Fashion and Art collide
I came across these images in an old issue of Elle Deco and really wanted to share them. I adore the colours and the wonderful compositions, the glamour and of course the sneak peek into these artists studios. These images are a result of Designer Claire McCardells 1955 collection where she used the designs of modern artists including Picasso, Chagall, Miro, Dufy and Fernand Leger ... and created a fashion collection. She then took her designs to the artists studios where they were photographed for Life magazine by famed photographer, Mark Shaw. I would have LOVED to have been the photographers assistant or even just the assistant to the assistant to the photographers assistant!! I get goosebumps just looking at these - hope you do too!
French painter Fernand Leger poses with British model Anne Gunning. Shot for LIFE in 1955, two weeks before his death, Fernand Leger posed for this final portrait in his Paris Studio where he had worked since 1913.
Marc Chagall helped to pose American Ivy Nicholson so that she stood against Le soleil Rouge looking as if she were drifting off into the romantic dreamlike painting Life Magazine 1955
Model Ivy Nicholson in Marc Chagall's studio in Vence, France.
Pablo Picasso and top French model Betinna Graziani. I love how you catch a glimpse of Picasso's recently completed paintings in the studio and after a little digging I came across a few more pics on the web.
Permitting this rare photographic session in his new Cannes villa, La Californie, Picasso received top French model Betinna Graziani amid the clutter of packing crates and the profusion of paintings completed since his move last Spring. In his fashion debut, Picasso wears a fedora and carries a sword. Life magazine 1955
And two stunning photographs of French model, Jacky Mazel in the living room of legendary fauvist Raoul Dufy. They were photographed two years after Dufy's death in 1953, and shot in Dufy's salon in the Villa de Guelma in Nice.
You can see more of the detail from the Fernand Leger design here
