Smells Like Niche Spirit: Rodin Olio Lusso, Le Labo and Frederic Malle to Join Estée Lauder Companies

Posted by:
Commentary Fashion Now No Comments

FMalle

In the space of a calendar month, it is possible that Estée Lauder Companies have completed three of the most important acquisitions that the premium beauty and fragrance industry has seen since its partnership with Tom Ford in 2005. A departure from established brands, the coming year will see Rodin Olio Lusso, Le Labo and Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle join the conglomerates burgeoning brand portfolio, bringing with them the much needed cliental of the millennial age.

Founded by Linda Rodin in response to her disillusionment with complicated skincare regimens and the anti-ageing market, Rodin Olio Lusso has garnered a cult following within the fashion industry, establishing itself as the epitome of modern ‘back to basic’ luxury. The success of such a niche brand resonates with the fragrance heavy weights, Le Labo and Frédéric Malle, as they rely as much on their exclusivity as they do their uncompromising quality. Curated by Malle, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle is founded upon the ideology of returning to the lost art of perfumery that has fallen victim to the superfluous range of fragrances marketed today. Each signature scent is developed by an individual nose, who begins from the premise of an‘olfactory sketch’, in which the sense of smell evokes memories that envelope the body of the wearer. This is not dissimilar to the manifesto of Le Labo’s elusive creators, who not only believe in the power of the ‘hand’ in each bottles inception, but that ‘fine perfumery must create a shock- the shock of the new combined with the intimately familiar’. For many a faithful Lauder customer, this will certainly be the case.

Whilst each brand retains an individual identity that Malle himself has assured will be ‘respected’ (which has indeed been proven by the case of Jo Malone); it is questionable to what extent the integrity of their ethos to reject marketing over the product will be upheld when according to reports at WWD, President and Chief Executive Officer Fabrizio Freda has said that their purchase is itself an attempt to ‘maintain steady annual growth’. No doubt such growth will be the by product of globalising the products outside of exclusively American, French and British markets, but with the exception of Rodin Olio Lusso, surely this can only be to the detriment of their existing customers and brand image. Indeed, it is the very heart of the fragrances’ creation and appeal that they are representative of a woman who desires the exotic and exceptional other.  This is a customer whose ‘essence’ cannot be expressed via a bottle of Youth Dew, but rather one that wishes to be the Carnal Flower amongst wallflowers.

There is however a reason why after 68 years Estée Lauder still reigns supreme over the likes of LVMH – it is because it evolves with its customer. In recognising the allure of the ‘niche’ that is founded upon quality rather than quantity, perhaps we will see Lauder reinvigorate the beauty industry for the better. If not, at least we will all smell fantastic.

References:

http://oliolusso.com/blogs/linda-rodin
http://www.fredericmalle.com/eu/about-us/frederic-malle
http://lelabofragrances.com/uk_en/about
http://www.wwd.com/beauty-industry-news/financial/lauder-in-deal-with-frederic-malle-8024706

Fashion Career Opportunities: An Interview with Tilly Macalister-Smith, Fashion Features Director at matches fashion.com

Posted by:
Interviews No Comments

Tilly Macalister-Smith is a London-based fashion writer and editor, and Fashion Features Director for Matchesfashion.com. She spent five years working for British Vogue, and has contributed to The Business of Fashion, RUSSH, Wallpaper.com and ShowStudio. She has also worked with several luxury brands and is part of an advisory panel for the British Fashion Council. She spoke to us about the changing nature of today’s fashion industry and shared her valuable advice on different routes into the fashion workplace.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences with us Tilly.

 Of course! The fashion industry is changing so much at the moment. There are a lot of opportunities opening up that weren’t there before because of digital, and print media is having to adapt to that. There is a real shift occurring in the landscape of the industry as a whole, so it’s a really interesting time to be involved in it.

Can you tell me a little bit about your role at Matches- what can a typical day involve for you?

As Fashion Features Director, I oversee the digital womenswear fashion features content for our online publication The Style Report, and seasonal print editions. My days can vary between attending ideas meetings, writing designer profiles, representing the business at press events, travelling to Paris or New York or working with our video director- video is really expanding as a medium at the moment. I also work very closely with our product copy team to keep a handle on the tone of voice used across the site, making sure everything looks and sounds the way we want it to, and in a way that’s in keeping with our overall voice. Our readers are very interested in what goes on behind the scenes, so we work hard to keep our tone informative yet still intimate and accessible. We really have to maximize our material to make sure everything works in a very timely way, as well as keeping an eye on new emerging designers. It all requires a lot of organization!

You studied Fashion Communication and Promotion at Central St. Martins- how important is a fashion-specific qualification to working in the industry?

At Central St. Martins, the connections I made were invaluable, although you don’t realize it at the time- I was going to school every day with the designers, writers and stylists of the future, which was amazing. I think fashion-specific degrees can give you a more realistic approach to the industry as it’s not spoon-fed- you’re really thinking for yourself and that’s quite a learning curve. It was also great to have that chance to really explore all the different options available to you in this business.

What was your experience of internships like when you were first starting out? Internships, in the fashion industry in particular, have received a lot of negative press in recent years – do you think it’s important to see more promotion of the positive aspects of these placements?

Personally, I think it’s a shame that such stringent regulations are coming into force regarding unpaid internships because I think it will take away a lot of invaluable opportunities. I did unpaid internships for about two years and it’s hard work, but none of us were doing it for the money- we really loved it. I spent 3 months with the designer Jonathan Saunders at his London studio, which was amazing and I kept going back. Everything happened under one roof- the cutting, sewing, screen printing, planning the shows- so I was really observing the designer first hand. I was also able to accompany him to Paris and to New York when he first showed there. These young, emerging designers just cannot afford to pay their volunteers, yet it’s one of the best environments in which to learn about all the different sides of this industry. There aren’t many places left where you can be so immersed in it all.

I interned at Men’s Vogue in the US as I was interested in menswear at the time, and that was incredibly exciting. They had writers from The New Yorker and The New York Times who were writing about art, architecture, travel, everything really, and I loved that. Afterwards, I moved to British Vogue to intern and never left! When money isn’t involved, I think it sorts the wheat from the chaff really. You work out whether it is the right thing for you. 

How can someone distinguish themselves in such a fiercely competitive industry as fashion? There are so many options now in terms of fashion courses, internships and, of course, social media.

I would say don’t overthink it. People get far too caught up in trying to ‘distinguish’ themselves but there will always be a place for you if you work hard and you’re passionate about what you’re doing. There are so many personal style blogs out there, alongside things like Instagram and Twitter, but I think you should only do that if you truly love it. I think there might be a backlash against all that- some of the people I respect the most in this industry don’t buy into all that and, of course, it’s nice to keep something reserved. There’s no substitute for knowledge, enthusiasm and experience really, so my advice would be to educate yourself the best you can and be passionate. And, as with everything in life, timing is very important- if I’d interned at Vogue a month later, I may never have got that job. You have to be in the right place at the right time.

What is your advice to aspiring fashion journalists in terms of getting your work out there and published?

There has been a huge surge in online publications in recent years that are always desperate for good ideas. As a fashion journalist, it’s not just about being able to put words on a page- you have to become an ideas machine! And remember that people will never not thank you for sending over those ideas. Make your application specific, do as much research as you can and educate yourself about the industry as a whole. Take my time at Jonathan Saunders, for example. I never wanted to design myself but that placement was invaluable from a journalistic perspective as I came to understand the whole process. Now, when I’m writing about a garment, I’m not just looking at what’s in front of me- I actually know what went into it.

www.matchesfashion.com

Happy Holidays!

Posted by:
Commentary Work in Progress No Comments

Happy Holidays to All Our Readers!

Gazette du Bon Ton, Jan 1914, no. 1
Gazette du Bon Ton, Jan 1914, No. 1

As a special ‘thank you’ to all our readers, we wanted to give you a copy of the booklet (PDF) to go with the Winter Mode display we curated for the Fashioning Winter exhibition currently on show at Somerset House.

Those of you who follow the blog will be aware of the various stages of curation and installation that we went through, and this included putting together the booklet, inspired by the wonderful fashion journals in our collection.

For the booklet, we used images from these to illustrate it and were lucky enough to have Amy Preston, who worked on the exhibition as a whole, design the font and layout.

The booklet was made possible by Oak Foundation’s generosity – and we really hope you will enjoy reading it.

The exhibition is full of treasures, and encourages you to explore Somerset House and think about the different kinds of seasonal fashions of the past hundred years or so, and the ways these have been designed and represented. It runs until 11 January 2015, so do come along if you’re in London.

May it inspire your own winter fashions!

Thank you for supporting our blog.

Happy Holidays!

From all The Courtauld’s Dress Historians.

Gazette du Bon Ton, 1921, no. 10
Gazette du Bon Ton, 1921, No. 10

Skating

Posted by:
Commentary Work in Progress No Comments

Fashion on the Ice and Snow (1940), Prelinger Archive 

 

As this promotional film for Sacony, ‘America’s Number One Name in Sportswear’ attests, winter fashions have long been a preoccupation. And as those of us who are lucky enough to work at Somerset House know, the ice rink makes a dynamic addition to our everyday landscape, its shining surface and the perpetual movement of its visitors, a stark contrast to the regimented architecture and grey skies above.  While most of us probably reach for jeans when we go skating, the 1940s fashions shown in the film suggest a more self-conscious approach to dressing, in terms of both style and practicality. I thought it would be interesting to watch the film as part of our series of ‘Winter Mode’ posts, which reflect on the research and ideas generated from our display for Fashioning Winter.

The film glides – literally and figuratively – from black and white scenes of skiers shooting down snow-clad mountains, to a full-colour show of skating and related fashions. The breathless commentary reflects the speed of the winter sports, and gives a sense of urgency to the images. Movement and landscape are used to entice consumers to associate Sacony – a brand that developed in the 1920s – with garments that work with the body, enhancing skill, while remaining stylish.

The narrator conflates wearer, activity and dress, stating that the clothes are ‘just as strong as the American girl.’ And the outfits shown celebrate adaptability and attention to detail – they are designed and manufactured to fit closely, protecting wearers from the cold and wet, ensuring they stay in place, even during a fall in the snow.

The first section mimics documentary film, its stark black and white footage mirroring sports coverage of the time and adding to the sense of professionalism. Whereas the later section focuses on fashion expertise, with models presenting Sacony’s range outside, against a backdrop of chalets and other après ski scenes. This colour section leans on spectacle – first a skating display of women in identical, ultra feminine outfits that speak of the ballet dancer, rather than the workwear inspirations that dominate the styles shown next.  These comprise neat bomber jackets and trousers, tucked into sturdy boots. Tops are reversible, pockets edged with colours, as primaries and darker shades are combined to provide a sense of dynamic layers. Practicality is paramount – we are told that ‘no snow sneaks inside’ the special inner cuffs used to keep the wearer completely warm and dry. There is a continual sense of optimism – the film is edited to give viewers the sense of move seamlessly from rink or ski slope to ‘Winter Wonderland’ resort. We are encouraged to imagine the feel of the clothes, as models slide gauntlet gloves off and on, squeeze them into pockets and the rich colours allow us to think of the experience of wearing soft wool sweaters under fitted jackets.

The mix of masculine/unisex separates is again quite different from the skating ensembles shown. These retain the limited but striking colour range, while bringing focus to the women’s legs, with full, knee-length skirts that have bright linings. These would spool out from the body while skating, adding vivid reds to the monochrome of the ice rink.

The film’s final shot reinforces Sacony’s message. A line up of models wear the full spectrum of its range – from the skiwear shown, to swimsuits and ‘spectator’ sportswear, the casual, but smart separates for everyday wear that would become a defining feature of American fashion. We are also reminded of ready-to-wear’s promise: Sacony boasts that its garments are both good quality and reasonably priced, and, the final sleight of hand of mass-manufactured fashion, ‘Very Exclusively Yours.’

From Rationing to Ravishing: The Transformation of Women’s Clothing in the 1940s and 1950s

Posted by:
Commentary Uncategorized No Comments

R1
R2
R3
R4

R5
Photographs by Alberto Ferreira and Lucy Moyse, with permission of the Museum of Vancouver

The Museum of Vancouver’s current From Rationing to Fashioning exhibition thoroughly and exhilaratingly takes its viewers through a turbulent interval of history. The glitter and roar of the 1920s had come to a sudden and catastrophic cease, with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and subsequent economic depression. Beforehand, women ‘s newfound freedom and fun was reflected in looser fits and higher hemlines. However, after the crash, the sartorial mood turned towards sentimentality, and the traditional feminine figure began to re-emerge. Women’s dress of the 1930s delicately navigated changing ideals, later taking on designers’ nods to masculinity and the need for practicality during the Second World War. Peacetime instated the womanly silhouette once more: elaborate amounts of fabric countered wartime shortages, and sloping shoulders, full busts, cinched waists and full, long skirts glorified the female form and took it to new heights.

Guest curators Ivan Sayers and Claus Jahnke display the complexities of these changes with thought and flair. On show until March 2015, the exhibition highlights the intrinsic connections between fashion, those that wear it, and the society that surrounds them. The underlying driving force behind the curatorial rationale is clear: fashion reflects, responds to, and helps to drive change. The exhibition expresses the way clothes had to be adapted according to changing conditions, availabilities, and moods, but also how they affected and constructed views of the women who wore them, from the diligent wartime worker to the immaculate housewife.

The exhibition is neatly divided into two main spaces. The first pulls visitors into a comprehensive overview of 1940s fashion. It slickly demonstrates transitions, whilst maintaining the range of styles available within them. Rainbows of both day- and evening-wear reveal fashion’s determination to thrive even during wartime, whilst also making clear the practical and aesthetic limitations imposed. The dual role of the idealised woman’s wartime appearance is revealed: soothing society involved a juggling act between putting her best face, and dress, forward, and cleverly working around restrictions such as rationing, all the while emanating a sense of pragmatism and tactful restraint. A 1943 blouse by London designer Anita Bodley, for example, demonstrates simultaneous practicality and frivolity. Its comfortable fit and short sleeves allowed movement, and a high, Peter Pan-collared neckline maintained modesty, while its silk fabric and assorted bright colours were enlivening.  Most poignant of all are the spirited written messages that make up its pattern. Inspired by propaganda posters upon a brick wall, it includes phrases such as ‘-Go! –to! –it!’: one example of several wartime pieces that were especially designed to boost morale and brighten wardrobes.

The second main space leads the viewer to the eventual exultance of the post-war years, but not before an enchanting and specialized interlude: a select display of specifically Canadian clothing. For example, a pair of Boeing Vancouver overalls, displayed with its cuffs turned back to reveal red underneath, and the mannequin’s hand jauntily placed on its hip, exemplify both women’s active agency, and the modernist style and nationalist pride through which it was executed. Indeed, throughout the show, there is an equal emphasis on both internationality and the Museum’s own heritage in Vancouver, with objects originating from almost all of the powers involved in the conflict. In this spirit, an inter-disciplinary approach was taken: German ration books, Elsa Schiaparelli’s signature scrawled on a fashion student’s notepad, a bottle of Chanel perfume and ‘Victory Red’ Elizabeth Arden cosmetics imbue the exhibition with an enriching sensory dimension, which underlies and unifies fashion’s all encompassing interconnectedness.

Just a step away, the final room is a visual delight. Pigmented pinks and reds mingle with elegant whites and dramatic blacks, converging into intricate party concoctions. With the war effort over, and a return to notional normalcy allowed indulgence and amusement and girlishness was prized. This revival, explosion and celebration of full-skirted femininity reached its peak during the 1950s, and culminates the exhibition on an appropriately triumphant note.

References

www.museumofvancouver.ca/exhibitions/exhibit/rationing-ravishing

A precarious balance: Reflections on ‘The 50s: Fashion in France, 1947- 1957’ at the Palais Galliera, Paris

Posted by:
Commentary Uncategorized No Comments
Dior Woolmark
Christian Dior, 1947. (Courtesy of the London College of Fashion archives and The Woolmark Company).

1950s couture is characterised by its dramatic silhouettes which ranged from the rounded hourglass, to the stark, boxy H shape.  While the exhibition provided a comprehensive showcase of garments of extraordinary proportions alongside vignettes of fifties style icons, the women who wore the clothes remained a mystery. As I studied the well-displayed outfits, I tried to imagine how the wearer would move and feel in them.

The first exhibit, Christian Dior’s 1947 bar suit with its silk tussore jacket and wide pleated wool crepe skirt, stiffened with taffeta, was striking for its embalmed, papier mache texture. The wide brimmed straw hat and spindly Perugina escarpins that accompanied the suit indicated that a degree of lightness was intended to animate this heavy, structured garment.  Dior claimed that with his 1947 collection, he had ‘brought back the neglected art of pleasing’, in other words, a prettiness that made women attractive to men, as opposed to the eccentricity and utilitarianism that had characterised war-time fashion. However, a woman’s ability to please in this challenging ensemble would depend on her ability to pose and walk in a manner that was as balanced and delicate as a trained mannequin.  The contemporary American model agent, Helen Fraser explained how from the late 1940s onwards, models were increasingly required to ‘double as dancers…’.She explained that ‘high fashion… employs as its basic pose a semi-ballet stance. The weight is on the hind foot, hips turned away, and the shoulders to the camera, the face half-profile, half straight…’

Film footage of mannequins in the exhibition showed how they would begin their procession from a variation of ballet’s fourth position, and advance in tiny mincing steps, their pivots almost as exact and mechanical as a ballerina’s. The filmed couture displays begin with coats and outerwear, and end with the decade’s jewel: eveningwear. There are at least two rooms devoted to small-waisted, full-skirted dresses in the exhibition, which one young visitor called ‘princess dresses’.  She had a point:  with their naive star and flower embellishment and spouts of tulle, some of these dresses do appear to have been designed for grown-up children, who have only recently graduated from reading fairytales to attending balls in outfits that materialise these fictions.

However, in other garments, a more adult combination of daring and anxiety prevails with regard to revealing the body. In their desire to appease contemporary ideals of feminine sex appeal and modesty simultaneously, these cocktail dresses strive for a precarious balance between titillation and demureness; in an almost formulaic manner, an inch of flesh revealed in one area, is compensated for in another.  For example, sweetheart necklines either dive deep and narrow, or remain high and wide; a plunging décolletage is counterbalanced by a high back and vice versa.  Still, by the late 1950s, the ingenuity displayed in the dresses’ methods of exposure, implies that wearers increasingly revealed their sexuality on their own terms. One 1957 fuchsia moiré dress by Hubert de Givenchy, which was cut to show the knees and lower limbs from the front and permitted longer strides, indicated that the age of docile pleasing had passed its high noon.

 

 

032c re-present Kirsten and Juergen collaboration for Autumn/Winter 2013/4

Posted by:
Commentary Work in Progress No Comments
JT00
Screenshot from SHOWstudio’s Subjective Project – Kristen McMenamy by Juergen Teller
JT01
032c, Issue #25, Winter 2013/14
JT02
032c, Issue #25, Winter 2013/14
JT03
032c, Issue #25, Winter 2013/14

Whilst hunting for photographs to accompany the BA3 course that I am teaching this term at The Courtauld with Dr Rebecca Arnold, entitled ‘Fashion and Photography: viewing and reviewing global images of dress’, I stumbled across an intriguing yet mildly unsettling fashion spread by German photographer Juergen Teller. Commissioned by the German magazine, 032c, for the Winter 2013/14 edition, it captured the veteran 1990s supermodel Kristen McMenamy, now 47 years old and with long silvery-blonde hair, in an 18-piece one-off tribute to Elsa Schiaparelli designed by Christian Lacroix. The series, which draws upon the bizarre, the grotesque and the abject, was shot on a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, and makes use of unsettling trompe l’oeil through eccentric props that include fluffy pompoms, the entrails of a slimy sea creature and the pulpy insides of a watermelon. At times McMenamy is a passive and inert, her long hair flopping forward over her limp naked form that is splattered with dirt and mud, but elsewhere she is active and aware, peeping over a rusting metal fence in bright red and pink pompoms like a demonic Minnie Mouse figure.

Teller first shot an androgynous looking McMenamy in a controversial documentary-style shoot for Suddeutsche Zeitung in 1996.  A memorable snapshot from this candid series is tempered with a sleazy provocative charge and features McMenamy standing in a confrontational pose, naked except for a haphazard collection of necklaces and bracelets draped around her neck and wrists. She faces Teller’s 35mm camera directly with an open, nonchalant gaze, her hands placed on her hips, her bare chest thrust forward, and her uncovered crotch fully exposed to the harsh flash. Her pale, bruised and mottled skin is illuminated as she stands against an open doorway, a limp cigarette protruding from the right-hand side of her mouth. Her eyes are heavy-lidded and her appearance is dishevelled, with her hair closely cropped. She bears the label ‘VERSACE’ scrawled in dark red lipstick, encased in a crudely drawn heart, across the centre of her chest. This image, shot in collaboration with Teller, is given a raw, confrontational edge through the pared down gritty ‘realist’ aesthetic that stands out in stark contrast to the faked glamour of high production fashion shoots popular throughout the 1980s. McMenamy has since explained that this shoot was her reaction to having a high profile Versace campaign cancelled at the last minute with no explanation. It was she who scrawled the label across her chest, in an attempt to dispense with the measured and preconceived strategies of glossy high fashion photography, and instead embrace the ugly flip side of the unsightly, unappealing and outright provocative.

A walk through ‘Fashioning Winter’

Posted by:
Commentary From the Collections Uncategorized No Comments
Opening party and inauguration of the ice rink, 10 November 2014

wm02

Although we have been focusing on our own displays for Fashioning Winter in order to give you some behind the scenes access, now that the exhibition is up and running it is time to introduce you to the fascinating exhibits that make up the rest of the project. As with most shows, it really is best if you go see it in person, but for those who cannot make it, here are a few photographic guides to Somerset House’s winter fashion history treasure hunt.

wm03

Caroline Evans’s Skating on Film is directly next to our installation in Somerset House’s East Wing. The display focuses on footage of people skating in the early 20th century, and features clips from the Netherland’s Eye Filmmuseum.

wm04

These clips provide a parallel to Skate in Somerset House’s courtyard and encourage viewers to compare their own wardrobes and motions with sets of gestures from the past.

wm05

Amy de la Haye used her own collection of postcards by the illustrator Xavier Sager, and these depictions of fashionable women ice-skating and rollerblading are also in keeping with the theme of winter sports. Sager’s works are a combination of beautiful workmanship and a healthy dose of humour and when seen together, these illustrations reveal a connection between modernity, fashion and motion.

wm06

wm07

Sophia Hedman and Serge Martinov have created a highly conceptual display that focuses on the changing meanings of the colour white in Western fashion history. Exhibits are suspended in the Stamp stairwell, allowing viewers to walk around the objects displayed and admire them at a remarkably close range.

wm08
wm09

Ben Whyman’s Winter in Wartime is a timely exhibit that will resonate with audiences on the 100th anniversary year of the outbreak of the First World War. The display consists of contemporary illustrated newspaper cuttings, which demonstrate what members of the British Armed forces wore to keep warm at the Front.

wm-10

If you head to the Great Arch Hall you will find Tory Turk’s and Beatrice Behlen’s respective exhibits facing each other, as if in conversation. Turk has created a “capsule archive” of skiing culture that includes gems such as a Burberry ladies’ ski suit c. 1927. The display maps the evolution of skiwear through an exciting assortment of objects.

wm11
wm-12

While Tory Turk’s exhibit revolves around global skiing culture, Beatrice Behlen has focused on the vogue for skating in interwar London. The exhibition’s focal point, a pair of skates from the 1930s, is given a historical frame with the help of newspaper clippings and photographs. A map that shows viewers where one could find ice-rinks during this period illustrates just how popular the sport was at the time.

wm13
wm14

The Nelson Stair is now home to Alistair O’Neill’s display of photographer Angus McBean’s imaginative Christmas cards. Humourous, surreal, yet sensitive, these greeting cards, which span the period 1949 to 1985, illustrate a lifetime of creative experimentation.

wm15

Head curator Shonagh Marshall examines how the world of fairy tales inspire designers for the autumn/winter shows with the help of evocative literary excerpts and wonderful illustrations by Stephen Doherty. The three projections, set up in alcoves, transform Seamen’s Hall into a living storybook of fashion.

Paris, capitale prestigieuse de la mode…

Posted by:
Uncategorized Work in Progress No Comments

GL01
GL02
GL03
01

Tone on tone, an image of two fashion models placed against the faded backdrop of Paris reveals multiple layers of reality, space and modernity. I discovered it as I studied materials in the archives of the Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette (GL) for my doctoral research. Included in a Spring/Summer 1956 GL catalogue, the spread followed the example of many fashion magazines that used the city of Paris in their symbolic construction of fashion. In her study of Paris fashion, Valerie Steele argues that the city had historically been the symbolic centre in the ‘geography of fashion,’ based on its ‘knowledgeable fashion performers and spectators’ and ability to stage fashion. Magazines visualised Paris’ fashion hegemony and situated their readers in the capital, in terms of current events and happenings, the actual retail locations of the pictured clothing, and, through imagery, as a fantasised or imagined place for their use. Readers of the GL catalogue, through the purchase of a relatively inexpensive ready-made dress, such as those pictured here, could themselves access the privileged spaces of the capital. Yet the soft rendering of Paris, in the style of aquarelle paintings sold to tourists, transformed the city into a mirage. Removed by a colour tone, the dresses – in their all-over printed, floral-patterned fabric made of synthetic “Poplin nylon” – expressed a similar falseness. Plus, the artificial quality of the models – pert yet frozen in space – was reinforced by clothing that hindered movement, and contained the body through buttons, belts, and underskirts.

The models are posed as friends, shoppers and tourists, and, sandwiched between the Eiffel Tower and Sacré Cœur, connected different ends of Paris. The shop was in fact located between these two Parisian sites, and was itself a veritable stop in tourism itineraries as fashion was ingrained in Paris’ cultural heritage. Another guide published several years earlier by the department store Printemps titled Notre beau Paris…et ses Environs listed Paris’ sites and monuments amid advertisements of the city’s shops and artisans. Like the GL catalogue, the cover, which de-contextualised these places and pictured them atop clouds, mythologized the city and the act of shopping, and made Paris readable. This visualisation of the city was especially comforting in view of the changes taking place in the city. From the 1950s Paris was characterised by the growth of mass motorised transport, large-scale urbanisation, the demolition of old working-class quarters, and a large push to the city’s periphery and new suburbs. And filtered through traditional views of Paris, fashion, with its ever-changing nature and increasing industrialisation in the 1950s, allowed women to safely experience modernity.

These ‘contained’ images depicted Paris as a boutique whose objects for sale – women, clothing and city – were neatly encapsulated in a picture. Other catalogue images of models posed next to shop mannequins bridged the gap between outdoor city and indoor shopping space. The stylised gestures of the living models aligned them to their plastic counterparts and both became commoditised and imbued with Paris’ magic, as Agnès Rocamora has described the trope of La Parisienne in fashion magazines. The lines between shopping, looking and being seen were thus blurred in the catalogue’s amalgamation of street and vitrine.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Florence Brachet Champsaur for allowing me to visit the archive and show the images here.

Sources

Rocamora, A. (2009) Fashioning the City: Paris, Fashion and the Media. London; I B Tauris, p. 99.

Steele, V. (1988) Paris Fashion: A Cultural History. New York: Oxford, pp. 7, 137, 135.

War Stories: Voices from the First World War

Posted by:
Commentary Uncategorized No Comments
1 Marjorie Brinkhurst's wedding shoes and veil, 1919
Marjorie Brinkhurst’s wedding shoes and veil, 1919
2 Doug Evershed's undercoat
Doug Evershed’s army undercoat
3 Detail of Vernon Evershed display, showing his brother, Doug
Detail of Vernon Evershed display, showing his brother, Doug
With thanks to Brighton and Hove City Council for granting permission to use these photographs

With the plethora of World War One commemorations this year – and for the next three years – it can become all too easy to become inured to the emotional and individual experiences of this period. While the official events linked to the War have been imposing, they have sometimes lacked a sense of the way history can represent interconnected life stories. Brighton Museum and Art Gallery’s current exhibition War Stories: Voices from the First World War (12 July 2014-1 March 2015) reconnects us to this more personal idea of the past, which reflects Raphael Samuel’s important focus on ‘history from below.’ It tells the histories of thirteen people – all connected to the local area in some way – who lived through the war, and whose experiences are recreated through, for example, personal photographs, letters, and, significantly, the material culture of their world.

Dress and textiles play an important role throughout the exhibition – presenting a tangible, sensorial link between the people discussed, and their lived experience. The collection of people is diverse and includes Belgian refugees, an Indian soldier, a nurse, and a conscientious objector.  But, through the coincidence of their dates of birth, each lived through the chaos of World War One. And each left behind images and objects that speak of this period, and its impact on their actions, relationships, jobs and emotions. In this sense, they curated their own life story, as we all do, through our choices of what and how we collect and keep our memories. This auto-ethnography has then been edited and re-presented within the current exhibition – connecting narratives of the time with our contemporary approach to looking at and thinking about the past.

The walls of the gallery are painted deepest red, and each section explores one person’s story. From the start, the role of dress and textiles within people’s lives is clear. It is shown as a part of ritual and life stage – a christening robe, and a wedding dress are poignant mementoes. The dress was worn by Marjorie Brinkhurst in 1919, it is accompanied by silk shoes and a veil, a tiny, folded wedding invitation and the stiffly formal photography of bride and groom, best man and bridesmaid. These are tokens of happiness and relief, as her solider husband made it back from the war, and hers is a story of patience and commitment – a caption quotes her daughter, who remembers ‘She met him when she was 16. And they corresponded and became engaged through letters and so she went out and bought herself a ring.’ This shows how conventions were both broken and reinforced by the war – with its prolonged separations and continual uncertainty.

Another display on Vernon Evershed and his younger brother, Doug conveys the way that dress – with its closeness and intimacy to its wearer – can form a precious memento, a treasured connection to someone lost to the war. The glass cabinet devoted to these soldiers contains a soft brown army undercoat, below it, photographs of them as children, and one of Doug in army uniform. Both died in battle – a telegram from Buckingham Palace and a letter from the commanding officer telling the all too familiar tale of sons lost on the Front. Again, the curators use a quote from a relative to show the war’s legacy – ‘For years and years the undercoat was on my grandmother’s sideboard and we had no idea it had any connection with my father’s uncle.’

The exhibition is rich with such detail, weaving together memories and histories – tying together those who fought, with those who stayed at home, through letters, photographs, scrapbooks and oral histories. A nurse’s uniform and images of a local military hospital remind us of women’s involvement in the war, medals and badges recall battles and regiments, and inventories of uniform items supplied remind us of the huge administration that underpinned the military.

The final display describes – visually and in text – the Unknown Warrior – whose body was buried at Westminster Abbey to represent the enormity of loss. Here, textiles played a key role in conveying the ceremony’s solemnity, and its official, state purpose. The coffin is shown draped in the Union Jack, its graphic form a reminder of nationhood that was reflected in the two huge, flowing flags hung from the cenotaph in Whitehall.

Sources:

Raphael Samuel, Theatres of Memory, vol. I (London: Verso, 1996)

http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/WhatsOn/Pages/BMAGwarstories12jul2014to1mar2015.aspx