NMS Beyond The Little Black Dress Exhibition Review 25th August
Images © National Museums Scotland
Beyond the Little Black Dress exhibition at National Museum Scotland from 1 July - 29 October 2023 is a celebration not only of that quintessential item in any stylish woman’s wardrobe for the last 100 years or so, but also of the colour black itself.
What is it about the colour black that seems to be interwoven into our psyche as human beings, that is always somewhere there in our recorded and oral history for millennia, for good or for bad. Black is the colour of the night-time sky itself, an eternal mystery to humanity since we first looked heavenward. It is also the colour that we fear the most, whether that be black magic, dark souls or so often simply the darkness of a room.
Black is the colour of religious piety across many cultures yet simultaneously the colour of sexual desire. Black is the colour of sorrow, a traditional colour for mourning those departed from us. Black is the colour of conformity, counter culture, rebellion and nationalist fascism. How then did black become the undisputed colour of choice for fashion designers and fashion conscious men and women across the world? In this exhibition, NMS answers more than a few of these questions by bringing together 65 very striking and very different looks from collections and designers across the world.
When you first enter this exhibition the first dress that you meet is what many people would still today call THE little black dress - a very simple, short black dress designed by Coco Chanel in 1926. Here Chanel is re-defining how people could use the colour black and breaking away firmly from it being still at this time primarily a colour for mourning the dead. With one stroke, Chanel was cutting the ties that still bound black to the Victorian era and giving it a new life and a new purpose. To call this a simple dress, however, is a little bit of a lie though as to work its magic it relied upon a perfect combination of designer, fabric and cut.
Since that iconic Chanel dress, every fashion house and pretty much every fashion designer who wanted to be taken seriously and to make their distinctive mark on the fashion landscape has adapted and re-designed the “Little Black Dress” in their own image and the results have seen fabrics, cuts, styles and materials of myriad combinations emerge.
Some of the greatest names in 20th century fashion are represented here; Jeanne Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent, and Jean Muir (to name only a few). These designers have laid the foundations for the classic little black dress and the use of the colour black that has inspired many other designers since to add their own unique vision and often their own cultural heritage to create new and bold designs. From Japanese simplicity of form to Afrofuturistic aesthetic to 3D printed materials, the final shape and materials of “The Little Black Dress” seem to be infinite.
Black is Black, or is it? As this exhibition makes clear, black is considered by many designers to be the hardest colour of all to work with and its many colour variants dictate just how it can be used both visually and as an item of clothing.
The “Little Black Dress” is not what it appears to be at first look, it is in fact an object capable of effortlessly crossing cultures and genders across the world.
From sophisticated fashion to punk and goth counter-culture, to dresses made out of black straws and black polythene bin liners, this exhibition has many surprises waiting for its public.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
What is it about the colour black that seems to be interwoven into our psyche as human beings, that is always somewhere there in our recorded and oral history for millennia, for good or for bad. Black is the colour of the night-time sky itself, an eternal mystery to humanity since we first looked heavenward. It is also the colour that we fear the most, whether that be black magic, dark souls or so often simply the darkness of a room.
Black is the colour of religious piety across many cultures yet simultaneously the colour of sexual desire. Black is the colour of sorrow, a traditional colour for mourning those departed from us. Black is the colour of conformity, counter culture, rebellion and nationalist fascism. How then did black become the undisputed colour of choice for fashion designers and fashion conscious men and women across the world? In this exhibition, NMS answers more than a few of these questions by bringing together 65 very striking and very different looks from collections and designers across the world.
When you first enter this exhibition the first dress that you meet is what many people would still today call THE little black dress - a very simple, short black dress designed by Coco Chanel in 1926. Here Chanel is re-defining how people could use the colour black and breaking away firmly from it being still at this time primarily a colour for mourning the dead. With one stroke, Chanel was cutting the ties that still bound black to the Victorian era and giving it a new life and a new purpose. To call this a simple dress, however, is a little bit of a lie though as to work its magic it relied upon a perfect combination of designer, fabric and cut.
Since that iconic Chanel dress, every fashion house and pretty much every fashion designer who wanted to be taken seriously and to make their distinctive mark on the fashion landscape has adapted and re-designed the “Little Black Dress” in their own image and the results have seen fabrics, cuts, styles and materials of myriad combinations emerge.
Some of the greatest names in 20th century fashion are represented here; Jeanne Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent, and Jean Muir (to name only a few). These designers have laid the foundations for the classic little black dress and the use of the colour black that has inspired many other designers since to add their own unique vision and often their own cultural heritage to create new and bold designs. From Japanese simplicity of form to Afrofuturistic aesthetic to 3D printed materials, the final shape and materials of “The Little Black Dress” seem to be infinite.
Black is Black, or is it? As this exhibition makes clear, black is considered by many designers to be the hardest colour of all to work with and its many colour variants dictate just how it can be used both visually and as an item of clothing.
The “Little Black Dress” is not what it appears to be at first look, it is in fact an object capable of effortlessly crossing cultures and genders across the world.
From sophisticated fashion to punk and goth counter-culture, to dresses made out of black straws and black polythene bin liners, this exhibition has many surprises waiting for its public.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com