china outside of china: china through the looking glass
since the met just announced it’s fabulous exhibit for 2016 (manus x machina: fashion in an age of technology, sponsored by apple, yes, yes and yes) i decided to make this topical, and write about the 2015 met exhibit: china through the looking glass. it’s somewhat unclear which is the chicken and which is the egg, the gala, or the exhibit, but i’m willing to say that the exhibit is the hero and the gala is the buzz. some said the celebrities dressing for this year’s met gala didn’t necessarily pay homage to chinese fashion (yes, i’m talking about you beyonce, even though if i had your body, i’d go for the britney ‘toxic’ look too), the exhibit was really fabulous. (sorry, it’s over)
i had to make it to the met to prioritize seeing it when i was last in new york, because even when i’m not in china, i’m thinking about china. what can i say, it fascinates me. i read this super interesting book the geography of thought which compares eastern thinking to western thinking. i highly recommend it. the key point is that westerners think of everything in a linear way, one thing after another, they think there’s control. easterners think of everything holistically, as a circle. good and bad both happen. yin and yang. it actually draws a few parallels between jewish people and easterners, in terms of their holistic thinking. this made me think of my brothers haftarah portion at his bar mitzvah and his speech, where he spoke about karmic forces and the idea of ‘what goes around comes around’. my grandmother judy definitely believed in this. she actually had some very eastern characteristics (including a passion for astrology), and i also know she would have loved this fabulous asian fashion exhibit at the met. which included a fair amount of sparkles and fur (two of our mutual favorite things). more on astrology (and my recent visit to the burmese astrologist!) and some of my favorite books about china in the future, today, i’ll focus on fashion.
i adored the exhibit. i love that it is based on lewis carroll’s books and the idea of an alternate universe, because that’s really how western designers saw chinese fashion. as something completely foreign and almost imaginary! it’s incredible how many designers have produced chinese influenced collections, starting as early as the 50′s. chanel, dior, valentino and particularly YSL have looked to china’s patterns, bright colors, and even their pottery for years! YSL’s opium perfume (created originally in 1977) is entirely asian influenced and the was highly criticized for the name being so provocative, and promoting drug use! the advertisement featuring jerry hall and shot by helmut newton was also criticized for objectifying women, all of which i’m sure helped to sell perfume. this exhibit not only showcased some stunning fashion, but also took advantage of the chinese galleries at the met, which really enhanced the viewing experience. i loved seeing the older chinese porcelain or ceremonial attire worn by ancient dynasties juxtaposed with newer western fashion.
chinese influences show up every single season on the runways. this season, there were definitely more nipples than chinese influence, but it ebbs and flows every season. for instance, the current dolce and gabbana blue and white collection is entirely influecened by chinese porcelain.
the first gallery was patterns based on traditional manchu robes (shown in the background). this is a qipao style dress by tom ford for YSL.
another tom ford for YSL. tom ford is a genius. the film the last emperor was also being shown in this gallery.
the next exhibit contrasted traditional qipaos with modern qipaos. the qipao was modernized in 1920′s shanghai with foreign presence and western influence, and there’s some debate about the origin. another word for qipao is cheongsam (which is somewhat related to the mandarin word for a shirt or dress: chèn shān. it was a loose fitting single piece of fabric clothing item, that evolved into a sexier, more fashionable item for special occasions. yes, i have one. apologies for the poorly lit photos.
more qipaos. this gallery also showcased clips from films with women wearing sexy qipaos.
valentino, contrasted with a lacquer panel.
this is from the YSL autumn winter 1977 collection which the curators call ‘fashion's most flamboyant expression of chinoiserie’.
didn’t love the dresses by dior in this gallery, but loved the use of the space. and the reflections on the water.
my favorite gallery, which showed a collection of blue and white dresses influenced by chinese pottery. designers include: dior, rodarte, alexander mcqueen, valentino and many more. no, i don’t have pictures of the pottery, it was not noteworthy in comparison with the fabulous dresses! use your imagination.
this dress, created in 2010 by chinese designer guo pei, was the start of the show. IMHO.
this high neckline at sarah burton’s ss16 show for alexander mcqueen is certainly qipao influenced.
same for this oscar de la renta.
the patterns at gucci ss16 also felt chinese influenced.
and, adding a little yellow to the typical blue and white porcelain influence at ss16 dolce and gabbana.
