Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Wonderwood

My apologies for harping on about Comme Des Garcons, it's hard not to, but I just came across this short film by the Quay brothers which coincides with the release of the new CDC fragrance Wonderwood. The creepy puppet voyeurism is oddly mesmerising and disconcerting. I'm not sure if I like it but it does make me want to see what the fragrance smells like- if only to see what would inspire a film like this-so I suppose it works.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Dress Becomes Body

I recently posted about a Pierre Huyghe exhibition which questioned the boundaries and limitations we place on on space and objects. This got me to thinking about the concept behind Commes des Garcons' infamous S/S 1997 collection- often referred to as the "lumps and bumps" collection. My tutor advised me to check out the range after seeing some of my own somewhat "lumpy" designs and I think it's absolutely amazing.

Rei Kawakubo's philosophy for the range was Body meets Dress. Dress meets Body. Dress becomes Body. This questions the threshold between dress and our bodies- each one shapes the other so how is it possible to differentiate them? (image below from Caroline Evans, 2003, Fashion at the Edge: Spectacle, Modernity and Deathliness, Yale University Press, New Haven, p268)




(bottom two images from http://fagcity.blogspot.com/2009/10/lumps-and-bumps.html)