The Iconic Corset by Vivienne Westwood - Research
In this research, I am going to talk about the work by a famous fashion designer, especially her corsetry works, Vivienne Westwood. I chose her iconic work that I want to explore it; the corset was debuted on Spring/Summer 1994 'Portrait' collections. The corset is not really has a name, but this corset is popular because of the painting by Francois Boucher's Daphnis and Chloe on the corset, it made unique.
Next, I want to talk about Westwood's point of view about her iconic corset. According to Westwood (1996), quoted in Fury (2018) that "I would try to put together a range of fabrics so rich in scope that it would live up to all the different qualities and richness of texture seen in oil paintings. From linen, to lace; tweeds to velvet. " However, she still felt something was off about the corset, which was the painting, so she decided to add the painting to her corset, and she chose Boucher's painting on her work, The Shepherd Watching a Sleeping Shepherdess (Fury, 2018). Westwood picked Boucher's painting because "I just love the ribbon tied in a bow around the sheep’s neck… I wanted her to look as if she’d just stepped out of a painting." (Westwood, 1996 cited in Fury, 2018).
Then, here, there are other points of view on Westwood's iconic corset. Fury (2018) mentions that while everyone is doing something trendy for their fashion designs, it was not what Westwood did; she made the opposite of what was popular in that era; the popular fashion trends that should be a collection of colour, minimalism, grunge. According to Fury (2018), "She continues to decry orthodoxy as "the grave of intelligence" (to quote Bertrand Russell) and likewise bucks against convention." Also, Ibbetson (2021) states that her iconic corset was no exception. It makes Westwood popular because her designs are unique and different from the others. Additionally, in my perspective, the journalist's views are excellent, which means I agree with them because producing a corset with a painting is an 'out of the box' idea that no one might have thought to make clothes with a Renaissance painting, also while the trends is not like what Westwood made.
This corset is made by 66% of polyamide, 27% of polyester, and 7% of lycra; in detail the synthetic fabric is used for the painting motif, gold lycra fabric for sides of the corset, and gold and mauve for the shoulder straps (Victoria & Albert Museum, 1990). Victoria & Albert Museum (1990) mentions the dimension of the corset, which has 82 cm for bust, 44 cm for the length, 0.28 kg for the weight, and 616 mm for the waist.
Westwood corset is related to my project because I will make a corset in a 3D design, and while Westwood was famous for making a corset, she is a good motivation for me to create an excellent corset, especially through the boning or shape of the corset. I chose this corset for my further research; regardless, it is iconic, but it has a unique boning that can be my inspiration for the design. Moreover, what I can learn from this is to create unique shapes in corsets and not worry about designing clothes against trends. Due to this, I will make designs that oppose the trends of spring/summer 2024 and create designs with a lot of colour instead of black and white.
Reference List
Victoria & Albert Museum. (1990). Corset. [online] Available at: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O71199/corset-vivienne-westwood/#:~:text=Corset%20of%20synthetic%20blend%20with [Accessed 1 Feb. 2024].
Fury, A. (2018). Bust, Boucher and Black Monday: Vivienne Westwood’s Contrary Corset. [online] AnOther. Available at: https://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/11038/bust-boucher-and-black-monday-vivienne-westwood-s-contrary-corset [Accessed 1 Feb. 2024].
Ibbetson, F. (2021). 1990 – Vivienne Westwood, ‘Portrait Collection’ Corset | Fashion History Timeline. [online] fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu. Available at: https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1990-westwood-corset/ [Accessed 1 Feb. 2024].
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