I have always been fascinated by the applications plastic and synthetic materials have had in the history of fashion.
I confess my first "plastic fashion" love was caused by 80s jewellery and accessories à la Fiorucci, though when I grew up I took it to new heights, cutting to bits the brightly coloured plastic yolks you find in surprise chocolate eggs and then using the materials so obtained for headdresses and assorted accessories.
Luckily for the history of fashion, experiments with plastic and plastic-derived materials started way before my vandalising projects involving chocolate eggs took place.
The first experiments with plastic began in the 19th century: objects in plastic were for example presented at London’s Great Exhibition in 1862.
The material used to make such objects was actually called parkesine after its inventor, Alexander Parkes, and was a mixture of nitrated cellulose, naphtaline and camphor.
Further experiments in 1868 led to the creation of the first artificial plastic (nitrated cellulose and camphor) and, twenty years after, galalith was made using milk waste.
Yet it was Belgian Leo Hendrik Baekeland who developed what became one of the most popular products employed in fashion throughout the 30s, a synthetic plastic made out of phenolic resin, more commonly known as bakelite.
In the early 20s the General Bakelite Company, founded in the USA in 1910, changed its name into the Bakelite Corporation.
By that time the Futurists in Italy had already launched a campaign to employ in fashion unusual materials. “We open the doors of the couturier’s salon to paper, cardboard, glass, tin-foil, aluminium, ceramics, rubber, fish-skin, packing cloth, string, hemp, gas and to living plants and animals," they claimed in their Manifesto della Moda Femminile Futurista (1920).
Yet the creativity of many designers went beyond the Futurists’ expectations.
Elsa Schiaparelli researched into the possibilities offered by new materials, creating her iconic cape de verre in rhodophane, an elegant and bold design, characterised by a raised collar and well-sculpted silhouette, and a cellophane scarf (1934) to be worn with a suit in rayon ribouldingue, a fabric that created bark-like effects (see first picture in this post). Black and silver cellophane was also employed by the designer for evening hats decorated with tulle or lace.
Schiaparelli also encouraged textile company Colcombet to carry out interesting experiments with artificial fibres that led to the creation of various types of rayon, from the "peau d’ange" called "jersarelli" (1932) and the "capricorn", a knotted rayon fabric that looked like wool, to rhodia satin and tergol nylon (1936).
Methacrylated methyl resin, or Plexiglass, was instead used in the footwear industry, especially for heels and soles, and the exceptionally translucent lucite also became popular in the fashion industry.
Polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, was mainly employed at the beginning in shoe manufacture, while nylon, originally created in 1938 by French company DuPont, found new applications in the textile industry and in the luxury market at the end of the 40s.
Salvatore Ferragamo created his famous "invisible" sandal around the same time. The sandal featured an upper entirely made of nylon fishing line and this futuristic design won him the 1947 Neiman Marcus award.
The (unfortunately largely forgotten) fashion designer Jacques Griffe was famous for creating feminine dresses using rich fabrics such as lamé, satin, tulle, taffeta and velvet, that featured elaborate and richly decorated floor-length full skirts.
One of his most popular creations, photographed by Regina Relang in 1952, was a sumptuous tulle ball gown with plastic bands that, graduating in size, decorated the voluminous skirt, adding to it an architectural touch.
New designers brought back plastic into fashion again and again: in 1965 Roberto Capucci used fluorescent plastic rosary beads to decorate his designs and, rather than with a conventional fashion show, he presented them in the dark.
Further experiments were carried out in the 60s thanks to innovative designers such as Paco Rabanne and Pierre Cardin.
Futuristic designs inspired by the Space Age incorporated synthetic fabrics, shiny plastic inserts and vinyl details.
The enthusiasm for new and innovative plastic-based materials allowed the designers to take their experiments to different levels and Rabanne also developed prototypes of single-piece plastic rainwear, called "Giffo", made out of plastic that was sprayed into a mould and then dried.
Plastic recently reappeared also in the Spring/Summer 2010 collections: Versace employed see-through plastic with printed baroque motifs and swirls for mini-skirts and dresses.
Though interesting, the result wasn't maybe as unique as Gianni Versace's Autumn/Winter 1994-95 silk taffeta dresses coated with polyurethane, a process that made silk look like plastic, but allowed the fabric to maintain its softness to the touch.
If you followed the latest Japan Fashion Week, you may have have seen some interesting experiments with fabrics and synthetic materials on the Dress 33 runway.
The collection may have benefited from some editing, but, as a whole, it was probably one of the most original of the entire event.
Toshikazu Iwaya (former designer at Dress Camp) blended different techniques and structures in one design, overlapping fabrics and materials, creating a sort of stratification of layers and merging two designs into one.
Laminated fabrics were employed for silvery and blue dresses decorated with ruffles or with half a cape that slightly called to mind Schiap’s rhodophane design; see-through plastic-looking sleeves added a touch of futurism to some designs, while oversized coloured cellophane ribbons were used as headdresses.
Plastic-like petals - in ruby red or bright yellow - created playful contrasts in designs that incorporated fabric and feathers and plastic shirts appeared also among the menswear designs matched with wool cape hoodies.
The contrasting combination of textile and sartorial traditions, of luxurious and soft materials and hard plastic, helped in this case creating a new sort of woman, half invincible and unreachable, half romantic and glamorous.
Iwaya's new business partner is currently Nobuyuki Nakama, who was a former Moschino Japan president, and, in a way, the experiments he carried out in his collection made me think a lot about early and playful Moschino.
I'll definitely be on the lookout for more plastic (or plastic-looking) designs, but deep down in my heart I hope that, apart from thinking about how to integrate such materials in their collections, designers out there are also trying to develop new textile options maybe collaborating with established companies out there, like Schiaparelli did with Colcombet.
After all, that's the most important aspect of fashion, keeping on experimenting and seeking new means of expression capable of producing new visual and tactile joys.
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