Reckoning with Meret Oppenheim

All of this means that Oppenheim was born into what was considered the height of modernity—but also ideological hypocrisy. Western Europeans were investing in the idea of “civilizing” the African continent by violently grabbing, robbing, and utilizing Africanity.

In the process, many ritual power objects and intellectual materials from African nations were stolen; others were destroyed. Cultural theft and appropriation became hip and edgy—particularly the use of sacred items that were deemed “backwards” or “primitive,” the antithesis of Western civilization. It caused European artists to regard themselves as radical, rebellious, and avant-garde. For usurping and forcefully integrating this mesmerizing, misunderstood, and maligned symbolism, the European thinker was considered a badass who was flipping the script. But in fact this was an act of erasure, a denial of responsibility for the theft and mutilation of human beings from lands near and far. The Europeans believed that accepting the black magic might protect them from these crimes against their and everyone else’s humanity.

There were significant advancements in the fields of science, medicine, art, and philosophy; they even spurred the elaborate management of an intricate system of human, animal, and land control, categorization, classification, and culling. This rationalization behind the severing of entire populations from their human rights, their homes, and their cultures is the unstable and psychotic bedrock that the Surrealist, Dadaist, and Futurist movements were planted in.

Meret Oppenheim’s account of the realization of the fur-lined teacup from 1936 always includes a mention of her fashion designs from the same year, especially the fur-covered bracelets she made for Schiaparelli before the appearance of the now legendary cup. Other, rather less conventional suggestions for clothes and jewelry—a gold bird’s nest with an enamel egg to be worn in the shell of the ear, a jacket resembling a set table, a head-covering of a (stuffed) dog with its jaws open so wide that its tongue hangs down over the wearer’s nose—found no takers among the couturiers. The same distanced reception awaited the idea of a glove on which the veins of the hand were traced but which 50 years later the magazine Parkett, together with Meret Oppenheim, commissioned in a signed and numbered edition of 150 pairs.
—Bice Curiger, Artistic Director, Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles

No single silhouette dominates the offering, as variety and choice remain paramount. The collection begins with sculpted knitwear from which circular bias-cut skirts hang, creating a feeling at once formal yet effortless and infused with an element of sport. Construction is eliminated, letting the yarn itself do all the shaping. Knitwear and jersey continue to dominate the collection and can be found in a myriad of shapes and textures. Color is important and found in big, bold blocks that punctate the offering. Glitchy, garment-printed slips find the beauty in imperfection and remain defiant. Tailoring for the intelligent, adult, urban woman remains a grounding force throughout. Sculptural forms speak to the past and future while alluding to the work of Meret Oppenheim, a central point of reference for the collection’s recontextualization of traditional codes of dress.

A live musical composition by Eartheater provides the sonic companion to the visuals of the show, giving the audience an experience impossible to replicate digitally. Ottessa Moshfegh provides a short story linking the past and future to the present.
—Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, Cofounders and Creative Directors, Proenza Schouler