How Art History Paintings Inspired Gucci, Balenciaga And Dolce
Edition #15 - When art meets fashion
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Edition #15 - How Art History Paintings Inspired Gucci, Balenciaga And Dolce
I recently came across a YouTube documentary on sustainable fashion and inclusivity. While the whole subject was interesting, one specific topic struck my attention — how luxury fashion houses including Gucci, Balenciaga and others have entwined art history paintings into their haute couture.
Isn’t it a fantastic hack to reinvent your creativity game?
It makes complete sense to experiment with a dynamic industry like fashion.
Let’s look at 3 super famous fashion houses that have imprinted classic artworks on their couture. These experiments have accentuated the garments and aggrandized their brand value.
1. Gucci
Do you see what I see?
A perfect branding campaign where art meets fashion.
Gucci experienced a creative rejuvenation when Alessandro Michele was appointed as the company’s creative director. During his stint, the brand has collaborated with multiple Instagram influencers and digital artists.
One such collaboration was “Gucci Hallucination” in 2018 by Spanish artist Ignasi Monreal. He went beyond traditional photography and experimented with infusing classic artworks and creative photography.
Hieronymus Bosch’s iconic painting The Garden of Earthly Delights blends well with the models posing with Gucci garments and accessories. This brings out compelling visual storytelling and creativity of the garments themselves.
Here’s another one where Monreal impeccably embeds a Gucci muse with the Pre-Raphaelite painting Ophelia by John Everett Millais.
2. Balenciaga
The Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga is regarded as the ‘designer’s designer’.
We all know that Balenciaga had a knack for impeccable fashion sense. He built the gold standard for couture brands. But most of us might not be familiar with the fact that he understood early on that art, fashion and retail are inextricably linked.
The silhouettes of Balenciaga’s evening gowns resonate with styles worn by painted ladies and religious figures from hundreds of years ago.
Balenciaga’s taffeta layered and fluffy red gown was inspired by the painting the Duchess of Alba.
His famous ensemble — an embellished evening gown tucked with a layered overskirt was inspired by the painting Saint Elizabeth of Portugal by Francisco de Zurbarán.
My personal favorite is the infanta dress and the inspiration behind it.
The little Infanta Margarita of Austria in Velasquez’s iconic Las Meninas inspired this cream silky satin dress with fit and flare.
3. Dolce and Gabbana
A grieved husband asked the famous Italian Renaissance painter Domenico Ghirlandaio to paint the portrait of his wife Giovanna Tornabuoni posthumously. The fashion giant Dolce and Gabbana repurposed the same painting on a fur dress and accessorized it with teardrop pearls and headdress.
Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne was imprinted in a flared off-shoulder long dress with the exact painting as a headdress.
Do let me know in the comments if you have any favorites?