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| Yves Saint Laurent dress. |
Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian (who passed away in 1944) unfortunately didn’t live to see what his discovery of cubism in 1910 would do to arouse fashion in the latter part of the 20th century. The most well known of his painted compositions features black lines and colored rectangles, and is simply named, Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue (1921). Primary colors bounce off each other in a rigid crazy quilt of geometry.
In 1965, no less than young designer Yves Saint Laurent paid homage to this painting with a wonderful sheath dress, which is now part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. In the ’70s, the Partridge Family’s groovy bus rocked a Mondrian-inspired paint job and launched a thousand and one imitators who applied this neo-patchwork technique to many garments and even a car! Ninety years later, we’re still finding fashion stimulation in the effortless combination of these contrasting elements. Adapting the color block trend can be done as a more literal artsy look, or what I like to call the “blinding rainbow on parade,” and is actually quite easy. So let me give you a few pointers to help you brighten up your world.
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| Timex watch |
If you’re of the timid persuasion when it comes to this madly colorful trend, you might want to opt for only brightly hued accessories such as the Modern Originals Camper watch by Timex. Choose from vivid shades like turquoise, hot pink and canary yellow to show your true colors in a more subtle way. This unisex watch with grosgrain band is a good bet for summer fun at the beach, and you’ll also be on time fashion wise.
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| Mondi Italy |
I ran across some vintage Mondi Italy recently and just had to scoop them up. With one side being bright Kermit the frog green, and the other a lively black and white stripe, they bring back the ’80s in the best way. It could also be interpreted as a nod to all things color blocked and graphic. I’ll use these in a photo shoot and then resell them. They had never been worn, but someone will soon.
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| Leslie Fay |
Literal interpretations with a twist have found there way to the racks of clothing stores for many years. I just got this vintage Leslie Fay late ’70s/early ’80s dress for use in styling a fashion shoot. Clearly it is a dead ringer for the idea of the painting. I love the striking nature of this dress as well as the slightly accentuated shoulders. Try looking for and then wearing exemplary vintage pieces, as they are truly a link to the modernist past that many designers use as reference. For example, shortening the hem of this dress and then pairing it with a contemporary shoe would give it of-the-moment style currency.
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| Elene Cassis |
Designer Elene Cassis showed her beautiful take on Mondrian’s now classic painting with this wonderful shift dress from her Spring 2011 collection. It has all the geometric angles, and the placement here of the black insets let the designer’s own feminine spirit shine through. This was one of my favorite dresses of all the spring shows I saw last September. The models looked like a cross between Audrey Hepburn and Tippi Hedren, captivating yet classy.
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| DKNY |
If you don’t particularly like the graphic combination of primary colors and black and white, you might opt for some of the other variations on this same theme. They all have a geometric feeling, but use more tertiary tinge and bright jewel tones as their muse. The DKNY dress here is a prime example of the way that designers love to play on a theme. I adore the use of orange at the hem to give the dress a little lift. Color placement is everything with this trend.
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| London collections |
The Spring 2008 Collections shown during London Fashion Week make it very clear that the bright-on-bright look has been making for captivating catwalks for a number of years. Here we see all types of alternatives that take a different, less hard-lined approach to the rigid grid of Mondrian. Be aware that the key to wearing these ultra-vibrant shade mash-ups is to play down the accessories and let the tints do the talking. The unproblematic way to do this look is to stay in a similar color family, or use black or another neutral item to ground the rest of the ensemble.
Next time you’re touring a modern art exhibition think twice as to how these two-dimensional paintings might be influencing not only what you hang on your wall but also how you frame your fashion point of view.
