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Madame Gres: Sculptural Fashion
* Accompanies an exhibition at the MoMu Fashion Museum, Province of Antwerp from September - February 2013
A remarkable couturier, with a career spanning half a century, Madame Alix Grès (1903-1993) was known for using delicate pleats which turned ordinary fabric into Grecian-style sculptures. This is the first monograph of her extraordinary work.
Madame Grès launched her design house under the name Grès in Paris in 1942. Formally trained as a sculptress, she produced haute couture designs for an array of fashionable women, including the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Dolores del Río. Her signature was cut-outs on gowns that made exposed skin part of the design, yet still had a classical, sophisticated feel. She was renowned for being the last of the haute couture houses to establish a ready-to-wear line.
A remarkable couturier, with a career spanning half a century, Madame Alix Grès (1903-1993) was known for using delicate pleats which turned ordinary fabric into Grecian-style sculptures. This is the first monograph of her extraordinary work.
Madame Grès launched her design house under the name Grès in Paris in 1942. Formally trained as a sculptress, she produced haute couture designs for an array of fashionable women, including the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Dolores del Río. Her signature was cut-outs on gowns that made exposed skin part of the design, yet still had a classical, sophisticated feel. She was renowned for being the last of the haute couture houses to establish a ready-to-wear line.
- GenresFashion
216 pages, Hardcover
First published November 16, 2012
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 17, 2015
The title of the book may be “Madame Grès: Sculptural Fashion,” but a more accurate title would be “Empty White Pages With The Occasional Tiny Photo.” I’m not sure who is to blame for the disgraceful state of this book, but it is obvious that whoever put this thing together was far more interested in showing off their pretentious design aesthetic than in the actual garments. Madame Grès and her work are very much an afterthought.
The book is about the size of a hardback novel. This is far smaller than the usual fashion lithograph, which means it might be easier to hold on your lap but the photographs will necessarily be smaller and less detailed. This drawback is made much, much worse by the design decision to leave half to two thirds of every page a blank empty white space. In the main color section of the book, the photographs are about the length of thumb, while a whole human hand can fit in the white footer. Even more ridiculous is that the clothes do not even take up the whole two inch photo - often the dress is even smaller while the background warehouse where it was shot takes up most of the space. Alternatively the outfits are amputated out of the frame. If you were hoping to appreciate the details in these clothes, you’re out of luck. In the entire 63 page “Couture Design” section there are 6 full page photos. Six. I’m not kidding. I counted several times, because I simply could not believe there were so few. Keep in mind that this section is a large chunk of the book. A Google Image search will give you larger, fuller, more detailed, and higher resolution photographs than anything in this. And a Google Image search is free.
The next major segment of the book is “Photo Studio.” This is composed of period images of models in garments as well as period ads. Here, the photographs are larger, often filling a full half of the page, but massive black and white empty spaces still abound. As with all period photography the images are not especially sharp, and most are in black and white. This is not the publisher’s fault, but it does highlight why the “Couture Design” section is such a travesty. The whole reason you buy an overpriced fashion lithograph is to look at high resolution, modern photographs of garments. In other words to get a view akin to holding the dress in your hands and seeing all of the lines, cuts, and drapes in person. Having the historical context is a wonderful supplement, but it does not make up for a total absence of quality archival images.
The third large section of the book is entitled “Drawings,” and it is the one strength of this volume. It consists of color reproductions of Madame Grès’ sketches. In a nice touch the actual paper on which these drawings are printed is different from the paper in the rest of the book. It’s slightly sheer and lightweight, mimicking the vellum pages of a sketchbook.
As is usual with these types of books, there is a brief foreword and introduction, as well as four or five pages on Madame Grès’ design aesthetic. A bullet point biography can be found at the end. This is obviously not the place to learn about the woman’s life or times in any depth (fashion lithographs never are), but nor is it the place to examine her work, get an idea of her style, or anything else for that matter.
The book contributes nothing, visually or in terms of narrative. Even with Amazon’s generous discount, I’m still furious that I got conned into buying such shoddy piece of junk. Please don’t make the same mistake.
The book is about the size of a hardback novel. This is far smaller than the usual fashion lithograph, which means it might be easier to hold on your lap but the photographs will necessarily be smaller and less detailed. This drawback is made much, much worse by the design decision to leave half to two thirds of every page a blank empty white space. In the main color section of the book, the photographs are about the length of thumb, while a whole human hand can fit in the white footer. Even more ridiculous is that the clothes do not even take up the whole two inch photo - often the dress is even smaller while the background warehouse where it was shot takes up most of the space. Alternatively the outfits are amputated out of the frame. If you were hoping to appreciate the details in these clothes, you’re out of luck. In the entire 63 page “Couture Design” section there are 6 full page photos. Six. I’m not kidding. I counted several times, because I simply could not believe there were so few. Keep in mind that this section is a large chunk of the book. A Google Image search will give you larger, fuller, more detailed, and higher resolution photographs than anything in this. And a Google Image search is free.
The next major segment of the book is “Photo Studio.” This is composed of period images of models in garments as well as period ads. Here, the photographs are larger, often filling a full half of the page, but massive black and white empty spaces still abound. As with all period photography the images are not especially sharp, and most are in black and white. This is not the publisher’s fault, but it does highlight why the “Couture Design” section is such a travesty. The whole reason you buy an overpriced fashion lithograph is to look at high resolution, modern photographs of garments. In other words to get a view akin to holding the dress in your hands and seeing all of the lines, cuts, and drapes in person. Having the historical context is a wonderful supplement, but it does not make up for a total absence of quality archival images.
The third large section of the book is entitled “Drawings,” and it is the one strength of this volume. It consists of color reproductions of Madame Grès’ sketches. In a nice touch the actual paper on which these drawings are printed is different from the paper in the rest of the book. It’s slightly sheer and lightweight, mimicking the vellum pages of a sketchbook.
As is usual with these types of books, there is a brief foreword and introduction, as well as four or five pages on Madame Grès’ design aesthetic. A bullet point biography can be found at the end. This is obviously not the place to learn about the woman’s life or times in any depth (fashion lithographs never are), but nor is it the place to examine her work, get an idea of her style, or anything else for that matter.
The book contributes nothing, visually or in terms of narrative. Even with Amazon’s generous discount, I’m still furious that I got conned into buying such shoddy piece of junk. Please don’t make the same mistake.
Displaying 1 of 1 review