THE QUEEN AND THE PRINCE CONSORT
“The Queen and The Prince Consort”, photograph of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, John J.E. Mayall (1810-1901), London, England, 1861
I chose this postcard due to the image of a Male and Female in an era when gender was seen as extremely defined.
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gender-roles-in-the-19th-century
“During the Victorian period men and women’s roles became more sharply defined than at any time in history.In earlier centuries it had been usual for women to work alongside husbands and brothers in the family business. Living ‘over the shop’ made it easy for women to help out by serving customers or keeping accounts while also attending to their domestic duties. As the 19th century progressed men increasingly commuted to their place of work – the factory, shop or office. Wives, daughters and sisters were left at home all day to oversee the domestic duties that were increasingly carried out by servants. From the 1830s, women started to adopt the crinoline, a huge bell-shaped skirt that made it virtually impossible to clean a grate or sweep the stairs without tumbling over.
‘Separate spheres’
“The ideology of Separate Spheres rested on a definition of the ‘natural’ characteristics of women and men. Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere”
https://www.marks-postcard-chat.co.uk/2018-blogs/august-2018-blog-2/
“This is another good example of a past monarch appearing on a modern postcard and I think it would be fair to say that Queen Victoria is more widely collected than Queen Elizabeth 1 (see previous posting). I think that this is because the Queen Victoria era contains so many innovations and social changes that still fascinate us today, and of course postcards were created during her reign.”
- this piece of writing I found interesting because both this and the image indicate a sense of contrast yet irony. Irony because it says there were many “innovations and social changes that still fascinate us today” yet the relationship between and with Male/ Female identity was still a prevalent issue.
JESUS ON A DONKEY
“Jesus on a donkey”, painted and gilded limewood and pine, Southern Germany, about 1480
Why I chose;
Image of animal and human
Made me think what would be to happen if evolution took place and humans evolved into not needing travel and become a form of travel in themselves…
During collecting these postcards, I thought about the idea of evolution and how the Male/ Female identity has come to be constructed and evolved. I then thought about the future and on whether, literally or perhaps just conceptually, could the image of Female/ Male evolve to be one?
Evolve to be one physically or perhaps mentally?
Evolve to be one in regards of societal and cultural expectation… indifferences?
If evolution of Female and Male identity is in retrospect of the mentality ( and societal and cultural expectation) perhaps I could explore this through a physical image?
CLAUDE CAHUN
CLAUDE CAHUN
(1894-1954)
- transgender, surrealist, feminine artist
- explores concept of gender fluidity through photography and written word
- how this constructs/ deconstructs an identity of an individual
- images of herself
- perilous subject due to the challenging nature of her work in this time frame
- exploration into an individual’s identity
- explores the paradoxical notion of femininity and masculinity and what it means to manipulate these identification roles within a society where gender roles were deemed immutably constrained.
- challenges the taboos of gender fluidity
- theatrical and ambiguously indefinite depth of self-identity that she writes writes in her autobiography, Disavowels, ‘Shuffle the cards. Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation.’
- Her intangible approach to what a gendered identity is, contributes to her surrealist mindset where they are known for their progressive and liberal deviation from the conventional ideals within society.
- blurring between two genders, male and female, she explores through the many adopted personas presented like a weightlifter, Red Riding Hood, the foreboding of an Auschwitz survivor and even her earlier work ‘Self-Portrait as a Young Girl’[1] (1914).
plays not with the notion of costume and obscuring an identity, but intensifies the viewer’s depiction of an identity, simply through the placement of the herself. The bedsheets within this image disconnect her head and body.
threatening, almost visually dangerous wide stare identifies the juxtaposed ideology of her death-like, ‘invalid in a hospital bed’[2] (as described by Sarah Howgate), which is in opposition to her awakened and blatantly living stare.
This juxtaposed ideology cleverly signifies Cahun’s intent at how although the female identity may not be following the confines of the objectified feminine role and is perhaps communicating through the ‘intellectual pursuits’[3] of her eyes. The ‘intellectual pursuit’ that deconstructs the female archetype of the exploitation of their ‘reproductive capabilities/ mothers/ housewives and sexualised bodies’[4] and highlights the timely notion of the battle to acknowledge female emotion and rage in the same way as it is perceived as ‘honest’ and acceptable to the nature of the male identity. ?
- ‘I am in training don’t kiss me’ [5] (c. 1927), also signifies a deconstruction of the female identity, however through the unconventional construction of the homogenisation of fluid gender identities. Cahun does this using costume, props and makeup.
- depicts an androgynous individual with painted weights on their lap, synthetic nipples on the costume shirt paired alongside the cropped hair. The text within this image of, ‘I am in training don’t kiss me’, also furthers the notion behind a typically preconceived idea of a certain identity of what they cannot have, and this text is already dissasembling and echoing in a purposeful and deliberately bigotted tone, the viewers own sub-conscious and insensitive bigotry to the stereotypes of gender.
- exploring the multi-layered depth of identity
- the historical significance that gender and identity has always played a part in.
[1] https://awarewomenartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/claude-cahun_self-portrait-claude-cahun-as-a-young-girl_1914_aware_women-artists_artistes-femmes.jpg
[2] https://www.theartstory.org/artist-cahun-claude.htm
[3] https://www.academia.edu/1009517/Reconstruction_of_female_identity_in_popular_culture
[4] https://www.academia.edu/1009517/Reconstruction_of_female_identity_in_popular_culture
[5] https://feministartpower.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/cahun-i-am-in-training-don_t-kiss-me.jpg?w=640&h=860
TABOO
TABOO
- definition of taboo is ‘prohibition or restricted by social custom’[1] clearly highlighting the way a common or prescribed identity can either be restricted or directed to a certain expression, through social custom.
- In the essay titled, ‘Taboos and Identity: Considering the Unthinkable’[2] by Chaim Fershtman, Uri Gneezy and Moshe Hoffman, it states that:
‘…taboos are part of the definition of one’s identity’ and ‘we analyse the relationship between social heterogeneity and ‘taboo’s strength. We then examine societies in which individuals choose among several identities characterised by different taboos. We characterise the conditions that give rise to a multi-identity society. (JEL Z13)’.
These statements illustrate how the accumulation of a number of identities can dictate what is deemed as a shared standardisation of adequate behaviour these individuals should or should not follow.
[1] https://www.bing.com/search?q=taboo+definition&FORM=EDGNCT&refig=1567413efa6c4e40fabbad8404a9b8fa
[2] https://www.tau.ac.il/~fersht/Papers/taboo_December%20_12_2009%5B1%5D.pdf
ANDROGONY
BOOK RESEARCH
“expectations about what is appropriate behaviour for each sex”.
“Is it the image presented? Could it be the culture, and environment surrounding the individual or is it biological.”
Weiten (1997)
(as cited in Holt, 1998)
https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Androgyny-P3JWZGN3TC
WOMEN: PSYCHOLOGY’S PUZZLE
WOMEN: PSYCHOLOGY’S PUZZLE
JOANNA BUNKER ROHBAUGH
SIMON LEE GALLERY
SIMON LEE GALLERY
"personal quarters if the artist's life"
"wholly immersive experience"
"sensual and physical nature"... both physical and emotive... similar to the way I aim to explore- whether the evolution in gender is physical or mental- the image of this evolution visually.
"power and strength/ lyrical femininity of her figures that move rhythmically through the space bringing harmony"... sense of juxtaposition and simultaneous female identity characteristics... not just a stereotypical female... encompasses all aspects
"belong to her imagination"... idea of creation
"archetypal women and men/ states of undress/ groups/ in pairs/ alone/ recline in both ecstasy and agony"
"bare/ exposed"
"tense tableau"
"withdrawn in defence"
"languid"
"air of euphoria"
"quiet and subtle"
"symbols of the interiority of the body and self"
"congregation of figures evoking a sense of belonging and power"... sense of unity/ lack of othering?... all power no matter what supposed gender... fluid within power and worth as well as physicality
"humanity- in all its excitement, intimacy, poignancy, boredom and disappointment"... wholesomeness within each individual and their humanity/ lives
... "worth uncovering"...
"freedom of form and expression, unrestrained"
"urgency/ loose outlines/ escape the boundaries of the traditional"... newness/ fresh/ against the expected... could be deemed as "taboo"?
"bare backgrounds/ sense of weightlessness and abandonment"
"sense of freedom, a loss of inhibition and illustrate an exploration of the ephemeral and transitory qualities of both art and life"... life exceeds the mundane, something more spiritually energy, temporary
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS
INTRODUCING EVOLUTION
LABEL 69
LABEL 69
No constraints
‘cartoonishly oversized silhouettes’
Not tailored to a particular age or gender
Ambiguity
Universal
Androgynous designs
Free of prejudice- head designer identifies as androgynous
AW15 presentation- employed group of 50 real people- showing diversity of these non-models
Ethos= realness
Yohji Yamamoto
'MY ANGER': JAPANESE DESIGNER YOHJI YAMAMOTO OPENS UP ABOUT LOSING HIS FATHER AND HIS RAGE AT FASHION’S FRIVOLITIES
- ‘it almost goes without saying, perceived notions of beauty. In the early days, even in his native Japan, the women who wore the dark and distressed shapes pioneered by the designer were labelled "the crows". More ' recently, a softer and unashamedly romantic aesthetic has come to the fore, loved by the sartorially discerning male or female who has little time for bourgeois notions of status-dressing and the more typically ostentatious display of power and wealth that goes hand in hand with that.’
- ‘Intensifying my annoyance was the fact that the shop was in the Kabukicho area of Shinjuku, a place overflowing with women whose job it was to titillate male customers. They had shaped my image of womanhood since childhood, and I was therefore determined at all costs to avoid creating the cute, doll-like women that some men so adore."
- ‘Instead, he was endeavouring to change fashion's perception of femininity entirely, to fly in the face of the accepted jolie madame mindset and offer a solution to dress that was discreetly erotic more than overtly sexual, that concerned itself, first and foremost, with the relationship between garment and wearer and was aimed squarely at those who dressed to please no one but themselves.’
- "When I began to make clothing, my single thought was to have women wear what was thought of as men's clothing. In those days, Japanese women wore, as a matter of course, imported feminine clothing, and I simply detested that fact." His mother's widow's weeds also, surely, provided at least some of the inspiration for his designs. "She wore nothing but black mourning clothes and I would watch as the hem of her skirt fluttered."
- ‘Still, for the most part, black – the designer has always said that this, the quintessential fashion non-colour, focuses the attention on cut – this is fashion as object of beauty and, in this, it remains unsurpassed.’
-
VAQUERA
VAQUERA
Made-you-look cut outs
Homoerotic references
Designer had a conservative Christian upbringing so the collections give you ‘pastoral American culture a romantic and modern edge’
Replaced traditional models with friends and held in busy underground subway station in NYC
Thought provoking
MARC BRANDENBURG EXHIBITION
"CENSURE AND RIDICULE IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY; SENSITIVITY, VULNERABILITY, TRAUMA, A LACK OF STAMINA AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF UNIQUENESS AS INNATE TO ALL INDIVIDUALS"
"MASKED, HEADS BOWED, OR FULLY COVERED- SEVERED FROM THEIR SURROUNDINGS AND APPEARING COCOONED OR IN FREE FALL AMIDST AN EXPANSE OF UNDEFINED SPACE"
"SEVERING FROM SOCIAL RHETORIC"
"LIT BY AN UNEARTHLY UV GLOW AMIDST THE DARKNESS, THE DRAWINGS APPEAR AS ABSTRACT STILLS FROM A FILM. INVERTING LIGHT AND DARK VALUES, THE RESULTANT IMAGES RADICALLY EXPAND THE POSSIBILITIES OF DRAWING AND FUNCTION AS SPRINGBOARDS INTO BIZARRE PARALLEL WORLD(S), REDUCED TO THEIR FUNDAMENTALS AND FREED FROM EXPLICIT SOCIAL OR POLITICAL NARRATIVE"
"IMAGES OF ROLES AND BODIES, OF COSTUMES AND RITUALS, OF ELEMENTS OUTSIDE THE SOCIAL NORM, THE ARTIST EXPLORES A SENSE OF TRANSIENCE AND TEMPORALITY."
"SNOWFLAKE/ ACT OF ARRESTING TIME/ WORD'S USE IN INCREASINGLY DIVIDED SOCIETIES AS A METAPHORICAL INSULT/ VARYING POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND GENERATIONAL GROUPS"
"ARTIST INVITES VISITORS/ UNDERSTOOD BOTH LITERALLY AND AS THE ABSENCE OF SELF OF THE LOSS OF CONTROL/ THE WIDESPREAD SENSIBILITIES OF PRECARIOUS EXISTENCE."
"SNOWFLAKE/ DESCRIPTION FUNCTION OF AN EVER-CHANGING SOCIAL CONSTRUCT"
"FIGURES ARE PRESENTED NOT AS INDIVIDUAL IDENTITIES, BUT AS SIGNIFIERS OF SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED GROUPINGS, LACKING BACKGROUNDS, FEATURES OR FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, THEY BECOME OBJECTS AWAITING IMPOSED IDENTITIES AND NARRATIVES."
"ANONYMOUS STATUS AS EMPTY SIGNIFIERS CALLS INTO QUESTION BROADER CONSIDERATIONS OF BOTH EMBEDDED STEREOTYPING AND ITS INHERENT SUBJECTIVITY."
"MATERIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL"
"POSING QUESTIONS ABOUT POWER, CLASS AND TERRITORY..."
HIRO: FISH AND FOWL EXHIBITION
"BRILLIANT COLOUR, VIOLENT MOVEMENT, AND HIGH EMOTION/ BEAUTY IN THE UNEXPECTED"
"SURPRISES, ABNORMALITIES, UNUSUAL LIGHTING, SURREALISM, AND AN ASTOUNDING VISION"
"UNUSUAL LIGHTING EFFECTS, SURPRISING ANGLES, JUXTAPOSING ELEMENTS AND BOLD COLOURS"
"FISH SERIES/ 24 DYE TRANSFER COLOUR IMAGES"
"VISUAL STATEMENT"
"SURVIVAL INSTINCTS OF THESE CREATURES"
"THE SPEED AT WHICH THE ANIMALS ENGAGE IN THEIR FIGHTING CAUSES THEM TO BECOME INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM ONE ANOTHER"
MOSES GAUNTLETT CHENG
MOSES GAUNTLETT CHENG
Soft androgyny
Influenced by Eckhaus Latta’s deconstructed designs and anti-established outlook to fashion industry
Unisex
Whatever gender definition
PRIMARY RESEARCH SURVEY
Gender
- What is your gender/ what gender do you identify with?
- Have you/ do you feel a certain pressure to conform to certain expectations of your gender?
- Have you/ are you performing consciously or unconsciously to fit your gender and it’s stereotype?
- Why do you think there is certain stereotype for male and female?
- What is your take on gender expression?
- What are your thoughts on this quote; “for the two sexes to exist in different social worlds with widely divergent pressures, rewards and expectations. In many areas of life there is no truly human experience. There is only female experience and male experience.”
DRAPING
DRAPING
- quick mock-up ideas
- variation and possibilities
- fast pace movement and repositioning of fabric
- photographs, sketches (direct observation and from image), notes
- experimental and explorative
- allow gravity to take control of fabric or pin and reposition fabric to hang on body in a particular form
- create a base structure before the drape?
- toile
- consider wearer’s body and its movement in relation to the piece
- sculptural and practical
- supportive linings
- depending on garment shape- need a lining that mimics shape of silhouette of body or shape of garment
VEJAS
VEJAS
Persona not gender
Twisted, post-gender take on Americana (‘(think wifebeater vests reworked into androgynous dresses and lace up baseball trousers paired with crop tops)’
Took inspiration from idea of resilience and horror movie Final Girl
Representative of the outside world
NOH MASK
“Noh mask”, Suzuki Nohjin, Japanese cypress, gesso and horsehair, Japan, 2000
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O438434/noh-mask-suzuki-nohjin/
Carved from a block of Japanese cypress with applied gesso (J. gofun) and painted; applied horsehair
- Noh= classical theatre of Japan/ 14th century by father and son actors Kan’ami and Zeami under the patronage of the Shogun (supreme military leader) Ashikaga Yoshimitsu
- Yoshimitsu- the zen principles of restraint, understatement, economy of movement and frugality of expression became incorporated into the performance
Initially I perceived this mask as a negative representation of something yet after researching found it represented something more optimistic. Therefore giving inspiration for my piece to hold a sense of liberation and progression rather than capturing the traditional isolation and maltreatment of gender.
The Samurai of Japan: A Chronology from Their Origin in the Heian Era (794-1185) to the Modern Era
1998
“Yoshimitsu considered Zen Buddhism the official Muromachi religion, and Zeami incorporated the Zen artistic principles of restraint and subtlety into Noh, making it one of Japan’s greatest art forms. Patronage of the arts by the Ashikaga shoguns enabled a new culture to develop in Japan that combined the traditional elegant styleof the aristocracy with the energetic expression of the samurai”
SUIT OF ARMOUR
“Suit of armour”, Myochin Muneharu, Japan, 1859
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75791/suit-of-armour-myochin-muneharu/
Iron mask, with whiskers of animal hair; gold-lacquered iron and leather small-plates, laced with silk; iron chainmail sleeves and leg-guards; stencilled leather breast-plate, shoulder-strap protectors and other details; patterned silk sleeves; gilt openwork trimmings; red silk cords; and stencilled leather, gilt and fur boots
- helmet/ suit of armour
- embellishments… type of ceremonial armour and military equipment
LOOK INTO ARMOUR, PROTECTION AND COSTUME
WHY I CHOSE;
- image of protection?
- image of being something you’re not?
- or perhaps image of that being you and how you feel comfortable?
- links to gender fluidity and the adoption of Male and Female identity or perhaps Male taking on feminine/ female qualities or a Female taking on masculine/ male qualities?
AFTERNOON AT HOME
“Afternoon at Home”, Design for a postcard, Louis Wain (1860-1939), Indian ink, watercolour and gouache, Britain, early 20th century
WHY I CHOSE;
Image of a form of ‘evolution’ or ‘progression within a life form
How far can humans evolve mentally and physically?
PLATE 169
“Plate 169 from the series Animal Locomotion”, Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904), collotype
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.166666.html
Animal Locomotion: An Electro-Photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements (series)
WHY I CHOSE THIS POSTCARD;
- the image of evolution and development
During collecting these postcards, I thought about the idea of evolution and how the Male/ Female identity has come to be constructed and evolved. I then thought about the future and on whether, literally or perhaps just conceptually, could the image of Female/ Male evolve to be one?
Evolve to be one physically or perhaps mentally?
Evolve to be one in regards of societal and cultural expectation… indifferences?
If evolution of Female and Male identity is in retrospect of the mentality ( and societal and cultural expectation) perhaps I could explore this through a physical image?
CORSET
“Corset”, red sateen, yellow leather and whalebone with a steel spoon-shaped busk, Britain, 1883
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O58915/corset-unknown/
- early 1870s, crinoline replaced by the bustle, corsets changed shape
- became much longer to achieve the fashionable slender silhouette
- had to be rigid to conceal layers of underwear… chemise and petticoat worn beneath
- this one cut from separate pieces reinforced with leather
- strips of covered whalebone form the scaffolding of the corset- whalebone strong yet flexible and can mould body
- create a cage around torso, enclosing upper body and accentuating bust and hips
- steel busk defined at front
- busk is wider as bottom than top… supposed to equalise pressure on the abdomen, making the corset more wearable/ could make the corset more restricting as corset could be pulled in more at the waist.
WHY I CHOSE;
- relate to stereotypical female and their identity
- can this be manipulated? Presented without a person in it… isolated from the gender
- worn to fit female but can I manipulate this without rigidity and typical attributes for a female as don’t want to fit the female identity but fit with a sense of fluidity (gender)
… how could I do this?
Sense of malleability?
Do I want to accentuate or enclose physical attributes? Just a sense of natural and no human enforcement following societal and cultural ideals…
I’d want the piece to be like a skin and not a garment.
ANDROGONY
ANDROGONY
“Androgyny is the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics into an ambiguous form. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual identity.”
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Androgyny
“An individual with characteristics of Androgyny are not bound by traditional gender roles, but are more inclined to demonstrate characteristics reminiscent of both. Weiten (1997) defines (as cited in Holt, 1998) gender roles as “expectations about what is appropriate behaviour for each sex”. What really makes a male or female behave entirely in that manner? Is it the image presented? Could it be the culture, and environment surrounding the individual or is it biological. In 1973, a psychologist named Sandra Bem decided to invent a new method of testing these attributes and explored the reality behind a word that has been in use since classical methodology and early literature.”
Duckie Thot and Aubrey's shadow
TIM WALKER;
“Duckie Thot and Aubrey’s shadow”, Fashion: Saint Laurent, London, 2017, From the series Pen & Ink
- surrealist
- creative
- unique
- imaginative
- extraordinary
- whimsical
- enchanting
- provocative
- evocative
- inspired by V&As collections
- inspired by; illuminated Medieval manuscripts and stained glass, vivid Indian miniature paintings, jewelled snuffboxes, erotic illustrations, golden shoes, and a 65-metre-long photograph of the Bayeux Tapestry, the largest photograph in the museum’s collection, as well as an Alexander McQueen dress.
“Each new shoot is a love letter to an object from the V&A collection, and an attempt to capture my encounter with the sublime,” explains Walker. “For me, beauty is everything. I’m interested in breaking down the boundaries that society has created, to enable more varied types of beauty and the wonderful diversity of humanity to be celebrated. Preparing for this exhibition over the past three years has pushed me into new territories, which is very exciting, and I’m at a stage in my life where I feel brave enough to do that.”
Inspired by the graphic lines of Aubrey Beardsley;
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/beardsley-aubrey/
- brevity
- controversial
- linear elegance
- bizarre sense of humour and fascination with the grotesque and taboo simultaneously intrigued and repelled his Victorian audience.
reminds me of how I want to subvert the issues of the past that have diffused into the present with the image of gender
- characteristics of Aestheticism, Decadence, Symbolism and Art Nouveau
- block prints… easily reproduced and widely circulated
- diabolic beauty
- captured the mood of the accompanying text, whilst aggressively critiquing repressive Victorian concepts of sexuality, beauty, gender roles and consumerism
- borrowed aspects from various artistic movements and adapted to suit own purposes
- appropriated the Decadent themes of decay, death, and eroticism to shock viewers whilst the delicately interlacing forms and sinuous arabesque lines make his work significant in making the visual shift from Aesthetic movement to the modern Art Nouveau style
I HAD MY CONCEPT AND FOUND THE EXHIBITION (TIM WALKER) INSPIRING VISUALLY AND PHYSICALLY TO MY CONCEPT AND FROM MY OTHER PREVIOUS INSPIRATION AND RESEARCH,
BUT WHEN RESEARCHING INTO AUBREY BEARDSLEY, I FOUND OUT HIS WORK IS EXTREMELY RELEVANT CONCEPTUALLY IN THE MESSAGES AND IDEAS.
ARTWORKS;
How Sir Tristram Drank of the Love Drink (1893-4)
- story of King Arthur
- image refers to Tristram and Isolde’s doomed love story
- depicts couple as androgynous figures
- flowers ready to burst, suggesting fertile ripeness or perhaps foretelling the blossoming of something more sinister
- Pre-Raphaelite romance and darker Decadent themes of sex and death
- it was also a social critique. Beardsley's androgynous figures challenged established Victorian gender roles and traditional concepts of sexuality.
The Woman in the Moon, Frontispiece for Salomé (1894)
- created for Salome, Oscar Wilde’s book based on his own play
- inspired by murderous biblical femme fatale who killed John the Baptist
- considered blasphemous
- offense
- making fun/ mocking repressive Victorian society and the posturing of Wilde
- naked man (Page of Herodias) stands protectively in front of robed man (Narraboth)- gazes at moon
- Wilde’s version- both fall victim to unrequited love- Page loves Narraboth yet Narraboth loves Salome
- Page wants to shield both away from moon- person in moon is author and has control over characters
- Beardsley aimed to convey mood or an idea- adopts SYMBOLIC REPRESENATION
- highlights the homosexual passions
- moon= Wilde whose sexual preferences were known
- carnation left of the moon= indication of homosexuality at the time/ abhorred
- created illustrations addressing key social issues behind Wilde’s book
- critique repressive Victorian values
The Peacock Skirt (1893)
- for Wilde’s Salome (1894)
- protagonist wrapped in long, flowing garment embroidered with designs reflecting peacock feathers
- peacock in left whilst Salome looms over young man who adores her- like a seen of seduction and devouring him/ threatening
- man’s legs visible beneath cloak conceal his gender
- challenges Victorian concepts of sexuality and gender roles
- but modern notion of the “New Woman” most evident here?
- Victorian notion of passive/ subordinate female… Salome is self-possessed/ sexually charged/ dominant
- contrast
Adam & Eve fig leaf
Will the female genitalia physically become obscured and evolve to be obliterated due to the male ideology and perspective through time?
Male Gaze
or does the mentality of the male gaze, ideology and perspective initiate a visual representation of this through the art?
Yohji Yamamoto
Yohji Yamamoto
- dark and poetic
- draping and deconstruction
- indifference
- “I used to explain my spirit as anti-trend, anti-fashion. I kept saying I’m an outsider. Now the vocabulary is not enough. And I’m angry about what’s going on in fashion, so I have become partisan.” It’s a word that people today assume is political. “Or dangerous,”
https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2020-menswear/yohji-yamamoto
- Avant-Garde … vulnerability
- manipulated current ideals to form an adjusted version
‘Given his avant-garde vision—the masterful execution, the implicit vulnerability—the past 20 years of fashion must seem prosaic compared to the prospect of corsets and crinolines.’
…
- off-centre
- silhouettes
- raw edge
- openwork
- drape
- drama
- flair
- haphazard placements
- romantic spin
- large volume
- complex layers
- single layers
- buttoning systems
- complex volumes
- padded
- modelled on historical silhouettes
- morphed
- painterly gestures
- angles
- observations
- express concern for current issues
- ‘treated with the vigor of someone undeterred by mortality.’
- final look lacking an explanation= ambiguity
- “Endless repetition and the study of the classics. After that, one can topple the establishment. It is just the same as waging a war,” he wrote in My Dear Bomb, an autobiography-cum-manifesto published 10 years ago. “The classics stand the test of time.” Yes, dear Yohji-san, yours certainly will.’
- construction and deconstruction
- nuanced intensity
- beautiful abstraction
- ‘were oversize chapeaux reminiscent of museum portraits; wire hemlines on dresses and skirts that curled around as though suspended mid-gust; looks that appeared eccentrically stitched together from old slips and bedsheets; and patterns of cut-outs that deserved to be psychoanalyzed. But to the extent that the feisty septuagenarian usually indulges his dark Baudelairian tendencies, the sum of these impressively executed parts actually felt less profoundly melancholic, more palpably enchanting.’
- seductive bias cut and drape
- minimalist
- monochromatic but also others were engulfed in colour and pattern/ geometry- cubism within black tailoring- foamy blocks protruding from shoulders
- ‘For all the experiments in artful exposure these past few weeks, this grouping of coats and dresses would make a fantastic statement for any art fair–related event. Hats with brims that zipped away or were shaped like single-size umbrellas and sneakers with staggered striped soles transferred these Surrealist whims to more accessible accessories.’
- In his memoir, My Dear Bomb, he noted that people have an inherent desire to be understood. Cue the final question of the night: Does this apply to him, too? “Being misunderstood is good,” Yamamoto answered, coyly. “Misunderstanding is understanding.”
- number of personal GUISES through the progression of the runway looks… reminds me of evolution and image I am trying to create/ present
- “The world seems hopeless, so I wanted to send a message,”
- ‘It wasn’t a stretch to imagine guys who dress to express in one of the velvet jackets or coats covered in drawings of animal faces or women’s silhouettes (maybe less so the ankle-length velvet skirt). The cords bundled into bows like duffle coat closures, and the wispy silken threads that floated from garments felt like poetic gestures, only softer instead of somber. Yamamoto, bless him, offered a more playful explanation: “I forgot to cut.”
… what I aim to explore
- “Each customer can play with each silhouette; it’s a natural change.”
- Further on, the complex creations gave way to more reduced, more exposed designs. These were the most beautiful dresses of the lot, yet to Yamamoto, they represented the predicament of the present. “It’s this crazy global warming, you know. But I don’t want girls to show too much of their body, just the back,” he said before revealing that the stickers on their skin were rather racy. One read, Love Yohji Sex.
- ‘We need to put air between the fabric and the body—how big or how tight, how long or short.” Doesn’t this explain almost everything without killing the mystique? And yet, he offered more, mentioning his fascination with twentysomething guys who borrow clothes from girls, and vice versa—a fascinating observation from someone who pioneered an androgynous approach.’
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ANNEGRET SOLTAU EXHIBITION
"RADICAL APPROACH TO SELF-REPRESENTATION AND THE FEMALE BODY"
"CRITICAL FRAME OF FEMINIST THINKING WITHOUT BEING DEFINED BY IT"
"EXPLORES THE DISTORTION BETWEEN HUMAN BODY AND SPIRIT, DWELLING BETWEEN FRAGILE BEAUTY AND UNNATURAL MONSTROSITY"
"INVITE VOLUNTEERS FROM THE AUDIENCE TO BE WRAPPED UP IN THREAD/ UNRECOGNISABLE"
"WRAPPED UP AND TIED TOGETHER/ A PROCESS"
"VISIBLE THE DEPENDENCIES, COMMUNICATIVE RELATIONSHIPS, AND THE EXTENT TO WHICH WE ARE CONTROLLED BY OTHERS"
"CRITICAL ADMIRATION AND MISINTERPRETATION"
"MEN EXPRESSING THE WISH TO BE WRAPPED UP FOR SEXUAL PURPOSES, RATHER THAN FOR ANY ARTISTIC ENDEAVOUR"
"DRAWINGS DELICATELY EXPOSE THE EPHEMERAL OUTCOME OF AN INSECT'S BODILY EXTROVERSION, CONTRASTING THIS WITH PREDICTED REACTIONS OF SPONTANEOUS REVULSION"
"THE INTRINSIC TRANSFORMATIONS THAT THEY BROUGHT TO HER BODY"
"SET OF 365 FRAMES/ SHE LOST OVER THE COURSE OF HER FIRST GESTATION, OFFERS A TACTILE REPRESENTATION OF THE IMPERCEPTIBLE TRANSFORMATIONS SHE UNDERWENT AT THE TIME"
"PHOTO ETCHINGS/ INCREASING SCRATCHES ON THE NEGATIVES SURFACE, UNTIL THE ARTIST'S FIGURE DEPICTED IN THE PRINTS ENTIRELY DISAPPEARS"
"BIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE AND SOCIAL PROVOCATION"
"CHALLENGE THE ESTABLISHED BOUNDARIES OF FEMINIST ARTISTIC EXPRESSION"
DONNA HUANCA EXHIBITION
DONNA HUANCA EXHIBITION
WET SLIT
"POLITICS OF THE BODY AS IT RELATES TO SPACE AND TEMPORALITY"
"SKIN AS THE COMPLEX INTERFACE VIA WHICH WE EXPERIENCE THE WORLD AROUND US"
"INDEXICAL PRACTICE/ INTERACTION BETWEEN THE EPHEMERALITY OF EXPERIMENTAL ART AND THE PERMANENCE OF PAINTING"
"TACTILITY"
"MATERIALS REFER DIRECTLY TO THE HUMAN BODY AND DENOTE AN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE CULTURAL TRADITIONS OF HER BOLIVIAN ANCESTRY"
"DARK, HEMETIC ENVIRONMENT THAT COUNTERACTS THE STERILE LIGHT OF THE GROUND FLOOR"
"UPENDING PREVAILING POWER"
"AMPLIFIED CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SENSE WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF SOUND AND SCENT , BRINGING SIGHT, HEARING AND SMELL INTO CONGRESS"
"DISPLACE THE VIEWER FROM THEIR SURROUNDINGS AND INTO A TRANSCENDENT STATE/ UNDERLINING THE SUBCONSCIOUS"
"SENSORY EXPERIMENTATION, WHICH BRINGS BODIES AND ARCHITECTURE INTO DIRECT CONTACT "
"EMOTIONALLY INSTINCTIVE BODY OF WORK CHALLENGES THE VIEWER THROUGH AN INVOCATION OF THE MUTABLE, INTERACTIVE AND NON-CONFORMING"
GYPSY SPORT
GYPSY SPORT
Celebrates misfits
Gender-bending
Show guests greeted by words “welcome gypsies and genderless”
Wild entertainers of all genders and looks danced/ performed
Brand’s collections typically boxed in to ‘men’s’ category but he still shows on all types
WHITE
WHITE
White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It is considered to be the color ofperfection. White means safety, purity, and cleanliness. As opposed to black, white usually has a positive connotation.
- cold and isolate- make concept stand out- look at form and details rather than colour
‘white was also ranked number one for evoking moods of quietness and concentration’
- feng shui- ‘system of arranging your environment to create harmony’
- wholeness and completion
- colour of new beginnings or wiping the slate clean
- blank canvas waiting to be written on
- unstimulating to the sense so allows openings for the creation of anything the mind wants too
- contains an equal balance of all the colours of the spectrum- both positive and negative aspects of all colours
… equality, fairness, impartiality, neutrality and independence
- reflective, awakening openness, growth and creativity
- cannot hide behind it as it amplifies everything in its way
- comfort and hope
- sense of order and efficiency
- inner cleansing and purifying of thoughts, emotions and spirit=. Refresh and strengthening entire energy system
Eckhaus Latta
ECKHAUS LATTA
Actively closing gap between gender specific and the genderless
Convertible designs
“I think we design by feeling”
Unisex
AW15 NYFW- boys in midriffs cut into fitted silhouettes and girls wearing wavy-hemmed, shapeless garments in men shirting fabrics