Mondrian dress by Yves Saint Laurent
In 1965, Yves Saint Laurent released the “Mondrian” collection (autumn-winter 1965-1966) based on the paintings of Piet Mondrian, a Dutch artist who was one of the founders of abstract painting.
Yves Saint LaurentPiet Mondrian
Dresses from the Mondrian collection were simple A-line dresses made of wool and jersey without collar or sleeves, with a pattern of large colored rectangles and black lines.
Mondrian dress from Yves Saint Laurent, 1965.
The dresses became a sensation because of their bright, unusual print and because of the mini length that had just begun to come into fashion. The idea of transferring abstract painting onto fabric to create a print was also revolutionary.
Painting by Piet MondrianDress sketch from the Mondrian collection
Mondrian dresses became a symbol of the 1960s, embodying simplicity and sophistication.
Yves Saint Laurent glorified the name of Piet Mondrian, who was not particularly successful during his lifetime, making him a true legend. Mondrian's ideas are still reflected in the collections of famous designers, who are again and again attracted by the laconicism and brightness of his works.
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Story
Background
Piet Mondrian.
Tableau I, 1921 Mondrian dresses (sometimes the Mondrian style) are women's A-line dresses without a collar or sleeves, made from high-quality woolen fabrics. They were created by French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent for his autumn-winter collection 1965-1966. Art criticism notes that this famous collection owes much of its success primarily to Mondrian dresses[1]. The decor of the six dresses used images and elements of the works of the Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian, and, in particular, the painting “Composition in Red, Yellow, Blue and Red”[1][2]. Due to the popularity of the dresses from this art collection, it is often called the “Mondrian collection,” but one cannot completely agree with this judgment, since for the fall-winter 1965-1966 show, the designer also drew inspiration from some of the works of Kazimir Malevich and Serge Polyakov. Mondrian is a leading representative of such a movement of abstract art as neoplasticism, the main feature of which, according to the artist’s own definition, is “rigor in the use of expressive means.” To construct the form of this non-figurative painting, only horizontal and vertical lines are allowed, which must intersect at right angles, forming bare planes. The palette should use exclusively the primary colors of the spectrum (red, yellow, blue), which are placed on a neutral background (white, gray, black). Mondrian's neoplastic compositions, based on the principles of "dynamic equilibrium", are characterized by abstract compositions on a plane, consisting of rectangles and squares, painted in red, grey, blue and yellow, and divided into sections by black lines[3]. united artists grouped around the magazine “De Stijl” (“Style”), and their creativity and ideas, in addition to painting itself, influenced architecture, interior and furniture design (see Bauhaus)[4].
Saint Laurent was not the first fashion designer to turn to the work of Mondrian. Back in the 1930s, French designer Lola Prusac created bags and suitcases for the Hermès fashion house with Mondrian’s famous “color lattice”[5][6]. Also, starting in 1944, several photo sessions were carried out in which models posed in the workshop and galleries, against the backdrop of paintings or backdrops designed in the spirit of the works of the Dutch master. In 1945, American fashion designer Stella Brownie from the Foxbrownie
studied the works of Mondrian, trying to use their images in the process of creating her clothing collection.
Despite the fact that she did use some stylistic elements of the founder of neoplasticism, the resulting result cannot be considered fully consistent with his artistic aspirations. In particular, Brownie used decor that was not typical for Mondrian, in the form of combinations of colors and geometric shapes that were not typical for him. Thus, on one of her models it can be seen that the lines of the drawing are directed diagonally, which Mondrian almost never used, and the geometric shapes contrasted with a purple background, which is also not typical for the artist’s laconic palette. In the article “Mondrian Makes Fashion”[7] by the art history magazine Art News
dated March 15, 1945, dedicated to the presentation of the Brownie collection, it was noted that the artist’s importance lies in the fact that his work is reflected in applied art[8].
Creation
Mondrian dress in the Municipal Museum of The Hague
In 1965, Saint Laurent and the company he founded with Pierre Berger were in a rather difficult situation. After he left his post as artistic director of the Christian Dior
and founded his own, he released several collections that were not successful.
His designs, shown in the spring-summer 1965 collection, were considered too conservative, which contrasted with the reception given to the futuristic fashion proposed by other couturiers (Pierre Cardin, André Courrèges). Influenced by the success of Courrèges' space fashion, Saint Laurent came to the conclusion that he needed to make a number of radical changes to meet the modern needs of his clients. In July 1965, he practically completed most of his autumn-winter collection, however, according to his admission, at that time he did not have truly modern ideas in tune with the era. In an interview with France Dimanche,
the fashion designer said the following about this: “Nothing truly alive, nothing modern came to my mind, with the exception of an evening dress, which I embroidered with sequins in the manner of a painting by [Serge] Polyakov.
That was until I opened the Mondrian album that my mother gave me for Christmas, and here I caught my key idea.”[8] The designer explained his choice by saying that he was primarily inspired by “the architectural component of one of the founders of the De Stijl group, and not a decorative element.” In addition, according to him, he learned from Mondrian “conciseness and balance”[1]. The memorable geometric pattern of the dress was formed from separate pieces of colored knitted fabric, cut together in such a way as to hide the curves of the body, simplify their expressiveness and volume, which is stylistically inherent in neoplasticism painting[9][8]. French journalist and documentary director Loïc Prigent, working on the documentary film “Yves Saint Laurent: The Last Fashion Show” (French: Yves Saint Laurent, le dernier défilé, 2013)[10] and studying the famous 1965 collection, concluded that the dresses were actually assembled by hand, like a mosaic. According to him, one can only suspect skillfully disguised joints of pieces of wool if one notices the different directions of the threads on the bright rectangular inserts and black stripes. In addition, the design and cut of the dresses are distinguished by their skillful, painstaking and time-consuming work by the sewing masters of the Yves Saint Laurent
. According to Prigent, the designer's idea to create a very simple dress for the haute couture collection could seem offensive to the seamstresses working for him, since this outfit is actually just one piece of fabric with three slits. Apparently, they themselves decided to complicate the work, turning it into a real challenge to their skills[11].
Visual emphasis was placed on the vertical lines of the dress, which was achieved through the use of a rich block of color at the top at shoulder level and at the bottom of the dress at the hem level. Each knit block was cut and adjusted to fit a specific area of the female figure, and the seams were veiled behind discreet dress shapes. The laconic palette of the dress’s decor consists of three primary colors, which are complemented by black and white sections, which creates visual contrast, reflecting the features of the artistic style of the Dutch artist. In order to maintain the portrait format of the figure and the strict architectural composition of the dress, the black lines between the bright geometric sections of the dress’s decor acquired denser proportions than those of the artist[12]. The line of “Mondrian” dresses was demonstrated along with black low-heeled pumps with a square toe and a square silver metal buckle, which were created especially for this collection by the famous French shoe designer Roger Vivier[13][2].
Reception and criticism
The dresses first appeared on the cover of the French Vogue magazine in September 1965, after which they gained wide popularity[9]. The success of this collection was very significant, much was written about it and it was imitated by other manufacturers. A reviewer for Le Journal de Paris wrote in 1965 that the collection was unique, highlighting its innovation as follows: “Saint Laurent’s achievement is that he created an entirely new silhouette using old principles.”[1] In Paris Match
wrote that the female figures in these dresses and the hard lines of the paintings of the abstract artist are very compatible, while Fr.
In September 1965, Harper's Bazaar
described the collection as "an emerging abstraction, a garment of the future, clearly defined by white jersey, perfectly proportioned to highlight the silhouette."[14]
Critics and the public immediately sensed in Saint Laurent's Mondrian-style dresses the influence of the artist's images on the fashion collection. American observer Rabai Graham noted that the designer was able to achieve greater “Mondrian authenticity” than anyone else, since his dresses “carefully maintained exactly the proportions and preserved exactly the colors that are typical of Mondrian’s paintings”[8]. American art critic Nancy Troy notes that the dress “Number 81” indicated in the show catalog has a direct resemblance to Mondrian’s works of the 1920s, which was pointed out immediately after the presentation of the dresses. As confirmation of the relationship between fashion and art, Saint Laurent and Mondrian, criticism invariably uses illustrations in which this dress model is shown together with the prototype painting. As Troy observes, the result of this interpenetration was what art historians characterize as a series of haute couture masterpieces, and she calls “Number 81” an “outstanding work.”[8] According to costume historian Michael Czerwinski, in this line of dresses the designer had a “strong effect of order and simplicity”, thanks to which Saint Laurent was able to achieve the heights of “a sculptor and conceptual artist.”[9] In addition, the success of the collection, which used elements of op art and abstraction, which were gaining popularity in the 1960s, allowed the designer to significantly expand and “rejuvenate” his clientele[12].
Only wealthy clients could afford such “inconceivably expensive haute couture pieces” as Mondrian dresses, the prices of which reached $1,800 in the mid-1960s.[15] Given the success of this line of dresses from Yves Saint Laurent, many much cheaper copies from other manufacturers have appeared. Thus, columnist Jane Tamarin of the New York Herald Tribune illustrates her article with photographs of five non-original Mondrian dresses, which ranged in price from $37 to $60, ironically remarking on this matter: “And if you get tired of wearing them, you can hang them on the wall at any time.”[8].
the birth of the style of the twentieth century – Fair of Masters
Avant-garde in the art of the early twentieth century - the desire for renewal, the search for new means of expression and new forms brought together many names of artists from different countries and movements. A separate miracle is the Russian avant-garde.
But today we are talking about Pieter Cornelis (Piet) Mondrian - an amazing artist, an exhibition of whose works was held at the Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val in 2013. Here is one of his compositions, it is probably familiar to many.
Piet Mondrian (1872-1944, the Netherlands) in the Popular Art Encyclopedia is called “the creator of one of the first varieties of abstract art” and the founder of the “Style” group.
He created his compositions “from strictly balanced rectangular planes, separated by contour perpendicular lines and locally colored in the primary colors of the spectrum with the addition of white and black,” striving for “universal harmony.”
Here we say goodbye to the encyclopedia and turn to the work of Mondrian. After all, I started from the end, and Piet Mondrian, before founding the Style group, went through a difficult path of creative search. Along this path, he, like many artists, was fascinated by the Impressionists.
Several wonderful landscapes of Holland.
In this bright landscape one can already “read” the red and blue of future abstract paintings.
And this interweaving of lines may have echoed in the clear geometry of his later works.
But rectangles and intersecting lines are the Mondrian style that conquered the world!
These compositions are incredibly positive, they charge you with joy and optimism.
Perhaps this positivity inspired another famous artist, the unique stylist Yves Saint Laurent, to create a magnificent collection of dresses in 1965/66. And here is such an amazing result: 20 years after his death, the artist Piet Mondrian, without knowing it, established himself in the world of high fashion.
Yves Saint Laurent created several Mondrian wool minidresses with a simple cut, without sleeves, collars, or drapes. The main thing in this collection was a print based on the compositions of Piet Mondrian. Let's admire it?
Of course, the collection was a success!
Saint Laurent dresses were tried on (and worn) by Grace Kelly, Catherine Deneuve
Wearing a Saint Laurent dress, Deneuve was photographed against the backdrop of a still from the wonderful, cult film “Beauty of the Day,” directed by Buñuel. If you haven't seen it, dear ladies, be sure to check it out! I guarantee you won't regret it!
- Sorry, I got distracted!
But the story of Mondrian dresses did not end there. The prints became a hit and a brand. And not only in summer clothes, not only in knitwear. New interpretations and new materials allow you to create new models, bright, different, festive!
Clothes “based on”... Street and home, famous companies and just handicrafts, home sewing - everything absorbed the artist’s finds and gave a wonderful creative impulse, brightened up the street, added bright colors.
How will you like it, dear dressmakers? Have ideas for new creative endeavors?
But I wanted to please and inspire not only dressmakers. After all, this is only one creative direction, and “behind the scenes” there are incomparable bags, shoes, furniture, etc. and so on.
I will continue, with your permission, in the next publication >>
With constant respect, Zhanna (gvasi).
www.livemaster.ru
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Guzenko, Natalya.
Saint Laurent and Mondrian.
The Yves Saint Laurent Museum about a revolution in fashion and art (undefined)
. amuse-a-muse.com (8 March 2019). Retrieved December 18, 2019. Archived September 10, 2020. - ↑ 12
Naydenskaya; Trubetskova, 2020, p. 107. - Dupetit, 2003, p. 20.
- Tregub, 2009, p. 114-120.
- Shulika, Tatyana.
Behind Mondrian's bars
(unspecified)
.
newtimes.ru
. Retrieved December 20, 2020. Archived October 9, 2020. - Guerrand, 1987, p. 58.
- Mondrian Makes the Mode (English) // Art News. - 1945. - August (no. 44 (10)). - P. 22.
- ↑ 12345678
Troy, 2020. - ↑ 123
Czerwinski, 2014, p. 32. - "Yves Saint Laurent, le dernier défilé" on IMDb (English). Retrieved December 20, 2020. Archived September 10, 2020.
- From Poiret to Saab: 8 dresses that influenced modern haute couture (undefined)
.
FW-Daily.
Women's magazine about fashion, style, brands (May 31, 2019). Retrieved December 20, 2020. Archived September 10, 2020. - ↑ 12
Fogg, 2020, p. 361-362. - Ermilova, 2003, p. 145.
- Yves Saint Laurent through the eyes of Yves Saint Laurent. - Ersher, 1986. - 224 p.
- For comparison: the artist’s paintings at that time sold for around $40,000 or more.
- Piet Mondrian and industrial design (undefined)
.
Advertology.Ru
. Retrieved December 21, 2020. Archived September 10, 2020. - Troy, 2020, p. 178-179.
- Barbie dolls were dressed in outfits from Saint Laurent (unspecified)
.
LeMonade
. Retrieved December 20, 2020. Archived September 10, 2020.
