Fashion at LACMA

LACMA has a wonderful department of Fashion and Textiles. So it makes sense that they would be the first to put on a major exhibit of men’s fashion,

Kay Spilker is the curator who has been responsible for putting on many of the wonderful fashion exhibits. As a docent I always enjoy the behind the scenes lecture that she shares with us.I always learn something new.  In the late 18th century wealthy young Englishmen went to Italy for the Grand Tour. Before they left home they would have looked like the model on the left – everything changed when they came back. Bright colors, tighter pants, shorter jackets, bigger wigs and all kinds of extra finery, from feathers, cocades, and tassles.  They were then called: Macaroni.

I think back to the song we sang in childhood. Yankee Doodle went to town a’ riding on a pony. Put a feather in his cap and called it Macaroni.

I never understood that line, I always wondered if I misunderstood the lyrics. Turns out that this is accurate. The English made fun of the simple colonials in America, who of course wanted to copy the fancy young men in England. The Americans turned the tables on the Brits, they adopted the song as their own and often sang it during the Revolutionary War. I wasn’t paying attention to the names of the designers, but I’ve always liked Viviane Westwood. The accuracy of matching the plaids is incredible. And the shoes, love the shoes. I would love to wear this outfit myself.Another take on plaid, or actually houndstooth. What grabbed me here isn’t so much the deconstruction but rather the antlers on the deer stalker hat. The original Hawaiian shirt was made from the brightest Japanese silk. I can’t get over the deep, deep purple.
Another way of using silk, tie silk to be exact. Like the previous outfit – these are runway fashions, not street wear.There was a lot of fine detailed embroidery, mostly on court garments. There clearly have been those periods in history when men were just as decked out in finery as the women.They even had the same kind of undergarments and dressing needs as women. Of course making fun of the Dandy in the 19th century was no different than today.  Most of the clothes in this show are very very expensive, but none more so then theseShoes made from money.My favorite part of the exhibit was being able to share it with my son and son in law.

The next exhibit was Royal Hawaiian featherwear.  Beautiful, colorful and very delicate. I really didn’t read much about it, I just enjoyed the visual aspects.For the royal men – bright capes.For the women, only feathered crowns on their heads.I don’t know much about this tradition. What I do know is that in tropical climates, with bright feathered birds, humans will use those feathers for decoration.  The feathers may be delicate, but the color doesn’t fade.

I am grateful that LACMA puts on these exhibits. I’m not very interested in many of the art exhibits, but crafts, or should I say high craftsmanship always interests me.