A Bookstack for the Future from Our Past.

Astonishing as it might have been for my university 80s-self to witness my present-self cinematically appearing in the college dormitory, were it possible - I would present the following bookstack to that self:

• Dress and Popular Culture
• Fashion at the Edge:  Spectacle, Modernity, and Deathliness
• StreetStyle:  From Sidewalk to Catwalk

Interwoven with late night studies of English literature, French language, and Art - I was studying fashion, unofficially, and have been ever since.  It is a bookstack which offers answers and evidence in response to some whys of fashion:

• Why do styles shift in and out of popularity.
• Why are styles adopted by groups of people.
• Why do trends occur and sometimes reoccur.
• Why does being fashionable hold such importance for some people.
• Why is fashion often symbolic and not only functional.

If you've a burgeoning penchant or interest for... fashion+psychology+unspoken language+meaning - it's your bookstack too.  Here's a story for you.

Prologue: 

Knowing now what I knew and loved then, I contemplate how to impress my 80s self.  Past midnight, in the hallway of the dormitory - when everyone else is asleep  - is when I will find myself sitting there in a silly oversized t-shirt reading too many assignments for one night - face coated in minty-sulphuric, green, beauty-clay.

The matte, black, stretchy pleather leggings of a few twenty-first century years ago will be just the thing to catch my eye.  Those, I think - along with some over-the-knee, black leather riding boots.  The rest won't matter.  Long hair and double-pierced ears will be edgy enough to impress that person sitting there in her clay beauty treatment, growing out a mullet.

That self might recognize this self - perhaps critically... never mind that.

Scenario:

Me: Appearing in the doorway slowly and casually sauntering by, "It seems the studying will never end... I remember."

In response, a glance of surprise and scrutiny... also approval for the "look".  It worked.  I think I'm someone's visiting mother.

Me:  "These books are perfect for you and hold answers to many of your questions.  Read them between your assignments."

In wordless response, I retreat to the dorm-room, leaving the books on my desk and ascend the loft bed ladder... thinking I've missed too much sleep - as I drift off, unaware - until tomorrow - of the messages to myself tucked among the bookstack pages.

If that very short fiction left you in the mood for still more imaginary/fashion/time travel quick-fiction, your wish is granted here.  Or, if you'd like more than just the bookstack - there are more books and movies here.  More about 80s beauty and hairstyles here.  An 80s fashion post with more about leggings here.

The Perfect Bookstack for the Fashionably Curious:
Dress and Popular Culture, Patricia Cunningham and Susan Voso Lab.  Bowling Green State University Popular Press - 1991.

Fashion at the Edge:  Spectacle, Modernity, and Deathliness, Caroline Evans.  Yale University Press - 2003.

StreetStyle:  From Sidewalk to Catwalk, Ted Polhemus.  Thames and Hudson - 1994.

The Excellence of Real Mail.

Versus the Lackluster of Email, Real Mail Contains in Its Folds... your friend's handwriting, little extras such as photographs and artsy bits of sketching or stamping.  Real - snail - mail requires postage, which provides another chance to personalize correspondence... stamps add pizzazz... panache... an artful touch.

Here's another excitedly received letter from E - this one came with three small vintage black and white photographs... lovely bits of the past.  Among other things, E tells me of her affection for books with deckled, rough edges, her Uncle named Square, and her fragrant lavender and jasmine. 

We're true mail snails... choosing real over email anyday.

Real Snail Mail for Toile La La at Art Fashion Creation.

If you love the thought of real mail, you'll surely be inspired by Jennie Hinchcliff and Carolee Gilligan Wheeler's book Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art.  And, here's a link to Jennie's blog Everyday Should Be a Red Letter Day with a recent Tokyo correspondence post.

My Eyes Travel Through Vreeland's Allure.

Images vague, emerging, sometimes mystical, futurepast, engaging, enamoring. 

Here, for you - an Eye Spy of sorts, inspired by Diana Vreeland's Allure:

Drawings smudged in charcoal by Toile La La.

Political Facets of Fashion.

From the foreword  of Fashion Now 2: "...the items we choose to buy and wear are a reflection of our personal ethics and choices. ...It is not enough to know the source of the idea. ... ."  (p.28)  Briefly bringing to mind concerns of animal rights, environmental awareness, humane labor practices, and manufacturing ethics - this hefty but small book packs a big punch, brains and beauty.

I recently reread Fashion Now 2, published by Taschen and edited by Terry Jones and Susie Rushton - because one interview question particularly interested me:  "Can fashion still have a political ambition?"  To 160 fashion designers from around the world Fashion Now 2 offers a brief questionnaire. Not all answer the fashion-in-politics question and the reason for this is not evident... perhaps it was not included on all interviews, or some designers chose to avoid the question, possibly.  

Reading Fashion Now 2 the first time, the political aspects of fashion were not even clear to me.  However, the question's intrigue made it memorable to me... and I was reminded of it while reading a new post from Patricia Gaye Tapp at Little Augury (which you can read here).

Tapp's Little Augury post "Power and Style" introduces readers to one of her newest book selections - Power and Style: A World History of Politics and Dress, by Dominique Gaulme and Francois Gaulme - published by Flammarion.  Little Augury's review of Power and Style has me even more interested in the idea of political facets of fashion - hence, my second reading of Fashion Now 2 and its politically-related fashion inquiry.

From the book Fashion Now 2, here are a sampling of fashion designers' responses to the question:  "Can fashion still have a political ambition?"

Agent Provocateur (Serena Rees and Joseph Corre) - "At certain points in time fashion has been about joining a gang and the gang's objective can be political." (p.57)

Alberta Ferretti - "Particular styles in dressing can underline belonging to a group with a specific and identifiable ideology.  Only in that sense can we say that fashion has political ambition." (p.65)

Alexander McQueen - "Because fashion is so indicative of the political and social climate in which we live, what we wear will always be a symptom of our environment."(p.71)

Ann Valerie Hash - "Yes, to start with pants for women were a revolution.  To stop wearing the corset was also a new way to see women.  The best example is the tiny shoes that the Chinese women had to wear during the last century in order to get married - we used to teach them that small feet were more precious!" (p.85)

Antonio Marras - "Yes, of course!  Everything is politics: choose to wear a particular T-shirt, decide not to wear furs, broach certain matters.  Deciding how to live is politics." (p.91)

Barbara Bui - "Of course.  Fashion can convey declared or subliminal messages." (p.113)

Blaak (Aaron Sharif and Sachiko Okada) - "Fashion is a result of what is happening.  Hence political meaning can be decoded from what people wear, but not sure about political ambition." (p.119)

Boudicca (Zowie Broach and Brian Kirby) - "Yes - clothing throughout history has been used as a vehicle for Association/Revolution/Acceptance/Symbolism/Protest." (p.125)

Clements Ribeiro - "It is increasingly difficult to create and maintain a political stance as fashion is now such a big cultural/entertainment scene.  We don't believe the catwalk is a great space for political statements in our times, but outside of it, fashion can be a very cunning tool." (p.161)

C.P. Company and Stone Island - "I really hope so.  I will always defend respect, ethics and mutual understanding.  Fashion has to respect the individual and has to be ethical at every step of the supply chain." (p.179)

Dirk van Saene - "I am always skeptical about designers
(ab)using political statements in order to promote their product." (p.191)

E2 (Michele and Olivier Chatenet) - "Fashion is more a social message than political." (p.211)

Fendi (Maria Silvia Venturini Fendi) - "It should not - but it can because fashion has great power when it influences costume and society." (p.219)

Giambattista Valli - "Street fashion can have a political ambition, when it becomes a designer one, it is a moment after." (p.227)

Giorgio Armani - Yes, of course.  My notions of deconstruction were political in as much as I was advocating a change to the status quo - and I still believe that people should be allowed to be themselves where their clothes are concerned. (p.243)

Guiseppe Zanotti - For sure, fashion and art are instruments of communication and they throw out messages that can make a noise.
(p.245)

Hussein Chalayan - Fashion can be informed and inspired by political aspirations but to actually make it literally carry it  is in my view often contrived. (p.269)

Jens Laugesen - Yes, if fashion aims to relate to and reflect the world it evolves in and arrives from. (p.287)

Jil Sander - I see fashion as part of an ethic of the personal, which has to do with all the decisions, actions, and behaviour of a person. (p.297)

Katharine Hamnett - Yes, industry runs the planet and the fashion industry is the fourth largest.  How we design and consume fashion to an extent decides our future. (p.323)

Gary Harvey of Levi's - Absolutely, fashion should be political.  Clothing is a subliminal language that communicates how you want to be perceived, your personal identity is a political statement chosen each morning, be it 'boring conformity' or 'aggressive reactionary'. (p.237)

Hardy Blechman of Maharishi - Yes.  The media coverage it attracts means it can be an effective channel for expressing political messages.  Politically charged clothing can also help people assume their chosen political identity (for example, an environmentalist might wear hemp clothing and an anti-war protester might wear recycled military surplus). (p.341)

Marithe and Francois Girbaud - Perhaps not 'fashion' per se but the textile industry reaches everyone.  Buying and consuming are political acts.  It's easy to condemn Third World countries which produce at very low prices while we are the ones shaping that situation with our conquest or economic wars with napalm and guerillas. (p.361)

Mihara Yasuhiro - I think so.  Fashion is one way of expressing political beliefs and interests.  Everyone pays attention to fashion so it's easy to convey anything to people.  It's one of the privileges in fashion, I guess.  However I think fashion today is more concerned with business and a label is rated against its sales figures.  I think it's such a shame. (p.375)

Angela Missoni of Missoni - Fashion is mirroring women's condition, it talks of the freedom most women have on this planet.  It is a medium of expression and a channel of communication: the authority of fashion brands can be used to bring to the public attention crucial problems of our culture and society, to raise funds and to increase public participation. (p.379)

Richard Nicoll - Of course, but I think it falls on deaf ears.  Maybe to have a social conscience is not really in harmony with the essence of the fashion industry. (p.433)

Rick Owens - I've always seen fashion as a response, reaction or protest to social conditions.  I'd have a hard time considering it more... . (p.437)

Roberto Cavalli - I believe that fashion has partially lost its political ambition.  Just think about the difference between the folk fashion in the '70s and the ethnic trend of the last period: while in the past it meant a radical rebellion against the institution, nowadays it represents a charming journey towards unexplored territories in search of new vibes. (p.441)

Olivier Theyskens of Rochas - As fashion designers, we're obviously reacting to our environment (even if you're denying it by escaping reality).  Then we're expressing a certain point of view which can be considered as social and political. (p.445)

Rogan (Rogan Gregory) - Oh yeah, there has to be more to life than the daily rat race.  It's time to pay attention to what is happening around us.  The health of the planet and the people living on it is in jeopardy.  You can make a difference by what you choose to purchase and the lifestyle you choose to lead.  Why not choose to buy clothes made of responsible materials and manufactured by responsible people.  We have a responsibility to future generations to take care of the planet one step at a time. (p.449)

Sofia Prantera of Silas - I feel it is impossible to still make a political statement with clothes.  But you can make it with the way you run your business and portray yourself, if that counts. (p.453)

Siv Stoldal - Clothes are a very powerful way to communicate.  A designer's work ends up being worn on somebody else's skin and taking part in somebody else's life.  So political ideas can definitely be communicated through fashion by designers prepared to address them. (p.455)

Stephan Schneider - As all ideas in fashion are used by the mass industry to sell their products, the 'stop the war' T-shirts hang all over the high streets.  The message became a commercial stunt.  I guess every designer has the desire to reflect and influence our thoughts by his work.  This means politics to me. (p.467)

James Jebbia of Supreme - I think that it can, whether the message actually resonates with the people that you're ultimately trying to reach is another story though, at least here in America... . (p.473)

Valentino - (Valentino Garavani) Yes, because fashion gives work to so many people that it is a very important political power. (p.489)

Vanessa Bruno - Yes, I think there is a missing representation of women in the fashion world.  "Doll models".  Let's give them space to be real women. (p.491)

Vivienne Westwood - I look upon government as a one-way corridor, to facilitate the interests of business.  At the same time, the government tries to convince everybody else that this is good for them.  And so people are being trained by the media to be perfect consumers of mass manufactured rubbish.  The people who wear this stuff have bought the system, and their appearance demonstrates the fact that their brains have been removed.  I think it's important to make great clothes so that people can look individual, and not a product of mass advertising. (p.511)

Yohji Yamamoto - ... Art cooperates by resistance.  In this sense, fashion could have something to do with social ambition.  But political ambition?  I don't see it in fashion.  But, if fashion does have such ambition, I would describe it as 'freedom'! (p.521)

Stefano Pilati of Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche - I think it would be genius if we achieved that.  It would be a very mature step for fashion, to show that we can communicate something.  Personally speaking, knowing how much I put into my work, such as a spiritual sense of making clothes, or the thoughts I have around women's evolution, men's roles, society and all of that; why not exchange it?  Now could be a good moment to do that.  Benetton was probably the only one who broke those barriers because it had that really huge machine behind it. (p.527)

Zero Maria Cornejo - Fashion can provoke thought and discussion, and through uniforms provoke fear and repression. (p.531)

I woke up this morning, thinking of uniforms, the contrast of a bride's dress compared to those of her ladies-in-waiting, wigs worn by British Parliament, statement T-shirts, and the robes of clergy - and decided that yes, fashion certainly does have political facets - whether it represents higher authority, importance, protest, or representation of concepts.  Perhaps now you - will too - see the clothing you wear, as not just something chosen for protection or warmth - but a creation touched by many hands and proclaiming many ideas.

French Fashion Dolls in Washington and New York.

To learn the exquisitely-dressed fashion dolls of the Theatre de la Mode exist here in the United States was thrilling to me. (Although I have still only seen them in books and online.)

The Theatre de la Mode fashion dolls live at Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, Washington.  I have older post links with in-depth history and details, which you'll see in a link below.  But, to continue - after reading about the creation of Theatre de la Mode, I coincidentally (without looking for it) found a book called Two Centuries of French Fashion, created and published by the Brooklyn Museum.

Astonishingly, the dolls in Two Centuries of French Fashion, seemed to be the same "ladies" from Theatre de la Mode (but in different attire).  I wrote a post about Two Centuries of French Fashion, which you can see there at the link.

"1900 Doll" from the Gratitude Train of 1947. High Style, Metropolitan Museum of Art, p.225.

Recently, I pulled another book from the library shelf - High Style: Masterworks from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art - and discovered the same French fashion mannequins again.  Reading High Style, the mystery became solved.

In summary, the Theatre de la Mode was a travelling exhibit created by many talented people chosen from fashion, textile, art, and theater industries under the supervision of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne.  The purpose of the exhibit was to promote French fashion, but that is not what makes Theatre de la Mode so impressive - its significance lies in the WWII conditions under which it was produced and in the beauty and precision that are evident in the display, despite the hardship its creators endured.

The fashion dolls acquired by Brooklyn Museum (and now housed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) were created as gifts of appreciation from the people of France to the United States for its relief efforts following WWII.  In 1947, these fashion dolls arrived on a "Gratitude Train", full of gifts.  At that time, the Brooklyn Museum had opened a new Design Lab for fashion, so in 1949 the Chambre Syndicale deemed it the proper home for the Gratitude Train fashion dolls.  It seems The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired the Gratitude or Merci dolls in 2009.

According to the book High Style, (Jan Glier Reeder, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010, p.222), the Gratitude Train fashion dolls were based on the design of those created for Theatre de la Mode - so both groups of dolls were created by French illustrator Eliane Bonabel and Spanish sculptor Joan Rebull.

Learn more about both exhibits at the blue Two Centuries of French Fashion link above.  The Gratitude Train fashion mannequins may be viewed at this Metropolitan Museum of Art link.

  

Envisioning Italian Futurist Design in Dress of 1930's.

I was so excited to read essays describing 1930's clothing designs by Italian Futurists published in Against Fashion: Clothing as Art, 1850-1930 (Radu Stern, The MIT Press - 2004).

Essays included in Stern's book are:  Ernesto Thayaht's "The Aesthetics of Dress: Sunny Fashion, Futurist Fashion" (1930), Ernesto Thayaht's and Ruggero Michahelles' "Manifesto for the Transformation of Male Clothing" (1932), and Renato di Bosso's and Ignazio Scurto's "The Futurist Manifesto of the Italian Tie" (1933).


Reading the essays on dress, I wanted to see the clothing and ties visualized and described by the Italian Futurists - but unable to find their particular designs, I illustrated the garments - following the artistic direction and specifications in their words.

The 16 items in the Futurist series of dress were garments which they named themselves:  The Toraco, Camito, Corsante, Femorali, Conici, Ancali, Tubaria, Calzari and Calzali, Aeroscarpa, Scafa, Spiova, Asole, Paravista, Radiotelfo, Luca, and Trifermo.

Here's a brief description of the items, but you'll have to read the manifesto for the entire specifications - which include materials, shapes, number of buttons and pockets, closures, and sometimes color suggestions:

• Toraco - a sleeveless, low-necked undershirt.
• Camito - an "almost skintight" "antihinderance" shirt.
• Corsante - half-sleeve chest cover.
• Femorali - loose thigh cover.
• Conici - conical foot cover...cool colors in summer, warm colors in winter.
• Ancali - short hip cover for swim, training, or sport.
• Tubaria - self-fastening foot cover, fitting close at ankle.
• Calzari and Calzali - mesh foot covers.
• Aeroscarpa - breathable elastic shoes.
• Scafa - waterproof shoes.
• Spiova - waterproof, warm headcover with shoulder protection.
• Asole - summer cap with adjustable sun-shields.
• Paravista - eyeshade to attach to the Asole.
• Radiotelfo - "travel helmet" with radio and headphones.
• Luca - waterproof, reversible coat-like garment.
• Trifermo - overjacket with close fit at waist, convertible collar and inside pockets.

Recently, I wrote about Futurist Giacomo Balla's passionate color opinions.  Below, you'll see a color palette based on his writing.  When you read about the Futurist clothing and look at the sketches, try to visualize the garments in vividly saturated colors like these. Here's the link for my post with Balla's color descriptions.

Color palette based on Giacomo Balla's Futurist manifestos. Composed by Toile La La.

Italian Futurist Clothing and Accessory Designs - Interpreted by Toile La La.

Italian Futurist Clothing and Accessory Designs - Interpreted by Toile La La.

In contemplating the Conici, Tubaria, Calzari and Calzali, and the Aeroscarpa, I believe the Italian Futurists were addressing all the conditions feet encounter - and the concept of indoor versus outdoor footwear.  My versions depict the Conici as a washable cloth shoe to be worn at home; the Tubaria also as an indoor shoe, for the office perhaps - with built-in pockets for a key or coins; the Calzari and Calzali as mesh covers (with rubber soles) to slip over the Conici and Tubaria and keep the soles clean - or for extra durability; and the Aeroscarpa as a leather sock-type foot garment (elastic-backed) - that slips into a protective "shell" with rubber bottom and sides and leather strap closures. Strap closures would work like rollerblade or ski-boot latches. Latches would be composed of stainless steel, which would also tip the toe and heel with the gleam of metal.

Maybe the Aeroscarpa leather sock and shell could be worn separately too.

Italian Futurist Clothing and Accessory Designs - Interpreted by Toile La La.

Ernesto Thayaht's and Ruggero Michahelles' "Manifeso for the Transformation of Male Clothing" states:  "...we have to reduce to an indispensable minimum the number of items that are worn at the same time.  We have to reduce to an indispensable minimum the SPECIFIC WEIGHT OF EVERY PIECE OF CLOTHING, proportionally and in accordance with the climate.  We have to reduce to a strict minimum sewings, hems, and buttonholes (that is to say, the bill) of every item in the wardrobe in order to facilitate manufacturing, washing, ironing, folding; thereby diminishing the cost of production and increasing sales and the likelihood that every city dweller can change his clothes more often."

Thayaht's and Michahelles' clothing descriptions sound very much like sportswear and fitnesswear of today.  Their "Radiotelfo" sounds like a cap for transporting modern music devices.  And, Thayaht's  shoes ( "...two-tone shoes - fresh, youthful, and speedy...the unusual shape, which seems to emphasize the lightness of the advancing step...") seem like a description of today's Italian-manufactured trainers.
Renato di Bosso's and Ignazio Scurto's "The Futurist Manifesto of the Italian Tie" refers to ties as "slipknots" and "nooses", and urges men to dress "in a manly way", with a metal ornament (instead of a neck-encircling cloth tie) adorning the shirt.

They wrote:  "...a man's character should be expressed...through the brilliance and purity of metal", suggesting designs from aluminum, chrome, precious metals, brass, or copper - suspended on elastic cord. And they called this the ANTITIE.

Aluminum tie models, based on Italian Futurist designs of Renato di Bosso and Ignazio Scurto. Toile La La.

I cut small tie models from aluminum foil, but in thinking about larger versions of these - I wondered about the safety of larger versions in metal.  It seems metallicized leathers would have been suitable.  If Renato di Bosso and Ignazio Scurto ever produced any of their metal ties, wouldn't someone have kept a few - or were they just too avant garde for thirties sensibility?

Studying Early American history several years ago, I read about battles of the eighteenth century and discovered illustrations of military dress. Some officers wore metal plates at the breastbone called "gorgets", which might have been the type of ornament to please Renato di Bosso and Ignazio Scurto. Do you think they ever thought of this shape?  Most of the Futurist textiles utilized geometric shapes, so perhaps the crescent would have been viewed with disdain.

Gorget breastbone ornament. Model created by Toile La La.

Gorgets were crescent-shaped and inscribed with an officer's name or rank.
Note: You'll see in the above garment illustrations a small gorget-shaped Futurist tie placed with the "Corsante" (top row, third from left).

Loving the look of men in ties, I felt scolded after reading "The Futurist Manifesto of the Italian Tie" and thought men must have felt similar pangs of shame after learning of the corset's discomforts.   During my lifetime I've heard mens' tie complaints and didn't take them seriously, but take a moment to consider how long they've been protesting.

Nevertheless, I like the idea of men wearing gleaming metal antities.

Radu Stern's inclusion of these artists', designers', thinkers', and poets' essays in his book Against Fashion gives the reader a feeling of true conversation with the Italian Futurists.  This was a clothing design movement of which I was completely unaware, but Stern's book is informative and (for me) riveting.

If you have thoughts or information regarding clothing or textile designs of early twentieth century Italian Futurists, I would love to read your comments. 




 

Book Review of Theatre de la Mode: Fashion Dolls: The Survival of Haute Couture.

Before, during and after my summer vacation to the beach I kept my eyes glued to this Theatre de la Mode second edition book by Edmonde Charles-Roux, published by Palmer-Pletsch Associates. Just click here to see the cover, details and more reviews at Amazon.

After reading some reviews about inadequate photos, I was hesitant to buy it so I borrowed it through interlibrary loan and then upon reading it and loving the photos - hurriedly purchased my own copy from Amazon. 

For this post, please allow your mind to become a blank screen so that you may imagine the events which produced the Theatre de la Mode masterpiece.

In the fall of 1944, L'Entraide Francaise - the organization responsible for providing and coordinating French war relief - contacted Robert Ricci of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Parisienne suggesting a project to feature the endurance of the French fashion industry and couture. France's great engine of fashion, slowed by the impediments of war, would receive a revitalizing boost from this project.

Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture president (from 1937-47) Lucien Lelong recounts that pre-war figures proved fashion industry revenue to be of great benefit to French economy: "...export of a single dress made by a leading couturier enabled us to buy ten tons of coal... ."
In Charles-Roux's Theatre de la Mode, Lelong remembers the July 1940 invasion of Chambre Syndicale headquarters by five German officers hoping to install offices in Berlin and Vienna. To this invasion, Lelong responded: "You can impose anything on us by force, but Paris couture cannot be uprooted,... . Either it stays in Paris or it does not exist. It is not within the power of any nation to steal fashion creativity, for not only does it function quite spontaneously, but also it is the product of a tradition maintained by a large body of skilled men and women in a variety of crafts and trades."


The French still suffered after liberation. People worked and slept without heat due to coal and wood shortages. The Theatre de la Mode book quotes Kent State University Professor of History Stanley Garfinkel: "Aside from the dead, the wounded, and the deported, some five million men, women, and children were without adequate shelter, food, or clothing."


During German occupation the French produced frivolous clothing to taunt the Germans, who benefited from any saving of supplies - but liberation produced a period of restraint - "Take care of your clothing", warned the press. Looking stylish required some ingenuity: the book pictures men riding bicycles to power salon hairdryers. Limitations were set on wool - and the yardages used per garment. Thread was scarce.

During this time of widespread shortage and bitter cold, Theatre de la Mode was formulated. 

Paul Caldagues, a fashion journalist, suggested the presentation of dolls dressed by couture houses as a means of reviving the French fashion industry. 

Participation in this concept was extended to the most prominent Parisian artists. Christian Berard, a set decorator and painter beloved by art society, became Artistic Director of Theatre de la Mode, which was organized as a symbol of hope - the return to life - after 4 years under the shroud of war. It required the collaborative effort of designers, illustrators, set decorators, makers of shoes, gloves, jewelry, and handbags; milliners, hairdressers, and stagecrafters. 

Eliane Bonabel rendered the mannequin design and Jean Saint-Martin constructed the 27-inch wire dolls with plaster heads. Each couture house contributed 5 outfits for the dolls - who were posed within little theater sets. The artists and couturiers were free to explore their creativity, though scenery was portrayed to complement the variety of clothing: tailored, sportswear, daywear, and eveningwear.

All artists provided services free of charge. Ticket sales revenue and sales of promotional dolls went to L'Entraide Francaise. 

On March 27, 1945 Parisian society queued for the Theatre de la Mode opening at The Grand Gallery of the Pavillon Museum of Decorative Arts - and gazed spellbound at the sets populated by so many fashionably-dressed dolls. The room was draped in red velvet with the small stages serving as sole sources of illumination, while the music of Henri Sauguet set the mood. Visitors saw sets featuring Paris streets, an "enchanted grotto", a surreal war scene, the Palais Royal, a modern art garden scene, a city constructed of wire, the Champs Elysees, a ship's dock, a carousel, a grand sitting room, and Christian Berard's theater set - which inspired the exhibit's name.


Populating these sets were crowds of mannequins whose hair had been styled by the great coiffeurs Antoine and Guillaume - with custom made rollers and pins. Custom ensembles were often completed by finely-finished inside seams, working buttonholes and pockets, working handbags, jewelry, miniature embroideries, undergarments, and umbrellas.


The Theatre de la Mode exhibition earned about a million francs for L'Entraide Francaise and drew around 100,000 visitors in its first venue. It was sent on tour to other countries and eventually stored in the basement of a San Francisco department store called City of Paris (now Neiman Marcus). The store owner Paul Verdier insisted the dolls be preserved and at his own expense had them sent to the Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, Washington in 1952.
Click here to go to Maryhill Museum's audio tour, which is one of the next best things to an actual trip there.

In the foreword to Charles-Roux's Theatre de la Mode, past director of Maryhill Museum of Art Linda Brady Tesner says Theatre de la Mode is a visual masterpiece that represents 1945-1946 through clothes, accessories and theatrical sets. Tesner gives British art historian Sir Kenneth Clarke's definition of a masterpiece: "...the work of an artist of genius who has been absorbed by the spirit of the time in a way that has made his individual experiences universal."

Stanley Garfinkel, a Kent State University Professor of History who helped bring renewed interest to Theatre de la Mode in 1990, quotes an editorial from New York Herald Tribune after the exhibition was shown there: "There is the same dignity, the same grace, the same poetry, telling the heroism of a city that in spite of terror and suffering saved itself whole, preserving alike its good taste, its loyalty to beauty, and its indefatigable skills."

Theatre de la Mode: Fashion Dolls: The Survival of Haute Couture by Edmonde Charles-Roux is a gem if you are delighted by the history that forms fashion.

Psychology of 40's Fashion.

I've been reading so much, it seems an X-Ray would show my body filled with text - even swirling from my ears, nose, navel. Fashion history has been on my mind whenever time permitted.

I've had no time to sew test toiles. We've been out of the house and it isn't convenient to pack a sewing machine, whereas a book is portable. (My husband wants to buy for me a Kindle because he knows my reading passion, but I believe I would miss the heft and sound of a book - and the satisfaction of feeling the portion that's been read.)

The next toile will be a basic vintage costume pattern that is much like a 50's swimsuit...a one-piece woven. I'm testing it as an exploration in variations of that theme. After I construct the basic, I'll try adding seam interest, ruching, and possibly a skirted version. Here's a swimsuit along the same vein, from an advertisement in Holiday magazine of January 1951.

The carefree attitude portrayed above is significant as it represents a more positive mood emerging from the shadow of postwar mentality. A Utility Scheme was still in effect till 1952 - after the war - due to rationing and lack of goods. World War II began in 1939. During the World War II, which began in 1939, many materials previously shipped from other countries - were limited due to risk of enemy attacks. Supplies were designated for production of parachutes, military uniforms and other war supplies. Near the end of 1941, the British Government introduced the Utility Clothing Scheme - a set of sumptuary laws regulating goods and construction - even prices. In 1942, a similar system was established in America.

Information above is from an Aberdeen City Council website for the Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums (in North-east Scotland, UK).

The French did not implement a utility scheme - and according to Paris Fashion: A Cultural History by Valerie Steele: "Whereas the British and the Americans hoped that saving material would help the war effort, in occupied France people tended to assume that the more material a garment used the less the Germans would get."

French manikins in Occupied France in 40's hats. Toile La La.

The photo above is from Life, September 22 1941 - titled " French Manikins in Occupied France Wear Latest Styles in Hats", with the caption: French Manikins at smart Paris Races wear French styles like those produced two months later by American designers. Hats tilt forward, use feathers. That difference in mental approach is very interesting to me. Reading about this period in history has been very interesting. Merely viewing the fashions of the times does not provide enough information. The most satisfaction has come from realizing the thoughts and events that produced the styles. The book Theatre de la Mode: Fashion Dolls: The Survival of Haute Couture is the spark that ignited my curiosity.

Read my review of the marvelous true story and awe-inspiring Theatre de la Mode: Fashion Dolls: The Survival of Haute Couture at this post. 

Pictured is one scene from the Theatre de la Mode exhibit housed at the Maryhill Museum of Art. I will write more about Theatre de la Mode in a later post, but now...back to fashion psychology during wartime 40's.

Pauline Weston Thomas at www.fashion-era.com comments on the sumptuary (word sumptuary comes from Latin word meaning expenditure) laws set by the British government: It was "illegal and unpatriotic to spend time embellishing clothing for sale". The regulations eliminated "fancy trimmings, unnecessary buttons, extra stitching or tucks or pleats or pockets more than was essential to function."


The Encyclopaedia of Fashion by Georgina O'Hara Callan describes guidelines of the 1942 Utility Scheme and conveys some severity with this caption: "Wartime designers ignoring the utility scheme's guidelines get a dressing down from the British Board of Trade for wasteful use of fabric and buttons."

In view of this - it's odd to think how present society jokes about the "fashion police".






Wade Laboissonniere's Blueprints of Fashion shows a sewing pattern for recycling a man's suit nto a woman's - from the Make and Mend for Victory Booklet produced by The Spool Cotton Company.
Laboissonniere also describes the American version of the Utility Scheme - the War Production Board's General Limitation Order L-85, which "promoted national defense by eliminating non-essential details" and stipulated: "Short, narrow skirts with a hem circumference not exceeding 72 inches. Jackets not exceeding 25 inches in length. Hems not exceeding a 2" depth. No more than one pocket per blouse and no patch pockets on jackets of coats. No trouser cuffs or pleats. The elimination of vests from suits. Belts not exceeding 2" in width." Flamboyant sleeves and bias-cut ones were banned. Leeway was given to persons of larger size, brides, expectant mothers, designers of theatre and ballet, clergy, and the judiciary.

From Life September 22, 1941 is this letter with photo called Saving Suits, "Sirs: To save precious clothing coupons, hundreds of British women are having thier husbands' civilian suits rebuilt to make coupon-free costumes for themselves... . The practice grew from the general belief that most men's suits left in wardrobes for the duration, would probably be useless after the war anyway."

From this recycling mindset, next post will explore the Vogue magazine September 2010 (USA) article "Royal Green" by HRH the Prince of Wales. I loved it. We are encouraged to "Look to your wardrobe to save the planet."