How do you interpret the object’s use of color?
Does your interpretation align with the designer’s intention (according to the exhibition and your own research)?
How does your object participate in the social conversation about color and gender?
Why do you think the curators included it in the exhibition?
Include information from the lecture, website, and course readings to support your answer.
“Although André Courrèges was best known for his futuristic white clothes, he often utilized pale pinks. L’Officiel de la couture advised readers to “dress in young girl pink that you love when you are 20 years old, and that you still want to wear as long as your face permits you to do so.” Couture appliqued silk organza with paillettes, spring/summer 1967, Gift of Sylvia Slifka. 86.49.7”
ANDRÉ COURRÈGES DRESS
In this reflection, I will be talking about the dress on the right with the floral embroideries.
This pale pink dress was designed by André Courrèges who was one of the most influential fashion designers in the 20th century. He alternated the way women dress in the mid-1960s. Angular mini dresses were a big part of his designs, and this dress was one of them.
For this dress, the execution and the concepts work very well together. The use of fairly pale pink instead of a more vibrant pink makes the outlook more young, elegant, unconventional, and high end. Little plastic circles are surrounded by hand embroidered flowers. The hardness of the plastic contradicts the softness and intimacy of the handmade petals. The shape of it is rather simple and minimize the body shape by extending the sides. By shortening the length of the dress, it looks more vibrant and young. And all of these are conveying the audience that the wearer of this dress should be a young lively girl. However, this piece would always be the dress on the “wish list”. Because no matter how old we are, we always want to stay young inside out. The dress is sending the message of staying young.
By including this piece in the exhibition, the audience gets to see the progression of this blush pink/ lingerie pink, the perspective from the upper class since it was considered as anhaute couture piece, and how the designer interpreted it.
Side notes:
I was lucky enough to have a chance to actually touch a similar dress from André Courrèges in a vintage store. The owner of the New York Vintage showed the dress to my design studio class. It was amazing to see and feel the texture of the craftsmanship. And to understand how André Courrèges used to use materiality, color, and details to push the boundary in the fashion industry.
