Where I See Fashion || Interview

Within the creative world we can find inspiration from all areas of the planet, be that people, nature, art, music or fashion. All these things work together to inspire each other in every aspect and combine their own elements to continuously enforce creativity within our lives.

Bianca Luini is a fashion design graduate living Milan, and is the creator and owner of Where I See Fashion, a blog with well over 355,000 views that has taken the Tumblr-Sphere by storm and shown the world that inspiration is everywhere. 

Bianca matches fashion images with a variety of art and nature photographs in a side-by-side comparison drawing the parallels between the two. The compilation of two images is often so compelling and mesmerising that its hard to believe that the right side image was not the original inspiration to the fashion designer - or was it...?

I was lucky enough to speak to Bianca and ask her some questions about her blog and the movement she has created within the world of Tumblr: 

Match #195

Picture by Feng Wang published on Vogue Italia’s website | Google Maps view of the “Underwater Waterfall” in Le Morne, Mauritius

What and why made you start your blog Where I See Fashion?

I’m constantly inspired by the beautiful pictures that I see all over the web, and I've always wanted to find a personal way to collect them. I started noticing similarities between pictures while doing image reserch for uni projects (I've studied Fashion Design in Milan), I kept saving and saving pictures on my laptop until one day I tried to put them properly together, as pairs. I really liked how they looked so I decided to start a blog, and that when WISF was born!

Match #159

Benjamin Jarvis by Thomas Cooksey for HERO Magazine | Building in Eindhoven, Netherlands photographed by GIJS LEUSSINK

When did you originally start seeing the connections, primarily visual, between fashion and art/nature etc?

I've always knew since I got interested in fashion that designers are often inspired by art or nature when creating their collections, and as a fashion design student I've learned how important it is to look for inspiration before starting a project. Now whenever I see new collections I can't help but wonder where the designer took the inspiration from, and that's what I love to show on my blog!

Match #181

Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2014 | Interiors of the Duomo di Monreale in Sicily, Italy

I’ve personally always believed that fashion is an art, how do you feel about this? What makes fashion an art for you?

I strongly believe fashion is a form of art! The definition of the word 'art' in the dictionary is the following: “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power”. I just think fashion fits right in this definition, we may call it decorative or applied art, but to me there's no doubth that it is an art form.

Match #153

Elena Sudakova in “Invitation à la Danse” by Sølve Sundsbø for Numéro Magazine #91 March 2008 | Prometheus Bound by Nicolas-Sébastien Adam, white marble, 1762

How do you make your matches? Is it something that comes naturally and spontaneously to you, or is it more of a process that takes a lot of time?

I have built a sort of image archive where I keep all the pictures I find beautiful and interesting, I save many photos every week and I use this archive to create my matches. It's a process that can take a second or weeks, sometimes I’m lucky enough to find two photos at the same time that perfectly go together but usually I find the perfect pair after a few days. Or maybe I don’t find anything for a week and then I create 15 matches in a day! It’s not a regular process, it kind of just happens when it’s time!

Match #176

Details at Céline Fall 2013 | Forest with green moss and white trees

Where do your source the majority of your images from?

Almost every picture I use is from Tumblr, which I love very much as image source and as community! Sometimes I also use Pinterest or Google, but it's rare.

|| Art Trip || London Tate Modern & Tate Britain ||

As part of my Fine Art course at college, we are lucky enough to go on plenty of trips to various galleries, many of which are in London. Last week a large group of the art students, ranging from the AS & A2 level students to the B-Tech Diploma students, embarked on a trip to two London Galleries: Tate Modern & Tate Britain.

Theres something so enticing about art galleries, particularly for me those of modern art. They really open up your eyes to so many types of art and helps you to explore new artists. Galleries are a cultural experience that stimulates the brain in a way that only art can: a creative yet intelligent way.

I thought I would post some of the pictures I took from the trip, just to show my readers what spectacular and wonderful art both these galleries contain.

Tate Modern

Jannis Kounellis || Untitled

Joseph Beuys || Monument to the Stag

Picasso || The Weeping Woman 

Hrair Sarkissian || Education Sqaures

Gerhard Richter || Cage (1) - (6)

Lorna Simon || Five Day Forecast

Miyako Ishiuchi || Yokosuka Story

Niki de Saint Phalle || Shooting Picture

Project Space: Inverted House

This particular project I found so completely inspiring and wonderful. The whole collection was absolutely wonderful. My own current project is Space & Place so I found this particular collection to be so motivating and stimulating.

Siniša Ilić || Untitled

Tina Gverović || Parastates


 ||MORE IMAGES BELOW||

|| Black || The Greatest Colour in Fashion & Art? ||

Yves Saint Laurent once said that “black is the liaison which connects art and fashion,” supporting Gianni Versace’s similar citation that “black is the quintessence of simplicity and elegance.”

The colour of black wasn’t really introduced into fashion until around the 14^th Century, in which the status of black within fashion and art began to change. The fine quality dyes began to be imported and exported and soon arrived on the market. Initially black was to be worn by governmental officials and magistrates, acting as a symbol of ‘importance’ and ‘seriousness.’

Black was the colour of power; of dignity; of humility and temperance with the rulers of the European world basking in the symbolism of black.

Gustave Doreé || The Inferno, Canto

In the 18^th century black began to retreat as a fashionable colour, and as Paris became the fashion capital of the world; the powerful men and women of the world began adorning shades of pastels, creams and colours – a sweet shops of colours.

Then came the Industrial Revolution and everything changed. The cities of Europe and a-like became stained black resulting in the art and literature of the time to reflect the landscape – think Charles Dickens and famous French artist Gustave Doré. 

Henri Matisse || Potrait of
Madame Matisse

Within the world of art, black was a controversial topic with some artists fully loathing the colour within their works, whereas others, such as Manet, incorporated the colour in their works to capture the lights and true emotion of the subject. In the 20^th century black became the colour of Fascism from counties such as Italy and Germany. However within art, black regained some the territory is had previously lost in around the 19^th century.

In 1945, Henri Matisse (personally one of my favourite artists) greatly expressed his love for the colour within his work, explaining the significance and importance of the colour: “when I didn’t know what colour to put down, I put down black … Black is a force: I use black as a ballast to simplify the construction … since the impressionists it seems to have made continuous progress, taking a more and more important part in colour orchestration, comparable to that of the double bass as a solo instrument.”

Coco Chanel's 'LBD'

In 1926 our beloved Coco Chanel famously said this: “A woman needs just three things; a black dress, a black sweater, and, on her arm, a man she loves.” Along with her famous LBD – Little Black Dress – she helped to revolutionize fashion, and of course the colour of black within fashion. Women’s fashion became sophisticated and simplified, symbolising freedom coinciding with chic. One of the most famous dresses inspired by this movement is of course the one worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, designed by Hubert de Givenchy.

In the 1950s, black became the symbol of individuality and intellectual and social rebellion, spanning from the leather jacketed greasers to the punk subculture of the late 20th century.

Designer Ann Demeulemeester said that black is of “the purest of colours … the most poetic, but at the same time strongest. It’s the colour of poets and writers and of rebels.”

Coco Chanel

Black within fashion is a recurrent feature, the only colour that stays no matter what. No matter the season. No matter occasion. No matter the style. Many speculate that black within fashion is greatly linked with the economy and in a sense I agree. Black has been, and still is, a symbol for various movements, subcultures and personal expression. Black became a way in which men and women could fully express themselves without giving in to the conformity pressed by society. It became is symbol of power, freedom, individuality and rebellion, and symbol that, without even knowing, would change the face of fashion and art continuously. Black is a colour that is in-definitively adaptable to our surroundings, social status, economical stance, and our political and moral movements.