Madrid Archives - Documenting Fashion

From November 15, 2016 to February 19, 2017, the Museo del Traje de Madrid (Madrid Museum of Costume) has one of its most ambitious projects on show, the exhibition Tino Casal, El Arte por Exces (Tino Casal, Art by Excess). It is a tribute to Spanish pop music artist Tino Casal, whose career in the 80s and early 90s was cut short in a fatal 1991 car accident. Tino Casal, El Arte por Exceso shows a small part of his legacy as a singer, musical producer, costume designer, set designer, painter, and sculptor that encouraged other artists to shake off the influence of the previous 35-year dictatorship in Spain.

The exhibition consists of 200 pieces, composed of about 50 outfits, album covers, photographs and works of art by Tino Casal on loan from his family, along with objects from the Museum’s collection and the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library). Also included are collaborations and pieces by associated artists including designers like Julián Ruiz, Paco Clavel, Francis Montesinos, Antonio Alvarado, and Fortu Sánchez.

His collaborations with musicians, filmmakers, photographers, and designers made him an icon of the post-dictatorship, countercultural artistic renaissance La Movida in Madrileña (The Madrilean Scene). During the 1980s, in addition to an increase in the number of firms with prêt-à-porter designs (far stylistically behind countries like the United Kingdom, France, or America), the expansion of fashion in Spain influenced society, the arts, and other cultural and industrial production. The figure of Tino Casal exemplified this amplification of the importance of image during the 80s, where his work displayed an array of influences that illustrated the cultural flow of international postmodernity.

Two of his early ensembles, late 70s. Purchased from Boy in London: black jacket. Biba: tapestry jacket, mustard crepe ensemble. Photo: Dana Moreno

What makes this exhibition special is that the Museo del Traje de Madrid has examined a facet of the artist that hasn’t been appreciated in the past: his excessive attire. During the transition to Spanish democracy, many young people played with gender identity and Tino Casal took self-expression to new heights. Though he invited scandal, Casal introduced a different, more triumphally frivolous perspective in society. Designers like Pepe Rubio, Antonio Alvarado, Pedro Morgao, Gene Babaleiro, and Francis Montesinos helped Casal become an ambassador of their work, creating a unique image born of his imagination. This image conveyed his central message of embracing difference.

Leather jacket customised by Tino Casal. He often sprayed his leather jackets with bright or metallic colours. Photo: Dana Moreno

The exhibition dedicates a room to each of his albums, focusing on the costumes and stage design of each album cover, music video, tour, and performance. Each set shows how the evolution of his personal style encompassed his idea of the total show, one that made him a pioneer of constructing artistic image in Spain.

Suits made for his songs “Lágrimas de Cocodrilo” and “Eloise”, recorded in Abbey Road with Andrew Powell. Photo: Dana Moreno

Detail of suit made for “Eloise.” Photo: Dana Moreno

For the styling of his first album cover, he was inspired by overlapping garments, flared trousers and animal prints of the English New Romantic movement. He refined his style on his next album with a wardrobe of bright-coloured, wide-shoulder jackets, frilled shirts, a multitude of accessories, and extremely pointy shoes. In the style of his later years, after his convalescence due to a broken femur, he sported shorter hair and cultivated the image of mature dandy, almost an elegant Count Dracula.

This exhibition shows the inseparable union of Tino Casal’s costumes and his public artistic identity.