Art and Fashion - Surrealism - Essay Example

? # 2. How were elements of Surrealism and notions of femininity significant in fashion designs by Elsa  Schiaparelli in the 1920s and 1930s?  Introduction There are several prominent women surrealists that can be highlighted based on the variety of their artistic creativity and practice. Elsa Schiaparelli was able to convert the ordinary and mundane into the strangely beautiful and contradictory as demonstrated by her clothing and accessories, which were frequently outrageous to the extent of being shocking in their inventiveness.1 Those who wore her collections and accessories became surreal apparitions, heralding to life a core principle of Surrealist manifesto. The paper explores how elements of Surrealism and aspects on femininity played a critical role in fashion design creations by Elsa Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli together with Salvador Dali engaged in a symbiotic and collaborative partnership, in late 1930s. Schiaparelli’s Innovative surrealist dresses and accessories influenced by Dali’s paintings and sculptures. Schiaparelli experimented with the notion of clothing that dominates the human form, which compelled viewers to confront the primacy of fashion-as-art and the subordination of the female body. Indeed, Schiaparelli did not only transform the fashion industry but also smashed its foundations.2 Schiaparelli’s attraction to modernism in late 1920s and 1930s mirror in her predominant utilization of accessories, which played a critical function in her collection right from the beginning and she preferred to create a whole ensemble including jewelry, gloves, hats, and shoes. The innovations by Schiaparelli were a considerable liberation for women and attended by the introduction of vibrant and strong colors (exuberance and decoration), as well as themes in a collection.3 Schiaparelli effectively translated dominant Surrealism principles such as, an object never realizing the same function as its name or its image, into imaginative and provocative designs. In so doing, Schiaparelli generated “hard chic” fashions for unconventional-looking women. Fig 1. An Example of Elsa Schiaparelli Glove Background Surrealists were self-respecting artists in their own way and their works (that was mostly provocative and feminine) were at the center of challenging the patriarchal tradition of Surrealism. The female body was a vital tool for women Surrealists to generate a broad and varied expression of their sexuality, which cannot be limited to a single artistic medium. The Surrealists alluded to the notion of female sexuality laden with playfulness and humor.4 The contribution of Elsa Schiaparelli to the Surrealism movement is pertinent and rich as she was able to challenge conventional representations of femininity via playfulness.5 Elsa Schiaparelli was able to overcome the notion of women as objects of male consumption, and transformed the female body into a self-governing entity enriched by elegant sexual display. Elsa Schiaparelli’s designs based on key aspects such as sexuality, gender and fetish demonstrate that she generated garments, which were feminine and functional while at the same time preserving the Surrealist theme of the female anatomy as fetish.6 Discussion Schiaparelli combined the notion of classic design from the Romans and Greeks with the overriding need for freedom of movement. It was in the 1930s, which fashions designs started to be flamboyant as shoulders started to be a critical focus during the decade. During the 1930s, shoulders started to be a critical focus as heavily padded jackets for both men and women started to gain prominence. Schiaparelli can be regarded as a trendsetter in the 1930s and enjoyed a natural sensitivity towards fashion styling. Schiaparelli's legacy remains for her audacious improvisations that perfectly fitted with the surrealistic art dominating the period.7 Elsa Schiaparelli is well-known for her iconoclastic bravado and unlimited originality of her work. Schiaparelli contravened topical conventions within the pursuit of idiosyncratic style and commandeered the talents of prominent artists and artisans linked to the Surrealist movement.8 The experimental fabrics detailing pronounced textures, bold prints with unconventional imagery and colors, opulent embroideries, outsized and exposed zippers and unique buttons and ornaments (some fanciful and others bizarre) were at the heart of her creative expressions such as her Lobster dress. Fig. 2 Elsa Schiaparelli’s Lobster Dress Schiaparelli’s designs demonstrated her capability to connect with women between the two world wars, as a voice that bolstered new women who valued avant-garde design. Schiaparelli was prominent in using atypical materials and bold color choices that mirrored the period’s “contemporary taste.” Schiaparelli’s designs can be regarded as a reaction to the conventional notions on women by making use of the artistic world of Surrealism.9 Schiaparelli left a legacy of fundamentally new fashions such as built-in bras, backless swimsuits, and shoulder pads, which can become staples within contemporary fashion design. Since 1935, Schiaparelli had consistently presented thematic collections of fashion designs. Schiaparelli adapted colors and patterns from the actor’s conventional costumes with brightly colored satins, theatrical masks and peaked down hats. Schiaparelli readily embraced the notion of comfort and practicality within the design of women’s clothing.10 Schiaparelli adapted “shocking” colors by introducing whimsical decorations, patterns and accessories to the world of fashion, and frequently exaggerated set features such as shoulders. Elsa Schiaparelli is prominent owing to her collaborations with Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau, whereby she was able to take fashion out of the closet and refine it into “dressing with attitude.” Elsa Schiaparelli also worked with other Surrealists such as Leonor Fini, Louis Aragon, Elsa Triolet, and Meret Oppenheim. Dali appreciated the manner in which Schiaparelli’s costumes were able to award physical manifestation to the fantasies of the unconscious mind, and based on her capability to “generate feminine beauty matching to man’s erotic imagination. The materiality of clothing served as an adornment of the body, which made Surrealist art into physical, visual fashion that enabled the creation of functional pieces out of atypical ordinarily irrelevant objects.11 The collaboration between Elsa Schiaparelli and Dali brought Surrealism to life, whereby Schiaparelli animated his paintings and rendered art to be both wearable and functional. Elsa Schiaparelli utilized clothes to flaunt and exhibit the body rather than concealing the female form or disembodying it. Consequently, she was able to link internal consciousness to visible exteriors, and challenge the notion of fashion as a mode of covering and hiding bodies, even in instances where the outfits cover most of the body's surface area. Elsa Schiaparelli combined classical and avant-garde approaches to generate fashionable pieces that were functional and feminine. Schiaparelli’s fashion can be regarded as pandered to conventional ideals centering on the sexuality of women, and can be regarded to have served to enhance the body and avail improved status to their wearer. The pair (Schiaparelli and Dali) created several designs that fundamentally changed the manner in which fashion and Surrealism were identified, and Surrealism was, in turn, counted as part of the cultural mainstream.12 Schiaparelli literally and figuratively altered the mainstream convention given that her display of sexuality, and her costumes discovered the female body via outfits designed to be explicitly sexualized devoid of exposing excess flesh. In doing so, Schiaparelli played with the conventional ideas of what might be considered as “sexual” or “erotic” clothing and can be regarded as a pioneer in distorting conventional femininity ad sexuality.13 When a woman dresses in line with mainstream society’s perception of what constitutes sexual appeal, the women may perceive to be in greater possession of sexuality, and display an enhanced level of sensuality. This is especially pertinent to shoes, and how the height of the heel influences the woman’s walk as she unconsciously and sexually sways her hips, so as to accommodate her accessory. Schiaparelli’s work can be regarded as imbued with recognition of the fetishistic function of dress. Her “Shoe Hat” bands the association or relationship that the body has with the clothes as an interface of numerous fetishistic possibilities.14 Shoe fetishism partially emanates from the capability to render a woman feel sexual, especially when she puts on a pair of high-heeled stilettos. In the case of “Shoe Hat,” it is evident how Schiaparelli has overturned the conventional feminine ideal by transforming the head into the center for erotic pleasure while making the shoe’s heel appear as the “vanished” female phallus as an indication of fetishism coupled with the unconscious anxieties that propel it. Fig. 3 Elsa Schiaparelli’s “Shoe Hat” Schiaparelli was a precursor to Surrealist notion of convulsive beauty, whereby her clothing and accessories disrupted the conventional gendered identity of the wearer, as well as conventional notions centering on attraction. Schiaparelli’s designs can be regarded as “shocking” to the extent of influencing an individual in an instinctive way. Schiaparelli created iconic pieces such as the “bug” necklace, “shoe” hat, and “Tear” dress. Schiaparelli’s collaboration with other artists generated direct, synergistic relationship that pushed art into fashion. In Surrealism, the connection between accessories and sexuality found an apparent expression, especially amid Freud’s theories centering on fetishism.15 For instance, Schiaparelli’s Shoe Hat was instilled with considerable sexual charge symbolizing an iconic portrayal of the unconscious manifestations as outlined by Freud. Fig. 4 Elsa Schiaparelli’s Tear Dress16 Some of Schiaparelli’s designs such as “skin tight” dress trigger the illusion of a “faux anatomy” or an element of second skin. Largely, the choice of one’s clothing infers something about the wearer. As such, Schiaparelli’s designs can be regarded as emphasizing and expressing the personality of the person wearing the clothing. Schiaparelli succeeded in creating engaging and teasing pieces that inferred to the body underneath the garment.17 For instance, the Skeleton Dress that utilizes detailed piping upon the dress brings out the body (pubic areas and bone structure), especially areas surrounding the genitalia loaded invitation of visual foreplay. The Skeleton Dress playfully point out to that which it masks. This can be demonstrated by the fact that the high-necked obscure the whole body while simultaneously the design detail heightens the body’s public area and bone structure. Such creations are powerful and banks on the power of suggestion that can be as powerful as the presentation of an entirely naked body. This demonstrates that the body does not require to be naked so as to generate fetish or desire. The effective generation of erotic suggestion and fetish via the clothed can be considered as central/ inherent to the review of Schiaparelli’s costume. Fig. 5 Elsa Schiaparelli’s Skeleton Dress18 The complex detailing enabled Schiaparelli to generate a provocative piece, whereby the skeleton structures alludes to the body underneath the costume and the piping plays with people’s gaze by directing the eyes to the pubis and alluding to the anatomy. Schiaparelli opted for a complete covering of the body, rather than a low neckline. This does not take the attention away from the body present underneath the costume in the figure-hugging dress, and the detail heightens or creates womanly curves or an hourglass figure that eroticizes women’s bodies. It may be argued that such designs makes Schiaparelli complicit with patriarchal opinions on female beauty, and her dresses can be regarded as aligning with patriarchal notions of female beauty.19 Nevertheless, Schiaparelli designs can be regarded as demonstrating Surrealism’s unconscious desires, which linked the internal psyche to the external body. Conclusion Surrealism captures the sexuality of women, while, at the same time, theatrically remaining true to patriarchal themes. Schiaparelli’s designs can be regarded as “self-conscious, critical, and constructive” by permitting fashion to become a language connecting the internal subconscious to the external physical body. It is evident that Schiaparelli’s designs allude to a female body as a subtle and fragile vessel while simultaneously masking the potential for charged meaning and unexpected discoveries. The Skeleton Dress explicitly exhibits the female body and avail a provocation and contrast to the traditional ideas of femininity. Schiaparelli designed a dress set to distort the boundaries of flesh and fabric to the extent that a person looking at the wearer of the dress may find it complex to differentiate the two. Schiaparelli’s designs exhibited passion, defiance, and imagination, which elevated her to be one of the most influential and copied designers. 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