Fashion Book Friday: Orientalism. Visions of the East in Western Dress by Richard Martin and Harold Koda

This is my archive of fashion related books. Most of them are in English, but many are not. Some are new, but many are real finds. Depends on the topic, really...
    So, in the last few years I´ve developed an interest in fashions outside of the great metropolis, and luckily, there is a growing number of books on such topics. This one in particular is about the influence of "the Orient", that is, a number of Asian cultures, on Western dress - so it looks in just that one direction, books on non-Western clothing and culture coming up.
       

     It covers a bit over three centuries, from the late 17th to the late 20th, and is divided into chapters: China, India, Near East and Middle East, Japan and Southeast Asia, although the authors explain the "Orient" is often enough a mixture of several cultures moulded onto Western conventions. It is of course eye candy, chock-full of splendid 18th century court dresses and designs by Chanel, Versace, Valentino, Yamamoto, but the text is simply fascinating, tracing parallels between dress and social, economical  and political developments. Both colonial expansion and the longing for a different, somehow magical world supposedly found in faraway countries played a role. An example: the banyan, an 18th century male Western garment of vaguely Indian origin, stands in the beginning of informal clothing in Europe, and the distinguished gentleman´s favourite garment for portraits - so much so, that Samuel Pepys borrowed a banyan for his portrait above, as a sign of cultured luxury, status and leisure.
      Throughout the 19th century, the - authentic- Cashmere shawl became a byword for luxury, they were inherited, cut up and resewn into Western garments when shawls became outdated, creating a completely knew Fashion mix. They were also copied by European manufacturers, pushing the more expensive originals out of the market.

For others, the East became a symbol of resistance and fight: when Lord Byron (on the left) wears Balkan-style clothing, he shows his participation in the independance movements in this region in the 19th century, particularly Greece. Something similar happened later with the Mao suit, Nehru jacket or hippies´ clothing. In all those cases, the Orient is the better other of the West, where Western taboos and restriction don´t exist.
     Colourful clothes for men and more relaxed, less restricting cut for both sexes entered Western fashion often enough through the designers´ interest in "Oriental" techniques like draping or tying, both by Westerners with interest in Asian cultures, like Valentino, or Asians working in Europe or the US, like Issey Miyake. The presence of the often symbolic Orient widens Western aesthetic and cultural limits, although it can be a delicate balance, never quite free from political of economical implications of (post) Colonialism, something the authors also briefly discuss.

 

  Orientalism is both lovely to look at and though-provoking, and it makes a nice companion to books on more typically academic topics, say  Edward Said´s Orientalism, to understand the intricate connexion between clothes and politics. At any rate, the beauty and creativity of these "hybrids" is unique, such as in these poetic Hanae Mori dresses.

The book is technically out of print, but, since the Met makes some (sadly not all) of its out-of-print publications available for free on the web, it is available as a free PDF here.

Fashion Book Friday: Marcel Rochas. Designing French Glamour by Sophie Rochas

This is my archive of fashion related books. Most of them are in English, but many are not. Some are new, but many are real finds. Depends on the topic, really...

Almost forgotten today, Marcel Rochas was nonetheless one of the most important couturiers of the mid-twentieth century, in large part responsible for the iconic image of the enigmatic, impeccable French feminity. With this book, by his daughter Sophie, he finally has the splendid volume he deserves. 
   

        It is richly illustrated, with a mixture of close-ups of clothes, contemporary fashion photography and pictures from the family archive, like the ones on the right, and those latter distinguish this book form so many others. It is certainly not rare to find a fashion book, even a coffee-table picture collection, driven by an endless love of fashion, attention to detail and perfectionism, but finding a book that at the same time breathes intimacy, that speaks not only of the master of fashion, arbiter of taste etc, but also of the brother, son, husband, father, friend, or even simply the private person that enjoys a weekend in the sun.
Sophie Rochas mixes her private memories of her parents (her mother Hélène was her father`s favorite model and muse) with chapters on marketing, her father`s work for the cinema (he opened a division dedicated to working with film and dressed many French stars, such as Jean Marais) or his iconic perfume Femme (launched 1945 and still available after over 70 years).

  Sophie also cronicles his progression from jazzy, stream-lined fashion of the Twenties, to the elegantly dramatic gowns of the Thirties that show a clear influence of surrealism, such as his famous Bird dresses (one of them is featured in the picture on the left) to the mature, almost uber-feminine, yet never cloying, gowns of the postwar period. Gala gowns, smart suits, hats, underwear, swimwear, perfume...  The Rochas woman, best personified by his second wife Hélène, rises from these pages like some phantom of absolute beauty, and while leafing through it, I felt the wonder Sophie described when, as a little girl, she saw her mother transform into this beatiful creature at the hands of her father.
    At the same time, she describes enough of the backstage work to have a glimpse of how this illusion of unearthly beauty came about: she includes the memories of people who worked with her father, describes working and living conditions in occupied Paris (Rochas was one of the houses that decided to stay open during occupation), especially the fight of the couturiers to not let themselves be controlled by German forces. This might sound trivial at first, after all, it`s just the luxury segment of the rag trade, but by then, the fashion industry had become synonymous with France, of great economic importance, and the Germans were very much interested in controlling it and ideally transporting it to Berlin, which was to become the new centre of everything, including fashion (ironically, they were at the same time  destroying the actually vibrant fashion industry in Berlin, apparently "too many Jews" were involved, but that`s for another occasion). It was therefore a great achievement of the French fashion industry, lead by Lucien Lelong, to remain independent .

Apart from designers and models, friends and customers of the glamourous couple appear on the pages, many actors, but also Evita Perón, wife of the Argentinean president, whose life was later turned into a musical (Evita), and, first and foremost, the painter Leonor Fini, who was apparently a close friend. I have to admit I had no idea, and seeing both photos of and paintings by (above) my favourite painter was a particularly pleasant surprise.

And to finish, this statement by Rochas. I´m not saying this is the last word on the topic, but it is a captivating observation on different attitudes of male and female designers when it comes to dressing, and ultimately treating, the female body.

Fashion Book Friday: Russkaya moda. 150 let v fotografiyakh (Russian Fashion. 150 Years in Photos) by Alexandr Vassilyev

This is my archive of fashion related books. Most of them are in English, but many are not. Some are new, but many are real finds. Depends on the topic, really...

     This is one of those books that took me years to find, after leafing through them in a library (Btw: the picture above is the "mini"Version, which is what I have. The book in the foto is the original, large-format version. The content is the same, as far as I can see) .

The author, Alexandr Vassilyev, is currently one of the major experts on the history of fashion in Russia, a one-man Costume Institute, and this book is incredibly thorough. Since its focus is on fashion through photography, it begins in the 1850, so nothing from Pushkin`s age, but after that, it runs the full gamut from frothy salon beauties to edgy post punk styles

It´s organized by decades and each decade in turn in women´s, men`s and children´s fashions, so it is very methodical and easy to work with. Pictures of royalty, music and film stars, revolutionaries, soldiers and many anonymous people parade on its pages, showing effectively how fashion reflects a country`s history. In his text, Vassiliev also always establishes connexions between what people wore and what social, political and economical upheavals they lived through.

These young ladies wear dresses made out of priests´ clothing, as much of the nation´s industry collapsed during the civil war, and the textile industry was not a priority for the new government.
The late fifties brought a change in attitudes, an international youth festival

 for the first time in decades brough foreigners into close contact with soviet citizens, and Dior made a fashion show on the Red Square (picture on the right).
     The situation with the availability of clothing a fashionable goods improved somewhat, though it was still far from great. The author tells about the role smugglers and importers of foreign goods played, and how effectively class divisions remained visible through clothing: access to imported goods, access to (very expensive) "Fashion Houses" where made-to-measure was available for the elite. Smaller ateliers were available to the middle class in bigger cities, still quite expensive, as off-the-rack remained a bit underwhelming throughout the existence of the Soviet Union.
   But in these relatively prosperous times, a new, less agressive female ideal became established, so most soviet women found themselves somewhere between those two:

Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space

Irina Miroshnichenko, actress

Another lovely detail of this book is that, since it includes a lot of everyday clothes, some hard to find items are also here, such as early knits:

one is this surprisingly modern looking shawl from the 1880s. What looks like eyelash yarn is actually swan down.

or this toque and scarf set from the 30s

or this lovely early 70s hippie

Overall I love this book, both eye candy and a detailed, thorough read, a different way to understand history and changes in norms and attitudes - one of the reasons I love the study of fashion history so much. Just a pity it´s so hard to come by. In any case, the ISBN is: 978-5-387-00115-4 

                              Happy Birthday, Juana Manuela

   

   I originally meant to post this a bit earlier, but well...
   Originalmente iba a postear eso hace semanas, pero me traspapelé...
   
Around 200 years ago, in the (future) Argentinean province of Salta, a girl was born, who, for me, would become one of the most interesting person of her age: Juana Manuela Gorriti. Her precise date of birth is not known - precise record keeping was not a priority in the Civil War-torn provinces of South America. They were in the process of winning their independance from Spain, and years away from forming a state of their own. A letter written by her father suggests she was actually born in 1816, but she liked to say in was in 1818, so let`s believe her :)
Hace unos 200 años, en la (futura) provincia argentina de Salta, nació una niña que, para mí, se convertiría en una de las personas más interesantes de su época: Juana Manuela Gorriti. Desconocemos la fecha exacta de su nacimiento: mantenimiento preciso de registros no era una prioridad en las provincias sudamericanas, desgarradas por una guerra civil. Estaban en el proceso de ganar su independencia de España, y años lejos de formar un estado propio. Una carta escrita por su padre sugiere que en realidad nació en 1816, pero le gustaba decir que era en 1818, así que vamos a creerla :)
     It can be really hard to say what was more dramatic: her life or her work as a writer. Daughter and niece of celebrated politians and governors, she went with her parents into exile as a teenager. Later, she married in Bolivia Manuel Isidoro Belzú, an officer who went on to become president of Bolivia after a coup d'etat. Juana Manuela lived at that time in Lima, Peru, where she ran a girls' school and regularly organized literary soireés that became a fixture of Peruvian cultural life. However, when Belzú, who ran a populist government, was killed after another coup, she was the one to recover his body and give him a burial. She spent the last years of her long life (definitely over 70) in Buenos Aires, dedicated to organizing and editing her literary work.
    Es realmente difícil decir lo que fue más dramático: su vida o su obra. Hija y sobrina de célebres políticos y gobernadores, se exilió con sus padres cuando era adolescente. Más tarde, se casó en Bolivia con Manuel Isidoro Belzú, un oficial que llegó a ser presidente de Bolivia después de un golpe de estado. Juana Manuela vivió en esa época en Lima, Perú, donde dirigía una escuela para niñas y regularmente organizaba veladas literarias que se convirtieron en un hito de la vida cultural peruana. Sin embargo, cuando Belzú, quien dirigía un gobierno populista, fue asesinado luego de otro golpe,fue ella  quien recuperó su cuerpo y le dio un entierro. Pasó los últimos años de su larga (definitivamente más de 70 años) vida  en Buenos Aires, dedicada a organizar y editar su obra literaria.

     And this is quite varied. She was one of the first in Latin America to write horror, or Gothic novels, to write about the countryside and its inhabitants, to study and value the local, not the imported from Europe. Her true Americans are the peasants, the gauchos, the indians, the blacks... not the "European" élite of the big cities. And yes, she says Americans, because she is not a nationalist , if anything, she is a "regionalist", her heart is with the Paraguyan victim of war, not with the Argentinian soldiers commiting the massacre.
Y esta obra es bastante variada. Fue una de las primeras en América Latina en escribir novelas de terroro góticas, en escribir sobre el campo y sus habitantes, en estudiar y valorar lo local, no lo importado de Europa. Sus verdaderos americanos son los campesinos, los gauchos, los indios, los negros ... no la élite "europea" de las grandes ciudades. Y sí, dice que los americanos, porque ella no es nacionalista, si es algo, es "regionalista", su corazón está con la víctimas paraguianas de la guerra, no con los soldados argentinos que cometen la masacre.
Later in life, she edited a cookbook, Cocina ecléctica, a step that surprised many contemporaries, who considered cooking beneath an intellectual like her, but it is a fascinating read that tells a lot about society at that time. It contains a mixture of local and international recipes, some dishes are served "with chilli sauce for the Americans and Worcester sauce for the British", there is an "omelette for young girls" (no spices! apparently you have to marry before being allowed to eat chilli or oregano..)
Más tarde en su vida, editó un libro de cocina, Cocina ecléctica, un paso que sorprendió a muchos de sus contemporáneos, que consideraban la cocina indigna para un a intelectual, pero este libro es una lectura fascinante que cuenta mucho sobre la sociedad en ese momento. Contiene una mezcla de recetas locales e internacionales, algunos platos se sirven "con salsa de ají para los criollos y salsa Worcester para los británicos", hay una "tortilla para jovenes" (¡sin especias! Al parecer hay que estar casada para que se permita consumir ají u orégano ..) 
    Not much of her work is available in English, although some selected fiction is available in translation. In Spanish, there is a new edition of her complete works (picture above).
   La imagen de arriba es de una nueva edición de sus obras completas, de La Crujía Ediciones.