A-musing fashion...

by - Sunday, July 28, 2013

Fashion is all around us, on us and in front of us. The interchange of ideas between culture, fashion and art has long been a case for closer study. Two distinct current exhibits explore these concepts with complete opposite points of view, enlightening the inevitable interaction of such elements with surprising insight.
From now until August 14th at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is PUNK: Chaos to Couture, a rowdy look at the fashion backwash sparked by punk culture from the early 70's into today. It is a massive multi-media experience with the fantastic clothing creations in the foreground of music videos and audio soundscaping. The eclectic collection on display includes grunge, graffiti and garbage bag chic all brandished artfully for a full multi sensory effect. The museum exhibit was packed with everyone from fervent art and design students with their sketch pads and pencils, to the more reserved adults exploring the show in earnest reflection. Despite the many poor reviews, Brenna and I enjoyed the pulse, relishing in the details, absorbing inspiration. Though photos were not allowed, have a look at the show from The Met and New York Times' images:


Arriving in the Title Wall gallery, we were greeted with pulsating music and flashing grainy video, setting the mood as you begin to explore.


Entering the first gallery room, the enclosed walls are lined with black rubber strips, while vintage McLaren and Westwood garments from the '70s are partnered with current renditions in knitwear, tartans and leather.


Lots of pinned and studded details by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, two leaders of the punk aesthetic, with more recent designs by Christophe Decarnin for Balmain.


The British influence punked in graphic t-shirts and knits. “Punk didn’t play nice. Whether in music or attire, it wanted to provoke and offend, disrupt and incite.” ~ Roberta Smith


The Hardware gallery is filled with stark black and white outfits from Zandra Rhodes and Gianni Versaci, deconstructed and reconstructed, pieced together with safety pins and chain details.


“For punks in the street, the style was motivated as much by poverty as by rebellion and was distinguished by all kinds of DIY customization: cutting, lettering and safety-pinning, often evoking the anger of Dada, the French Situationist and even early Conceptual art, while foreshadowing postmodern deconstruction.” ~ Suzanne DeChillo of The New York Times

More from the Graffiti and Agitprop gallery, vandalized vamps, all accented with color-burst wigs against textured black gallery walls.


The gallery titled Bricolage was one of my favorites. Fashioned of garbage, obviously not made for your average evening soiree, the cocktail attire and ballgowns are still constructed to the nines.


The detailed layering of black plastic garbage bags added an unexpected urban couture element to this display. Very creative indeed!


The last gallery is Destroy with slashes, rips, slipped-knits, odd piece-togethers and lots of holes - the ultimate finale of deconstruction for the extravaganza.

Let's go from New York City to southwestern New Jersey. We set the destination in the GPS for the Academy Square Galleries to see Fashion as Muse, on view until August 12th, an uncommon view of fashion as the inspiration for art. When we arrived in downtown Montclair's art district, we expected to find a gallery for the address provided on the website, but after parking on the street nearby, we double checked and ventured cautiously into the building. No big signs, no lights, no fanfare, yet here we were! The eclectic exhibit produced by Studio Montclair lines the first and second floor hallways of the newer building filled with attorney offices - a quiet and unexpected setting for this wildly unique collection from area artists. The display is dominated by female artists voicing a bold statement that attests to fashion's beauty, oddity and controversy.


Claire Rosen's photographic pigment prints named Aves (pictured above, #5 is one of three) are some of the more jarring works in the exhibit featuring women in long black gowns and bird's heads in place of their own.


Intriguing textile sculpture, like this one from Linda Brooks Hirschman entitled Americana, is highly detailed and imaginative in classic red, white and blue shades and patterning.


"In today's world of genetically engineered foods and genetically engineered animals, as well as 'Designer' everything, I present my Designer Flora, one-of-a-kind flowers for the plant collector who desires a fashionable garden." ~ Linda Brooks Hirschman


Fancy Free #2 in leather and mixed media by Alice Harrison is stunning in the combination of stitching and fabrics. "These pieces of leather hung in my studio waiting to be fashioned into figures or clothing. I was not sure which. I had recently returned to doing the art I had been doing for years - returning from a temporary period of creating and decorating clothing for sale at craft shows, trade shows, etc... although the clothing was whimsical - it was 'serious business'."


On the controversial side of serious business, Kathryn Eddy's Pig Blindness collages represent an "artist whose work explores the human relationship... pointing out our obsessive fashion voyeurism and our blindness toward our farmed food animals".


In Fancy Free #4 from Alice Harrison "the leather pieces became my carefree creations - some with no thought to the subject, some were - southern belle, western and ballet dancer whose tutu was drier lint. And so the assemblages / collages became Fancy Free - a joy to do and I hope fun to behold".


Baby Gaga by Linda Brooks Hirschman, another fabulous botanical creation in felt, crochet and bead work.


"There is something delightfully empowering about ripping images of beauty and opulence from fashion magazines and transforming their meaning in a work of art... (mine) are reflective works contemplating existential issues and the pursuit of making art inspired by the plethora of images and ideas found in fashion and style magazines. " ~ Elizabeth Jane Munro, creator of Salty Siren above.


Muse in Iceberg Dress, also by Elizabeth Jane Munro, is a colorful and detailed mixed media work.


My favorite pieces in the whole exhibit were these three by Christine Parker, in acrylic on canvas, simply named Runway White Dress, Runway Blue Dress and Runway Orange Dress. These clean and sophisticated modern arts were inspired by  the Narciso Rodriguez Spring 2013 collection.

As quintessentially stated by Karen Nielsen-Fried, co-curator of the Fashion as Muse exhibit, "The distinction between fashion and art has become more indistinguishable, and often the two interweave and influence one another more notably in contemporary times". Each with unique vantage points and visual voices, both exhibits certainly provide an a-musing look at fashion... xoxo-Sonya

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