Episode 041: Simultaneous Dresses

In which we discuss runways, applied art, and David Bowie

The way these things usually go:

• Something comes up in my day-to-day life, it could be anything

• I say ‘Hey, that's interesting, maybe I should write a PC episode about that thing’

• I do some research on that thing and find a work of art that I think represents it

• The fun begins

But every once in a while, I see the work of art first. And it’s one that I just have to write about. 

I was familiar with the trailblazing but somewhat overlooked artist Sonia Delaunay, though I'm embarrassed to admit I did not know that much of her work. Until… 

…I was reminded of her in a recent piece in the (highly recommended) newsletter Tiny Werewolves. Largely about art deco, there was a small section in the post on Delaunay which led me down an exhausting rabbit hole.

At the bottom of that magnificent rabbit hole was her 1925 Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours).

Simultaneous Dresses, Sonia Delaunay, 1925

What’s not to love about Delaunay?

I love that she kicked ass in a world dominated by men. She played in the same sandbox as Picasso, Mondrian, and the like. And she didn’t just hold her own, she thrived.

I love her geometric abstraction…it’s kind of hard to hide that influence on me. [Speaking of Mondrian, sheesh].

And of course, I love the applied art aspect of her work. I’ve written before about artists who were also textile designers. Clothing and accessories, of course, but plenty more, including maybe the coolest-looking set of playing cards I’ve ever seen.

In regards to the reduction…I made some tough calls while boiling this down to what I thought this painting should sound like. So much going on in the busy background, All the angles, all the geometry. But finally, it was the three dresses. They are what mattered most. That’s what this beat needed to sound like. Fashion.

Simultaneous Dresses - Reduction

I have no idea why, but I was thinking about David Bowie when I was recording this beat. I guess maybe because he was so associated with clothing. Maybe because his wife Iman was a celebrated supermodel. 

Maybe because I had just heard his song Fashion in the car the previous day and it is an unrelenting earworm?

I very nearly said “beep beep” in this beat.

I don't know…these dresses, the whole fashion aspect of the painting, when I was recording this beat I just needed some hypnotic 80s funk. It came together sounding oddly like a supermodel walking down the runway in 1985.

Big fat drums and bass, finger snaps, funky guitars, synths through a talk-box…all too 80’s funk for me. Once I started I couldn’t stop!

Beep beep, indeed.

Clothing as art. That’s another reason I was reminded of Bowie. Countless amazing stage costumes and characters associated with The Thin White Duke. 

So, Bowie aside, cause he’d take up all five spots, my favorite art-clothes-costumes ever for musicians: 

• Lady Gaga: Even as a vegan, it’s the Meat Dress, of course

• Peter Gabriel: NOT Slipperman, too freaky: I’ll take The Watcher of the Skies

• RHCP: The lightbulbs from the make-believe Woodstock concert in 1994

• The Residents: Every time they ever walked on stage.

• Daft Punk: Never give up the robots!

What am I missing here?

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