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Sienna Miller in British Vogue |
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Penguin Clothbound Classics |
"Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember
it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird."
Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird
"And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was a plucked off olive leaf: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth."
Genesis 8:11 (King James Bible 2000)
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MC Escher - Two Birds |
Probably the most popular connotation of birds is the idea of freedom. People have always been fascinated by the thought of being able to fly - hence characters like Icarus and Superman - and being able to go wherever you like by gliding through the air has to be the ultimate freedom. Perhaps this is what attracts artists, in particular fashion designers. Creative freedom is one of the things which artists strive the most to achieve, wanting to produce what they have to, regardless of the comments of anyone else.
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Alexander McQueen dress (Chictopia) |
Let's take a look at an example. The work of Alexander McQueen is filled with images of birds: feathered garments, prints on dresses, patterns on purses, bird skull necklaces and sometimes real stuffed birds turned into headpieces and ornaments. Sarah Burton has continued this image as part of the aesthetic of the house, though perhaps giving it her own personal twist. A lot of McQueen's designs feature birds which form part of a disturbing image, reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. They can be scavengers or birds of prey which appear to be attacking the models themselves. But in his final collection, the one shown after his death, there seems to be a more positive aura attached to the image of birds. In particular, a coat made from lacquered gold feathers, which rather than attacking the model, transforms her into a phoenix-like apparition.
It coincides with the idea of a bird as a symbol of hope and freedom, and reminds me of Yeats' poem Sailing to Byzantium. For this collection, McQueen apparently looked to the golden artwork of ancient Byzantium, but the link is more than that. Sailing to Byzantium is a poem about finding immortality in art, though the bodies of both humans and birds can expire, their souls can live on in a captured image. Yeats imagines himself as a bird in the city of Byzantium, an image which seems to match this design almost exactly. Perhaps McQueen knew that he could make his name live on through a creation like this, just as Yeats hoped that he would survive through poetry, and both men were inspired by ancient art. So there you have an example of the image of a golden bird which spreads from art to poetry to fashion.
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Alexander McQueen dress and coat (The Guardian) |
It coincides with the idea of a bird as a symbol of hope and freedom, and reminds me of Yeats' poem Sailing to Byzantium. For this collection, McQueen apparently looked to the golden artwork of ancient Byzantium, but the link is more than that. Sailing to Byzantium is a poem about finding immortality in art, though the bodies of both humans and birds can expire, their souls can live on in a captured image. Yeats imagines himself as a bird in the city of Byzantium, an image which seems to match this design almost exactly. Perhaps McQueen knew that he could make his name live on through a creation like this, just as Yeats hoped that he would survive through poetry, and both men were inspired by ancient art. So there you have an example of the image of a golden bird which spreads from art to poetry to fashion.
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come.
-Sailing to Byzantium, W.B. Yeats
5 comments:
Nice post... Inspiration can lead to any road for sure...
Congrats on making it to weekly round up to 'Link a la mode'
Sheena
sheenafab.com
Nice post... Inspiration can lead to any road for sure...
Congrats on making it to weekly round up to 'Link a la mode'
Sheena
sheenafab.com
Cool post! I just realised we are from the same hometown! That's crazy!
great post! very interesting.. :)
x
Searching for "recurring" fashion trends, I serendipitously arrived here at your bird post...and it is fascinating.
Freedom, peace, wisdom - birds do seem to symbolize these things.
Search for videos of murmurations of starlings to see an awe-some phenomenon. Starlings in flight move so beautifully in unison that they appear to be one creature.
I like your observations and welcome your commentary at my blog.
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