“Gothic: Dark Glamour” @ The Museum at FIT
Gothic is an epithet with a strange history, evoking images of death, destruction, and decay. It is not just a word that describes something (such as a Gothic cathedral); it is almost inevitably a term of abuse, implying that something is gloomy, barbarous, and macabre. Ironically, its negative connotations have made it, in some respects, ideal as a symbol of rebellion. Hence its significance for youth subcultures. Today the words "goth" and "gothic" are popularly associated with black-clad teenagers and mascara'd rock musicians. But the gothic has many layers of meaning.
Just as the "barbarian" Goths were perceived by the Romans as the antithesis of classical civilization, so did the medieval Gothic come to be seen as modernity's Other, its "dark side." With the rise of the Enlightenment, the entire medieval period was retrospectively envisioned as the Dark Ages, characterized by superstition and sorcery. The Gothic has long attracted cultural outsiders, from the homosexual aesthete Horace Walpole, author of the first gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, to the habitués of today's Vampire Balls.
The imagery of death and decay, the power of horror, and the erotic macabre are perversely attractive to many designers. John Galliano, for example, has described the "Gothic girl" as "edgy and cool, vampy and mysterious." Alexander McQueen, Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto, and Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy have also created what could be described as gothic fashion. Ann Demeulemeester may reject the gothic label, associating it with the ubiquitous skull accessory, but Owens proudly recalls that he once was a goth, just as Vivienne Westwood was a punk.
Kazuko Ogawa. Elegant Gothic Lolita dress. Black sateen and satin ribbons. Fall 2008, Japan. Museum purchase, 2008.48.1
The Elegant Gothic Lolita style first appeared in Japan in the 1990s, as a dark variant of the Lolita
Night explores the symbolism of black. The gothic color par excellence, black has long been associated with death, danger, and evil, but also with mystery, elegance, and eroticism. The devil has long been known as the Prince of Darkness. But since the fifteenth century, black clothing has also been associated with elegance and aristocracy, in large part because black dye was so expensive. Black clothing was also associated with the elegantly Satanic figure of the dandy, the Black Prince of Elegance. Far from the anodyne Little Black Dress, the fashions in this section of the exhibition seem appropriate for the femme fatale and the dandy vampire aristocrat.
"Obscurity is vertiginous. . . . When the eye sees black, the spirit sees trouble. . . . In the night, even the strong feel anxious." ~ Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
Alexander McQueen. Hooded suit and thorn necklace. Black silk crepe, satin, and silver. Spring 2007, Sarabande collection, England. Lent by Alexander McQueen
Throughout world history, black has been associated with night and darkness, and, by extension, death, danger, and evil.
This Cabinet of Curiosities refers back to the wonder rooms or memory theatres of the Renaissance, collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were unclear: natural history, religious relics, art objects – all were included in these princely collections. The human skull is the type of object once treasured as a memento mori (a reminder of death), later collected as a scientific specimen, and now ubiquitous as an inspiration for gothic accessories.
Other objects on display include a death mask, Victorian mourning jewelry, a top hat tattooed with the image of a bat, and accessories that incorporate bird skulls, talons, and wings – alluding to themes such as death, time, and transcendence.
Justin Smith. "Tattooed" top hat. Painted pigskin, sterling silver, and black leather. 2007, England. Museum purchase, 2008.5.1.
Bat belt buckle. Gunmetal with paste. Early 20th century, Europe. Lent by Collection of Mark Walsh Leslie Chin: VINTAGELUXURY.COM
In Strange Beauty, the fashions are characterized by unconventional shapes and strange sources of imagery.
The Gothic has long attracted cultural outsiders, from the homosexual aesthete Horace Walpole, author of the first gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, to the habitués of today’s Vampire Balls. Just as the "barbarian" Goths were perceived by the Romans as the antithesis of classical civilization, so did the medieval Gothic come to be seen as modernity’s Other, its "dark side." With the rise of the Enlightenment, the entire medieval period was retrospectively envisioned as the Dark Ages, characterized by superstition and sorcery.
As a genre, the Gothic is characterized by the themes of death, destruction and decay, haunting and imprisonment, the powers of horror and the erotic macabre. Gothic fashion has its own visual vocabulary which evolved from a set of narrative associations evoked by the gothic literature of terror, from its origin in the eighteenth century to its contemporary manifestations in vampire fiction.
Rodarte. Evening dress. Hand-dyed silk gauze. Fall 2008, USA. Museum purchase, 2008.55.1
Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte were inspired by Japanese horror movies when they designed this collection. They experimented to make sure that the red dye in this dress looked "like blood in water."
Marcuse (American, b. 1964). Wax Bodies no. 149. Josephinum, Vienna. Pigment print. 2008. Courtesy of Julie Saul Gallery, NYC
Marcuse (American, b. 1964). Untitled. Mannequin from the collection of Evan Michelson.Platinum/palladium print. 2007. Courtesy of Julie Saul Gallery, NYC
Walter Benjamin argued that fashion has traditionally turned the living woman into a kind of mannequin, "a gaily-decked out corpse." Long an icon of the uncanny, the mannequin is significant to both fashion and the gothic, because it is an abstraction of the corporeal body.
Rick Owens. Ensemble with Bat jacket. Black felted wool, denim, silk crepe chiffon, and knit. Fall 2008, Stag collection, England. Lent by Rick Owens Corp
Rick Owens has always been attracted to a "glamorous, decadent" aesthetic, he says, but now it has "a layer of affection. All those years of doomed idealism seen in the daylight of adulthood seemed rather sweet and poignant. Everything black I ever wore again or put on a runway would be with a loving wink."
h. NAOTO. Elegant Gothic Lolita ensemble with Angry doll. Black silk satin, lace, chiffon, faux bone, metal and patent leather. Fall 2008, Japan. Museum purchase, 2008.57.1
Hirooka Naoto is Japan’s premier creator of Elegant Gothic Lolita styles. The Hangry & Angry mascot purse is typical of h.NAOTO's shocking-but-cute aesthetic. Tiffany Godoy, author of Style Deficit Disorder, selected this ensemble with the help of several real gothic lolitas in Harajuku.
The Bat Cave uses two-way mirrors to permit lightning glimpses of a range of goth subcultural styles, from old-school goth to cyber goth.
The relationship between subcultural style and mainstream fashion is much more complicated than the stereotype of co-optation would imply. Although many academics still interpret subculture as "a form of heroic resistance to the dominant culture," this paradigm has become increasingly unconvincing. Images of "deviance" have been extensively incorporated into popular culture. What is new is that even the concept of a single dominant culture seems to have disintegrated, leaving a vast array of niche cultures, or style tribes.
In both musical and sartorial terms, goth developed out of punk some time between 1979 and 1981. The first generation of British post-punk bands that have been labeled "gothic" include Bauhaus, Sixouxie & the Banshees, The Cure, UK Decay, and Sisters of Mercy. Punk's nihilism and fetishism, David Bowie's vision of glam rock, and a darker, horror-influenced style all merged. The goth "death look" was created with pale white foundation, black eyeliner, black nail polish, and dark black-red lipstick. When the famous club the Batcave opened in London, its motto was "Blasphemy, Lechery, and Blood."
Contemporary goths tend to be much "more dialectically engaged with the past than is typical of most youth subcultures." Not only do they draw inspiration from subcultural antecedents, such as punk and glam rock, they also draw on an eclectic historical canon of literary, aesthetic, and philosophical traditions; or they dig deeply into the history and associations of the gothic.
Cyber Goth ensemble. Dress by Dane. Necklace by Alchemy Gothic. Hot pink Lycra, nylon, rubber, metal, and patent leather. Circa 2001, USA. Lent by Julia Bloodgood Borden
Cyber Goth draws on aspects of Industrial style, such as reflective surfaces, as well as the neon colors launched by Gravers (Gothic Ravers).
Plastik Wrap. Day ensemble. Black nylon and patent leather. Spring 2004, USA. Lent by Plastik Wrap
Contemporary goth styles range from romantic historicizing looks to hard-edged, futuristic Cyber Goth styles, such as this Plastik Wrap ensemble. The designers, Adriana Fulop and Ryan Webb, create body-conscious futuristic fashion with brightly-colored accents, which is inspired by contemporary music.
Image courtesy of The New York Pubic Library digital gallery
Mourning
Beginning with the rise of the gothic novel in the eighteenth century, gothic style has been associated with sublime themes of terror and the supernatural. The Victorian cult of mourning mandated head-to-toe black, inspiring members of the goth subculture – and contributing to the image of the femme fatale and the vamp.
Victorian mourning dress was supposed to symbolize grief and respect for the dead. Mourning weighed most heavily on widows, who were supposed to wear deep mourning for at least a year. Mourning clothes were made from fabrics wtih a lustreless texture such as crape, but were not only black. During the second year of mourning, gray and violet clothes could be gradually introduced. Although Victorian etiquette books stressed that mourning dress should be "plain" and "simple," this injunction was contradicted by the fact that mourning, since it was a category of fashionable dress, was often extremely elaborate..
Within the constellation of gothic conventions, the fear of death is often transformed into a kind of sexually-charged horror. Death and decay are aestheticized and romanticized. Not only is the boundary blurred between life and death, so also is there a transgressive understanding of sex and gender. The widow could easily be perceived as a fatal woman, whose embrace led to her lover's death. The femme fatale was often, although not always, depicted in black. Silent films of the early twentieth century established the image of the black-clad vamp, as portrayed by actresses like Theda Bara.
Mourning dress and hat. Black silk taffeta. 1870s, USA. Lent by Evan Michelson, Obscura Antiques
Contemporary goths appreciate the morbid allure and claustrophobic corsetry of Victorian mourning dress. The symbolism of black has been said to have evolved "from mourning to evening." However, black symbolizies not only mourning but also aristocratic court dress, which was the antecedent of today’s formal evening attire.
Kambriel. Midnight Bustle dress. Black satin finished brocade, netting, and lace. 2005, USA. Lent by Kambriel
Kambriel's work exemplifies "the romantic goth aesthetic," which is characterized by soft fluid fabrics and historically-inspired styles. "For me, gothic is all about finding beauty in the shadows," says goth designer Kambriel. "It's about viewing the world through a Tim Burton-esque lens, in which dark humor meets intelligent irony.".
Yoshiki Hishinuma. Evening dress. Black and burgundy polyester. Fall 1996, Japan. Gift of Yoshiki Hishinuma, 2007.33.1
The Japanese designer Yoshiki Hishinuma has experimented with combining high-tech textile techniques with historical styling.
The Haunted Palace recalls Edgar Allan Poe's architectural metaphor for a disturbed mind.If fashion may be considered a type of "intimate architecture," then we might expect gothic fashions to manifest similar characteristics of imprisonment, ambiguity, and disintegration.
The supernatural became associated with the psychological in gothic narratives, such as Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839). Significantly, Poe specifies in passing that the house refers both to "the family and the family mansion." It may also evoke a mind degenerating into madness, an effect that Poe brilliantly creates in his horrific story of incest and premature burial, culminating at the moment when a "barely discernible fissure" in the House of Usher suddenly widens and the building collapses.
Yet gothic style does not simply reflect social anxieties, since from the beginning it has been a knowing genre that plays with the pleasurable aspects of terror. The Marquis de Sade was correct in observing that the gothic is modern genre, even when it draws on ancient fears.
Givenchy (Riccardo Tisci). Evening dress. Black felt, silk tulle, wood, glass, and leather. Fall 2006, France. Lent by Givenchy
Even before he took over the artistic direction at Givenchy, Riccardo Tisci was known for his dark, moody romanticism.
Alexander McQueen. Sleeveless evening dress. Red feathers and glass microscope slides. Spring 2001, Voss collection, England. Lent by Alexander McQueen
This famous dress is from one of McQueen's most powerful and disturbing collections, which evoked images of beauty, horror, and madness.
The Ruined Castle evokes the paradigmatic gothic setting, which is often symbolic of the human mind, "psychology in stone." According to the scholar Chris Baldick, a gothic work "should combine a fearful sense of inheritance in time with a claustrophobic sense of enclosure in space...to produce an impression of sickening descent into disintegration." Some of the fashions on display allude to decay and destruction, while others suggest mental states, such as fear or passion.
With the rise of the Enlightenment, the entire medieval period was retrospectively envisioned as the Dark Ages, characterized by superstition and religious fanaticism, when an irrational fear of witchcraft, sorcery, and Satanism ran rampant. Architectural ruins especially suited the new taste for romantic, backward-looking thoughts, and Protestant England had many ruined monasteries and crumbling churches. In their absence, picturesque, new Gothic Revival "ruins" could be constructed. Meanwhile, the gothic literature of terror was characterized by gloomy settings (such as ruined castles), mysterious, violent, and supernatural events, and a general atmosphere of degeneration and decay.
Lurid images of medieval "superstition" in the Dark Ages have long been intriguing to those with a gothic sensibility. During the Middle Ages, the Black Death spawned an entire genre of macabre imagery involving skeletons and rotting corpses. For our generation, Medieval religious iconography, especially memento mori imagery, has appeared on numerous fashion runways. The garb of priests and nuns has also inspired contemporary fashion, because of the way it evokes both spirituality and blasphemy, asceticism and sexual perversion.
Alexander McQueen. Strapless evening dress. Black and green silk taffeta, glass, and leather. Fall 2007, In memory of Elizabeth Howe, Salem 1692, England. Lent by Alexander McQueen
Sorcery and superstition in the Dark Ages have long intrigued those with a gothic sensibility. This dress is from a collection inspired by one of Alexander McQueen's ancestors, who was executed for witchcraft. Like his Joan of Arc collection, it alludes to the history of religious persecution.
Christian Dior (John Galliano). Evening dress and cross necklace. Red coated silk, black ink, and metal. Spring 2006, France. Lent by Christian Dior, Paris
In The Crimes of Love (1800), the Marquis de Sade argued that the gothic novel of terror was "the fruit of the revolution of which all Europe felt the shock." The French Revolution also inspired this dress. Embroidered on the skirt is an image of de Sade, with the words: "Is it not by murder that France is free today?"
A Cemetery, surrounded by a graveyard fence, evokes a sense of claustrophobia, as does veiling, masking, and corsetry.
The association of fashion and death is central to gothic style, but death is also allied to fashion in general. "Fashion must die and die quickly, in order that it can begin to live," declared Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. "One must forgive fashion everything, because it dies so young," joked her friend, the poet Jean Cocteau.
"Fashion mocks death," countered the philosopher Walter Benjamin. By celebrating novelty and artificiality, fashion promises seasonal renewal and eternal youth. Yet although fashion is the modern measure of time, it exists outside the organic cycle of birth, death, and decay. According to Benjamin, the essence of fashion is fetishism, because it is based on the sex appeal of the inorganic. As a result, he argues, the living person becomes a kind of mannequin, "a gaily decked-out corpse."
Unlike the living and dying body, fashion is neither dead nor alive. Like the vampire, fashion is undead.
Hussein Chalayan. Blob top and skirt. Red and black wool carpet and black silk. Fall 2005, Geometrics collection, England. Lent by Hussein Chalayan
This enigmatic (and heavy) top creates a sense of claustrophobia and vertigo, two mental states that are central to gothic narratives.
Jean Paul Gaultier. Dress and neckpiece. Black striped silk and leather. Fall 2001, France. Lent by Lee Sheppard
Lee Sheppard, once described in the International Herald Tribune as "a journalist who covers goth and taxes," lent several of her own Gaultier ensembles to this exhibition.
Jean Paul Gaultier. Tee shirt. Flocked net. Spring 2004, France. Lent by Lee Sheppard
Skulls and crosses are ubiquitous in gothic fashion, but their symbolism is ambiguous.
September 5, 2008 through February 21, 2009. The Museum at FIT. Seventh Ave at 27th St (212-217-4558, fitnyc.edu/museum).