Porcelain
by Hanna
| (Mary Katrantzou‘s Fall 2011 collection as presented at London fashion week. Photos by Yannis Vlamos of GoRunway.com via Style.com. ) Drawing on the model from anders-anziehen, I’ve decided to try writing this blog bilingually. If you see any problems with the English or the Japanese (since I tried to write them at the same time), please comment!
In general, different cultures provide inspiration for art, thought, and creativity. Specifically, East Asia as a whole has long been inspirational for Western creativity. Might this be because of the fondness Westerners have for East Asian design and products? At least Western fashion seems to indicate a continuing view to East Asia as the source of luxury. |
（ロンドン・ファション・ウィークで発表されたMary Katrantzou（日本語の読みは？）の秋2011年コレクションです。写真はStyle.comで見たGoRunway.comのYannis Vlamosによります。）アンダース・アンツィーヘンのデザインを見て、私もブログをバイリンガルで書いてみようと思いました。もし英語か日本語の問題が見えたら、（同時に書いていたから）コメントしてください！
だいたい、他文化は芸術や思想や想像のインスピレーションになると思います。具体的に言うと、昔から東アジアがよく西洋の創作のためのインスピレーションになっています。それは、東アジアのデザインや製品は西洋人に好まれているからでしょうか？少なくとも西洋のファッションを見ると、東アジアは贅沢で溢れているイメーギがあるようです。 |
| Mary Katrantzou’s recent show in London mixed the ideas of silk and porcelain to create fashion. Although this collection is heavily orientalist, it seems more interesting and less off-putting than Marc Jacob’s show last year for Louis Vuitton Spring 2011.But where is the line between kitsch, tongue-in-cheek, and good taste? Can good come from orientalism or should we avoid it in the post-colonial age?
Certainly, as a student of noh theater, I feel like I need to be a little more critical of my approach towards Japanese and East Asian culture. So, let me hear what you think! Also, see Miss Moss’s comparisons with actual porcelain patterns, and the Sartorialist’s photo that shows how this might actually be worn on the street. |
Mary Katrantzouが最近ロンドンで発表したショーの写真で、シルクと陶器のイメージを混ぜたファッションが見えました。オリエンタリズムが濃厚なコレクションであっても、去年のMarc Jacobsがデザインしたルイ・ブィトンの春2011コレックションより面白いし、それほど当惑させないと私が思います。でも、キッチュとこっけいと気品の間の線はどこにあるでしょうか？オリエンタリズムのいい面もあるか、ポストコロニアリズムの時代にもう避けた方がいいですか？
能楽を勉強している学生として、日本と東アジアの文化への取り組みを批判的に考えた方がいいと私は思います。だから、意見を聞かせてください！ また、ミス・モスが実際の陶器と比較したイメージも、実際に道でどう着られるのかと分かるようなサルトリアリストの写真も見てください。 |
This may come off as a sort of Stephen Colbert-esque “I don’t see color”-type statement but I don’t actually see this collection as being particularly Orientalist as all.
I’ve always understood Orientalism to be more about the other-ing of Asia and the middle East as done by the West. The collection was clearly inspired by Chinese prints and textiles but the combination of those prints feels more near-Eastern or even English to me. I read elsewhere that the collection was inspired by Vreeland’s “garden in hell” apartment.
The whole thing about Orientalism was that it normified the West by exotifying the East, right? To me, the Marc Jacobs collection, unlike the Kantrantzou one, hits on all of the notes of Orientalism. I mean, it’s definitely toungue-in-cheek but it’s kitch is neutered by the fact that it doesn’t offer up anything new. The whole thing is done with a wink but it’s all just a bit too disaffected and ironic, like an ugly-Christmas sweater party or something. Since it’s made up of nothing but depictions of Asia created specifically through the gaze of the west, right? The mandarine collars, the crotch-high slits, the kung-fu and ninja-inspired outfits…. it’s everything Hollywood ever taught us about Asia.
Kantrantzou’s “woman in a room” idea is, at least, original… even if some of her silhouettes may have been a little bit too Armani-insprired.
Regardless, I can definitely see why the issue would interest you, as a Westerner studying a traditional Japanese art in Japan. I’m not a student of Noh or anything but I’ve asked myself similar questions in the past as well…
Dear Merefflorescence,
Thank you for the insightful comment! I’ve been thinking about what you wrote for the last few days, and realized I don’t know nearly enough about fashion to address all the layers of allusions and inspirations. For one, I was unaware of the similarities to Vreeland “garden in hell.” In the Style.com review I read, only Vreeland’s name was mentioned in a list of style icons that might have inspired the collection, along with Babe Paley and the Duchess of Windsor, other references I honestly don’t understand.
I do understand when you say the pattern combinations seem to be English, something like an Englishman’s stroll through a porcelain shop, perhaps. But somewhere in the tradition, a view to the East as the source of the exotic and luxurious comes into play, although in this case it is not a sexual desire (as in the Jacobs collection) as much as a desire for luxurious pottery.
Would it be too much to suppose that these patterns are not so much about the Western image of an oriental woman as about the Western image of an oriental home? Both images were re-imagined as orientalism brought them to the West, and Kantrantzou’s and Jacobs’ collections re-imagine these orientalist images again. Since Kantrantzou re-imagines porcelain on a woman, her work seems to have an extra twist that makes the collection interesting.
Just beyond the surface of this adaptation of interior decorating into fashion, arguments about porcelain women in beautifully decorated homes might also arise. These are arguments I’m not so sure I want to make, because they are so old-school feminism, but Kantranzou’s collection is not steering completely clear of the sexual allure of a doll wife in a beautiful home. Of course, that might just be too much of a stretch to argue convincingly. . .
Thanks again for your comment!
Hanna