Dressed in Mud
March 6, 2011
LYDIA SHERMAN writes:
I have been looking at the Paris fashion fiasco on your blog with interest. What could these designers be thinking? Perhaps they are preparing women to work in prison camps or plowing fields. Maybe they are trying to eliminate the task of sorting lights from darks when doing the laundry. Are they seeing the world from inside a munitions factory?
I will tell the modern designers something: they need to get out more and see the real world. They are rich enough to afford sea cruises and tours of the best and most beautiful parts of the world. They can go to rose gardens and take in the beauty and let it translate to their designs. They can view ocean scenes and colorful sunsets in great places. They do not even have to have a prestigious education to find ideas for designs in clothing. The web now affords even the most ignorant person a glimpse into clothing designs of former days. Consider garments in the painting, “Lamentations Over a Dead Christ” by Andrea del Sarto, 1524, attached below. Even the poor who followed Christ were depicted as having more cloth on their bodies. more design and more color than today’s designers give to the world. One biography of this artist describes his subject matter as “lacking in embellishment,” but it looks more greatly embellished than the cold looking steel and mud colors of the new fashions.
Lydia adds:
Here are some interesting comments by readers of the New York Times article you posted:
Lord, what is NG [Nicolas Ghesquière] expecting? A nuclear attack? Armageddon? What kind of male would be inclined to embrace any woman decked out in NG’s hostile Rhino armor? And that chain link design concept in leather completes the “keep-out” message. And even if there’s a hint of lovely swirling silk underneath, would any loving man think it worth the effort?
and:
Wearable? Honestly, I’m scratching my head here. Jackets that … made beautiful women look like line-backers, ill-shaped sacks that looked like they were based on construction-paper collages made by first graders, netting that — let’s be honest here — would be laughed at anywhere but on a runway. What was wearable about this collection?
