When a Woman Smiles
Dress Should Smile With Her
Madeleine Vionnet’s work affects me in that sublime way…takes my breath away...beautiful?
The images bleed onto the dress in spite of their containment. There-by suggesting that we are born as nature and adapt, wear our learning, our histories, our “civilizing.
This work both commemorates the work of couturier Madeleine Vionnet at the same time as presenting images, which may lead us to think about the anti-natural or affects of “civilizing”. Madeleine Vionnet’s work affects me in that sublime way…takes my breath away...beautiful. She worked in “the round” draping, not thinking of the body in terms of front and back and sides. She often worked directly on the naked body.
The work I produced, When a Women Smiles Her Dress Should Smile With Her, merges aspects of the content found in the vintage images onto the dress. The three images are of: firstly a possibly dead male baby, secondly, a Greek statue, and thirdly a World War Two Canadian Camouflaged Ship. The images bleed onto the dress in spite of their containment. There-by suggesting that we are born as nature and adapt, wear our learning, our histories, our “civilizing. The politics (identity) and aesthetics of this piece are rooted in craft discourse and our relationship with clothing. Looking at Madeleine Vionnets work has been and endless source of pleasure. She truly was a genius of form.
The work I produced, When a Women Smiles Her Dress Should Smile With Her, merges aspects of the content found in the vintage images onto the dress. The three images are of: firstly a possibly dead male baby, secondly, a Greek statue, and thirdly a World War Two Canadian Camouflaged Ship. The images bleed onto the dress in spite of their containment. There-by suggesting that we are born as nature and adapt, wear our learning, our histories, our “civilizing. The politics (identity) and aesthetics of this piece are rooted in craft discourse and our relationship with clothing. Looking at Madeleine Vionnets work has been and endless source of pleasure. She truly was a genius of form.
Silk organza, paper, collected vintage
photos, wood, glass
228 cm. H x 121 cm. W x 91 cm. D