Masks on the Runway; just in time for Hallows Eve
I’ve been trying to dream up the perfect Halloween head-topper for my favorite holiday of the year. Just because I’m out of the big city doesn’t mean I can’t shroud myself in decadence.
Marie Antoinette 2006 by Sophia Coppola, which happens to be one of my favorite movies, was on last week and served as a fantastic slice of inspiration. Milena Canonero is the academy award winning woman behind the costumes for Marie Antoinette. She is an Italian born costume designer, responsible for the outfits of A Clockwork Orange 1971, Barry Lindon 1975 (another favorite), The Shining 1980, the Cotton Club 1984, Darjeeling Limited 2007 and most recently the appallingly bad, but well costumed The Wolfman 2010. She has a very wide spectrum of time periods she designs within and I have used her costumes as inspiration for many hat projects.
Masks have been making an appearance this and last year on the runways of major labels like Chanel, Givenchy and Alexander McQueen. All the models in the McQueen Spring/ Summer 2012 women’s collection were veiled in delicate transparent coverings, and staggered throughout the show, were full face masks bordering on the fetishistic studded with what looked like sharp pearlescent clam shells. Sarah Burton who took over after Alexander McQueens death said about this collection;
“I was thinking about a woman as an object of desire. We go to such lengths to adorn ourselves that we almost become our clothes or are taken over by them. This is a collection about excess – an exploration of ideals of beauty at their most extreme.”
-Sarah Burton for Alexander Mqueen
I love how she reinforces this notion by obscuring or hiding the face completely then emphasizing the female body with lace, leather and binding metal. Chanel Haute Couture, and Jen Kao also featured a smattering of masks on the runway in their 2012 collections. I have till the weekend to fashion something fantastic to hide behind for Halloween. Wish me luck!
~Miss Finch
