Braided dress (representing copper), Threeasfour Fall/Winter 2010
Brilliantly experimental designers threeASFOUR drew upon the esoteric world of alchemy as a point of inspiration for their Fall/Winter 2010 collection. The collection featured garments that twined around the body and evoked the seven metals involved in the alchemical process. Their runway performance in New York presented looks that represented lead, tin, iron, copper, mercury, silver and gold to reach a final crescendo of a dress that combined all seven metals to form something completely transformed and exalted.
Since ancient times alchemists have sought to transmute common substances, through mystical symbolic practices, into the most precious of all elements–gold. As well, our world mythologies tell us tale upon tale of the pursuit and ultimate fulfillment of similarly inconceivable goals.
In Greek mythology, Psyche is put to the test by her lover Eros’ mother Aphrodite, who demands that Psyche procure the shining wool from a golden flock of sheep. In another tale, Jason of the Argonauts seeks and ultimately obtains the golden fleece of the winged ram, thereby regaining his rightful throne.
The brothers Grimm recount many stories of impossible tasks miraculously achieved. In Rumpelstiltskin, a miller’s daughter is assisted in her task of spinning straw into gold. In The Six Swans, a loving sister breaks an evil curse and transforms her brothers back into their true forms by knitting a shirt of prickly asters for each. In Allerleirauh, a princess requests three impossible dresses and is shocked when she receives them: one dress is as gold as the sun, one is as silver as the moon, and one is as bright as the stars.
The similar thread in these old stories is exactly that: thread. These heroes and heroines endure great ordeals in order to obtain these most precious of fabrics and garments. Why is such rapt attention granted to these materialistic items in our classic myths and legends? And in alchemy, a discipline that proclaims to be about the pursuit of wisdom, why the obsession with the glittery bling of gold?
This grasping at gold is about so much more than the metal, for the transformation that alchemists truly seek is one of self. And in our cultural fables, we find much the same–these glorious, unlikely fabrics transform the soul and the destiny of their wearers. But is it the garments themselves or the hero’s journey by which they were attained that create this power?
ThreeASFOUR provoke more such questions about the role of fashion with their heady collection. For a truly exquisite garment contains much more than the sum of its parts: it contains the mystical essence of its designer’s creative process, and holds the power to alter the life course of its wearer. That is what we see in fashion at the best of times–and that is what Adi, Ange and Gabi of threeASFOUR gave us with this collection.
