RetroSpective

A stunning 1999 painted silk chiffon dress by Alexander McQueen for Givenchy.

The Museum at FIT opened their latest exhibit last week called RetroSpective, examining how designers have always looked to the past for inspiration. The show “presents an overview of historical references in fashion, with a strong emphasis on the recurrence of silhouette,” as noted by curator Jennifer Farley.

My favorite groupings were the ones showing clothes made in different eras that were based on the same style, such as the Empire waist, dresses heavily influenced by the Roaring 20s, or the long and lean late-1930s silhouette. Here are a few pairings that really caught my eye:

A Robe à l’anglaise from 1765 next to a 1951 dress by Balmain with a similar silhouette.

This beautiful Robe à l’anglaise from 1765 is the oldest piece I have seen on display at FIT. It has been wonderfully preserved and showing it next to a 1951 Balmain allows the viewer to marvel at just how tiny ladies were over 200 years ago!

Panniers, which are left and right side hoops, give this gown its shape.

This dress is in remarkable condition for being almost 250 years old!

A 1923 Lanvin, left, and a 2009 dress by Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.

A 1923 black silk taffeta robe de style attributed to Lanvin, above, makes use of panniers, as does a 2009 dress of multicolored satin ribbon by Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.

Jane Austen, anyone? A 1962 Norell, left, with an evening dress from 1810, right.

The Empire-waist evening dress on the right, above, is from 1810 and was an early example of fashion looking backward, as the lines of this dress emulate the simple lines of Greek clothing. The red dress on the left is a 1962 wool crepe and satin “Josephine” dress by Norman Norell, when he himself was looking back to the early 19th century.

Hoop dreams. An 1860 dress of plaid silk taffeta next to the cage crinoline that gives it its full shape.

The look in the mid-19th century featured voluminous skirts, at their widest around 1860, which made the waist appear smaller. The skirts were supported by hoop undergarments, called cage crinolines.

A 1996 dress by Yoshiki Hishinuma, left, with a 2013 ensemble by Thom Browne.

Browne’s creation next to a 2004 wedding gown by Olivier Theyskens for Rochas.

Thom Browne’s wild Madras print ensemble shows the cage crinoline on the outside. The 2004 wedding dress by Olivier Theyskens for Rochas also makes the crinoline (and corset) visible, featuring it as part of the gown’s design.

What Gatsby? A red 1925 Leneif dress next to a 1961 dress by Marc Bohan for Dior.

A 1965 Norman Norell, left, with a 1988 dress by Carolyne Roehm, right.

Another interesting set of dresses were those actually from or inspired by the look of the 1920s. The red 1925 Leneif dress of red satin and bugle beads is the only original, the other three, by Marc Bohan for Dior, Norman Norell, and Carolyne Roehm all show how relevant that silhouette has remained through the decades and that it’s still a rich source of inspiration for designers.

A 1938 dress by Farquharson & Wheelock, left, with a 1972-73 design by Halston, right.

A Farquharson & Wheelock 1938 dress of gold lamé is perfect next to a 1972-73 copper silk jersey dress by Halston, whose body-conscious designs reflected a similar aesthetic.

RetroSpective is on view through November 16, 2013.

The Museum at FIT
Seventh Avenue at 27th Street
New York NY 10001-5992
212-217-4558
Hours: Tuesday-Friday: Noon-8PM
Saturday: 10AM-5PM
Closed Sundays, Mondays, and legal holidays
Admission is free

Beyond Blogging

Detail of a 1938 ensemble by Elsa Schiaparelli.

If you get a chance do have a look at Traditional Home’s new digital issue, which premiered May 13. You can read the entire thing online and if you stop by page 42 and the article “Branching Out” you will see a feature showing the faux-bois trend in home decorating. You will also find a picture of a 1938 Schiaparelli ensemble with a wood-patterned print I took at last year’s Met exhibit Schiaparelli & Prada: Impossible Conversations. The editor of the article wanted to include the picture and I was delighted to be asked!

This month I held the second of my two Brooklyn Public Library workshops as part of the Hive Fashion initiative. The workshop was on interviewing techniques, mainly how to get a good interview out of somebody you want to meet for a feature on your blog. It was great to give another workshop and I had a terrific time. I was oddly more nervous at this one than the first. Public speaking is not easy for me but it was great to push past the fear and just focus on the tips I wanted to share with everyone. As soon as I did that, the nerves faded away!

At my Hive Fashion Blogging: Interviewing Techniques workshop on May 14. Photo by Jennifer Thompson.

Both of these things reminded me that blogging has given me some unique opportunities I wouldn’t have predicted. I never thought of myself as a photographer or conductor of workshops when I started my blog but have loved expanding those skills.

Adrienne of The Rich Life (on a budget) got it right when she wrote to me a month ago: Blogging is never what you think it’s going to be, is it?

Have you found this to be the case too, that what you thought blogging would bring to your life and what it’s actually contributed are wildly different? I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject!

The Ferragamo Vara

Lauren Santo Domingo in her Ferragamo Varas in Paris.

Definitely falling under “Fantasy Shopping,” I had fun playing around a few weeks ago on the Ferragamo website trying out different color schemes for their classic Vara shoe, now in its 35th year. I love the low heel, the ribbon, the classic styling! I would wear these with pants, probably jeans. My favorite color scheme (see below) was plum patent with navy ribbon. While I am, of course, on a shopping ban, and these are way out of my budget even if I wasn’t (they are $550 a pop), it does seem like the kind of shoe that would last, and look good, forever.

All photos by Claiborne Swanson Frank, who shot the campaign for Ferragamo, except for the final two, which are screen captures of the customizing I would choose.

Ferragamo Varas in classic black.

Olivia Palermo in Paris. I love the color of her Varas.

I adore this look!

Lily Aldridge in Nashville, Tennessee.

I think this color pairing would look so good with regular ol' blue jeans.

Lake Bell in Brooklyn! She is right on the waterfront, in one of my favorite spots.

I am quite partial to this pairing too since I love navy and black.

Plum patent leather, Oxford blue ribbon, and gold hardware. Yes, please!

Side view. Now I love them even more.

What colors would you pick?

Anna Got the Floral Memo

Anna Wintour in Chanel at the Met Gala, May 6, 2013. Photo by Jamie McCarthy.

Anna Wintour, Editor in Chief of Vogue, wore this lovely Chanel dress to the Met Gala earlier this month, held to celebrate the opening of the new exhibit PUNK: Chaos to Couture. And while she may have ignored the punk theme—although she claimed she wore pink because it’s punk—she definitely got the memo from Adrienne of The Rich Life (on a budget) and me that June’s “How I Wear My” is devoted to florals!

We would love to see how YOU wear florals, so please send a picture to Adrienne or me by June 3.

What do you think of Anna’s dress? To help you decide, I have included a few more pictures.

Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America.

I like the back detail on this dress. Photo by Jamie McCarthy.

Anna with her daughter Bee. I like her dress too. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris.

What say you to Anna’s dress? Yay or nay?

Gatsby by Prada

Costumes for The Great Gatsby by Miuccia Prada. The center dress was worn by Carey Mulligan.

From May 1-12 a treasure trove of costumes from The Great Gatsby were on display at the Prada store in Soho in Manhattan. These costumes were made by Prada in collaboration with Catherine Martin, the costume designer on the film. I could not get over how many there were, and how beautiful they are. With the exception of the dress Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan wears in the scene where she attends one of Gatsby’s parties, the rest were made for the extras!

Hey Mom, this picture is for you!

Love the fur/feather/crystal capelet!

It was sequins, rhinestones, paillettes, and bugle bead fringing as far as the eye could see and I was in heaven. I have had the sales staff and security guards at Prada tell me I can’t take pictures in the store so I was ready to hear “No” when I asked if I could take some at this exhibit, but that was not the case this time and I shot to my heart’s content. I’m sure the security guy thought I was a nutty nut because let me tell you I went through every tier of that display and took picture after picture. You know me, I never get tired of sequins!

Luckily it was a rainy weekday and I had the place to myself. Otherwise, the sales associate said, it was packed on the weekends.

This is so not what was being worn in the 1920s but who cares? This is Fitzgerald’s novel through the lense of Baz Luhrmann. His Oscar-winning costume designer wife Catherine, in combination with Miuccia Prada, made costumes dense with unexpected and glorious details so I can’t help being charmed by their creations.

Gorgeous in green!

I spotted this orange paillette dress in the film. Did you?

This dress was one of my favorites.

I love the straps on the shoes!

Heaven!

The exhibit will be shown in Shanghai next, followed by Tokyo. I’m sure it will be a big hit there as well.

If you saw The Great Gatsby, what did you think of it? I predict Oscars for Production Design, Costume Design, and Makeup and Hairstyling.

Shopping Ban Update

2013 Purchases. Hey, not bad!

I’ve been good and I’ve been bad.

Good because I’ve controlled my spending fairly well the first four months of 2013. I did buy a pair of jeans, which were badly needed to replace a pair that were starting to fall apart. I also bought mascara, though now I wish I would’ve stepped way up and bought Chanel mascara because this L’Oreal Paris Voluminous is easily the worst mascara I have ever used. It clumps, it flakes, it comes out in globs on the wand. I will never buy it again. I’m a little surprised that this is a L’Oreal product.

Did I just get a bad tube? This is the worst mascara I’ve ever used.

Shirts by J. Crew. I think I have all I need for summer!

As for how I’ve been bad, I broke down and bought two J. Crew shirts on sale recently, both for summer wear, one in stripes and flowers, one in navy blue linen. The linen shirt is the most comfortable button-down shirt I have put on in a long time. It’s as comfortable as a T-shirt! My other two unplanned purchases, which I wrote about in an earlier post, were the leopard clutch from Sheree of It’s Not That Deep (I love that clutch, I use it whenever I go out) and butter LONDON polish in Queen Vic, which I wore to the PUNK: Chaos to Couture exhibit since it looks so good against black.

butter LONDON polish in Queen Vic.

All total, less than $100. It’s a Christmas miracle in May!

How are your New Year’s Resolutions going now that we are in the fifth month of the year?

PUNK: Chaos to Couture

A 1992-93 Versace ensemble.

The new exhibit PUNK: Chaos to Couture opens to the public Thursday at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and if you are in New York and have even the tiniest bit of rebel in you, then you need to see this show.

A 2013 studded jacket and lace dress from Christopher Bailey for Burberry.

In his remarks to the press, curator Andrew Bolton noted that punk clothing “loses its potency when shown in a museum” and between that and wanting “to avoid stereotypes and clichés” of the punk style, he focused the exhibit on the punk influence on haute couture and ready-to-wear, influence which has been used to, as he says, “often surprising and beautiful effect.”

A collection of late 70s T-shirts by Vivienne Westwood.

In the first three galleries punk’s roots are traced from New York City and London in the mid-1970s, showing clothes from the period (next to contemporary renditions), along with recreations of a 1975 CBGB urinal, and the boutique founded by Malcom McLaren and Vivienne Westwood called Seditionaries, at 430 King’s Road in London, to underscore punk’s ties to music and political and social upheaval.

A recreated seedy CBGB toilet room to remind you of the nastiness of punk!

Ensembles by Thom Browne, left, and Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy, right.

The final four galleries are devoted to do-it-yourself, which Bolton notes is “punk’s enduring contribution to high fashion.” “D.I.Y. Hardware” explores the use of studs, spikes, safety pins, chains, zippers, and staples. “D.I.Y. Bricolage” shows the incorporation of trash and recycled materials in clothing. “D.I.Y. Graffiti and Agitprop” marks punk’s use of text and images to provoke and confront mainstream norms. “D.I.Y. Destroyed” examines punk’s devotion to garments that have been shredded, ripped, and deconstructed.

The entire exhibit shows that punk, as Bolton says, was “not always a pretty picture” but it has inspired designers to create unique, sometimes lovely, and always hard-edged garments that have heavily borrowed from the independent spirit of the punk movement.

These Alexander McQueen dresses are from 2009-10, one of his final collections.

I love the detail on this McQueen ensemble.

Maison Martin Margiela ensembles from 1989 through 2009.

A 2008 dress by Dolce & Gabbana of hand-painted silk organza and tulle.

A 2011 distressed suit by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel. 

I love the pattern the holes in the fabric make!

A 2009 ensemble from Rodarte.

Detail from a 2004-5 Comme des Garçons ensemble.

This exhibit struck a chord with me and I liked it far more than I expected. I realized as I walked through the packed press preview among well-known and noted writers, journalists, broadcasters, and photographers that penning a blog is a bit punk rock—it’s definitely D.I.Y. and at times very anti-establishment. It felt quite punk to represent my tiny little blog literally next to Suzy Menkes, there to represent the International Herald Tribune. If, as Bolton proposed, originality and individuality are the hallmarks of punk rock style, then I (wearing my black leather bracelet and black nail polish of course) salute all my blogging sisters out there as the punkers you are in your hearts, even if you’d rather wear pearls around your neck than safety pins in your ears.

1972-74 ensembles by Vivienne Westwood and Malcom McLaren.

PUNK: Chaos to Couture is on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 9 to August 14, 2013.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
New York NY 10028
Note that starting July 1, 2013 The Met (and the Cloisters) will be open seven days a week!