Historical & Artisitic styles

BAROQUE ART

Dresden Frauenkirche, Germany, 1743 and reconstructed in 2005

Baroque Art (1600s) characterized by less complex, realistic, and

dramatic style. It was encouraged by the Catholic Church.From left: Comme des Garcons AW2006, in this collection Rei Kawakubo incorporates baroque jacquard in almost every piece. This menswear tailored jacket has baroque detail on puffed sleeves(Victorian style). Basso&Brooke AW2009, the whole collection is inspired by baroque and rococo. They use fresh colors in flowers and prints of details from architecture, the combination creates quite dramatic looks.

CUBISM

 Pablo Picasso, The Poet 1910

Cubism (1908-1940)concept is the essence of three dimensional objects can be fragmented and redefined from multiple points of views simultaneously. From left: Comme des Garcons SS2007, the black top was cut into pieces and then reconnected with red organza and red tulle skirt. Yohji Yamamoto AW1991, this set of wooden pieces is jointed with hinges in order to make a vest and a skirt with black wool lining. This outfit resembles the costume for the role of the manager in Parade, a ballet performed by the Ballets Russes in 1917, which Pablo Picasso designed the costumes.

FUTURISM

Gino Severini, Armoured Train in Action 1915

Pierre Cardin 1968

Hussein Chalayan SS07

Futurism (1909-1944),a technological era, which was a self-invented art movement where machines and motion were the core subject. From above: Pierre Cardin in 1968, the designer of future. This picture is one of the Space Age collection, which he incorporated science and technology. Skin-tight catsuits worn with 60s mini-skirts, chunky necklaces, and plastic goggles maybe the future fashion outfits. Hussein Chalayan SS2007, one of his amazing collections. Like Cardin, he likes to play with science and technology. For this collection's finale, it's a series of mechanical dresses, which abstractedly changed from one era's style to another. In this video I took from Design museum in London, the long and layered v-neck dress was transformed into short day dress with sweetheart neckline and cap sleeves.

ART DECO

American Radiator Building, 1924

Art deco (1920-1930), decorative art that included the using of intense colors in angular and geometric shapes. From left: Proenza Schouler AW2007 and Missoni pre-fall2009. The patterns of both outfits are bold and simple geometric shapes. They are also in shade of red and black. Proenza Schouler dress is made from pleated chiffon, while Missoni whole outfit is knitwear from legging to jacket. Although these two dresses have different construction, they both represent art deco style from the twenties. 

OP ART

Bridget Riley, Fete 1999

Optical art (1950-1960) uses patterns and colors to create vibrating effects. It is a form of abstract art. From left: Emilio Pucci SS2009 and Nathan Jenden SS2009. Both Emilio Pucci and Nathan Jenden dresses consisted of repeated colorful abstract patterns, which represented op-art style. They make the viewer wants to look closer to the details and materials. The mediums of repetition of these two dresses were different. Patterns on Emilio Pucci dress was made by print while Nathan Jenden dress was made from many pieces of circular synthetic fabric.

MINIMALISM

Dan Flavin, Site-specific 1996

Minimalism (1962) is a term used to describe simplicity in content and form, which stripped down to its most fundamental aspects. From left: Jil Sander AW2009 and Calvin Klein AW2008. Simple yet elegance could be descriptions for these two dress, which correspond to the concept of minimalism. The shape of both dresses are more like sculptural curves, hourglass, which signify femininity and stong. To me both designers, Raf Simon and Francisco Costa, are considered being intellect minimalists.