Westwood, Donatello & El Greco
Modern Renaissance
Vivienne Westwood has long been influenced by her interest in silhouettes and portrait paintings of the 17th & 18th century. Her designs and iconic personal aesthetic have gone onto initiate some of the most enduring trends seen by the fashion industry, punk and new romanticism to name a few. The Dame of punk is no stranger to a strong theme when it comes to her bi-annual shows and her Autumn/ Winter 2016 collection was no exception. Inspired by the works of two of the greatest renaissance figures, Italian sculptor, Donatello and Greek painter and sculptor El Greco.
Donatello
Donatello’s influences could be seen in the way the brightly coloured swathes of fabric flowed around the models as they made their way down the catwalk. If you’ve ever seen one of Donatello’s infamous statues you might have noticed how the clothes his subjects are wearing drape fluidly and look as though they defy their solid marble reality. Dramatic silhouettes played an important role in this collection, whether it was a pronounced padded shoulder, overtly boxy sleeves or trousers tucked into socks, the clothes confidently enhanced and sometimes altered the way the body looked and moved.
El Greco
Colour also played a pivotal role in this collection, ranging from earthy greens, deep sea blues to vibrant reds, pretty pinks and soft dove greys. Rich colours were of utmost importance to Greek painter and sculptor El Greco, they went a lot deeper for him than just decoration. For El Greco, colour was a way to differentiate between the earthly and the heavenly in his paintings. Using high intensity, mainly primary, colours to depict saints and angels and low intensity colours for his subjects still residing on earth. Some art critics have pondered whether El Greco favoured primary colours for heavenly imagery as a primary colour cannot be created by mixing any other pair of colours. He may have thought that primary pigments could only be made by God, qualifying them to represent holy subjects.
In addition to the inspired use of colours, El Greco himself may have been an unspoken influence for Westwood as well. Ambitious, defiant and idiosyncratic are three words used by art critics around the world to describe the Greek painter, words that could also be used to describe Westwood’s fashionable refusal to play by the rules. “I’ve constantly tried to provoke people into thinking afresh and for themselves, to escape their inhibitions and programming.” She once said. Westwood is fiercely outspoken, and ardently supports the climate change movement along with many other environmental and political challenges that the world faces today. Presenting her vociferous support for these issues through the use of her fashion brand highlights how fashion is effectively used as an agent for change and platform for ideas.