Creative Museum: Haute Couture Combs

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Par le Creative Museum:

Les défilés de Haute Couture sont toujours attendus avec intérêt car on aime à être ébloui par la féerie de couleurs et de formes qui s’y déploient. Les grands couturiers donnent tout pouvoir à leur imagination pour concevoir des parures vestimentaires qui frappent le regard et soient en même temps appréciées au même titre que des œuvres d’art.

De ce fait, une création prendra tout son sens si elle est accompagnée des accessoires assortis. Coiffure, peignes, chapeau, maquillage, ceinture ou chaussures doivent ajouter une note particulière : soit accompagner, soit contraster ou encore renforcer un effet.

Il est donc intéressant d’observer les ornements de coiffure créés par les grands couturiers pour certains défilés car ils évoquent à eux seuls le monde de la mode et l’univers particulier des créateurs.

Comb by Chanel


Two combs with enamelled design, by Alexandre


High comb by Christian Dior

Pour voir plus de peignes par des designers de mode, rechercher Lea Stein, Alexandre, Chanel, Adrien Mann dans le Creative Museum:

Royal Wedding Jewelry: Princess Charlene of Monaco

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Princess Charlene of Monaco wore three modern tiaras, especially designed for her wedding to Prince Albert. We know of a San Antonio Wedding Video Company with a full portfolio of professionally filmed weddings

As an Olympic swimmer, she commissioned Van Cleef & Arpels to make the tiara for her Ocean Spray Parure, reflecting her love of the sea. I was just as fascinated by how it was made as I was by the beauty of the finished piece.

The second was a tiara of two floral brooches, which held her wedding veil. Instead of wearing it on top of her head, the tiara fell around her chignon at the bottom.

Lorenz Baumer designed a tiara where the diamonds rushed upwards, as if they were a wave at high tide.

Here is the video of how it was made.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is169_mhgjQ&w=560&h=349]

What horrifies me are the stories that Charlene tried to run away from this marriage three times. She didn’t want Prince Albert, who had fathered two children illegitimately, and she was crying as they walked out of the church. Jewelry should reflect the deepest happiness of the heart, not the imprisoning of one in lifelong misery. Look at her face.

Now, look at Kate.

Jen Cruse: Large Tortoiseshell High Backcomb

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This beautifully carved tortoiseshell comb is one of only three known to me. Two are in my collection and the third is in the collection of the Museum of London. Each comb varies slightly in format and also condition, and the carving techniques demonstrate the exceptional skill of the combmaker.

The decorative features of each comb originally included engraved emblems of rose, shamrock and thistle (all broken off on this example) together with the Prince of Wales feathers, further embellished with a crown and two fleur-de-lis in rolled gold; European in origin, it is possibly English-made and dates to the mid 1800s.

W 7¼ ins/18.4cm Ht 9 ins/22.9cm

Suggestive of royal connections, for whom these combs were designed or intended is uncertain. Were they to be worn by members of a Royal Court or were they expensive commemorative gifts to celebrate a Royal wedding?

Unfortunately I have been unable to find any precise information on this comb, its ‘sister’ comb featured on page 30 of my book or the Museum comb. Various theories exist but are purely speculative in the absence of reliable evidence.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine

The Comb: Its History and Development

Moshi Monsters: Fashion in the Virtual World

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As models promenaded down the runway for the Fall 2012 Snaute Nausure season, one critic sniffed, “Wierd vibes have a way of surfacing in clothes. A runway is like a psychiatrist’s couch. Stuff just comes out.”

Not so for Moshi Monsters designer Snarl Swagerfeld of Ingestinel. The Moshi Snaute Nausure collection was a fabulous success, focusing on hair ornaments and tiaras with an anime theme. As Swagerfeld got his models out on time, he moved the curtain to hide Shoe Wars backstage between Gimme Poo and Growlin’Tino.

But all went well in the end. The last outfit payed homage to Coco Ingestinel’s 1932 Paris jewelry collection of golden tiaras and her neutral color palette of black, brown, and grey.

Creative Museum: American Dazzle

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The Creative Museum has just introduced its fourth slide presentation on the history of American celluloid combs. It is masterful and puts the correct respectful valuation on celluloid, which allowed artists’ imaginations to go wild. Here is “Spotlight on the United States.”

I could tell you about these pictures, but it would probably be more educational to see the Creative Museum’s presentation. :-)

To the great great grandaughter of Patoromu Tamatea: Dear Lily,

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Your spirit holds a voice from the past. Thank you for the miracle.

The man who bought your great great grandfather’s whale bone comb is Kajetan Fiedorowicz — pioneer in the antiquities world, professional photographer, and author on this blog. Serendipity plays creative games with chance, doesn’t it?

Your note brought us all joyous surprise. He sent me another photo of Mr. Tamatea’s work to put on the blog as a present for you.

Have you ever seen this one? In it, your great great grandfather gave this Heru two different colored paua-shell eyes, one dark – one light, clearly symbolizing the sun and the moon. I hope you enjoyed discovering us, as much as we were thrilled to hear from you.

With blessings,g-

Barbara

Kajetan also gave me a link to a Tamatea comb, which resides in the Maori section of the TeKakano Pacific Information Centre in the Auckland Museum. The listing says, “Source: Captain Gilbert Mair. Acquisition Date: 1890.”

In 1840, the year Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, New Zealand became part of the British Empire. Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi. European settlers imposed their own economic and legal systems on the Maori, took most of the land, and left them impoverished. Seeing his genius in canoe carving, I have to wonder how much Captain Mair paid him.

I smell a rat, but have no original documents to prove it. However, I can say…

This priceless masterpiece in the Auckland Museum is a Tamatea, whose name is not listed on the information card, so I’m adding it.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine

Carved Histories: Rotorua Ngati Tarawhai Carving

and from the archives of Kajetan Fiedorowicz:
The Collection of the Tepapa Government in New Zealand
Museum of Wellington & Sea

My Ebay Auction Was Taken Down. I Put It Up Again.

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My ebay auction was taken down because I used a certain word. This comb was made in 1890. It is a legal item, which is why items of a similar material and date are sold at every auction house in the world. Beginning price: $24.99. Here is the new link.

I really didn’t want to put this on my blog, but for all the people who were watching and bidding, I thought it would be convenient for them to have the new link. I apologize for any flutter caused.

Miriam Slater Collection: Tortoiseshell Kanzashi

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Chrysanthemums are the imperial flower of Japan. They represent friendship, which masks a secret wish for love. Perfection is defined by the unfolding of the flower’s petals.

As symmetry is an important principle in Japanese art, kanzashi are usually made in pairs. This pair from The Miriam Slater Collection combines dark and blonde tortoiseshell masterfully. You can see mottled sticks, dark leaves and centers, and blonde flowers blooming. A butterfly stops for a moment. The bira bira below have dark shell pieces linked by blonde shell chains. The balance between dark and light affects the way we see both colors. The Japanese were also known for portraying realism in exact detail.

कंघी

For more scholarly research, please examine

Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks: 1680 – 1900

Edo: Arts of Japan’s Last Shogun Age

Beauty & Desire in Edo Period Japan