Back to the baroque
Extravagant and ornate styles lead
Now is the time to shine like a rare pearl. All things baroque — the name derives from the Portuguese word barroco for irregular pearls — are taking centre stage this festive season.
Among the adjectives for the style: sumptuous, extravagant and ornate, but also strange, complex and dramatic.
And that’s just what fashion is serving up for the holidays, a chiaroscuro celebration of brocades, jacquards, velvets, embroidery, beading and florid patterns, with gold the metallic of choice.
On the runways, Exhibit A would be Dolce & Gabbana’s extravagant gold embroidered capes, inspired by Sicilian religious imagery. Then there were Lanvin’s exaggerated jewels in ornate settings and Balmain’s extraordinary pearl-beaded ensembles. On the red carpet, Jessica Chastain went regal in a gold-embroidered Alexander McQueen gown fit for a 17th-century queen, albeit strapless. And in the shops, brocade pants, gold lace and lavish embellishment abound. Dynamite made a statement with its tapestry-patterned sequin dress.
The term baroque was coined in the 19th century to refer to art of the 17th century, said Angela Vanhaelen, a professor of art history at McGill University in Montreal. But neo-baroque is one of those styles that never goes away, she says, adding, “There is always an interest.”
What we see in fashion today is a modern makeover of 17th-century designs, suggests Thierry Loriot, curator of the Jean Paul Gaultier show, which premiered at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and is now touring the world. (With more than 700,000 visitors so far, it is the most viewed fashion exhibition ever, he said.)
Sometimes, it’s just a detail that recalls the style. Stella McCartney, he pointed out, embossed a tapestry-inspired pattern on a white neoprene skirt.
It’s normal for fashion to refer to artistic styles from centuries earlier, Loriot said.
Gaultier reinterpreted paintings by the Flemish master Breughel for his Virgins haute couture collection of 2007, while Carven this season replicated details of the Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch.
The interest in the baroque period was in anything that was strange or bizarre, Vanhaelen said.
“The most prized things were the most unusual,” she said, noting this was when the Dutch discovered the allure of the tulip, originally from Turkey, and were particularly entranced by the irregular flame-tipped variety.
In the 17th century, people were interested in the notion of identity as a work of art, Vanhaelen continued. “You see yourself as something that is fashioned. Especially in court, you’re always playing a role, always wearing a mask, presenting yourself in a certain way to look witty, graceful and educated.”
The baroque style is also very connected to religion, Vanhaelen added, noting the ornate interiors of churches like St. Peter’s in Rome.
After the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church deployed this style to astound people, she explained.