Posted on 12/10/2004 10:59:51 AM PST by Lorianne
A tribute to "faunal apparel," the show titled "Wild: Fashion Untamed" at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a sumptuous assemblage of fur, feathers, leather and other animal products used to keep humans warm, make them look good and ratchet up their social status.
Grappling with the many ramifications, spiritual to socioeconomic, of "the decorative possibilities of birds and beasts," the show displays more than 100 costumes and accessories by big-name designers, from Adolfo to the House of Worth, and including among others Geoffrey Beene, Roberto Cavalli (a leading call-of-the-wild man who is sponsoring the show), Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, James Galanos, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Thierry Mugler, Zandra Rhodes, Arnold Scaasi, Elsa Schiaparelli, Valentino, Gianni and Donatella Versace.
An amazing variety of hides, fur, feathers and even synthetics are on parade, from plain old suede to leatherlike black rubber; patterned plastic to printed silk; peacock, ostrich and, yes, chicken feathers, along with actual stuffed birds and animal heads mounted on hats and bags. The big cats - leopard, tiger, jaguar and their like - are well represented here, as are the contributions made by the weasel family, chief among them ermine and mink. Python, anaconda and crocodile give a taste of the reptile kingdom.
Although "Wild" comes close to being the most politically incorrect exhibition the Met has ever staged (No. 1 was "Harlem on My Mind"), not to worry. The catalog confidently assures us that animal-rights protests peaked in the 1980's, and that since the mid-90's we've seen a revival of wearer interest in fur in its natural state.
The show makes cool co-optive overtures by discussing the anti-fur movement in its catalog and including material like a poster from the British organization Lynx showing a woman in a fur hat with a skinned dog around her neck. In fact, the catalog argues, antifur protests are a continuation of medieval and Renaissance sumptuary laws that sought to limit the wearing of furs to people of privilege but had moral reverberations about material excess.
The revival of interest in fur today is "an indication perhaps that overt symbols of wealth, status and sexuality are again the main driving forces behind fashion's advancement," the catalog suggests. Who knew? And certainly there is no shortage here of such symbols, from the maximal white swan's-down coat (plucked from male swan breasts by Bianchini-Férier and owned by Marlene Dietrich) to the minimal bikini recently wrought of badger fur by Jordan Betten, a reprise of the next-to-nothing getup that revealed most of Raquel Welch in the 1966 film "One Million Years B.C."
The show is bolstered by photographs that depict celebrity wearers, like Dietrich, Ava Gardner in a leopard-printed swimsuit, Elizabeth Taylor draped in fur in "Butterfield 8" and Sean Combs in his dandyish white fox overcoat. (The real one, by Nija Furs, is on display, too.) Each case is adorned with photographs of paintings and objects that pertain to human ways with fur. The show is enhanced by its savvy catalog, with a text that gives historical grounding to the age-old human search for additional skin.
A prominent theme in the show is that of woman as "postmodern" huntress, a feminist conceit pushed by stylists and designers in the late 20th century. Sparked by romantic fictions like Amazon huntresses and "la Belle Sauvage," an Enlightenment concept of the "native" heroine, the idea is to project a sexy fusion of raw and refined, civilized and wild.
One example is a power ensemble by Yohji Yamamoto, based on the garb of Siberian nomads. A full-length gown, it is drawn tight at the top but billows out into a voluminous, restless full-length skirt of many thin suede layers, which seems more than a little cumbersome. It is displayed on a mannequin, but a photograph in the catalog shows it worn by a live model, striding dauntlessly through a desert accompanied by a small, buckskin-clad boy. Arrows protrude from a quiver at her side. You are bound to see someone in it, somewhere
Every woman should have one.
Right! And here is a perfect holiday gift for men. Authentic fur sporrans from Scotland. I'm partial to the Musquash Sporran.
http://www.highlandsporrans.co.uk/sporran_...r_sporrans.html
Too bad I live in a warm climate or I'd get one for my husband.
I really want Santa to bring me a leopard fur coat for Christmas.
I have a faux cheetah coat which I love.
Now I'm hankering for this faux mink apron:
http://www.eklecticmix.com/catalog/item/941795/832900.htm
Can you imagine cooking for your hubby/boyfriend/sugar daddy with just that apron on? YYYYYeeeeesssss!!!!
I've got a faux mink stroller and a faux silver fox jacket. I wish they were real (oh, well...someday).
Eating them, wearing them...what's the difference?
Why can't guys have one too ? Hmmm ??
;-)
BTTT!!!!!!
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