Those Are Pearls That Were His Eyes

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them, ding-dong, bell.

from The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Chanel costume jewellery collections are inspiring on different levels: it’s not only a purely aesthetic matter, because there’s always much more than what appears. One of the main themes of the spring/summer 2012 collection is quite predictable (sea and pearls), but it’s the outcome that makes the difference. Models walked the runway wearing shell-inspired accessories (see the heels of these sandals or these earrings) and jewellery dripping with pearls, pearls on their hair [1] and faces [2]. The fashion show, which took place at the Grand Palais in Paris last October, included the performance of Florence Welch, who sang What the Water Gave Me [3], a song which reinforces the main theme of the collection. It’s frustrating not to know exactly the sources of inspiration for the collection but I’m pretty sure Karl Lagerfeld may have used Shakespeare as a reference, in particular one of the most interesting plays written in the  latest part of his career, The Tempest. The theme of the shipwreck and of the discovery of a new world on an apparently desert island was beautifully exploited by Alexander McQueen in his spring/summer 2003 collection; here, the theme has been analyzed with a completely different – but equally appealing – approach.

This is not the place to speak extensively about the play by Shakespeare, but the reference which comes to my mind is from the second scene of the first act, where Ariel (a spirit only visible to the protagonist, Prospero) sings a poem to Ferdinand (the son of the king of Naples), telling him that his father lies under thirty feet of water, after being killed by his treacherous brother Sebastian. The song introduces the themes of the death by water (which Shakespeare had used in Hamlet, too) and of the sea change, a “magical” metamorphosis occurring to a dead body under the sea. Ariel makes Alonso’s death beautiful by depicting his body as a piece of jewellery, “something rich and strange” made of pearls and corals. Moreover, what is special about this song is its legacy: Thomas Stearns Eliot took a verse from it and used it twice in his masterpiece, The Waste Land (1922) – in The Burial of the Dead it refers to a drowned Phoenician sailor on a tarot card; in A Game of Chess it’s included in a Shakespeare/ragtime cross-over.

Pearls have always been a symbol of Chanel, but in this case the aquatic mood is reinforced: part of the collection seems to come from an ancient treasure chest. The metal cuff above, for example, is embellished with enamel and fresh water baroque pearls.

The same concept has been used for this metal ring embellished with enamel and fresh water pearls. I love the irregular shape of the pearls and of the ring itself.

Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On

We are such stuff

as dreams are made on,

and our little life

is rounded with a sleep.

The Tempest by William Shakespeare (Act 4, scene I)

When I first wrote a review of a collection by Marchesa, I chose a quote from one of Shakespeare’s most meaningful and mature plays (The Tempest), because Prospero’s words seemed to perfectly describe the dream-like quality of the creations by Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig. After watching the pictures from the spring/summer 2012 collection, I realized I had chosen the best title ever, because this collection has been built around a very precise theme – the sea and sea creatures. If you have read the play by Shakespeare, you may remember that a shipwreck caused by the magician Prospero, duke of Milan, who has been stranded on a deserted island for twelve years by his brother Antonio and now wants to take his revenge.

This is not the first time a Marchesa collection is imbued with a literary reference (see the fall/winter 2011 collection, inspired to Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations), but here literature (or I’d rather say epic literature) is connected to art, and I’ll soon explain why. In the meantime, here is a selection of dresses from the collection, to admire with the main theme in mind.

The first set of dresses I’ve posted are characterized by different shades of grey and blue, which echo the mysterious and silent atmospheres under water, the light piercing the deep darkness and its silver fragmented reflections. An intricate silver and gold embroidery embellishes this dusty grey strapless dress, with short train, an asymmetric organza peplum (a Marchesa trademark) and the split bodice.

Sofia Vergara wore this lovely dress when she attended the Costume Institute Gala on May 7th, 2012: she accessorized it with an impressive set of diamond jewellery by Harry Winston, and kept make-up and hairstyle simple.