EYES ON CULTURE #009
18 January 2023
Mugler’s Fantastical ‘97 Show
EYES ON: Thierry Mugler Haute Couture Spring/Summer 1997
Costume or couture? Mugler’s anthropod-centric SS‘97 show illustrates his extraordinary impact on haute couture. From breeds of beetles to winged creatures, the Kafka-esque runway borrowed from the traditions of avant-garde theatre to completely redefine the art of performance in high fashion.
WHY WE’RE WATCHING:
Spectacular and surreal, this show is a paragon of performance.
There are few better examples of a cohesive narrative communicated through clothes. With a collection that enables a model to transform from woman to beast, the clothes and the catwalk facilitate escapism. The story runs deep — each detail reinforces a commitment to the narrative.
And it all hinges on Mugler’s designs. Designs that enable wearers to metamorphose from their everyday selves into wildly imaginative creatures.
Portals to Painted Dimensions
EYES ON: Matthew Stone’s Energy Portals
Digital painter Matthew Stone’s Energy Portals are a collection of portraits that traverse the space between digital and physical worlds. The collection takes the form of NFTs, each paired with physical linen canvases, with the latter exhibited in a gallery and their digital counterparts in a complimentary space in the virtual world of Cryptovoxels.
WHY WE’RE WATCHING:
Folding, peeling, layering — paint takes centre-stage. Starting off as paintings, these works then translate the heavy physicality of the medium into the digital in a way that reflects on the materiality of paint itself.
Just as much portraits of paint as they are of people, Stone's work crafts mirrored ‘portals’, transporting us between worlds via the dimension of paint.
The Real Dream World of FKA Twigs
EYES ON: FKA Twigs’ Cellophane
In the music video for her song Cellophane, FKA Twigs flings us into a mystical and magical world of her mind’s eye. Dripping in supernatural style from her costume, movements and props — the video is a lesson in world-building. And typical of Twigs, the digital is incorporated seamlessly to morph her world into the realm of the weird.
WHY WE’RE WATCHING:
Outside of a captivating athletic performance beyond what might have been considered possible, it’s the small digital enhancements of each scene that glue our eyes to the screen.
In many cases, digital embellishments feel flashy, inauthentic and inhuman; a counterintuitive tool to express a story as human as Cellophane. That's not felt here.
With every otherworldly addition to a scene, the raw and personal story of the song is somehow made more clear, more relatable. As the video moves further from reality visually, it moves closer to an expression of her extremely personal experience.
WHOSE EYES: Dani Loftus, Founder @ DRAUP