April 22, 2014

Connecting forms of art

The creation of the first operas in the early 17th Century marked a groundbreaking artistic and conceptual phenomenon. The goal of writing an opera was to combine every form of art (music, painting, acting, design, sculpture, etc.) into one fantastic spectacle that was to be the most superior form of art possible for man to create. So it is nothing new to say that music and fashion go hand in hand.

A piece of music and a collection both tell a story. They both are a succession of dialogues that provoke feelings and attitudes towards a particular theme or series of events. The rather obvious difference is the providing of those dialogues through auditory sensation versus ocular discovery. In the same way, music can speak what a collection cannot and a collection can bring to life what a piece of music cannot.

alt For my fashion art class at FIT, our first project was to design a swimwear collection based off of a culture of our choice. I chose the viking culture, which I admit was a very odd decision because they definitely were not known for their fashion choices, but for some reason it peaked my interest. In researching the culture, I found a mythological story that basically is the scandinavian version of Mulan. There was a princes names Alfhild who was set to betroth prince Alf, but she wanted to make her own decisions about love. In short, she dressed up as a man and escaped on a boat to fight in a war and was never seen again.

Alfhild Riot
In designing my swimwear collection, I had a “eureka” moment and realized that princess Alfhild’s story and my collection fit perfectly with my song “Ready for War” which has not been released yet. The tag line is, “fighting for love/all for love in the name of love,” which is exactly what Alfhild escaped on a viking ship to go do: fight for her own love. I deemed it fitting to title my collection “Alfhild Riot” and I believe that my swimwear reflects her bold and defiant choice to take her life in her own hands and also marries the delicate aspects of her life as a princess.

The stimulation of multiple senses at once creates a more rounded and complete artistic experience. My combination of music with fashion to create my “Alfhild Riot” collection, Miuccia Prada’s fabulous combination of fashion and art for her SS14 collection, and even Karl Lagerfeld’s vibrant SS14 collection with various art installations framing the runway are a few examples of how combinations of art forms coexist in perfect harmony and belong together in holy matrimony.

Brielle