![The house of mirth: fashion theatre spring 2004](0102fe0.gif)
Fashion as theatre: Mark
Montano, House of Diehl, House of Field, Miguel Andover, As Four,
Diesel StyleLab and Betsey Johnson (right) showcase their
springsummer 2004 collections as performance art, writes Phillip
D. Johnson
PHOTOGRAPHED BY RICHARD
SPIEGEL, CHERYL GORSKI AND THE AUTHOR
MOST FASHION HISTORIANS will
agree that fashion, on a whole, has always employed some form of
theatrical elements throughout its much-storied existence. Although
it had somewhat been a low-key affair up until the mid-1990s, Paris,
through necessity, revved up its engine in 1945 and demonstrated
why theatrical elements and the big gesture is sometimes necessary
to achieve one’s goal.
|