Stephanie Rosicki Blog Post #1

Pre-Raphaelite Influences on Contemporary Fashion Design

After studying the Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic, it has come to my attention that fashion designers have been inspired by the extremely detailed Pre Raphaelite style for their fashion collections. Many Pre-Raphaelite artists were interested in painting highly detailed pictures directly from nature. As a result, their paintings include luscious, sensual red-haired women surrounded by a detailed background. Examples of paintings in this particular Pre-Raphaelite style include Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Fazio’s Mistress, and John William Waterhouse’s My Sweet Rose or The Lady of Shallot. In each of these paintings, there is a woman in the center of the canvas with a sensual facial expression, surrounded by flowers, greenery, and water. Many other Pre-Raphaelite paintings were based off of this same subject matter, producing a similar aesthetic look.

            A few days ago I noticed an Anthropologie catalogue sitting on my living room coffee table. As I picked it up to page through it, I was struck by the photograph on the cover and its similar Pre-Raphaelite characteristics. As I looked through the catalogue, I continued to see close up photographs of women models with untamed red curly hair, stark white skin, and sensual facial expressions, characteristics which are commonly seen in Pre-Raphaelite art. One of my roommates even made a comment about the catalogue, saying it looked more like a booklet advertising artists’ paintings rather than a catalogue for the latest fall fashion trends.  

            I don’t believe the photographers, or the designers, of the Anthropologie catalogue were directly inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic for this fall issue, but I find it interesting that many of the photographs included unintentionally mimic the Pre-Raphaelite style. Several fashion designers and photographers have been fascinated with this Pre-Raphaelite representation of women. By placing models in a natural environment and exposing their untamed red curly hair, the designers are able to highlight the natural beauty of these women and the clothes in their collection-much like the Pre-Raphaelite brothers did in their paintings.