Marie Antoinette’s Street Comeback

October 6, 2016Posted by:

Marie Antoinette by John Galliano for Christian Dior (2000). Caroline Weber discusses Galliano’s creation in Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution (2006). As Weber notes, ‘one of the gown's two embroidered hip panels depict the notorious French queen frolicking at her country palace in shepherdess costume; the other shows her walking to the guillotine in rags. These details rightly suggest that her fate was inextricably intertwined with her clothing choices.' — Marie Antoinette by John Galliano for Christian Dior (2000). Caroline Weber discusses Galliano’s creation in Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution (2006). As Weber notes, ‘one of the gown’s two embroidered hip panels depict the notorious French queen frolicking at her country palace in shepherdess costume; the other shows her walking to the guillotine in rags. These details rightly suggest that her fate was inextricably intertwined with her clothing choices.’

The second instalment of Rihanna’s collaboration with German sportswear brand Puma was unveiled during Paris Fashion Week. The inspiration behind the collection: Marie Antoinette. The result: street-style-cum-gym-class versions of Madame Déficite (and a couple of Messieurs). In Milan, Fendi had a few flowery, Marie Antoinette moments as well. A reminder perhaps that the French queen is celebrating her 10^th anniversary as a contemporary fashion icon – since Sofia Coppola put her on screen in her 2006 biopic and Vogue on the cover of its September issue. While never entirely absent – Madonna masqueraded as Marie Antoinette for a 1990 MTV performance of ‘Vogue’ and later in the promotional material of her 2004 ‘Reinvention’ Tour, while John Galliano featured his version of the queen in his Fall 2000 collection for Christian Dior – her aura arguably reached new heights. As The New York Times’ Alix Browne put it at the time: ‘M.A., it seems, is officially a brand.’ This is yet another comeback.

Rihanna broke into the Ivory Tower of Parisian fashion with a sportswear pastiche of Marie Antoinette’s sartorial legacy. A legacy crafted in part through subsequent, sugarcoated resurgences since little is left of her actual wardrobe, which was almost entirely destroyed during the French Revolution

These Marie Antoinette vibes come on the heel of the Autumn/Winter 2016 shows’ 18^th century-inspired collections. Rei Kawakubo devised an 18^th-century version of the punks for Comme des Garçons. John Galliano at Maison Martin Margiela revived his ties to the Incroyables – the dandified, aristocratic youth of France’s Directoire years (1795-1799) and the theme of his seminal graduation collection of 1984. Shayne Olivier of New York label Hood By Hair also seemed to riff on their legacy. Assessing these 18^th-century/punk revivals, T Magazine’s Alexander Fury argued that the Incroyables were in many ways the rebellious precedents of the rebellious 1970s movement. If not message, they shared means – dress as a form of protest. Fury noted:

‘The Incroyables emerged in the shadow of the revolution and the deaths of the Terror; punk sparked during the crippling recession of the early 1970s, alongside the oil crisis, the fall of Nixon and three-day week in Great Britain. Perhaps these echoes of the Incroyables are emerging now in reaction to similarly unsettled times…’

If 18^th-century revivals can be read as a desire for dissent, what role does Marie Antoinette play in it?

In her modern guises, Marie Antoinette epitomises an assertive individuality that befits contemporary cravings for uniqueness and fashion’s promise to help achieve it. In the wake of Coppola’s film for example, she was heralded as a rebellious teen ‘who rocked Versailles’ for the purpose of selling ‘dramatic new silhouettes.’ If her body had been the site of ‘crucial political and cultural contests,’ it was now the site to express, in too diluted ways perhaps, teenage alienation – and a highly profitable highbrow rebelliousness.

Kristen Dunst on the cover of Vogue’s September issue of 2006, shot by Annie Leibovitz. You can view the full editorial here.

But perhaps the stylistic extravagance she embodies has indeed re-emerged as a tool to manifest, if unwittingly, a form of (mild) dissent. Against the enduring lure of a lofty minimalism, Marie Antoinette offers excess as a counter-model. And excess, it seems, is a trend (think Gucci). A Marie Antoinette inflected wardrobe is an excuse to pair – as in Rihanna’s collection – pink lace, brocade, ribbons, ruffles, heels, pearls and so on, all at once. This time, however, to stroll the streets rather than VIP parties (at least in theory).

Thanks to Pop star royalty, Marie Antoinette has resurfaced as a potential street style star.

Rihanna paired the decadent extravagance of Marie Antoinette’s style with the slouchy comfortness of sportswear basics. The collection can be viewed here.

Further readings

On Marie Antoinette:

Dena Goodman and Thomas E. Kaiser, eds., Marie-Antoinette: Writings on the Body of a Queen (New York: Routledge Member of the Taylor and Francis Group, 2003).

Caroline Weber, Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution (New York, NY: Holt, Henry & Company, 2006).

On the lasting appeal of minimalism:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/magazine/the-oppressive-gospel-of-minimalism.html?_r=0

For a discussion of minimalism in high fashion:

Rebecca Arnold, ‘Luxury and Restraint: Minimalism in 1990s Fashion,’ in The Fashion Business; Theory, Practice, Image, ed. Nicola White and Ian Griffiths (Oxford and New York: Berg, 2000), 167—81.

Jonathan Saunders for Diane von Furstenberg

October 3, 2016Posted by:

msheegaard1

After several years of attempting to pass on the reigns of her eponymous company, Diane von Furstenberg has at last seceded creative decision-making power to Scottish designer Jonathan Saunders, who has led the DVF design team as Chief Creative Officer over the past three months since his appointment in May 2016.

Saunders debuted his first collection Spring 2017 at New York Fashion Week on September 10, 2016. The new collection marks a drastic departure from the traditional DVF aesthetic and signature styles – jersey, chiffon and silk printed wrap dresses, skirts and tops. New is most definitely not bad, and indeed there is much good that will shortly be discussed. However, the collection seems to contradict several core DVF principles that have been firmly established since Von Furstenberg re-launched the label in 1997. These key tenets include effortlessness and femininity, which seem to be almost completely absent from Saunders’ collection.

Saunders has indeed reinvigorated the brand with his use of beautifully bold and modern new prints developed in-house, which should be especially commended as previously appointed creative directors at DVF have been known to repackage prints from the archives. The collection showcased knits, furs and outwear–newer looks within the DVF repertoire – in addition to the more traditional separates and dresses in high quality fabrics either cut on the bias, draped or tailored to a generally chic “oversize” fit. However, while the brand will surely benefit from the reset, the former ease, understatement and femininity of DVF garments seems to have been lost in the excessive use of asymmetry, oversizing and ruffles.

Overall, the limited 30 looks released to the public (the collection was only debuted in front of a small group of fashion press) were beautiful – the print combinations were artful and several looks seemed wearable – especially a blue and burnt orange handkerchief dress styled with a neutral belt and sandals. However, I particularly found many of the one-shoulder blouse looks combined with ruffles across the chest puzzling. The blouses and over-flared trousers in particular seemed to obscure the natural feminine form lost far underneath the garments. Further, almost all of the looks that were waist-centric used belts instead of the more convenient, traditional wrap ties to cinch the waist. While on the whole the collection was refreshing, as a DVF collection, the woman who DVF designed for, and always maintained at the center of the brand, seems to be missing.

The 30 looks from the collection can be viewed on Vogue.com here.

Terence Donovan at The Photographers gallery

September 29, 2016Posted by:

cburgess

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Terence Donovan, Chloé by Karl Lagerfeld, 1978.

‘Manteaux arts modernes’ and ‘Du nouveau sous le tunnel,’ French Elle, September issues of 1965 and 1966.

Terence Donovan, ‘Dressed Overall,’ Nova, 1974.

British photographer Terence Donovan (1936 – 1996) helped redefine fashion photography in the 1960s. Alongside David Bailey and Brian Duffy, Donovan took part in the elaboration of a ‘new vision.’ Youthful, street-bound, unabashedly sexual and decidedly experimental, the images produced by the ‘The Terrible Three’ (as Cecil Beaton would refer to them) reflected the aspirations of a new generation. The unassuming Donovan is perhaps the lesser-known figure of the flamboyant trio.

Curated by photographic historian Robin Muir, the retrospective comprised a large number of fashion prints, magazine copies and portraits, an array of personal objects (Donovan’s studio books for instance) and examples of his music videos (the notorious Addicted To Love by Robert Palmer). The exhibition’s first section covered the 1960s – his early years, from the opening of his studio in 1959 to 1969. The second section straddled four-decades of work from the 1970s to his last, monumental ‘Cool Britannia’ shoot for GQ published just after his abrupt death in 1996.

The series titled ‘Manteaux arts modernes’ and ‘Du nouveau sous le tunnel’ produced for French Elle’s September issues of 1965 and 1966 respectively, opened the first section. In ‘Les Manteaux arts modernes,’ a patterned Christian Dior two-piece suit echoes the cubic wall tiles in the background. In ‘Du nouveau sous le tunnel,’ a towering model in a futuristic white coat (possibly a Cardin) is given architectural dimensions. Both series play on the formal affinities between clothing and setting, yet they also evoke the disquieting atmosphere of film noir, in the interplay of light and shadow and the sense of angst elicited by emptied urban spaces.

The urban environment was key in fact to Donovan’s early years of experimentation with photography (in later work, he would favor the studio). In 1961, Donovan used London’s Road power station to shoot the latest menswear for British men’s magazine Man About Town. As Rebecca Arnold has noted, the Man About Town series bore references to both 1930s Hollywood gangster films and press photographs of London’s own, East End gangs. In Donovan’s images, the city it seems stood less as the symbol of an upbeat modernity than as an invocation of its dark, if glamorized, underworlds.

A 1974 series titled ‘Dressed Overall’ published in Nova magazine is an example of Donovan’s grittier, documentary-like approach. Shot in Deptford, South London, the series pairs functional, worker-like clothing with the biting atmosphere of a grey London in the midst of a recession. A sort of fictional reportage that verges on surveillance-like shots, it features the model named Ika as she leaves and returns to the neighbourhood’s housing estates. Acutely aware of her obsessive monitoring, she is magnetic in her defiance as she either purposefully ignores or stares back at the camera. The series stages, rather masterfully, a complex dialogue between camera and subject.

If Donovan’s photographs contrasted sharply with the lofty elegance and lavish decors of 1950s fashion photography, the photographer did not eschew colour (and there were plenty of examples on view), neither a sense of playfulness (nor for that matter, fashion photography’s highbrow affiliations). A 1972 series for Nova titled the ‘Heavenly suited’ is a dreamy example of Donovan’s use of colour. But just like his 1978 photograph of a Chloé design by Karl Lagerfeld, these images retain an almost solemn tone in the models’ frank stares and upright postures.

There is something highly appealing and at times almost disturbing (as we are made aware perhaps of our own, complicit gaze) about Donovan’s images and their ability to convey so forcefully a sense of the models’ presence.

If you have missed the exhibition, it is well worth taking a look at Terence Donovan’s images online.

References

Arnold, R., Fashion, Desire and Anxiety, London: I.B. Tauris, 2001.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-terence-donovan-1354218.html

http://www.terencedonovan.co.uk/portfolio/fashion/2-stella-tennant-british-vogue-1995

Fashion: A Very Short Introduction

September 27, 2016Posted by:

Rebecca Arnold

Uncategorized Work in Progress No Comments

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The new academic year is just beginning here in the UK, so to welcome all the new students focused on Dress History and Fashion Studies, we are giving you a PDF to download that will hopefully get started on your new course!

spectres-exhibition-designed-and-curated-by-judith-clark-at-momu-antwerp-2005 — Spectres exhibition, designed and curated by Judith Clark at Momu, Antwerp, 2005.

This is the Introduction to my book Fashion: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2009), which discusses some of the definitions of the word fashion and its multiple meanings. When I was writing this, I thought hard about how to introduce what is such a seemingly easy term that quickly becomes complex when you think of all the ways it is used within global culture. I used Judith Clark’s amazing 2005 exhibition Spectres, held at MoMu in Antwerp as my starting point. Encapsulated within the show were many of the ideas I wanted to convey to open up the book and its readers to ways to study and think about fashion. I hope you will find this an interesting opening – I loved writing this book, it was a challenge to decide how to approach a big subject in a small format, but actually, this gave a brilliant clarity and focus to what needed to be covered in each chapter, to build towards a (very short) introduction to fashion …

Happy New Term!

Vlisco: African Fashion on a Global Stage Review

September 23, 2016Posted by:

msheegaard1

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For our American readers, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Vlisco: African Fashion on a Global Stage (April 30, 2016 – January 22, 2017) is a must see exhibition. In my opinion, it is perhaps one of the best fashion exhibitions since the Brooklyn Museum’s Killer Heels in spring 2015 and even surpasses the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s China Through the Looking Glass in terms of depth and nuance in its discussion of the “West meets East” fashion narrative. Further, it pairs its canny observations with well-curated, stunning textiles.

Dress, designed by Inge van Lierop for Vlisco. Bloom collection, season 2, 2014. Cotton; wax block print. The Bloom collection included the classic Fall Tree design from 1933. The designer has cleverly cut and reconfigured the thirty-six inch repeat into a seath dress, using the borders to define its shape.

The original Fallen Tree print. Cotton, 1933.

The exhibition focuses on the colorful wax printed textiles (batiks) associated with Central and West Africa. Although consumers in Africa and the diaspora have historically embraced the fabrics as African, the textiles have long been designed and manufactured in Europe– mainly the Netherlands and United Kingdom. The most luxurious of these textiles are the wax prints designed and manufactured using an eight-step process in the Netherlands by Vlisco, founded in 1846. The company began by exporting imitation batiks to the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) however, three decades later, Vlisco found a new, lucrative market in West Africa.

Around 1906, Vlisco acquired a duplex roller printing machine following the example of its main competitor, Haarlem Katonen Maatschappij (Haarlem Cotton Company). This machine replaced the original La Javanaise from 1852. It too replicated the crackling effects characteristic of Indonesian batiks. Additional colors were added by hand block printing, giving each textile its own character. Vlisco no longer hand blocks additional colors; these are now replicated by machine. However, each length of wax printed cloth continues to be unique. The steps involved in producing a wax printed cloth are shown in the textiles on this photograph beginning with the top row: left to right, then bottom row: left to right. 1. Cloth printed with Resin 2. Cloth with Resin is dipped into a color bath 3. The Resin is mechanically removed 4. A second layer of color, in this example pink is added 5. The resin is chemically removed, which results in white irregular bubbles 6. Additional colors, in this example blue are fitted into the design 7. Another color is added to the areas previously unstamped, in this case, yellow is added to the mirror. 8. The cloth is finished Text Copyright: Philadelphia Museum of Art

The printed cloth leaves the Vlisco factory identified solely by a stock number. However, the female traders who sell the cloth in open-air markets, known as Mamas, and their customers name the patterns after local proverbs, current events, politics, religion, and material culture. One design can have many interpretations depending on the community where it is sold. The most crucial point is that it is only through this collaborative naming process that the prints acquire social meaning, status, and value and ultimately become culturally assimilated into society.

Textile. Designed by Cor van den Boogaard. Sparkling Grace collection, May 2010. Cotton; wax block print. This design featuring the Mercedes-Benz three-pointed star logo pays homage to the women market traders. The brand is seen as a symbol of their success.

Textile. Designed by Haarlemsche Katoen Maatschappij - Haarlem Cotton Company. 1930; printed 1987. Cotton; wax block print. The names of many patterns identy with a womans family and marital relationships. In Côte d Ivoire, the classic Jumping Horse, also known as Je Cours Plus Vite Que Ma Rivale I - I Run Faster than my Rival - expresses the rivalry between co-wives. In Nigeria, Igbo women favor this design for Aso-Ebi - family cloth - to express unity at their annual womens meeting, held every August. — Textile. Designed by Haarlemsche Katoen Maatschappij – Haarlem Cotton Company. 1930; printed 1987. Cotton; wax block print. The names of many patterns identy with a womans family and marital relationships. In Côte d Ivoire, the classic Jumping Horse, also known as Je Cours Plus Vite Que Ma Rivale I – I Run Faster than my Rival – expresses the rivalry between co-wives. In Nigeria, Igbo women favor this design for Aso-Ebi – family cloth – to express unity at their annual womens meeting, held every August.

Dress. Designed by Inge van Lierop for Vlisco. Tell collection, season 3, 2015. Cotton; wax block print. The 1950s classic shirtwaist dress is made in an updated version of the 1930 Jumping Horse pattern shown in the previous image. The textle has been recolored in vibrant blue, pink and gold.

The exhibit thus asks the question– are the textiles European or African? Or can they be both? Whilst the design and production process of the unique fabrics takes place in the Netherlands, they are not named and endowed with meaning until they are sold at market in Africa. Further, the Mamas provide customer feedback to the Dutch whole-sellers, such as which prints are selling well in what colors and which designs are popular or not. The sellers then take this into account when manufacturing fabric and designs, and the Mamas, also known as Mama Benz, receive high status, wealth and respect in their communities. Recently, perhaps in acknowledgement of the prominent role local communities play in the evolution of the textiles to garments, Vlisco has attempted to move the design process to Africa, employing African-based designers.

Gala Dress. Designed by Lanre da Silva Ajayi for Vlisco. Splendeur collection, season 4, 2014. Cotton; wax block print. Lanre da Silva Ajayi is one of Nigerias foremost fashion designers.

Vlisco: African Fashion on a Global Stage is a wonderful exhibition and worthy of a visit if you are in the Philadelphia area.

For the fashion-inclined, there is a lot to see this Autumn. Here’s a brief list…

September 20, 2016Posted by:

cburgess

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Rush to see these two fantastic exhibitions in London at the Photographer’s Gallery, before they end on the 25th September!

Terence Donovan: Speed of Light

photo-1 — The opening wall of floor 5 is dedicated to Donovan’s work from the 1970s through to the 1990s.

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This is the first major retrospective of British photographer Terence Donovan (1936-1996). Alongside David Bailey and Brian Duffy, Donovan helped redefine fashion photography in the 1960s (Cecil Beaton referred to them as the ‘The Terrible Three’). The exhibition covers four decades worth of work over two floors with an emphasis on the 1960s. (A review of this exhibition will be coming soon to Documenting Fashion!)

Made you Look – Dandyism and Black Masculinity

Young Man in Plaid, NYC, 1991 by Jeffrey Hansen Scales on the cover of the PG’s programme.

Curator Ekow Eshun explores ‘dandyism as a radical personal politics’ through an array of images that document black men’s use of provocative styles as a way of resisting processes of objectification. The exhibition includes both archival documents and a range of works by contemporary photographers.

And finally… coming soon!

Malick Sidibé: The Eye of Modern Mali

The late Malian photographer will have is first UK major solo show at Somerset House this fall.

To note as well, an exhibition dedicated to Malick Sidibé’s work – on view in Made you look – will open during the Contemporary African Art Fair taking place at Somerset house from 6-9 October. The exhibition will stay on until 15 January 2017.

Finding Elizabeth Hawes: Dress, Art & Politics – An Interview with Gavrik Losey

September 16, 2016Posted by:

Rebecca Arnold

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Elizabeth Hawes advertisement, 1938

A few months ago, April Calahan and Karen Trivette of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Special Collections in New York contacted me to ask if I would interview Gavrik Losey for their Oral History Project. I was thrilled – I am a great admirer of all things FIT, and its Special Collections department was crucial to my research for The American Look: Fashion, Sportswear & the Image of Women in 1930s and 1940s New York (IB Tauris 2009). Indeed, I used many of the fascinating interviews with people connected with American fashion held there to help me to understand the period and its significance.

Of course the fact that it was Gavrik Losey they had asked me to interview was the real draw. Gavrik’s mother is Elizabeth Hawes – celebrated designer, journalist and political activist, and the opportunity to ask him about his memories of growing up under her influence was not to be missed. His father is of great significance too – theatre and film director Joseph Losey was as politically engaged as Hawes, and so Gavrik’s experiences with his parents would open up a key period in American history.

We met this week at The Courtauld on a hot September day, to film the interview. It was fascinating to hear Gavrik’s memories – ultimately I will write about these in more detail, but I wanted to give you a taste of the touching, funny and evocative stories he had to tell. So here are a few of the many things I learnt about in a discussion that lasted well over an hour and which gave amazing insight into Elizabeth Hawes’ significance and so much more.

Gavrik’s earliest memory of his mother relating to dress is picking up pins off the floor of the workroom at her 59th Street establishment. He also learnt how to press clothes at an early age – his mother’s advice? Only iron the parts of each garment that will be seen … He went on to describe her mix of artistry and pragmatism as a designer and her drive to make clothes that fitted contemporary women’s lives. Her interest in colour theory – the idea that each personality type has an appropriate colour palette – extended into the salon’s interior and even their home. Hawes loved to have walls of different shades to set off the ensembles being shown …

He remembered how his mother loved to drape fabric to create new garments – and travelled everywhere with a little, to-scale mannequin, so she could devise new creations. Oh, and that she made samples to her own size, so that she could wear each new collection once it had been shown …

He also told of her wicked sense of humour – which made itself known in the names she gave her garments, including a dramatic multi-coloured striped gown called ‘Alimony’ – which came with a bag in the shape of male genitalia – Gavrik still has this memento of Hawes’ satirical approach to fashion …

He spoke at length about her relationships with contemporary artists and the influence of art on her work. I was especially interested to hear about the impact of Kandinsky on her use of geometric forms and flashes of colour and varied textures in her designs. Look at examples from the 1930s, for example in the Met’s collection, and this insight will open up your eyes to their meanings, I am sure …

Another aspect of his parents and his own life was the importance of political engagement. Gavrik spoke movingly of the harsh impact of FBI investigations into his parents’ activities and the terrible toll this took on their lives and work. It was heartbreaking to hear how agents turned clients and friends against Hawes, warning them of her left-wing sympathies. These files only became available after her death, so she never knew why New York became such an unwelcoming place for her when she returned in the late 1940s to reopen her business after undertaking union and war work.

I am still processing all the incredible things that Gavrik spoke about – he was incredibly generous with his time and his memories and thoughts about his mother’s life and work. It is wonderful that – once catalogued – his interview will be housed at FIT and available to researchers wanting to understand women, dress and politics, issues as fundamentally entwined within Hawes’ work as they are within our wider culture.

Find out more about FIT’s Special Collections here
And see some of Elizabeth Hawes’ designs here:

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/search?keyword=elizabeth+hawes#archives

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!/search?q=elizabeth%20hawes&sortBy=Relevance&sortOrder=asc&offset=0&perPage=100&pageSize=0

Georgiana Houghton’s Spirit Drawings

September 12, 2016Posted by:

Liz

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1-the-flower-and-fruit-of-henry-lenny_page_1-web-400x400 — Georgiana Houghton, The Flower and Fruit of Henry Lenny, 1861.

10-the-portrait-of-the-lord-jesus-christ_page_1-web-1-400x400 — Georgiana Houghton, The Portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1862.

19-glory-be-to-god_page_1-web-400x400 — Georgiana Houghton, Glory Be To God, 1864.

I’ve recently been giving a couple of talks on Sunday afternoons in the gallery; it’s a great way of meeting some interesting people, and having a lively discussion about the works on display. My recent topic of conversation has been the Georgiana Houghton exhibition, a collection of 21 watercolour drawings that the British artist produced (ostensibly) through contact with the spirit world in 1860s to 1870s Victorian London. Houghton claimed to be in touch with various spirits including high Renaissance artists, such as Titian and Corregio, as well as deceased members of her immediate family, such as her brother Warrand, sister Rosalia and uncle William.

Her ‘spirit drawings’ are remarkable products of Victorian culture, and were produced about the same time that Claude Monet was painting the river Thames in an Impressionistic fog. If the fruits of his labour were seen as radical to a contemporary gaze, then how must a Victorian public have responded to Houghton’s endeavours, with their exotic colours and forms? Not very well at all is the answer. When she mounted an exhibition of her work in a gallery on Old Bond Street in 1871, critics responded with confusion, outrage, dismay, and bewilderment.

Nevertheless, Spiritualism had become very fashionable at the time in Victorian London, centred on the belief that contact with an ‘afterlife’ was possible through mediumship practices including séances. This fascination with the spirit world is unsurprising given the Victorians’ preoccupation with death. Not only did they introduce bells to coffins – lest any poor soul should be buried alive – but Victoria, following Albert’s death in 1861, elevated private mourning to a public level when she began to dress solely in black. With social and cultural upheaval in Victorian London, many women were beginning to enjoy greater private and public freedoms at home and work, and the dark environment of the séance room was a potentially liberating space for them to reside. Scientific expeditions were also gaining momentum during the period, alongside the doctrines of ethnography and anthropology, all of which reflected a desire to see and understand the surrounding world and, in doing so, find out more about the origins of man. It is perhaps only inevitable then that a question was also beginning to emerge of what might exist beyond life, and whether there was a contactable spirit realm.

Houghton’s work is fascinating for its pioneering use of largely abstract forms, which place her drawings closer in aesthetic terms to those of Kandinsky, or the Dadaists’ automated drawings produced in the first half of the twentieth century. Perhaps a contributing factor in her lack of recognition – until now – is not simply that she was a woman, but that she was producing these works 60 or 70 years too soon, before the existence of intellectual frameworks such as Freudian psychoanalysis that might have been used to understand and contextualise her drawings. I wonder if Houghton might even have been a synaesthete – there is something incredibly emotive and multisensory about her use of colour, shape, line and form.

But it is important to remember that these drawings are far from abstract. For the artist, they were highly symbolic, and she produced detailed explanations on the backs of each of them, painstakingly pointing out the different representational forms to the viewer.

Whilst Houghton is perhaps not an obvious choice for a dress historian, there is something about the thread-like lines and vibrant colours of her drawings that draw me in on a very visual – and unequivocally tactile – level. Professor David Lomas recently observed what he described as the ‘hair-like’ forms present in many of these images, suggesting a connection to be made with Victorian hair jewellery, and pointing out the interconnected processes of looking, and wanting to touch, but potentially also being touched by, Houghton’s spirit drawings.

5 Minutes with…Jessica Akerman

September 9, 2016Posted by:

Liz

5 minutes with... Uncategorized No Comments

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We caught up with Jessica Akerman – artist and research forum events co-ordinator – to discuss her wardrobe. In her spare time, Jessica has been dressing for London Fashion Week (Mary Katranzou last year, Paul Smith and Topshop this year), helping the models with the quick turnaround in between shows. She obviously has an avid interest in dress and fashion, whether she realises it or not, and follows the style instagrams @vonsono and @susiebubble, in between sourcing interesting pieces from carboots, charity shops, sample sales and vintage stores.

On the sunny Thursday lunchtime that we met, Jessica was wearing a fabulous corduroy pinafore from the shop Mint in Stoke Newington, bright blue sandals from Miista in Shacklewell Lane, and a collection of jewellery that included gold bird earrings bought in Westcliff-on-Sea (in a ‘fantastic second-hand shop’); a fun Swatch watch (‘I love Swatch, I love the designs, the colours’); plastic chunky rings; and a beautiful art-deco style pendant that contained strands of hair belonging to her two children. She was obviously suspicious about the prospect of being interviewed, and had brought along a change of clothes – her 1980s ‘jazzy shirt’ – but settled on the pinafore, which had its own interesting story to tell:

‘We were having our kitchen done up, and we didn’t have a washing machine, so I was spending most of my weekends in the laundrette – waiting for the washing to finish, wearing a tracksuit and a Friends of the Earth man’s anorak. I went and found this couple of really nice Cord pinafores in the sale space of Mint, put them aside, and went back to get some money out and check on the washing. When I went back to the shop, someone had put them back on the rack, and I nearly started crying. But the man who was working there took me around all of the rails, looking for the dress and looking on the arms of all the women in the shop. And then he found it, and sort of gently wrestled it off this girl, who gave it up begrudgingly… but he told her he would give her some money off her own purchases at the till. The thing is that I never buy clothes for myself, and I can never find anything that suits me, and I was feeling like a right trugger because I was in a tracksuit, and I’d been at the launderette… but it was a happy story in the end’.

Jessica has also had her hair recently re-dyed to its natural colour, and had painted her nails gold. We felt that this was important to mention, since she pointed these details out to us, and obviously has a keen awareness (as we dress historians do) of fashion not solely in terms of items of clothing, but all of the additional modifications that we attach to or adapt our bodies with. She was also enthusiastic to tell us about her Urban Outfitters brown leather bag, which was the product of some extensive (online) research, and brought over from the U.S. by her partner, taxes in addition. Unfortunately, she was somewhat disappointed by the quality, since the lining had already begun to tear. [If you are reading this, @urbanoutfitters, then please do get in touch and we can organise getting a replacement to Jessica]

When quizzed as to how she might describe her style, Jessica responded with the usual ‘hmmmm… I don’t know really’, ultimately settling on ‘eclectic’. I asked her how she negotiates ‘off-duty’ and ‘on-duty’ clothing – combining outfits for the Courtauld, doing the school run and being creative in her Ridley Road studio in Dalston. ‘I look for practicality mostly… I suppose it doesn’t differ too much between home and work, although I wear less make-up at home, and definitely dress up less’.

One of the favourite pieces that Jessica has ever owned is a 1980s dress with ruffled sleeves in green and black that she bought for £1 at a car boot sale in Somerset. ‘I was 8 months pregnant at the time, so I didn’t actually know if it would fit. But when Kit was about 4-months old I was able to go out, and that was very exciting… it was like I’d won a prize, especially because it was so inexpensive’.

Thank you very much Jessica, it was great to hear some stories from your wardrobe. If you’d like to find out more about Jessica’s creative work please go to: jessicaakerman.com

Fashion, Desire and Anxiety

September 6, 2016Posted by:

Rebecca Arnold

Summer Uncategorized No Comments

Welcome back from summer holidays!

We thought we would start Autumn off with some reading for you. As our Instagram followers will know, my book Fashion, Desire & Anxiety: Image & Morality (I B Tauris) in the 20th Century was recently published in Russian. To celebrate, we are giving away this PDF from the English edition.

The book explores the ways fashion challenges contemporary morality – through its design, representation and the way it is worn, covering examples from subculture to haute couture.

So we hope you enjoy reading the book’s Introduction – explaining the ways fashion simultaneously provokes desire and anxiety, plus a section from chapter one titled ‘Simplicity’ – which considers the tensions between luxury and restraint in fashion.

We hope you enjoy the extract, and look forward to resuming our regular Tuesday and Friday blog posts for you.

ARNOLD_COVER — The front cover of the Russian edition of *Fashion, Desire and Anxiety*

Roger Fry, Nina Hamnett, 1917 — Roger Fry, *Nina Hamnett*, 1917