[caption id="attachment_7766" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Dress Martin Grant made with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS, Photography Mark Pillai"][/caption]
22 Ways to Say Black (Swarovski AG, 2010)
For “22 Ways to Say Black” Swarovski asked 22 top fashion designers to create a “little black dress” that incorporates Swarovski Elements, the loose-cut crystals for which Swarovski is famous. This September, Phillips de Pury will auction off each of the shimmering dresses with every cent of the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society and France’s la Lingue nationale contre le Cancer.
The “22 Ways to Say Black” catalogue contains descriptions and photographs of each dress, as well as a short bio of the designer behind it. It opens with a brief history of the color black in fashion, starting with the austerity of the Middle Ages to the wardrobe staple of today, continuing to examine how each of the participating designers contributed to the legacy of the black dress.
Duchesse satin, silk chiffon, black netting, wool crepe, cashmere, viscose, velvet, sheepskin, Crystal Aerial Mesh, tulle, and cotton are just a few of the materials used by these designers, and apparently, inspiration came from everywhere: cowboys, neighboring galaxies, artwork, the Northern Lights, 1940s fashion, the Victorian age, and more.
Phillip Lim, for example, channeled Picasso to create a unique, collage-like dress. Lim took ivory satin and overlaid it with black geometrical patches that are encrusted with a total of 1,800 jet-colored crystals. In the final product, the patches appear as though they are “floating in air.” Designer Gaspard Yurkievich (who was interviewed for Whitewall’s upcoming fall issue, out in September) chose to take a historical approach to his dress, particularly in its matching Crystal Aerial Mesh headpiece with jet-colored crystals that references “an army from the Middle Ages.” And taking Swarovski’s challenge to the max was designer Martin Grant, who used thousands of crystals to cover the entire wool-and-silk-gazar surface of his dress, creating a pattern that echoes reptilian scales. Said Grant, “it became like working with leather.”
Alberta Ferretti, Alexis Mabille, Azzaro, Boudicca, Catherine Malandrino, Diane Von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, Fendi, Gianfanco Ferré, Georgio Armani Privé, Riccardo Tisci, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Alber Elbaz, Marios Schwab, Missoni, Sonia Rykeil, Thakoon, Valentino, and Vivienne Westwood created dresses of equal uniqueness and beauty. Pages of artistic fashion photographs supplement the preceding still-lifes, and an auction guide provides more information regarding the dresses’ descriptions and sizes. An exercise in combining the traditional and the original, “22 Ways to Say Black” takes the “black dress” to truly new heights.
[caption id="attachment_7767" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Dress 3.1 Phillip Lim made with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS, Photography Mark Pillai"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_7768" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Dress Gaspard Yurkievich made with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS, Photography Mark Pillai"][/caption]
