Masks by Stephen Jones
the DNA of Dior. Well-represented here are the hats of early and contemporary Dior as the femme fleur poses and postures in recognised compositions in hat after tiny cocktail hat, floral headpieces and extravagant brimmed wonders.
took into consideration the hairdo of the time and based the proportion and his subsequent diverse creation on that. Balance is everything. As a result, we see beribboned coiffures (moulded acrylic in actuality), composed millinery and fanciful finishes to each breathtaking garment in question; and silhouettes that encapsulate a timeframe yet complement the essence of each period.
This is not the place for hats in the workroom, bathed in white to underline the cool nature of the design process. Crane your neck to see upwards for a soul-stopping vision of toile after toile each housed in its own box. White on white, some with pencil sketches on the fabric itself tell the story of the steps each design must pass through to become a finished garment. In the photography room, an exhibit where Avedon stands next to Rawlings and Meisel next to Louise Dahl-Wolfe, hats often become the focus for the photographer’s lens and vision. Stephen Jones has said that hats are built into
Dior seemed to add a graphic quip, a fillip to many of his masterpieces, along with the accessories so important to his vision. He provided the finish, as a statement. Maria Grazia Chiuri (creative director at Dior since 2016) has the insight to add to that statement, as she bears the torch and expands the brand. Well-represented are a number of imaginative and fanciful pieces from
her collections at Dior, showing an appreciation for detail and the excellence Mr Dior inculcated: statement pieces, important to the next generation of femmes fleurs.
With ‘Le Tailleur Bar’ (‘the Bar Suit’) Dior began a revolution that America welcomed, not
only because of the very feminine silhouette that helped to save women from the fallout of the wa,r but also because this excitement helped create further interest in the psychology of fashion. The Bar Suit shown at the Brooklyn Museum is topped with a hat reproduced by Stephen Jones. The Bar Suit is always shown with a hat. It’s important for many reasons. This reproduction of the classic of classics of hats is made of row upon row of straw braid carefully and rhythmically hand- stitched. It demonstrated the craft and the art that underlines this entire exhibit. Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams hangs those dreams on a star for all to experience, as stargazers.
More information
www.brooklynmuseum.org
16 | the hat magazine #92
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
