When I think about Klimt, what immediately comes to mind is lots of gold + swirls – basically, plenty of opulence + Art Nouveau references. Yet, for Tory Burch + L’Wren Scott‘s RTW Fall 2013 collections, their idea of Klimt personified, varied tremendously.
For Tory Burch, it was as much of a surprise to her to have found even a pinch of inspiration from Gustav Klimt, never being one of her favorite artists, but, isn’t that the usual scenario? Good ideas just appear out of nowhere + those usually end up being the ones of most value. Klimt’s rich colors + patterns shaped the core of Tory’s collection, prompting her to delve further into studying Art Nouveau. There were definitely no literal references to Klimt, let alone Adele Bloch-Bauer (modeled twice for Klimt), but, you can definitely see the Art Nouveau influences through various ornamentations, cuts + luxe materials. True, a lot of the pieces below are quite pretty, yet, you need to wonder, what’s so wrong with literal iterations?
(photos: John Aquino)
Take the late genius costume designer Eiko Ishioka + her final Kabuki robe (right) for Gary Oldman’s ‘Dracula’ in the film ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’. Inspired by Klimt’s famous ‘The Kiss’ (left), Eiko’s design doesn’t skimp on any of the detals – Perfection. (It’s no wonder Ishioka won an Oscar for costume design of ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’.)
L’Wren Scott on the other hand, went all in. Seeking opulence, color + texture, with both Klimt + Adele as influences, Scott’s collection was luxe + dripping in gold, literally. In fact, the shoes + some dresses were done in 23-karat gold leaf. According to WWD during a preview, Scott said, “I’m gold-obsessed. Because there’s gold all over the world and it’s the most valuable thing at the moment.” Sure, some looks look like they walked out of one of Klimt’s paintings. but I don’t mind.
(photos: Giovanni Giannoni)
So, as an answer to my question – Which designer created the best RTW Fall 2013 based on Klimt, Tory or L’Wren? I would have to answer L’Wren – drama gets me every time!
(via WWD)