THAT’S A WRAP

Stella Tennant modeling Yohji Yamamoto’s *Secret Dress* • Spring / Summer 1999 Collection • March 1, 1999 • Vogue • Bruce Weber

Yohji Yamamoto’s Spring 1999 collection is celebrated as one of the most enchanting fashion shows of the 20th Century. Yamamoto invited viewers to a wedding themed fashion show. Instead, fashion editors and buyers witnessed a seminal piece of performance art, unexpected and ahead of its time, in both form and function. Similarly, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, known for their public installations worldwide, used draped fabric and rope to cover and bind works of public art and architecture to re-gender or feminize their meaning. In so doing, the duo wed a traditional world with a whole new way of thinking.

*Wrapped Monument to Vittorio Emanuele / Project for Piazza de Duomo, Milano* • 1970 • Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Christo, born as Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude, born as Jeanne-Claude Marie Denat, are the most enduring creative team of the art world, known for The Floating Piers in Italy, The Gates in New York, The Umbrellas in Japan, and most recently, L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped in France. Born on the same day, the Bulgarian Christo and the French Jeanne-Claude were not only husband and wife, but were lifelong artistic collaborators. While they are most noted for their triumphant public art, their Wrapped Monuments series in Milan, circa 1970, mirror the effortless structure of Yamamoto’s couture. An edition of multimedia dimensional collages, created as project proposals, employ textile and rope to mask the focal point in site specific locations. The King of Italy Vittorio Emanuele II, on Piazza del Duomo, and the monument to Leonardo da Vinci, on Piazza della Scala, were wrapped with polypropylene fabric and red polypropylene rope. The shapes created by the draping of the polypropylene fabric and the cinching manipulation of the rope shared much resemblance to the silhouettes of Yamamoto’s garbed muses.

Malgosia Bela captured as a bride holding her bouquet on Yohji Yamamoto’s Spring / Summer 1999 runway • Image courtesy of Vogue Runway along with all additional runway images

Nearly half a century before Yamamoto’s 1999 presentation, many of the art world's avant-garde stars began to turn toward fashion. “…In addition to challenging traditional gender roles, their erotic, provocative and sometimes sensitive and ironic designs addressed a number of issues : the act of showing and concealing, the intricacies of visual relationships, and the fragility of bodily boundaries. Christo himself designed a whole range of exceptional jewelry and clothes in the 1960s. His iconic Wedding Dress radically challenged the phenomenon of fashion and brutally dismantled every cliché that is associated with this particular piece of clothing… Christo himself has repeatedly pointed out that "Fabric is like a second skin," and these works are the clearest expression of this idea in his entire oeuvre. "Even when I […] obstruct the normal view of things, I am creating something invitational. Using fabric is not like building a brick wall which is by its very nature intimidating or arrogant; fabric is a sensual medium that tantalizes us to look beyond it. It is teasing and invitational. And it is also very touchable,” wrote Matthias Koddenberg in his essay Christo : Unveiling the Body. Both artist and designer challenged the societal conventions regarding gender and presentation both visually and psychologically, in their respective eras.

*Wrapped Statues / Project for Der Glyptothek – München, W. Germany / Aegina Temple* • 1988 • Christo and Jeanne-Claude

In the Fall of 1998, at the Espace Moulin Rouge, the cerebral Yamamoto presentation effectively straddled the line between fashion show and performance art. Exploring the traditional pageantry of these celebrated unions, while simultaneously deconstructing the societal patriarchy in which these customs were derived, Yamamoto romantically enveloped his muses with fabric, layer by layer. Not only was the act of layering presented on the runway, but so was the very same garment’s deconstruction. Models revealed shapes and silhouettes, hiding at first glance, under their traditional garments and concealed within the folds of their dresses. It was as if the designer was both figuratively and physically exposing the troublesome complexities of these traditions live on stage. For example, The Secret Dress, provided a means of comfort and independence for the bride, as it was outfitted with hidden pockets and secret compartments built into the seams of its crinolines, carrying everything from bouquets to sandals. The duality of gradually adorning his models with marital accoutrements as they glided across the stage, while simultaneously directing them to undress and remove their gloves, lipstick and constrictive outer garments, pointed to both the erotic and restraining aspects of marriage. These garments transcended mere bridal adaptations. They were not only beautifully wearable garments, but provocateurs of thought, examining the duplicitous nature of matrimony and gender alike.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s wrapped art installations and Christo’s early wedding gown successfully stimulated the sensations of both the eyes and the mind. Both Yamamoto and Christo rose to the challenge of executing beautifully complex ideas in the worlds of art and architecture as well as defied the emotional and intellectual status quo of their time. Both artists brilliantly explored the subtext underlying the rituals of traditional western weddings. “Behind the wedding dress there must be many stories…” -Yohji Yamamoto.

HIP TO BE SQUARE