As the world experiences the tough times of isolation and social distancing in the current moment, I find myself dreaming of summer holidays. In particular, the beach, the sun and bikinis. The history of the bikini is a surprising one, filled with scandal, politics and issues of gender. Although the origins of the bikini are uncertain, it has been speculated to be as early as 5600 BC. Greek urns and Roman wall art have been found that display images of women in bikini-like garments. The women are depicted as participating in athletic events, such as running, weightlifting and discus throwing while wearing two-pieces.

The acceptance of the bikini however was gradual. Women were finally permitted at the beginning of the twentieth century to enjoy public beaches, although there were strict requirements for their clothing to protect their modesty. Women would wear multiple layers and incorporate weights into their hems to prevent clothes from riding up and displaying their legs. Petticoats were eventually abandoned for more form fitting single-pieced costumes. The Australian performer and swimmer Annette Kellerman was arrested in 1907 for wearing a tight-fitting one-piece. The outrage from this case influenced the acceptance of one-piece swimsuits, as well as the introduction of new synthetic materials such as rayon that allowed for more form-fitting suits to be produced. The 1940s saw an increased liberation of swimwear due to war-rationing. More flesh became widely accepted and women could now bare their stomachs as a result of the lack of materials during the war. ‘Le bikini’ was unveiled in 1946 by Louis Réard, who named the garment after nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll by the U.S military. His designs were deemed as increasingly scandalous, made of just 30 inches of fabric. Réard hoped that the garment would become as ‘explosive’ as the test itself as he believed that the effects of a woman wearing a bikini could be likened to the devastating effects of a bomb. Réard was inspired to create the garment after noticing women at St Tropez beaches rolling up the edges of their heavy fabric swimsuits to get better tan lines.

However, Réard struggled to find a model willing to wear his minimalistic garment. Micheline Bernardini finally agreed to do the job and displayed the bikini for the first time at the Piscine Molitor, a popular public pool in Paris. The bikini was described as “so small it could fit into a matchbox”. Although the designer received nearly 50,000 thank you notes from various women for his design, the bikini did not receive uniform acceptance. The garment was banned from the first Miss World Contest in London in 1951 as well as prohibited in Portugal, Italy, Spain and Belgium. General acceptance for the bikini did not come about until the 1960s, when societal upheavals around the world began to encourage more liberal views of fashion. The bikini saw a huge comeback at this time thanks to the world of Hollywood. Powerful celebrities proved essential for the popularization of the bikini; Brigitte Bardot gained international fame for wearing a bikini while on a Cannes beach with Kirk Douglas. Similarly, Ursula Andress’ role as Honey Rider in the James Bond film Dr No, became one of the best-known scenes in cinema. In 1960, Brian Hyland released a song titled ‘Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ that was inspired by the craze of bikini-buying at this time.

The fascination with the two-piece will never stop and its design continues to be redeveloped, such as the higher cut G-strings from Brazil. The bikini’s history demonstrates the power of the garment in challenging the status-quo; once deemed as an item of scandal, bikinis are now regularly displayed on Paris runways. The garment has served many important functions throughout the past decades, such as a morale-booster during wartime America or as a triumph for early feminism. The bikini and its history have a deeper significance than from the outset.

References

Elle Magazine, ‘The History of the Bikini’, https://www.elle.com/fashion/g2906/the-history-of-the-bikini-654900/?slide=1

History, ‘Bikini introduced’, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bikini-introduced

The Sunday Post, ‘The first bikini could fir in a matchbox- a history of the world’s skimpiest swimming costume’, https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/the-first-bikini-could-fit-in-a-matchbox-a-history-of-the-worlds-skimpiest-swimming-costume/

Time Magazine, ‘The History of the Bikini’, http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1908353_1905442,00.html

It sparked my interest to see a link posted on the Twitter account of St. Fagans National History Museum in Wales, leading to an online Vogue article. The two worlds of Welsh history and Vogue Magazine seem so far apart, and yet here was an article, explaining how the Alexander McQueen FW2020 collection was inspired by Sarah Burton’s visit to St. Fagans Museum in South Wales. Burton was inspired predominately by the Wrexham Tailor’s Quilt, which was created over a decade from 1842-1852, during the leisure hours of James Williams, who was a military master tailor. Williams used recycled fabric; a technique often adopted by Welsh people when creating dress. These pieces of fabric are a variety of felted woolen cloths, possibly off-cuts of broadcloth from military uniforms. Motifs on the quilt include scenes from the bible, including Noah’s ark, Jonah and the Whale, and the Garden of Eden’s Adam. Woven amongst these biblical scenes are also pieces of Welsh architecture, and this inclusion of Welsh architectural feats amongst biblical scenes reveal the status of Welsh pride and craft standard.  

The dominant colours of the quilt are blue and red, as typically seen in Welsh textiles from the 19th Century, and grey, black and brown. The background of the quilt is made up of geometrical patterns of diamonds, squares and chevrons, in alternating colours, sometimes symmetrical on both sides or varying slightly in colour. In total, the Wrexham Tailor’s Quilt is compiled by 4,525 separate pieces of cloth. These aesthetic details from the colour, patchwork method, and figures depicted are quite easily spotted on Burton’s McQueen collection.  

One suit appears as a ‘cool tone’ version of the quilt, decorated with the same panther motif. Another beautifully cut coat adopts the same geometric pattern and vivid colour palette as the quilt, while some dresses take a more subtle influence of drapery found in historic Welsh dress. The use of blankets used by Welsh women for protection and convenience of carrying babies are noted in the swathes of fabric used by Burton to adopt this past, cultural trend. The famed Welsh ‘love spoon’ can also be seen referenced in this collection, as Burton cuts the celtic decorative pattern into white lace love-hearts, as well as directly using the ‘wheel’ design in a red lace design, a symbol of support for a loved one. The earliest Welsh love spoon can be found at St Fagans, dated from 1667, although this was a tradition dating much further back from then. Welsh love spoons were given by suitors to their romantic interest, to demonstrate not only their love, but their skills in woodwork vital for providing a future income. 

The Wrexham Tailor’s Quilt is a stunning representation of Welsh tailoring and recycling of fabrics to create beautifully patterned designs. The pride of Welsh heritage has often been expressed through nostalgia, this new collection by Burton encourages a modern and refreshed Welsh pride for the future, and a recognition of the inspired designs and skills of historic Welsh dress. Alexander McQueen’s inspiration highlights the beauty of Welsh textile patterns and recycling of fabric. It offers a new perspective on how Welsh traditional dress can be used in the present and distanced from the romanticised tourist perception often presented as ‘traditional’ Welsh lady costume. Sarah Burton commented, ‘We went to Wales and were inspired by the warmth of its artistic and poetic heritage, by its folklore and the soul of its craft. The woman is courageous, grounded, bold: heroic. There is a sense of protection in the clothes, of safety and comfort, evoked through quilting and blankets. The hearts are a symbol of togetherness, of being there for others.’ (Sarah Burton, 2020) Alexander McQueen’s 2020 collection captures the ethos of Welsh dress and design, transcending the heart of the Wrexham Tailor’s Quilt into high fashion. 

References: 

Phillips, Ellen, The Wrexham Tailors Quilt 1842-52, (National Museum Wales, 2 March 2020), https://museum.wales/articles/2020-03-02/The-Wrexham-Tailors-Quilt-1842-52 

Cluley, Richard, Patchwork Bedcover, (National Museum Wales, 13 November 2019), https://museum.wales/collections/online/object/4ce80b8d-182e-3822-8038-54080af6b0b8/Patchwork-bedcover/field0=string&value0=quilt&field1=with_images&value1=1&field2=subject&value2=Wrexham%20Quilt&index=0 

Burton, Sarah, Women’s Autumn/Winter 2020 Show, (Alexander McQueen Trading Limited, 2020) https://www.alexandermcqueen.com/experience/en/womens-autumn-winter-2020-show/ 

Bowles, Hamish, https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2020-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen, (Paris, March 2, 2020) 

This spring, before I had to essentially evacuate London because of this vicious global pandemic, I chose to go to an exhibition on a random Wednesday afternoon. I’m so glad that I decided to see the Tate Britain’s Audrey Beardsley exhibition because it was the only show I was able to attend this season. Not only is Beardsley one of my favorite artists from my favorite historical era, but I saw his art through new eyes: fashion eyes. I have studied Beardsley’s work quite a lot from the perspective of an art history student, examining his relationship to literature and the decadence of the 1890s. Viewing his art again from a fashion perspective was enlightening. The exhibition was expansive and educational, even though it was a rather conventional display of a completely unconventional figure. 

Whether he admitted it in his lifetime or not, Beardsley certainly had a flair for fashion. Many of his drawings and prints feature imaginative clothing with delicate drapery and peacock-inspired headdresses. In 1891, he illustrated Oscar Wilde’s rendition of Salomé. Heralded as his most imaginative and perverse work, the series features languid beauties with fabric falling off their chests and massive, swirling cloaks. One print in particular reads more like an avant-garde fashion plate than a narrative illustration. This particular illustration does not clearly relate to any particular scene in Salome, but rather seems to display Beardsley’s potential for designing women’s wear. The massive shoulders of the dress seem to merge into the sleeves and unfold like an armadillo shell. Beardsley also clearly was aware of the power of the S-bend silhouette which was gaining popularity in the 1890s. Beardsley’s dramatic s-curve in this print suggests a sense of languid, slinky elongation for which he was famous. Beardsley himself was known to be tall, thin, and wear clothing that highlighted his slenderness. 

Beardsley’s bold graphic style and bizarre visions inspired countless later artists. The exhibition featured a viewing room that showed a constant loop of Alla Nazimova in the 1923 film rendition of Salomé. This particular film sought to translate Beardsley’s still, two-dimensional illustration into a moving, filmic world. Some of Beardsley’s drawings, like the one shown above  are directly translated into real costumes which were designed by Natacha Rambova (see the background dancers below). Other costumes take on a more 1920s style such as Nazimova’s platinum wig and reflective rubber dress seen below. 

The most striking innovation of the 1923 film is Nazimova’s wig, although it was not featured in the exhibition. Constructed from black coil with giant white pearls at the end, the wig is an ode to Beardsley’s graphic style and his love for massive locks of hair on his figures. Although the wig is not directly inspired from any particular illustration, it feels completely Beardsley. With every move of Nazimova’s head the coils of the wig bounce and make the pearls jiggle and reflect the studio lights. The overall sensation of the wig evokes a trembling eroticism, as Salomé childishly shakes her head and refuses Herod’s advances. Rambova’s design fully understands the tension, eroticism, and movement in Beardsley’s work. Once believed to be lost, the innovative wig was rediscovered in a storage trunk in Columbus, Georgia in 2014 and has since been donated to the Alla Nazimovia Society located in West Hollywood. 

Our Documenting Fashion class got to see one of the more recent iterations of Beardsley’s work this fall in the V&A’s exhibition, Tim Walker: Wonderful Things. Also inspired by Beardsley’s Salomé prints, Walker translates Beardsley’s sensuous lines and bodies into fashion photographs. The exhibition featured an array of different photoshoots that were inspired from items in the V&A’s collection, but the Beardsley-inspired photographs were a highlight for all of us. Located in a stark-white room lit by fluorescent lights, the setting was eerily apt for these warped pictures. Our class was lucky enough to hear from head curator Susanna Brown about how difficult it was to mimic the thinness of Beardsley’s lines. In order to get the extreme point on the shoes seen in the photograph below on the right, stylist Amanda Harlech purchased the heels from a fetish shop. Quite fittingly, Walker’s photos exhibit a 21st-century take on Beardsley’s strange eroticism. Beardsley’s work has obviously deeply affected artists during and after his lifetime. Knowing he would not live long due to tuberculosis (he died at the age of 25), he embraced his eccentricities to create a bold, uncensored, and prolific oeuvre.

“The last thing left in nature is the beauty of women” – Peter Beard

Peter Hill Beard rose to fame in the 60s when his infamous diaries were first published; combining his photographs with insects, leaves, feathers, transcribed telephone messages, quotes, bref – anything and everything that would inspire him – his unique documentation of African wildlife and landscapes transgressed regular travel journaling.

Beard’s chronicling of events in diaries started from a young age, as his favourable background enabled him to  grow up surrounded by artwork. This shaped his liking for art and aesthetic beauty, and would later come to influence his work and career path. Indeed, he explored this passion as an Art History student at Yale University under the tutelage of famed artists such as Josef Alberts before making his way to Kenya, where he would create his renowned journals and publish his first book “The End of the Game” (1963).

Beard’s artistic abilities are reflected in his note-taking, as his notorious use of paint (and his own blood) to render footprints and handprints on his images highlight the rawness and violence of African wildlife and the human relation to it. The use of sepia-toned film further add a vintage and authentic feel to his images, conveying a sense of nostalgia for the past which he would further explore through themes of life and death. Indeed, as an environmental activist, Beard tried to spread awareness by displaying the effects of growing industrialisation on the African continent.

Alongside his love for African wildlife was his love for women. Beard was particularly attracted to female beauty, and would often assimilate the two in his diaries and photographs. By placing a partially-clad or nude female bodies in the midst of the African wilderness, he played with the idea of primitivism and appealed to women’s animalistic sexuality to display his version of femininity. Posing next to powerful and wild creatures such as elephants, lions and rhinoceros, his portrayals of women were empowering and beautiful and he would regularly shoot and feature in fashion reviews such as Elle, Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar.

Nicknamed ‘the reckless playboy’ or yet ‘Tarzan’, the photographer was indeed known as a regular Casanova, with his views on monogamy and marriage sometimes deemed controversial. Nevertheless, his brilliant ability to capture beauty is undeniable, and his pioneering will to raise awareness of environmental issues truly placed him ahead of his time. Having worked alongside personalities such as Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon and Karen Blixen to shape and spread his unique vision of the world, he will truly be remembered as one-of-a-kind.

To sum it up, Beard, you seemed like an incredible man, who lived an incredible life.

2019 was the year of the accessory. From statement hoops to slogan slides, every inch of the body can be decorated for full sartorial effect. My head turner of choice – the hairband. A hair-raising trend since striking reemergence at Prada’s Spring Summer 2019 show, the so-called padded ‘powerband’ transformed the practical accessory into a major feature. The secret behind the success of these seemingly juvenile accessories? Their combination of practicality, prettiness and power.

Far from a decorative accessory, headbands find their origins in ancient Greece. A popular feature of classical dress, wreaths were symbols of godly status, intellectual authority or sporting prowess. The accessory of choice for emperors, goddesses or poets alike, a walk in the sculpture gallery of the V&A shows a whole host of headwear on the heads of statues and busts from classical antiquity.

Moving forward to the 20th century, designers like Paul Poiret and Gabrielle Chanel looked to the Orient and the exotic costumes of the Ballet Russes for head-turning inspiration. A means of channeling the glamour and mystery of the east, turbans, headwraps and silk scarves became the accessory of choice for stylish Hollywood starlets. Best worn over the sharply chopped ‘bob’ of the female ‘garcons’ or across the forehead of a fringed-clad ‘flapper’, the accessory served up serious style when worn on the court by tennis star Suzanne Lenglen in 1921. A symbol of increased female liberation, this simple hair accessory was part of a whole host of clothing and accessories that allowed women to engage in a more independent and active lifestyle. Thanks to the hairband, women could run, jump or dance their way into the twentieth century without hair in their eyes.

In the 1940s, headwraps and hairbands were popularised by the Ministry of Information as a means of promoting ‘war-time’ chic. A utilitarian essential for women working in ammunition factories, the practical reworking of this Hollywood trend was a far cry from the spotless white turban sported by Lana Turner’s ‘femme fatale’ in the 1946 film, ‘The Postman always rings twice’.

Most recently termed the ‘powerband’ by Vogue’s Julia Hobbs, the headband has been connected to female empowerment throughout history. In the 1980s, headbands were often paired with the power suit: a quick google-search of Hilary Clinton proves the politician had quite the collection! With this in mind then, it’s hardly surprising that both Cher Horowitz (Clueless) and Blaire Waldorf (Gossip Girl) frequently accessorised their high school politics with a band in black velvet or heavy pink embellishments.

Now, nearly 150 years after the hairband was worn by Alice as she stumbled ‘Through the Looking Glass’, (The 1871 illustrations of Lewis Caroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass’ are said to be one of the first appearances of the accessory in popular culture), headbands remain a pretty yet practical style solution. Just last month, Net-a-Porter announced a 19% increase in hairband sales. A far cry from juvenile frivolity though, these reworked accessories are anything but saccharine. Appearing alongside Miuccia Prada’s hyper-female silhouettes at her SS’19 show, these elevated padded styles in studs, neon and satin are a powerful accompaniment to Prada’s feminine, yet feminist, muse. Similarly, frequent reiterations of the baroque crown – see Dolce and Gabbana or Charlize Theron at the recent Costume Guild Awards – afford the wearer a modern, regal edge.

The fact of the matter is this: the hairband has been a powerful accessory for centuries. Far from frivolous and exceptionally functional, the simple bands can elevate an outfit and evoke a variety of moods. Whether topped with studs, sequins or stones, they allow us to dress our bodies from head to toe.

References:

https://www.vogue.com.au/fashion/accessories/is-the-headband-trend-2019s-answer-to-power-dressing/image-gallery/8586b651754ea2e084608da71bb6bb43

https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/headbands-barrettes-hair-accessories-street-style-photos-fashion-week-fashion-trend-1203076852/

https://www.ft.com/content/61e80a84-3142-11e9-8744-e7016697f225