DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
Who wore it best? The Middle Kingdom’s ‘Brides of the Dead’ or the amazons marching down Prada’s Fall 2016 runway? … How Prada’s chic argyle hosiery recalled the lozenge stick-and-poke tattoos found on ancient Egyptian mummies and figurines…
“She is “a vagabond”—a woman who might be out traveling the world, or may be going on a trip somewhere deep within herself, or is perhaps making an even deeper pilgrimage into the labyrinth of women’s history… We need to understand who we are today,” Prada declared afterward, surrounded by a three-deep crowd of female journalists. In show notes, Prada put it succinctly: “The nature of women is complex and ineffable . . . Like a Russian doll placed inside one another.” wrote Sarah Mower for Vogue.
Though Miuccia Prada may have referenced Russian nesting dolls, the little blue faience figurines inked in dotted rhombus patterns are the female miniatures that the collection brought to mind.… “Among cultures known to have practiced tattooing, the ancient Egyptians appear to be the only one in which tattoos may have been the sole province of women. There are several examples of actual tattooed women, including the mummy of Amunet, a priestess of the goddess Hathor, which was discovered in 1891. However, ceramic figurines and vessels depicting tattooed women offer much more evidence. In the Middle Kingdom, footless faience figurines sometimes known as “Brides of the Dead” were created with patterns of lines and diamonds, primarily on their abdomens, but sometimes on their thighs as well.” according to Archaeology Magazine.
”Because this seemed to be an exclusively female practice in ancient Egypt, mummies found with tattoos were usually dismissed by the (male) excavators who seemed to assume the women were of "dubious status," described in some cases as "dancing girls." And although it has long been assumed that such tattoos were the mark of prostitutes or were meant to protect the women against sexually transmitted diseases, I personally believe that the tattooing of ancient Egyptian women had a therapeutic role and functioned as a permanent form of amulet during the very difficult time of pregnancy and birth...” noted Cate Lineberry in Smithsonian Magazine… Just as Miuccia Prada suggested post show, when it comes to women, things are not always as they seem…
