Look #1, clockwise from top left: Cy Twombly’s From 8 Odi di Orazio (series I), 1968; still from Picnic at Hanging Rock, 2018; Lee Radziwill, photographed by Horst P. Horst/Condé Nast via Getty Images; Seoul love locks; Alice, 1918, by Amedeo Modigliani; Tory’s Fall/Winter 2018 runway
Inspiration is a funny thing. It may seem linear — A inspires B — but it’s really a many-splendored thing that pulses with myriad references, some subtle, some overt. Here, we took two looks from Tory’s Fall/Winter 2018 runway and broke down the inspirational elements in a series we like to call Fashion Math.
Look #1: Crepe de Chine & Tulle dress
As the overarching inspiration behind the collection, Lee Radziwill earns a spot, naturally. But there are whiffs of Victoriana, courtesy of Picnic at Hanging Rock, and coiled doodles at the hem reminiscent of Cy Twombly’s From 8 Odi di Orazio (series I), 1968. The model’s middle part? Eerily like that in Amedeo Modigliani’s 1918 Alice portrait. The lock pendant, meanwhile, nods to Tory’s own trips around the world, where she encountered love lock after love lock…
Look #2, clockwise from top left: Pablo Picaso’s Les deux saltimbanques, 1901; Pina Bausch’s Nelken, 1982; Ian Davenport’s Colourfall: Spectroscopic, 2013; illustation from The Florists’ Guide and Gardeners’ and Naturalists’ Calendar by William P. Ayres, 1850; Ian Davenport’s Colourfall: Spectroscopic, 2013; Pina Bausch’s Nelken, 1982; Tory’s Fall/Winter 2018 runway
Look #2: Argyle Mohair Sweater & Happy Times-Print Crepe de Chine Skirt
Argyles are a fashion classic, evoking everything from the Scottish Isles to cozy prep intarsias. Fall 2018’s version, however, cast in a palette of cool blues, brings to mind one singular inspiration: Pablo Picasso’s harlequins, especially 1901’s Les deux saltimbanques — painted, we might add, during the artist’s famed Blue Period. As for those drippy rainbow stripes — they’re from Ian Davenport’s Colourfall: Spectroscopic, 2013 — which, we think, perfectly illustrates the skirt’s side stripes when in motion.
Argyles are a fashion classic, evoking everything from the Scottish Isles to cozy prep intarsias. Fall 2018’s version, however, cast in a palette of cool blues, brings to mind one singular inspiration: Pablo Picasso’s harlequins, especially 1901’s Les deux saltimbanques — painted, we might add, during the artist’s famed Blue Period. As for those drippy rainbow stripes — they’re from Ian Davenport’s Colourfall: Spectroscopic, 2013 — which, we think, perfectly illustrates the skirt’s side stripes when in motion.