September 16, 2024 – Oct 15, 2024
Between 1930-1939, while the world was in a series of crises and the global economy fell to the floor, fashion and the fine arts turned to dreams, romanticism, and nature for inspiration and escape, blending them together to echo the voices of Surrealism. The woman’s body was transformed to reflect the natural volume and curves of nature, thus taking on the illusion of the flower. Developments in fashion technology and collaboration with visual artists brought about prints and colors never seen before, often mimicking the beauty of the flower on a two-dimensional stretch of fabric. The bias cut, attributed to Parisian designer Madeleine Vionnet, embraced each curve of the woman’s body with delicately placed petal-like panels. The result: silhouettes that moved like lilies swaying gently in the wind, and the illusion of a life beyond the darkness of the decade. We invite you to explore the floral arrangement of print, pattern, and form by fashion icons Chanel, Lanvin, Vionnet and Schiaparelli, whose creations bloomed in the 1930s and are preserved in the archives of the Parodi Costume Collection.
Formed with lace, netting, tulle, and chiffon panels nearly a century old, the sheer overdresses displayed in our current exhibition, The Form of the Flower, are admired for their airiness, vivid patterns, and intricacy in cut and form. The first two images feature positive and negative impressions, where light becomes the tool to represent each piece’s material, sensory, and conceptual elements. Impressions emerge as shadows on the gallery walls, revealing how overdresses imprinted a sense of soft femininity throughout the 1930s. Softness, born from flower petals and embodied in these garments, contrasts against the increasing darkness and friction from which its inspiration was born.
Our installation materials (which include magnets, clear fishing line, and transparent acrylic hangers) unlocked new interpretations of the objects equally as garments and as textile art. Suspending these overdresses allows visitors to appreciate design details quintessential of the 1930s such as the bias cut, the low-back, and floral lace.
The fifth and sixth images feature a black lace overdress mounted to the wall using a constellation of magnets. Reducing this voluminous dress down to two-dimensional flatness reveals its underlying pictorial qualities. Floral panels of lace overlap like the petals of a flower after being pressed in a book. Feminine and light, yet dark and piercing, this gown lives central within The Form of the Flower.
Accessories were similarly arranged to bring a sense of flowering autonomy for women of the 1930s: the choice to dress in flowers and the arrangement possibilities that create style. Magnets attached to transparent nylon yarn suspend each piece from head to toe in a deconstructed mobile, elevating the sensibility of women engaging in the art of dress.
