Maison Martin Margiela; Somerset House

Visited 1/9/2010.

This is where it all comes from...truly, truly good stuff!
Seriously inspiring, innovative approaches to fashion with bucket loads of integrity. The perfect antidote to celebrity culture and all the nonsense that goes with it. This made me want to rush home, cut all my clothes up and do sew them back together again in unthinkable ways.    

Will write more on this but wanted to get it up on the blog sharpish!

http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/fashion/maison_martin_margiela_20/default.as

New Technology

Thank you Carloine for forwarding this...

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/9926/foam-porcelain-by-marjan-van-aubel.html

A Concise Dictionary of Fashion; Judith Clarke & Adam Philips

Visited 2/05/2010
http://www.artangel.org.uk//projects/2010/the_concise_dictionary_of_dress/about_the_project/the_concise_dictionary_of_dress

Went to see this fantastic installation at the weekend. Set within Blythe House, previously home to the post office savings bank, now the repository for the V & A archive. This is an hour long exploration of the building and its contents punctuated by a series of curatorial and psychoanalytical responses to the fashion collection.  These are presented in the form of site specific installations accompanied by definitions that provoke an idiosyncratic interpretation of the clothing in terms of 'anxiety, wish and desire'. The guide is not allowed to answer questions about interpretation but can assist with information about materials and practical matters concerning the conservation areas and stores that we pass through. Personal response and interpretation are everything and each visitor to the piece will notice a different set of details. The building is vast; a labyrinth of alarmed corridors on I can't remember how many floors. A warren of staircases, cavernous rooms containing racks, glass fronted cupboards, cabinets and rolls and rolls of textiles wrapped up in conservation white. You catch a glimpse of objects partially obscured by the glare of light on glass and have to pop back momentarily to confirm what you have seen. A spinning wheel, an Islamic vessel, the edge of, what looked like, a stunningly ornate Grinling Gibbons mirror. Stacks, rows, objects propped up against walls and the orderly labels, the labelling and organising of a vast collection of 'things', mostly hand written, some crossed out and updated. Instructions to staff... 'Do not  put anything on this surface or use it for rolling' and there are staff there on a Sunday, waiting patiently for us to move on so they can resume their work carefully shifting artifacts on a trolley. We start at the top of the building, on the roof with panoramic views over London and finish in the basement. I notice strange and seemingly unimportant things; three plastic bin liners of rubbish in a corridor, the surface of a wall, a piece of disused machinery, the thing about an 'Experience' like this is that you are always questioning what parts of the environment are manufactured?

The 'interventions' are whimsical, provocative, amusing, evocative, playful and challenging.

Anthony Shaw Collection.

Richard Lauder suggested I look at this during my tutorial session (26/11/09).
It would give me the opportunity to see examples of Gillian Lowndes pieces in the flesh.
http://www.anthonyshawcollection.org/collection.htm

Julie Major; mixed media sculptures.

'Blanch' 2009; plaster polymer, waxed felt.

 60cm x 60cm x 35cm.

Thanks Esmarelda for putting me onto this work; these pieces are fascinating. The way she has combinated metal, ceramic and fabric together is really successful, also the way she balances intense colour with neutral shades and with white. Very organic shapes and structures that suggest all sorts of things! Piercings with emergent elements that could be biological or part of an exotic plant or animal. The contrast between soft, yeilding surfaces and hard, sharp, aggressive forms creates the sort of tention I would like to achieve in my mixed-media pieces. 
It would be interesting to see them made on a larger scale.

http://www.julie-major.com/docs/artworks.html

(Top) 'Cherry Picking' 2009; plaster polymer, waxed felt, glass bead

126cm x 100cm x 24cm.

(Bottom) 'Sweet Spot' 2009; plaster polymer, fabric

42cm x 42cm x 22cm.

'Collar I' 2009 plaster polymer, fabric, gesso 

30cm x 30cm x 12cm. 

Review; Silver Wedding Dress with Bridal Bouquet by Victor & Rolf.

Ideas around this piece are currently feeding into my project proposal. Initially because of the materials and techniques that have been used, and the gender associations that relate to them. I need to research electro-plating and find out if/how I can organise/generate some samples. I think that it could be a way of preserving the detail and distressed qualities of my fabric pieces whilst turning them into metal. watch this space!

Review/Critical Presentation:
Strapless wedding dress and bridal bouquet, silver-plated;
‘Silver’ Autumn/Winter collection 2006/07.

Designed by Victor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren; Dutch fashion designers who have collaborated together as ‘Victor and Rolf’ since 1993. It featured in a retrospective of their work: The House of Viktor and Rolf’ presented at the Barbican Art Gallery in 2008.

‘For Viktor and Rolf, Couture is an artistic medium, a commodity, and a laboratory of ideas.’ (P6; Merrell) Renowned for collections that straddle the boundaries between ‘Art’ and ‘Design’ they critique the fashion industry while working within it, challenging preconceptions of what clothing can be, using materials in suprising and innovative ways and presenting their work through performance and site specific installation.

 Essentially nostalgic, the dress references a period in the 1940’s /50’s when fashion and femininity was being totally redefined following the launch of Christian Dior’s ‘New Look’.
The piece was presented in a number of ways; as a full size garment on a mannequin, in miniature on ‘Caroline,’ a doll within a doll’s house, and through footage of the catwalk show.
 To categorise this piece as a garment at all is questionable! Clearly it can be worn, but the movement of the wearer is restricted, the process of electroplating subverts the function of the garment transforming it into an object. Inspired by the Dutch custom of preserving a baby’s first shoe for posterity by electroplating it in silver, the dress is an exploration of ideas around the preservation of a memory or event through transformation of a perishable artefact into a resistant, durable momento. It has been described as ‘a metaphor for a desire to give permanence to fashion and still its fleeting nature.’ (P178; Merrell 2008) but also has other connotations.

 The wedding dress with it’s associations; a rite of passage into adult life, the fulfilment of romantic aspiration and social norms, is loaded with significance. Other garments within the collection have individual components that are plated with silver; a cuff, a bow, the hem of a skirt, but the wedding dress is totally covered in precious metal! It is therefore possible to interpret this as a commentary on the value given to marriage culturally and/or the extravagance and consumerism that now dominate the marriage industry.

 Presented as installation in the Greek Revival ‘pillar hall’ (Belsay Hall, Northumberland 2007) the dress becomes classical sculpture; elevated goddess like on a plinth, it alludes to antiquity and the representation of idealised beauty. It is both ‘an ode fashion’ (P178 Merrell 2008) and an indication of Viktor and Rolf’s aspirations.
When viewed closely at the Barbican, the intricate edges of its lace skirt imply the delicate qualities of the fabrics used. The preservation of construction detail and form indicate the level of craftsmanship required in realising this piece, a technical triumph! However, metal surfaces strongly lit from above in a darkened space made the dress look vulgar, like a massive silver charm that will inevitably tarnish as time passes. A critique of the ephemeral nature fashion industry or a comment on the state of matrimony? One thing is clear, heralded as the climax to the 2006/07 Autumn/Winter collection the cultural importance of the wedding dress is maintained and reinforced, both as the ultimate aspirational garment and a pinnacle of the creative process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEvp9jkErmo&NR=1&amp:featur=fvwp

Bibliography:
The House of Viktor & Rolf: Merrell; 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEvp9jkErmo&NR=1&feature=fvwp
http://www.showstudio.com/contributor1363 25/19/2009.
Inside the House of Viktor & Rolf – Symposium; Viktor & Rolf in conversation with Penny Martin (Barbican Centre, 13 Sept 2008) http://www.showstudio.com/contributor1363 25/10/2009.

The Golden Age of Couture; Paris and London 1947-57.

Edited by Claire Wilcox. V&A 2007.

Picture sources:

http://www.styleskilling.com/

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvPNbGWqo9TUa9PE4lt8x5se7KbbhK7rvFFTbw4a3lqcgTYwzEPxnlveviUMancQcWqJ6P4w1HpRPmEyNBF-eVJPzKilUInO8bF8QLJd_oyRWWoxh0rT3Qzax8ORFOeIMCXDybT5aZ52VC/s400/the-house-of-viktor-rolf7.jpg

Christian Dior ‘New Look’ 1947.

http://choubelle.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/fashion-that-even-hetero-man-fashion-dunces-understand/

http://www.sensationalcolor.com/liveinfullcolor/wp-content/uploads/LiveInFullColor/JulieHoylen/Ray_Ban/15matter_650.jpg

Gillian Lowndes; mixed media pieces.

Richard Slee showed one of Gillians pieces in his lecture 'Discovering the Found Object'.
Glad to have tracked this down and on the lookout for more. I am interested in the combination of materials that she uses and the 'fused' effect achieved through firing.

Richard used the word 'apocalyptic'!

http://www.photostore.org.uk/seFULL.aspx?WID=53233&TYPE=TECHNIQUE&CODE=520001012&CAT=CRAFTSCOUNCIL&RECORD=5&MAKERID=50053&MYG=&FLAG= 

Paul Astbury; Ceramic pieces

Ceramics informed by scientific theory. Could be interesting, need to find out more.
http://www.photostore.org.uk/seFULLPF.aspx?WID=53044&MAKERID=12

Julia Lohman; Ruminant Bloom.

Had another look at these today and thought I'd better make a link. I know that biological structures are beautiful, and I shouldn't be suprised that a sheeps intestine can be used in such an engaging way.

They are strange, familiar, exquisite and disconcerting!

http://www.limn.com/suppliers/92/Julia-Lohman/211/Ruminant-Bloom.html