Artists and Influences

Elsa Schaperelli

The Skeleton Dress; The Circus Collection

Object: Evening Dress
Place of Origin: Paris, France.
Date: 1938 (made).
Artist Maker: Schaparelli, Elsa.
Born: 1890- died 1973 (designer)
Darli, Salvidor (designer)
Materials and Techniques:
Silk crepe, trapunto quilting, cotton wadding.

To many contemporaries the sinister black skeleton evening dress with it's padded representations of the human bones was an outrage - an offence against good taste. Although otherwise in elegant harmony with the prevailing lines of the late 1930's evening wear.

The skeleton dress is so constructed that it became a second skin and the imitation anatomy sat defiantly proud of the fine matt silk surface.

Schaparelli exaggerated the usually delicate trapunto quilting technique to make enormous "bones" - the design was stitched in outline through two layers of fabric. Then cotton wadding inserted through the back to bring the design into relief on the front. The shoulder seams and right side are closed by bold plastic zips. 

John Paul Gaultier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZCgbBFibAVQ 

Follow the link to see John Paul talk about his work! 

This to me give the impression of the fabric taken away from the corset and you only being left with the structure.

It can be regarded in two ways, firstly that the woman's body is being held inside of the cage, restricted. Or it can be see that the woman's body trancends the steel frame showing her inner strength.

Alexander McQueen

In McQueen's words-

"I find beauty in the grotesque, like most artist.
 I have to force people to look at things."

Harper's Bazaar, April 2007

Hussein Chalayan

This designer continually pushes the boundaries of what is accepted and expected from clothing. His focus is on the technical side of materials and construction.

Jenny Saville

https://vimeo.com/46612357

"I want to be a painter of modern life, and modern bodies".

Damien Freud

Benefits Supervisor Sleeping

Freddie Robins

"She uses knitting to explore pertinent contemporary issues of the domestic gender and the human condition, as well as the cultural preconceptions surrounding knitting as a craft.

Her work aims to disrupt the notion of the medium as  passive and benign.her work often incorporate both humour and fear. There is also a display of almost obsessive perfectionism in the quality of each piece's hand-made finish".

Links and reference:

http://www.bustle.com/articles/114547-hussein-chalayan-melting-dresses-are-unwearable-but-awesome-photos