Art and Fashion eye-opening perspective on colour, material and craftsmanship
NOT a Fashion Store! a fresh display of artworks that juxtapose art and fashion
Chinese costume, 2003, Ink on silk, Wang Tiande
Art and Fashion in Not a Fashion Store!
Not a Fashion Store! is a fresh display of seventy artworks from the Hong Kong Museum of Art ’s collection that juxtaposes art and fashion.
Chinese lady attire and headdress, Late 19th century
Using a fashion store as a metaphor, choices made by artists are compared to fashion choices made by ordinary people.
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The exhibit examines art and fashion through objective criteria such as colour matching, material availability, utility and craftsmanship, and subjective criteria like style and trends, and compares them to the individual’s perceptions of beauty.
Black jacket trimmed with floral pattern, Silk embroidery, late Qing dynasty
The entrance to the show and the layout exude the atmosphere of an expensive luxury retail store, from the brass sign above the entrance, to the directory, furniture and fixtures, as well as bright lighting throughout.
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Considerable time and money were invested to create an ambience designed to make you feel as if you have walked into a glamourous boutique.
Big family no.1, Oil on canvas, Zhang Xiaogang
The show creates a sensation by displaying two priceless artworks at the entrance: Zhang Xiaogang’s Big family no.1 and Andy Warhol’s Portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong.
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Zhang’s male and female subjects are shown wearing the recognizable Chinese suit that is also personified in Warhol’s Portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong.
Portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong, 1970s, Photo silkscreen, Andy Warhol (1928 – 1987)
These two paintings boldly show that artists integrate fashion into their works, and the details add to the context and narrative of the work.
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The evolution of fashion aesthetics, and specifically how fashion trends and styles have been integrated into art and fashion, is a central theme of this exhibition.
The evolution of fashion aesthetic, trends and styles
As part of the exhibit, the museum has published a mock magazine called Fashion Plus, which provides an excellent explanation of colour theory, the colour wheel and how an artist may choose colours to create moods and nuances in their paintings.
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The colour wheel provides an obvious and direct correlation to fashion choices.
Not a Fashion Store exhibition
The Chinese artworks on display present fashion from a Chinese cultural perspective. In various artworks, a common theme shows the female subject exuding an idealised sense of confidence, calmness and beauty.
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What is uncommon and distinctive are their dress and clothing, which gives clues to their status, wealth and standing in society.
A Chinese lady, Early 19th century, Oil on canvas, Anonymous
The painting titled A Chinese lady by an anonymous nineteenth century painter sums up the exhibition well. Like a contemporary cover of a high society magazine, the role of fashionable clothing is to give the wearer status.
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Fine jewellery and clothing have been a hallmark of privilege and prestige. In this representation, the portrait seems purposefully produced to confirm this lady’s status and place.
The role of fashionable clothing is to give the wearer status
In another work, Hu Youngkai’s Enjoying tea depicts a Chinese woman framed by a vase and railing. Painted with few colours, but with multiple hues, Enjoying tea is simple, yet it superbly presents the subject as demure and confident.
Enjoying tea, Not dated, Ink and colour on paper, Hu Yongkai
She looks regal in jewels and elegant clothes befitting a high-status lady. She wears red makeup on her cheeks and is daintily holding a porcelain teacup.
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With dangling earrings and a vibrant dress with wide white collars and cuffs, her presentation shows she is from affluence and wealth.
Zhang Peicheng’s Fisherwomen exudes the same confidence and strength, yet in this work, the red cheeks come not from makeup but from the effects of time spent working in the outdoors.
Fisherwomen, Not dated, Ink and colour paper, Zhang Peicheng
The strength of these subjects comes from their profession, a job that is noble and necessary. Although the clothing is not meant to be fashionable, it is presented by the artist as colourful and joyful.
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In this way, the artist celebrates the fisherwoman as beautiful in her own right.
Ma Xiaojuan’s Braiding depicts a young woman in a serene environment. Her feet gently dangle off the pier as she braids her hair while seemingly lost in thought.
Braiding, Not dated, Ink and colour on paper, Ma Xiaojuan
She wears no makeup, hair ornaments or earrings. She is not stylishly dressed.
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The plain clothing and lack of adornment on the subject provide the context and clues to her status.
Wearing a simple buttoned-up shirt and rolled-up pants, she seems to be a simple woman or perhaps a peasant dreaming of better circumstances.
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The changing fashion worn by women from different eras and strata of society is also depicted in a painting by Ding Yanyoung titled Beautiful woman of today.
Beautiful woman of today, 1968 Ink and colour on paper, Ding Yanyoung (1902 – 1978)
In this work, the artist presents a modern girl clothed in the fashion of the 1960s, with a striped skirt and high heels. The artist’s choice of attire for his subject firmly provides the time stamp for his painting.
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Throughout the exhibition, the intersection of fashion with art and art with fashion is documented with artwork in various media by many artists.
Chinese women’s headdresses, Zhou Peicuen Studio
Along one of the main hallways in the exhibition, huge lightboxes present images of Zhou Peicuen Studio, Chinese women’s headdresses. Like a modern-day how-to manual, they depict fifteen fashionable hairstyles worn by Han and Manchu ladies that may be copied.
Haute couture also means expensive and exclusive
Haute couture, French for “high sewing”, is hand-made high-end fashion sewn with extreme attention to detail by the most experienced and capable seamstresses.
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Haute couture also means that these fashions are expensive and exclusive. In Fiona Wong Lai-ching’s work Angelic wings, haute couture is an understatement, as her garment made with porcelain and steel is beyond price or acquisition.
Angelic wings, 2019, White porcelain and steel, Wong Lai-ching, Fiona
This gown is exquisitely delicate, made with thin pieces of white porcelain clay sewn together with fine steel thread. It is hauntingly beautiful — so much so that indeed only an angel would or could possibly wear it.
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Man Fung-yi transformed fashion into art with her installation called Weaving intimacy for my mother: thousand water, thousand eyes, thousand mountains, thousand flowers.
Weaving intimacy for my mother: thousand water, thousand eyes, thousand mountains, thousand flowers, 2012 – 13 Set of four, steel, brass and stainless steel, Man Fung-yi
By weaving traditional cheongsam and quipao dresses with steel, brass and stainless steel instead of wool or cotton, she made impermanent clothes worn during a woman’s lifetime into permanent artworks.
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At first glance the acrylic work on paper titled Walasse Ting’s world seems too lurid and bright. It is garish – in that it seems obtrusively vibrant.
Walasse Ting’s world, 1989, Acrylic on paper, Walasse Ting (1928 – 2010)
However, the artist makes brilliant use of triadic colours – three colours set 120 degrees apart on the colour wheel.
Paintings using this colour scheme balance the contrasts and create a vivid, sleek and vigorous effect.
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Luis Chan Scholars’ romance, a set of six prints depicting scholars as ghoulish voyeurs, may show long dresses, hats and hairstyles that were familiar in 1968, but little about brassieres, because the female subjects in this pictorial are not wearing any.
Scholars’ romance, 1968, Set of six, monotype and acrylic on paper, Luis Chan (1905 – 1995)
Art and fashion both have a dark side, which this painting is brave enough to explore.
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We are also shown how ordinary clothing can be made extraordinary. Sara Tse Suk-ting created an installation titled Attire that initially confounded me.
Attire, 2002, White porcelain and metal, Tse Suk-ting, Sara
At first, all I perceived were clothes neatly folded as on display at a clothing store. Then I read the description, which mentioned artwork made of porcelain and metal, and went back to the display.
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On closer examination, I realised the “clothes” were made of porcelain. Tse developed a method of transforming objects by dipping them into porcelain slip and firing them in a kiln.
Tog xie bai shou (tea / coffee bags containers), 2002 Set of four, pottery moulding, Li Wei-han, Rosanna
Now these ordinary clothes have become fascinating works of art.
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Even ordinary footwear is transformed into permanent works of art, for instance, Rosanna Li’s casted shoe-shaped ceramic teabag holders and a pair of notorious nineteenth-century shoes for bound feet.
Pair of bound foot shoes with cylindrical heels, with embroidered floral design on purple ground, ca. 1900
The exhibit also displays a pair of Rosanna Li’s more traditional figurines.
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They are wearing simple, timeless brown tunics that say little about fashion, but the contented look on her rotund subjects’ faces defies body shaming accusations.
Two seated figures, 1984 Stoneware, Li Wei-han, Rosanna
Playful is the best way to describe Chow Yun Fat’s fitting room by Wilson Shich ka-ho.
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Here he turns Chow Yun Fat’s image into two “paper dolls” complete with twelve costumes, each representing a role the actor has portrayed.
Chow Yun Fat’s fitting room, 2009 Set of ten, acrylic on canvas, digital print and gouache on paper, Shich ka-ho, Wilson
A stroll through NOT a Fashion Store! with artworks that juxtaposes art and fashion from the Hong Kong Museum of Art ’s collection is fascinating and truly eye-opening.
Text and photos Martin Wray
