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TThe Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli, c. 1486
with colors from Boticelli's "The Birth of Venus"
Is it just me? Or do you also see art as inspiration for fashion. It's time for the New York Fall 2011 Fashion Shows. A woman's beauty as muse and mannequin. It's been going on for a long time. Did you know that since classical times female nudes in painting and sculpture came to be called Venus'es? Painters in the Renaissance got away with painting nude women since they were Venuses and were supposed to be nude, since Venus is the goddess of love, desire, sexuality, and all that.
But you can't get away with having Venuses walking all over the place. So artist-designers can cover them up with their imaginations. I had a little fun browsing the thumbnails of the Fall collections for inspiration from a few pieces of art. I could do this all day (well, I did), but my mouse finger started hurting all the way up my arm.
The names of the designers under the fashion photos have links to their Fall collections.
Four expressions of Jacqueline by Picasso;
Jacqueline was Picasso's second wife
Jacqueline was Picasso's second wife
These dresses remind me of Picasso's Jacquelines.
Clockwise from top left: Caroline Herrera,
This white Jason Wu dress with black lace embellishments reminds me
of Audrey Hepburn's dress in "Sabrina."
Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy with William Holden, for "Sabrina"
Klimt and Betsey Johnson. Betsey Johnson and so many artists, really.
Gustave Klimt
Degas and Carolina Herrera.
"The Rehearsal" by Edgar Degas
Monet and Lela Rose. I see Monet's haystacks and Houses of Parliament whenever I go to the Art Institute in Chicago. I thought of them when I saw this Lela Rose dress, which is fantastic.
"Haystack Thaw" by Claude Monet
"Houses of Parliament" by Claude Monet
Mark Rothko and Diane von Furstenberg.
Blues by Mark Rothko
Paul Klee and Betsey Johnson. After doing this for a while -- looking at fashion thumbnails for artist inspiration, I wanted more color. How drab most of our fashion is, I thought.
Brava! to Betsey Johnson, offering vibrant colors and patterns year after year.
Brava! to Betsey Johnson, offering vibrant colors and patterns year after year.
"Rose Wind" by Paul Klee
But sometimes "drab" is good, very good.
Frederic Leighton and Donna Karan.
Frederic Leighton and Donna Karan.
"Venus Disrobing for the Bath"
by Frederic Leighton
Prabal Gurung's collection was my favorite. Gurung was born in Singapore, raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, and began his career in design in New Delhi, India. He moved to NYC and worked with Donna Karan as an intern and then launched his first collection under his own name two years ago. He designed Michelle Obama's simply fantastic red dress for the White House Correspondents' Dinner last May. For his Fall collection he said ". . . he was dually inspired by John Singer Sargent’s "A Parisian Beggar Girl" and Miss Havisham from Great Expectations."
John Singer Sargent's "A Parisian Beggar Girl"
and Marcus Stone's "Pip Waits on Miss Havisham"
and Marcus Stone's "Pip Waits on Miss Havisham"
Stone's image scanned by Philip V. Allingham
I think fashion design is art, wearable art.
Do you like fashion, or merely tolerate it?
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