Corsets at the Victoria and Albert Musuem

I am obsessed with corsets as an object d'art and have studied books on their construction. One of the best displays of corsets is in the permanent collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. (Don't miss the second floor galleries which also include corsets, stays and bodices in amongst the other museum pieces).


This particular example called a stay moulded the wearer's torso into an inverted cone, which was the fashionable shape of the 1780s. A tiny waist was not the aim of this undergarment. Rather stays helped achieve smoothness of profile and firmness of contour. At this time in history, stays were plain without decoration.


By the late 19th century, manufacturers attempted to produce more comfortable corset designs. This ventilated corset, which was designed for sports and summer wear, had spaces in between the whalebone and cotton tapes allowing air to circulate and perspiration to evaporate.

Victoria and Albert Museum www.vam.ac.uk
Cromwell Road, South Kensington
London, UK SW7 2R7
+44 020 7942 2000

Yves Saint Laurent Retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal

Yves Saint Laurent Evening dress inspired by Matisse 

There are countless examples of artists and fashion designers who have looked to each other for inspiration in their work. In the recent Yves Saint Laurent retrospective at the Musee des Beaux Arts in Montreal, there was an entire room of garments that referenced artwork from artists including Matisse, Van Gogh, Renoir, and Mondrian. The gown in the top photo is a beautiful example of how Yves Saint Laurent reinterpreted the artist Matisse's cut-out artworks in garment form.

The exhibit was enchanting. I marveled at the elegance and originality of his designs on the approximately one hundred outfits on display. Most designs were timeless and difficult to attribute to a particular year, especially since YSL revisited his favourite sources of inspiration again and again.

This sketch of a cocoon-like wedding outfit made of hand-knit white wool tricot with silk satin ribbons was one of the most unusual outfits on display. Imagine how avant-gard this outfit would have been in 1965. It made me wonder if Viktor and Rolf were inspired by this outfit in creating their Russian doll collection for autumn/winter 1999-2000.

Yves Saint Laurent Wedding Gown 1999

This daring flora inspired wedding gown made of silk flowers with a pink silk organza train was spectacular! From the 1999 collection, this design was the incarnation of the mythological bride, the goddess Flora or Botticelli's Venus.

I left the exhibtion in awe of Yves Saint Laurent's tremendous talent and originality. He looked to many different sources for inspiration in his work including:
- other cultures (Africa, Spain, China, Morocco, Japan, India, Russia)
- other artists (Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, Shakespeare, Appollinaire)
- other themes (glamour, silouette, masculine/feminine, flora/fauna, geometry, history)

Looking for sources of inspiration is something that I really understand as an artist. It was interesting for me to see how he interpreted and revisited these themes in his work over the course of a career spanning 40 plus years.

This exhibition continues at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts until September 28, 2008 and then will travel to the Fine Art Museum of San Francisco (November 1, 2008 to March 1, 2009).

Yves Saint Laurent Retrospective (until September 28, 2008)
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
1380 Sherbrooke Ouest, Monteal
514-285-2000, 1-800-899-MUSE
www.mbam.qc.ca

San Francisco Museum of Fine Art, November 1, 2008 to March 1, 2009

Lessons from Yves Saint Laurent

This is the last of my tributes to the legendary Yves Saint Laurent. In all the research I did this week, I am left with a tremendous sense of respect for his revolutionary fashion ideas and business success. There are many lessons to be learned from the career of this talented designer.

1. A degree is not required.
YSL only attended the prestigious Chambre Syndicale school of haute couture for three months before quitting. He emerged as a promising young designer by winning the first prize for a cocktail dress design in a contest sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat. He was only 17 years old when he was hired by Christian Dior.

2. Be innovative.
YSL was one of the first to use couture as a laboratory. Although many of his design innovations endure today, he was not without his share of flops. As I mentioned yesterday, his introduction of street fashion in 1962 and the leather jacket for women, was considered a failure and resulted in his dismissal from the house of Dior. As well, he included knickerbockers in his collections more than once.

During an interview on France-Info radio, his business partner Pierre Berge said "Saint Laurent was a true creator, going beyond the aesthetic to make a social statement. In this sense, he was a libertarian, an anarchist and he threw bombs at the legs of society. That's how he transformed society and that's how he transformed women."

3. Failure can be the path to something bigger and better than you ever imagined.
After YSL was dismissed from Dior and conscripted into military service, he was hospitalized for depression and subjected to such horrors as electroshock therapy. Enduring the public humiliation of being fired and the shame of being in a mental hospital did not mean the end of Saint Laurent's career. Without this break from the house of Dior, it is conceivable that he might never have enjoyed the success that he did.

4. Know your strengths and find a partner whose strengths compliments your weaknesses.
Yves Saint Laurent was a true artiste - creative, sensitive, and fragile. Undoubtedly, it was his partner Pierre Berge who was the mastermind behind the business success of the house. In 1966, the house of YSL opened the first ready-to-wear Rive Gauche boutique by a couture designer on the Paris Left Bank. This move was instrumental in the development of the idealogical shift that fashion was no longer just for the rich.

These lessons are applicable not only to the big business of fashion but to the business of life. In writing this post, I have myself learned about taking risks and living your dream. Merci Monsieur Saint Laurent!

Yves Saint Laurent and The Leather Jacket

The influence of the late Yves Saint Laurent on what women wear today is mind boggling. In all the tributes to the designer this week, few people mention his introduction of the leather jacket for women in 1960. Although my leather jacket is not YSL, it is one of my favourite items and I wear it almost every day in spring and fall. It is incredibly versatile and goes with everything from jeans to a pencil skirt.

In what turned out to be his last collection for Dior in 1960, Saint Laurent referenced Paris street wear and introduced the first leather jackets for couture with this crocodile version trimmed in mink shown in the photo above. This marriage of couture with street fashion represented a fundamental shift in the fashion world at the time.

But at the time, the drastic departure from the ladylike look at Dior was heavily criticized and Sain Laurent was effectively fired and replaced with Marc Bohan. The stay on Saint Laurent's mandatory military service was canceled and he was forced into military service in September of 1960. After three weeks of service, he entered a military hospital for nervous depression where he stayed for six weeks of treatment. He was given a medical discharge by the end of the year. The experience haunted him for the rest of his life and he suffered recurring bouts of depression.

In retrospect, this break from Dior turned out to be a turning point in Saint Laurent's life (an inspiration for anyone who has suffered a setback). Breaking from Dior turned out to be a silver lining in a drak cloud since it allowed him to open a fashion house under his own name and to freely create his innovative fashions without the shadow of a founder over him.

Yves Saint Laurent used his haute couture label as a labratory for ideas, leaving a legacy of fashion innovation that not only allowed women to embrace their beauty and power but also to use fashion as a form of self-expression.

A Working Wardrobe Staple: The Pantsuit

One of the most significant fashion legacies of the late Yves Saint Laurent was his introduction of the pantsuit for women. "A woman in a pant suit is not masculine at all - a severe and implacable cut only emphasizes her femininity, her seductiveness all the more."

The YSL pantsuit first appeared in the form of a "smoking tuxedo" in the summer haute couture collection of 1966. This alternative to the evening gown became a YSL "signature look and reappeared in each of his subsequent collections.

In January 1968, YSL introduced the safari look pantsuit. He said "I suddenly became aware of the female form. I started to have a dialogue with women and to understand what a modern woman was." His pantsuits revolutionized what was considered acceptable street wear for chic women after the 1968 Paris student uprisings.

And of course, I cannot write about the YSL pantsuits without mentioning the infamous story of socialite Nan Kemper who was turned away from a fashionable Manhattan restaurant because she was wearing a YSL tunic with pants. Instead of leaving, she simply removed the pants and wore the tunic as a very short dress. Talk about elegance under pressure!!

Yves Saint Laurent gave working woman a lasting gift in designing clothes that allowed us to be both powerful and beautiful. Merci Monsieur!!

Quotes from the late Yves Saint Laurent

Elegance is a way of moving. It is also knowing how to adapt to all of life's circumstances. Without elegance of the Heart, there is no elegance.

Fashion is a party. To dress is to prepare to play a part.

All creation is just re-creation, a new way of seeing the same things, and expressing them differently, specifying them, privileging one hitherto unnoticed corner, or revealing their outlines.

Women who follow fashion too closely run a great risk. That of losing their profound nature, their style, and their natural elegance.

Fashion pass, style is eternal. Fashion is futile, style is not.

Don't burn your wings at fashion's flame.

BREAKING NEWS: The Death of Yves St. Laurent

Earlier this evening, the legendary fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent died at age 71 after a long illness.

This talented but fragile fashion giant was known for revolutionizing the way women dress. He introduced the Mondrian dress in 1965, the smoking tuxedo in 1966, the safari look in 1968 and the classic trouser suit in 1978. He once said that he felt "fashion was not only supposed to make women beautiful, but to reassure them, to give them confidence, to allow them to come to terms with themselves."

Yves Saint Laurent was born on August 1, 1936 in Algeria and attended only three months of fashion training at the Chambre Syndicale before being hired on the spot by Christian Dior at age 17. At the tender age of 21, Yves was named head designer of the House of Dior following Dior's untimely death. The trapeze line, YSL's first collection for Dior in 1957, was heralded as a huge success. The next few years were also acclaimed but in 1960, he introduced street wear into couture and YSL was fired. He was then drafted into military service and was left in a fragile state. In 1962, he opened his own house with his partner Pierre Berge. Life Magazine declared his first line under his own label as "the best collection of suits since Chanel". YSL retired at age 65 in 2002. Time after time in his forty-five years as a fashion designer, his collections revolutionized fashion.

"His gift to fashion was that he empowered women after Chanel had freed them."
Pierre Berge, partner to Yves Saint Laurent

Suffering for the Sake of Beauty: Chinese Foot Binding

The ancient practice of Chinese foot binding is a classic example of how women will suffer for the sake of beauty. Recently I attended a lecture on Chinese foot binding at the Bata Shoe Museum. The speaker was Joan Judge, a York University professor, who launched her book "Foot Binding and Chinese Modernity: The Demise of One of History's Most Enigmatic Practices" by Stanford University Press, 2008.

Foot binding was practiced in China for about 1000 years until the beginning of the 20th century. Although there are few written records, the practice has been attributed to a dancer by the name of Yaoniang in 930 AD. Initially, food binding was confined to dancers and courtesans but gradually women of the upper classes adopted it and tiny, bound feet became a prized attribute in selecting a bride. The tiny lotus foot, a symbol of beauty, was an erotic attraction to men. Approximately 50-80% of Chinese women had bound feet in the 18th century.

This woman to woman practice (men were not involved in any way) began when a girl was 5 or 6 years old. Her mother would bind the girl's feet in a bandage 10 cm by 4 m long. The toes would be broken and pushed under with the toe and heel forced together to mold the foot into an ideal lotus shape with a pronounced arch, a pointed toe, and ideally a length of 3 inches. These bandages had to be worn continually and were perfumed to cover up the smell of rotting flesh. On top of the bandages were layers of wrapping. Foot binding was banned in the early part of the 20th century as a result of political, social and educational reforms in China (which is the subject of Joan Judge's book).

After Joan's talk, the audience initiated a discussion of the extremes of beauty that modern women subject themselves to. High heels seem to be de rigeur at fashionable galas and soirees. I'd always considered myself fairly sensible on that account, except when I found myself with aching feet at a performance of the ballet Cinderella (the ultimate irony!). I was wearing a pair of beige 3-inch heels that looked fabulous but left me crippled by my shoes. And even though I sat through the performance with my shoes off, as the hours passed I could barely mince along the few steps to the lounge. There I was unable to walk and was suffering for the sake of beauty, just like a Chinese woman with bound feet!

Bata Shoe Museum
327 Bloor Street West
Toronto
416-979-7799
www.batashoemuseum.ca

Lecture: Exhibiting Fashion

I attended a lecture called "Exhibiting Fashion" at The Royal Ontario Museum on May 7th. There were two speakers: Dr. Alison Matthews David of Ryerson University School of Fashion and Dr. John Potvin of the University of Guelph.

Dr. Alison Matthews David talked about the development of fashion magazines as a cultural force which disseminated idealized scenes of the elite class. She showed photos of illustrations from the Gazette du Bon Ton, a Parisian journal from 1912-1925. This journal was a collaboration between seven Parisian haute couturiers (Cheruit, Douillet, Doucet, Paquin, Poiret, Redfern and Worth) and the finest fashion illustrators of the time. The illustrations showed a day in the life of a Gazette fashion plate. This of course required several changes of clothing a day for activities such as shopping, attending the races or polo matches, going on promenade or to an afternoon tea, and attending an evening event like a ball, a concert, or the theatre. The journal included ten illustration plates with each issue and cost 100 francs a year, making it accessible only to the very rich.

Dr. John Potvin, a professor of art history at the University of Guelph then spoke about the importance of showing fashion at museums and/or art galleries. The point of his talk was that clothing and fashion are more accessible to people in a way that paintings are not. He attributed Diana Vreeland's involvement in the spectacular exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute for giving credibility to fashion as a work of art in and of itself. (Apparently Vreeland once said "I want to be drowned in beauty." I can totally relate to that!!)

Throughout his talk, Potvin discussed three inherent conflicts between museums and fashion exhibitions, specifically:
1. the commercialization of museums vs. curatorial practice
2. entertainment vs. education
3. past vs. present

Potvin illuminated his point by commenting on the Chanel exhibit and the Nan Kemper exhibit at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Armani exhibit at the Guggenheim, and the Fondation Pierre Berge-Yves St. Laurent in Paris. He seemed to prefer the exhibits where curators provided a context for the displays (ie, showing clothing alongside paintings, furniture and other relevant cultural objects). And yet he also said that he loved the Armani show which had no backdrops and had several gaps in the archive because it was like looking in his closet through time.

The speakers made intelligent arguments for fashion being a significant cultural force worthy of museums and art galleries. I believe that fashion is a work of art in and of itself and it was nice to get confirmation that my passion for fashion is not a frivolous affair.

Ballet Shoes and Dance Slippers

I love to dance, but rarely seem to get on the dance floor. I usually wear high heels when I attend a gala event and end up having to forgo dancing because my feet hurt! And as much as I like to dance, I just don't feel that glamourous in flats.

But when these pretty little slippers from the 16th century were in fashion, ladies could take a whirl on the dance floor without worrying about spraining their ankle. This pretty pink dance slipper was a precursor to ballet pointe shoes.

I learned all about ballet shoes at the "The Rise of the Ballet Shoe" an exhibition on at the Bata Shoe Museum until September 28, 2008. On display are ballet shoes from Marie Talioni, who is considered the first French ballet dancer to "block" her slipper in order to be able to dance on pointe as well as shoes from Margot Fonteyn, Karen Kain, Veronica Tennant, Rudolf Nureyev and others. This delightful display is a must see for ballet fans and shoeaholics of all ages.

Bata Shoe Museum
327 Bloor Street West, Toronto
416-979-7799
www.batashoemuseum.ca

A Shoeaholic's Fantasy: The Bata Shoe Museum

The Bata Shoe Museum is a shoeaholic's fantasy. Although I am more partial to beautiful clothing (is there such a thing as a dress-aholic?), I was enchanted from the moment I walked into the building.

From the basement level to the third floor, there is an incredible variety of shoes on display, including:
* exquisitely beaded moccasins
* delicate silk Chinese slippers for bound lotus feet
* 16th century Venetian chopines with 5 inch velvet covered platforms
* delicate 18th century brocaded slippers

While studying their extensive collection, it struck me that some of the seemingly outrageous shoes of this season and seasons past are not really innovations, but simply reinterpretations of the past. Is anything really new in fashion anymore?

Also on display were a selection of shoes from famous feet including:
* robin's egg blue pumps from Diana, Princess of Wales
* zebra print boots belonging to Picasso
* a pair of Roger Federer's tennis shoes from the French Open
And who knew that prim and proper Winston Churchill wore casual boots? Or that Pierre Elliot Trudeau wore hippy sandals?

One fact that made me laugh out loud was that one famous English dandy Beau Brummel took five hours to dress and that his boots were polished with champagne. Granted his 19th century boots were very beautifully polished and in superb condition, but frankly I'd rather drink champagne than polish my boots with it!

I spent several hours in this delightful museum getting my fashion fix. I left wishing that the Royal Ontario Museum had give more space to their enormous fashion collection instead of confining it to a single room on the fourth floor. For a very modest entry fee of $12, the Bata Shoe Museum is full of inspiration for shoeaholics, fashionistas, artists, students and just regular folk.

The Bata Shoe Museum
327 Bloor Street West, Toronto
416-979-7799 www.batashoemuseum.ca

The Patricia Harris Textile and Costume Gallery at the ROM

After thirty years in storage, the Royal Ontario Museum has a designated space to showcase their 50,000 piece collection of costumes and textiles. The Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles and Costume is set into a corner of the fourth floor with the jagged windows of the redesign blacked out to protect the fragile fabrics on display.

The items on display are glorious and include the following fabulous dresses:





I could not make much sense of how the gallery was organized, but given the odd shape of the small room, perhaps that is no surprise. Even so, the ROM Costume and Textile Gallery is worth a visit for fashion lovers of all ages.

Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park, Toronto
416-586-5700
www.rom.on.ca