10/07/2018 –
rework 25/04/2013
Androgyny – ‘Boy Oh Boy ‘Smoking’ Again!
The steps of a man are established by the LORD when he delights in his way; Psalms 37:23 ESV
Both Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent have held my highest regard as two of the most influential, gifted French designers. It’s with their brilliant gender blending (Y-/Y+), sophistication, and their relinquishment (Y-) of the traditional French stylistic, they have upended (Y+) the entire apparel industries around the world for many decades.
All my life I have had a great interest in fashion and I wouldn’t defend myself if people whom I know labelled me as a shallow fashionista. Now as I grow older, without being wiser, I would still keep myself well abreast with the latest trends through flipping the fashion magazines without my own subscription.
Recently, I was intrigued by the supposed to be the most covetable item for women all over that is the ‘Boy Bag (Y-/Y+ women handbag),’which launched in September 2011 by the House of Chanel, with a various usage of the materials, colour stories, sizes and definitely the different suggested retail prices.
‘ To be irreplaceable one must always be different.
~ Coco Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971)~
From high fashion, handbags, jewellery and even perfume are all iconic products of the house of Chanel. And by the grace of Google, and Wikipedia people would be able to know more about the spirit of Chanel far beyond the price tags that adhesive to all of her lines of products.
I didn’t know that she was the only fashion designer to occur on the ‘Time’ magazines list of the 100 most influential individual of the 20thcentury. She was inspired to liberate women from the constraints of the “corseted silhouette” by creating the clear-cut luxury ‘black dress.’
Karl Lagerfeld, the current head designer in the house of Chanel, once said: “ One is never over-dressed (Y+) or under-dressed(Y-) with a little black dress.“ Many women would believe that it is essential to own one to complete their wardrobe. And that is simply referred to as the “LBD (1).”
Suddenly Julia Roberts’ black cocktail dress in the movie of “Pretty Woman” comes to my mind. That black dress was the final touch to bring out a total transformation of her movie character, from a street girl (Y-) on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, into the ‘Pretty Woman (Y+) that fits into the Beverly Hills
It has been said that the true spirit of the house of Chanel in Couture high fashion has always been the wit combination of both feminine and boyish deluding (Y-/Y+). Personally, I felt that her androgynous dynamism has either directly or indirectly impacted many other fashion houses around the world.
“Fashions fade, style is eternal.”
~ Yves Saint Laurent (August 1, 1936 – June 1, 2008)~
One generation later, we had Yves Saint Laurent (YSL), another ingenious, gifted French fashion designer. He was the head designer of the House of Christian Dior at age 21. When the House of Dior faced financial difficulties, it was YSL’s 1958 Spring collections (2) that kept the house from financial embracement.
Dresses with a narrow shoulder (narrow is Y-/ shoulder is Y+)and with gently flared at the bottom (Y-/Y+) were part of his 1958 collection (2). And later it was known as the “trapeze dress. ”And Fifty (50) years later, we found ‘Silk (Y-) and Wool (Y+)– blend trapeze dress in 2011 AW(Autumn/Winter)- Victoria Beckham collection
“Chanel freed women, and I empowered them!”– Yves Saint Laurent
In tune with Coco Chanel’s androgynous spirit (Y-/Y+), YSL further proclaimed, ‘I created the wardrobe for the contemporary woman.’In the 1960s and 70s, YSL tip over the entire fashion world with his mixture of the feminine/masculine, high/low, and the classic/avant-garde in most of his collections.
In the 80’s, I was so fascinated with YSL and did a term paper for my Sociology class on his life and his works. It’s almost impossible to fusion the ‘brainy and sexiness or ‘respectability’and ‘sexuality’in high fashion for women. But YSL was able to glamorise detailing taken from the men’s suit for women at the end.
His most famous classic well-tailored evening tuxedo suit, the ‘Le Smoking’(3) woman brilliantly showed case his androgyny dynamic in his Fall 1965 collection. Yves once said, “If I had to choose one design out of everything I’ve done, it would undoubtedly be le smoking”.
It is revolutionary to use well-tailored suits, which raised significant controversy and even scandalous (Y-) at first, and later became a feasible and fashionable alternative to traditional evening gowns (Y+). Modern Saint Laurent collections regularly include a reincarnation of the tuxedo suit for women.
It seems most high fashion houses have never taken this Yin/Yang dynamism out of their design rooms ever since. A few decades later, we have had Giorgio Armani. Reading from the ‘Weekend Edition of Financial Times, men’s suit for women is much in vogue again for Winter/Spring of 2012-2013.
‘Phathom Thread, ‘a 2017 movie that earned six Oscar nominations and won for Best Costume Design is the validation for me to rework on this piece, dated 24/04/2013. The topic of fashion has been very close to my heart, and without fail, I can talk about fashion and appreciate it from the perspective of Yin/Yang. Thus, please allow me to encourage to hit the following link for your own enjoyment.
- Coco Chanel biggest invention The little black dress” by vict0ria.
https://goo.gl/images/ouYgXn - https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&q=ysl+1958+collection&backchip=online_chips:laurent+trapeze&chips=q:ysl+1958+collection&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwidsLO1s-fbAhVWWisKHY3yBeYQ3VYIIygA&biw=1024&bih=672&dpr=
- https://www.whowhatwear.com/yves-saint-laurent-le-smoking-suit
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The Light Of Faith 