Golden Adele

Gustav Klimt kept no diary. In a rare writing called Commentary on a non-existent self-portrait, he modestly admits,

 “I have never painted a self-portrait. I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women…There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day from morning to night…Whoever wants to know something about me… ought to look carefully at my pictures.”

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) is one of the most notable works of Klimt’s “Golden Phase.” It has a tumultuous biography, this portrait. Both the portrait and the woman on it, to be sure. Love, lust, jealousy, death, bequest, reversal of fortunes, war, occupation, expropriation, immigration, international courts of law… The story of this picture’s travails is truly amazing. Since 2006, the portrait is exhibited at the Neue Galerie, New York.

All of the above is just to feature this GIF image. Klimt would’ve been pleased… or, perhaps, horrified?

Art For Better Or For Wear

The Kiss. 1907–08, oil on canvas, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna

Gustav Klimt was frank in his eroticism. He painted his models nude first, and then “dressed” them in impossibly imaginative clothes and surrounded them with the “atmospheric blood of gilded detail.”

This little peculiarity was discovered after his death when The Bride was left unfinished and exposed.

Klimt. The Bride.

Klimt. Water Serpents.

Similarly, Klimt himself was known for wearing a long robe with no undergarments. But that’s beside the point.

Klimt’s model, lover and muse for many years was Emilie  Flöge. At 17, pained by Klimt, Emilie looked like this:

Emilie

She doesn’t look like  a “normally” dressed epitome of innocence in Klimt’s later images of her.

Klimt. The Virgin. (Note the intricate ornament on the “fabric of the drapery”)

Is there any wonder that Gustav Klimt remains one of the most “in demand” artists in the wide, weird and — some say — wonderful world of fashion? His paintings inspired numerous fashion designers and continue to do so to this day.

It is important to understand that the technique of creating such amazing 3D drawings on fabric as Klimt imagined some 130 years back, was developed quite recently.

Klimt inspired John Galliano

Aquiliano Rimondi’ Klimt motif

Certainly, Gustav Klimt, although favorite, isn’t the only artist fashion designers come for inspiration. There are plenty more.

Models of Walter Van Beirendonck (Wild & Lethal Trash (W&LT) shimmy in still life and make it shimmer.

John Galliano got his inspiration from Hokusai:

While Andrew GN draw his from abstract art:

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Aquiliano Rimondi adorned his creations with replicas of Goguen:

Aquiliano Rimondi inspired by Goguen

Aquiliano Rimondi inspired by Goguen

Aquiliano Rimondi inspired by Goguen

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And what artworks have inspired fashion designers this season? Answer: photography and prints. Innovative and intricate, prints and photography have become artworks in their own right, and yet another creative inspiration for fashion designers.

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Miuccia Prada created most impressive art inspired summer collection:

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Here’s some comments from people who came from the world other than that of haute couture, but who enjoy browsing through the  glossy magazines on occasion:

…It is rather odd to see people “wearing people”… The impression is that one person absorbs the other. The picture on the dress clearly competes with the model’s persona.

…Painted faces on the dresses distract from the faces of the wearers. Models, bearing the faces of these giants, are seen as billboards.

… Sometimes, however, the models look like an integral part of an art project and it seem to fit somehow, very stylishly, too. 

…Belts distort Goguen’s  Tahitians… Aren’t they hurting?