Samantha's RCA Process

• 

• 

• 

Currently I’m reading Fashioning the Body: An intimate History of the Silhouette, and here are some relevant/memorable quotes from the introduction. The last one really relates to what I’m interested in!!!!!!!!!

“Of course, “shape wear” and other”smart garments” fall well short of the distorting effect of the corset, whose tyrannical reign lasted through most of the nineteenth century, in response to the demand for a slim waist. Nowadays, cosmetic surgery with its prodigious silicone breasts and liposuctioned tummies, as well as sports clubs, fitness programs, and diets, seems to yield more effective results on the body than a corset”

“When applied to different parts of the body, often rendering it immobile or restricting its movements, these mechanisms modeled the body, making it possible for anyone to attain the ideal of beauty of a given historical period”

“Indeed, the earliest structures of body dissimulation date from the fourteenth century, and the practice continues up to our time.”

“it was important for us to approach the history of fashion from a different angle, far from the conventional narrative of the evolution of forms, of folds in the backs of dresses, of skirts whose breath increases over time then begins to recede, and nt a history of fashion as it relates to the body”

“These hidden fashion garments are an integral part of the clothing and the figure they help to shape. Moreover, when these articles are removed from the person wearing them, they look, like carcasses, like bodies foreign to the body they dressed. Without a body, the agarment has no reason to exist; it is merely a lifeless mass of fabric, a soulless hide. In short, fashion makes the body; the garment is a tool of bodily modification. The conclusion is unavoidable; there is no natural body, but only a cultural body. The body is a reflection of the society that presided over its creation”

• I’m really interested in the idea of fashion “making” a body

CITATIONS:

Denis Bruna (ed.), Fashioning the Body: An Intimate History of the Silhouette (New York: Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2015).

Although I wasn’t able to see any of her work in person, I still absolutely love Jo Spence’s work and I am hoping to book an appointment to see it in person.

During yesterday’s research trip I obviously was attracted to the corsets, but I am actively trying to stay away from them because I want to push myself to try something new. I really really want to avoid being inspired by fashion.

I, however, was very attracted to a diamond stomacher in the jewelry room. It technically still relates to corsets and corsetry but its a new medium and spin on things (it is still worn, but there is an essence of permanence to it) I’m going to reinvestigate it (and the whole jewelry room) soon.

I realized that my two favorite artists that I researched (Jo Spence and Yin Lam) both delt with issues of mortality and self image, and this is something I am very very interested in. I’m wondering if there is another artifact I can connect these to, which would offer more breadth to my project.

I’m considering connecting Spence and Lam’s work with a concrete jewelry piece (with the idea that mortality and being eternal through an item are related). Maybe I won’t use the stomacher that I sketched (Drawing 2 below, next to the sword). Perhaps a family heirloom would be more appropriate.

I think there are some really interesting ideas of permanence, mortality, bodily representation, bodily adornment, and the representation of the female figure that I could explore.

There is a really interesting contrast between the permanence of all of the mediums as well. Lam’s work is on surgical gowns which get thrown away in bulk, whereas jewelry would be handed down from generation to generation.

I’m still open to using other concrete, “artifacts” (maybe something dealing with death/representation of the female body).

Note to self: talk to Aleah about more book references.

Note to self: also, make a mind map

• 

• 

• 

• 

1998 Handbag designed by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel.

On display in room 40 at the V&A.

“In 1998, Chanel released Karl Lagerfield’s ‘2005’ handbag, the descendant of the 2.55 created by Gabrielle Chanel in 1955 and still influential half a century on. Using the latest technology, its rigid lightweight polyethylene shell is clothed by hand over an aluminium frame in tight black jersey, tweed or leather. Formed to sit comfortably against the hips, its shape also recalls the female body, while its interior is a fetishistic dream, with corset-style laced mobile phone holder, zips and pockets.”

What peaked my interest in this piece is the corset-inspired lining (because I make a lot of corsets, and they interest me) and the odd shape.

I’m not sure how I feel about it being described as a, “fetishistic dream” though. I also think that saying the shape, “recalls the female body” is somewhat problematic because it assumes that all females have curvy figures. Also, the connection between the female body and fetishism is prevalent in this piece, which is troublesome to me, as female bodies are constantly being objectified. I need to see this piece in person and marinate in my thoughts a bit more, but it is an interesting conversation piece.

• 

•