Charles James dress |
Everything she did was groundbreaking. She recognized that it was the woman who made
the clothes. “A new dress doesn’t get
you anywhere. It’s the life you live in
the dress.” She put Cher and Barbra Streisand on the cover of Vogue because
they were unusual. “The strong face
comes not only from bone structure but from inner thinking,” she said. She discovered Lauren Bacall and
Veruschka. She shot a model in the first
bikini. When her editors were afraid to
print the photographs she told them “An attitude like that will hold fashion
back for a thousand years”. It’s still
remarkable how ahead of the curve she was…I think we still haven’t caught up
with her ideas.
Her genius, I believe, rested in the fact that she worked
purely by instinct, not by education or research. For example, I love the story
about the creation of the Marie Antoinette mannequin for her French Renaissance
exhibit in the amazing film, The Eye Has To Travel. At first, the artist making the installation
made the wig huge, but to scale. Vreeland wasn’t happy. She said it was “very expected.” He went back, and made the wig rise up to the
ceiling. “Mmmmmm!” she said
happily. “Now she is ready for the
guillotine!” She insisted that the
reactions to her images or exhibits be visceral. She wanted them to be wondered over like a
child. “You're not supposed to give the people what
they want,” she once said. “Give them
what they don't know they want yet.”
That came from really having a mission. Her vision came from a pure place. She saw authenticity and beauty came from the
core, not the surface, an idea that has resonated with me my whole life. And
she took risks. No one takes risks in
fashion or media today like she did, and she proved that you have to push the
envelope to move forward and grow. You
can’t be so afraid of failure that you don’t aim high.
So I think the next Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute
exhibit should pay homage to woman who created it, to fully express the nuances
of her life and the scope of her influence in fashion and culture. It would be a guidebook on how to live a
joyful, fulfilled life by taking chances.
“You have to create the life you want to live,” she once said to Truman
Capote, and I couldn’t agree more. Why
shoot for the moon when you can have the stars?
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