The Insect as Fashion Muse and Provocateur: Angelic Maggots and Subversive Lobsters

Abstract

The Entomological Society of America, Entomological Society of Canada, and Entomological Society of British Columbia joined forces for a meeting held in Vancouver, Canada, in 2022. At the conference, arthropod-inspired fashion took center stage. Scientists swarmed the hallways showcasing entomo-fashion of varying tones and textures while presenting research to colleagues (Fig. 1). The hallways buzzed with a palpable sense of supermodel swagger. Iconic looks of flashybutterfly prints, intricate bee brooches, and beetleadorned ties were on full display, setting the scene for another year of fashion inspired by the insect world. In a true testament to the creativity of entomologists, the 2022 event saw a completely new level of artistry. From stenciled and embroidered pieces to carefully crafted designs that seamlessly blended style and science, these insect-inspired creations were a delight to behold. Entomologists have set the standard for wearing their research proudly. Perhaps we can thank the theme of that meeting, “Entomology as Inspiration: Insects through Art, Science, and Culture,” for the added inspiration. Entomologists at the 2022 joint annual meeting. Top left: Ilan Domnich. Top right: Tierney Brosius, photographed by John Acorn. Bottom left: Surendra Dara. Bottom right: insect-adorned footwear. While entomologists may contribute to the demand for insect-themed fashion, they obviously make up a miniscule percentage of the general population, and designers are not primarily targeting them as a market. Nonetheless, insect-inspired products exist. This raises an interesting question: what motivates the public’s interest in incorporating insects into their wardrobe? While insect motifs have been a part of human clothing for millennia (Rivers 2003, Ratcliffe 2006, Klein 2021, Terlep et al. 2023), the impulse that inspires individuals to wear them remains an intriguing topic. In the process of curating my own wardrobe, I found myself developing a fascination with insects in fashion. Like many of my fellow conference attendees, I take great pleasure in paying homage to these remarkable creatures by incorporating them into my wardrobe. Wearing insects during outreach and education endeavors aids in destigmatizing their presence in our daily lives. By proudly showcasing my research subjects, I am able to spark spontaneous conversations in unlikely locations, such as the local grocery store. As I searched through thrift stores and hunted for clothing bargains online, I noticed the names of designers who consistently incorporate insects into their designs. This piqued my interest in the prevalence of insects in high-end fashion. I wondered why they frequently appear across nearly every major luxury fashion brand. High-end fashion is characterized by exclusivity, high-quality materials, and superior craftsmanship (Loeb 2022). It caters to affluent customers who are willing to pay a premium price for unique and trendsetting clothing and accessories designed by famous fashion designers. Fashion trends set by these designers trickle down to more financially accessible retail stores. While we, as entomologists, appreciate the beauty of insects, not everyone is drawing inspiration from them due to their aesthetic appeal alone. Some unsettling nature (Klein and Brosius, in press). One example of this is fashion designer Rami Kadi, who featured insects prominently in his 2015–2016 collection Lucioles, despite having a phobia of insects. He explained that he incorporates insects into his work as a way to confront and overcome his fear (Szmydke 2015). Similarly, when asked about his use of insects, designer Jenjum Gadi responded that he finds “beauty in the ugliness” and draws inspiration from the unique and diverse forms found in nature in his Spring/Summer 2013 collection Insecta (Delhi Style Blog 2013, Prabhakar 2014). Entire runway shows have been dedicated to insects. Thierry Mugler’s famous 1997 runway show Insect Woman was inspired by the world of insects and featured highly structured and exaggerated silhouettes with sharp angles and intricate detailing reminiscent of insect exoskeletons. The Spring/Summer 2013 collection of On Aura Tout Vu, a fashion house established by Yassen Samouilov and Livia Stoianova, saw insects represented in a myriad of ways, including bodices covered with buprestid beetle wings; Gucci’s 2017 winter collection Alchemist’s Garden teemed with insects; and that same year, Dior placed insects directly upon the faces of their models (Fig. 2). Clearly, the fashion industry continues to be inspired by insects. Examples of high-end fashion utilizing insects: a) Gucci’s Fall/Winter 2017 collection incorporated various insect designs into their clothing and accessories; b) Dior’s Spring/Summer 2017 runway show showcased models donning face coverings shaped like different insects; c) On Aura Tout Vu’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection had an all-encompassing insect theme. The models wore clothing adorned with images of insects, and several pieces were covered in buprestid beetle wings. Photos courtesy of firstVIEW. While the topic of insects in fashion invites future investigations, here I weave together the stories of Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973), surrealist artist Salvador Dalí (1904–1989), and turn-of-the-21st-century British fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen (1969–2010), as well as the fictional Disney character Cruella de Vil. These individuals all share a fascination with insects, and this narrative helps to highlight how insects are used to evoke both intrigue and shock in audiences. Schiaparelli’s imaginative and playful use of insects in her designs serves as a reference point in contemporary fashion (Testa 2022). The application of insects reflects Schiaparelli’s sense of humor and her love of surrealism. She incorporated insects in a wide range of designs, including jewelry, buttons, and embroidered surfaces (Papalas 2016; Schiaparelli 1938). “She has a gift, almost uncontrollable at times, for discovering beauty in lowly objects,” noted a journalist in 1932 (Flanner 1932). The butterfly, a symbol of metamorphosis, was a favorite motif of Schiaparelli (Blum 2003, Secrest 2014). Her 1937 collection featured butterfly-printed dresses and hats adorned with butterflies (Blum 2003; Fig. 3). A selection of Elsa Schiaparelli’s insect-themed designs: a) Woman’s Evening Dress (Summer 1937), made from printed silk organza, is held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and was gifted by Mme Elsa Schiaparelli in 1969 (1969-232-49); b) Elsa Schiaparelli’s Fall 1938 necklace, crafted from synthetic plastic and metal. Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.; c) button by Elsa Schiaparelli (Fall 1938), created from cellulose nitrate. Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY. Schiaparelli’s fascination with transforming something ugly into something beautiful stems from a childhood story. As a child, Schiaparelli tried to address her own mother’s disappointment with her appearance by planting flower seeds in her ears, nose, eyes, and throat in the hope of creating a beautiful garden to hide her face. Unfortunately, this resulted in her gasping for air and requiring the medical intervention of two doctors to remove the seeds (Schiaparelli 2018). This story not only reflects Schiaparelli’s unique approach to viewing the world, but also resonated with subsequent generations of designers. Schiaparelli’s intention was to surprise, shock, and provoke her audience. Her work often placed her on the boundary between art and fashion, connecting her with the surrealist art movement of the 1930s (Oatman-Stanford 2015). Her collaborations with artists like Salvador Dalí resulted in some of her most memorable pieces. Schiaparelli was among the first fashion designers to collaborate with the fine art world in her designs. She famously collaborated with Salvador Dalí (Fig. 4) on multiple projects. Like Schiaparelli, Dalí was fascinated by insects. Out of his extensive collection of artworks, roughly 10% featured insect imagery (Kritsky et al. 2013). Dalí’s childhood encounters with insects left a lasting impression on him, particularly a swarming infestation of ants he witnessed surrounding a dead bat, which left him feeling disturbed. In his artwork, ants were often associated with death and decay. Grasshoppers, which he detested, also made multiple appearances in his paintings. Dalí used the negative feelings insects elicited to explore the powerful impact that insects can have on human emotions (Kritsky et al. 2013). Woman’s Dinner Dress, February 1937. Designed by Elsa Schiaparelli in collaboration with Salvador Dalí. Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of Elsa Schiaparelli, 1969, 1969-232-52. I could not find any specifically insect-themed collaborations between Schiaparelli and Dalí, but they did work together to create the famous arthropod-inspired “lobster dress” (Eldred 2021). The lobster dress (Fig. 4), created in 1937, is a white silk evening gown adorned with a large lobster design illustrated by Dalí (Blum 2003, Secrest 2014, Eldred 2019). At the time, the dress was considered provocative and daring. The placement of the lobster on the front of the dress, between the wearer’s legs, was seen as sexually suggestive (Eldred 2019). Perhaps the most intriguing story behind the famous lobster dress involves a scandal with the royal British family. The dress became a sensation and was worn by several high-profile women, including Wallis Simpson, the American socialite who later married the Duke of Windsor—the would-be future King Edward VIII of Great Britain (Blum 2003; Eldred 2019, 2021). Simpson chose to wear the dress as part of a photo shoot in American Vogue while the scandal of the future king’s abdication of the throne loomed large in headlines. Some speculate that wearing this dress, with its subversive sexual imagery, was intentional (Eldred 2019). The Dalí and Schiaparelli lobster dress remains an iconic piece of fashion history and is considered a masterpiece of surrealism and haute couture. The bold, fanciful, and rebellious nature of this design influenced later generations of designers like the famous Lee Alexander McQueen. Numerous fashion designers endeavor to blur the boundary between fashion and art, but McQueen (founder of the fashion brand Alexander McQueen) stands out as a designer who not only blurred this line but, in some ways, completely erased it. Like Schiaparelli and Dalí, McQueen was renowned for defying conventions, startling his audiences, and using insects to achieve those goals. Growing up in a middle-class working family, McQueen consistently felt like an outsider within the fashion industry, often questioning the convention of catering to a wealthy socioeconomic group (Wilson 2015). Similar to Schiaparelli, McQueen also faced challenges with his appearance and frequently encountered criticism for his dowdy looks early in his career. This posed an obstacle in a career in which physical appearance is a central focus (Wilson 2015). Schiaparelli’s story of planting seeds in her face to become beautiful resonated with the designer. As a result, many of his shows featured models adorned with crowns of flowers, moths, or butterflies (Fig. 5). In the show La Poupée (Spring/Summer 1997), McQueen went beyond using static butterflies perched on the models’ faces; instead, live butterflies and moths were enclosed in a geometric transparent orb carried by the model as she walked down the runway (Fig. 5c). Alexander McQueen often featured butterflies in his runway shows: a) La Dame Bleue, Spring/Summer 2008; b) Widows of Culloden, Fall/Winter 2006; c) La Poupée, Spring/Summer 1997. Photos courtesy of firstVIEW. McQueen was primarily recognized as a fashion designer, but also collaborated with artists. In the art installation Angel (also known as Lisa), McQueen and artist Nick Knight collaborated on a piece of art for the 2000 exhibition La Beauté en Avignon. The centerpiece of the artwork (Fig. 6, title page) was a portrait of a beautiful woman reflected in a mirror suspended above the floor of a cathedral in Avignon, France (Frankel 2001). What was extraordinary about this installation was the unconventional medium used to “paint” it: 80 gallons of live maggots. Lisa (also known as Angel), 2000; an installation by the artist Nick Knight and fashion designer Alexander McQueen. The image seen here is made up of 80 gallons of dyed living maggots poured into pre-divided metal sections. These larvae were ordered from Ouse Valley Bait in the UK, where they were reared and fed various shades of dye (Rigby 2013). Upon arrival at the installation site, the maggots were poured into pre-divided metal sections, resulting in a paint-bynumber–style portrait measuring three meters across (Frankel 2001, Wilson 2015). As time passed, the maggots would move between sections, giving the artwork a living, breathing quality (Frankel 2001). Like the designer Jenjum Gadi, McQueen also spoke about finding beauty in ugly things (Frankel 2001). McQueen continued to explore the use of live insects in one of his most famous shows, Voss, in the spring of 2001. The fashion show was staged in an asylum-like setting, complete with padded walls. The garments were breathtakingly beautiful, featuring some of McQueen’s most recognizable designs, such as a dress constructed from razor clams and another made from red glass medical slides (Wilson 2015). The beauty of the clothing was challenged, however, by the staged finale of the show (Savané 2021). As the last model walked off the set, the room darkened. The enigmatic dark glass box that had sat passively during the show began to be illuminated by a single foreboding light. Heavy breathing reverberated from the PA system. The glass panes forming the sides of the box slowly opened from the top, collapsed, and violently shattered as they hit the floor. Within the center of the box, a curvaceous, naked woman wearing a breathing apparatus was revealed (Fig. 7). The startled audience watched as live moths and butterflies poured out of the box and began to flutter overhead (Wilson 2015). The final scene, based on artist Joel-Peter Witkin’s 1983 photograph Sanitarium (Artsy.net 1983), symbolized beauty, death, and rebirth. The spring 2001 fashion show Voss featured a startling finale. A black box opened to release live moths and butterflies. At the center of the box, a nude figure was showcased, covered in real mounted butterflies and moths. Photo courtesy of firstVIEW. During an interview with the fashion website SHOWstudio, Michelle Olley discussed her experience as the woman in the box during the grand finale of the show. She spoke about the secretive planning process and the use of a combination of live and dead moths. Two entomologists provided a large tray of mounted butterflies and moths, which were glued onto her body prior to the show. Just before the climax of the performance, Olley used a scalpel to open a butterfly net containing live butterflies (Olley 2015). McQueen’s final show, Plato’s Atlantis (Spring 2010), was a testament to his belief in the artistic beauty of nature. The designs in this show incorporated digital printing with images of reptiles and insects (Steele 2013). The show was inspired by themes such as the lost city of Atlantis and Darwin’s theory of natural selection. It portrayed a world where humanity’s negative impact on the climate had forced us to adapt to living underwater. This alternative reality served as a poignant commentary on the detrimental effect of human actions on the environment (Steele 2013). Following McQueen’s tragic death in 2010, his longtime collaborator Sarah Burton became the director for the brand. Drawing on the insect world, Burton has created some truly exceptional pieces for the brand’s recent collections. After returning home from a trip to Brazil, Burton created a stunning lineup of dresses for the 2018 Fall/Winter collection (Croft 2018). One dress was reported to be covered with 1,483 individually embroidered insects depicting 37 different species (Croft 2018). “It’s about hyperfemininity and hybridisation. Is she a woman? Is she an insect? It’s a story of metamorphosis,” Burton said when asked about her inspiration for the pieces (Armstrong 2018). Another notable dress in the same show featured the stunning color patterns of Goliathus orientalis (Fig. 8). Alexander McQueen’s Fall/Winter 2018 collection featured several pieces that depicted butterflies and beetles, including a dress inspired by the pattern of the Goliath beetle. Photo courtesy of firstVIEW. McQueen’s rebellious nature inspired the writers of Disney’s latest fashion-filled adaptation of the character Cruella de Vil (Caldas 2021, Seth 2021, Zemler 2021). First introduced in a novel (The Hundred and One Dalmatians, 1956), the iconic fur-wearing villain became a memorable or in multiple The Cruella a for the noted that has such a rebellious which has ties to Alexander the way that he used to make to the of the for his shows, them into his 2021). In a scene in the a stunning dress is created using of a notable to the pieces showcased in McQueen’s final show. The moths creating a of as they the of the fashion show. The collection in by the moths. 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