DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT: Elsa Schiaparelli

In a previous article I wrote about the Met Gala 2012 I discussed the exhibit featuring Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada.  The buzz continues around the exhibit and especially Schiap.  However, I wrote that article without fully understanding the fashion world’s innate attraction to this designer.

In an age where someone’s fifteen minutes of fame now only lasts fifteen seconds, I kept asking myself what was so important about this woman.  After reading everything I could Google about Schiap, it turns out she’s what Steve Jobs is to technology.  She’s what Starbucks is to coffee, what Picasso is to painting.  You can’t talk about fashion without referencing her.

What is so interesting about this woman is that for the first time she merged the idea of fashion and art.  In the height of the surrealist movement she found her inspiration in artists such as Man Ray and Salvador Dali.  Her rival, Coco Chanel, often referred to her as ‘that Italian artist who makes clothes’.  Her shocking pink, tear dress and shoe hat are only a few of her most famous designs.

By the end of 1954 Schiap closed the doors to her fashion house.  However Schiap is now on contemporary fashion’s radar once again.  Diego Della Valle purchased the brand in 2007 and plans to relaunch it in February 2013.  A head designer has still not been named but the Schiaparelli salon in Paris opened the first week in July.  The quirky elegant boutique is filled with bright colors, unusual furniture, art packed rooms, and chandeliers.  Basically, a fashion house on acid.  If this salon is a reflection of the type of clothes that will be coming out, I can’t wait to be happily surprised.

-Sara Freund

Just a note on Orientalism

“One is not a traveler who does not read in advance of the unfruitful sort of men and the things that he will find there. During the long hours of calm and boredom we have on the sea, I have read one already old account, about Morocco and I found thereupon a very fixed and formal world that the view of the first street of Tangiers will make vanish completely” Eugene Delacroix

Obvious sexual connotations have been paired with Eugene Delacroix’s image above, but from the imagination of the artist? Delacroix eluded to power of preconceptions, playing with the culture, tradition and art history of his own time, vying with the reality of the East to satisfy the West.

Unkown to the European male was the harem, somewhat of a female concubine that arosed the idea of an erotic space, labeling the veiled women as objects of the male gaze. Acknowledged for his perspective, Delacroix contributed to the Orientalist notion of the sexualized Muslim woman; he raised ambiguities and contradictions regarding his image of the East when in reality, women in the East were oppressed and vulnerable.

Viewers tend to believe what they are presented with is a true image of reality. The Women of Algiers (In Their Apartment) shown above, is an icon in Orientalist artwork. In this oil painting completed in 1834, Delacroix painted his image of an Algerian harem, detailed with a hookah, three white females, one dark-skinned female from the back, bare limbs, long dark hair and fabrics revealing more skin. The ‘sex slave’ became the icon of Orientalist art, casting a stereotypical and erotic gaze on Muslim women in the East.

The era of Orientalism began in Europe at the end of the nineteenth century and had a major influence on the representation of the veiled Muslim woman. The power of perceptions played a leading role in the viewers’ understanding of the Eastern woman and their role in society

After having traveled in Turkey, my perception has changed, having actually observed, learned and understood women’s role and expectations in society. It is necessary to re-examine content, discern relationships, and uncover assumptions in Delacroix’s influential work to understand his approach as an Orientalist artist and to recognize the power of perceptions and the reality that is overlooked.

-Beatrice Schachenmayr

Artsickness

Millie Brown is a performance artist. Her mode of performance, however, might make you sick to your stomach. Her medium is milk, though at first glance, you might think it’s paint. When she’s ready to create a new piece, she adds edible dyes to milk, making “paint” of varied colors. She drinks one of the colorful concoctions. Then she sticks a couple of fingers down her throat.

In relation to Millie Brown, Jackson Pollock was a traditionalist. While he merely splattered and dripped paint onto canvas with brushes and his hands, Brown’s art is a bit more involved. Her art truly originates from within. In the beginning, she would vomit on shirts and sell them. Now she has evolved to canvas-puking.

She is truly an inspiration. I mean, how many of us have a skill so advanced that it allows us to show off our bulimic tendencies to the world AND get paid for it? Brown has discovered a new low in the world of modern art, and the only thing sicker than her art is the fact that there exists an audience willing to pay for puke on canvas.

This video is actually one of the less disturbing of Brown’s performances; watch if you can stomach it.

-Maisha Shahid

Before you throw that away…

Sure, you did the right thing by recycling that Solo cup and bottle of Mountain Dew, but take a look in your recycling bin. You may be surprised to find that you have created a sea of colorful plastic and paper products. Those recycled goods, which would typically head to a plant to be melted down and reclaimed, have the ability to become something else. Art! Before emptying your overflowing recycling bin, put aside a few of the special or unique bottles, tops, or any items that you think have artistic potential. Disregard any sanitary thoughts you may have and take green living to a new, more artistic level!

Check out these green ideas after the jump:

The Murals

I still remember the first mural I saw in Belfast.

Painted on the side of the Sinn Fein offices, in a Catholic-dominated neighborhood, is Bobby Sands oversized face. He was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and a hero after his publicized death in 1981. Covering the entire side of the office building the mural stretches two stories high; below his smiling face a sparrow breaks free of a chain; and above his head an eagle breaks freee. A famous quote said by Bobby borders the portrait: “Anyone republican or otherwise has their own particular role to play… our revenge will be the laughter of our children.”

Bobby’s mural is one of many. It can stand as an incredible visual image, but it’s also an integral part of a larger body of political, social, and historical murals in the city. The murals of Belfast, as a collective, are incredible for their ability to turn art into tools of awareness—an achievement that’s as impressive as it is lasting.

Napoleon’s Egypt

Think Egypt and you might think of Elizabeth Taylor’s classic film “Cleopatra”, or The Bangles 1986 hit, “Walk Like an Egyptian”, or try Brendan Fraser’s ridiculous adventures in “The Mummy”—the movie’s tagline speaks straight to Hollywood’s outlandish versions of ancient Egyptian culture: “The sands will rise. The heavens will part. The power will be unleashed.” Yea right.