Furthering my
exploration of the ways that Art inspired Fashion, I decided to have a closer
look at the relationship between Surrealism and Fashion. What became
immediately apparent was that I would not be looking for ways in which they
were similar, but rather ways in which they weren't. Indeed, the two were so closely
linked that artists such as Man Ray and Giorgio de Chichiro (of the Italian
Metaphysical school) were doing work with Vogue.
Indeed, a brief description of an edition of Vogue from the time seems to imply
that no page is without the influence of surrealism.
Schiaparelli was one
of the most influential surrealism-inspired designers, often collaborating on
certain projects with the surrealist greats (e.g. the Mutton Chop Hat, the High
Heel hat and the Inkwell hat), but failed to be taken seriously as a designer
because her creations were so absurdist. Like the surrealists, Schiaparelli
used humour in her clothes to jolt her viewers, encouraging them to look again
and re-consider.
Schiaparelli is often dismissed
as merely a clever designer
who
adopted, or even exploited the ideas of the Surrealists in her work, taking
their
lead. Art historian Dickran Tashjian
claims that ―Schiaparelli‘s
contribution
lay mainly in transposing Dalí‘s Surrealist ideas to clothing,
yet
I argue that Schiaparelli‘s work goes beyond mere appropriation, and is
deeply
engaged with Surrealism. The importance
of Schiaparelli‘s work in the
art
world has been largely ignored and covered over. She was not a follower of
the
Surrealists, but was their contemporary, part of their circle
It is important that we recognise when Art is
leading Fashion and when there is a dialogue between them, as is the case with
Elsa Schiaparelli and Dali and between Picasso and Coco Chanel.
Pehaps one of the reasons Surrealism and Fashion became so closely
linked was that at the beginning of the 20th century they were both struggling
to find a balance that allowed them to be commercial, without being
commercially lead. The problems of making something high end and one of a kind
was that they could be copied and mass produced, bringing the value of the
original far down. Fashion designers uses labels while artists sign their works- in essence these
are very similar processes. Equally, in the interest of commercialism, Art
borrowed from fashion the idea of creating magazines which sell their product.
Yesterday was a bit of a high for me and the Yvette Jelfs team- after almost a year of planning and designing and meeting with buyers our hats were released in the Edinburgh stores for the first time yesterday. There was a lovely champagne and cake reception and lots of lovely ladies trying on and buying hats and matching outfits.
