pop culture

There are a number of great quotes to be found in The Rise of Fashion: A Reader, a compilation in the Art Department. Short essays or extracts from larger works by famous intellectuals and scholars can be found here. I looked at Oscar Wilde’s contribution to this anthology. Wilde (1854-1900) was famous for so many things, but what many people most remember is his biting wit.

His piece, “The Suitability of Dress,” from 1882, was written years before his notorious trials, conviction, and tragic physical breakdown. The opening lines remind me of the late William F. Buckley in full spate:

“Nothing, in general, bewilders or tortures the female mind more than the endeavor to establish some kind of harmonic relation between the law of the fashion book and the law of life, the one being for the idler, the other for the worker. Yet with some resolute self-assertion and heroic defiance of conventional prejudice, a compromise might be effected, the result being increased comfort to the workers in life’s thorny paths without even the sacrifice of beauty.”

I ran across the following book while doing research the other day. Written by H.D. Eastman in 1853, it's called Fast man's directory and lovers' guide to the ladies of fashion and houses of pleasure in New-York and other large cities. What strikes me is the understanding that "ladies of fashion" is a term for prostitutes. I didn't know that! I recall that high end courtesans and prostitutes in England were called "fashionable impures" in the early nineteenth century, but didn't know about this American usage.

Does anyone know the story behind this label and how long it lasted?

I spotted this statement on a tee shirt worn by a young woman in Grand Central Station, just the other day.

From a file I was putting away at my desk, I ran across some quotes I’d gathered for the “Rakish History of Men’s Wear” exhibition. The following lines are by Georg Simmel (1858-1918), who wrote an academic treatise called “Fashion” in 1901:

“..we see that fashion furnishes an ideal field for individuals with dependent natures, whose self-consciousness, however, requires a certain amount of prominence, attention, and singularity. Fashion raises even the unimportant individual by making him the representative of a class, the embodiment of a joint spirit.”

If true, and I suspect it is, the young woman’s tee shirt makes even more sense…

Don’t Forget! Costume and Fashion History class this Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in South Court Classroom B.

Sung to the tune of any Amy Winehouse song:

Spring is coming early this year,
Just in time to erase any fear,
I might have of wearing a silly bonnet,
With lots of flowers and bunnies on it.
After all Easter is more than just a religious holiday,
It’s the time that the fashion-conscious hit the streets to say-
We’ll wear whatever it takes to get on the air,
You wouldn’t believe the time it took to prepare
This chapeau in the greatest taste,
Couldn’t let all that tinsel go to waste…
My grandmother wore hats year round,
But that craze has gone to ground.
I’ll wear this hat and look really funny,
All to honor that cute Easter Bunny.

And the Easter Bunny replies with the immortal words from the Bugs Bunny cartoon:

“I’m the Easter Bunny, hurray—
I shoulda stayed in bed today!!!!”

The issue of whether to wear fur or not has only become a politically correct one in recent years. Back in the 1920s and 1930s, the wearing of luxurious furs was something that many women aspired to. I can readily understand the mystique, which streched back over the centuries. By the twentieth century, however, the need to wear furs was becoming more and more just an option. The creation of new synthetics, especially after the two world wars, makes the wearing of fur unnecessary.

Then, too, there are the issues of animal cruelty in harvesting pelts. Unsavory practices at mink farms and other facilities has thrown the practice into an unfavorable light, aided by PETA. The history of creating fur-trimmed garments can be seen in remarkable Library works like Mama Made Minks and Fur in Dress. The Native Americans of various tribes had a practical approach. When they'd stalked an animal and made ready for the kill, they offered a prayer to the animal and its' protecting spirit. The hunter would thank his prey for the gift of his life and pelt, saying that he appreciated this since he needed the food and warmth.

Me, I have rabbits at home. No spirit would protect me from their wrath if I should choose to wear fur. Hurray for synthetics...

After a delay necessitated by my jaunt to the Southwest, I can turn my attention now to the latest fashion summaries. I usually find that the New York Times Style Magazine serves as an excellent bellwether for the latest word on fashion musts, pop culture, and targeted consumerism. The February 24 “Women’s Fashion Spring 2008” offers a wrap-up of all the trends in the recent round of spring fashion shows. The results are actually fairly agreeable and promising. First of all, the colors on view are great. Red is one, already foreseen in all the glamorous gowns worn by attendees of the Academy Awards. But I was also struck by the effusive hues of blue, yellow, and mint green that appeared in ads.

To my great pleasure, articles in the magazine offered many takes on everything old is new again, including mentions of Pre-Raphaelitism, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and retro modernism. Textile designs seemed to be tributes to ornamentation from those periods. An American actress from the 1920s was treated to a flapper evaluation. Big cuff bracelets were in evidence, a satisfying sign to me! Accessories were sensible and attractive, with one huge exception. The platform and stiletto shoes shown in spreads were among the most obscene styles I’ve ever encountered; the milder versions of this footwear had “dominatrix” stamped all over them.

Two exhibition footnotes that appeared must be shared. The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is having an exhibition on that enigmatic designer, Madame Grès, maker of divine draped and sensual dresses, through April 19; and “Wiener Werkstätte Jewelry” will show at the Neue Galerie here in NYC starting March 27. Got to see that one: the Wiener Werkstätte contributed greatly to Art Deco’s liveliness.

One of the most eye-catching sights of the New York Fashion Week just passed was the proliferation of modish, almost byzantine, feathered hats. This visual reference is a deliberate case of everything old becoming new again.

Yet writing on the subject isn’t easy to find. Millinery was a major aspect of women’s costume until the mid-20th century. You can find pockets of this fashion in certain places – like the hats on the British ladies who attend Ascot races. The Library has a marvelous U.S. publication, complete with dyed feather patterns mounted on plates, from 1888, entitled The Practical Ostrich Feather Dyer. Also at SIBL, a Parisian study by Francis Beltzer, from 1923, treats the manufacturing collusion between hat-makers and featherwork. Take a visual tour through the Digital Gallery, also, using the terms feathers, hats, and ladies hats, to see how inspired these creations could be.

I’m wondering if I’m the only one who thinks that men get a better deal from the fashion industry? Historically, men did own fashion: peacocks out-strutted peahens every time. The NYPL exhibition “A Rakish History of Men’s Wear” told the story of how men were the fashion leaders until the early modern era, coinciding with the birth of haute couture, and then gave up their primacy to women.

With sufficient perspective, however, I wonder if men just didn’t take a roundabout way into a new form of fashion dominance. Other social and costume historians have been pursuing the same theory, with varying conclusions. One of the best studies is by Tim Edwards, Men in the mirror: men’s fashion, masculinity and consumer society. This 1997 publication traces the often surprising emphases placed on modern masculinity through the 20th century, and how the workplace shaped clothing choices.

And, if I want to be devilish, the recent outcry about skinny male models at the New York Fashion Week shows brings a new speculation to mind. While anorexia and eating disorders occur in young men, too, this phenomenon is most usually attributed to the immense social pressure placed on girls and women to be fashionably thin. Could we be heading to an “equal opportunity” attempt to point out this problem with men? The fashion industry gets blamed for many things. Is super-skinniness a new problem for the opposite sex?

The verdict is in (on my part) on the New York Spring 2008 Fashion Week results. Men’s Collections: 6, Women’s Collections: 2.

Diddy seemed to enjoy putting touches of European classicism into his Sean John collection. Many designers, especially Robert Geller and Rag & Bone, had fun shrinking and layering existing casual gear. Tim Hamilton, once again, demonstrates how he’s someone to watch on a regular basis. Clayton Kirking, our chief, thinks I should have titled this post as “Skinny Boys and Dandies: No Cod Pieces at Bryant Park.” Hmm, I’ll have to think about it, especially after Guy Trebay’s rant in the Times…

All in all, I’d take the insouciance of the Spring 2008 men’s wear lines anytime over the ambiguities and mixed metaphors of the women’s wear designs. Isn’t it interesting that, while women still get the lion’s share of runway time, the men’s collections usually come off seeming so much more put together? Men just still seem to do better when things fashion-related occur, or at least they know how to make the fashion stakes more agreeable.

Regency spinster Jane Austen understood the advantages the opposite sex has dealing with popular culture issues. In Persuasion, she writes: “If there is anything disagreeable going on men are always sure to get out of it.”

Hosiery and shoes are another two foundations for contemporary feminine dress, and this year’s runway models sport tinted hose and high heels that made a winning combination in the 1920s. A decade earlier, Paul Poiret introduced women to flesh-colored hosiery, considered daring in that time. Nowadays, black-tinted hose possesses the cachet of being more dressy and alluring. A book called Socks and Stockings offers a pictorial history of hosiery, with some fascinating asides. A number of Fashion Week’s best runway outfits were completed with the same kind of stockings and heels that can be found in the illustration below.

What revelations did New York Fashion Week make? The fashion industry laid hints in advance. The September 2007 issue of Vogue foresaw some trends: Caroline Herrera’s English country girl clothes, FutureFashion’s tribute to “green” wear, with outfits made from soy, hemp, and bamboo (even Donatella Versace made a contribution), and nods to sensible 20s through 60s retro looks. As usual, however, I try and fail to find a discernable pattern to the women’s wear presentations. What interests me most, however, is what will translate into realistic street wear: what designs will appear in the stores for our consumption. Judge for yourself, look at nytimes.com/fashionweek.

We enjoy a spectacular freedom today that we little think about. Our feminine bodies are unfettered by the sort of corsetry that was considered essential for women in past decades and centuries. Fashion Week’s models couldn’t slouch down the runaways with the bravado they do if they were wearing the undergarments of our grandmothers and great grandmothers. Note what was the expected look for a woman of 1918 and contrast it with 2008’s silhouettes.

The text attached to this ad speaks about how “Correct Pose is attained and Natural Pose is improved…” Come to think of it, the 1920s introduced the flapper slouch and lounging poses still seen on the runways.

Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. The New York Spring 2008 Fashion Week looks to be one in which, with the troubled economy and potentially tense presidential campaign, the designers will opt for conservatism. The buzzwords are “Grace Kelly” and “Camelot,” which means a retreat basic to the classics: sheath dresses, skirt suits, and bouffant skirts. If you want see more innovative attempts at bringing artistry to fashion, look out for the younger designers. Alexandre Herchcovitch, James Coviello, and Mara Hoffman are doing some good things with color blocking and patterns that make reference to period styles like Art Deco. Small busts and slim hips are imperatives. Forget about the feathery headdresses many models sported – the new watchword for decoration is ruffles.

Check out www.nydailynews.com/blogs/hotornot for some real dish.

The archetype of the brash young Flapper woman hovers around our consciousnesses. Some of us remember a delightfully out-of-place Julie Andrews in the fluffy film, Thoroughly Modern Millie. Our post-1970s feminism doesn’t allow us to take in the indignation that the flapper of the 1920s provoked. She smoked cigarettes, drank whisky, drove cars, and most unnerving of all – wore short skirts! Yet even that last fact was less shocking than it sounds. 1920s hemlines went up and down, staying mostly around the mid calf. They reached their highest point in 1926, and that was just below the knee.

A boyish figure worked best for the flapper style. Bobbed hair, dropped waistlines that rested on the hips, strapped and chunky heels, a string of pearls – you were in full mode. The Art Deco makers of figurines took up this body type with a vengeance. Many a slim Diana and Atalanta, straining for the race, can be found poised in ceramic and bronze. My grandfather Louis, who worked for the Thomas Edison Company, had one of these lithe figurines on his living room cocktail table, She wore a grass skirt and a string of pearls that failed to successfully cover her petite bosom. I didn’t realize until I was much older that the model for this outré (to a little girl) design was Josephine Baker.

F. Scott Fitzgerald provides the best portrait of the woman behind the flapper. His short stories, Flappers and Philosophers, tell us much about the sensitivities of men and women in the 1920s and 30s.

The 1920s saw the final triumph of the slender silhouette for women in fashion, forever banishing the voluminous undergarments of previous centuries. Poiret, Worth, Vionnet, and other couturiers devised a straight and tall line, meant for slim hips and small busts. Look in any costume survey textbook, and the pictures of changing dress silhouettes over time reveal much about the periods in which they were created. Yet when I looked in Wikipedia the other day, I saw that their definition for silhouette lacked mention of its clothing context. Can someone out there repair this omission?

Twenties fashions celebrated the slender, youthful feminine form. Previously, womanly curves had their own vogue. What I find interesting is how the 1920s aesthetic has been fiercely retained by the fashion industry, to the point that it has become embedded in the postmodern psyche. Check with all the girls who suffer from eating disorders, or have figures fuller that what’s in fashion. Tim Gunn is aware of the importance of the silhouette. He has a chapter in his A Guide to Quality, Taste & Style called “The Fit Conundrum,” in which silhouette and proportion are the measuring sticks for dressing around one’s body type.

The craze for slimness in the 1920s also crept into pop culture representations of women in general. A book from 1988 looks at Women and the Popular Imagination in the Twenties: Flappers and Nymphs. Read how the “liberated woman” started to take off in this period, with implications for today…

Men have always had it easier. Although, checking into last week’s Milan Fashion Week, where menswear fashions are previewed, Miuccia Prada was doing her best to diss today’s man. When the runway guffaws over back buttons, flyless trousers, and silly belts ceased, it was just another case of a prominent fashion designer mocking the uncertain times we live in. The rest of the offerings looked like the usual dreamy sportswear trends we’ve seen all along…

As a decorative style, Art Deco has its masculine and feminine elements. Yet the style doesn't so much embrace womanly attributes as shows off women as subject matter. The 1920s were a decade that allowed women to enjoy a new kind of physical and social freedom after the rigors of the first world war. Even the colors used for Art Deco design have a new freedom in their tints.

Part of the visual appeal of Art Deco design at this time is in the use of pochoir, or color stencil printing. Have a look in the Library's Digital Gallery at the illustrations of Jean Saude, done for his book, Traite d'enluminure d'art au pochoir. Women were entering a period when their gender could reap the benefits of modernity. Consider the fact that two of the most fascinating women of 1920s pop culture were Josephine Baker and Clara Bow!

Over the next five months, I will be working on the storyline (case labels and object labels) for the Art Deco Design: Rhythm and Verve exhibition here at the 42nd Street Library's Wachenheim Gallery. The exhibition will run from September 8, 2008, through January 9, 2009. While the items on display are not numerous, 40 images from the Art Division's collection, one fine book binding from the Spencer Collection, and an original cartoon from Prints,they are highly expressive of the energy that permeates Art Deco as a decorative style. In pursuing the premise that Art Deco is a visually moving aspect of Modernism, I've begun to make connections with dress and other design of the period. Significant innovations in men's and women's clothing, undergarments, shoes and related adornment occured during the 1920s and 1930s.

Using images from the Library's collections, I'll start tracking some of the ideas and inspirations for fashion change that happened in those fast-moving decades. I think it will be eye-opening for many...
The design by Madeleine Vionnet below is typical. She was one of Art Deco's first patrons, along with other haute couture designers.

Speaking of eye-opening, I was searching AOL this weekend and discovered another piece of evidence that everything old is new again. If you look for the term Padded Butt Boxer Brief online, available also on eBAY, you'll find a male enhancement corsetry item that was originally used back in the 18th and 19th century by men who wanted to fill their skintight breeches better.

Alain Lesieutre, in his survey book, The Spirit and Splendour of Art Deco, makes a revealing quote: "Style is the most conspicuous of the mechanisms through which we hope to alter ourselves, to become what we should like to be." Although his subject is the decorative style Art Deco, he is canny enough to see the fundamental relationship of personal style. Later in his book, he notes how styles can be symbols of exclusivity, and how such styles inevitably wax and wane like fashions. Tim Gunn's A Guide to Quality, Taste & Style begins with a discussion of the criteria behind developing personal style. Much of this apparently comes down to "know yourself."

In the months ahead, I'll be looking at key aspects of decorative style versus personal style, and how they parallel fashions in design. I'll also be investigating a theory that is bubbling away inside me - that much of what we define as modern fashions are truly rooted in the exciting and turbulent decades of the 1920s and 1930s.

Someone who knows the meaning of everything old being new again is Tim Gunn. Gunn, a former academic at the Parsons School of Design, entered pop culture fame as the host of the television show Project Runway, and other reality series. From his latest tv venture, he has produced a book entitled A Guide to Quality, Taste & Style. The guide book is a particularly Victorian invention, since the Victorians were all such earnest improvers. To see two original examples of this, Lola Montez's The Arts of Beauty (1858) and Mrs. Haweis's The Art of Beauty (1878) come to mind.

Jane Austen, who had a keen knowledge of the pop culture of her time, echoes an opinion held by many. In her novel Mansfield Park, she reproves, "We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be." I'll be watching the sales on Gunn's book...