The Other Side
Apologies for the small delay in posting and visiting all of your lovely blogs. I unfortunately had to go into hospital for treatment, however shall definitely try to visit you all as soon as possible.
During the first half of the twentieth century, fashion reached somewhat of a crossroads. Poiret's designs had liberated women from the suffocating confines of the rigid corset, yet his magnificent splendour and luxurious indulgence were not to survive post war Europe. Indeed the period between the wars is usually seen as heralding only one true revolution in fashion - that of Chanel and the little black dress.
Chanel essentially invented the idea of 'austere luxury' in fashion. That her dress could be worn to a simple luncheon or a formal evening event was a truly new concept. Indeed her design was so revolutionary that one could not trace its line in tradition or the past. Just as Poiret had freed women from the corset, Chanel would free women from the past.
One can not help but link Chanel to the Modernist movement, and indeed her black dress was so modern, that it seemed to come as if from the future. So radically different from the splendour of the past, it would come to define a new generation of womens' fashion. Of allowing women to be both comfortable and minimalist in their adornment, essentially creating the new standard of what beauty was.
However what many seem to forget in their rush to acknowledge the genius of Chanel, followed by the reemergence of Couture in the 1950s, is the simply magical fashion of the Roaring Twenties. Indeed one tends to forget the stunning designs of Elsa Schiaparelli, whose stylistic hand was unfortunately not to adjust following the war and would subsequently be half forgotten, memories obscured by the dense fog of time.
The concept of twenties fashion to me has always been one of true celebration. Of fashion stemming from tradition, but firmly contemporary in its realisation. Of glamour, splendour and beauty - a romantic allure, the extent of which is sadly rarely seen today.
You can keep the '50s, just hand me the '20s!
Currently playing: LoveGame - Lady Gaga
xxxx