Wearable Art

Lady Mary looked perfect in episode 3 and very much like...

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:00:18 -0400

Lady Mary looked perfect in episode 3 and very much like Manet’s ‘The Amazon’. I know there is no connection, but alas it’s impossible for me to stop making them up.

wornjournal: Kansai Yamamoto for Vogue UK, October 1971photo by...

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:00:28 -0400

wornjournal:

Kansai Yamamoto
for Vogue UK, October 1971
photo by Clive Arrowsmith

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WORN: where ideas get dressed

Tanaka Atsuko: Electric Dress (1956) Tanaka Atsuko, a member of...

Mon, 13 May 2013 08:00:52 -0400

Tanaka Atsuko: Electric Dress (1956)

Tanaka Atsuko, a member of the experimental Gutai movement that flourished in post-war Japan, used humble, everyday materials — such as textiles, lightbulbs, and doorbells — for her extraordinary sculptures and performance pieces. Her “Electric Dress,” a full-body costume made of electrical wires and blinking colored lightbulbs, was her most famous work, and she would wear it to exhibitions. The first time she every put it on, though, she hesitated before flipping the switch. “I had the fleeting thought: Is this how a death-row inmate would feel?” she said.

Mary Cassatt: The Caress (1902) Happy Mother’s Day!

Sun, 12 May 2013 10:30:56 -0400

Mary Cassatt: The Caress (1902)

Happy Mother’s Day!

wornjournal: Costume Design for actress Aileen Pringle...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:00:54 -0400

wornjournal:

Costume Design for actress Aileen Pringle by Erté in the film The Mystic (1925)

Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design, p. 68 - 69
Deborah Nadoolman Landis
HarperCollins Publishers, 2007

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Who, what, where, why and WORN

So many fashion editorials inspired by Gustav Klimt! This is an...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:00:42 -0400

So many fashion editorials inspired by Gustav Klimt! This is an oldie but goodie.

theyroaredvintage:

Photo by Norman Parkinson, 1965 (editorial inspired by Gustav Klimt)

theyroaredvintage: Mondrian inspired swimwear, 1966.

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:00:32 -0400

theyroaredvintage:

Mondrian inspired swimwear, 1966.

the-seed-of-europe: At the Bar (Salvation Army Girls) by Jeanne...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:11:24 -0400

the-seed-of-europe:

At the Bar (Salvation Army Girls) by Jeanne Mammen, 1926.

During the Weimar hyperinflation crisis of the late 1920s, religious charities such as Catholic Relief and the American Salvation Army came to Berlin to provide relief - which was, of course, ironic considering the factors that led to the financial crisis to begin with. In the parlance of the queer Berlin demimonde, however, Salvation Army Girls (or, more popularly, Hot Whores) were heavily made-up professional prostitutes who serviced exclusively female clients. They could usually be found at the bars of lesbian lounges, looking bored and smoking cigarettes in long holders.

(Image and info source: Mel Gordon’s Voluptuous Panic.)

A Young Lady of Fashion, attributed to Paolo Uccello, early...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:00:50 -0400

A Young Lady of Fashion, attributed to Paolo Uccello, early 1460s

From the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum website:

The woman is portrayed both according to literary notions of female pulchritude, which called for fair skin and blonde hair, and the dictates of contemporary fashion.

Costly brocaded fabrics, pearls, and precious stones serve not only to display the sitter’s familial wealth and status but also to enhance her physical appearance – in art, as in life. In addition to a red and gold brocade sleeve and a sleeveless overdress, the woman wears a head brooch, a pearl choker with jeweled pendant, and a white cap ornamented with pearls.

This fashionable beauty looks impassive, immobile, and immutable, as if she were outside space and time. Her portrait image has a static, stereotyped character, in which the sitter’s individuality is almost entirely suppressed in favor of the social ideals for which she stands.

Portrait of a Young Woman by Lorenzo di Credi, c. 1490-1500 via...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:00:28 -0400

Portrait of a Young Woman by Lorenzo di Credi, c. 1490-1500 via The Met

thisfranklife: COCO Chanel and Salvador Dali chatting on the...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:29:14 -0400

thisfranklife:

COCO Chanel and Salvador Dali chatting on the steps. What do you think they are discussing?

Gianni Versace (Italian, 1946–1997), for Versace Couture....

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 08:34:50 -0400

Gianni Versace (Italian, 1946–1997), for Versace Couture. Polychrome printed silk with multicolored rhinestone and glass bead embroidery.

I’m in Pittsburgh for the long holiday weekend, and what could be more Pittsburgh than a Warhol-inspired dress? Warhol is perpetually in vogue—the Pop icon’s influence can be seen in a current makeup collection by Mac, a T-shirt line for Uniqlo, and in recent high-fashion collections from Marc Jacobs (who channeled Warhol muse Edie Sedgewick for his spring runway show of black-and-white stripes) and Raf Simons (whose latest Dior extravaganza featured body-skimming dresses and leather handbags embellished with the artist’s early fashion illustrations). But few have captured Warhol’s exuberance and wonderful garishness as Gianni Versace did with his candy-colored Marilyn-Monroe-and-James-Dean evening gown, from 1991.

Here’s a description from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website:

Widely influenced by the florid shapes and colors of print artists like Sonia Delaunay and Raoul Dufy, both of whom collaborated with fashion artists during the course of their careers, Gianni Versace frequently referenced art historical and various cultural aesthetic phenomena. His classical allusions range from the inclusion of the Medusa as part of the Versace logo to the Greek key pattern as a frequenter of both men’s and women’s collections, though an attraction to both Surrealism and Pop Art is equally obvious in his fabric manifestations. This piece, printed with the iconic faces of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, is a testament to Versace’s fascination with the ironic and sometimes morbid depictions of Andy Warhol inasmuch as it is an exclusive signifier of Versace’s self-proclaimed personality as the celebrity couturier.

I love this quote by avant jeweler Art Smith: “A piece of...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 08:12:56 -0400

I love this quote by avant jeweler Art Smith: “A piece of jewelry is in a sense an object that is not complete in itself. Jewelry is a ‘what is it?’ until you relate it to the body. The body is a component in design just as air and space are. Like line, form, and color, the body is a material to work with. It is one of the basic inspirations in creating form.”

Also, I saw that exhibition of his work at the Brooklyn Museum in 2008, and it was fantastic. You could wear everything today.

vintageblackglamour:

A model wears Art Smith’s “Modern Cuff” Bracelet, circa 1948. Art Smith (1917-1982) was a modernist jeweler born in Cuba to Jamaican parents who eventually emigrated to Brooklyn. He opened his first shop on Cornelia Street in Greenwich Village in 1946 - no small feat. According to the Brooklyn Museum (host of a 2008 exhibit of his work) he was one of the leading modernist jewelers of the mid-twentieth century. Along with being covered by magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, Smith, an avid jazz lover, once made cufflinks for Duke Ellington which included some notes from Mr. Ellington’s “Mood Indigo.” Mr. Smith was also a supporter of early Black modern dance groups and an active supporter of Black and gay rights. Art Smith was quoted in the 1969 catalog for his one man exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Craft: “A piece of jewelry is in a sense an object that is not complete in itself. Jewelry is a ‘what is it?’ until you relate it to the body. The body is a component in design just as air and space are. Like line, form, and color, the body is a material to work with. It is one of the basic inspirations in creating form.”

Happy birthday to filmmaker Akira Kurosawa! (Also I want that...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:55:24 -0400

Happy birthday to filmmaker Akira Kurosawa! (Also I want that jacket.)

criterioncollection:

24 of Akira Kurosawa’s best films, free on Hulu this weekend!

quaesatis: Le train fantôme

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:53:42 -0400

quaesatis:

Le train fantôme

wornjournal: CECI N’EST PAS UN REFLEThomage a Rene...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:47:27 -0400

wornjournal:

CECI N’EST PAS UN REFLET
homage a Rene Magritte
Flamboyant Magazine
pics: Fabio Costi
fashion: Matteo Maso
hair & make-up: Heloise Baldelli
models: Juan@Joy Models, Stella@2morrow models
location: Circustudios Milano
fashion assistants: Jessica Frada & Gabriella Sinisi

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Worn Fashion Journal

For his Fall 2013 collection for Christian Dior, designer Raf...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:57:07 -0400

For his Fall 2013 collection for Christian Dior, designer Raf Simons used early Warhol illustrations as a motif, including the pop artist’s shoe and fashion illustrations and flower screen prints.

Fashion shoot inspired by Picasso paintings, by Eugenio...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:30:08 -0400

Fashion shoot inspired by Picasso paintings, by Eugenio Recuenco.

[Hat tip: @annrafalko]

I did a roundup of Austin architecture for Architizer, and I...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:06:16 -0500

I did a roundup of Austin architecture for Architizer, and I discovered this building, designed by Studio 8 Architects, that recalled a Piet Mondrian painting! (By the way, there are also Mondrian-inspired dresses and Mondrian-inspired cakes.)

Claude Monet: “Madame Louis Joachim Gaudibert,”...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:03:00 -0500

Claude Monet: “Madame Louis Joachim Gaudibert,” 1868, courtesy of the Musee d’Orsay, currently at “Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity” at the Met.

“One sees that the painter loves his own time, like Claude Monet, and that he thinks one can be an artist even if one paints frock coats.” - Zola