Stick Your Neck Out

The long-awaited farewell to Winter may mean parting ways with our hats, gloves and scarves for yet another season, however neckwear is here to stay this Spring in the shape of the versatile cotton square. The handkerchief is understood to have been invented by Richard II of England in the fourteenth century and has since successfully transcended styles over the centuries. Most notably worn by labourers and revolutionaries throughout history for its utility and symbolism respectively, the revival for Americana in the late-twentieth century parodied its cowboy and rebel culture heritage and was subsequently adopted by a new generation of subcultures. Originating from the Hindi word bandhana, meaning ‘to tie’, the cotton square continues to be manufactured in 100% cotton and decorated using a variety of traditional printing processes. From screen print to discharge and fast colour techniques, the trusty handkerchief, neckerchief or bandana balances beauty and design detail with practicality. 

100% cotton squares – clockwise from top:

Labour And Wait, UNIQLO SPRZ NY X Keith Haring, Barbour and Hilditch & Key 

I have been collecting bandanas for many years. There is something so understated and poetic-like about its construct – its often complex design only fully revealed when unfolded – giving great satisfaction to its wearer. They are my souvenirs on my travels – a few of my favourite global pit stops are the Roman institution for vintage Omero e Cecilia; RRL's metropolitan ranch on Bleeker Street, New York; American Rag in Los Angeles and Daikanyama emporium Okura in Tokyo. 

Franklin Bandana - RRL

Prices vary from dollar store to designer creations. The market for original vintage squares is driven predominantly by Japan who have an affinity with the patterns and symbols similar to their own shibui aesthetic. Rare commemorative or political layouts incorporating stylised narratives surrounded by paisley or polka dot motifs are highly sought-after and feature in the pages of men’s lifestyle periodicals such as Free & Easy, for the discerning gentleman. 

Semper Fidelis, 2010 - Jonathan Velardi

My personal fascination with the history behind the accessory led me to design and print my own bandanas as contemporary artworks (Devon’s Political Archive Inspires Devon, BBC 2011) using the customary visual codes and allegory to create new contemporary dialogue.

Louis Vuitton Menswear SS14

For Spring/Summer 2014, Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurent showcased the menswear accessory of the season. Kim Jones for Louis Vuitton incorporated the luxury label’s iconic flower emblems into decorative bandanas. Worn as loose cravats, they deformalised the suits and business wear that they had been paired with down the runway. The theme continued with patchwork paisley packing a punch, emblazoned on oversized shirting. At Saint Laurent, Hedi Slimane’s rockabilly-inspired collection presented a more familiar image of cardinal red squares in cashmere and silk-blend, tri-folded around the neck in bandit fashion topped with slick, pomade hairstyles. 

Saint Laurent Menswear SS14

Indigo also meets the cotton square at the trend junction this season. From tones of raw serge de Nîmes to electric International Klein Blue, there is a shade for just about anyone on the indigo spectrum. 

Basket Pattern Bandana - Okura

Accent indigo or denim workwear with examples of my classic spot squares in fresh hues of green and blue (top). Channel countryside dandyism with spotted compositions by Labour And Wait, Barbour and Hilditch & Key in timeless primary colours. For a more contemporary take UNIQLO’s latest artistic collaboration with MoMA for its SPRZ NY capsule collection includes trademark designs from the art foundations of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Drake's of London produce a range of modern and eccentric interpretations in multiple colourways - I particularly like this graduated spot print (below). Twist or tie the square around the neck or pop into a breast pocket for an effortless look.

Graduated Spot Print Pocket Square - Drake's of London

With Burberry Prorsum following the trend for neckwear in their Autumn/Winter 2014 collection – introducing a more loose style with large silk squares, worn nonchalantly on necks and shoulders - the neckerchief is very much here to stay. Square up to style and stick your neck out.

Addresses:

American Rag

150 South La Brea Avenue

90036 Los Angeles, CA 

USA

Omero e Cecilia

Via del Governo Vecchio 110

00186 Rome

Italy

Okura

20-11 Sarugaku-cho Shibuya-ku

150-0033 Tokyo

Japan

RRL

381 Bleeker Street

10014 New York

USA

Discover more about the design process behind my bandana artwork Semper Fidelis, commissioned by Devon County Council and Double Elephant Print Workshop in this series of related blog posts and read its full press release here. 

Follow @JMVELARDI on Twitter and Pinterest for the latest on arts, culture & lifestyle.

Runway images courtesy of STYLE.com

Game Of Corpses

Earlier this week I headed to the South coast of East Sussex to explore the historic town of Hastings and its characterful surroundings. My local guide was fellow Slade alumni @djbrass, a resident of the area for several years, whose exceptional knowledge of all things creative made my inaugural visit extra special with great finds from the worlds of art and design. Many Londoners decamp along this coast line to live in idyllic bohemia and this includes the capital’s Jerwood Foundation who opened an outpost along the seafront in 2012. Now a little over a year old, the HAT Projects-designed Jerwood Gallery exhibits contemporary British art with both temporary displays as well as a permanent collection of modern art housed in a tile-clad black box, congruous with its neighbouring native black wooden net huts located on The Stade.

The current contemporary exhibit in Room 6 of the intimate museum showcases works by Jake and Dinos Chapman. Exquisite Corpse presents a series of etchings on paper from the collaborative siblings created in 2000. Part of a larger body of work – and an important source to where successive works have originated – the eight images on display have been inspired by a parlour game developed by the Surrealists called cadaver exquis or exquisite corpse, where the series and exhibition title takes their name. To be executed collectively, a sheet of paper is folded several times; the paper is passed around for each participant to add parts to a body, which in turn is folded again to conceal previous additions. The technique subsequently produces a haphazard composition of varying scales and styles. 

 Exquisite Corpse, 2000

The formula is unsurprisingly favoured by the brothers grim, grotesque and shocking - skulls and swastikas contribute to the visual DNA constructed by the brothers of decay and destruction that have been trademarks of this YBA duo for over two decades. The nature of the printed medium allows for exquisite fine detail: hairy limbs uncomfortably share form with oozing orifices shredded by razor sharp claws; shower heads spray blood within a landscape of richly textured uproots, inhabited by decapitated children with bestial deformities. While the tradition of print provides a gravitas by default, the series is deserving of an appreciative eye for the provocative that is relayed in monochrome innocence. There is beauty in the ghastly and the attention to detail is seductive in both context and execution.

Macabre as brand is no easy feat, yet the Chapman Brothers have successfully presented both an accessible and accepted narrative that transcends from the conceptual white cube walls, via household recognition, to the image-conscious runways of high fashion. 

Chapman Brothers X Louis Vuitton F/W13

The artists have collaborated with none other than French luxury house Louis Vuitton, under the direction of ready-to-wear menswear designer Kim Jones, on a capsule collection of accessories due for release this Autumn. 

Featuring a floral motif of winged-eyeballs and crazed embroidered creatures, the limited edition collection reflects the continuing addiction for contemporary art affiliation within luxury brand strategy as well as society’s own perverse, clandestine attitudes that fuel the Chapman Brothers’ deviously playful practice.

Exquisite Corpse is part of Jerwood's Summer programme and runs to 2nd October 2013 – for visitor information visit Jerwood Gallery.

Jerwood Gallery

Rock-a-Nore Road

Hastings

East Sussex

TN34 3DW

Exquisite Corpse images courtesy of Tate
Louis Vuitton images courtesy of Style.com

Marketing La Marque

The doors of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris open to the public toady for the Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs exhibition that explores the French fashion house’s journey from the epitome of utility during the industrial age of travel in the mid-nineteenth century to the status symbol of luxury, which the brand is celebrated for today. Monsieur Louis Vuitton reacted to the needs of an era by starting his business as a packer in 1854, producing lightweight, water-resistant trunks that symbolized the cultural motions of high society and the birth of a brand. The infamous 'LV' monogram was created in 1896 and travelled around the world wherever its owners went. 

That very monogram continues to be produced today and has appropriated even greater socio-symbolic meaning under Marc Jacobs as the brand’s Creative Director since 1997. The exhibition draws parallels between the two men and ultimately looks at the marketing strategies that the house of Louis Vuitton has pioneered for over a century. The fashion pack will swoon over cuts and cloth but Jacobs’ collaborations with international contemporary artists will have the art crowd hooked on works by Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, Stephen Sprouse and Yayoi Kusama to name a few, who have injected another layer on top of the iconic monogram: from illustrations and graffiti, to text and dots. Fashion’s relationship with popular culture has no doubt been a reaction to the once-conceptual direction Jacobs introduced to his well-travelled, culture-rich customers that is now commonplace in the luxury sector. The brand’s most recent collaborator is filmmaker Christian Bosrtlap who has been commissioned by online luxury lifestyle platform NOWNESS to create a short that will be screened at the exhibitIon, depicting this very idea of travel through the luxury brand’s heritage and reinvention of its iconic style throughout the centuries that is uniquely la marque Louis Vuitton.
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Louis Vuitton Marc Jacobs opens today at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and runs to 16th Septemebr 2012 - click here to view Borstlap’s short, Louis Vuitton I in full.

Film stills courtesy of NOWNESS