SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 2010
KLMNO
Revisiting her mother’s closet, tugging on the threads of memory
ROBIN GIVHAN
On Fashion
n the fashion industry, designers like to reassure their clients that until a woman slips into one of their garments, it’s little more than an unremarkable pile of cloth. Certainly there’s plenty of truth to that. Only a small percentage of garments look breathtaking hanging from a sales rack. Most clothes have to be tried on to appreciate their true splendor. A jacket needs to sit squarely on a woman’s shoulders before anyone can marvel at how its strategically placed seams slim down a waistline. A dress must be slipped on and zipped up to appreciate how a classic bias cut caresses an hourglass figure.
I
PHOTOS BY JEANNETTE MONTGOMERY BARRON
LUXURIOUS:Ivory trousers are illuminated by the sunlight streaming through a window. The gold brocade Yves Saint Laurent coat competes with the wallpaper pattern behind it.
But once a garment has been worn, once it has seen a woman through date nights, business meetings or a lifetime of child-rearing, does it retain some essence of the person? A dress can spark memories, of course. And books have explored the way in which fashion serves as markers in our lives. A bride can take one look at her wedding dress and be transported back to that special day. Pull an old prom dress from the closet and memories of cheesy photos in front of airbrushed cityscapes come flooding back. The photographer Jeannette
Montgomery Barron, however, tries to dive deeper into the memories that are attached to clothes. Barron photographed garments chosen from her mother’s closet. Each dress, blazer, slip or swimsuit became a still life. Sometimes the garments were shot against a backdrop of plain fabric; sometimes they were laid out in the snow; sometimes they just seemed to float. She searches for personality, character, perhaps even a little bit of life spirit. The result is “My Mother’s
Clothes: An Album of Memories.” It’s a modest book of 112 pages, hardly enough for coffee-table display. Instead, it’s more intimate and old-fashioned. It has the dimensions of a small photo album, something that one might have used to display a week-long vacation’s worth of pictures — from back in the days when photos existed as glossy, touchable, bendable 3-by-5s or 4-by-6s and not just on Flickr or in a communal digital cloud.
Powerful motivation
Barron’s photographs — alongside her simple text — challenge her readers to reconsider their relationship with clothes. After all, no other possessions are quite as intimate. A particular pair of trousers might call to mind the luncheon to which they were worn more than a decade ago. But they might also give us a clue to the wearer.
REASONSTOBEPRETTY
byNeilLaBute
WPAS.ORG
NOW PLAYING! DIRECTED BY DAVID MUSE
(202) 785-WPAS (9727)
Bolero(+)
thewashingtonballet
Opening this week!
April 14-18, 2010 The Harman Center Sidney Harman Hall
Don’t miss this thrilling triple bill featuring Nicolo Fonte’s Bolero, a revival of Edwaard Liang’s audience favorite, Wunderland, and a world premiere by Karole Armitage, accompanied by the Washington National Opera, Domingo- Cafritz Young Artist Program!
Information: washingtonballet.org
Karole Armitage’s piece is made possible through the generous support of Rick Kasten
Photo: Sona Kharatian and Jared Nelson by Steve Vaccariello
*Not valid on previously purchased tickets or in conjunction with any other offer; subject to availability.
All remaining tickets
are $20 for Sunday, April 18 at 6pm only!* For tickets to
all shows, call 202-547-1122, visit harmancenter.org or the Harman Hall Box Office today!
It’s a tall order for a stash of
vintage frocks, but Barron had powerful motivation. Her mother, Eleanor Morgan Montgomery Atuk, a Georgia-born Southern lady with social standing, a down-to-earth spirit and an enthusiasm for fashion, was dying of Alzheimer’s disease. Barron grabbed hold of anything that seemed to jar her mother’s memory, anything that would, if only for a short while, bring her mother back. Fashion wasn’t a natural choice, but photography was. Barron’s background is in
portrait photography. She has snapped images of Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe and William Burroughs. And she has worked for a variety of magazines. So she is experienced in trying to capture a flash of authenticity and honesty in an instant. Only this time, she wasn’t a photographer helping an audience of millions gain insight into a stranger’s personality by taking pictures of her home or her dog or her favorite country vista. Barron was taking pictures for an audience of one — her mother — and hoping to give this dying presence a moment’s understanding of herself. The first garment she photographed was a white, sequined Bill Blass jacket. “It was one of her favorites, and she wore it a lot because she knew it would always work. That was her emergency outfit,” Barron says. “In a way, she may have thought that she was looking at a fashion magazine; she always responded
Washington Performing Arts Society
SHANKAR, sitar
Saturday, April 17 at 8pm Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
ANOUSHKA
“The purest of her father’s disciples, musically formed entirely in his image.”
~ New York Times
LAST DAY
11AM TO 5PM
Holiday Inn
RosslynWestpark Hotel
1900 North Fort Myer Drive Arlington VA 22209
www.capitalartprintfair.com
TheCathedral Choral Society presents the
British Choir Festival
Choir ofNewCollege, Oxford, England
Edward Higginbottom, Director of Music
Choir of Saint Thomas Church,NewYork
John Scott, Director of Music
WashingtonNational Cathedral Choir
Michael McCarthy, Director of Music
www.cathedralchoralsociety.org
Sunday, April 18,2010at4pm For tickets call (877) 537-2228 or
Join these acclaimed choirs for this year’s BritishChoirFestival, featuringsomeofthe mostglorious choralmusicintheWestern world. Don’t miss this opportunity to ex- perience such beautiful music asSpemin Alium, the 40-partmotetbyThomasTallis.
GloriousMusicin a GloriousSetting™
Washington National Cathedral
Massachusetts &Wisconsin Avenues,NW Washington,DC 20016-5098
FINAL PERFORMANCES AT 2:00 & 7:30 P.M.
“Scaldingly funny! Lisbon is one of McNally’s best.”
—The Baltimore Sun
The Lisbon Traviata
by Terrence McNally
Directed by Christopher Ashley
Terrace Theater
Please note: these productions contain strong language, and The Lisbon Traviata contains brief nudity.
Theater at the Kennedy Center is presented with the generous support of Stephen and Christine Schwarzman.
Additional support for Master Class is provided by The Laura Pels Foundation.
Tickets at the Box Office or charge by phone (202) 467-4600
Order online at kennedy-center.org | Groups (202) 416-8400 | TTY (202) 416-8524
TODAY at 1:30 & 7:30 p.m.
Tyne Daly is
Maria Callas
in
Master Class
by
Terrence McNally
Directed by
Stephen Wadsworth
Now thru April 18 Eisenhower Theater
to those images. . . . I’m not sure if she really understood whose work it was. Who knows? But they came to life for her.”
Clues to the wearer
It’s impossible to know what the images might have whispered to Barron’s mother. But the way in which the clothes are photographed offer some hints about the woman who wore them. The fur coat, with her mother’s name “Ellie M.” embroidered in the lining, is spread out on the green grass. The princess lines of the coat swing out jauntily. That lush lawn emphasizes that the choice of fur by a woman who lived in Atlanta had little to do with practicality and everything to do with style and desire. A single gold slingback looks suspended in midair. It’s angled downward as if a photographer captured a ghost in the middle of a pirouette. The gold brocade pattern of an
Yves Saint Laurent coat competes with the gold and pine green print wallpaper in the background. It is a cacophonous image of indulgence. You can practically hear “Ellie M.” walking into a party, the swish-swish of her coat as it brushed against her legs. A pair of nude pantyhose is
draped over the back of a wooden dining chair. A long,
flesh-colored slip dangles from a wire hanger. Underpinnings and unmentionables. Here is photographic evidence of age, modesty and propriety. Barron manages to coax a few
words out of these clothes when their owner could no longer tell her story. Most of the images in the book were taken before Barron’s mother died, but a few were snapped afterward. Ivory trousers hanging in front of a window are illuminated by the sunlight streaming through. A red Norma Kamali maillot looks almost brazen against its beige background.
But all the photographs are
linked because they were taken without input from the woman who knew the clothes best. These are the daughter’s view of the garments, an expression of what the clothes — and the woman — meant to her.
“She wanted me to wear the clothes and I wouldn’t. I was a tomboy. I had a different style and attitude. I knew I couldn’t pull this stuff off. I’m pretty minimal. I love nice clothes but they have to be simple and understated,” Barron says. “But part of my stubbornness was probably just to spite her.” Barron is far removed from the small-town girl — with the sophisticated fashion sense — that her mother was. After living in New York for years, Barron left her home on the Upper West Side and moved to Rome with her husband James Barron, an art dealer, and their son and
Capital Art Fair
“[Virginia Tola]...the one who brings Maria Callas to mind.”
~ Los Angeles Times
daughter. None of them spoke Italian. The only motivation for the move was simply to give their children — now 17 and 20 — the experience of living in Europe. The intent was to stay for a year. Six years later, they are still there. Barron spent five of those years documenting her mother’s wardrobe, hoping to spur her mother’s memory while creating new memories of her own. Her mother had a passion for clothes. It wasn’t one that Barron shared, but it still managed to touch her deeply. Is there a garment in her own
wardrobe that speaks to who she is? Barron is sheepish with her reply: “Probably a pair of jeans,” she says. “That’s what I wear all the time.” Photographed by the right person, they could be just as eloquent as the most expensive designer dress.
givhanr@washpost.com
See a gallery of photos from Jeannette Montgomery
Barron’s book, "My Mother’s Clothes: An Album of Memories" at
washingtonpost.com/fashion.
E3
Marriage of Figaro
The
April 24 - May 7
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Tickets Start at $25—Order Today!
www.dc-opera.org
T h e Ma rr ia g e of F i ga r o is a p ro d u ct io n of
202.295.2400 • 800.US.OPERA
All performances at the Kennedy Center Opera House with English supertitles.
THE EXCLUSIVE CORPORATE UNDERWRITER OF THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
adacoordinator@dc-opera.org.
PRINTS, PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, AND PHOTOGRAPHY
“Tyne Daly as Maria Callas...[is] a remarkably fitting inheritor of the role. Te transformation… is impressive.”—The Washington Post
“Te wisdom and heart in
[Tyne Daly’s] performance leave a lasting mark.
Tis Master Class aces the test!”
—The Baltimore Sun
STUDIOTHEATRE.ORG 202-332-3300
H o u s
to
n Gr a n d O p e r a A s s oc i at io n ; p h o t o b
y
T e d
W a s h i n g t o n .
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184