Tag Archive | metropolitan museum of art

Eye On Design: Pink and Black Sequined Mini Dress By Stephen Sprouse

Feb12

Sequined Mini Dress By Stephen Sprouse Photo By Gail Worley
Photos By Gail

This Pink and Black Sequined Mini Dress (autumn / winter 1983 – 84) is characteristic of paradoxical charm of the work of Stephen Sprouse (1953 – 2004). He often sited the cutout, mini-skirted styles that designers like Andre Courreges and Rudi Gernreich introduced in the 1960s, yet he reartciluated these silhouettes within the distinct cultural context of 1980s New York. From his debut collection, he established a unique look, artfully integrating pop culture and street style into youthful fashions executed in luxurious materials.

Sequined Mini Dress By Stephen Sprouse Photo By Gail Worley

Sprouse was particularly known for his ability to sketch: the graffiti motifs developed for his textiles were frequently drawn by his own hand. The scrawled neon print of this dress has been skillfully engineered and embroidered with a gleaming layer if clear paillettes, lending a patina of glamour to an otherwise edgy garment.

Photographed as part of the exhibit In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection, on view through May 17th, 2020 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Eye On Design: Breakfast Suit By Christian Francis Roth

Feb5

Breakfast Suit By Christian Francis Roth Photo By Gail Worley
All Photos By Gail

Following the lineage of witty designs by creators that include Elsa Schiaparelli and Franco Moschino, this playful Breakfast Suit (Spring / Summer 1990) by Christian Francis Roth employs the Surrealist strategy of displacing everyday objects from their normal environment.

Breakfast Suit By Christian Francis Roth Photo By Gail Worley

Here, a pair of fried eggs are fastidiously pieced down the center front of an otherwise staid, black linen ensemble. Aptly entitled the Breakfast suit, the garment is beautifully constructed, stitched with a level of workmanship and seriousness that belies the joke (yolk)

Breakfast Suit By Christian Francis Roth Photo By Gail Worley
Exhibit Installation View

Roth became known for his engagement with art history and popular culture. His interest in humor and storytelling, combined with an avid devotion to detail, are hallmarks of his work. As the designer himself remarked: “Humor is very important. The quality has to be there, too, otherwise the humor falls dead and the designs just look silly,”

Photographed as part of the exhibit In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection, on view through May 17th, 2020 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Eye On Design: Butterfly Headpiece By Philip Treacy

Jan29

Butterfly Headpiece By Philip Treacy Photo By Gail Worley
Photos By Gail

This Butterfly Headpiece (2003) by Philip Treacy epitomizes the milliner’s untethered and imaginative approach to design. A swarm of butterflies is assembled from exquisitely worked turkey feathers that were cut, painted and hand-fashioned into delicate, fluttering forms. Butterflies are one of the most potent symbols of collecting. Rooted in taxidermic systems yet resplendent with poetry, the insect occupies a prominent spot in most European Wunderkammern, or cabinets of curiosities. Because of its transformative nature, the butterfly has inspired infinite metaphor, and within the realm of fashion the analogy has particularly flourished. It easily applies to the accessories in the collection of Sandy Schreier, which is full of items that hold the potential for dramatic metamorphosis.

Butterfly Headpiece By Philip Treacy Photo By Gail Worley

Photographed as part of the exhibit In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection, on view through May 17th, 2020 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Eye On Design: Glass Flower Necklace By House of Chanel

Jan22

Chanel Glass Flower Necklace By Gail Worley
Photo By Gail

One of the enduring legacies of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was her elevation of costume jewelry to high fashion. Maison Gripoix, a house that has serviced the couture industry since its founding in 1869, was among her earliest and most frequent collaborators. The company’s specialized pate de verre (glass paste) technique was developed by the founder, Augustine Gripoix, and passed down generationally. Instead of the kiln method employed by other manufacturers, the house pours molten glass directly into the sophisticated metal settings that frame its designs. This meticulous an costly process allows for greater freedom of coloration and form, and lends a subtle effervescence to the floating glass components. This wreath of graduated translucent flower heads (circa 1938) was produced by Gripoix for Chanel and reflects the late 1930s vogue for romantic nature-based motifs.

Photographed as part of the exhibit In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection, on view through May 17th, 2020 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Eye On Design: F-4B Electric Bass By Born To Rock

Oct23

F4B Aluminum Bass Guitar
Photos By Gail

The Born To Rock F-4B Electric Bass (1995) has a patented design with the following specifications:

Hollow aluminum-tube-frame body

One piece ‘headless’ Plexiglas neck and fingerboard

34 Inch scale

Precision bass-style split coil-pickup with volume and tone controls

The bass relies on a lightweight frame that holds the strings at tension over a tension-free neck, which avoids the warping associated with wooden instruments. Since the open, skeletal design has no conventional headstock, the tuners are mounted below the bridge at the bottom of the body. This bass guitar belongs to Steve Miller.

Photographed as Part of the Exhibit Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

F4B Aluminum Bass Guitar Installation View
Installation View

Eye On Design: Meat Dress By Jeremy Scott

Sep11

Meat Dress By Jeremy Scott
Photos By Gail

Even if you weren’t watching the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards at the time of its broadcast, everyone remembers at least hearing about Lady Gaga’s controversial dress made of raw beef, which was commonly referred to by the media as The Meat Dress, by designer Franc Fernandez. That dress was one-of-a-kind, but did you know that another designer, Jeremy Scott, made an entire line of meat inspired couture? Yes, it’s true. This form-flattering dress — with it’s jewel neckline and elbow-length sleeves — comes from Scott’s Spring / Summer 2011 collection and appears to be fashioned from prosciutto, but it’s actually just pink and white printed latex. I love it.

Photographed as Part of the Exhibit Camp: Notes on Fashion at the Met, Which Closed on September 8th, 2019.

Meat Dress By Jeremy Scott
Meat Dress Installation View

Keith Moon’s Pictures of Lily Drumkit

Aug27

Keith Moon Drumkit
All Photos By Gail

If you can make it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art before the October 1st, 2019 closing date of its attendance record-setting exhibit, Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll you will find that it is so much more than just a collection of famous guitars. For me, the Oh, Wow factor is summed up in the true work of art that is Keith Moon’s Pictures of Lily Drumkit circa 1967. Jesus god, look at this beautiful thing. Just look at it.

Pictures of Lily Drumkit

Inspired by the song of the same title, Pictures of Lily is nine-piece Premier kit — comprised of a snare, two bass (or kick) drums (which are reproductions of the originals), three floor toms and two mounted (rack) toms, with two Paiste cymbals, which appear to be one ride and one crash — with custom artwork.

Pictures of Lily Floor Tom Detail
Floor Toms Artwork Detail

Keith Moon received this drum set at the beginning of The Who’s 1967 U.S. Tour and used it extensively for the performances that followed. The artwork features nude photos of Lily Langtry, the subject of the single “Pictures of Lily.” The psychedelic design incorporates a Union Jack and the text “Keith Moon Patent British Exploding Drummer,” a reference to Moon’s tendency to pack his drums with shells and flash powder in order to detonate them onstage.

Keith Moon Kick Drum
Kick Drum Reproduction, Detail 

The two original bass drums are lost, possibly destroyed by Moon’s pyrotechnics.

Keith Moon Drumkit

Keith Moon Pictures of Lily Snare Drum
Snare Drum, Detail

Photographed as Part of Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll, on Exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum Art in NYC Through October 1st, 2019.

Eye On Design: Moschino Vintage Steam Iron-Shaped Handbag

Aug7

Moschino Steam Iron Handbag
Photos By Gail

It has been said that an ‘it bag’ is only an ‘it bag’ if you’re unlikely to ever own one. Characterised by exclusivity, celebrity and exorbitant price tags, ‘it bags’ were first introduced in the mid 1980s, and by the early 1990s small bags emblazoned with corporate designer logos were the accessories in fashion-conscious circles. Glossy advertising campaigns, glamorous brand ambassadors and celebrity style icons, including Lady Diana, encouraged power-dressing executives with high disposable incomes to snap up these luxury wares.

In critique of this phenomenon, Italian designer Franco Moschino produced a series of handbags that parodied the trend for conspicuous consumption. Among them were witty works such as the Steam Iron Handbag (Ferro da Stiro), using white lacquered and metallic silvered leather.  Marrying humour and irreverence, Moschino’s surreal visual puns satirised the fashion industry, couture conventions and consumerism. Yet they also drew attention to the social politics of the period, critiquing the stereotypical female clotheshorse and articulating the less glamorous reality that, despite their careers, women remain enslaved to the domestic realm in ways that men do not.  Combining luxury with eccentricity, this handbag is an extraordinary example of Moschino’s wit and talent.

Moschino Steam Iron Handbag

Photographed as part of The Exhibit Camp: Notes on Fashion, on View Through September 8th, 2019 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Eye On Design: Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup Can Paper Dress

Jul31

The Souper Paper Dress
Photos By Gail

From Weng Contemporary:

The Souper Dress, inspired by the iconic Campbell Soup Cans series by Andy Warhol, was imagined and produced by the Campbell Soup Company as a mail order offer and as an effective advertising campaign when paper dresses were all the rage in the 1960s. Two labels from any different variety of Campbell’s Vegetable Soups and $1.00 got you the dress.

The Souper Paper Dress Installation View

The Souper Dress is a classic example where fashion, art and industry intersect into one image. The paper dress captures to perfection the vibrant, youthful, optimistic and consumerist zeitgeist of America in the 1960s .
This, then, disposable A-line dress made of screen-printed tissue, wood pulp and rayon mesh with binding tape, is printed with the Campbell’s Soup red, black and white labels. At the back of the neckline is attached the original label that reads: “The Souper Dress/No Cleaning/ No Washing/ It’s carefree fire resistant unless washed or cleaned/To refreshen, press lightly with warm iron/80% Cellulose, 20% Cotton.” Examples of The  Souper Dress is excellent condition can sell for as msuch as  $8,000 at auction.

Photographed as part of The Exhibit Camp: Notes on Fashion, on View Through September 8th, 2019 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Souper Dress

New Photo added January 12, 2020, as this dress is currently displayed in the exhibit In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection, on through May 17th, 2020.

 

Modern Art Monday Presents: Josef Albers, Homage to the Square: On Near Sky

May20

Homage to the Square
Photo By Gail

Following an influential career at The Bauhaus school in Wiemer, Germany (1919 – 33) Josef Albers fled the Nazi regime and emigrated to the United States, where he taught at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, and then at Yale in Connecticut. Beginning in 1949 and continuing over the next twenty-five years, he created his celebrated Homage to the Square series, which is composed of more than a thousand works including paintings, drawings, prints, and tapestries. These works are based on a template of geometric abstraction, a mathematically determined format of several squares overlapping or nesting within one another. These works represent Alber’s experiments with theories of color and spatial relationships, which were informed by his studies of Mexican pyramids and pre-Colombian architectonic principles. Homage to the Square: On Near Sky was painted in 1963.

Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.