Our museums and galleries house fascinating collections, from living bugs to The Beatles, fine art to photography, the Titanic to ancient Egypt.

Follow us online: Facebook Twitter Flickr

National Museums Liverpool Blog - Delicate barbed-wire beauties!

 Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Delicate barbed-wire beauties!


Wednesday 24 March 10

Detail of a dress made of glassBodice of one of the glass dresses. It reads; 'Light reflecting materials were thought to be able to ward off evil and preserve fertility'.

There is no doubt that Lady GaGa would give her bejewelled right arm to wear one of these sparkling dresses or corsets. But she'd be in for a shock if she tried! In 'Dare to Wear: Glass Dresses by Diana Dias-Leão' the dresses are made from glass and the corsets are made from real barbed-wire, entwined with beads or flowers. Diana told me that people have asked about buying these dresses and corsets to wear, but she has to tell them that they are purely 'couture sculpture'. She makes all her creations at home rather than in a studio and once injured herself while working on a corset - she only realised when she looked down and saw the blood. Fashion can definitely be deadly!

Each dress is unique and they seem to have their own identity - an idea that Diana is keen for visitors to take on board themselves. She wants to use the dresses to show people that it is not the image, but the person that is most important. Getting a sense of your own identity must surely be part of that. I'm sure many artists have a strong connection with their work, but it was interesting to hear Diana referring to her corsets and dresses as 'she' and 'her'. It seems these pieces have so much personality they have almost taken on a life of their own!

Diana's attention to detail in getting her message across is also interesting. Not only do you get a sense of the danger of judging people by their appearance alone, you also see evidence of Diana's views about people often being treated simply as 'pieces of meat'. Instead of using conventional materials for hanging her corsets, she has used immaculate metal meat hooks and chains. This isn't gruesome, but is instead quite a subtle touch that seems to fit in seamlessly with the display of shimmering glass.

This is a truly original display so do head down to the Craft and Design gallery on the ground floor of the Walker Art Gallery to have a look for yourself. The display will run from 27 March to 30 September 2011 and is free.

You can look at more photos of Diana's dresses on Flickr and also come to a free gallery talk by curator Alayna Ellis - more information in our what's on listings.


Posted by Lisa | 24/03/2010 16:28   | Comments [0]

Posted in: exhibitions | walker art gallery
Tagged with: art | costume | decorative arts | fashion | liverpool

Post a comment

All comments require the approval of the site owner before being displayed.
Name
E-mail

Comment (HTML not allowed)  

Enter the code shown (prevents robots):

Live Comment Preview

By posting your comment you have agreed to the terms and conditions below

Terms & Conditions

National Museums Liverpool welcomes your comments. All comments are moderated and will only be published if they adhere to the following standards. The editors reserve the right not to publish comments which they deem inappropriate:

  1. Our Maritime Archives and Library deals with enquiries relating to all aspects of Liverpool's maritime history including ships, passengers, seafarers, shipping and maritime companies. Their web pages describe the information they hold and how to get in touch, along with useful research guides on popular subjects such as tracing seafaring or emigrant ancestors. Please do not submit requests for this type of information as comments on this blog.
  2. Specific enquiries, as opposed to comments on blog posts, should be submitted using our contact system. Please note that we do not provide valuations.
  3. Posts must be text only and under 1000 characters (including spaces). Html code, links or multimedia are not permitted.
  4. We will aim (but do not guarantee) to publish approved comments within 72 hours although there may be delays over weekends and during public holidays.
  5. Please do not post anything that is libellous, abusive, obscene, prejudiced or unlawful.
  6. Do not contravene any rights to privacy (such as personal contact details), copyright or trademark legislation.
  7. Please do not spam or post commercial promotional information.
  8. By posting you agree that you are wholly responsible for the content that you post. Although the blog comments will be moderated National Museums Liverpool will publish comments in the good faith that they comply with the law.
  9. By posting your comment you agree that it may be reproduced by National Museums Liverpool online or in print without compensation.