Art + Fashion, Abridged Reading Edition

Collaborations and Connections Between Icons

E.P. Cutler, Julien Tomasello

• Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781452138695
• eBook ISBN: 9781452149509
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Fashion Design

Art + Fashion is as exciting and elegant as the creative partnerships it celebrates. In this abridged reading edition, readers will enjoy the book's sparkling and informative text in its entirety, plus a single stunning representative photo of each of the 25 collaborative projects profiled. Spanning numerous eras, men and women's fashion, and a wide range of art mediums, these collaborations reveal the astonishing work that results when luminaries from the art world (such as Pollock, Haring, and Hirst) come together with icons of the fashion world (including Saint Laurent, Westwood, McQueen). From 20th-century legends such as Elsa Schiaperelli and her famous lobster dress painted by Salvador Dalí to 21st-century trailblazers such as Cindy Sherman and her self-portraits in vintage Chanel, these electric and provocative pairings brim with the energy and possibility of powerful forces uniting.

COLLABORATIONS

JACKSON POLLOCK

CECIL BEATON

The March 1, 1951 vogue featured a four-page spread of photographs by Cecil Beaton. The “Spring Ball Gowns” were modeled by Irene and Sophie in front of Jackson Pollock’s works from 1950: Lavender Mist (Number 1), Number 27, Number 28, and Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), then on display at the Betty Parsons Gallery. The American-made but Paris-inspired gowns were available for order at New York’s top department stores: Henri Bendel, Milgrim, Lord & Taylor, and the Salon Moderne at Saks Fifth Avenue.

Featuring artists in fashion magazines was by no means a new phenomenon. Profiles and artist studio visits have long been segments in fashion publications. Harper’s Bazaar had name-dropped Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) in its April 1944 issue, with a double-page spread dedicated to American painters. However, Brit Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) ventured further, using Jackson Pollock’s work in a fashion spread, not an artist profile. Numerous art critics saw Beaton’s actions as drastically overstepping. This Vogue editorial caused a commotion that continues to this day because Cecil Beaton visually compared the dusky blue of the Bianchini silk dress to the drips of color found in Jackson Pollock’s Lavender Mist, the perky pink of Henri Bendel’s silk paper taffeta day dress and the warm browns in Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm. The bold line in the sand between the disciplines of art and fashion was blurred. From the debate, one would think riots ensued. How dare Beaton compare high art with fashion, a lower art—if an art at all! The models obstructed Pollock’s “genius” work!⁸ Pollock’s art matters more than Vogue fashions! Vociferous objection!

Yet, for those not mired in the hundreds of pages of dense, often snarky art theory and criticism, the spread illustrates a beautiful cultural confluence. The same societal realities that birthed modernism produced indulgent post–WWII New Looks. What’s more, with this fashion spread, women in search of the perfect frock were educated not just on the new trends but also on high society’s new obsession: Jackson Pollock and his “dazzling and curious” creations. As Vogue wrote, Pollock’s works had been purchased by “the most astute private collectors and museum directors in the country,” among them people affiliated with the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Yale University, as well as Pollock’s first agent, Peggy Guggenheim.⁹

Vogue viewed Jackson Pollock in a positive light when Pollock’s paintings were barely selling—the Betty Parsons Gallery only sold one Pollock, Lavender Mist, during the exhibition—and critics were finding new ways to disparage his work. Venice-based critic Bruno Alfieri had mused a year earlier that Jackson Pollock’s work represented “absolutely nothing” other than perhaps “chaos, absolute lack of harmony; complete lack of structural organization; total absence of technique; once again, chaos.”¹⁰

While it seems unlikely that Pollock was contacted for permission regarding the shoot beforehand, he was happy to be in Vogue, writing to his friend that “the issue of Vogue has three pages of my paintings (with models of course). Will send a copy.”¹¹

So, what’s all the fuss about?

THE NEW SOFT LOOK FEATURING A PAINTING BY JACKSON POLLOCK | CECIL BEATON FOR VOGUE, 1951

ALEX PRAGER

BOTTEGA VENETA

Don’t underestimate the power of shoes. In 1974, William Eggleston photographed bedraggled wingtips under a bed. Art critic Hilton Kramer was less than impressed, smirking that if he ever wanted to see that, he’d go home and look at his own. Yet, twenty-five years later, the stark, poignant simplicity of Eggleston’s work inspired then-directionless Alex Prager (b. 1979) to buy a camera on eBay. Her beginnings were less than glamorous: “For the first seven years, I was being turned down by galleries and anyone involved in the official art world. So, I would rent out little spaces. . . . There was a show I had in a motel for three hours because [the owner] had his regular customers that rented by the hour.”¹² By 2010, the art world had changed its tune and Prager’s work was featured in the Museum of Modern Art’s New Photography exhibition. The following year, despite participating in a group exhibition entitled “No fashion, please!” at the Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, Prager collaborated with Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta on its Spring/Summer 2011 campaign.

Birthed by Michele Taddei and Renzo Zengiaro in 1966, the Venetian atelier was reborn in 2001 when the Gucci Group bought the brand and named German-born Tomas Maier as creative director. Maier, educated at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, brought to the table decades of combined fashion experience at Guy Laroche, Sonia Rykiel, and Hermès. He immediately resurrected Bottega Veneta’s 1970s anti-logo campaign, “When Your Own Initials Are Enough,” crafted the nonchalant luxe “Cabat” shopper, and began hunting down the world’s best photographers to capture his Bottega Veneta collections through their lenses. Maier nabbed the likes of Lord Snowdon, Annie Leibovitz, and Robert Longo before tapping Alex Prager. Tomas Maier was drawn to Prager’s cinematic, hyper-real work, which had been featured in Art in America and is permanently housed in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Kunsthaus Zürich, and Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

While Alex Prager rattles off inspirations ranging from photographer Diane Arbus to the band Wilco, her Spring/Summ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Dedication
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Quotes
• Collaborations
• Epilogue: Zevs
• Bibliography
• Endnotes
• Art Credits
• Index
• About the Authors
• Chronicle Ebooks