Daphne Guinness @ SHOW cabinet
Ever wished you could have a nose through the cupboards of someone you really admire? Well, last week, I got to do precisely that, without the embarrassment of a subsequent court case.
SHOWcabinet, based at SHOWstudio, the atelier of photographer, Nick Knight, has opened up its ground floor in order to showcase collections curated and offered for sale by luminaries from the twinned worlds of fashion and art.
The diminutive space transcends its simple purpose this month as Daphne Guinness, pioneer of the heel-less shoe and monochrome striped hair, assembles a collection of some of her most emblematic possessions.
Guinness, despite her flamboyant appearance, remains something of an esoteric figure: no mean feat for a woman whose life embraces the full breadth of involvement in almost every corner of the arts. However, to bestow her with any singular title (poet, writer, designer, model, muse, songwriter, performer and producer) is to rather miss the point of her endeavours.
There are some things in our world that not only defy explanation, but are also similarly unrequiring of any metered definition. Guinness’ offering isn’t a dry, soulless show-and-tell of a rich woman’s chattels: imagine the wicked Queen from Snow White deciding to do a bit of spring cleaning meets the costume department from Pan’s Labyrinth and you’ve some idea of the curiosities within.
Here, Guinness’ obsession with armour is fully evident. From the compelling symmetry of Gareth Pugh’s black leather cage jacket (with matching headpiece and armlets for that authentic “fencer from the future” look) to jewellery designer Shaune Leane’s “Contra Mundum”, a diamond scattered chainmail glove, we are drawn into a world where the brutal purpose of bodily protection is elegantly transubstantiated to the finest costume.
Though often mis-interpreted as mere fetish, Guinness’ adoration for the constriction of corsetry and the crippling incapacitation of those trademark shoes opens a chink into the psyche of this fascinating doyenne of fashion. In bondage she may be seeking to preserve the notion of quiet reserve and consideration: one may not be hurried, nor given to flights of transient, thoughtless whim when so encased.
Those of a more literary persuasion may be tempted by a little something from Shakespeare: a rare 1865 copy of the fourth folio of Comedies, Tragedies and Histories at a cool £45,000. How about a first edition of Virginia Woolf’s short story collection Monday or Tuesday, a snip at £2,000, and complete with four full-page woodcut illustrations by Woolf’s sister, the Bloomsbury-set artist Vanessa Bell?
There is a fantastical nature to the majority of the collection, but perhaps the most compelling objet of all is a large silver obsidian sphere. This perfect, football sized orb of volcanic glass sits impassively on its shelf, a darkly gleaming, impenetrable example of natural phenomena. Maybe it was just too close a thing for Guinness to contain a paradigm of her own character within her possession.
Which is great news for anyone drawn to the idea of a peek into the wardrobe of an honest-to-goodness icon.
SHOWcabinet: Daphne Guinness from 21 February – 12 April 2013 at SHOWstudio, 19 Motcomb Street, London SW1X 8LB from 11am-6pm, Mon-Fri
http://showstudio.com/contributor/daphne_guinness
SHOWcabinet, based at SHOWstudio, the atelier of photographer, Nick Knight, has opened up its ground floor in order to showcase collections curated and offered for sale by luminaries from the twinned worlds of fashion and art.
The diminutive space transcends its simple purpose this month as Daphne Guinness, pioneer of the heel-less shoe and monochrome striped hair, assembles a collection of some of her most emblematic possessions.
Guinness, despite her flamboyant appearance, remains something of an esoteric figure: no mean feat for a woman whose life embraces the full breadth of involvement in almost every corner of the arts. However, to bestow her with any singular title (poet, writer, designer, model, muse, songwriter, performer and producer) is to rather miss the point of her endeavours.
There are some things in our world that not only defy explanation, but are also similarly unrequiring of any metered definition. Guinness’ offering isn’t a dry, soulless show-and-tell of a rich woman’s chattels: imagine the wicked Queen from Snow White deciding to do a bit of spring cleaning meets the costume department from Pan’s Labyrinth and you’ve some idea of the curiosities within.
Here, Guinness’ obsession with armour is fully evident. From the compelling symmetry of Gareth Pugh’s black leather cage jacket (with matching headpiece and armlets for that authentic “fencer from the future” look) to jewellery designer Shaune Leane’s “Contra Mundum”, a diamond scattered chainmail glove, we are drawn into a world where the brutal purpose of bodily protection is elegantly transubstantiated to the finest costume.
Though often mis-interpreted as mere fetish, Guinness’ adoration for the constriction of corsetry and the crippling incapacitation of those trademark shoes opens a chink into the psyche of this fascinating doyenne of fashion. In bondage she may be seeking to preserve the notion of quiet reserve and consideration: one may not be hurried, nor given to flights of transient, thoughtless whim when so encased.
Those of a more literary persuasion may be tempted by a little something from Shakespeare: a rare 1865 copy of the fourth folio of Comedies, Tragedies and Histories at a cool £45,000. How about a first edition of Virginia Woolf’s short story collection Monday or Tuesday, a snip at £2,000, and complete with four full-page woodcut illustrations by Woolf’s sister, the Bloomsbury-set artist Vanessa Bell?
There is a fantastical nature to the majority of the collection, but perhaps the most compelling objet of all is a large silver obsidian sphere. This perfect, football sized orb of volcanic glass sits impassively on its shelf, a darkly gleaming, impenetrable example of natural phenomena. Maybe it was just too close a thing for Guinness to contain a paradigm of her own character within her possession.
Which is great news for anyone drawn to the idea of a peek into the wardrobe of an honest-to-goodness icon.
SHOWcabinet: Daphne Guinness from 21 February – 12 April 2013 at SHOWstudio, 19 Motcomb Street, London SW1X 8LB from 11am-6pm, Mon-Fri
http://showstudio.com/contributor/daphne_guinness