Top: Detail of Renaissance evening outfit, Bill Gibb, 1972, V&A
Bottom: Bill Gibb designs, early 1970s
Before I became a student of art history I was bewitched by the exuberant romance of Pre-Raphaelite paintings. The sensual drape of a fabric was evocative of a mood, an allusion to desires at odds with conservative Victorian society. The 1960s and 1970s witnessed a revival of the Pre-Raphelite mode of feeling, reflected in the clothing of the period.
Top: The Lady of Shalott, c. 1886-1905, William Holman Hunt
Bottom: Veronica Veronese, c. 1872, Dante Gabriel Rossetti
As the 1960s entered their full swing, fashions became more daring as new vibrant chemical dyes flooded the market and fed the appetite for psychdelic prints. In this decade we saw the introduction of the womens liberation movement, and in response the hemlines became higher as women's dress became more outrageous. Toward the end of the decade, as austerity set in, a wave of ennui hit the younger generations, who witnessed the destruction of many historic buildings as the downside of rapid urbanisation and modernisation became apparent. Responding to the rapid population growth in urban areas, high rise concrete building began to dominate the skylines of the major cities, particularly London. The demand for social housing grew, and a generation of young people grew disenchanted with modern living, turning, as the Victorians did, to what they saw as a more rural, authentic way of living. In the cities they expressed this desire through their clothing. By the time the 1970s came round Victorian eclecticism shook out its extravagant skirts as it sashayed back into vogue. Enter Bill Gibb.
Top: Bill Gibb editorial, photographed by Sarah Moon from Vogue, January 1970 (source)
Bottom: Autumn/Winter 1976/77 designs from Bill Gibb, from the V&A
Bill Gibb's roots couldn't have been more pastoral. Born in rural Scotland in 1943, Gibb was the son of a dairy farmer. His talent for drawing was noticed by his art teacher, who encouraged the young Gibb to move to London in 1962 to study at St. Martins School of Art. He graduated first in his year and gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in 1966, where he studied under the legendary Janey Ironside. At the close of the decade, a number of key British talents emerged from the college, namely Ossie Clark, Zandra Rhodes, Anthony Price, and Gibb himself. Thus Gibb became an active member of the British Boutique Movement.
In 1971, Bill Gibb made a splash onto the international fashion scene as he dressed Twiggy (pictured) for her appearance at the premiere of Ken Russell's The Boyfriend, a movie in which she also starred. In 1972, he established his independent label, he debuted his first solo collection at the Oriental Club in London.
Gibb was unconventional, his designs responded to the growing romantic trend of the late 60s/early 70s, the free spiritness of the Woodstock generation personified this mood, and his creations took their inspiration from the Medieval Renaissance and the East. He combined rich fabrics, textures and hand embroidered patterns. Gibb’s most recognizable motif was a bee (B for Bill) which he utilized in the form of enamel bee buttons and knitwear with bee designs (how very Arts and Crafts!). Twiggy, Bianca Jagger, Anjelica Huston and Elizabeth Taylor counted among his celebrity following.
Bill Gibb with his models, 1970s (source)
By the 1970s Gibb was influenced by the Hippie movement, and the rising popularity of the 'handmade' artisan crafts. With his partner, the artist turned knitting guru, Kaffe Fassett, Gibb's knitted designs became what he was best known for. His designs and knitwear were undoubtedly influenced by his Scottish roots, and his love of history and fantasy. Like the Pre-Raphaelites before him, the costumes of the Renaissance informed and inspired his designs. The lure of the exotic also features heavily in his gowns, with luxurious fabrics, silks, leather and furs, translated into eclectic styles such as a hareem style trouser suit or a billowing Holbein print gown. The pastoral influence was never far away, with folk style dresses, evoking the fairy tales of Bavaria and Eastern European traditions. Just as the folk tales of Europe share common themes, the creative exchange between Gibb's Celtic eclecticism and Eastern influences met in a rich melting pot, where art became fashion.
Top: Hellelil and Hildebrand the Meeting on the Turret Stairs, 1864, Frederic William Burton
Bottom: A Chenille and Lurex dress designed by Gibb, knitted by Kaffe Fassett with actual pearls, in front of one of Fassett's needlepoint tapestries (1970s)
The romance of the medieval beloved by his predecessors the Pre-Raphaelites, featured heavily in Gibb's designs. The revival of craft, first promoted in the nineteenth century by William Morris, in line with the medieval craft guild tradition, was also a popular feature of the fashions of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Gibb worked closely with Kaffe Fassett, executing highly skilled designs in wools and silks, as close to haute couture that British fashion designers at this time attained.
Top: Liberty evening gown, 1897
Bottom: Bill Gibb evening dress, 1972, worn by Sandie Shaw, V&A collections
The Victoria and Albert museum is the world's foremost museum for design, throughout its 150 years the exhibits have inspired generations of artists. Comparing the Liberty gown with Gibb's design almost a century later, it is probable that Gibb was one of the many art students who came to the V&A to be inspired by generations past. Gibb favoured leather, suedes and wool crepes in his dramatic clothing, often adorned with lavish embroidery, clothing that evoked the romanticism of the medieval, but in contemporary, comfortable fabrics, much in line with the Aesthetic dress movement of the nineteenth-century. The V&A museum holds a number of Gibb designs in its collection now.
Charlotte Rampling wearing Bill Gibb designs, from a 1971 issue of British Vogue (source)
Some of Gibb's designs are more contemporary, playing with the art deco decadence promoted most notably by the Biba look, as seen in the Charlotte Rampling editorial above and the designs below. The two dresses (seen below) remind me of Edwardian tea gowns, in terms of fit, and the materials used (silks and wools).
Top: 1970s Bill Gibb maxi dress with his signature bee motif (source)
Middle: Bill Gibb psychedelic marbled printed satin maxi dress, from his debut independent collection, Autumn-Winter, 1972 (source)
Bottom: Bill Gibb 1970s pink satin coat
Throughout his life, Gibb remained much like his childhood self, the boy who 'had raided a dressing-up box to transform his sisters into minature Rapunzels or wee Ladies of Shalott'. Gibb had too much of a romantic outlook, and his romantic vision was at odds with the fashions of the 1980s. Like so many members of the British Boutique Movement, Gibb was an artist, a visionary, but a poor businessman. His own label struggled financially, particularly in the 1980s as the romance of his designs struggled in the decade of monochromatic modernism, all sharp shoulders, where for the modern woman, androgynous suits reigned. In 1985, he showed at London Fashion Week in a collaboration with Fassett, to renewed critical acclaim. It appeared that his career might be rejuvinated. Sadly, in 1988 Gibb died an untimely death, as a result of bowel cancer. His influence on generations of designers cannot be underestimated, but in the wider sphere, he is less recognised. A handful of exhibitions have commemorated Gibb's unique vision, a retrospective exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery in 1990, and more recently he has been rediscovered with the release of Iain Webb's book on Gibb, with two exhibitions: Bill Gibb: A Personal Journey at the Fashion Museum, Bath (17 October 2008 - 2009) and Billy: Bill Gibb's Moment In Time at the Fashion and Textile Museum (November 2008 - January 2009).
Bill Gibb and Kaffe Fassett, 1960s
Read more:
Style Bubble / Gift of the Gibb
Vintage Fashion Guild: Bill Gibb
Suzy Menkes / Bill Gibb: A bittersweet story of a forgotten designer (The New York Times)
Bill Gibb: Fashion and Fantasy, by Iain Webb
Two films I've watched this summer have been Orlando (1992) and The Portrait of a Lady (1996). Both are period dramas, directed by women, with only four years between their respective releases. Two scenes in particular, from both films, captured my imagination, as well as the costumes. Clothing for characters, as for us, reveals much about class, background and personality. Costume tells us much about the role of women in society, and for both genders, it reveals to us their social background. I don't pretend to possess anything beyond a superficial knowledge of nineteenth-century costume, but reading costume provides a richer history of a particular period, and the nineteenth-century into the twentieth-century was one of tremendous societal change, one that is most explicitly obvious though women's dress. In Orlando, they wear the large petticoats of the mid-Victorian period, whereas in The Portrait of a Lady, her skirts are much more suitable for a young woman travelling, but nonetheless long and cumbersome. What these costumes express is how women were bound to societal gender roles by corsets and impractical oversized or long, heavy layers of skirts and petticoats, representing a very particular ideal of femininity.
Both films feature tackle the subject of gender, with two strong female leads. The gloomy, almost Gothic mood of these films appeals to me, as we tend to associate this moodiness with the Byronic hero, this idea is subverted here. The moody psychic landscapes reflect in tone and feeling, the darker oppressive clothing of the characters. The fog of evening lingers over both scenes as these characters come to make the choice that will determine their lives going forward, and perhaps lead to the fog of uncertainty being lifted.
Orlando, 1992 (dir: Sally Potter) is adapted from Virginia Woolf's 1928 novel Orlando: A Biography. The costumes are by Sandy Powell (Shakespeare in Love, Interview with the Vampire). Tilda Swinton, plays the title role of the androgynous young nobleman Orlando. Orlando, the Queen's favourite, is demanded by Queen Elizabeth to remain forever young, and incredibly they do just that, living from decade to decade seeking love, poetry and ultimately the meaning of life. At one point Orlando changes gender, and the revelations that accompany this are aptly played out on screen. Our hero, turned heroine finds themselves (I will refer to Orlando in non gender specific terms) trapped between the intrigue and over-sized crinolines of 18th-century court life, with its egotistical poets and gossips, and salacious men. Alexander Pope informs the now Lady Orlando:
“Conversation, is a place where one plays with ideas, my dear lady, though one forges them quite alone. The intellect is a solitary place and therefore quite unsuitable a terrain for females, who must discover their natures through the guidance of a father or husband.”
When a former acquaintance asks for their hand, Orlando's aghast refusal, reveals to them the imbalance of power between the genders. In this standout scene (see below), Orlando recoils with their dignity intact, but struggles to exit the scene as swiftly as they would like, their silk skirts weighing them down and their perspective all astray. The scene is strongly charged, as our hero/ine struggles through the metaphorical labyrinth of the grand maze, just as they struggle through womanhood, before stumbling on the next period in their development as a woman - 'Sex', represented by the dashing figure of Billy Zane.
Formal or picturesque garden design was the height of fashion in England during the eighteenth century, as in most fashionable matters, England took its cue from the magnificent gardens of the French court. Orlando was filmed at Hatfield House and Blenheim Palace, and it appears that the 'labyrinth scene' was filmed in Blenheim Palace's Marlborough Maze ("the world's second largest symbolic hedge maze").
The Labyrinth scene from 'Orlando'
The Portrait of a Lady (1996) (dir: Jane Campion) is adapted from American author Henry James' 1881 novel. The costume designer was Janet Patterson (Bright Star, The Piano). Our heroine is Isabel Archer, a young American heiress, who has come to England to visit relatives, and to 'find' herself, with the intention of embarking on her own Grand Tour. Being an educated young woman, from a good background, she is highly eligible and sought after. Isabel refuses the advances of her young suitors and quickly departs to Italy, where she makes some unfortunate acquaintances and finds herself coerced into a union with the penniless but charming American Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich, who seems to have excelled at playing dastardly charmers in 90s period films). The film is highly sensual at times, as our young heroine seeks life and love, making naive mistakes along the way. In this final scene, Isabel realises that in order to be her independent self, despite her sexual desires (which women weren't expected to possess), she must be free, and alone to pursue her dreams, for in the role of wife, she would be expected to be the submissive partner in the marital arrangement.
The slowed down frames allow us to observe Isabel more closely as she contemplated her decision (and the deceptive amount of layers to her dress!). She surrenders this final temptation, in order to become herself, truly independent and free. Instead of entering the house as soon as she reaches for the door handle, Isabel turns her body to face our gaze, a contemplative look plays across her face, neither sad or outwardly happy. John Gielgud's character, the aging Mr. Touchett, Isabel's confidante, in a revealing quote on 'self' tells Isabel:
“When you have lived as long as I, you will see that every human being has his shell, and that you must take the shell into account. By the shell I mean the whole envelope of circumstances. There is no such thing as an isolated man or woman; we are each of us made up of a cluster of appurtenances. What do you call one's self? Where does it begin? Where does it end? It overflows into everything that belongs to us - and then flows back again... One's self - for other people - is one's expression of one's self; and one's house, one's clothes, the books one reads, the company one keeps - these things are all expressive.”
In the Victorian period women were expected to be the 'Angel of the House'. Women have to fight for the right to be alone, and were scathingly referred to as 'spinsters', for their seeming inability to catch husbands with their feminine charms (maybe they just didn't have time for that BS eh?), while men often enjoyed bachelor status well into middle age, often then settling down to marry women half their age. Orlando chooses to enjoy sexual relations with another man in the infamously laced up context of the Victorian period. Isabel experiences desire too, but in the strict social conventions of the period, she can only truly enjoy those relations within the confines of marriage. In a marital arrangement, by societal standards of the time certainly, no matter how her husband encouraged her, her husband's needs would come first. Now do you see what I did in the post title, 'No Angel', huh, you get it?
Orlando is also searching for self, becoming accustomed to the restriction of their new female gender. Shocked by a former male acquaintances advances, they rebuff him only to be told that 'she' will end up alone and a spinster. A threat not unfamiliar to many young, unattached young women. In the final scene, Orlando gazes confidently out at us, the viewer, having reached their own revelation.
The characters struggle both metaphorically and physically against their gender roles. You'll notice in the above scenes both directors focus on the weighty quality of the skirts, in their attempts to flee from masculine constraints they are literally weighed down by the clothing and metaphorically by all that it represents in that particular society. Sound also plays a conscious part in the representation of dress in these two films, a subtlety I love and that can only be communicated through the medium of film, unlike a painting alone. Campion's Isabel tinkles delicately as she moves, wearing all the baubles of a heiress, and a lady, a bird in a gilded cage. Potter's Lady Orlando's dress rustles impatiently as it is hitched up and dragged across the earthy ground and against the pruned shrubbery of the maze, in her desperation to escape, troubling with movement is not something Orlando had to contend with as a man.
British and American audiences respectively, have always held a fascination with period dramas, each generation sees a revival of certain popular novels. These two films no doubt presented challenges, as they are both ambitious projects, but are ultimately most satisfying to watch, and yet are still severely underrated. This post was a little meandering, but I hope it will encourage you to watch both of these films (ignore the IMDB ratings in these cases!), and to pay more attention to the beautiful subtleties of dress and costume in film, period or otherwise. Buttons, embellishments, cuts, all have their part to play in the interpretation of a character.
Tread Softly... A Season of Yeats, is an annual 10 day festival running alongside and complementing the Yeats International Summer School, focusing on the connections between Sligo and Yeats through a programme of music, exhibitions and spoken word performances.
The Tread Softly festival is an initative that seeks to promote Sligo's Yeats legacy as a unique cultural visitor attraction. "The Land of Heart's Desire" has long held appeal for devotees of the poet Yeats, but the story of the Yeats family has its roots in Sligo's rich landscape.
The short video above shows the highlights of last year's first 'Tread Softly' festival. From 2:45 onward you can hear me speak! Last year I gave tours of the John and Jack B. Yeats 'Father and Son' exhibition at The Model gallery. This year I will again be giving a couple of public tours of the current Jack B. Yeats' exhibition 'Enter the Clowns: The Circus as Metaphor'.
Though not a new concept by any means, cultural tourism has gained a lot of mileage in recent years, particularly amongst regional tourism groups striving to make economic gains by utilising their unique local cultural heritage. And who can blame them? Personally, I have seen a vibrant revival in Sligo's arts and culture scene, since I returned a little over a year ago (after being abroad for almost 2 years). Much progress has been made to promote Sligo as a cultural destination, for the benefit of its locals and visitors alike. Cultural tourism also takes place at a local level, with the advent of facebook, many groups promoting local history and encouraging engagement from their members have sprung up. Some recent festivals promoting their area's unique cultural attractions include the Liberties Festival and Happy Days - Enniskillen's International Beckett Festival.
What is Cultural Tourism? Cultural tourism is about understanding the collective cultural offer of a destination, matching that offer to (and connecting with) the 'wraparound' industries (food, drink, hotels, shops and so on) and making sure that it's all packaged in a way that is meaningful to the consumer. (Helen Palmer, 'Why cultural tourism is not a quick fix', The Guardian, April 15 2013)
Recently, in acknowledgement of this, the North-West Craftfest was rebranded as the Lily Lolly Craft Fest. The aim is to commemorate the legacy of the lesser celebrated Yeats sisters, who were pioneering craftswomen in their own right. They were at the forefront of the Irish Arts and Crafts movement, founding the Dun Emer Guild in 1902 with Evelyn Gleeson in Dundrum, Co. Dublin. You can read the article I wrote on the sisters for the Women's Museum of Ireland here.
1. Martina Hamilton, owner and designer at the Cat and the Moon craft boutique and jewellery shop, and curator of the Hamilton Gallery, officially launching the Lily Lolly Craftfest on June 13th.
2. Celebrated academic and expert on the Irish arts and crafts movement, Nicola Gordon-Bowe, delivering a talk on the legacy of the Yeats' sisters, at the Lily Lolly Fest.
The Lily Lolly Craft fest coincided with Yeats Day 2013. Yeats Day is envisioned to be Sligo's version of Bloomsday (June 16th) or Shakespeare's Birthday (April 20th).These are grand shoes to fill. Expectations are hig. The Lily and Lolly festival had the support of local businesses and crafts people. My festival highlights include the Nicola Gordon-Bowe lecture, Una Burke's talk and an embroidery workshop with Amy O'Hara of Dumore Embroidery. These events certainly played close to the Lily and Lolly legacy, by promoting a body of work by by local craftswomen, and the festival was launched with a talk by Nicola Gordon-Bowe, an authority on the Yeats sisters.
My criticism would lie with the marketing of these events, particularly the digital strategy. While the leaflets and poster designs were of particularly high quality. There appeared to very little engagement with Sligo's online community, or the online craft community at large. Una Burke's talk was a total revelation to me, but was so poorly marketed that the attendance for what was an outstanding afternoon was less than it should have been. This lady's career is on the rise, she has designed for Lady Gaga and has exhibited in prominent London galleries! Her inclusion in the event line-up should have been shouted from the rooftops, at least the virtual ones! The failure of the digital strategy to provide a suitable platform for the local businesses that participated meant that some events didn't receive as much attention as they might have done. In this globalised world, cultural organisations cannot afford to ignore the digital sphere when working in cultural tourism.
Looking at organisations finding their soft spot in engaging the cultural and digital sphere ... one of the more unique places I have gone to see a performance, Sligo's Blue Raincoats Theatre company staged a performance of W.B. Yeats' play Purgatory at the summit of Knocknerea mountain, at the base of Queen Maeve's cairn. Incentives like this promote Sligo as a unique cultural destination, a place where magical things happen, such as a contemporary theatre company staging a play by one of the counties famous sons, at the summit of an ancient mountain.
The 'Sligo Who Knew?' campaign turns to social media to unearth the counties hidden gems and to promote Sligo as a 'staycation' destination, being only a 2 and a half hours drive from Dublin. Using the #sligowhoknew hashtag Sligo businesses, cultural centres, selected digital ambassadors, tourists and Sligo tweeters can share the hidden corners of Sligo, from their unique point of view! You can see all the tagged content from all social networks on the #sligowhoknew tagboard. It is probably one of the most forward thinking digital tourism strategies in Ireland at the moment! As a Sligo person, I too play a part in this dialogue, as the press release highlights - "Locals Become Proud Ambassadors of their Homeland".
"… Sligo was a different habitation. A small and beautiful town situated almost at the western edge of Europe, it was bounded by green fields, mountains, and the sea, and its narow streets were lined with small shops. At the quays there were boats loading and unloading, and sailors with stories that made the world seem “full of monsters and marvels”. Over the town to the west loomed the mountain Knocknarea, on its flat top an enormous mound supposed to contain the remains of Queen Maeve; to the north beyond Drumcliff stood Ben Bulben, the long stone outcrop ending in a massive, razor-sharp edge. With its mists and changing colours, its ancient mysterious mounds and dolmens, Sligo was a place where one could easily believe in a world of magic.”
'Prodigal Father: The Life of John Butler Yeats (1839-1922)', William M. Murphy,
(London: Cornell University Press, 1978)
Sligo and its enchanting landscape was a constant source of inspiration for all of the Yeats siblings. Prompted by their father's inability to secure and retain commissions they entered into artistic professions with the intention of earning a living, with the explicit aim of utilising their creative talent into something productive and profitable. These recent festivals promote the Yeats family legacy and seek to place it at the centre of the cultural, historical and physical spirit of Sligo, inspiring a new generation to be inspired by Sligo and its creative traditions; just as the Yeats family once were.
See more:
Cultural Tourism Ireland
Museums connecting cultural tourists: more substance over style, please
Helen Palmer, 'Why cultural tourism is not a quick fix', The Guardian, April 15 2013
‘Sligo – Who Knew?’ Turns To Social Media To Unearth Hidden Gems
Tread Softly ... A Season of Yeats festival
Treading softly in Sligo (Irish Examiner, July 24 2013)
