever expanded. Even now we continue to find new ways to employ this most essential of notions.<br />
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So intrinsic has fabric become in our world that there is not a room in your home, or any part of your workday that does not involve material in some way. The floor, furniture, and windows all have textiles in play. Your hard bound books wouldn't exist without fabric. We use fabrics in cooking, cleaning, and numerous other household tasks. The various sciences all need textiles of one sort or another to do what they do. Medicine uses them constantly. They are part of our modes of transport, our buildings, and the infrastructure of our nations. It is not an exaggeration to state that no one, anywhere, lives a life entirely apart from the use of woven goods. We require them now as much as we require the food we eat.<br />
And so far, I've barely mentioned their use to cover and decorate our bodies. Yes, the development of the notion of weaving, and it's subsequent transition into the making of cloth is one of the most important things we ever thought up, and continues to affect every corner of our varied societies.<br />
There are now many tens of thousands of fabrics that are used in garment production, and many more that have significant industrial applications. There are so many textiles now that, like words in languages, some have fallen out of use, and out of production. Some we only know from historical accounts. Others we know of from extant clothing that uses them. And while fabrics are falling to the wayside, others are being developed constantly out of both naturally occurring fibers, and out of chemical research.<br />
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With the rise of 3D printing and other cutting edge technologies, who knows where textiles will go from here? Wherever the actual production of them wanders to, they will continue to be a constant part of every minute of our days and nights. Until and unless we no longer, somehow, need the extraordinary range of things textiles can supply, we will cling to them, and by our boundless creativity expand what they provide to all of us, regardless of our place in this world, each and every day.<br />
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Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-3674504407039396382016-10-01T05:24:00.000-07:002016-10-01T05:24:11.144-07:00Scatter #120 The pot has been stirred and there are a dozen different things that have risen to the top to be skimmed away and served up hot to all of you. So let's see what is on the plate this week, shall we?<br />
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First course today is this gloriously red wool cape from the later 1700s. It is part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection. It's a wonderful example of winter wear, and a reminder that at that time a cape was an essential item, for both women and men, and with little regard to class. In today's crowded, and fast paced society they have little relevance, but in a more agrarian, and slower moving culture they were the best possible option. In their ability to keep the body protected, they were without rival, and since most clothing was made at home, they had the advantage of being easy to construct, even for someone with minimal skills. This one, of course is very finely woven wool, and lined with matching silk. It would not surprise me if this garment served multiple generations of women, before it was finally retired. It wasn't till the middle of the 1800s that capes began to fade out as a widely used article.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2CKiEbfWQhkF36OYiLyNrgQ6R5bgEmp52ySouAUJ-uTHklykmoJIAZhUFx8Eqo_1VmsepvmChz5mToy6XEIjGQfB_EMic0TCL4zXLFsBr4CGa1coAZxeKCMaMCVKQ4Ort8Is7x1zww4/s1600/NavajoMan-1904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2CKiEbfWQhkF36OYiLyNrgQ6R5bgEmp52ySouAUJ-uTHklykmoJIAZhUFx8Eqo_1VmsepvmChz5mToy6XEIjGQfB_EMic0TCL4zXLFsBr4CGa1coAZxeKCMaMCVKQ4Ort8Is7x1zww4/s640/NavajoMan-1904.jpg" width="524" /></a></div>
This photograph of a Navajo shaman dates from 1904. What appeals to me here is the efforts we will undergo to divorce ourselves from the mundane world in order to access what we perceive as the divine or unseen realm. Every article in view with the possible exception of his footwear is calculated to allow him to get to the spirit world and deal appropriately within that sphere. The result of all the accoutrements is that he ceases to be fully human. The person within is subsumed temporarily, becoming the visible access point, the bridge between layers of reality. Every primary culture uses this concept. The only thing that varies is the specifics of how it is achieved. We might look at holy men and shamans from differing societies and think them vastly separated, but they are joined by this one essential. The person becomes only a conduit by the acquiring of garments and tools meant to open a path to somewhere else.<br />
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Here's another cape, this one a fully contemporary one. In our current culture the cape survives almost exclusively as an article of formal wear, since only in formal settings does it's drama and physical mass not intrude in a negative way. This example is by Veronique Branquinho from 2016. The bold design is nearly operatic in it's expression, which also helps define it as an article of formality. The scale of the single image of a cluster of branches has a strong Japanese feel to it, recalling the extraordinary imagery often used on kimono. I'd wear this, if it were scaled correctly for me.<br />
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Just because our world has shifted towards a more easeful style of dress, doesn't mean it can't be classy, interesting, and pulled together. This fellow, seen attending the recent Pitti Uomo in Milan is a case in point. Each part of this ensemble is simple, but carefully considered. And each piece could do plenty of service with other things at other times, so this has significant utility as well as style to it. The other thing I find appealing here is that this manner of dress need not cost a fortune. Everything here is achievable on a small budget. Style doesn't equal expense.<br />
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This blue and black plaid afternoon dress is from 1881. What I often find fun is looking at something like this and trying to pick up on the reality of the person who made it. First of all this is definitely not the work of a dressmaker. The way this is cut and assembled shows too many errors to have been a professional's work. For example the plaid repeat doesn't match up across the skirt, being significantly higher on one side from the other, which also brings the button placement into question. Also the rows of fringe trim on the underskirt are a bit wonky, something a pro would never have allowed. The lady who made this wanted very much to be super stylish, but didn't have the resources to fully get there. The cut of the dress is very modern for its day, but the execution falls short, as is clear. Also, the use of jet buttons seems halfhearted, or more likely, that's how many of them she could afford. So she used them where she could. What would have improved this tremendously is massing all the buttons around the diagonal of the bodice opening. It would draw the eye effectively upwards. What other changes would you make using only what you see here?<br />
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Heels you say? How about these babies? These red heeled silk and leather shoes are from the later 1600s. They are men's shoes, not women's. The red heels were a signal of social position and privilege. And clearly the way these shoes are designed they were not meant for significant walking, but for artful posing and sitting while enjoying the fruits of wealth and status.<br />
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Jewelry designer Lucien Galliard created this magnificent example of Art Nouveau style in 1904. It's a hair comb of a pair of somewhat stylized dragonflies (which were a favorite motif of the time), done in plique a jour enamel with diamonds and a large, round cut citrine. Though Art Nouveau was not as pervasive an influence during it's time, since creating its esthetics on a large scale was so complex and costly, it became very influential in certain parts of design, including jewelry for over a decade. This piece is wonderful in composition and execution. I can easily imagine this perched on the back of a woman's hair, looking wonderful and fragile.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixma8QRmgNs5Hdssli1vgD3Nkbn1OECfb4RP_ly93Md3MhQ4IkkFeSjf7qFZP8GYmuyPbpn7il1IcAlMR3nKDPle9icz3yGVBGQwufSTAm4DaWzrLsIl8Nsu4OpkKjjUvtaXwvZWZ2wo8/s1600/RubberFetish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixma8QRmgNs5Hdssli1vgD3Nkbn1OECfb4RP_ly93Md3MhQ4IkkFeSjf7qFZP8GYmuyPbpn7il1IcAlMR3nKDPle9icz3yGVBGQwufSTAm4DaWzrLsIl8Nsu4OpkKjjUvtaXwvZWZ2wo8/s640/RubberFetish.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
One of the more significant concepts within the subset of Attire that pertains to sexual fetish is that of constraint. The notion of the restriction of motion, or as here, compression of the body being that constraint. The person within is transformed, as I've spoken of before, into something not entirely human, and as such can be approached differently than if they were revealed in their normal way. So, the rubber gear here, not only physically constrains, by placing a uniform layer of pressure on the body wherever it touches, but also both constrains expression and releases it. The normative part of the person's expression of self diminishes, allowing the hidden part to be revealed through both the promise of sex, and it's actuality. The use of the gas mask does more than hide the identity of the wearer, it implies a level of potential toxicity to whatever might occur, amping up the perceived danger, and further opening the door to relaying that which is usually hidden away.<br />
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Moving on with a different conception of constraint, this Versus ensemble from the S/S 2017 collection. This is an odd, but interesting juxtaposition of release and confinement. The models breasts are bound down with what looks like a mighty uncomfortable belt/bandeau. Her hands are rendered useless by being lost up the overlong sleeves of her jacket. Yet, the knit fabric of the pants suggests ease and activity, freedom to move, as does the amount of bare skin. To a degree this ensemble is as much fetish gear as the full rubber outfit I just showed you. And it speaks about the shifts going on in our culture regarding how much more easy we are with discussing things of a sexual nature. Yes, this still renders the model as a sexual plaything, but in a more forceful, less compliant way. Is it a step forward? You tell me.<br />
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I had the opportunity to see this suit in person, and examine it closely when I was at the V&A last year. It has a curious and sad history. This white satin suit, which is regularly pinked with tiny star shaped holes over its surface was made in 1630 for a wedding, a wedding which never took place because the groom died of small pox days before the event. So this suit comes down to us virtually unworn. We can assume he tried it on at his tailors while it was being assembled, but since then it has had no one to wear it. What is also of interest is how clear the elevation of the waistline is. During that period the waist for both men's and women's clothes rose to just below the ribcage a curious fashion which hasn't really ever returned.<br />
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This is a type of shoe called a poulaine. It's from between 1400 and 1450. The body is leather and it had gilt copper decorations on it. The person who wore this, and yes they really were meant to be worn, must have had narrow feet with low insteps to get into them past that metal ring. There is also on the toe point a curious thing. We have heard the phrase, "rings on her fingers and bells on her toes". It refers to the fashion for attaching small bells like modern jingle bells to the toes of poulaine style shoes, so there would be a pleasant ringing as one walked. Frankly it must have gotten annoying after a while. As this style of shoe goes, this is a fairly restrained one. There are extant pieces with toes that extend much further out than this.<br />
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Last up today, this utterly charming example of the robe a la Francaise. There is something deliciously playful about the pattern of undulating floral ribbons in the textile, augmented by the lavish use of fly braid on the underskirt, robings, stomacher and cuffs of the gown. As well, the double tiered engagentes, or lace cuffs emerging from the sleeves add another frothy, light note to the entire thing. This particular example is practically the textbook expression of rococo style. Indulgent, extravagant, frilly, and sentimental, it ladled decoration everywhere it could, most often with imagery taken from nature. It's a curious thing that such an immensely artificial style should rely on the natural world for the bulk of its decorative motifs. Perhaps it was a way of keeping one toe in the real world.<br />
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And that, my friends is the collection for this week. I hope you've enjoyed the trip, now go enjoy your weekend! <br />
<br />Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-43426461408856675402016-09-28T06:49:00.000-07:002016-09-28T06:49:18.092-07:00One Shot: Napoleonic Court Suit, Early 1800s Among the seemingly endless list of things Napoleon Bonaparte attempted during his reign as Emperor of France was the establishment of particular court apparel for every rank and sort. This suit, auctioned through Charles A Whitaker Auction Company in 2015, (which was listed at 3000 dollars), is from the early part of the 1800s. What is especially interesting is the presence on the cape of the Napoleonic Bee, and of oak leaves, which were consistent images throughout the apparel of the court at that time. Do we know of a certainty that this was a court costume for a gentleman of Napoleon's world? We do not. But it seems likely both in the presence of those images, and by the emphatic and somewhat overblown style of the clothes as a whole, that this was meant to be suitable court apparel for a gentleman under Napoleon's suzerainty.<br />
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The extreme formality of this ensemble cannot be denied. It was meant, regardless of its ultimate province, for the very highest of occasions. As such it contributes to the idea that this was indeed a court outfit for a highly placed gentleman of Napoleon's court. Or, at very least, someone who wanted to make a positive impression there.<br />
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Made up in highest quality silk velvet of an intense royal blue, the embroidery shows a singular characteristic. It seems hasty. The bees on the cape seem sketched in the most lackadaisical fashion. And the other work lacks the depth and texture of so much of what survives from the same time. The work done on this ensemble, was either done in an very short period, or the client was a person of limited means who could not afford the ultimate level of embellishment possible from embroiderers. This ensemble is about flash and dazzle, not about substance. The embroidered work in gold is simplistic, and even to a degree rough in its execution. Perhaps the person who wore this had been only shortly called, without preamble, to court, and had to configure something acceptable in nearly no time whatever. It's one of the clues we get from clothing of other eras when we look more deeply. It's a peek into the motivations and reality of someone long gone, to see the finished product that they ordered, and look at what they got for their time and money.<br />
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The choice of color here is singular. This shade of blue, even in the 1800s was one reserved for those of the highest noble rank. There is a reason why it was called "Royal Blue". It was a hue sequestered into the narrow confines of rulers, like Imperial Purple. So if the person who ordered this was not actually a royal, they were inviting scorn when they approached the Emperor.<br />
So much of what we do when we look at these things is little more than educated guessing. I know that myself. Yet there are compelling things here that point to something more than is superficially apparent. Observing the small details of decoration and construction, we see that this was something out of the ordinary. This was not the suit of some established, vastly wealthy courtier. This was something belonging to someone who needed to make their way, and spent all they could to get there. What is the enduring mystery is, did he make it?<br />
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Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-8941475057173770502016-09-26T06:31:00.000-07:002016-09-26T06:31:43.867-07:00Associations We are a remarkable species. With no biological protections to rely on like sharp teeth, long claws, or poisonous venom we have managed to expand across the globe to every kind of land, every kind of climate, facing every kind of natural threat. We have done so in very large part by our extraordinary skill at creating associations in our brains and using those connections to help us understand and navigate this place we call home. In terms of how this skill relates to Attire, we have built up over millennia of time an endless stream of associations that direct our response to the people we see in our world.<br />
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I have written before about our responses to colors. Some of these have become so deeply rooted in our psyches they seem to have become hard wired, like our physiological response to red. Others are culturally derived associations like the relation in Japanese culture of white with mourning, as opposed to black in Western culture. What is interesting to observe in action, (and I see this every day in the answers to my blog posts here and on facebook), is how very difficult it is for us to get around these connections, once we have made them. They act as a sort of unspoken set of laws we carry in our noggins.<br />
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If for example we come from a culture where a brilliant pink is a color traditionally reserved for women and girls, it can subtly shift our perceptions of a male we see. Where black leather carries potent connections to danger and sex, that un-worded point goes into the quickly growing list of things we observe as we assemble our final impression of who and what we are looking at.<br />
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When there is a cultural association with a particular garment type as being appropriate for a certain activity, we find it hard to see it in another context. As an example, this past week I posted a contemporary menswear design for a coat that got more than one negative response because it looked too much in shape like a bathrobe. We have trouble, once we have these bonds created, not implementing them when we see someone in our world, or view an outfit on a runway. It is an act of will to step around it. And since we do the huge majority of this kind of relating wordlessly and without conscious thought, that act of will becomes even more difficult to achieve.<br />
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What I see then, is that this fantastic skill we have at creating and using the links we devise is a double edged thing. Yes, it does give us valuable information. Yes, it does give us tools with which to build our understanding. Those very tools can misinform us, or cloud our rational judgement just as readily as they can aid it. Very often the assumption we make based on these internal rules as build is erroneous. The man in pink probably simply likes the color. The person in leather may be the kindest and most gentle of souls with nary a nefarious thought.<br />
The biggest part of the inherent danger in these things is that it happens nearly instantaneously. Before we are aware the connection is already in place, diverting us from whatever truth might be actually getting conveyed. So it is wise to check ourselves, to reconsider and step back form our own judgements a moment before we deliver our assessment. I find I am no less guilty of this than anyone else, and must make a deliberate effort to set these considerations aside. It's work, real work to do so.<br />
<br />Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-7656162156472626632016-09-24T20:50:00.004-07:002016-09-24T20:50:24.904-07:00Scatter #119<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I gotta say I look forward to these weekly amalgams of odd things I dredge up and throw out at you. I do. It's fun selecting them and figuring out what I want/ need to say about each. I hope you enjoy it too. Herewith this week's set of entrants in the Scatter Sweepstakes.<br />
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This image of an atelier worker finishing some couture embroidery work made me think of two things really. First is our ongoing desire to take the natural world and transform it, both by using things from it in unexpected ways and by referencing things we encounter as parts of our apparel. This embroidery design takes feathers, and by processing them changes how they appear so that they might be taken for bits of straw, but then re-changes them in the act of making the design, back into feathers; this time with their spines replaced by glittering glass stones. It's rather like a piece of jewelry made from gold that is deliberately formed to look like a raw nugget of the metal it's made from, but through artifice, perfected, shifted.<br />
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This for me isn't so much about cultural appropriation as it is about not knowing what we are about. Even if this is meant to be costume, its ability to communicate effectively is hampered by a lack of understanding of the elements in use, and the dissonance of the hipstery tattoos with the tribal attire. Whether the clothes worn here belong to an actual culture or not I don't know, but the result is the same. It comes across as half hearted, ill considered, because the choices made here don't relate to the person in them. It's a strong example of what we do each day when we dress ourselves. Does what we choose suit our interior and exterior selves? If so, then great. But if one or the other doesn't align, then those who see us, can see that.<br />
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Apart from delivering staggeringly expensive clothing to a tiny segment of the population, the couture industry supplies something else that we all need and want, fantasy. We need dreams to aspire to, even if they aren't things we actually want. We still need to be able to place ourselves elsewhere for a time, and wonder about what it would be like if we were that person, or doing that thing, or wearing those clothes. This fashion shoot image is of a Jean Paul Gaultier coat from the 1997-1998 season. The evident luxury is beguiling. How would it feel, and where would we be going if we were in that coat? Our daydreams are important.<br />
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Granted this fellow, captured at the most recent Pitti Uomo in Milan is expensively dressed, but the point here is that this sort of individuality of Attire is not out of reach for the rest of us. All the articles here can be found in slightly different versions that could create the same visual effect. It comes down to what amount of effort one is willing to expend to find and utilize the words in an Attire vocabulary. I love that this is also an example of the emergence of strong floral prints for men, but seen in the real world, not a runway. The entire ensemble here speaks about the shifts that are in process for men, and how they view themselves in our society. Bravo dude, you brought it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWmOosbOTKi0-q9TxqmCrsFSnixS_5V-hHIsODc0f9kMvOqz26WMs997zASDFuF7hFiSwfi-BJmJyt_EETxW0ikmJ9y-mippinfZEQN_m0gCnMXmYY_v9IW75jcmNzHbZm93rXPQcu7bM/s1600/Women-dressed-in-traditional-attire-sing-during-a-festival-of-Kyrgyz-folklore-and-popular-traditions-near-the-Son-Kul-lake-3200-meters-10499-feet-above-sea-level-and-some-400-km-249-miles-northeast-of-the-capital-Bishkek-o-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWmOosbOTKi0-q9TxqmCrsFSnixS_5V-hHIsODc0f9kMvOqz26WMs997zASDFuF7hFiSwfi-BJmJyt_EETxW0ikmJ9y-mippinfZEQN_m0gCnMXmYY_v9IW75jcmNzHbZm93rXPQcu7bM/s640/Women-dressed-in-traditional-attire-sing-during-a-festival-of-Kyrgyz-folklore-and-popular-traditions-near-the-Son-Kul-lake-3200-meters-10499-feet-above-sea-level-and-some-400-km-249-miles-northeast-of-the-capital-Bishkek-o-.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
In the Naryn province of Kyrgyzstan festival dress looks like this for the women of the region. What strikes me here is another example of how endless is our human creativity. In an area that is cold and severe this elegant and cultivated manner of dress emerges. Sure, it's festival attire and as such is a more elaborate, and costly version of traditional dress. That is true. It just makes me smile inside and out that we find no end of ways to make ourselves marvelous. As a small side note, the area where these women are singing is near Song Kol lake, which is 10499 feet above sea level. Just think about singing nearly 2 miles up. Them's some lungs. We are amazingly adaptable beings.<br />
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I say go for it. If you're feeling the 70s love, then go there, and don't hold back. Grab your tie dyed caftan, and the biggest piece of statement jewelry you can find. Honestly, I'm delighted by this. I suspect this isn't this fellow's everyday attire, but who cares? To me it's a great option to play with. Let yourself free to express, to move, and to find perhaps a chunk of yourself that lays hidden most of the time. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGaObRvGzCgID8MXcu8VQyeO7kbezVFp-usjCzeBQgKZgG1eZKc8L1Z5hoIgx1lw14ibB4Hk_9i2rrL_aV_fCW947Qhn8jz_4QW4qbQbWZqB3TeoVl10qdhJLnc02drAlXaOGKKXaxuM8/s1600/Ede%2526Ravenscroft%252CLondon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGaObRvGzCgID8MXcu8VQyeO7kbezVFp-usjCzeBQgKZgG1eZKc8L1Z5hoIgx1lw14ibB4Hk_9i2rrL_aV_fCW947Qhn8jz_4QW4qbQbWZqB3TeoVl10qdhJLnc02drAlXaOGKKXaxuM8/s640/Ede%2526Ravenscroft%252CLondon.jpg" width="428" /></a></div>
For over 300 years the London based firm of Ede & Ravenscroft has been in the tailoring business, with a strong focus on professional uniforms from clerical, and legal to military and royal. What we forget is well into the beginning of the 20th century men entering the military in an officer capacity were required to approach either their own tailors, or a firm like Ede & Ravenscroft for their uniforms. So where today in the military uniforms are truly that, uniform in cut, fit, and construction, there used to be a huge range of quality based on the officer's means, and the skills of his chosen tailor. Of course a new officer would be encouraged to use a well known tailor so that the regiment would not be disgraced, but there was still some variation to be expected. This image shows off the precision and elaboration of their work admirably.<br />
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Say hello to Charlotte Margeurite de Montmorency, Princess de Conde'. Peter Paul Rubens painted her in about 1610 in this amazing ensemble. It's an interesting combination of new and old fashions. Her lawn and lace collar follows the newer fashion for a flat surface, but clings to the older one of a wired, standing collar. Her dress and sleeves are both extensively slashed, a fashion which was quickly fading by this time. Also, the use of long false sleeves that were open along the entire front seam to the cuff was sliding out of use. What keeps her from looking out of pace is the inescapable opulence of her costume. No one would challenge her about her choices when so much obvious wealth was brought to bear to make this outfit happen. There is very little of the surface of her red satin dress that has not been plated with decoration. It's all about saying, "Look at me!".<br />
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Here is a real rarity. We know from portraiture and fashion images that formal men's attire required what was called a wig bag. It was a cloth bag that was meant to encase the lower portion of a man's wig, and it was often, like here, decorated with ribbons, guimpe or embroidery. Yes. it's an especial absurdity that we would devise a wig, and then insist on a bag to put it in that you had to wear, but our history through Attire is loaded with such weirdness. The other item of note here is that this suit is quite unusual in that the lace cuffs you see are actually attached to the interior of the coat sleeves, and are not part of the shirt. Though it is known that this was done, almost no examples exist of it in real terms. I suspect that is mostly owing to the great expense of lace, which would mean that it would have been used elsewhere once a suit was not used any longer. So this image has two oddities in it.<br />
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Here's something else from around the same time, 1780. This is one of the most extravagant men's suits I've ever seen. The amount and the quality of the embroidery on the coat and waistcoat is amazing. Worked in a narrow palette of white and pale grey silk flosses, the finished work gives the appearance of being silver. It is a piece of extreme elegance, and a testimonial to the very high level of craft able to be brought to bear on men's clothing at the time. I'll take one, please.<br />
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To finish out this week's grouping, a bit-o-bling. This gold bracelet was made in 1840. The center medallion of enamel work depicts Mercury presenting a lyre to Apollo. The Renaissance Revival style of the bracelet is enhanced by the extensive amount of high quality enamel. It's also set with amethyst, and pink topaz stones. Every period seems to develop a fascination for some other time. But the Victorians were unique in that they spread that fascination around so far. Their appreciation for times other than their own seemed to have few limits either of period or real knowledge. What they didn't know for sure, they made up. Just like this bracelet with it's faceted stones which would most likely not have been in use. <br />
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So, now that you've had your dose of Scatter, it's time to get on with your weekend. Have fun! See you next week.<br />
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Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-8536354143348740972016-09-22T07:14:00.000-07:002016-09-22T07:21:33.856-07:00Reshaping Man If you think it's only the women in the room who have padded their parts, or cinched them in, think again. The men in the crowd have been about the same thing for just as long. Men have corseted their waists, padded chests, crotches, shoulders, thighs and calves. They have worn lifts in their shoes and devices to pull the shoulders back while pushing the chest forward.<br />
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Sometimes these changes were meant to be so subtle as to go unnoticed as a deliberate falsehood, (like the padded 1840s vest pictured here with its discrete insert). Other times they were in your face exaggerations that were never meant to be taken as reality but only as a gesture of male power.<br />
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In the Minoan culture men as well as women wore leather or metal belts to constrict the waist as small as they could manage. By the early Renaissance men's doublets were often heavily padded through the shoulder and chest to create a more manly appearance. <br />
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When the codpiece arrived it was soon not good enough to merely encase the penis in a cloth cover, you had to display your manhood in it's priapic glory, even if it was a flat out lie. The doublets and coats of the 1500s spread a man's shoulders to the point where he ended up looking like a square with legs, but it was all about promoting male dominance through apparent physical size. <br />
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By the 1700s men were padding their calves if they weren't up to par, or filling out their thighs for the same reason. In the 1800s, the padded waistcoat helped the boys along who were less than prodigious of chest. And if that wasn't enough, a gent's tailor could help out by filling the interior of his jacket with cotton padding so he could have the correct proportions. And it must be added that some form of corseting existed through all these phases. And now, in the 21st century we have shapewear, injections, and surgery to lend a hand if the body natural is lacking in some way.<br />
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So many men like to claim no no interest whatever in fashion or its vagaries, yet throughout our history all these things have existed to to assist men in achieving what nature denied them. And all in the name of staying part of the society in place at the time. For men, the preferred erogenous zone has shifted about just like it has for women. One decade it's the legs, another the butt, another still the shoulders and chest. But whatever the ideal of focus is, Attire has been ready to help with straps, ties, precise tailoring, and bunches of cotton batting.<br />
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The only true difference today from all these prior helpful things is that now it is possible to literally alter the body's shape in a permanent way. No need of special padding if you can insert a pair of silicone shapes under your pecs. <br />
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It has been said that Vanity's name is Woman. Not so at all. Nor is it Man. Vanity's name is Us. Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-86416546640925255882016-09-19T06:43:00.000-07:002016-09-19T06:43:29.952-07:00Future Formal I have written a good deal about how our culture is shifting further and further to the informal in all manners of dress. Just now though, women's formal attire seems to have ossified. Little that is really a fresh take on evening attire is being done. For the boys in the room however, the field is opening up considerably as menswear is playing with materials and manners of decoration that have been off the table for 200 years.<br />
The real question on the table though is where will formal attire end up? Will it fade entirely out of existence? Will it become so rarefied that it will only be something we rent, like the ubiquitous wedding tux? Or will it find a new level that accommodates our need for ease and mobility, without losing the sense of luxury and occasion that such apparel has always had?<br />
For myself, I would vote for the last of these outcomes being most likely. We are a magpie species. We love things that are shiny and have opulent textures. And our desire to feel that sense of elevation that comes from special clothes is not one that is likely to go entirely out of our psyches. Since the dawn of our existence as upright hominids we have done endless numbers of things to make ourselves feel and look special. It is surely unlikely that all those of us who love a bit of glam in our world are suddenly going to drop it out of our Attire conversation.<br />
So, with that in mind, here's a sampling of menswear looks that point in a new direction for formal attire. Take a gander and see if anything is something you'd call your new glad rags.<br />
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<br />Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-78765151858173209992016-09-17T03:34:00.000-07:002016-09-17T03:34:30.251-07:00Scatter #118 And here we are again, my friends. It's Saturday and it's Scatterday. It's time for your weekly dose of random fabulousness, so sit back, relax, and lets get this party started!<br />
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To start us off we have a visit from his royal highness, King George V of England on a state visit to Delhi in 1915. The portrait was done by Christopher Clarke, and it's about as potent an example of in your face cultural appropriation as you can imagine. Sure, part of the reason the king is attired this way is to do honor to the people of India. But it's also a manner of his claiming ownership over the country by not only wearing the garb of Indian royalty, but by injecting articles of western military apparel into the mix. His gauntleted gloves, his sword and the elaborate shoulder cord are all items of European military uniform. It is an unsubtle statement of sway. Gorgeous yes, but seriously divided in it's meanings.<br />
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I find this effort by Proenza Shouler to be an interesting experiment in texture and proportion. Just using the position and shape of the embroidered surface the eye is fooled into perceiving the waistline to be higher than it really is. Also the oval cutout on the chest, combined with the arcs on the sleeve heads confuse us, since on its own the oval would seem to broaden the shoulder line, while the inward curving shapes on the sleeves undo that. It's also interesting that we are being toyed with a bit. While we have a cut out, where the navel might be exposed, what we see instead is part of the garment underneath the dress. There is something distinctly armorial about the manner of the decoration, which calls chain mail into mind, but a totally 21st century version of it that, once again undoes that meaning, by poking holes through the protection in key places. The choice of shoes for the runway? Sorry, no.<br />
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King Johan III of Sweden is cutting quite a dash in his sugarloaf hat and fantastically embellished duds in this portrait by Johan Baptista van Uther from 1582. Though he is primarily remembered for his attempts to close the gap between the new Lutheran church and the Catholic church, he is clearly a fellow who knew the importance of visual display on the part of a monarch. No one looking at him could doubt his power and importance. The sugarloaf hat is tall, even for the fashions of the day. His doublet and cloak are so laden with padded goldwork embroidery that they must have weighed a great deal, as well as being stiff. But this ensemble is clearly meant for one thing, making sure you know who the boss is. And a very stylish boss he was, too.<br />
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In 1880 in the USA a sadly unknown dressmaker configured this rather unusual afternoon/ visiting dress. The entire structure of the dress is of red orange silk faille from the tiny knife pleats at the hem to the top of the standing collar. What makes this extraordinary is the double tiered crocheted layers over the skirt that both end with complex bead embellished fringes. This dates from a time before the sudden burst of interest in crocheted clothing, so it's quite unusual. The lady who ordered this must have been quite well of to afford such a lavish, hand-worked detail on her dress. And the glass beads on the fringes must have made an interesting sound as she moved. We are lucky this survives. Those crocheted panels could have been taken from this dress and used for something else later.<br />
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In his final menswear collection before he left Dior in 2010, John Galliano really pushed the edges of what we were ready for. The result is, to be honest, rather disjointed, but the emotional impact is undeniable. There is a perverse sexiness to the clothes, with their combination of party and combat modes. We are shown a concept of the male that seems entirely capable of moving freely from one edge of the sexual continuum to another, and as such we are being deliberately challenged to see differently, think differently. To me it is one of the primary things the design community can accomplish if it chooses to. Now, 6 years later, this image is not nearly as in your face as it was when the model walked the runway, which only reinforces the value of such challenges. We do learn, albeit slowly.<br />
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We don't think about it much when we look at the clothing styles of the late 1800s, but accommodations were indeed made for pregnant or nursing women. This image pairs two night wear garments that address those special needs. The top is loosely cut and comfortable, and has buttoned slits on the sides that can be undone so a mother could easily nurse her child without having to fully undress. The pantalets are designed with a capacious space in front to comfortably handle a woman's expanding shape over the months of pregnancy, and the back has lacings to adjust the fit further should she need to. And of course, ladies of means could spend the majority of their indisposition wearing their tea gowns, which allowed them to be without a corset if they wished. Asa final note, there do exist some examples of pregnancy corsets that have a split in the front to allow for a growing belly while still keeping everything else in its fashionable position. Ridiculous now, but normal then.<br />
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This imperious looking fellow is Henry Danvers, first Earl of Danby, as painted by Anthony van Dyke in the late 1620s. What I often find interesting about such portraits is how they both reveal and conceal the way people actually dressed during the time the painting was done. This image of Danvers does both things. In general it reveals little about what was normative in daily or even formal apparel. This is an ensemble designed for the express purpose of setting him apart from the rest of us, and may have been for his formal investiture into the peerage. But there are small clues that are present that tell us about the time in bits and snippets. His shoes have both the oddly placed heels and the huge ribbon roses popular at the time. The placement of the belt, high on the torso is consistent with what was fashion at the time. His ruff is stylish, and surprisingly moderate. And lastly his face has a crescent shaped black patch on it. The fashion for patching was one of our better oddities. The make up in use for both sexes was lead based, like putting house paint on your skin, and in consequence many developed pock marks from skin cancer. Small pieces of black card or fabric were worn over the pocks to conceal them, often cut into interesting shapes. So, it's by the details, not the totality that we get some glimpses of the time.<br />
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When I came across this I was honestly divided in my feelings. Part of me found it witty and surreal in aspect. Part thought it a trifle vulgar. And honestly part of me thought it a pointed remark on how women get sexualized for display. It's interesting to me that the real reason this has such impact is not the choice of material, the cut, or the corseted waist, it is the skin-like color of the fabric that makes this such a challenging look. Do this exact design in black and it would pass without remark. Even in white our response to it would be milder. But show it in a mockery of flesh and it becomes a deliberate act of provocation. Sally LaPointe S/S 2017.<br />
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When this form of undergarment came into being in the late 1800s it was a surprising innovation. Women who wore the "combination" were a mite racy, and certainly forward thinking. It's no big surprise that many of the erotic postcard images of the time show women in them. Probably the biggest reason they were thought provocative was that they allowed a woman to dress and especially undress more rapidly since there were fewer things to deal with. Also, since they buttoned in front a lady needed no assistance to shed her combination. I suspect some gents thought with pleasure on what sort of undergear they might discover once behind closed doors.<br />
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This mourning brooch is a lovely and sentimental piece of American history. It once belonged to Martha Washington. When in 1799 her husband George died, she has a small locket of his hair placed within the brooch, and later, when herself died, a locket of her own hair was added to it. It's made of gold, with a bow knot of garnets and trailing ribbons of white and green enamel. It's a charming memorial to them both and their life together.<br />
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All three of these sweet girl's dresses date from the 1880s and show some of the range of style that existed for little girls whose families had plenty of cash to spare. More than just clothes for kids these diminutive garments were a physical expression of wealth and status. Of course it was a reflected status since it wasn't the child who was being touted that way. Dressing your children expensively and in clothes that required significant care meant you had not only the money to order them made, but the staff to maintain them, and a governess to make sure they didn't run about in the dirt. These clothes were also a wordless lesson to little girls about what they could expect of the future and their lives in it. These clothes were a daily class in behavior.<br />
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Speaking of behavior, lets look at cross dressing as our last entry today. I came across this and though it made me smile for its relative naivete, it also got me musing again about the power of transformation; how it affects us personally when we choose to step outside of our role and into another, and how it affects how others see us, and respond to us. As someone who has cross dressed in a costume sense in my dim past I can say that it changed me forever, those dips into the shallows of the world of women. Sure it was the most superficial of attempts, but I came away from it feeling as though I had momentarily merged with the women around me. I certainly began to think more deeply about what women face, not just in their dress but otherwise. I examined my own behavior while I was so dressed, and what it said about me, my understanding of women at the time, and our culture's requirements of them. I am heartily in favor of everyone giving it a go. With an even partly open mind we can learn a lot.<br />
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So that's a wrap for this week, folks! Have a great weekend!<br />
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<br />Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-54240287575007653302016-09-14T07:02:00.000-07:002016-09-14T07:02:31.672-07:00What's All the Excitement? A week or so back I was with my BF and his nephew on our way to dinner and we passed a hip new clothing store which had a sandwich board outside on the sidewalk. The text on it read, "Life is too short to wear boring clothes." I looking in the shop windows and what did I see? I saw rack after rack of utterly uninspired, you can find similar stuff anywhere clothing. I made me start wondering about what the term exciting clothing might mean, and how it would shift for each of us.<br />
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Of course there are many people out there for whom the idea of exciting clothes makes them shudder. Lots of folks, particularly those who try to avoid fashion as much as possible, would actively eschew anything deemed exciting. On the other side of this though, are those for whom exciting is almost not good enough. No level of drama and extremity is too much, no brilliance of color or clash of pattern takes it too far.<br />
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For most of us, however, we chart a middle course. We want the things we have to wear to have a certain aspect of individuality, and to inspire feelings in us of confidence, sexiness, and personal strength. Though this is true, we want that to happen within the fairly narrow confines of accepted social rules and regulations. So, we watch others for cues. We look at magazines and wander through shops for ideas about what is considered acceptable. <br />
It becomes a kind of chicken and egg situation. Which thing happens first? Does the desire for clothing that only slightly pushes boundaries inform and affect the manufacturing industry? Or is it the industry that is deciding for us what becomes us most? Of course the cycle is so tightly bound together that you could never really determine accurately which happens first. In fact I think the truth of it is that they occur together.<br />
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There is another aspect to this as well. The growing level of casualness in our society is directly affecting the type of apparel made. Clothing that is simpler in structure and easier in motion appears in greater quantity all the time. What makes this somewhat problematic is that, though simple clothing need not be dull, designers and manufacturers are driven largely by the need to keep costs down and profits up, so what happens is the level of inspiration drops, delivering to the racks of stores everywhere endless miles of bland and forgettable garments.<br />
Since it's in their best interest to do so, we get shown these things, and they are touted as being exciting. They show us beautiful young people smiling and doing interesting things wearing these clothes, and since we want our lives to be like theirs, we buy.<br />
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But to be honest, there is no reason beyond profit margin that we don't get better out of the industry. We can and should demand more of them, more creativity, more range, and more quality. Ultimately we the consumers control how this all plays out. If we choose not to purchase, the items produced will shift to address that until we are finding the things we actually need and want in our lives. So, if you feel like clothing out there is not exciting enough, make your opinion heard in how you assemble your apparel. Choose wisely, choose less, choose better quality.Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-66576706456317084482016-09-12T07:12:00.004-07:002016-09-12T07:12:44.687-07:00One Shot: Hungarian Evening Dress 1810 We do not often get to see examples of how styles were interpreted outside of western Europe and the USA during the 1800s. This evening dress from about 1810 is from Hungary, and though its general shape is on point with the prevailing styles of the time, there is one significant difference, the corset styled bodice with front lacing.<br />
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By 1810 it was still commonplace that evening dress was either white, or some pale color. It wasn't till a bit further along the track that evening dress got into darker colors, and heavier materials. So in this regard, this gown is fully on track with the mode of the day.<br />
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Something else that marks this dress as singular is the amount and type of embroidery using sequins. Though sequins and spangles certainly did get used as part of dress decoration, it is rare that so much was done on a single garment. The embroidery work is all in white silk done in satin stitch and stem stitch, with the silver plate sequins double sewn in a manner that accentuates the design by following the lines of the flower petals and leaves.<br />
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But it really is that attached corset front that takes this dress out of the realm of western fashion and places it in Eastern Europe, where the idea of the front tied bodice held sway even in the upper reaches of society. It wouldn't be until the 20th century that this cultural element of dress would retreat to only festival attire. So, if the lady who owned this dress had traveled to France or England or New York, she would have been instantly identifiable as not only a new face, but one from Eastern Europe, or possibly Russia.<br />
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All in all a lovely object, and a marvelous look at a place, within a time.Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-88724358410421708872016-09-10T05:27:00.000-07:002016-09-10T05:27:48.528-07:00Scatter #117 Morning All! it's time for your weekly trip through the dim recesses of my brain, those dusty corridors where who knows what might be lurking. Now that I've made you apprehensive, lets take a stroll, shall we?<br />
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This necklace is from the late period of the 25th Dynasty in Egypt, roughly 760 to 660 BCE. The cartouche beads in gold have two different sets of hieroglyphs on them. I was struck right off by the simple, straightforward design of this. I suppose we could decide that such a construct is an obvious one, with the rhythm of the piece evenly distributed by the spacing of the plaques. But what also comes up for me is that this is an example of how well ingrained our sense of order and beauty is. This same pattern is so primal, so basic to us that it gets repeated in every culture on earth, and has been so for as long as we've been around, I suspect. We understand the geometric relationships instantly, whoever we are and wherever we are from. Plus, it's simply lovely. And maybe that is why it's lovely.<br />
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A week or so back I posted a garment from the 1820s that has stymied the apparel historians because it looks like a gown of the 1820s to 30s, but it has no sleeves, and though the possibility exists that it is an undergown, the design of the bodice suggests otherwise. I had stated that dresses of the time always, always had sleeves, even if only vestigial ones. Here is an example of what I meant. This is Julie, Countess of Wonya as painted by Frederich von Amerling in 1832. Her gown has tiny puffed sleeves, more like those in fashion more than a decade earlier, but she also has huge oversleeves of what appears to be organdy. Sleeveless dresses were not socially acceptable. It was a class distinction issue. Only women who had hard labor to do might be seen entirely sleeveless. All this said, We still don't really know about the use of that first piece. Likely we never will.<br />
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This article is a true rarity. There are only a handful of these summer top hats known to exist. I'm posting this today partly for that reason, partly as an expression of cultural rules, and partly because of the obvious high level of craft that was brought to bear to make it. As a marker of social rules, it's fascinating that regardless of weather, it was not acceptable for a gentleman to be seen out of doors without his top hat. I can imagine the poor bloke who owned this quietly sweltering in his wool coat, silk waistcoat, cravat and collar. But the straw topper was at least a bit less heavy on the brow than the rigid and weighty wool felt of fur ones for other seasons. As to the structure of it, I love that every detail of a regular top hat has been reproduced in straw, down to the bias band that normally trims the outer edge of the hat brim. Love this.<br />
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While it's true that we have been adorning clothing with false gems for as long as we've been able to make them, what is different today is the scale of those fakes. Where in days past the glass paste gems and rhinestones were discretely sized, now it seems bulky, obviously fake stones are all the thing. It makes me wonder what this says about us, culturally. Is it a reflection of our growing need to be noticed in an overstimulated and surfeited society? Or is it more a marketing ploy that helps keep Swarovski a global luxury brand instead of simply a maker of rhinestones? As a side note, I wonder too if the fact that they are showing up on nearly every item of apparel from stockings and shoes, to bags and gloves as also an indicator of our need for notice in a cluttered world.<br />
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The soldiers of the Landsknecht, German mercenary soldiers of great reputation distinguished themselves with some of the most outlandish clothing Western culture has ever seen. Taking the fashion for slashing to unheard of levels and blowing the scale of their clothes up huge they were a set of soldier dandies who regularly tried to outdo each other with the level of their peacock display. This Work is by Hans Holbein the Younger and shows us a couple of dashing Landsknecht gents sporting their work clothes. They were primarily pikemen, and foot soldiers, and became for a time the got to mercenaries throughout Europe, because of their great skills.<br />
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One of the things I love about the work of designer Issey Miyake is his willingness to work with outlandish , and sometimes, (as here) custom made textiles to achieve what he's after. This iridescent, and very geometrical design is created out of recycled plastic bottles. One of the other things I love about his work is that, regardless of the material in use, there is never a time when ease of motion and comfort are forgotten. Having seen and touched many of his works over the years, I've always been amazed at their lightness and fluidity of motion, even if they appear rock rigid. So, however crystalline this might look, it is probably able to slide over the body effortlessly.<br />
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I do love dandyism. And when it manifests these days I love it even more. This fashion shoot of a Walter Van Bierendonck outfit is just what I mean. While none of the individual pieces is structurally unusual, the combination of finishes and textures, along with that boldly stated print on the jacket, make this an expression that is nearly operatic in it's effect. The point here is really that this manner of dress is not outside the reach of most of us, should we wish it. Sure we may not be able to afford these exact pieces, but the look itself, the nature of it is doable. Loosely fitted tan trousers, white shirt, neckerchief, and an emphatic coat; not impossible at all.<br />
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By the later 1700s riding had become a sport women were encouraged to pursue, so of course clothing appropriate to the activity began to emerge. Shorter coats, or those with cutaway fronts for ease of riding became the norm, especially one's with a strong menswear spin to them. This one is from 1835. It's made of a mid-weight worsted wool, with plush collar and cuffs that were probably once black, but have faded to brown. In the second image you can see clearly how all that volume in the sleeve is controlled. A row of very fine cartridge pleats is set into the rear of the armseye to keep all that fabric in check. Milady would also have worn a top hat just like a gents, and a skirt deliberately longer on one side so that sitting sidesaddle, the hem would appear to be correct.<br />
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The Tarahumara people of northern Mexico still utilize what is very probably the oldest Attire word of all. They paint their bodies with dots, just as our unknowable ancestors did who knows how many eons ago. In the past, it is likely that it was white clay or possibly chalk, rather than the kind of paint they use now. In their culture they adorn themselves this way for a specific festival that honors the dead. The white dots represent stars, and the spirits of those relatives who have passed away.<br />
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Yes, this has veered all the way to costume territory, and I just don't care a fig. The model has become some dangerous space age android villain. Honestly though, I'm fascinated by the horsehair braid and boning collar which, though utterly impractical is just wonderfully grand. I'm also intrigued by the textured pants with the stiff, belled chaps over them. It's actually a concept that could be scaled back and used in real world terms. I'd like to see someone play with these ideas in a more wearable way. <br />
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Okay, I will admit it freely. Yes, i think he's gorgeous. So that's out of the way. In reference to the post I did about gold work embroidery, this example. One of the few cultures that still employs it often is that of India. I love the unusual hat, and how the arc of its shape is carried through in the line of the extended shoulder. I even like the small post on the hat with its dangling spangles. In my fantasy world, men would get to dress like this without raising a single unpleasant eyebrow. Sighs happily.<br />
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The final shot today is from V Man magazine. When I came across it, I stopped dead. It's about as potent an illustration of the extremities we will go to to mark ourselves as individuals in this day and age. For a growing number of people it is not enough to dress in a unique way, or do their hair a particular way. The body itself must be altered, with inks, piercings, and surgical implants. It speaks about a kind of desperation we feel. Our population continues to grow, and we are constantly assaulted with images, and sounds that compete for our attention. So what attention span we have left gets squeezed, and people go unseen who might not otherwise in a less complex society. So, some of us resort to ever more involved measures to gain notice, even if that notice isn't always positive. It's a damning statement about who we are allowing ourselves to become.<br />
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Have a good weekend, All.<br />
See you Monday! Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-83993957986463969552016-09-07T07:02:00.000-07:002016-09-07T07:02:14.390-07:00The Cult Of Arrogance We live in a world where arrogance, the ability to promote oneself over anyone else regardless of actual talent or knowledge is king. How is this affecting us? What does it mean for you and me as individuals? How does it manifest in our daily life, the choices we make; and in the context of Attire, how does it affect what we choose to wear? It affects our ability to see ourselves truly. It affects our self knowledge. And it affects, ultimately, our ability to transmit that self knowledge and understanding to others.<br />
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What we end up with is disinformation, confusion, and a flat out refusal to engage with reality.<br />
When we are clearly living at a time when we must and should cleave to each other in order to make it to the next stage our society is heading towards, whatever that may be, making sure our communications verbal and non-verbal are precise becomes essential. <br />
What do I mean by this? We have built this massive machine that does nothing but produce, produce, produce, even though so many of us have far more, realistically, than we could ever need to comfortably survive.<br />
It has become a cancer upon our backs. That is a potential doom. That is not an overstatement of the truth. I understand that untelllable millions of people depend on the apparel industry to live, and yet this is also true. We have made of this thing a monster that is utterly out of control. We starve ourselves, spend endless hours at the gym. spend immense amounts of money to have ourselves sculpted into a simulacrum of perfection. For what? For whom? These questions are especially pointed considering that approval from others is withdrawn even more quickly than it is given, as we see constantly in the media realm.<br />
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The person who is truly lovely, truly hot, truly capable, is the person who does not require the approval of others for their self worth. We have been carefully schooled that it is the reverse. Decades of fashion imagery, commentary, Project Runway, and endless blogs have told us what we should do to be acceptable. Truth is, we're just fine. We don't need anyone's help to be ourselves. I'm me. You're you. And we should own that fully. It's not that you can be you only if you look a certain way. Your own self, your essential you is amazing! Use it. Make it manifest. Take this astonishingly vast language of Attire and make your own story a reality for all to see. <br />
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What is the Cult of Arrogance, then? It is this media and consumption culture that we have allowed to snow us into believing that one kind of beauty is wonderful, one kind of hot is cool, and that anything else is Also Rans, of no real account. So we, most of us, feel left out. Because we haven't the money, the fortitude, or the genetics to become this thing, whatever it is at the time. Sure, it's important to have goals to strive towards, and that is the thing that they tell us they are giving us, a goal to achieve. But the goal is not one that most of us have the body, or the mind to get to. And for the huge majority of us, who only sort of fit into ready to wear clothes, the results of all our shopping are less than satisfying. So why should we, at the end of things, aspire to their desires at all?<br />
Truth is, they do supply what we want, otherwise it would sit on markdown racks across the world, un-looked at. But the problem we face is, that what they supply is tainted by a vision of us we may not be willing to achieve, yet we still feel forced to try for. So what do we do? We buy. We buy, and we buy again, which is, naturally exactly what they want. But do we get to what we really want for ourselves? Only partly. <br />
I called it the Cult of Arrogance, and it is. And we have allowed it to grow. We permit others to tell us what we want, and how we should be. The thing is, the technology now exists that could make that a thing of the past. With the rise of robotic production, it will become possible for a whole new manner of dressing ourselves to emerge: one based our own ideas of self, and less on what others think. Sure, there will always be those who follow others lead, but we just might find a way out of the cult.Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-84449473214979337412016-09-05T06:45:00.001-07:002016-09-05T06:45:20.147-07:00Laying On The Gold How we decorate the surface of textiles divides into a few categories, though you might not think so. The kinds of embellishments done for festival attire and for tribal attire does not separate the person wearing it from their culture, but rather binds them to the society of which they are a part. Gold work embroidery and its many variations, do something entirely different. While they do connect the person to the culture, it is done at a remove. The reason is the precision, the price, and the rarity of the process and its materials. Anyone who can afford or command such work to be done is not a common citizen, they are a person of power. Therein lies the difference, and the allure.<br />
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The precise source point for the type of embroidery known as gold work is unknown, though it is highly likely that it emerged from somewhere in the Asian sub-continent. The likelihood is also high that it comes from one of the peoples who had access to, and understanding of the usage of silk, since gold thread is most often wrapped around a silk core. But text references, imagery, and in some cases still extant pieces utilizing this special technique survive from cultures spanning all of Eurasia, and a good deal of Africa. It was even known before the Common Era, and has been in near continual use for over 2000 years.<br />
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Certainly the largest part of current gold work comes from India and Pakistan, and it is likely that European knowledge of the process comes from early trade with those places, as well as Russia, and the Middle East, both cultures which also used gold work extensively.<br />
What makes the whole thing possible is one physical characteristic of the element itself, malleability. Gold is unlike any other metal for its nearly endless ability to be folded, twisted, and manipulated without breaking. Apart from it's singular warm color, this makes it perfect for application to the surface of a flexible textile.<br />
The essential actions used to create gold work are not unknown in other embroidery. The only thing that is particular about it, is that the gold is never taken under the surface of the material it's applied to. In part this is because gold is so precious, and gives rise to one of the other ways of referring to it, laid work, since the gold is laid down on the surface, and held in place with stitches.<br />
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Frequently, gold work is padded. Sometimes the padding is either felt or cotton wadding, usually in a yellow color to be less visible between passes of thread, purl or strip. Sometimes, when a more precise shape is desired, as is often the case in vestments or military regalia, cardboard is used to define a shape, roughly stitched down and then covered with whatever specific gold material is desired. <br />
By far the most common technique is couching, where threads either matching or contrasting the gold, are passed over it at regular intervals to keep it in place. <br />
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Small amounts of gold washed kidskin are also used, most times padded to create a smoother looking surface texture. Often this results in leaves and scrolling forms of a gleaming surface.<br />
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Along with the luxury of its appearance it has always functioned, regardless of culture, as a singular method of conveying wealth, status and taste. Because the materials in use are so dear, and the number of skilled people capable of doing the work so few, gold work was and is phenomenally, fabulously expensive. Even now, when gold work is almost never actually gold, but either a composite containing some gold, or another material entirely, the basic stuffs are still pricey. As an example, for this post I looked at several purveyors of supplies, and an 18 inch length of 2% gold purl will cost you about 4 US dollars. When you think of how far that will go in an extensive piece, the costs mount rapidly.<br />
So here is an example. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMOVOMMTEKahLlCDdJHWV0LchR2ohlV0tN0tbidqpZNhK8yPJkQCE9nDcYwhN8ulbTq0jNmxA6EsAkHTCpTur1N-EBbB-AfVirctzbU7DFV166uetAybh3279XKyj2JBHJWPnz18i_5o/s1600/Bokassa_c_afr_77.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMOVOMMTEKahLlCDdJHWV0LchR2ohlV0tN0tbidqpZNhK8yPJkQCE9nDcYwhN8ulbTq0jNmxA6EsAkHTCpTur1N-EBbB-AfVirctzbU7DFV166uetAybh3279XKyj2JBHJWPnz18i_5o/s640/Bokassa_c_afr_77.JPG" width="513" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinUy_7jC84dDIIHTJ3idBHlJ19T31J1uVMMJihyphenhyphenzs0DMjk4M_mZZ62dbNlHX66Uu2E5us2zf8fnbbyUPy0ijx-IrqnOs_zTcZBVr8xa_Z4o4uBy_l1Fc2hKSHNIKT3rpKpkaxj17y-fKM/s1600/bc5a91408b28336a50d61b98debf3dda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinUy_7jC84dDIIHTJ3idBHlJ19T31J1uVMMJihyphenhyphenzs0DMjk4M_mZZ62dbNlHX66Uu2E5us2zf8fnbbyUPy0ijx-IrqnOs_zTcZBVr8xa_Z4o4uBy_l1Fc2hKSHNIKT3rpKpkaxj17y-fKM/s640/bc5a91408b28336a50d61b98debf3dda.jpg" width="436" /></a></div>
Self proclaimed Emperor Bokassa I of Central Africa is credited with commissioning the most expensive garment ever done at over one million dollars for the embroidery work alone (in 1977). The embroidery work for his empress Catherine's dress and cape, which measured over 20 feet with its train, took 12,000 hours of work time, and the combined weight of dress and cape was 130 pounds. This was largely due to the 18 karat gold beads and other gold work done on the dress and cape. Thinking in terms of person hours and cost, this translates to 6 complete years of unbroken labor on one project. Naturally many dozens of hands worked on this. But still it is a gasp worthy, and deeply revelatory expression how how much we will go through, how much we will expend to make sure others realize our importance. (Especially when we aren't too sure of it, ourselves) His imperial reign, unrecognized internationally, lasted only three years, a telling statement about about what happens when you try too hard.<br />
Yes, the appearance of evident wealth confers status, but only for a time, and eventually, only if it seems merited. So gold work continues to grab our attention, but not in quite the way it did before. It means wealth, yes, but it no longer instantly signifies taste or sway. Merely money.<br />
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Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3444730936505370363.post-2023944136041877332016-09-03T05:29:00.000-07:002016-09-03T05:29:26.341-07:00Scatter #116 Hello there, all. I hope your week has been good to you. It's time for your scatter post, so here we go!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6T7oCem9bUFHvmBkI6JykUD5VTrkvi95L3NkYRY86nXk_86bh5AwmsSxZ-pwLCcDPxsm39LBGgRzY-UoJg_eXkihI4x0GrelmX-N2QmLWg6v62B62mdIJajAjMFJ-Iooam9NAhSzPqF4/s1600/FortunatoDepero-FuturistWaistcoat-1930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6T7oCem9bUFHvmBkI6JykUD5VTrkvi95L3NkYRY86nXk_86bh5AwmsSxZ-pwLCcDPxsm39LBGgRzY-UoJg_eXkihI4x0GrelmX-N2QmLWg6v62B62mdIJajAjMFJ-Iooam9NAhSzPqF4/s640/FortunatoDepero-FuturistWaistcoat-1930.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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Italian Futurisist Artist and graphic designer Fortunato Depero was responsible for this men's waistcoat which he did in 1930, shortly after returning to Italy from several years in New York. Futurism had as its prime goal a celebration of the dynamism of modern technology, and so it attempted to divorce itself from traditional image forms. This piece has a fierce energy to it, and is also expertly constructed. The surface is elaborately pieced, but there are no connecting points that are not smooth. In that too it holds up Futurist ideals that connect directly to the precision of machine production. This would be plenty edgy now, but in its time this was seriously avant garde. The movement, which began in 1909 lost favor and dissipated after it became connected in the public's mind with the rise of Fascism in the 1930s.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDlZvEF1TbkSOpM7ezkCxTI3LK4CB3VzWMzX1mA1nRzlqGiYHjQgvUUWtLWGJo6P8o1hlI8wdJjta3ELDPvYd7iKEsOhTWHU42w4egntkkUEA_uWof00BS19aFxMPvzwPw4MeSKNc3Av0/s1600/PartyGirls-1928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDlZvEF1TbkSOpM7ezkCxTI3LK4CB3VzWMzX1mA1nRzlqGiYHjQgvUUWtLWGJo6P8o1hlI8wdJjta3ELDPvYd7iKEsOhTWHU42w4egntkkUEA_uWof00BS19aFxMPvzwPw4MeSKNc3Av0/s640/PartyGirls-1928.jpg" width="505" /></a></div>
Girls gone wild, 1920s style. This is what the party girls of the 20s looked like. One of the interesting things here is that during this period wigs became quite popular as evening accessories. At least three of the women in this image are wearing them. They were made up in numerous styles, and often came in unusual colors, even in metallic versions.<br />
It was one of the first times that women had the freedom to express themselves with such abandon. Far more frankly sexy, somewhat aggressive, and far less willing to sideline themselves, it was a major step along the path to equality. Sure the options for women were still limited, but expanding all the time. Women were in the work force, going to college, and engaging in active sports to an unprecedented degree. These party hearty girls were in their way, moving the conversation forward.<br />
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I was instantly impressed with how powerful this image is. And it's power derives from Attire. If the man pictured was simply masked with a piece of black cloth the message would diminish tremendously. But place a red soled platform pump over his nose and mouth and suddenly an immensely perverse and layered transmission happens. It is the presence of an article of apparel, used in a way alien to its purpose that makes it perverse, and our minds begin to wonder, did he do this willingly? Was it forced upon him? How would we react in his place?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykhQYTh5ofKI4IaQoSZbHETfYIBeiZ7Iq3CkPgmB4LhU-y7mitgk4p27jIymNuVgvckR3C-LtBh7UFwlk1Ef-1ij3dKRMGt38RsOx05WLSnreidfsHpsJkYHe6uCCeT1lgvFXMPE1n1I/s1600/DonnaKaran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykhQYTh5ofKI4IaQoSZbHETfYIBeiZ7Iq3CkPgmB4LhU-y7mitgk4p27jIymNuVgvckR3C-LtBh7UFwlk1Ef-1ij3dKRMGt38RsOx05WLSnreidfsHpsJkYHe6uCCeT1lgvFXMPE1n1I/s640/DonnaKaran.jpg" width="492" /></a></div>
Working with stripes can be a tricky business, one false move and everything fails. But in the hands of someone who knows what they are about, it can become effective in a way different from anything else. This evening dress by Donna Karan is an example of that. In her hands the overlapping, intersecting and sometimes arcing strips on the organdy base manage to work together to create strong movement, without exhausting the eye. We move up and around the shape, but don't feel spent by it.<br />
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It doesn't surprise me, when I give it real thought, this modern fascination with tattooing. We live in a culture which allows us unprecedented levels of personal interaction through social media and the web in general, yet we feel more disconnected than ever before. It is no shock that, living in a world where everyone is talking at once, the only way to give adequate voice to some of our feelings and thoughts is to wear them permanently emblazoned on us. This potent image shows us someone with numerous tattooed visualizations of anger, fear and violence. Is this this person's way of dealing with those feelings? Possibly, even probably so.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6rIWwH-MviLW8fkbuAaHnX2Igx80uSE549zYHuE5FWW52iXQfo9L3H05dMGkbb8ONRc24h2SOtQyWFAs3Ll3Zyn_yjsdZTYZnaGP2CwqLfI-Nt1z_bZnRfIDNd3ixEGRQqbzQMOlVYFs/s1600/Brooch-Hungarian-17thCent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6rIWwH-MviLW8fkbuAaHnX2Igx80uSE549zYHuE5FWW52iXQfo9L3H05dMGkbb8ONRc24h2SOtQyWFAs3Ll3Zyn_yjsdZTYZnaGP2CwqLfI-Nt1z_bZnRfIDNd3ixEGRQqbzQMOlVYFs/s640/Brooch-Hungarian-17thCent.jpg" width="460" /></a></div>
This brooch in the shape of an aigrette was made in Hungary in the 1600s. Fashioned to look like a series of white ostrich plumes with ruby spines, the workmanship is very fine. Enamels like this were one of the most common parts of jewelry at this time, with pearls running a close second. Now that pearls are almost exclusively cultured rather than wild, they have lost a good deal of their cachet, but at the time, pearls, especially sizable ones like the central one here, were hotly sought after, and widely prized. A piece like this would have been important enough to be given as a love gift to a betrothed, or to a noble. We are lucky it survives.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpflvPK6YMN6mRajfFk6gTsarzdV9HvO8ykIFn3dK8IinwhdGDD73xleOUVo_rk7X5j8LSn_dvzCkDRcNqOFfxeEhn1komIiehnTyZx9P98TjSLI71g9GhzJydaXXgz0IHheWkudE1Dj0/s1600/TroySchoonemanPortrait+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpflvPK6YMN6mRajfFk6gTsarzdV9HvO8ykIFn3dK8IinwhdGDD73xleOUVo_rk7X5j8LSn_dvzCkDRcNqOFfxeEhn1komIiehnTyZx9P98TjSLI71g9GhzJydaXXgz0IHheWkudE1Dj0/s640/TroySchoonemanPortrait+copy.jpg" width="490" /></a></div>
This portrait by Troy Schooneman really caught my attention. Leaving aside any cultural appropriation thoughts, since they are too obvious to need mention. What struck me next was that this Rajasthani suit doesn't really fit the model at all. It's a good size too big for him. While the turban seems too small, perched as it is on his mass of hair. So what ends up being conveyed is less a sense of majesty and wealth than a sense of discomfort, of unease. While the model's pose is easeful, the fact that his clothing does not fit makes him seem to us less comfortable, certainly not internally so. It seems less his real self than something he was compelled to wear.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsnntHb9_Zxet0Lsx4sCC2xqRh7UCLcFW8KbGmCNDOLL-PyoipL8_e4xLfI9Qt_GIfs0eR379LMWDswTg67TpIDUHYqo3H90_KcH9j8jUb0w_2dqXBhNf_1mfYM6j_ywBnvf2vpA50YBg/s1600/FranckSorbier-HC-Detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsnntHb9_Zxet0Lsx4sCC2xqRh7UCLcFW8KbGmCNDOLL-PyoipL8_e4xLfI9Qt_GIfs0eR379LMWDswTg67TpIDUHYqo3H90_KcH9j8jUb0w_2dqXBhNf_1mfYM6j_ywBnvf2vpA50YBg/s1600/FranckSorbier-HC-Detail.jpg" /></a></div>
Styles of decoration vary over time as much as silhouette and choices of textiles do. This detail image of a Franck Sorbier garment gives us a look at the reemergence of some types of decorative detail that have been in eclipse for decades. Passementerie, which is a term applied to all manner of cording, guimp, fringe and tassels, has been largely off the table design wise for about 60 years. But recently, and in part because of the beginnings of embellishment on menswear appearing, passementerie has resurfaced. What will make this easier is that now the making of it can be largely mechanized, where in the past it was a slow and laborious hand work process. Personally, I love the additional depth and texture it can afford. And for us normal mortals, a small amount of it applied as a detail can elevate and distinguish a garment with ease, and little cost.<br />
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Sometime in the 1910s a skilled dressmaker took some cotton mesh and appliqued the surface of it with flowers and other forms in pink cotton and pink soutache braid. The process of appliqueing to a fabric is tedious enough, but when doing so to a mesh material what must be done is more complex. Since a mesh would only allow the applique to be attached at specific points, it must be reinforced with some other thing, in this case the soutache braid that creates a firmer structure for the mesh to be sewn to. All in all this is a charming, and expertly handled piece of work. I'm sure the lucky woman who owned it did so with confidence.<br />
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This particular piece of armor is called a gorget, worn to protect the upper chest, neck and shoulders from blows in battle. This one, of gold was made for Louis XIII and depicts the king charging into battle, with the sides decorated with various trophies of battle regalia. In art and design of the time a trophy was a collection of objects meant to symbolize a trade, an action, emotion, or spiritual state, like Honor, or Science. This is of course parade armor, never meant to actually see battle, and the craftsmanship of it is amazing. It's a remarkable work of art, even though it exists to glorify war, (and the king).<br />
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By the 1830s the contraction of options for menswear had nearly reached it's ultimate expression. This suit, which is part of the Kyoto Costume Institute's collection is a perfect example of that slow diminishment. The trousers and jacket have the beginnings of the precision tailoring that will become the hallmark of menswear in the 1800s. The color palette has narrowed almost as far as it will later. And the only remnants of the prior century's exuberant menswear is the waistcoat and cravat. It's also interesting to look at this jacket, because it will morph in time into the tail coat that we know today as the most formal of attire for men. Here though, it is part of a day ensemble of clothing.<br />
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The last in the line up this week is this amazingly gaudy, and utterly delightful hat. Made by Carlos' New York Hats in 1993, it is created of four brilliant colors of finely plaited straw, twisted up into a Carmen Miranda-like turban shape with a vast bow. It would take a person with a good deal of self possession to pull this off without it taking over entirely. But I gotta say, I think I'd really like the person who could. Yes indeedy, I would.<br />
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That's the wrap, folks for this week. So, go out and have yourselves some fun!Paul G. Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02134358778441543921noreply@blogger.com1