Beginning with Elsa Schiaparelli’s famed 1938 ‘Skeleton Dress,’ which utilized protruding, delicate forms to create an external skeleton-like structure on the dress’ façade – effectively merging inside and outside, body and fabric – designers have engaged with these techniques in their work to better exhibit the strange and uncanny. Likewise, nearly each season Thom Browne explores similar dichotomies within his men’s and women’s wear collections, which often feature male models sporting skirts and dresses, and female models in pantsuits and tuxedos.Īmongst the handful of construction techniques associated with surrealist fashion, designer's use of visible padding and exaggerated forms continues to be amongst the most imporant methods used. One can see the importance of challenging these gender structures within the fashion world by examining a few chief examples Thierry Mugler’s Spring/Summer 1997 Couture collection featured a male model in a “femme fatale” shiny black skirt, while Commes des Garcons’ Spring/Summer 2017 collection played with similar elements of androgyny, with a female model in oversized black trousers that covered much of her arms and chest. While surrealist art typically objectifies the female form, surrealist fashion tends to break down gender binaries by merging “masculine” and “feminine” ideals to create an entirely unique outcome. As such, Real and imagined, natural and unnatural, inside and outside, as well as masculinity and femininity are all dichotomies which designers explore in their work. Yet another key element of surrealist fashion is the merging of opposites, in that fashion, by nature, is attuned to analyzing binaries due to its innate ability at merging skin and fabric. Likewise, Schiaparelli’s 1938 “Tears Dress” uses pattern to insinuate that portions of the evening dress have been torn off like wallpaper, revealing variation of the designer’s ‘Shocking Pink’ color beneath. For Fall/Winter 2012, Commes des Garcons’ Rei Kawakubo explored yet another facet of visual trickery by layering vibrant, oversized dress shapes atop one another, which ultimately toyed with the idea of flatness and perception. A similar example of visual deceptiveness is a pair of white gloves decorated with delicate red lines that give the illusion of a hand’s interior veins, designed in 1985 by artist Meret Oppenheim.Ĭontemporary French couturier Jean Paul Gaultier has embraced a slew of surrealist techniques in his work, such as the “floating” garments featured in the designer’s Spring/Summer 2003 couture collection at first glance, these ensembles appear ordinary, but upon closer inspection it is revealed that they are actually draped on the wearer body like an apron, leaving one’s arms entirely sleeve-free. Schiaparelli’s 1936 black gloves are one example on the tip of each finger sits a nail-shaped red swatch, giving the appearance of fingernails and insinuating that the design acts much like the wearer’s second skin. A hallmark element of surrealist fashion resides in designer’s tendency towards teasing the eye through a variety of formats and techniques.
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