Creative Process Journal: If Marie Antoinette was a Blogger

If Marie Antoinette was a Blogger II by Ingrid Mida (Copyright 2011)

In this work, a dress once worn by Marie Antoinette from the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum is reimagined and recreated from a mash up of toile de jouey fabrics which depict an appropriated version of Fraggonard’s painting The Swing. This post-modern pastiche of the original dress is embellished with hot pink ribbons, a colour associated with third wave feminism. Instead of the panier and petticoat normally worn with a robe a la francaise, the dress is styled in a contemporary way with jeans and brogues to further emphasize the post-modern aspect of its creation.

In a nod to the construction of identity reflected in the phenomena of personal style blogs, the artist photographs herself wearing the dress while holding a mirror over her face. The mirror, a tool used by style bloggers to hide their identity, also symbolizes femininity. With further manipulation in Photoshop, multiple selves are depicted in the ballroom of the Palais Garnier in Paris as a play on the myth of photographic truth.

The title of the work, If Marie Antoinette was a Blogger, signifies the irony with which this project was conceived. In the post that would accompany the image, Marie Antoinette would quote theorist Michel Foucault on the aesthetics of existence from his 1984 work On the Genealogy of Ethics as follows:

“What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become something which is related only to objects and not to individuals, or to life. That art is something which is specialized or which is done by experts who are artists. But couldn’t everyone’s life become a work of art?...From the idea that the self is not given to us, I think that there is only one practical consequence: we have to create ourselves as a work of art” (350-1).

With a blog, everyone’s life can become a work of art today and therein lies the ultimate irony of Foucault's statement.  

For further reading:

"Personal Fashion Blog: Screens and Mirrors in Digital Self-portraits" by Agnes Rocamora in Fashion Theory, Volume 15, Issue 4, December 2011

On the Genealogy of Ethics: An overview of work in Progress. In P. Rabinow (ed.), The Foucault Reader. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984.

Project Clock: +12 hours for final embellishments and finishing of dress, photographs, manipulation in photoshop and preparation of artist statement
Total to date: 65 hours

P.S. This is the final post of the Creative Process Journal for this project. I hope you enjoyed the journey!

Creative Process Journal: The Dress

It's been one of those weeks.... I sort of feel like I've been to hell and back and so spending some time in the studio was a dose of joy. This is the dress - a post-modern pastiche of Marie Antoinette's dress from the Royal Ontario Museum. 

Post-modern Marie Antoinette Dress by Ingrid Mida 2011

Post-modern Marie Antoinette Dress Back by Ingrid Mida 2011

It's a mash up of 18th century and contemporary style with heavy doses of pink in reference to third wave feminism. I made the skirt to accommodate paniers and without them it drags at the sides somewhat, but that's all I had time for. Besides if Marie Antoinette were here today, she would probably wear jeans or a miniskirt under this get-up.

Post-modern Marie Antoinette Shoes by Ingrid Mida 2011

Instead of the pink Converse shoes, I decided to go with these patent leather pink and cream brogues with a heel by Bass. I fancy I can wear them myself - perhaps with my upcoming interview with Jeanne Beker of Fashion Television!

Project clock: +10 hours
Total to-date: 53 hours

Creative Process Journal: Constructing the Dress

Marie Antoinette Dress Back (in Progress) by Ingrid Mida

With all the work I did on the process journal for this project, the actual construction of the dress almost seems like an afterthought. But it is time to bring this project together.....

Marie Antoinette Dress Front (in Progress) by Ingrid Mida

In writing this post, I realize that I should have taken more photos of individual steps, but my time in the studio seems so limited that stopping to take photos is an interruption of the flow.

The construction process was complicated by the fact that it took me a while to remember how to sew with fabric.  Mesh handles differently than fabric and I'd been working with mesh for so long that I had to  redo certain parts more than once.

Marie Antoinette Dress Side (in Progress) by Ingrid Mida

One part that has not worked are the sleeves. Although they look fine in this photo, they sort of feel like mitts because the fabric is so heavy. I spent 3 hours just on these sleeves and at the end of the day ripped off the "ruffle" so I can rework them with a lighter fabric or lace. 

Dress Sleeves (in Progress) by Ingrid Mida

The next part of construction involves the panniered skirt. Wish me luck!

Project Clock: +15.5 hours
Total to date: 43 hours

Creative Process Journal: Marie Antoinette and Elsa Schiaparelli

Insect Necklace by Schiaparelli

Sometimes inspiration comes from the least likely of places. Earlier this week, Harold Koda, chief curator of the Costume Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, showed a slide of Elsa Schiaparelli's Insect Necklace during his talk as part of the Bata Shoe Museum's Founder's Lecture Series. The surrealist whimsy of this piece captivated me and I had to know more.

According to the Met's website, this piece came to the museum via the Brooklyn Museum's Costume Collection and was created by Elsa Schiaparelli in 1938 for  the fall pagan collection.  "This iconic necklace epitomizes Schiaparelli's Surrealist tendencies, perhaps more than any other design she executed because of the unreal idea of insects crawling on your skin as a fashion statement." The necklace was worn by Millicent Rogers - one of Schiaparelli's "best clients who was brave enough to wear her outré designs."

As unlikely as the connection between this necklace and Marie Antoinette is, a light bulb went off in my head when I reviewed accounts of hygiene practices in the 18th century.

In an out of print book from 1932 called The Elegant Woman, From the Rococo Period to Modern Times by Gertrude Aretz (translated and with a preface by fashion scholar James Laver), the author wrote about the lack of hygiene in 18th century, including the rank odour of the lack of bathing that was covered up with heavy doses of scent.  "Marie-Antoinette was not altogether a vain and coquettish woman, nor was her elegance altogether consistent. Her clothes were rich and beautiful, but somewhat negligently put on, and she was often careless and untidy in her dress. Her personal cleanliness was not very strict, especially before she became Queen, and she used her bathroom but seldom..... The Rococo period, with all its luxury, was a period of dirt and lack of hygiene." (pg. 62-63)

The elaborate pouf hairstyles of the period were crafted out of false hair, pins, dye, grease, and powder and then laden with accessories like feathers, flowers, jewels, and even such implausible additions as vegetables and small ships. Aretz wrote: "It goes without saying that with such complicated coiffures elegant ladies could not pay much attention to cleanliness of the head and hair. Indeed, very little consideration was given to personal hygiene in the eighteenth century. The hair was very rarely washed, perhaps once a year or even not at all. Elaborate coiffures were expected to last for weeks, and it was no rare occurrence for vermin to nest in these monstrous edifices of hair and to attack their owners in a terrible way." (pg. 76) Caroline Weber in her book Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette wore to the Revolution  also wrote about the "Queen's hallmark hairstyles" and the "special head-scratchers (grattoirs) made from ivory, silver, gold, and even sometimes decorated with diamonds" (Weber: 111).

Our perceptions of the grandeur and beauty of this period are no more than illusions. And this I think is the key to adding a subversive element to my recreation of a robe a la francaise. Funnily enough, it seems to tie in rather nicely to my previous dress sculptures made out of mosquito mesh - which originated from a play on the word "fly" as a reference to both the pest and the tag word for "cool".

I am going to appropriate Elsa Schiaparelli's insect necklace and reinterpret it in the context of the 18th century as a reference to "all manner of vermin" that crawled out of the elaborate pouf hairstyles of Marie Antoinette's time (Weber: 111).

Sources:
Aretz, Gertrude. The Elegant Woman: From the Rococo Period to Modern Times. London: Geroge G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1931. (Translated by James Laver)

Weber, Caroline. Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Collection: Elsa Schiaparelli Necklace 2009.300.1234
http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80093782
sourced: November 12, 2011

Project Clock: +3 hours
Project Clock to date: 27.5 hours

Creative Process Journal: Cutting the Fabric for the Marie Antoinette Dress

Cutting the fabric for the Marie Antoinette dress (Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011)

Yesterday was the day to cut out the pieces for the robe a la francaise. Although I'd made a dress in this style in mesh once before and was able to use the pattern from that project, this time was a little bit trickier. As a post-modern mash up of fabrics, the intent was not to use a single fabric for the entire gown but to mix up the colours. Using different fabrics is a statement about authenticity and veracity making it clear that this is not Marie Antoinette's dress. But which colours for which pieces? I had to recut some pieces more than once because the beige print did not have the same pop as the other more vibrant fuschia pink and brown, or the lime green and fuschia.

The cut pieces for the Marie Antoinette dress (Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011)

I was so intent on this process that I did nothing else for six hours straight.  I was so energized by this project that I did not even notice the time and I did not take a washroom break nor did I have lunch! As much as I love reading, for one day I loved NOT reading....

Number of hours: 6
Project time clock: 21.5

Creative Process Journal: Post-modernism, Cindy Sherman and Marie Antoinette

Cindy Sherman Untitled 225 (1990)

Post-modernism describes a philosophical movement holds that there is no absolute truth because realities are relative and dependent on the parties involved and their interests. In other words, the way in which people perceive the world is subjective. Inherent in the definition is a questioning of the boundaries between categories like male and female, straight and gay, white and black.

In postmodern art, this perspective has broad implications. There is a sense that everything has been done before and thus post-modernist expression often includes techniques like appropriation, bricolage, collage, pastiche, the use of text as a central artistic element, performance art, and the nostalgic borrowing of past styles and themes in a contemporary context. The use of irony, pastiche, parody and subversion are also common.

Photographer Cindy Sherman is an example of a postmodern artist in that her self-portraits capture her dressed in the role of another person but are not really about her or any other real person. They embody a critique of culture and ask the viewer to consider practices of looking, agency, and female identity.

For my creative project "Marie Antoinette Slept Here", I am trying to incorporate post-modernist aspects into this work. The dress itself is a bricollage mash up of fabrics and a nostalgic referencing of the 18th century in a contemporary context. Making it more than just a dress will require more thought and more work on my part.

Some off the top of my head ideas I'm considering include:
* using the dress in a photograph taken in Versailles to create the illusion that the dress was worn there
* making a t-shirt using the obsession collage from an earlier post to wear underneath the dress in lieu of a corset
* incorporating Converse sneakers like was done in Sophia Coppola's film version of Marie Antoinette
* donning the dress myself and taking self-portraits in Cindy Sherman style
* making a necklace of safety pins in lieu of the ribbon that was typically worn with a robe a la francaise
* all of the above!

Project Clock: +1.5 hours      To-date: 15.5 hours

Creative Process Journal: Bricolage and Choosing Fabric

The Swing by Fragonard

Bricolage is a French term that literally means "making do", using whatever materials are on hand. This term can also be used to describe the cultural practice of taking items and using them in a way that they were not intended to create a subversive or resistant meaning - like taking safety pins and using them for body ornamentation.

My choice of fabric for the Marie Antoinette dress project is a form of bricolage. I purchased some toile de jouy fabric in Paris about two years ago (remember this post?) and it has sat in a drawer in my studio ever since. As upholstery fabric, it was a little too thick to embroider easily, and it has sat unused - until now. Although it is on the heavy side, I am hoping the weight of the material will give the dress a quality of gravitas. Since the dress will require over 20 metres of fabric, making do with materials on hand is a relevant cost consideration.

Toile de Jouy Fabric from Paris

This fabric references the iconic painting of the 18^th century called “The Swing” by Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) from the Wallace Collection. In this painting, a young woman dressed in a peach-coloured silk gown sits in a swing hung from a tree in a fantastical dream-like garden while her lover admires her from below. One shoe flies off of her foot as she flies through the air. Painted in 1767-1768, the painting embodied erotic connotations at the time, but the dominant hegemonic reading of this work has changed to now represent romance and femininity. And while the painting as a referent predates Marie Antoinette’s reign as Queen of France and the fabric does not replicate the image, but reinterprets it, the reference embodies the frivolity and romantic notions of the period. As well, the vivid pinks in the fabric tie into the pink of third wave feminism. 

I'm going to have to think about how to add a subversive or resistive element to how I use this fabric.... That part is still up in the air at this point. 

Project Clock: plus 1 hour (painting and fabric analysis)     

Total to date: 14 hours

Creative Process Journal: Marie Antoinette and Chick Lit

Marie Antoinette and her ladies in waiting from the movie Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola

One of the best thing about being a grad student is having access to online academic journals..... And given how much I like to read, it is almost like getting my daily dose of candy. One article that helped me gain a better understanding of the most recent wave of interest in Marie Antoinette is called "Marie Antoinette: Fashion, Third-Wave Feminism, and Chick Culture" by Susanne Ferriss and Mallory Young which was published in Literature Film Quarterly in 2010.

In this article, the authors trace the popularity of Marie Antoinette as an icon of fashion to the rise of chick culture and third wave feminism. They identify Antonia's biography called Marie Antoinette The Journey (2001), Caroline Weber's book Queen of Fashion (2006) and Sofia Coppola's movie Marie Antoinette (2006) as being pivotal to the transformation of the woman who was once considered a "heartless, elitist, anti-revolutionary wicked witch" into a "sympathetic, unfairly maligned victim" (Ferriss and Young: 98). The authors present the argument that this  revisionist account of Marie Antoinette is representative of a "third-wave feminist aesthetic focused on youth, fashion, sexuality, celebrity and consumerism." (Ferriss and Young: 99).

Fashion figures heavily into their analysis of the books and film and the authors consider how a ceremonial change in dress symbolized a "re-fashioning of self". For example, there was a stripping of her Austrian identity as Marie Antoinette crossed the border from Austria into France with her nakedness becoming "a metaphor for her psychic vulnerability" (Ferriss and Young: 102). As well, the authors consider other aspects of fashion in the movie such as the use of pink as a "signature colour of postfeminism" and as the shoes by Manolo Blahnik as having a "strong chick-culture connection" (Ferris and Young: 104-105).

Marie Antoinette Movie - Converse Sneakers

There is a lot of meaty content in this article but of note here are two items:
1. The Converse shoes in the film's shopping scene were not a mistake (as some articles/websites would suggest). The authors posit that "Coppola consciously admits and laughs at her own use of contemporary fashion imagery." (105)
2. Marie Antoinette's love of fashion and her lavish consumption is considered to be "evidence of her playful, endearing, queen-next-door charm" and is pivotal to the understanding of the movie as a revisionist account and alignment with chick lit culture and third-wave feminism. (106)

This scholarly article was both entertaining and enlightening. I equate reading it to a light-bulb moment. I now understand why "the attitude toward the infamous queen might provide a clue to the Zeitgeist during any period in Europe and America since her own time," as Caroline Weber suggested in her book and is emphasized by Ferriss and Young  (99).

Bottom line - I think that I need to incorporate a pair of Converse high-tops into my Marie Antoinette dress installation.....

Works cited:
Article: Marie Antoinette: Fashion, Third-Wave Feminism, and Chick Culture
Authors: Suzanne Ferriss and Mallory Young
Source: Literature Film Quarterly, 2010. Vol. 38, Issue 2, p98-116

Queen of Fashion, What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution
Author: Caroline Weber
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, New York, 2006.

Project Clock: Article review and synthesis 3 hours
To date: 13 hours

Creative Process Journal: The Nature of Obsession

Marie Antoinette Obsession (Digital Collage by Ingrid Mida 2011)

Obsession is defined in the Webster's dictionary as "the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image or desire." Under that definition, it is clear that I am obsessed -  with the dress that is believed to have been worn by Marie Antoinette and that is now part of the Royal Ontario Museum's collection. What it is about that particular dress that haunts me I cannot articulate clearly... It might be because that dress was the reason I discovered that the world of fashion had a scholarship beyond what I knew from fashion magazines. But it is clear that I am not alone in my obsession with this dress or Marie Antoinette.

It was not long after the doomed Queen of France lost her head that others became obsessed with her. In the middle of the 19th century, Empress Eugenie became obsessed with Marie Antoinette. In an article called The Empress's New Clothes, Fashion and Politics in Second Empire France, the author, Therese Dolan,  writes Eugenie "wished to connect her personal image with what she perceived to be the political astuteness and personal courage of the beheaded queen." Eugenie's imitation of Marie Antoinette influenced the revival of 18th century styled fashions including the exaggerated silhouette of enormous skirts and other accessories like the fichu and mantillas. (Dolan: 26-27)

In an article called Marie Antoinette Obsession published in the University of California Press by Terry Castle (Volume No. 39, Spring 1992, p 1-38), he refers to several case histories of women becoming obsessed with Marie Antoinette:

In the case of "Helene Smith", she claimed in a state of hypnotic trance to have had three previous lives, one of which included Marie Antoinette. At such times, she would "pantomime with a handkerchief or an imaginary fan, pretend to take snuff, mimic the action of throwing back a train, and address those present as though speaking to members of a court." (Castle: 2) Observers of her trance-like behaviours as Marie Antoinette believed that Smith's "embodiment as queen was often convincing, if not moving." (Castle: 2)

Castle also refers to an article from 1907,  in the British Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, in which an anonymous author described having seeing an apparition that she believed "to be the ghost of the French Queen" which had appeared to her repeatedly since childhood.  The writer of this article called "Dream Romances" admitted that she could not think of any "plausible explanations" for her visions. (Castle: 2-4)

In 1911, a book called "An Adventure" was published by Macmillan in which the authors "Miss Morison" and "Miss Lamont" described seeing an apparition of the queen and several members of her court in the gardens of Versailles near the Petit Trianon. It was later revealed that the authors of this book were in fact two academics, Charlotte Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, the principal and vice-principal of a college in Oxford. These two respectable women faced a great deal of ridicule after their identities were revealed and yet even in the "face of exquisite public ridicule" they maintained their beliefs and spent many years trying to validate their claims. (Castle 5-6)

The point of Castle's article is not to point out the oddity of this obsession but instead to ask the question "What was it about Marie Antoinette - and Marie Antoinette alone - that she should become so extraordinarily present, more than one hundred years after her death, to four presumably intelligent, well-educated and otherwise conventional women?" (Castle: 8)

And while I disagree with the balance of Castle's argument (which delves into Freudian analysis and homoerotic attachment), I think he poses an interesting question. Why have so many succumbed to an obsession with Marie Antoinette?

Works Cited:
Marie Antoinette Obsession
Author: Terry Castle
Source: Representations, No. 38 (Spring 1992) pg. 1-38
Published by: University of California Press

The Empress's New Clothes: Fashion and Politics in Second Empire France
Author: Therese Dolan
Source: Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring - Summer, 1994) pp. 22-28
Published by: Woman's Art, Inc.

Project Clock: + 4 hours (research, article analysis, digital collage and blog write-up)
Total to date: 10 hours

Creative Process Journal: Marie Antoinette Slept Here

Marie Antoinette: Victim or Villain  (Digital Collage) by Ingrid Mida October 2011

This is the launch of my creative process journal for a new project called ..... Marie Antoinette Slept Here.

The concept is a riff on celebrity culture. As a society, we seem so entranced by celebrities - what they wear, where they go, what they do. The tabloid newspapers and media sites that are fueled by the activities of celebrities are proof of that. And I have to admit I'm guilty of that too - with my ongoing fascination with Marie Antoinette. As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, it was those initial posts I wrote about the dress at the Royal Ontario Museum which initially sparked the popularity of my blog. I continue to get hits and emails about Marie Antoinette to this day.

My idea is to  make a robe a la francasie that is inspired by the dress belonging to the ROM, but constructed in a post-modern way.  I will imagine the dress as it was before alteration to recreate the exaggerated silhouette of the time using a mash up of fabrics that I purchased in Paris several years ago. This choice of fabric will be a form of textual poaching in that the meaning will be renegotiated to reflect a critique of culture.

While I am making the dress, I will use process work to consider how to strengthen the metaphor and develop it into a conceptual art piece. I will alter the dress in some way - perhaps through embroidery, paint or in some other intervention - to make more than just a dress. It will be a statement about celebrity culture and our fascination with this woman. I will post regular updates as I create this dress for a December 5 deadline.

Project Clock: 5 hours for initial concept development + 1 hour digital collage = 6 hours

It all started with Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette's Dress (Property of the Royal Ontario Museum)

Life is funny. If someone had told me that one day I'd be interviewing curators and that people in New York would be talking about a speech I'd given on the topic of Fashion and Art, I would have laughed at the improbability of it all. And yet, that is now my reality and it is all because of a dress.....

Back in 2008, I was new to blogging. All I knew at that point was that I wanted to write about fashion, art and books. It was a slow beginning. And then one day, I saw a dress at the Royal Ontario Museum that may have been worn by Marie Antoinette. It is probably the only such dress in existence and is believed to have survived because it was customary for royalty to give away their clothing after the season. The dress had been altered in the 19th century and was purchased by the ROM in 1925 by the ROM's first director, Charles Trick Currelly, from an antiques dealer in London, England.  I became obsessed with this dress and wanted to understand what it might have looked like before it was altered (actually I'm stilll obsessed with this dress and will soon begin to post about a creative project inspired by that dress).  I started reading everything I could about Marie Antoinette and 18th century dress and discovered a whole world of fashion scholarship that I had not even known existed. By immersing myself in the topic, I taught myself costume history. (The one thing I learned from my first master's degree was how to teach myself anything although I have since taken courses in costume history). And although fashion had been my muse in my art practice for several years before this juncture, I also began to make replicas of period dress in paper, in fabric and in mesh. I attended lectures and exhibitions about costumes and textiles. As I gained knowledge, I began to write about what I saw - at first for my blog, then for newsletters and then for journals and now for my masters of fashion thesis.

There was a time when I worked in finance that I had an unshakable confidence in what I was doing. They called me the Blonde Barracuda - probably because I was fearless in speaking my mind. But when I left that career to care for my sick little boy and tend to my dying father, my self confidence evaporated. It seemed that people no longer were interested in what I had to say because I was a stay at home mother.... And even after I forged a new career as a photographer and then as an artist, something still didn't fit. As much as I enjoyed the process of creation, I did not feel intellectually engaged or challenged as an artist and my days in the studio were too solitary. But what this immersion in art has done is helped me to understand the common visual vocabulary and processes shared by both art and fashion.

After attending the Costume Society of America mid-west conference last weekend, I feel like I have found my people... I speak the language of fashion academia and I'll be reshaping my speech into an article to submit for publication. Who knows maybe one day I'll actually be brave enough to actually talk to Hamish Bowles and Anna Wintour ....

P.S. I received permission from Valerie Steele and Harold Koda to publish the transcripts of our conversations on fashion and art on Fashion Projects.

Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet

The New York Times proclaimed Apollo's Angels by Jennifer Homans to be one of the ten best books of 2010 and some have described it as the definitive work on the history of ballet. I'm only four chapters in and I'm utterly enchanted. This book was clearly a labour of love for the author who was once a professional dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.

Tracing ballet to its roots in the as the dance of kings and courtiers in the 16th century, Homans follows the development of ballet over the centuries into its current form. Although the book is dense and requires careful reading, true lovers of ballet won't mind devoting time to this exquisite work.

Every chapter provides evidence of the author's painstaking research over ten years.  One example of her attention to detail is evident in this passage about Marie Antoinette:

"In these painterly tableaux the dancers often froze in a snapshot image before moving on, and Noverre even thought to introduce pauses into his ballets to focus attention on "all the details" of these "pictures". 
It was not an original idea: tableaux figured prominently in Diderot's ideas for a new dramatic theater, and Parisian lawyers had also taken to using dramatic poses and tableaux as rhetorical tools to strengthen the presentation of an argument. Nor did the persuasive power of these techniques go unnoticed in high circles: when the dauphin married Marie Antoinette in 1770, the celebrations featured set pieces in which actors froze in prearranged painterly scenes, each marking an important symbolic moment in the festivities. Fashion followed suit, and staging "live paintings" became a popular salon activity in the late eighteenth century from Paris to Naples, especially for women." (page 75)

This book is an important work that defines the cultural history of dance and is an absolute must read for true balletomanes.

Title: Apollo's Angels, A History of Ballet
Author: Jennifer Homans
Publisher: Random House, New York
Category: Non-fiction, history, ballet
Number of pages: 643

A Palace of Art on the Pacific

Portrait of Anne, Vicountess Townsend by Sir Joshua Reynolds
Collection of the Legion of Honor
Photo by Ingrid Mida, copyright 2011

Perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco is a palatial museum called the Legion of Honor. Home to an extraordinary collection of paintings and decorative objects from the 17th to 20th century, this Louvre-like palace and grounds is host to a retrospective exhibition by the Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave.

Courtyard of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco
Photo by Ingrid Mida copyright 2011

Although I went out to the museum to see Isabelle de Borchegrave's paper dress sculptures, the museum itself was so noteworthy that I thought it deserved a separate post. With a dazzling collection of paintings and decorative objects and set on expansive grounds, I was decidedly content to spend the entire day there. At one point, I felt a little bit like I was stepping back in time to the 18th century when I encountered Marie Antoinette's canape a la ture (sofa).

Queen Marie Antoinette's sofa in the Legion of Honor
Photo by Ingrid Mida copyright 2011

This royal sofa, which was originally gilded, was commissioned by Queen Marie Antoinette for a niche in her apartments in the palace of Versailles. It subsequently was owned by the King's sister, Madame Elizabeth, who replaced the gilding with the more up-to-date neoclassical scheme of white and gold. It was sold during the French revolution to Gouverneur Morris, American Ambassador to France at the time.

Portrait of Hycaninthe Gabrielle Roland by Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun
Collection of the Legion of Honor
Photo by Ingrid Mida, copyright 2011

This museum is home to an astonishing number of 18th century masterworks including Fragonard, Boucher and Watteau as well as Marie Antoinette's favourite portrait painter, Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun. Not limited to this period, there are also galleries with more contemporary works by Renoir, Rodin, Picasso and other artists.

If you find yourself hankering for Paris but live on the west coast of the USA, this museum is the next best thing! My next post will be about the Legion of Honor's special exhibition called Pulp Fashion, the Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave. 

Pulp Fashion Poster at the Legion of Honor
Photo by Ingrid Mida, copyright 2011

Legion of Honor, Museum of Fine Art San Francisco
100 34th Ave
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 750-3677

Chanel and Pre-revolutionary Fashion

If my fantasy calendar for 2011 had come true, I would be in Paris this week for the Spring 2011 couture collections. Alas I think my invitations must have been lost in the mail. But I didn't have to be there to drink in the elegance and simplicity of Chanel's spring couture collection.

Chanel Couture, Spring 2011

The Chanel spring 2011 collection by Karl Lagerfeld is mostly devoid of colour, with only a few outfits in subdued pastel colours of liliac, soft pink and light blue. The monochromatic silhouette is clean and sculptural with the typical Chanel flourishes and breath-taking beadwork. There are a multitude of daywear looks many including narrow legging-like trousers worn with skirted suits or tunics, a definite nod to the younger couture client. The shoes are refreshingly flat, many with a black cap.

Chanel Couture, Spring 2011

What I found to be most surprising about this fashion-forward collection is the allusion to pre-revolutionary fashion with the black ribbons worn around the neck by all the models. Every model on the runway wore this black ribbon although it was more prominent on the models with longer, swan-like necks.

Chanel Couture, Spring 2011

Chanel Couture, Spring 2011

Photo credits: Monica Feudi/Go Runway (sourced from Vogue's Style.com)

This black ribbon harkens back to pre-revolutionary fashion in France and evidence of that is seen in this 1785 sketch of Marie Antoinette which was sent by Count Axel Fersen to his sister Sophie in Sweden.

Drawing of Marie Antoinette about 1785, ink and color on paper

I wonder if Lagerfeld's ribbon necklace is a prediction of a fashion revolution to come.

Marie Antoinette's Birthday and Blog Giveaway

Marie Antoinette in Riding Costume by Antoine Vestier, 1778

Today marks Marie Antoinette's birthday as well as the two year anniversary of Fashion is my Muse (or pretty close to it). It has been an adventure beyond my wildest dreams. Blogging has expanded my horizons as both an artist and a writer and I'm thrilled to have made so many delightful friends along the way.

After 350 posts, I look back and marvel at the opportunities that have come my way, the books I've read, the exhibtions I've seen, and the people I've met - all under the premise of entertaining and enriching my audience which now approximates 20,000 visitors a month.

At the beginning, my niavity was plainly evident. I didn't watermark my photos and soon discovered them on sites all over the internet. And it took me more than six months before I even knew about site counters!! There have been times when, I've been tempted to walk away from it. But the blog seems to have a life of its own and my loyal fans and followers have kept me going.

It is in the spirit of friendship and celebration that I would like to offer a giveaway to my readers. The prizes include:
1. A copy of Vicki Archer and Carla Coulson's book French Essence: Beauty, Style and Ambience which will be released in the USA on November 11, 2010 and shipped directly to the winner from Amazon. (I admire their work so much and wanted to show my support. Plus, I know many of you have been patiently awaiting this release!). 
 

2. A copy of Coco avant Chanel dvd with Audrey Tautou



3. Notecards featuring my Red dress series illustrations

Please tell me your favourite post or type of post (book reviews, exhibition reviews, history of dress, examples of my art work) from the last two years and you could win one of the prizes. You do not have to have a blog but you must include an email address so I can contact you if you win. If you are already a follower, please remind me of that and you get an extra chance to win. Blog links, tweeting, and sharing on Facebook all add extra chances to win.

The giveaway closes on November 15th and winners will be announced the following day.

In the Woods

Se cachant dans les bois by Ingrid Mida 2010

In the spirit of Halloween, I thought I'd post this image. Se cachant dans les bois means hiding in the woods and is one of the works that will be included in my show at Loop Gallery in January.

This is my 350th post and I'm dreaming up a blog giveaway in celebration thereof. I'll be posting details on November 2nd which just happens to be Marie Antoinette's date of birth.

Marie Antoinette and the Chanel Ready-to-Wear Collection for Spring 2010

John Galliano was not the only designer to be inspired by France's Fashion Queen this season. Karl Lagerfeld also took inspiration from Marie Antoinette's love for the simple life in creating an airy and whimsical collection for Chanel Spring 2010 Ready-to-Wear Collection. A version of Marie Antoinette's barnyard was constructed in the Grand Palais in Paris to present the collection.

Marie Antoinette adored flowers and when her husband Louis XVI acceded to the throne in 1774, he gave her the Petit Trianon. He is said to have told her "You are fond of flowers, so I give you this whole bouquet." She undertook the renovation of this sanctuary and a few years later created a hamlet nearby which included a farmhouse, a barn and a dairy among other buildings. She insisted on real animals to show her children and watched as the cows were milked and strawberries were picked. The milkmaid look (caraco a la polonaise) was popular around 1778-1779. 

It is this affinity for flowers and fabrics that appear homespun that I see in Karl Lagerfeld's designs for Chanel Spring 2010 Ready to Wear. Several of the models carry basket-like hand bags almost as if they'll be stepping off the stage to venture in the henhouse to collect eggs! 

Truthfully I thought it was a bit of a stretch to find the Marie Antoinette in this collection. But it was nice to see a lighter palette of colours in Chanel ready-to-wear.

The 2010 Spring-Summer Collection at Dior

Last spring, I had the glorious privilege of visiting the haute couture salon at Dior and this photo of me was taken in the alcove off the staircase. Sadly, I did not get to meet John Galliano and surprisingly, no one suggested that I try on any of the exquisite gowns (even though I am a sample size! LOL!).

Nevertheless, I did have the opportunity to examine several Dior haute couture gowns up close and the exquisite beauty and precise craftsmanship of the pieces I saw was simply beyond description. And while I was permitted to photograph the dresses, I also agreed not to publish them. You'll just have to take my word that the reason they cost as much as a car is obvious when you see one up close.

Keep this in mind when you read my guest post today on the blog Sanity Fair about Marie Antoinette and the Dior Spring 2010 Couture collection. Although it is my own interpretation that this collection may have been inspired by Marie Antoinette and the court of Versailles, have a look and decide for yourself.

I normally do not write about recent collections, but I made an exception because Skyla convinced me that I was the only person who could write this post. And after doing so, it struck me that I should sometimes break my own rules. Although there are lots of fashion bloggers out there, I present a unique perspective when a collection seems to reference history or art.

Book Review: Fifty Dresses that Changed the World

Given my fascination for dresses, it probably comes as no surprise that I could not resist buying this book which is one in a series published by the Design Museum. Others include Shoes, Cars, Chairs etcetera. And while it hardly seems likely that any object would change the world, it does provide a compact survey of 50 dresses that impacted contemporary fashion design from 1915 forward. Some of the dresses on the list of top fifty are: The Goddess Dress by Madame Vionnet (1931), Chanel's Jersey Flapper Dress (1926), YSL's Mondrian dress (1965), the Paper dress (1966), Vivienne Westwood's Mini-Crini (1985), Versace's Safety-pin dres (1994)...

If I had written this book, I would have gone back to around 1778-1779, when Marie Antoinette stepped out of her enormous paniers and adopted the milk-maid look with polonaise a deux fins or pleated caraco and apron of linon a fleurs. And who can argue against the revolutionary impact of Marie Antoinette wearing the lightweight chemise dress known as the gaulle. The outcry from  Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun's portrait of the queen wearing this "undignified" and "indecent" gown was vitriolic. But obviously that wasn't the mandate of this particular book.

In any case, reading this book did set off a light-bulb for me when I read about Hussein Chalayan's Buried Dress collection of 1993.  In this collection for his graduation show at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design, he buried the garments in his back garden and left them to decompose. The results were not pretty but caused a fashion sensation and established him as a pioneer in the world of fashion. After I finish documenting my mother's dress collection, I may use this concept as a stepping stone for a process driven conceptual project with her dresses. That alone made the book worth the cover price.

Title: Fifty Dresses that Changed the World
Published by: Conran Octopus Ltd. 2009
Category: Non-fiction, fashion
Number of Pages: 112
Price: US$20, Canada $26, UK 12.99

Retrospective Bust of a Woman by Salvador Dali at the MOMA

Tucked away in a corner on the fourth floor of the MOMA (in the Alfred H. Barr Jr. Painting and Sculpture Gallery) is this delightful sculpture called Retrospective Bust of a Woman by Salvador Dali. The accompanying exhibition tag describes the sculpture as follows: [It] "not only presents a woman as an object but explicitly as one to be consumed. A long phallic baguette crowns her head, cobs of corn dangle round her neck, and ants swarm along her forehead as if getting crumbs." Maybe it is just me, but I see Marie Antoinette during the Flour Wars.

This is one of a small grouping of surrealist sculptures on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York until January 4, 2010 in an exhibition entitled "The Erotic Object: Surrealist Sculpture from the Collection" curated by Anne Amland assisted by Veronica Roberts.

I lingered over these sculptures drinking in their quirky and often humourous point of view. Also on display is the infamous fur-lined tea cup by Meret Oppenheim and Taglioni's Jewel Casket by Joseph Cornell.