Dior: Reinterpreting Art for Fashion

My lovely roommates CW and SM have one of Hokusai's prints of Mount Fuji on our living room wall. The Great Wave at Kanagawa is terrifyingly stunning. Sharp white tendrils creep off the end of wave with calculated precision and Mount Fuji sits calmly in the distance.

I came upon this piece perusing through the Dior Couture Spring '07 collection and I love how Galliano reinterpreted Hokusai's work. The proportions are sinusoidal. They vary from the wide, bell sleeves and full hoop skirt, to the narrow, banded waist and slim legs poking out of the gown. The crinkled bow around the model's neck looks like an elegant wave but the graphic print creeps up the gown adding turbulence to the white stillness.
I love it when the lines between Art and Fashion blur. It's beautiful to think that you could wrap your most immediate form of expression, your body, in something inspiring to the many who meander through The Met.

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SB