Fashion and Dance

Having a guided tour of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) museum's Dance and Fashion exhibition will be one of the highlights of the tour for me as a fashion student. Prior to our guided tour I was expecting to see the relationship between dancewear and fashion and their separate influence on each other as creative disciplines. I know now just how intertwined the creative industries are. Visual arts links to fashion links to music links to film and so on and this exhibition is a prime example of this.

This exhibition showed examples of the fashions in dance costume (focusing predominantly on ballet costumes) through the last century, moving onto modern dance costumes (an example being Rei Kawakubo's bump pieces that were used for a dance piece) and athleticwear worn for dance training,  before showing costumes for niche dance styles such as flamenco dance which I found interesting, I would have loved to see more dance costumes for niche dance styles. The development of Ballet's tutu was highlighted as it was a significant and controversial change at the time. The exhibition also showed fashion designers take on creating dance costumes and fashion that was inspired by dance and its costumes which was less expected. By less expected, I mean that I realise that fashion takes inspiration from many places including dance, however I was expecting this exhibition to focus more on fashion within the realm of dance costume. I found fashion designers take on dance costume to be the most interesting, partially because the creations were for the most part relatively new/modern but also because the designers were able to take fashion and dance costume and put their own aesthetic behind it. Some designers made dance fashion wearable for the street while some made it avant-garde and subverted the original intention and function of the garment or item, elevating it into a work of art, for example the Christian Louboutin Ballet Point heel which takes the shape of a pointe shoe and adds a heel to it.

Sadly, we were ushered out of this exhibition much too soon but it taught me that dancewear can be avant-garde too and that a personal aesthetic makes a world of difference.

Death Becomes her

I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is currently holding the fashion exhibition 'Death Becomes Her' which covers a century (of predominantly female) mourning attire. Death is an uncomfortable topic that is often avoided for obvious reasons, however, I found myself fascinated by this exhibition and how people used clothing to help deal with death through the mourning process, though it occurs less in modern times.

As a lover of historical dress I was very excited to see this exhibition despite its slightly macabre feel. I was unsure of exactly what to expect beyond black period garments. Often times I find it is easy to forget just how different fashion and its rules were throughout history, as today pretty much anything goes. This exhibition highlights exactly how strict fashion was in those times as it was an indicator of a persons class and place in society. During deep mourning, all clothing was black and made from specific fabrics deemed appropriate for mourning (which seems ludicrous to me) and surface embellishment forgone as dress was deemed to be a physical depiction and representation of a persons mourning. However, the mourning clothing still represented the fashionable silhouettes of the time. As time/the phases of mourning passed texture, embellishment and colour are slowly reintroduced to the wardrobe, however, timing of these acts were often judged by society not a persons feelings. I think the rules of mourning attire would have be exhausting and almost trivialise a persons internal and emotional grieving/mourning process as those people were expected to put on a show of their mourning and grief for others to witness and judge, and it is likely mourners were also forgoing their taste and self expression which is not fair on them. I found that I felt relieved that the present doesn't call for such drastic measures, with current mourning attire being regular (though usually conservative) black clothing and is usually only worn for the funeral. Death Becomes Her also showed the stark contrast between then and now, as in that time period black was worn almost exclusively for mourning whereas now it is arguably the most common clothing colour.

This gown would be worn during deep mourning.

These gowns were a part of the wears move away from deep mourning

House of Glass

The next point of note in the tour was the Phillip Johnson Glass house in New Canaan, Connecticut. Upon entering the building prior to our guided tour I was unsure of what to expect from the glass house except literally that, a house made of glass. We first saw the property the glass house is situated on from a small bus. Once off the bus our tour guide told us about Phillip Johnson and his property.

The concept of manipulation of nature for aesthetic and artistic purposes was introduced to us at this point. This left me confused as isn't the point of nature to be natural. Phillip Johnson apparently didn't think so, which we saw as we progressed through our tour. He used or manipulated the landscape to his advantage, this included framing views similarly to portraits, using trees or buildings or the pathway. Also the road/pathway was specifically designed my Phillip Johnson to direct people where to go in order to view the property in the certain way that he envisioned. The glass house itself is something to behold and I think it takes something as mundane and ordinary as a house and elevates it into a work of art.  Everything inside the house is deliberate, to add to the effect, in particular are two things, the view out of the back of the house which Phillip Johnson again manipulated into an idealised and artistic version of nature, by having many trees removed as well as having branches removed from the remaining trees to obtain the specific aesthetic qualities of the view, that he desired. Also this manipulation played a role in matching up the outside view to the painting in the house as if to suggest that the view is an extension of the painting and therefore artwork in the form of nature albeit edited and manipulated. This experience challenged my notion of what can be considered art and taught me that art is limitless and can blur many disciplines. Also this tour introduced the concept of manipulation of the natural for aesthetic purposes, which leaves only a representation or the natural.

Killer Heels!

I had the opportunity to go to the Brooklyn Museum as part of my tour. Brooklyn Museum is currently playing host to the Killer Heels exhibition which I was excited to see, and being with only one other person allowed me to take my time and fully engage with the exhibition. As a fashion student and all round shoe lover, I was hoping to see the more extreme versions of footwear as art. I was expecting to see only the highest of heels and also that it would be a relatively small exhibition, which I was wrong about on both counts.

This exhibition was quite large and consisted of a historical timeline of high heeled shoes including the differences in geography as well as segments that explored the blurred lines between high heels and architecture, high heels and art as well as high heeled shoes role within sexuality and fetishism. Many of the shoes I had seen images of before, such as the Celine furry heels as well as the Miu Miu tea cup heels among others, however, seeing them really brought it into perspective as only seeing the physical object and its details can do. Seeing all these amazing shoes in person was really exciting and I felt in awe of some of the design talent that had gone into these shoes, blurring the lines of the functional and art. The historical pieces were interesting as some had a completely different take on the meaning of high heels and also they had minimal technology to create their high heels. However, some of the shoes were more perverse such as the heels that were a horses lower leg and hoof or shoes for bound feet which unsettled me as they are so cruel, yet they're only shoes. Clips from movies or specially created short films added to the experience.

Seeing this exhibition was really interesting for me as a fashion student as it showed and taught me things I didn't expect, like that footwear can really be art, showing that often creative disciplines collaborate or borrow from eachother and that there is such thing as a real pair of glass slippers a la Cinderella.

Celine Furry Heels

Miu Miu Tea cup heels

Julian Hakes Mojito Heels

Maison Martin Margiela Glass Slippers

Zero at the Guggenheim

As part of my study tour I spent an afternoon at the Guggenheim. Honestly I didn't know what to expect from this art museum, I'd heard of it before but I was more familiar with the building rather than its contents which apparently is common.

Prior to the formal tour of the museum I explored each level to ensure I got to see everything the Guggenheim has to offer.  I was captivated, I felt that the unusual layout of the building added to the experience of the museum. The artwork on display was phenomenal. The current exhibition is on the Zero art movement. I find the Zero art movement is fascinating as it started many years ago in Europe and was deemed avant-garde due to their focus on technology (which was new then) and the absence of expressionism. I found this reflected in the pieces on show through the use of industrial type materials and the use of light and mirrors amongst other things. I think how people react to it in the present day is vastly different to when it was created as we are surrounded by ever-advancing mind blowing technology.

In the present it isn't  usually deemed unusual or avant-garde when art uses technology however, when the Zero artworks were created it was highly unusual and avant-garde which I find fascinating.  This made me think of how technology may be applied to and/or appropriated for other creative purposes. My favourite example of this was the light ballet that was a part of the Zero exhibition where great structures were pierced with holes and light then filtered through as the structures moved creating changing/dancing patterns on the walls in the dark room, I was mesmerised. To bring this back to my discipline, I have seen a few examples of this starting to happen within fashion, where technology can be used to better fashion production, but also to produce avant-garde clothing such as clothing items that have lights embedded in them or fabrics that react to the flash of a camera. The main things I learned and took away from this experience is that things that are avant-garde now probably won't always be and that technology may be used within creative fields in many different ways.

Brooklyn, Oh Brooklyn

It's taken a while to process that I'm actually in New York City.  I ventured into Brooklyn on my second day here to see the flea markets, where I saw flyers for a poetry slam that evening. A girl in the group was interested in going so I agreed to go with her as I'd never been to something like that and I felt it would add to my understanding of creativity though I was expecting it to be a bunch of hipsters.
 
Walking into the room where the poetry slam was held was a shock to me. The girl I was with and myself were the only caucasians in the room. This made me feel awkward and completely unsure how to act, as I felt that our presences may have made the other attendees uncomfortable, but leaving would anger them. We stayed and I am glad we did. The pieces that were presented that night were absolutely excellent and inspiring as well as being thought-provoking.

Two pieces in particular resonated with me. One was an improvised piece performed by a young man, whom I had expected (due to stereotypes) to read a poem about topics typical of young men, women, drugs and the like. I was pleasantly surprised when it was in fact about the differences between a father and a dad. This performance and its subject matter reinforced the notion that not all stereotypes are correct which made me feel disappointed as I had let stereotypes cloud my view. The other resonant piece was performed by a female and I had expected similar to many other pieces of the night on the topic of prejudice towards and/or the living conditions of people of colour in New York City. However, her piece focused on the use of the name shorty for women of colour and how it is a derogatory term that categorises women as small and inferior. It was particularly poignant as feminism is such a hot topic at present. This piece really touched me, as well as many others present, with many males in the room making comment on how it had affected them and they would stop using the term. This piece showed me that creativity can be used to help alleviate social issues.

Overall this experience further reinforced that stereotypes aren't always correct and the power behind words when they're used creatively.

Dior Addict Lipstick Haul

I'd been wondering for a while about the semi-recently reintroduced Dior Addict Lipstick line, so last week I decided to take the plunge and buy 3 of the lipsticks as well as a Dior lipgloss. I got the Dior Addict Lipsticks in the colours, Rose Deshabille, Fashion week and Rock and Roll. While I was in Sydney a few weeks ago I tried a whole bunch of them on my hands to decide which colours to get. I also got the Ultra gloss in Little Red Dress.

Dior Addict Iconic lipstick in Fashion Week, Rose Deshabille and Rock n Roll and Dior Addict ultra gloss in Little Red Dress.

So far I have only worn 2 of the four which are the Rose Deshabille and the Fashion week which I wore today and really liked. As of today, weeks later I have worn all of them and find them fantastic.

Swatches: Fashion Week, Rose Deshabille, Rock n Roll and Little Red Dress

So far they seem great the colours are lovely and they have a lovely texture, so I am glad I bought them.