Being one of fashion’s great raconteurs, Antonio Marras has often focused his layered storytelling on passionate female figures who can provide the sort of turbulent plots he likes—women who possibly survived an intense life of art and all-consuming drama. For pre-fall, Dora Maar was his perfect muse.
Best known for being Picasso’s lover, Maar, like many other women artists, didn’t get much recognition for her talent. Hers was overshadowed by the prodigious genius of her Spanish flame. But, beyond being very beautiful (green eyes, fine features, auburn hair) and very stylish, Maar was great in her own right. A retrospective at London’s Tate Modern (until March 15) finally gives her oeuvre the credit it’s due.
Marras called his collection “Dora Maar Despite Picasso,” imagining for her a wardrobe of eccentric whimsy and poetic excess. Oversize jackets in a patchwork of masculine textures were encrusted with a jumble of sequins and macramé; poplin shirts were decorated with glamorous feather fringes; and vintage military parkas were reassembled with askew proportions then embroidered and intarsia-ed with tapisserie. In a similar vein, knitwear swirled with geometric jacquard motifs in black and white, and grisaille tailoring was teamed with cargo pants. It made for an extravagant mash-up. Romantic maximalism is Marras’s favorite visual philosophy—and probably would’ve been Dora Maar’s too.
