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Surrealist Legacy

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Today’s post is another interview with a student.  Massiva has been writing her thesis on how the Surrealist movement impacted fashion design.  This is a topic I have been fascinated by, so I was really eager to see what she would ask me.  Her questions are really thought-provoking.
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  •  Do you think that the surrealist movement influences fashion even nowadays? 

Absolutely.  Surrealist elements have been incorporated into fashion since the movement started in the 1920s. I’d say it’s heyday for fashion designers and Surrealist collaborations was in the 1930s and 1940s, but it’s impact can be felt since.  The Postwar interest in Surrealism and fashion was definitely influenced by Wesley Simpson.  He was a New York textile converter that worked with French artists to create textile designs.  This was a way for painters to have an expanded market.  Not everyone can afford an oil painting by someone like Salvador Dali or Rene Magritte.  But a few yards of fabric designed by the artist was a brilliant way to incorporate art into everyday life, and at a price point that many people could afford.  I think recent interest in Surrealism and fashion has to do with the insight of curators like Dilys Blum (Philadelphia Museum of Art) as well as Andrew Bolton and Harold Koda (Metropolitan Museum of Art).  These curators really brought awareness of Surrealism and it’s impact on fashion with the exhibits Shocking! The Art & Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli and Schiaparelli  & Prada: Impossible Conversations, respectively.  These exhibits allowed a new generation to become familiar with Surrealism.  After these exhibits opened, there was a clear correlation of Surrealist elements showing up in contemporary fashion design.  Prada, Philip Treacy, Diane Von Furstenburg – they were just some of the numerous designers that referenced Surrealism in the past 5 years.   I think that we will continue to see Surrealism impacting fashion because it gives a certain shock value.  People want to be remembered, and that’s certainly easy if you’re wearing a gigantic lobster on your head.

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 Rhinestone encrusted lobster hat by  Philip Treacy, 2010
 
  • Do you think that art will carry on influencing fashion in the future? 
 Yes.  I think the two disciplines are intertwined.  In my mind, they are really extensions of one another.  You can’t really have fashion without art – prints on textiles, sketching new designs, draping fabric, pattern drafting – they all require an artist’s sensitivity to color, silhouette, and the medium used. To be done well, there has to be a mastery and artistry to designing fashion.  So many designers are impacted by artists because they share a similar sensitivity to color, beauty, and representing intangible ideas.  On the flip side, I think it is impossible to have a progression in art without changes in fashion.  To illustrate what I mean, look at the images below: 
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You don’t have to be an art historian to see the progression.  Art changes – it reflects the change in what is considered beautiful, how people dress, as well as innovations in techniques and materials.  It’s easy to date the paintings and art movements by how they depict clothing and the ideal silhouette.  So I think it’s a natural progression.  Future artists and designers will definitely impact each others work.
  • Dali has an important influence on the 20th century, do you think Dali is a visionary?

Honestly, I think he was a little crazy :) He famously said things like: “I don’t do drugs. I  am drugs.” and “There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad.”  But perhaps the chaos of his mind was what made him truly innovative.  He saw and experienced things that others didn’t.  I supposed that is what makes a visionary.

salvador-dali
 
  •  In your opinion, what would be Schiaparelli fashion house if it would not have been closed in 1954 ?
 I think Schiaparelli would have continued to push the envelope.  She liked being innovative and, well, shocking.  She was also extremely intelligent.  I remember reading that she once said: “Fashion is born by small facts, trends, or even politics, never by trying to make little pleats and furbelows, by trinkets, by clothes easy to copy, or by the shortening or lengthening of a skirt.” If her house remained open, I think that statement would have guided every design she made.  The house would have interpreted political sentiments and facts as they were – however beautiful or ugly they may have been.  Maybe she is like Vivienne Westwood in this way. I think she would have delivered small bits of truth via her designs.
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  • You surely heard about that, what do you think of the idea of Diego Della Valle to relaunch Schiaparelli house and give it a second breath?

I have heard this before.  When I hear about these kinds of things, I try to push it to the back of my mind.  I like to view collections and exhibitions without any expectations.  It may be magnificent, it might not.  I’m sure there will be elements of interest.  If I had any advice to Diego Della Valle, it would be to read Schiaparelli’s autobiography, Shocking Life.  If he is interested in relaunching her brand, I hope he takes the time to understand the way in which she perceived things.

elsa-schiaparelli

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