Vogue India June 2019

116 VOGUE INDIA JUNEwww.vogue.in

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“What is maximalism? Maximalism means to the max. More

is more. It implies luxury, decoration and colour, and there’s

no such thing as too much. In the last few years the most

infl uential maximalism designer has been Alessandro Mi-

chele of Gucci in the design of his clothes, his advertising

and his vision for the company. If you look back in time,

maximalism was epitomised by Yves Saint Laurent in the

1970s, Christian Lacroix in the 1980s and Versace in the

1990s. With French designers like Saint Laurent and Lac-

roix we saw brilliant colourists who were not afraid of mix-

ing several shades together, including those that were popu-

larly thought in the West to be clashing. We also saw that

they opened everybody’s eyes to the incredible beauty of

brilliant pinks, oranges, turquoise blues, forest greens, all in

the same look, as well as a riot of patterns like paisley, fl orals

or abstract. The designers owed a lot to Indian textile tradi-

tions. Just like Schiaparelli was inspired by the Indian pink.

Later, in the 1990s, Versace also brought colour, Baroque

patterns and hardware. But the 1980s in particular was a

great decade for maximalism and now, 40 years later, in the

end of the 2010s we are seeing it come back again even more

strongly than we did then.

By contrast, minimalism is the idea that less is more. It’s

about striving to get down to the pure essence of things. The

colours are neutrals like black and beige. In the 1970s the

masters of minimalism were American designers Halston

and Calvin Klein. Then during the maximalism of Versace

we had the minimalism of Giorgio Armani. Recently we

found a strong advocate in Phoebe Philo at Céline, who

tended to be quirky but minimal.

Our show Minimalism/Maximalism at the museum at

FIT spans over 250 years. Some pieces to see are by Richard

Quinn, who covers models’ faces with patterned cloth, a

dress by Agatha Ruiz de la Prada with a gigantic 3.5ft bow at

the bosom, a bright puffball three-dimensional dress by

Comme des Garçons and a Manish Arora over-the-top look

with Bollywood imagery. We also have the Balenciaga Triple

S sneakers that look like they are on steroids, and a necklace

by Shaun Leane, because maximalist jewellery goes way be-

yond what you actually need. Maximalism can be for men,

too—so we compare an 18th-century embroidered French

coat to an English minimal coat.

I personally embraced maximalism with ethnic dressing

and historical thrift store fi nds in the 1970s, which was actu-

ally a more minimalist decade for American fashion. I had

big colourful dresses by Yves Saint Laurent and wild pat-

terns by Stephen Sprouse. One of the most maximalist piec-

es in my wardrobe is a dress by Sacai I fell in love with when

I saw it on the runway. I also collect elaborate pieces of eth-

nic Indian and Moroccan jewellery.

Maximalism is built so strongly on the Indian aesthetic of

colour and pattern. You certainly see this throughout Indian

textile history, decorative arts, crafts and a clientele that is

unafraid of this. In the West, it was typically the women

dressing up, but traditionally Indian men have also been

dressing up. We are now seeing this with Gucci in their em-

broidered men’s suits.

You have to whole-heartedly embrace maximalism. It’s

not about mixing just two colours, it is about mixing fi ve, six,

seven colours. It’s not about wearing a few pieces of jewel-

lery. It’s about wearing half a dozen necklaces, or as many as

you can wear. Or walking in enormous Noritaka Tatehana

shoes that look like mythical creatures, 15 inches off the

ground, that make people scream, “How can anybody wear

that?” Remember, even the most minimalist person can be

lured with maximal accessories that speak for them.”

—As told to Rishna Shah ■

Minimalism/Maximalism is on till November 16, 2019, at

The Museum at FIT

What is maximalism?

American fashion curator Valerie Steele—‘fashion’s brainiest woman’,

author of several books and museum director at the Fashion Institute of

Technology for over two decades—has the answer

EXHIBIT

A

Can

an

exhibition

succinctly

encapsulate

the

meaning

of

maximalism?

Melissa

Marra-Alvarez,

co-curator

of

Minimalism/Maximalism

,

tells us all

MAXIMUM

IMPACT

“A fl oor-length dress by

Giorgio Armani from

2007. A tartan look by
      Comme des Garçons
      from 2017 that is
      basically a giant square!”
      But my favourite is a
      fl oral multi-pattern
      ensemble by Richard
      Quinn. It’s both pretty
      and subversive.”

BUSTING

MYTHS

“We tend to think

of maximalism

as superfi cial and

minimalism as

intellectual. But this is

not necessarily true.

Maximalism may not

take itself seriously,

but it is not without

substance.”

DEFINING

MAXIMALISM

“We live in a

maximalist society.

We’re all connected

via social media...

and bombarded with

information. We are

overstimulated, and

this begins to express

itself in fashion.”

GLORY DAYS

“Growing up I

detested the ’80s,

and now I love it. It

was an era so over the

top. The silhouettes,

the self-confi dence

of that period—a lot

of our contemporary

understanding of

maximalism stems

from this decade.”

MINIMALISM VS

MAXIMALISM

“The exhibition

juxtaposes

moments of fashion

maximalism with

fashion minimalism.

It borrows from the

idea ‘for every action

there is an equal and

opposite reaction.’”

ESSAY