We kick off the season talking about another exhibition that extols the female figure and gives a new vision of the “body-fashion” relationship. Its title is evocative: ‘El Cuerpo Inventado’. (The Invented Body). A sample organized by Collectors Collective in Madrid that highlights the aesthetic canons that have remained in fashion since the early twentieth century to the present day, providing a new dialectic of evolution and changes that are especially appreciated in women’s clothing .
4 silhouettes and a century
The silhouette is responsible for creating the spirit of time beyond colours, fabrics or trimmings. It is precisely the silhouette that captures the aesthetic canon of an era.
In spite of its apparent richness and variety, the history of Western feminine dress has been repeating its forms throughout the centuries: there are only a handful of silhouettes with which the dressmakers have invented their creations. For example and focusing on the last 100 years, the silhouettes that have had more relevance in the twentieth century are four: tubular silhouette, triangular silhouette and double triangle silhouette, globular silhouette and anatomical silhouette. In addition, all of them have a history in previous centuries. Of course: the prevalence is not exclusive. The silhouettes can coexist in time, although the protagonism of one of them will be the one that defines the era.
In turn, the exhibition also proposes a reflection on “the tyranny of the invisible” and the naked body, a movement that has been consolidating in recent years to reach today unsuspected limits.
Collections and creators
‘The Invented Body‘ is formed of pieces by important fashion collectors (Antoni de Montpalau, Quinto, Maite Mínguez and López-Trabado), as well as three prestigious international renowned museums such as the Costume Museum of Madrid, MUDE : Lisbon Design and Fashion Museum and the Fashion Museum of Santiago de Chile.
The exposed designs are part of the most relevant names on the international scene such as Lanvin, Chanel, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Mainbocher, Versace, Yssey Miyake, Azzaro , Azzedine Alaïa , Pierre Cardin , Yves Saint Lauren, Pucci, Christian Lacroix, Commes des Garçons or Gucci. There are also first-class Spanish designer models such as maestro Cristóbal Balenciaga, Pedro Rodríguez, Lorenzo Caprile , Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada, Jesús del Pozo, Leandro Cano, Ernesto Artillo , Antonio Velasco or Josep Font.
Trendy icons of yesterday and today
Throughout the history of the suit, fashion has used influential people to spread itself. Until the nineteenth century, it was the aristocracy who used to have this mission, but at the end of that century this trend begins to change and it is women in the field of culture and entertainment who become fashion prescribers for the dissemination of fashions. Next to a specific silhouette there is usually an influential woman legitimizing it: how could we disassociate the silhouette that narrows the waist, projects the breasts and widens the hips of actress Marilyn Monroe?
Therefore, the exhibition also includes the role of these famous women who have consolidated the different aesthetic canons, taking a tour of the most influential names in fashion of the twentieth century, with dresses that belonged to Madonna, Claudia Schiffer, Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Lady Gaga, or even her majesty Doña Letizia, among other relevant women.
‘The Invented Body ‘ of Collectors Collective opens next Thursday, September 12th at General Perón Avenue in Madrid and can be visited until December 15th.
Fotos: Alfonso Ohnur
