Bugg 2011 Designing the Clothed Body in Fashion and Performance

8/10/2019 Bugg 2011 Designing the Clothed Body in Fashion and Performance

1/14

Dr Jessica Bugg

Principal Lecturer Research Development

School of Media and Communication

The London College of Fashion

Universit of the !rts London

Designing the Performance Space

Scenography at the Centre: Scenographers as auteurs/ director-designer

Designing the clothed body in fashion and performance

!s performance and fashion practice "oth increasingl move into ne# and site$specific

conte%ts and as focus is e%tended around conceptual and e%perimental approaches& the

divisions "et#een clothing designed as conceptual fashion and clothing designed as costume

for performance have "ecome less clear' (hat is nota"le in "oth disciplines is the use of the

"od as a catalst and space for creation and communication of meaning'

M doctoral research interrogated the relationship "et#een fashion& art and performance from

a range of perspectives through theor and practice' )t focused on the #a that the designer&

#earer and vie#er contri"ute to the overall communication and understanding of conceptual

fashion design in a range of conte%ts& from art galleries to live performance to fashion

imaging' )t concluded amongst a range of findings that in contemporar creative practice the

intersections of su"*ect disciplines are increasingl comple% and that ne# interdisciplinar

#as of #or+ing have emerged& challenging preconceptions and rigid definitions' M current

research focuses specificall on the largel un$charted territor of the relationship "et#een

clothing design for fashion and performance and the h"rid area of practice that emerges

"et#een the t#o disciplines'

Fashion and Performance:

)t is " no means a ne# phenomenon for fashion designers to #or+ in performance conte%ts'

,istoricall designers such as -atalia .oncharova& /lsa Schiaparelli and Paul Poiret have

designed for the stage' )n the past decade designers such as 0andra Rhodes and 1ersace have

designed for opera' )n contemporar dance there are man recent e%amples such as

!le%ander Mc2ueen #ho designed for Russel Maliphant and Ro"ert Lepage in 3/nnogata4

567789: ;o*hi ;amamoto for Choreographer Pina Bausch& ;amamoto Dance Festival

5(uppertal& .erman&


2/14

)sse Mia+e4s #or+ #ith (illiam Forsthe for the Fran+furt Ballet in 9'

-anc Tro )n her "oo+ ?Couture Cultures p'=Fashion Theor@ The Journal of Dress Bod and Culture51ol )ssue >& Berg& 67777


3/14

Despite the character focused approach to design and the considered and captivating

?performances4 of these designers4 #or+ there #as argua"l still a focus on promotion of the

designer and their "rand' There #ere ho#ever a group of fashion designers in the earl part of

this centur #ho #ere moving "eond this remit 5Bugg 67797& challenging the su"*ect of

fashion itself& e%ploring the potential of cross disciplinar practice and communicating

themes& ideas and messages through their #or+ emploing visual& non spo+en narrative

communication of messages and ideas through the clothed and performing "od' (or+ of

designers such as ,ussein Chalaan& Martin Margiela& Rai Ga#a+u"o and 1ictor and Rolfe

occupies and resonates in this cross disciplinar territor'

The landscape of fashion has altered dramaticall& as commerce and faster approaches to

fashion came into pla high end designers have reacted #ith a slo#er approach and are

dealing #ith political and glo"al issues to ma+e social comment through their #or+& ta+ing

the su"*ect "ac+ to process& communicating ideas and #or+ing in interdisciplinar conte%ts as

#ell as #ith interdisciplinar methods or colla"orating #ith other disciplines' ! contri"utor

factor to these developments is that the space or site of fashion has diversified and the #or+ of

designers is no# communicated through and #ithin fashion film& animation& the music

industr& art photograph& fashion illustration and graphics& virtual space& performance and the

art galler'

Currentl the most performative ideas are "eing e%plored #ithin fashion films& some of #hich

are more successful and appropriatel utilised than others' ! good e%ample of appropriate

integration of performance methods is .areth Pugh4s evocative presentation =5!H( 67789

filmed " Ruth ,og"en that demonstrates a sensitive use of the medium as a means of telling

a stor a"out a garment through the em"odied e%perience of the #earer' !itor Throup

#or+ing #ith JeI TouIer used the filmic medium to conve a narrative of transformation

#here the clothing morphs from the "od to "ecome the cases of musical instruments'9

This#or+ responds to the devastation of ,urricane Gatrina in 677 dra#ing on the idea of a

traditional -e# rleans funeral marching "and& telling ?the stor of five musicians and their

fight for survival in the #a+e of the devastation K a struggle in #hich the must protect "oth

themselves and their instruments4' ther ?fashion films4 such as .iles SHS


4/14

pans the model4s clothing #hilst she holds poses loo+ing unsure and uncomforta"le a"out her

performative response'

Restrictive terminology

) have discussed terminolog at some length in previous #or+


5/14

through #hich to discuss clothing the"od to communicate meaning& visual and phsical

narratives and ideas as a tpe of scenographic practice'

The term ?theatre4 has often "een replaced " ?performance4& #hich encompasses a "roader

definition& #hich includes music videos& film& live performance& opera& contemporar dance&

street performance& mime& and site$specific #or+' This platform gives #ider scope for

understanding the emerging area of contemporar practice that seems to point to#ards a

h"rid practice "et#een fashion and costume design in recent ears' Colin Counsell tal+s

a"out performance as@

4an essentiall constructive medium& and one for #hich orthodo% distinctions "et#een the real

and the theatrical& and the functional and conceptual& cannot "e maintained' ,o#ever and

#herever the appear& "odies and their actions are shaped "& give form to& figures dra#n

from cultural memories4


6/14

fashion #here designers have tended to "e seen as the ?guru4 and the generator of ideas& the

costume designer has tended to "e ans#era"le to man other parties and has traditionall "een

in a su"servient role to the director #ho in theatre and performance has tended to hold the

?guru4 position'

The role of colla"oration is #idel de"ated in performance practice and is seen as vital to the

production process ho#ever the costume designer has traditionall tended to pla the role of

costuming actors and performers to the script& direction and performance' For true

colla"oration to ta+e place the scenographer and or designer needs to "e a creative participant

in the generation of the performance itself as Pamela ,o#ard identifies in her "oo+ %hat is

Scenography@

?for the scenographer to "e part of the mise en scene there has to "e a structure that ena"les

them to "e in rehearsals as a partner to the director& so that the literar and visual mind can

#or+ together4' 15

Fashion has come from a converse tradition #here the high end designer or couturier is the

generator of the concept& narrative or idea and the modelH#earer is the su"servient part'

,o#ever #ith the gro#th of colla"orative approaches #ithin fashion and increase in

practitioners involved at the imaging end of the fashion industr the role of the fashion

designer has also "een challenged resulting in man designers returning to process and their

craft to counter the consumer and communication driven agendas'

The ody as Site

Costume design& " virtue of its process deals #ith the "od as a site for communication of

narratives& character and concepts #hilst conceptual approaches to fashion design over the

past decade have also increasingl focussed on concepts over commercialit& addressingissues of identit& character and narratives' Contemporar costume practitioners are ho#ever

increasingl challenging their process and are redefining the role of costume #ithin the

ma+ing of performance and some are using the costume itself as the generator of meaning as

opposed to an applied or supportive element of the performance' Simultaneousl fashion

theor has increasingl em"raced the concept of the "od itself as a site for communication

and more specificall the generation of concepts and communication of meaning for e%ample

5(ar#ic+ N Cavallaro 5


7/14

The te%ts mentioned "egin to deal #ith the comple%it of fashion and dress in relation to the

discourse of the "od' )t is& ho#ever& Joanne /nt#istle in her "oo+ ?The Fashioned Body#ho

importantl identified that although there #as #riting on discourses of the "od it had not

"een related to em"odiment' She identified fashion as a ?situated "odil practice4 #hich needs

to ta+e into account the lived and e%perienced elements of #earing fashion and dress' She

goes on to sa ?Dress in everda life is a"out e%perience of living in and acting on the

"od4'16There is real potential here for further analsis from the perspective of the designer'

(ar#ic+ and Cavallaro in their "oo+ Fashioning the Frame 5


8/14

fashion communicationHperformance is the lac+ of narrative or stor' ) #ould argue that the

e%amples of fashion performance discussed here all have some form of narrative #hether #e

are loo+ing at the cat#al+ performances of ,ussein Chalaan or the narrative of the theatrical

editorial shoots of photographer Tim (al+er'

) suggest that the tpe of visual narrative ma "e significantl influenced " the conte%t in

#hich #e vie# the "od or in relation to the length and conte%t of the performance' (hat is

more interesting is that /nt#istle4s concept suggests that performance does not necessaril

reuire a length or possi"l even linear narrative or stor& if understood in the conte%t of the

"od itself& as the designer& #earer and vie#er come from a shared understanding of

em"odiment' ) suggest that " placing focus on clothing and the "od as opposed to #ider

spatial conte%ts #e are a"le to ta+e into account ho# the emotional and phsical factors as

#ell as the site of the "od itself contri"utes to the ma+ing& intention and reading of #or+ in

the conte%t of h"rid practice "et#een fashion and performance that seems to spea+ most

directl to performance art'

!t the "ntersection of Clothing and the ody

Since the


9/14

e%perience of clothing as part of a comple% performative dnamic ena"les communication

through and on the "od' ) argue that it is the concept of ?situated "odil practice4 that

resonates #ith and& in man cases& drives the practice of conceptual fashion design&

performance art and costume design' The "od in effect is the site for the creation of and

communication of meaning #hether that is a narrative& a concept& an emotion or character'

!rtists and performance artists such as Re"ecca ,orn& Caroline Broadhead& Leigh Bo#er&

Maria Blaisse& Margret (i"mer& Luc rta and ;aoi Gasama& have for some time used the

medium of clothing and the performing "od to conve their ideas in an interdisciplinar

conte%t' ,o#ever there is currentl a communit of contemporar practitioners #ho seem to

#or+ specificall in the h"rid space "et#een performance and fashion& nota"l .areth Pugh&

-ic+ Cave& Luc and Bart& Di Mainstone and ,ussein Chalaan' The come from diverse

"ac+grounds such as fashion& te%tiles& costume& architecture and fine art& some have trained or

#or+ed in more than one discipline and the all have a preoccupation #ith clothing the

performing "od to one degree or another' -ic+ Cave is often referred to as a sculptor

ho#ever his training #as in fi"re te%tiles and then modern dance& his #or+ e%plores the "od

as moving sculpture& Luc and Bart #or+ has "een descri"ed on their "log as an ?instinctual

stal+ing of fashion& architecture& performance and the "od4 19' The #or+ of these

practitioners argua"l finds its o#n space to communicate derived through the production of

the #or+ in the conte%t of the "od'

There are also an e%panding group of costume designers #ho are e%perimenting #ith devised

design approaches centered on phsical and em"odied e%ploration of concepts and narratives

and are increasingl using costume as the part of the direction process for performance' )n

contemporar dance there are several e%amples of costume "eing emploed as central to the

development of the performance for e%ample Maria Blaisse4s #or+ #ith )so Dance compan

in the


10/14

performance and in the communication of ideas and visual narratives'Contemporar dance is

one of the performance conte%ts #here conceptuall led clothing design can "e effectivel

emploed through fragmented& visual and phsical narrative' This ma also "e #h fashion

designers have chosen to #or+ in this particular conte%t' )n these instances again some are

more considered and integral to the performance and the performer than others'

The performative intersection:

The t#o disciplines in uestion "oth have a temporalit& the are of a moment #hether that "e

the performance of fashion on the cat#al+ or the production or performance on the stage& the

"oth rel on human reaction and a #earer or performer and "oth have the a"ilit to uestion&

comment and communicate to audiences through a shared understanding of the "od' The

sense of the here and no# is also important& even if a performance or a collection comments

on or communicates something of a time gone " it is still created and received " audiences

in the present' !s Roselee .old"erg points out in her #riting on performance art ?the medium

demands a ?presentness4$ the audience4s presence in real time& and content that sharpl

reflects the present4'20Shifts in education and creative practice more #idel have ho#ever

"rought this issue into sharp perspective as "oth disciplines #or+ #ith historical and

contemporar issues& images and ideas and there is increasing cross over in the conte%ts in

#hich the #or+' The interdisciplinar approach emploed in contemporar creative practice

has argua"l opened up the potential for a shared dialogue' This goes "eond fashion

designers #or+ing in performance conte%ts and indeed "eond performance practitioners and

scenographers e%ploring ?fashiona"le4 aesthetics or themes' There has "een a shift in

approach and students are no# graduating from performance and costume design courses

#ith a much "roader idea of #hat the parameters of their discipline are and a stronger

understanding of their role in the production of meaning'

!iofe Mon+s discusses the lac+ critical engagement and #riting in relation to costume21and

lin+s the gro#th of academic engagement #ith fashion saing that it is no# time to "egin to

address costume in a similar #a'

She tal+s a"out the e%plosion of interest in the theories of theatre and #ritings on scenograph

identifing that these te%ts ?ma+e onl passing$if an$ reference to costume4' She goes on to

sa that the ma ?note costume4s supportive role in creating character "ut pa little attention

67.old"erg& R' Performance@ Live !rt Since the


11/14

to ho# costume and ma+eup might mediate the relationship "et#een the actor and the

audience in performance4' 22

She goes on to sa that ?if #e ta+e the #or+ of fashion theorists seriousl& #ho point to the

#as in #hich clothing anchors and produces the social "od& and em"eds that "od #ith a

#e" of social and economic relations& #e might need to ac+no#ledge theatre costumes crucial

role in the production of the "od on stage4'2'

The creative industries are also more connected than ever "efore' )n an intervie# underta+en

#ith conceptual fashion designer Simon Thorogood he discussed graduating in the late Mon+s& n'd' p'l76Bugg& n'd' 677& p'686


12/14

have emerged as a result of ne# #as of thin+ing and "ecause #e are trapped into ha"itual

patterns of perception& #e cannot see it4'6

)t #ould seem that "oth practices are meeting the same challenges and opportunities "ut that

the critical message is that as ideas and processes change #e need to understand "oth

practices from this altered perspective as opposed to loo+ing at ho# it has al#as "een done

"efore' !lthough there are a range of factors that from m perspective "ring fashion and

performance together in contemporar practice ) propose that it is the focus on the clothed&

communicating "od that is the site for the meeting of fashion and performance practice' )

#ould argue that costume and the clothed& communicating "od can itself "e seen as a "od

sited scenographic practice that functions in a h"rid space "et#een fashion and performance'

This is particularl so #here costume or clothing "ecomes the generator of performance

through design' B placing costumeHclothing at the centre of this de"ate it is possi"le to ta+einto account ho# the emotional and phsical factors as #ell as the site of the "od itself

contri"utes to the ma+ing& intention and reading of #or+ #ithin contemporar ?performance4

conte%ts'

)n conclusion there are a range of em"odied practices that emplo clothing as integral to the

communication of ideas' Practitioners #or+ing #ith materialit& the "od and conceptual

approaches can "e seen to have struggled to locate their practice #ithin the parameters of

specific creative disciplines' ) argue that this attempt to categorise #ithin formal constructs

can "e stifling to creative progress and for#ard movement' ur tas+ as creative practitioners

is to challenge and re evaluate the role of our practice and to contri"ute to a #ider creative

de"ate communicating fresh perspectives and ne# #as of producing& ma+ing& seeing and

communicating' )t is through understanding the "od as the site for this e%ploration and

communication that #e can start to move for#ard and give meaning to this practice in a

contemporar conte%t'

ibliography:

65!ronson& n'd'& p'


13/14

!ronson& !' Loo+ing into the !"ss@ /ssas on Scenograph' Michigan

677='

Bugg& J' )nterface@ Concept and conte%t as innovative strategies

for fashion design and communication' !n analsis from the perspective of the conceptual

fashion design practitioner' Universit of the !rts London 677E

Collins'J and -is"et& !' Theatre and performance design& ! reader in Scenograph' Routledge

567

Fashion Theor The Journal of Dress Bod and Culture& Fashion and

Performance 1ol issue >& Berg 677

Bugg 2011 Designing the Clothed Body in Fashion and Performance

Documents

Transcript of Bugg 2011 Designing the Clothed Body in Fashion and Performance