TRIBAL TRANSLATIONS INTO FASHION
Well... I have come to the conclusion that maybe I have looked at images that are a little too focus on editoral and not so focused on catwalk. So, its now time to talk about catwalk! I have looked at some designers in the past posts that have gone from tribal to catwalk, but I want to look a little more indept and explore some more.
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John Galliano
John Galliano went tribal at his Paris Fashion Week show for Christian Dior
yesterday, with an African-inspired collection full of cowrie-shell
studded bustiers, sculptural head-dresses and stilettos shaped like
fertility goddesses. Short and sexy was also a recurring theme, with
mid-thigh minis and see-through dresses. The most obvious reference to the show's title was in the hair styling -
the models' hair was crimped and pulled back into chignons that were
shaped like the mini tribal drums usually found on hippy stalls. A
raspberry silk and suede dress was heavily embroidered with shells and
decorated with fringing. Amazing!
Here are images from the catwalk:
I absolutely adore the concept of these catwalk images. Full of dark secrets and wonderful ideas! The hair is amazing and as mentioed before the main focus of each of the styles. I think it looks incredible! One of my favourite images is the first one because it is so styled and full of jewellery and that is something I am hugely attracted to with this tribal project. I also love the fourth image, because the large feather head piece is so brave. It draws a lot of attention away from the face, but from parts of the face you can see, the styling echos so well and the combination of the outfit is fabulous!
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Missoni
Give this video a watch to see the Missoni Spring 2011 'tribal' catwalk. Its amazing. Its all about tribalism but making it much more sophisticated. Its full of vibrant and earthy colours and african influence. A lot of the designs appear like rugs that have been made into a feminine outfit. Its almost portraying the life of a tribal person, from taking something simple and making it beautiful. Something to represent them as a tribe and as a person.
Missoni is a lot different from Galliano's in so many different ways. Instead of representing a specific tribe, it shows the fashion of tribal in general. It focuses a lot on the idea of the patterns, possibly edging it more towards the idea of it being aztec. The look is a lot more focused on makeup and styling as well. Its simply beautiful - a constant flow of earthy colours! Everything works so well together and the representation of tribal shows though so obviously. The makeup was done by MAC makeup artist Amber D - she was adiment the dark lips would be the statement focal point and she was 100% right, it works SO well! Its so wintery - such a difference from what you would think tribal would be.
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Alexander McQueen
McQueen's catwalk trends are usual very urban based. But, for this catwalk trend, McQueen decided to do different and go tribal. Inspired by the Yoruba people of West Africa, McQueen's 'Eshu' catwalk told a beautiful story.
Oringally, the collection was to be shown in London. But, very bravely, McQueen decided he was to show it in Paris instead. Not only was it just inspired by the Yoruba people themselves, it was also strongly inspired by their mythology. In africa, the clothing was once made of furs, animal prints, skins adn feathers. McQueen used this within his collection creating bodily decorations which consisted of heavy steel and wooden bangles,
pierced septa and lips, pubic aprons, and traditional Yoruba tattoo
scarring called Kolo. All of these ideas represented the body modification aesthetic
of the Yoruba belief that scarification is pure and natural.
Powder glass beads the color of the concrete rendering cascaded
mud-spattered, transparent tunic dresses while the trickster Eshu deity
was depicted in the form of carved horsehair headpieces. The hair looks muddy and clay like and was stiftened into position, looking like wire and hair. Jewellery was made originally from elephants hair, but in this case inspired by wire.
I absolutely love this collection, its so creative and tells such a good story of a tribe. Some people think tribal references in fashion are bad because they interfere with a tribe and ruin them, but I persoanlly think that they are a good idea because they allow people to know about them and be inspired by them.
Check out this website to read up more about the collection:
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